by Valerie Parv
If he'd been the bodyguard, he'd have had a few qualms about letting the maid take off in such a valuable car, Gage mused. Tamir had no prohibitions against women driving, but a princess would normally have a chauffeur. He wondered how Nadia came to be so competent behind the wheel.
"What do you do at the palace?" he asked
She kept her attention on the road while she spoke to him. "Have you heard of Princess Nadia?"
"Sheik Ahmed's eldest daughter," he supplied, knowing she'd expect a diplomat to have been briefed on such details.
"Tahani Kadil is her personal maid," Nadia went on.
She was careful not to compound the lie, he noticed. A late rush of conscience, or a wish to stick to the truth as much as she could? He found himself hoping the latter was true. He pushed the thought aside, annoyed. Much more of this and he'd be writing her an alibi himself, rather than facing facts. Her actions today had shot her to the top of his list of suspects.
Since starting this investigation four months ago, Gage had come to agree with Conrad that the most likely traitor in the Kamal circle was the sheik's closest adviser and attorney, Butrus Dabir.
Was it coincidence that Nadia was engaged to marry Dabir? And how much of an accomplice did it make her?
Gage didn't believe in coincidence, so either Nadia was a traitor or Dabir was, and he was using her in some way, or planned to. The more Gage learned about the people Dabir did business with, the more he accepted Conrad's dying suggestion, carved in the dust, that Dabir had ties with the Brothers of Darkness. All Gage needed was evidence.
Nadia could be in league with her fiance. Until he had some answers, Gage couldn't afford to let himself get sidetracked by her, although he recognized how easily that could happen.
He hadn't been sidetracked by a beautiful woman in a long time. Five years, his statistics-loving mind supplied. Five years since he'd fallen hook, line and sinker for the daughter of a man he'd been investigating on suspicion of selling government secrets to his country's enemies. The man had been caught with enough evidence to put him away for life, but Gage had found nothing to implicate the daughter, Jenice. Gage had believed her story that her father had blackmailed her into helping him, threatening to kill her if she betrayed him.
She had seemed so frightened, so impossibly lovely and fragile, that all of Gage's protective instincts had been aroused. He had taken Jenice home with him to Penwyck, introduced her to his family and his uncle Morgan, the king. They had taken the lovely, fey creature into their hearts, and the king had promised to grant her asylum. Gage had been there every step of the way, helping her adjust to life in his country, knowing he was falling in love with her but unable to stop himself.
What was the saying about a fool for love? Conrad had accused Gage of behaving like a giddy teenager, instead of an experienced intelligence specialist who should have known better. He should have listened to his friend.
Jenice had promised to marry him as soon as he came home from his latest assignment. He still didn't know what would have happened if he hadn't returned a week early to find her in the arms of the man who had hired Gage to put her father away. Under relentless interrogation, the pair admitted that they had set her father up so they could get their hands on his considerable assets, at which point they planned to run away together.
In floods of tears, Jenice had sworn that she loved Gage, that none of this had been meant to happen. He presumed she meant the nights she'd spent in his bed, vowing her undying love, and wondered whether she had intended to tell him the truth before or after they were married.
He hadn't waited to find out. Ignoring her pleas, he'd escorted them back to their own country, leaving them to the mercy of the local authorities. Then he'd returned to Penwyck and gone on a bender that lasted a week, or so Conrad told him afterward.
When the headache had cleared, Gage had promised himself that never again would he fall for a woman's wiles. If he married, it would be to a Penwyck woman whose pedigree he knew as far back as his own. Love wouldn't enter into the bargain. He would provide for her to the best of his ability, and in return, she would give him the children he wanted.
Belatedly he became aware that Nadia was speaking to him. "What is your area of interest, Gage? Aerospace products? Electronics? Chemicals?"
He masked his surprise. A Tamir princess with an interest in trade? "The invisible economy," he said, testing her.
She nodded. "Stockbroking, banking, insurance, worth over a hundred billion pounds to your country last year."
This time he couldn't hide his astonishment. "You're remarkably well informed for..."
"A woman?" she queried, sounding defensive.
"I was going to say for someone who must lead a relatively sheltered life at the palace," he said, impressed in spite of himself. Brains, as well as beauty. Even more reason to watch himself.
Her hands tightened on the wheel. "In Tamir, education is for all."
But not equal opportunity for women, especially royal women, he knew from his research. Obviously it was a sore point with the princess. Sore enough to make her turn to the Brothers of Darkness to fulfill her need for greater challenge? Or perhaps to get even with her father for holding her back? Gage knew he couldn't discount either possibility.
"Will you get into trouble for picking me up?" he asked, thinking of the restrictions he knew applied to women in her country. Tamir was more liberal than most of its neighbors, but being born male was still a definite advantage.
She shrugged. "It wouldn't be the first time."
"You make a habit of collecting stray motorists?"
"Hardly. And this was an emergency."
"Hardly," he echoed her tone. "I could have waited until a male driver came along."
He saw her hands tense on the wheel. "He couldn't have done any more."
So he had hit a nerve. Good. Gage decided to press the point, hoping to learn more. "He could have helped me push my car back onto the road."
Her dark gaze flickered over him, then back to the road. "Male chauvinism? I thought you British believed in equality."
"You know the saying about some being more equal than others?"
"Only too well." He winced at her bitter tone. "I didn't say I believe it."
"What do you believe in, Gage?" Her question caught him unprepared. "The usual virtues."
"Money, power and status?"
He found he didn't like being thought so shallow, even by a possible traitor. "They have their uses. But I wouldn't call them virtues. I was speaking of the right to live your own life your way, provided you don't harm anyone else."
"Your wife is a lucky woman," she observed dryly.
Fishing? he wondered, at the same time feeling foolishly flattered by her interest. "I'm not married. What about you?" he asked, although he already knew the answer.
She gave a quick shake of her head. "Not yet."
Her tone said Not ever. Interesting, given what he knew about her and Butrus Dabir. "But you have plans?" he persisted.
"I'm engaged to be married, yes."
He wondered what her resigned sigh said about her relationship. "Your fiance won't object to me driving with you?"
"He's away a lot of the time."
What Dabir didn't know wouldn't hurt him, Gage read into her comment. He tensed. He might have his suspicions about the man, but he was entitled to the truth from his fiancee. Having suffered at the hands of a scheming woman himself, Gage didn't wish the experience on anyone else.
The princess didn't look like a scheming woman, he thought. With the breeze from the open window tugging strands of raven hair out from under her scarf and bringing a flush of peach to her cheeks, she looked beautiful, exotic, kissable.
He subdued the notion. He couldn't afford to feel anything for her when the lifestyle she obviously resisted might have driven her to extremes. Even to being in league with Conrad's killers? The sooner he found out for sure, the better.
"We've arrived," she sa
id.
He looked around with interest. Expecting a village, he was surprised to find them approaching the shell of an old fort set on a hill overlooking a large modern town. Marhaba, he assumed. The big faceless fort, with its whitewashed walls, would have looked at home against a backdrop of reed and mud-brick huts a century ago. Thick stands of greenery surrounded the approach to the fort.
The princess drove the car into a walled courtyard, and he saw that the outward appearance of the building was deceptive. Inside, apart from the cobblestones and whitewash, the building had been completely modernized.
The other thing he noticed was the throng of children who rushed to the car. They ranged in age from about four to eleven or twelve. All of them seemed to want to be close to Nadia.
"Who are all these children?" he asked as they got out.
She was immediately surrounded. Over the heads of the youngsters vying for her attention, she smiled. "They're orphans from Marhaba's poorest families, waiting to be adopted or placed in foster homes." She hugged each child in turn.
"Who's this?" Gage pointed to the toddler peeping at him from behind her skirt.
"Samir. I call him Sammy. He doesn't care for strangers."
"You going to say hello, Sammy?"
The boy buried his face in Nadia's skirt. Gage squatted at child level. "Hey, I don't bite." He reached behind Sammy's ear and pulled out a coin. It was the oldest trick in the book, one Gage had taught himself when he was only a few years older than Sammy. The toddler's eyes went round as saucers.
"More."
This time Gage made the coin disappear. Sammy shook his head and felt his hair, obviously mystified. Gage reached behind the child's other ear and plucked out the coin, then placed it in the small hand. The other children watched in fascination.
Sammy giggled and held out the coin to give it back. Gage closed the toddler's fingers around it. "You keep it. Every kid needs a magic coin."
About as much as they needed parents, he thought. How had Sammy lost his? Gage was surprised by how much he wanted to know. He also wanted to know what Nadia was doing here. Not playing Lady Bountiful, or she'd have arrived as a princess. The children's welcome suggested she was a regular—and popular— visitor. What in blazes was she up to?
Sammy held out his arms and Nadia picked him up. "What do you say to Mr. Weston?"
"Tank you." The little boy tugged at Nadia's concealing scarf, almost dislodging it. "Candy for Sammy?"
She tucked the scarf back into place. "Later, sweetheart, after you eat all your lunch." She glanced at Gage. "You're welcome to join us."
"You've done enough for me already," he said. "I can walk to the town from here, so I'll be on my way." In the town he might be able to find out more about this place and Nadia's role in it. If it was a front for the Brothers of Darkness, it was amazingly convincing.
Like the princess herself. Seeing her with Sammy in her arms, Gage had trouble believing she was anything but what she seemed, a caring compassionate friend to these children. Maybe dodging her royal role was the only way she could get to see them.
And maybe it wasn't.
Over Sammy's objections, she set the child down. The toddler grabbed a handful of her skirt and hung on, making Gage smile in spite of himself.
"You're not going anywhere until Warren has checked you over," Nadia insisted. "If you collapse on the way to town, I'll never forgive myself."
He was more likely to die of curiosity than anything else, but she believed he had injured himself running his car off the road, so he murmured a reluctant assent.
She untangled Sammy from her skirt and sent him off to play with the others, the coin clutched tightly in his fingers. Then she led Gage through a double set of carved wooden doors that looked as old as the fort.
Beyond them was a spacious room set up as an infirmary. A tall, thin, red-haired man with an abundance of freckles was putting a dressing on a little girl's grazed knee. From the state of the room, the girl was the last of a long line of patients. Gage felt a stab of guilt, wondering if Nadia would have been helping out here if she hadn't been delayed by his staged accident.
The little girl smiled when she saw Nadia. "Hello, Addie."
The doctor looked up. "Hi there, running late today?"
"I picked up a passenger on the way," she said.
Addie? How many names did this woman go by? Gage gathered that Warren was a doctor, but how did he —and this place—fit into Nadia's secret life?
The doctor washed his hands, then lifted the child off the examination table. "There you go, Drina. Next time try walking across the courtyard, instead of tearing across at ninety miles an hour."
The little girl giggled. "Thank you, Dr. Warren."
The doctor shepherded the child out and closed the door, then held out his hand to Gage. "Welcome. I'm Warren Walsh. I gather you're a friend of Addie's?"
Gage shook the man's hand. "Gage Weston. I had a little accident on the way, and... Addie was kind enough to give me a lift."
"Gage ran his car into a ditch and knocked himself out on the steering wheel," she supplied helpfully. "I thought you should take a look at him before we let him wander off."
"Quite right. Sit yourself on the table."
Gage hesitated. "I'm perfectly fine now."
Warren frowned. "A period of unconsciousness, however brief, is always cause for concern."
Nadia gave Gage a little push. "You should be at least as brave as Drina."
Gage found he didn't care for the way she lumped him in with her young charge. He moved stiffly to the table, perched on the edge and submitted to the doctor's checkup, trying not to grit his teeth too obviously.
"You're in pretty good shape," the doctor said after giving him a cursory going-over. "Are you an athlete?"
"A diplomat," he amended.
"With the British Trade Delegation," Nadia added.
Gage knew he had to get out of here before the doctor stumbled across any of the battle scars he carried. Considering his line of work, he hadn't done too badly, but the number of scars would arouse any doctor's curiosity.
He slid off the table. "See, I told you I was fine."
"I'm inclined to agree," the doctor said. "You're in the best shape of any diplomat I've ever met."
"I work out a lot," Gage explained, deciding it was time for a change of subject. "What do you call this place?"
"The Marhaba Children's Shelter," Nadia explained. "The children live here until homes can be found for them."
"Which sometimes takes longer than we like," Warren contributed. "These children are the poorest of the poor. Better-off families are sometimes reluctant to adopt them."
Nadia nodded. "Although they are the most delightful children you could ever wish to meet."
Like Sammy, Gage thought. The little fellow couldn't be more than four, but he had bright eyes and a radiant smile. He was obviously attached to Nadia, or Addie or whatever name she went by here.
"How did you get involved with this place?" he asked Nadia.
Warren laughed. "She doesn't have enough to do back home."
Nadia shot Gage a quick look. "Don't worry, Warren knows who I am, but once I drive through the gates, I'm simply Addie, the children's friend. I come as often as I can to help out."
That explained two of the multiple identities, Gage thought. Did Warren know her as Tahani, the maid, or Nadia, the princess? Since he wasn't supposed to know about her royal identity, he couldn't very well ask. He pulled out his wallet. "In return for your help today, I'm happy to make a contribution."
"We don't need your money," Nadia said. "The children are provided with everything they require. What they don't have are loving homes."
Gage felt a ripple of something he couldn't pin down. Nadia couldn't possibly know that he wanted children of his own. "In myjob, I'm hardly in a position to give a child a home," he said.
"Then we'll settle for your money, Gage," Warren said cheerfully. "The infirmary coul
d use some new equipment."
Nadia frowned at him. "You should have told me."
The doctor rested a hand on her arm. "You do enough as it is. Risk enough as it is."
Gage's professional instincts went on alert. Now what did the doctor mean by that? Was the place a front for something underhand, after all? Gage peeled off some notes, hoping he wasn't making a donation to the Brothers of Darkness. He handed them to the doctor, who nodded his thanks.
"Now that I know I'll live, I'll be on my way," Gage said. "Thank you, both of you, for your help."
The doctor tucked the money into his shirt pocket. "You're welcome."
Nadia smiled. "Try not to fall asleep at the wheel next time."
"Good advice. Maybe I'll see you at the palace sometime."
A shadow fell over her lovely features. He couldn't see her eyes behind the dark glasses, and he found himself wishing he could. He had a feeling her eyes were her most beautiful feature. Time to get out of here, he told himself. The lady was trouble.
"I don't usually have much to do with the diplomatic corps," she said. "Sheik Ahmed will no doubt receive you in the reception hall. My place is usually in the family apartments."
No wonder she wasn't worried that he'd spot her and recognize that the princess and "Tahani" were one and the same. She was counting on him being kept out of her way. He'd have to do something about that. A bit of research should turn up the ways and means. He gathered that no one except her maid knew about her extracurricular activities, so he'd have an edge when they met again.
He was determined they wouldmeet again. In fact, he was looking forward to it. He still didn't know whether she had any connection with Conrad's death or with the Brothers of Darkness, but she was definitely up to something. Unmasking her was going to be a pleasure.
Chapter 2
" Aren't you concerned that your British diplomat will blow the whistle on you at the palace?" the doctor asked as soon as the infirmary door closed behind Gage.
Nadia frowned. "He thinks I'm Tahani, the ladies' maid. As long as I stay out of his way when he presents his credentials at court, there's no reason for him to think I'm Princess Nadia."
