By Order of the Prince

by Carla Cassidy

  “Small-minded bigots,” she observed. “Not everyone from a different country is a potential terrorist and people who think that way are just ignorant.”

  He smiled at her again. “Too bad you aren’t in charge of the world. I have a feeling if you were it would be a much nicer place.”

  She laughed. “I’m just in charge of laundry and cleaning supplies and that’s enough for me, thank you very much.”

  Antoine shifted his gaze out the side window as she turned onto the narrow road that led to her cottage. “If it was somebody from the mob who picked up Amir the night of the bombing, then I can’t think of any reason they would have of keeping him alive. I keep wondering if he’s someplace out there, buried in the woods where nobody will ever find his body.”

  He was surprised by the sudden rush of emotion that welled up thick in the back of his throat.

  Her hand, warm on his arm, pulled him back from where he teetered on the edge of grief. “You can’t lose hope, Antoine. Until we know for sure, you have to keep hoping that he’s still alive.”

  As she withdrew her hand from him, he smiled at her once again. “You’re a good woman, Beth Taylor.”

  She smiled. “Not especially. I can be impatient with my staff at times.” Her hands tightened on the steering wheel. “I lead with my heart and not with my head and that’s caused me to make some bad decisions in the past.”

  “What sort of bad decisions?” he asked. He realized he wanted to know everything there was to know about her. She stirred a lusty passion inside him, but he was also curious about her as a person.

  “It’s not important right now,” she replied and frowned as she gazed in her rearview mirror.

  “Problem?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. There’s a dark car coming up fast behind us. This road isn’t meant for speed. I just hope he slows down before he tries to pass us on this narrow road.”

  He turned to look and saw the vehicle behind them approaching far too fast considering the road condition. “Surely he’ll slow down,” he said.

  He turned back around and saw her eyes widen in disbelief. At the same time their car was smashed from behind with a force that snapped his head back.

  Beth struggled to gain control of the car, but to no avail. Antoine felt the car go airborne and knew they were in deep trouble.

  “Beth!” he cried as the world went topsy-turvy and then everything went black.

  Chapter Four

  Grinding noise and splintering glass. Beth’s world was a place of chaos and pain as the sky became the ground and top became bottom.

  The car seemed to roll forever before finally coming to rest upside down. Beth felt dazed and unable to make sense of anything. Her heart pounded so loudly in her ears she could hear nothing else.

  The scent of gasoline and motor oil filled the air. Her arms hurt from trying to wrestle with the steering wheel and her ribs ached from the tight grip of the seat belt. Everything that had been on the floor of the car was now around her head, confusing her even more as she tried to make sense of what had just happened.

  Someplace in the back of her mind where rational thought still existed, she realized she wasn’t badly hurt. She wiggled her toes and flexed her fingers and realized it didn’t appear that anything had been broken. She was lucky to be alive.

  And then she remembered her passenger.

  She snapped her gaze to him as she worked to unfasten her seat belt. His eyes were closed and blood oozed from an ugly gash on his forehead.

  Her heart felt like it stopped beating in her chest. Was he dead? Oh God, had she killed the Prince of Barajas? She became aware of a discordant sound and realized it was her own sobs.

  “Antoine,” she cried as she finally managed to get herself free of her seat belt. She reached over and grabbed his arm and shook it.

  “Antoine, please wake up. For God’s sake you have to be okay.” She couldn’t bear it if he were dead. She gasped in relief as he issued a deep-throated moan and slowly opened his eyes.

  For a moment they stared at each other and then he groaned again. “Beth, are you all right?” He seemed dazed as he looked around the car.

  “Yes, I think so. What about you? Your forehead is bleeding.”

  “I’m okay. I was just knocked out for a minute.” He drew a deep breath and the faint fog in his eyes began to clear. He worked on unfastening his seat belt. “I smell gasoline. We’ve got to get out of here.”

  Thankfully the front window had exploded outward, affording them an escape route from the wrecked vehicle. After some difficult maneuvering Antoine finally managed to go out the window first and then leaned back in to help Beth escape the car.

  They staggered away from the hissing, steaming car and collapsed on the grass. Beth looked up to the road, unsurprised to find that the car that had hit them was no place to be seen.

  For a moment she felt too stunned to think as she stared at the car that might have become their coffin. She looked back at Antoine who was swiping the blood off his forehead.

  “We need help,” she said. “Do you have your cell phone?”

  He patted his pocket and grimaced. “It must have fallen out in the car when we tumbled.”

  “Mine’s in my purse, someplace in the car.”

  “I’ll get it,” he said and started to rise.

  “No,” she exclaimed quickly. “You sit still. You’ve had a head bang. Besides, I’m smaller and can crawl back through the window easier.”

  She pulled herself up from the grass and had only taken one step toward the car when the sound of a gunshot cracked and Beth felt the whiz of a bullet come precariously close to her head.

  Antoine reached up and grabbed her by the arm and slammed her down to the ground. She hit the earth with a thud and Antoine instantly covered her body with his.

  Her brain short-circuited. What was going on? Somebody had shot at her? She gasped as Antoine pulled a gun from an ankle holster she hadn’t known he wore.

  “Wha…what’s going on?” she finally managed to sputter.

  “Shh, be still.” His features were taut as he gazed in the direction where the shot had come from. His eyes were narrowed and pale—and utterly dangerous-looking.

  His muscles tensed and he seemed to be holding his breath. Another shot split the air, the dirt near them kicking up in a whirl of dust.

  He muttered a curse beneath his breath. “We’re vulnerable out here in the open. We’ve got to move.” He scanned the area. “See the trees behind us?”

  She craned her neck to see and then nodded. “Yes.” Her voice sounded two octaves higher to her own ears. Terror squeezed her throat and roiled in her stomach, making her feel as if she might throw up at any moment.

  “When I say go I want you to run for those trees. Run as fast as you can and don’t look back.” He slowly moved his body off of hers.

  Fear screamed through her as every muscle in her body tensed with fight-or-flight adrenaline. She didn’t want to run. She didn’t want to move. She just wanted to go back an hour in time, when everything was okay.

  “Get ready,” he whispered. “Go!”

  As she jumped up and ran for the cover of the trees he stood and began to fire his gun in the direction of the shooter while he followed close behind her.

  Beth stopped when she reached one of the large trees. She wanted to hug the trunk that was now an obstacle for the shooter to get around. Antoine slid in beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist. “Okay?” he asked.

  Hell no, she wasn’t okay. Still, she nodded, too breathless to speak. She felt like she’d stepped out of a nightmare and straight into hell.

  Antoine’s cold, calculating eyes scanned the area once again. She wanted to ask him what he saw…who he saw, but she was afraid to speak in case the shooter might hear her.

  “We need to stay on the move,” he said softly. “We’ll go deeper into the forest and work our way toward the resort. Be quiet and stay close to me.”

&
nbsp; Stay close to him? If she could, she would have glued herself to his chest. The trauma from the wreck had momentarily shot her into a bit of a fog, but the fog had completely lifted now and she was consumed by a terror she’d never felt before.

  The only thing that made her feel slightly better was that he seemed cool and calm, so completely in control and not afraid at all. She didn’t know if it was just an act and at the moment she didn’t care. She only knew it made her feel a little bit better.

  “We’re going to run to those trees,” he said and pointed to the left of where they stood. “Stay low and move fast. Let’s go.”

  As they raced toward the next stand of trees, Beth expected a bullet to slam into one of them, but there was no answering gunfire.

  “Maybe he’s gone,” she gasped as they once again reached cover.

  “Or he’s on the move to get closer to us,” Antoine replied, his words doing little to assuage the jagged fear that ripped at her. “We need to keep moving. We don’t want to be static targets.”

  They moved from cover to cover, pressing their bodies against trees and crouching in the brush. Each chirp of a bird overhead, any rustle of a small animal in the brush momentarily stopped Beth’s heart.

  After making half a dozen moves, she felt Antoine begin to relax a bit. His eyes weren’t as pale as they had been and his features were less tense.

  “I think maybe he’s gone,” he said. “If he was still around he would have popped off another shot or two by now. But we still need to stay on guard.”

  “Maybe he was afraid somebody heard the gunshots,” she said hopefully. “It had to be somebody from the sedan. Our wreck wasn’t an accident. He intentionally rammed us from behind.” Fear once again raised a cold hand and gripped her in a deathlike vise.

  “Let’s get back to the resort and then we can figure it all out.” He took her hand in his and together they began to head in the direction of the hotel.

  Somebody had tried to kill them. First with the car collision and then with a gun. Had this been yet another attempt to kill one of the men in the COIN coalition? Did it have something to do with the notes they had given to Jane?

  There were so many questions and no answers to make sense of what had just happened. All she knew was that she couldn’t wait to get back to the safety of the resort and she didn’t even want to think about the fact that her car was now destroyed and the insurance payment would be just shy of paltry for the old reliable car.

  They walked in silence for what felt like hours. Every once in a while Antoine would signal a stop and as they stood still he listened to the woods around them, his gun at the ready.

  When the resort property finally came into view Beth almost wept in relief. Antoine looped an arm over her shoulder, as if to offer some comfort as they made their way to a side door that would keep them from having to enter through the lobby.

  “We have to call the sheriff,” she said as they entered his suite. “We can’t keep this to ourselves. We have to report this, Antoine.”

  “You’re absolutely right,” he agreed and swiped at his forehead where blood still oozed from the gash. “But we don’t have to tell him everything. We don’t have to tell him that we were at Jane’s or about the notes, just that we were on our way to your place.”

  She hesitated before replying. Lying was aberrant to Beth and she thought the time had come to tell Jake Wolf everything.

  “Beth.” Antoine placed his hands on her shoulders and gently kneaded with his fingers. “You’ve been so incredibly brave and I know this all has shaken you up, but I need you to help me. I need you to trust me enough to let me do what I need to do. I need the time that Jane promised us.”

  His eyes were soft pools of pleading and even though she knew she was probably all kinds of fool, she did trust him. “Okay, then we just tell him we were going to my house, that you wanted some time away from the resort,” she finally relented.

  “Thank you,” he replied and dropped his arms back to his sides.

  “I’ll call Jake and then we need to clean up your forehead. You should probably be checked out by a doctor. If you were unconscious for any length of time then you probably have a concussion.”

  “Nonsense, I’m fine. No doctor.” There was more than a little steel in his voice.

  Minutes later, with the call made to Jake, Beth stood in the bathroom with Antoine. She tried to ignore his tantalizing nearness as she dabbed at his wounded forehead with a wet washcloth.

  Even though they had survived a car crash and a shooter, despite the fact that they’d trekked through the woods to get back here, he still smelled of that wonderful cologne that danced delight in her brain.

  “There’s a lot of blood,” she said, trying to stay focused on the task at hand. “You might need a stitch or two. I still think you should see a doctor.”

  “Head wounds always bleed a lot,” he replied. “I’m sure it will be fine. I don’t need a doctor.” He was seated on the edge of the large tub, his face in a direct line with her breasts and she felt his gaze there, tightening her nipples beneath her blouse.

  How could she be feeling so turned on after what they’d just been through? How could his nearness, his hand resting lightly on the small of her back, his simple gaze create such want inside her?

  It had to be some sort of trick of adrenaline, she told herself. Hadn’t she read something someplace about danger and sexual response? Something about endorphins or some hormone that made the two closely related?

  “You have a soft touch.” His deep voice was like a warm caress as his breath fanned her collarbone.

  “And thank God you have a hard head,” she retorted.

  He laughed and stood and she suddenly found herself in his embrace. “Nothing like escaping death to make you want to affirm life, right? And what I’d like to do at this very moment is carry you into my bed and make love to you until the sun comes up tomorrow morning.”

  Her breath hitched as she stared up at him. She knew that making love with Antoine would indelibly mark her forever, that when he returned to his country and his people, he would take a little piece of her heart with him.

  But at the moment none of that mattered. What mattered was that his strong arms around her stole away the chill of residual danger from her. What mattered was that she couldn’t remember ever wanting a man like she wanted Antoine.

  When his mouth sought hers, she answered with a hungry kiss of her desire. She tasted desire in his lips as well. His mouth demanded response and she gave, swirling her tongue with his as sweet sensations chased away the last of her fear.

  She clung to him and wanted him to take her to his bed and make her moan with delight, gasp in sweet pleasure. She wanted to lose herself in him and not think about car crashes or crazy people chasing after them with guns.

  His hands slowly slid down her back and cupped her buttocks and pulled her closer, tighter against him. He was aroused, but this time instead of pulling back from him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself more intimately against his hard body.

  “Sweet Beth,” he whispered as his lips left hers and trailed a hot path down the length of her neck. “I want you.” The simple words only increased her desire.

  At that moment a knock fell on the door. Antoine groaned and with obvious reluctance released his hold on her. He stepped back, his eyes blazing with a hunger that threatened to devour her.

  “This isn’t finished,” he said, his voice lower, deeper than usual. “I will have you in my bed, Beth Taylor.”

  The words were not a threat, but rather a promise that shot a shiver of anticipation up her spine as he turned on his heels and left the bathroom.

  THE HEAT OF PASSION SLOWLY EBBED as Antoine walked to the suite door. He’d expected Sheriff Jake Wolf, but instead he saw Michael, his head of security, on the other side of the door.

  Michael gasped in alarm at the sight of him. “Your Highness, what happened? You’ve been hurt!”


  “It’s nothing,” Antoine replied as he closed the door behind the big man. “I was in a car accident.”

  “A car accident? Why were you out in a car without your driver, without your security with you?” He didn’t wait for Antoine to reply, but rather continued, “Your Highness, I can’t keep you safe if you go off by yourself and don’t let me know what’s going on.”

  Michael’s frustration was evident in his raised voice and the redness that filled his broad features. “These are dangerous times, Prince Antoine, and I take my job as head of your security team very seriously. I wish you would do the same.”

  “I’m sure Fahad Bahir, Sheik Efraim Aziz’s head of security, took his job seriously as well,” Antoine replied drily.

  Michael sucked in a breath and froze. “You doubt my trustworthiness?” They both knew that Fahad had tried to kill Sheik Efraim but instead had been killed himself. “You wound me deeply. I would die to protect you,” Michael exclaimed fervently. “You should know after all my years of service that your safety is my number one priority.”

  Suddenly Antoine was exhausted. The adrenaline that had pumped through him immediately following the crash, the raw, pulsing energy that had driven him through the woods to safety finally disappeared.

  He sank down on the edge of the sofa as Beth returned to the room, looking as exhausted as he felt.

  Michael raised a dark eyebrow at her appearance.

  “Beth, this is Michael Napolis, head of my security team. Michael, Beth Taylor works here at the hotel as head of housekeeping.” Beth nodded and slid down in the chair opposite the sofa as Antoine looked back at Michael. “We’re waiting now for Sheriff Jake Wolf to arrive. We were forced off the road. We managed to escape the crash only to be shot at by an unknown person.”

  Michael’s eyes narrowed. “I must insist that you use your security force whenever you leave these rooms. None of the members of the coalition who are still here are safe until we identify who is behind these attacks.”