Royal Lockdown

He’d already marked the location of Ariana LeBron and her bodyguard, a guy named Manfred Werner. Shane started toward them, shouldering his way through the immobilized party guests, just as the lights flicked back on again.

People blinked in the suddenly renewed brightness as gasps and nervous comments were replaced by sighs of relief.

Shane found the princess and her muscular bodyguard and was relieved to see that the brawny man was doing his job. He had moved her into a corner where she wouldn’t get trampled if people suddenly started to panic.

With the light level back to normal, a murmur of conversation and questions had started up in the room. Everybody, including Shane, wanted to know what had happened. To find out, he needed inside information—or outside information, depending on how you thought about it.

He saw his friend Ben Parker across the room and wove his way through the crowd toward the FBI agent.

Parker looked as if he was staring into space, but Shane knew he was listening to a transmission through his earpiece. Hopefully, his government sources were telling him what had caused the momentary blackout, and he’d be willing to share the information with a friend.

When Parker appeared to be ready for a live conversation, Shane asked, “What was that business with the lights?”

The agent’s expression turned disparaging. “Just the usual summer problems with Boston Power and Light. They need to update some of their equipment.”

“No chance of a repeat?”

“The mayor and the president of the power company don’t think so.”

“You guys still going to allow both the president and the vice president to be here?”

“We’ve got it under control,” Parker bit out.

“Thanks,” Shane answered, still on edge, but thinking the momentary blackout had given him a perfect opportunity. Everybody was focusing on what had just happened. They wouldn’t be thinking about the Beau Pays sapphire at the moment.

ARIANA FELT MANFRED SHIFT his position. He’d curved his body around hers earlier and now he straightened, tugging at his jacket.

“Thank you,” she murmured.

She knew the physical contact had made him uncomfortable, but she also knew he’d been doing his job.

“Do you think that happens often in the United States?” she asked.

“I hope not. But this is summer, and the Americans love their air-conditioning. There’s more drain than usual on the power system.”

“Was it just this building, do you think?”

“It was the whole city,” Manfred answered immediately. “I looked out the window and saw all the lights go out. There was nothing illuminated as far as the eye can see, except the motor-vehicle headlights and some boats in the harbor.”

She shuddered. From her research, she knew that the population of Boston was six hundred thousand, and the metro area was much bigger. How far had the blackout extended? And what had happened during the moments of blackness?

Was the crisis a good enough excuse for her to slip out of the reception now? Couldn’t she cite security concerns?

Even as she asked the question, she silently admitted that her disappearance would be conspicuous. The news would surely get back to her father. He’d sent her all the way across the Atlantic to attend this reception, and he’d be disappointed in her if she slipped out so soon. Once again, she was reminded of her duty.

Just as she finished the internal debate, the orchestra began playing “Hail to the Chief.” Even if she’d wanted to leave, it was too late now. Like everyone else in the reception hall, she turned toward the double doors that led to the elevators, watching the tall, salt-and-pepper-haired man stride in.

In her royal role, she’d met many heads of state, and she saw instantly that President Stack had the presence of a ruler. Vice President Davis was also quite impressive, standing with the straight posture of a military man.

“Thank you for coming, especially those of you who have traveled here from outside the United States,” the president said.

“I believe the new international trade agreement that our countries have signed is a good step toward global cooperation. Whether we like it or not, we’ve entered the era of a global economy. And helping that economy run smoothly benefits every nation of the world, no matter how large or how small.

“I’d like to especially welcome some of our distinguished guests.”

He named the British secretary of commerce, the French foreign minister and then looked in her direction.

“And we’re particularly honored to have Princess Ariana of Beau Pays with us this evening.”

She gave him a gracious smile, then turned to acknowledge the applause that filled the room, glad that she hadn’t ducked out before this moment. She didn’t love being singled out, but she understood that her royal status added cachet to the occasion. Many of the people here would go home and talk about meeting her, even if they’d been no closer than the other side of the room.

She was happy that the president had specifically mentioned her country’s participation in the agreement. Beau Pays might be small, but her father and her grandfather had made a point of cooperating in treaties and initiatives that would benefit the world community.

Her training allowed her to pretend that she didn’t mind the extra attention the other guests were giving her. Yet she couldn’t shrug off an unsettling feeling that prickled at the back of her neck. The feeling that someone in the room did not wish her well.

Beside her, Manfred was scanning the formally clad men and women, and she suspected he was picking up the same vibes that she had. Was there someone here who had a bone to pick with Beau Pays?

Perhaps now was the time to leave.

She was about to tell Manfred to alert their driver when a movement in the crowd made her glance up to find Shane Peters striding toward her, looking inordinately pleased with himself, she noted.

As he stopped in front of her, she felt Manfred tense and knew that she had to defuse the situation at once before her bodyguard took the man out in the hallway and demanded to know why he was getting so close to his charge.

Smoothly, she gestured toward the newcomer. “Manfred, this is Shane Peters, an old friend of my father’s.”

Peters didn’t miss a beat. “I came over to introduce myself, but it seems you’ve been reading my bio.”

“Yes, I recognize you from your dossier,” she answered, deliberately making it sound as if there were a secret file on the man. Up close he was even more devastatingly handsome than he had been from across the room, and she wanted to put some distance between them. If not physical distance, then emotional distance.

Really, the “dossier” contained only general information of the sort she’d found on the other people who would be here tonight.

“I hope you enjoyed reading about my checkered career.”

She refused to take the bait.

A more polite man would have understood what she was doing and backed off. In this brief encounter she had already learned that Shane Peters didn’t necessarily observe the social niceties.

He kept his gaze on her, and she had to remind herself to breathe calmly in and out.

“I was hoping to see your father here.”

“He was indisposed. He sent me in his place.”

Peters’s face clouded with what looked like genuine concern. “I hope he’s all right.”

“It’s nothing serious,” she quickly assured him. Gout was painful but not life threatening. Her father was back on his special diet now and medication that would diminish the attack.

“Good.” Peters gave her a smile that must have melted many female hearts. “We should dance.”

“Dance?” As she spoke the question, she realized that the orchestra had begun to play a waltz. It was one of her favorites. “The Blue Danube.”

Peters opened his hands, as though inviting her to step into his embrace. “To celebrate the trade agreement,” he said.

The invitation was very tempting, but she knew on a deeply personal level that she shouldn’t accept. She was also aware that Manfred was watching the exchange with interest. He had been with her for the past three years, and he knew how she always behaved in public.

True to form, she gave Peters her standard answer. “I prefer to stay on the sidelines.”

“One dance won’t hurt you, will it?” the American pressed. Obviously he didn’t know anything about royal protocol.

She wanted to tell him that he’d already disturbed her equanimity enough for one evening, but that would give away far too much.

So she thought of another way to create distance between them, to take them away from this place and time, at least temporarily.

“My father met you on a rescue mission, right?”

“Yes. In Barik. It’s near Libya.”

“I know where it is.”

“Sorry. I should have realized you’re a lot better educated than the average American who probably hasn’t even heard of the place.”

She acknowledged the apology, then turned the conversation away from herself again. “My father is an expert in Middle Eastern languages.”

“I always wondered why,” Peters answered without missing a beat.

“Because he said that the Middle East would emerge as a center of power in the world and he wanted to be prepared.”

“Very wise of him. And of course, his being able to speak Arabic helps him in negotiating for oil.”

She smiled. “That, too.” Before he could get too far into economic issues, she brought the conversation back to the topic that interested her. “Tell me about the mission.”

“What did your father say about it?” Peters countered.

“He said that you went in to rescue a group of fifty-eight hostages, mostly engineers, teachers and missionaries, who were being held in the basement of a building in the densely populated downtown area. The captives were from the U.S., England, Australia and Beau Pays.”

Peters’s face took on a faraway look, and she knew that, in some sense, he was back there in that civil war-torn country reliving the night he’d been dropped off by helicopter in the capital city.

“They were held for weeks in horrible conditions. The world prayed for their safety, but the country was becoming more and more unstable, with insurgents fighting the government and fighting each other. The captors kept up negotiations, but they seemed to be getting nowhere. Finally, the only option was a rescue mission.”

“Who else was on the team?”

“Chase Vickers was our engineering expert. Ethan Matalon was our computer ace. Ty Jones was our demolitions man. And, of course, Vice President Davis was our tactical expert.”

“You keep in touch with them?”

“Well, I haven’t seen the vice president in years. But the others are still my friends. Chase is a driver who gets a lot of jobs working for VIPs when they’re in town. Ty is right over there.” He gestured with his hand. “He’s with the Secret Service guarding the vice president. A very prestigious assignment.”

“You and the others got the hostages out of there.”

“Most of them,” he answered, and she caught a flash of pain on his face. There were aspects of the mission that her father never talked about, and it looked as if she wouldn’t get a straight story from Peters, either. Something, she knew, had gone terribly wrong. But what?

Peters was silent for several moments. Then, before she realized what was happening, he reached out and touched her hand.

She wasn’t sure why he’d done it. To change the subject? To break through the barrier that she’d tried to erect between them? All she knew was that she felt a jolt of sensation like an electric shock going through her body.

Her breath caught, and when she looked into his eyes, he appeared to be as stunned as she was.

Life had taught her to be a realist. She knew a lot of men wanted to be seen with her because she was Princess Ariana, the heir to the throne of Beau Pays.

But this man looked as if he was reacting to her on a very personal level.

He was attracted to her. And she had the honesty to admit that she was attracted to him as well.

So what would be the harm of one dance? They weren’t going to see each other after tonight. She’d be safely home tomorrow. And safely married six months after that.

“Let’s dance,” she whispered.

Manfred looked startled and started to say something, but she shook her head, and he closed his mouth.

But obviously he would report this incident to King Frederick.

“Watch my purse,” she said to him as she set it down on one of the tables.

He nodded curtly.

Yes, he would speak to her father. And if the king chastised her, she could always fall back on the excuse that she was being nice to one of his old friends.

She let Peters lead her to the dance floor. She already knew that the two of them had nothing in common beyond the man’s long-ago mission with her father. In the span of a waltz, she’d find out that they really had nothing to say to each other, and she could walk away from him without regret.

But she didn’t have to walk away yet. Not when he had taken her in his arms and pulled her to him so that her body touched his.

She liked the way the man held her. The way he smelled—a combination of masculine skin and some woodsy scent she couldn’t identify. And she liked the way his large hand splayed across her back, his fingers grazing the line where her evening gown dipped along her backbone.

She realized with a start that she was enjoying the proximity entirely too much. She should take a step back and put some distance between them. Instead she stayed where she was as he began to move her around the floor.

He was an excellent dancer, and if he’d been anyone else, she could have relaxed in his arms and let him guide her smoothly through the waltz steps.

But with proximity came tingling awareness spreading through her bloodstream. She tried her best to ignore the sensation. Yet when he gathered her closer and stared down into her eyes, she had to fight a swirl of unaccustomed emotions.

A look of pure, burning sexuality passed between them. No man of her acquaintance would have dared to be so bold. Which only proved that she didn’t belong in Shane Peters’s arms. He must have had a lot of sexual experience. She had virtually none, because as the princess of Beau Pays, she was expected to maintain high standards of decorum. She had never stepped over the line—not even with Jean Claude.

ONE OF THE WAITERS STOPPED for a minute and stared at the couples circling on the dance floor.

He saw Shane Peters and the little blond princess from Beau Pays. Automatically, he noted their location, then told himself not to bother. By the time he needed to find them again, they’d be long gone from that part of the floor.

But he’d find them. There was no doubt in his mind.

He stepped from the reception room into the kitchen area, put down the empty tray he’d been carrying and looked at his watch.

Almost time to go into action.

Around him, a dozen staffers were busy doing their jobs. Most of them worked for the catering company. But others had been added to the roster because the party was large.

Everyone here tonight had undergone a rigorous security check, given the high-level guest list. Still, his fake credentials had held up perfectly. As had those of the three other men working with him.

One of them gave him a quick look and put down his own tray.

Unfortunately, the waitstaff manager noticed that two of his workers were slacking off.

Striding across the room, he demanded, “Where do you think you’re going?”

“On break.”

“You’re not scheduled for a break.”

“Sorry.” The imposter strove to keep his voice even. “Come over here. I want to show you something.”

“What?”

“I can’t describe it. You have to see it for yourself. It’s right over here.”

Walking purposefully, he led the manager into an alcove off the service area where the staff bathrooms were located, then grabbed the man by the hair, tipped back his head and slashed a knife across his throat.

The assault was over in seconds. Before the imposter could drag the manager into a closet, an unfortunate kitchen worker chose that moment to step out of the bathroom.

When he saw the tuxedo-clad man lying in a pool of blood on the tile floor, he gasped and tried to jump back into the safety of the men’s room. But another one of the conspirators was already on him, taking him out like the first victim.

The first victim. It felt good to think those words.

The night’s real mission had begun. And before the sun rose, there would be a lot of important names added to the victims list.

Two more bogus waiters joined the men who had stepped into the alcove. They dragged the dead men into the bathroom and dumped them by the urinals.

They also retrieved the bags with their automatic weapons, night-vision goggles and gas masks from the bottom of the waste bins.

Then, by mutual agreement, they turned to the mirror and began to remove the disguises they’d been wearing. One pulled off his glasses and mustache. The other tossed into the trash bin his false nose, cheek pads and the appliance that changed the shape of his mouth.

As soon as they were back in the hallway, the other two men disappeared into the bathroom and performed similar operations—quietly and efficiently, the way they had practiced.

Soon all four of them were standing in the hallway—Uzis in hand—waiting for the signal.

The youngest of the conspirators shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “How much longer before we make our move?”

“Any minute now.” The speaker made an effort to sound calm, but he could hear the tension in his own voice, could feel adrenaline coursing through his bloodstream. They had planned carefully for this night. They had taken every contingency into consideration. Now they were ready—as soon as they got the order to move out. The man who had dispatched the catering manager gave him an indulgent look.

If any other unfortunate employee had to go to the bathroom before the mission went down, then he’d end up like the two men already lying dead on the floor.

SHANE WAS USED TO GETTING what he wanted. He had wanted to dance with Ariana LeBron and now she was in his arms. But he found he wanted far more than one or two dances. He knew he was letting a fantasy carry him away. The heir to the Beau Pays throne wasn’t going to get involved with a guy who’d been raised in a series of foster homes.

Even in the U.S., where you were supposed to be able to improve your station in life by talent and hard work, he still felt like an outsider in a group like this. Even if he didn’t look like an outsider.

In Europe, he knew things were different. If you were born on the wrong side of the tracks, you didn’t end up getting cozy with royalty.

But tonight he wasn’t going to bow to convention. He’d pulled off a damn slick coup a few minutes ago, and he was going to celebrate his success by enjoying the woman in his arms.

She was so delicate, so beautiful, and she had a sharp mind. He always liked that in a bed partner.

Bed partner!

In your dreams, Peters.

“Have you seen the Danube?” she asked.

The question threw him, and he struggled to bring it into context. Then the music registered on him. “The Blue Danube” waltz.

“Yes. I saw the river when I was in Vienna. And Bratislava.”

“Not many Westerners have visited Bratislava.”

“I was on an assignment.” He didn’t elaborate, since he’d been working for Eclipse, shutting down a weapons-smuggling operation that had ferried former Soviet armaments from Prague to Austria where they’d found their way to various terrorist groups in Western Europe.

He couldn’t talk about that, or any of his Eclipse missions, so he circled back to her original question. “I was disappointed to see that the river was more gray than blue. Of course, that might be different in summer.”

Just then, Shane felt a buzzing sensation and thought for a moment that it came from his reaction to Ariana. Then he realized he was feeling the vibration of his cell phone. A text message was coming in, and he should take a look at it.

But he wasn’t here on business. At least not anybody’s business besides his own. So he ignored the phone and let himself drift on the buzzing sensations in his brain, sensations created by the woman in his arms.

He’d inched her closer to him, so that his cheek was pressed to hers. Her delicate skin felt wonderful against his face, and if the dance floor had been less crowded, he would have closed his eyes, the better to concentrate on the feel of her body, her scent, the small hand that rested on his shoulder.

Over the years, he had enjoyed the company of many women. But he had never let a relationship knock him off his pins. Tonight, though, he was having trouble breathing and thinking straight as he held Ariana Le-Bron in his arms.

Some part of his mind shouted that this was the wrong woman for him. The wrong time. The wrong place. He was crazy to be thinking of starting anything with her.

Yet his mind kept zinging back to that electric moment when they’d first touched. From her shocked expression, he knew he hadn’t been the only one who’d felt that thrill of discovery.

She could have backed away from him then, but she’d joined him on the dance floor. He knew that she could have easily put some distance between them. Instead she allowed him to press her body against his as they moved in time to the music. It flitted through his thoughts that she might be having the same problems as he was.

His mind ventured further into forbidden territory. Could you go to jail for kissing a princess?

Probably. But that wouldn’t happen unless she made a fuss later. And if he kissed her, he’d make sure she had nothing to complain about.

He looked around the reception room, seeing men and women enjoying themselves. Polite enjoyment. Nothing you couldn’t show on the late news this evening.

He, on the other hand, was going up in flames on the dance floor.

So was there any chance in hell of getting her off alone, without that muscle-bound bodyguard hovering over them?

To do what? Steal a few kisses? That wouldn’t be enough. Not hardly. But he’d probably have to settle for mouth-to-mouth intimacy.

He stopped thinking about the wisdom of his decision as he moved them across the dance floor, putting as many couples as possible between Ariana and the hulking Manfred.

He looked toward the balcony. If they went out there, they’d be alone. Of course, the huge windows were a problem. But if they moved around the corner, they’d be blocked by a wall.

He had almost reached his goal when the lights flickered out again.

Ariana straightened and drew in a small breath.

“They came back on last time,” she whispered.

“Yeah. Give it a minute,” he said reassuringly, hoping that this was another false alarm.

He waited with his heart pounding inside his chest. When the lights stayed out, he knew that the first flickering of the electricity had only been a warning of worse to come.

Because this was the disaster he had sensed was coming his way when he’d first stepped into the reception hall.

Chapter Three

Maybe this was just another snafu on the part of Boston Power and Light. Or maybe it wasn’t.

Regardless, the blackout was an instant security nightmare.

Shane wondered what FBI agent Ben Parker was thinking now. He’d been so sure that everything was under control when the lights had come back on. At the moment, he must be struggling for bladder control.

Shane looked at the foreign dignitaries around him, now visible only in shadow. With President Stack and Vice President Davis in attendance, the building, he knew, would be on lockdown. Nobody was going in or out until the Secret Service said it was safe to move.