The Princess's Bodyguard

The Princess's Bodyguard
BEVERLY BARTON

This arrogant, ill-mannered American was hardly the sort of man Princess Adele of Orlantha was used to encountering in her world of wealth and privilege.And yet Matt O'Brien was all that stood between her and the deadly conspiracy that threatened everything she held dear. Her only hope was a marriage - in name only - to her self-appointed "protector."But to be so very intimate with this infuriating yet dangerously compelling man was almost more than she could bear - because their masquerade was turning into a passion that was all too real.

“Will you do it, Matt?” Princess Adele asked anxiously. “Will you marry me?”

Matt leaned back into his chair and closed his eyes. “I’ll probably regret it, but…yeah, I’ll marry you.”

“Thank you,” she whispered. “I’ll be in your debt forever.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He opened his eyes just a fraction. “Six months after the annulment, you’ll barely remember my name.”

“That’s not true. I’ll always—” She stopped abruptly.

From across the room, Matt kept watching her. He simply couldn’t take his eyes off her. And the more he tried to push aside thoughts of her, the more vivid those thoughts became. He could taste her lips, feel her body, hear her soft whimpers.

She kept telling him no, but the look in her eyes said something else. That look said, I want you. Even though I know we’re all wrong for each other, I want you….

Dear Reader,

Once again, Silhouette Intimate Moments starts its month off with a bang, thanks to Beverly Barton’s The Princess’s Bodyguard, another in this author’s enormously popular miniseries THE PROTECTORS. A princess used to royal suitors has to “settle” for an in-name-only marriage to her commoner bodyguard. Or maybe she isn’t settling at all? Look for more Protectors in On Her Guard, Beverly Barton’s Single Title, coming next month.

ROMANCING THE CROWN continues with Sarah’s Knight by Mary McBride. An arrogant palace doctor finds he needs help himself when his little boy stops speaking. To the rescue: a beautiful nanny sent to work with the child—but who winds up falling for the good doctor himself. And in Candace Irvin’s Crossing the Line, an army pilot crash-lands, and she and her surviving passenger—a handsome captain—deal simultaneously with their attraction to each other and the ongoing crash investigation. Virginia Kantra begins her TROUBLE IN EDEN miniseries with All a Man Can Do, in which a police chief finds himself drawn to the reporter who is the sister of a prime murder suspect. In The Cop Next Door by Jenna Mills, a woman back in town to unlock the secrets of her past runs smack into the stubborn town sheriff. And Melissa James makes her debut with Her Galahad, in which a woman who thought her first husband was dead finds herself on the run from her abusive second husband. And who should come to her rescue but Husband Number One—not so dead after all!

Enjoy, and be sure to come back next month for more of the excitement and passion, right here in Intimate Moments.

Leslie J. Wainger

Executive Senior Editor

The Princess’s Bodyguard

Beverly Barton

BEVERLY BARTON

has been in love with romance since her grandfather gave her an illustrated book of Beauty and the Beast. An avid reader since childhood, Beverly wrote her first book at the age of nine. After marriage to her own “hero” and the births of her daughter and son, Beverly chose to be a full-time homemaker, aka wife, mother, friend and volunteer. The author of over thirty-five books, Beverly is a member of Romance Writers of America and helped found the Heart of Dixie chapter in Alabama. She has won numerous awards and has made the Waldenbooks and USA TODAY bestseller lists.

To LJ, Linda, Gayle and Leslie, thanks for all the fun and laughter, all the shared moments, the shared confidences and the friendships I treasure.

Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Epilogue

Prologue

W hat he needed was some fun, Matt O’Brien decided. A week of wine, women and song. And what better place to enjoy himself than here in Paris. He’d checked into the hotel the night before, arriving from Switzerland on an evening flight. His latest assignment had left him in bad need of a vacation, so he hoped to spend a week in France, seeing the sights and enjoying the company of at least one or two lovely mademoiselles. When he opened the door to allow room service to roll in the breakfast cart, he lifted his index finger to his lips in a silent request for the waiter to enter quietly. Matt nodded toward the man sleeping in one of the double beds. The waiter bobbed his head up and down and smiled. Matt signed for the meal. As soon as the waiter left, Matt poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down to take a look at the latest edition of Le Monde, the Paris newspaper he’d requested.

Being able to speak several languages—adequately if not fluently—was a plus in his business. He’d been an agent for the Dundee Security and Investigation Agency, based in Atlanta, Georgia, for several years now, after serving his country in the Air Force for more than ten years. Since the agency’s reputation as “the best in the U.S.” had become known worldwide, more and more requests were coming in from foreign countries. That’s how he and Worth Cordell, his fellow Dundee agent, had wound up in Switzerland investigating the disappearance of a wealthy Swiss banker. They’d been hired by the man’s daughter, who hadn’t been satisfied with the way the local authorities had dealt with her father’s case. In the end, Matt had risked his life to protect Maura Ottokar, whose stepmother had arranged the murder of her husband and had intended to kill Maura, too, as she was the only other heir to the man’s fortune.

Matt propped his feet on the ottoman, flipped open the newspaper and scanned the headlines. He had discovered that reading foreign newspapers was a great way to practice his language skills. As he sipped the coffee and indulged in a delicious pastry, a headline caught his eye. The engagement of Princess Adele of Orlantha to Dedrick Vardan, Duke of Roswald, was announced by King Leopold. Matt chuckled. Why any modern-thinking people would allow themselves to be ruled by a monarchy seemed implausible to him. It was one thing for the monarchy to be a figurehead and another if they were part of the governing power, as they were in the Rhode-Island-size country of Orlantha. In the equally small neighboring principality of Balanchine, the monarchy was the absolute governing body. From time to time news about these two little squabbling countries that had been one country two hundred years ago became a front-page item.

“What’s so damn funny?” Worth Cordell rolled over in bed, opened his eyes and glared at Matt.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

Matt grinned. Worth didn’t. The Switzerland assignment had been the first the two men had shared, and Matt had found out rather quickly that his comrade-in-arms wasn’t the friendly good-ol’-boy type like Jack Parker, a former Dundee agent who’d been a hell of a lot of fun when they’d shared assignments. Worth was a quiet, withdrawn man, with a deadly stare that could destroy an opponent a good twenty feet away. He didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, didn’t gamble and, as far as Matt could tell, didn’t womanize. And he didn’t share war stories or personal confidences with his co-workers. All Matt knew about the big, rugged loner was that he stood six-four, had originally come from Arkansas and had once been a Green Beret Ranger.

Worth rolled out of bed wearing only a pair of cotton boxers, but quickly slipped into the faded jeans he’d hung across the back of a nearby chair.

“Hey, are you sure you don’t want to stay on in Paris with me?” Matt called as Worth disappeared into the bathroom. “Couldn’t you use some R & R before your next assignment?”

Worth didn’t respond. Matt shrugged. The guy could be downright unfriendly. After finishing off the pastry and coffee, Matt refilled his cup and returned his interest to the newspaper. He glanced at the picture of the princess and her betrothed. The guy was gangly, with a long, narrow face and a bored expression. A real toad. He had the appearance of a guy whose gene pool included a little inbreeding. On the other hand the princess looked like…well, like a princess. Petite, small-boned, fragile. And lovely.