Claiming His Princess: Duty at What Cost? / A Throne for the Taking / Princess in the Iron Mask

Unlike her good self, who could not only conjure up his image oh, so easily, but his scent as well—woodsy and masculine. It was so vivid that he might as well have been in the room with her right now.

‘What does Wolfe have to do with anything?’

She had tried to keep the query light, but a sudden fear that her father knew that she had slept with him came at her from left field. Surely Wolfe hadn’t told anyone? The tabloids? Could her father’s health withstand a salacious story about her at this time?

‘I have to do with a lot of things, Your Royal Highness.’

The deep, familiar drawl from the man filling her head space had her twisting around in her seat to where he stood across the room, his body half turned away, as if he’d been doing nothing more than studying the scenery outside the high arched windows.

‘But in this case it’s about your safety.’

Her eyes drank in his beautifully cut black trousers and white dress shirt that pulled tight across his wide shoulders. He’d had a haircut, the shorter style drawing even more attention to the roguish quality of his perfect bone structure.

Those remembered toffee eyes were fixed on her face, touching her mouth ever so briefly, and Ava felt singed all the way through.

‘What about my safety?’ She hated that she sounded as breathless as she felt.

‘Monsieur Wolfe has some news concerning your car crash at Gilles’s château.’

She heard the underlying censure in her father’s tone and guessed that he was angry she hadn’t told him about the accident herself, but she had no time to ponder that as Wolfe prowled towards her, his loose-limbed gait impossibly graceful for a man his size.

He effortlessly dominated the large room and as he drew closer she realised that her heart was racing. He, of course, could have been a mummy for all the emotion he displayed.

Using years of practice to keep her expression from revealing any of her inner turmoil at having this man—her one-night lover—in the same room as her father, Ava forced herself to maintain eye contact with him. ‘Such as?’

‘Yesterday I spoke to the mechanic who repaired your car,’ he informed her, a touch of fierceness lining his words.

‘Why would you do that?’

‘A hunch.’

‘A hunch?’

‘Yes. One that paid off. You didn’t crash because of a loss of concentration. You crashed because a vial of potassium permanganate mixed with glycerine had been dropped into your brake master cylinder.’

Ava’s brow furrowed. ‘Is there a layperson’s version of that?’

‘Your brakes were tampered with.’

Did he mean deliberately? ‘Maybe they were worn.’

‘Yes. With a special chemical compound that, when it got hot enough, rendered your brakes useless.’

Ava struggled to digest what he was saying. ‘You think my car was deliberately sabotaged?’ The very idea was ludicrous. It was true that Anders had once experienced conflict with the neighbouring country of Triole, but that had died down years ago. Her brother had even been set to marry the young Princess of Triole when she came of age.

‘Not only that,’ her father interjected. ‘We now know that Frédéric’s helicopter crash was not an accident either.’

‘What?’ Ava’s startled gaze flew to her father. ‘I…How is that possible?’

Wolfe’s voice was hard when he answered. ‘A section of the rotor was altered in such a way that the pilot had no chance of detecting it.’

‘You’re suggesting Freddie was murdered?’

‘Not suggesting. Stating. And whoever did it went after you, too.’

Ava reflexively pressed her hand into her stomach. This was too much to take in. ‘But that is absurd. Who would do such a thing?’

‘Enemies. Freaks. Stalkers. Shall I go on?’ His tone was deadly serious.

‘Monsieur Wolfe has kindly agreed to investigate that side of things.’

‘Wolfe.’

He’d corrected her father. Something no man ever did. Half expecting him to put Wolfe in his place, she was surprised when her father nodded.

Men!

‘Really? You volunteered?’ Ava didn’t bother hiding her incredulity. ‘Why would you do that?’

‘Ava!’ Her father’s reprimand at her outspokenness was loud and clear in the still room. ‘Wolfe hasn’t volunteered. I have hired him.’

Of course. She thought asininely. Why would a man who keeps his affairs short and shallow volunteer to help out a woman he is clearly finished with?

It galled her to recall just how many times she had checked her mobile phone for a missed message from him over the past weeks. She could have called him, she supposed, but pride had stopped her from even considering it. Calling him would only prove that she hadn’t been able to move on from their night together while he had.

‘Why would you do that, sir?’ Ava turned her back on Wolfe to try to block out the overwhelming physical attraction she still felt for him. ‘Why not use the local police?’

‘It’s a question of trust, Your Highness,’ Wolfe answered.

His frigid formality made her feel despondent, and that in turn made her feel annoyed. ‘We don’t trust our own police force now? We’re a peaceful nation, Monsieur Wolfe,’ she said, stamping her own formality on the situation. ‘No political uprisings anywhere.’

‘True. But in this situation you don’t know who is intending to hurt you. I won’t.’

His tone was bold and confident and she wished she shared his assurance. After the way she had dreamt about him for two weeks she wasn’t so sure. Although she did believe he wouldn’t hurt her in the way he was referring to.

His thick lashes acted like a shield against his thoughts and Ava couldn’t wait for the meeting to end. ‘I’m not sure I believe this.’ She appealed to her father. ‘It could just be coincidence.’

‘Chemical compounds kind of mitigate that possibility, Your Highness.’ Again Wolfe answered for her father.

‘I trust Wolfe’s judgement on this, Ava.’

Over her own? What a surprise.

‘Fine.’ She waved her hand dismissively. ‘Is that all, sir?’ She needed to get out. Back to the sanctuary of her suite. Wolfe’s steely indifference was like a red rag to her overly sensitised senses.

On the one hand she was glad he was treating her like a stranger, but it made her feel inadequate when all she could do was remember the feel of his body when it had been joined to hers, his hands on her skin, his mouth…Oh, his mouth!

And Frédéric had been killed. Someone might be trying to kill her as well…