The Lost Princes: Darius, Cassius and Monte

She hesitated. “Okay then, I’ve been going over every inch of skin, feeling for any strange lumps, and I haven’t found anything suspicious. But just to be safe…”

He turned and looked at her. She was standing just as before with the sheet pulled around her and clutched to her chest, watching him with those huge dark eyes.

“What?”

She sighed and looked sad. “I can’t see my back. I can’t reach it, either.”

He stood very still, looking at her. “Oh.”

She licked her lips, then tried to smile. “You’re going to have to do it.”

“Oh,” he said again, and suddenly his mouth was dry and it felt like he hadn’t taken a breath for too long.

“Okay, then.”

He was willing.

Chapter Four

THIS was nuts.

David swore softly, trying to get a handle on this crazy reaction he was having. She was just a woman. He’d been with more women than he wanted to think about. He didn’t get nervous around females anymore. He’d gotten over that years ago. He’d made successful passes at some international beauties in his day, film stars, rock singers, even a female bull fighter, without a qualm. So why was his heart thumping in his chest as he approached Ayme to check out her back?

She stood there so demurely, holding the sheet tightly to her chest so that it gaped in back, exposing everything down to the tailbone, but not much else. The entire back was there, interrupted only by the slender scrap of lace that was the band of her bra, but that might as well have been invisible. He didn’t even notice it. He reached out to push her hair back off her neck, his fingers trailing across her warm skin, and the flesh beneath his hand seemed to glow.

“Okay, I’ll do this as fast as I can,” he said, then cleared his throat to try to stop the ridiculous quavering he could hear in his voice. “I’m just going to run my hand across your back a few times.”

“Get it all,” she said, head tilted up bravely. “I can take it.” She drew in her breath as his fingers began to move.

“But don’t linger,” she warned softly.

Don’t linger.

For some reason, those words echoed over and over in his head as he worked. Her skin was buttery smooth, summer-day hot, totally tempting, and every inch seemed to resonate to his touch. But he swore to himself that he wasn’t going to notice anything, no matter how crazy it made him. He wasn’t going to notice how good she smelled or how sweetly her curves seemed to fill his hand.

So why was his breath coming so fast? Why was his body tightening like a vise? This was insane. He was responding to her like he hadn’t responded to a woman in ages. And all he was doing was checking for foreign objects on her back.

And being subtly seduced by her gorgeous body. He closed his eyes as he made a last pass down as low as he dared let himself go, and then drew back, saying, “We’d better check your underclothes, too,” and heard his voice break in the middle of it.

He swore angrily, feeling his face turn as red as he’d ever felt it turn, but she didn’t look back. She reached under the sheet and pulled off her bra and panties in two quick moves and checked them herself.

“They seem clear to me,” she said without turning to look at him. “You can check too if you’d like.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” he said gruffly.

This was unbelievable. He felt sixteen again. How had he ended up here? There was a tension in the room that was almost electric. Was he the only one who felt it, or did she feel it, too? It was probably best not to go there. He turned to leave the room without looking at her again.

“Wait,” she said. “Do you think I’m clear?”

Reluctantly, he made a half turn back but didn’t meet her gaze. “I didn’t find any sign of anything, so I guess you are.”

“Good. I’m glad. So now you don’t suspect me any longer?”

He turned all the way and looked right into her dark eyes. “I suspect everyone, Ayme. Don’t take it personally.”

She made a small movement meant to be a shrug but almost more of a twitch. “I’m trying not to. But it’s not easy.”

His gaze was caught in hers and he couldn’t seem to pull it away. There had been a quiver in her voice, a thread of emotion he couldn’t quite identify, and it had touched him somehow. Looking at her, he felt suddenly confused, not sure how to respond to her.

“Go ahead and get dressed,” he said gruffly as soon as he managed to turn away from her. Not looking her way again, he went through the doorway. “We’ll get going in just a minute.”

She didn’t answer and he went into the kitchen, poured himself a glass of cold water and gulped it down, then took in a deep breath and tried to rationalize away what he’d just done.

It wasn’t what it seemed, of course. How could it be? He didn’t do things like that. His over-the-top reaction to her body was just a symptom of everything else going on around them—the muted fear, the preparations for running, the memories of his own tragic past. Just natural heightened apprehension. Hardly unusual. Nothing to be alarmed about.

She was just a girl.

Relieved and resolute, he went back into his more normal confident action state and returned to the bedroom with a spring in his step. Luckily, she appeared dressed and ready to go and when he looked into her face, there was nothing special there—no regrets, no resentment, no special emotions making him uncomfortable.

“Come on. We’ve got to get out of here.” He slung his overnight bag over his shoulder and reached for the baby. “I’ll get Cici. You bring your bags, okay?”

He led the way to the back steps, avoiding the elevator. It was a long, long climb down, but eventually they hit the ground floor, made their way to the parking garage and found his little racy sports car. He made Ayme and the baby wait against a far wall while he prepared for departure.

He’d done everything right. He’d switched out the license plates on the car. He’d checked under the hood and along the undercarriage for explosives. But even so, he winced as he started the engine with the remote, relieved when nothing went “boom.”

Another day, another risky move, he thought to himself as he helped Ayme into the car and began packing baby supplies away in all the nooks and crannies. One of these times the click from the starter just might be the last thing he ever heard.

Now the next dilemma—should he head for a big city where they could get lost in the crowd, or for the countryside where no one would ever think to look? For once he chose the country.

But that was still a long way away. First, he headed into a direction directly opposed to where he actually wanted to go. After an hour of driving, he pulled into a protected area and hustled Ayme and Cici out of the car with all their belongings. Then he hailed a cab and they went in a totally different direction, stopping at a garage where he had arranged for another of his cars to be stored. This car was a complete contrast to his usual transportation, small and boxy and not eye-catching at all.

Ayme carefully maintained a pleasant expression. She didn’t want to be a whiner. But she couldn’t resist, as they squeezed into the small, cramped car, saying “I like the sports car better.”

“So do I, believe me,” he told her. “This is my incognito car.”

“I can see why. You could probably join the Rose Parade unnoticed in this thing.”

Glancing sideways, he threw her a quick smile that had actual warmth and humor in it, and she tingled a bit in response. It was nice to know he could do that. She’d been worried that he might be all scowls and furled brows with very little room for fun. But it looked like there was hope. It might not be all sex appeal with him.

She smiled to herself, enjoying her own little joke. She would love to tease him but she didn’t quite dare, not yet. If he was right, they were running from danger here. Not a time for light-hearted humor.

Danger. She frowned out the window at the passing buildings. She wished she knew a little more about this “danger” element. Who was this dangerous person and why was he after David?

For just a moment, her mind went back to what had happened in the bedroom just before they left David’s apartment. The way her pulse had surged in response to a few hot looks from the man was all the danger she could deal with right now. Clear and present danger. That’s what he represented to a girl like she was.

Woman, she corrected herself silently. You’re a woman, darn it. So act like one!

“You might as well relax,” he said, glancing her way again. “It’ll be a few hours before we get to our destination.”