Affaire Royale Read Online Free Page A

what would have been done to her if the ransom demands weren’t met. Nor did he add that the ransom demands had ranged from exorbitant amounts of money to the release of certain prisoners.
    “Kidnapped.” Brie’s fingers reached out and gripped his. She saw images, shadows. A small, dark room. The smell of … kerosene and must. She remembered the nausea, the headaches. The terror came back, but little else. “It won’t come clear,” she murmured. “Somehow I know it’s true, but there’s a film I can’t brush away.”
    “I’m no doctor.” Reeve spoke in brisk tones because her fight to find herself affected him too strongly. “But I’d say not to push it. You’ll remember when you’re ready to remember.”
    “Easy to say.” She released his hand. “Someone’s stolen my life from me, Mr. MacGee … What’s your place in this?” she demanded suddenly. “Were we lovers?”
    His brow lifted. She certainly didn’t beat around the bush, he mused. Nor, he thought, only half-amused, did she sound too thrilled by the prospect. “No. As I said, you were sixteen the one and only time we met. Our fathers are old friends. They’d have been a bit annoyed if I’d seduced you.”
    “I see. Then why are you here?”
    “Your father asked me to come. He’s concerned about your security.”
    She glanced down at the ring on her finger. Exquisite, she thought. Then she saw her nails and frowned. That was wrong, wasn’t it? she wondered. Why would she wear such a ring and not take care of her hands? Another flicker of memory taunted her. Brie closed her hands into fists as it hovered, then faded. “If my father is concerned about my security,” she continued, unaware that Reeve watched her every expression, “what is that to you?”
    “I’ve had some experience with security. Prince Armand has asked me to look out for you.”
    She frowned again, in a quiet, thoughtful way she had no idea was habit. “A bodyguard?” She said it in the same impatient way he had. “I don’t think I’d like that.”
    The simple dismissal had him doing a complete reversal. He’d given up his free time, come thousands of miles, and she didn’t think she’d like it. “You’ll find, Your Highness, that even a princess has to do things she doesn’t like. Might as well get used to it.”
    She studied him blandly, the way she did when her temper threatened her good sense. “I think not, Mr. MacGee. I find myself certain that I wouldn’t tolerate having someone hover around me. When I get home—” She stopped, because home was another blank. “When I get home,” she repeated, “I’ll find another way of dealing with it. You may tell my father that I declined your kind offer.”
    “The offer isn’t to you, but to your father.” Reeve rose. This time Brie was able to see that for sheer size he was impressive. His leanness didn’t matter, nor did his casually expensive clothes. If he meant to block your way, you’d be blocked. Of that much she was sure.
    He made her uneasy. She didn’t know why, or, annoyingly, if she should know. Yet he did, and because of this she wanted nothing to do with him on a day-to-day basis. Her life was jumbled enough at the moment without a man like Reeve MacGee in her way.
    She asked if they’d been lovers because the idea both stirred and frightened. When he’d said no, she hadn’t felt relief but the same blank flatness she’d been dealing with for two days. Perhaps she was a woman of littleemotion, Brie considered. Perhaps life was simpler that way.
    “I’ve been told I’m nearly twenty-five, Mr. MacGee.”
    “Must you call me that?” he countered, deliberately using the same tone she had. He saw her smile quickly. The light came on and switched off.
    “I am an adult,” she went on. “I make my own decisions about my life.”
    “Since you’re a member of the Royal Family of Cordina, some of those decisions aren’t just yours to make.” He walked to the door and, opening