# Defending the Duchess

Rachelle McCalla

HE’LL KEEP HER SAFE—AT ANY COSTProtecting the royal family is Linus Murati’s job. So when the queen’s younger sister is attacked, the devoted Lydian royal guardsman goes into action and saves her life. But this was no random occurrence. Danger has followed Julia Miller across the Atlantic from Seattle.Now Linus has two missions: to keep the maddeningly independent future duchess in his sights at all times, and to catch the culprit who threatens the woman whose trust—and love—he desires above all others. Protecting the Crown: The royal guardsmen serve their country with honor and integrity.

HE’LL KEEP HER SAFE—AT ANY COST

Protecting the royal family is Linus Murati’s job. So when the queen’s younger sister is attacked, the devoted Lydian royal guardsman goes into action and saves her life. But this was no random occurrence. Danger has followed Julia Miller across the Atlantic from Seattle. Now Linus has two missions: to keep the maddeningly independent future duchess in his sights at all times, and to catch the culprit who threatens the woman whose trust—and love—he desires above all others.

“Is there anything I can do to make it easier?” Julia asked, still feeling guilty after all Linus had done for her.

“If you could relax—” he glanced around as if wary of whatever danger might be lurking about “—it makes it easier to carry you.”

“Oh.” Julia hadn’t thought of that. She wasn’t used to being carried and realized she’d been straining ever so slightly as though to keep a small distance between them.

It was foolish, she realized now. Linus had to carry her. The least she could do was try to make the job easier on him.

Reluctantly she pressed her cheek against his shoulder and closed her eyes to the embarrassment she felt. She could feel the surging beat of his heart as he strained to move her uphill as quickly as possible. She let out an anxious breath and focused on breathing in slowly.

Over the scent of the sea, Julia caught a whiff of manly scent—something wild and strong and oddly soothing. She breathed in again, more slowly this time, and felt her fears ebb away.

She was in good hands.

Linus was watching out for her.

RACHELLE McCALLA

is a mild-mannered housewife, and the toughest she ever has to get is when she’s trying to keep her four kids quiet in church. Though she often gets in over her head, as her characters do, and has to find a way out, her adventures have more to do with sorting out the carpool and providing food for the potluck. She’s never been arrested, gotten in a fistfight or been shot at. And she’d like to keep it that way! For recipes, fun background notes on the places and characters in this book and more information on forthcoming titles, visit www.rachellemccalla.com.

Defending the Duchess

Rachelle McCalla


www.millsandboon.co.uk

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My God, I trust you. Do not let me be disgraced.

Do not allow my enemies to defeat me.

—Psalms 25:1, 2

To my siblings: Nichole, Brian and Brittany.

Contents

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Dear Reader

Questions for Discussion

Excerpt

ONE

Linus Murati stepped into the visual surveillance room of the royal guard headquarters, a three-story brick building located on the Lydian royal palace grounds across the rear courtyard from the garages. “Get me suite 322 on screen, please,” he requested.

“I thought you had duchess duty tonight?” Simon accused Linus as he pulled up the view from the surveillance camera.

“I do. Miss Miller has requested an evening in.” Linus leaned over the back of his friend’s chair and blinked at the image of the white paneled door where he’d left Queen Monica’s pretty little sister mere minutes before. “But don’t let her catch you calling her ‘duchess’ just yet. The queen has yet to announce the title—I don’t believe Julia knows she’s going to be royalty.”

“Official or not, that’s the name we’ve assigned to her—wait now.” Simon broke off midsentence as the door on the screen opened and the dark-eyed beauty poked her head out, looking both directions before darting down the hall. “Thought you said she was in for the night.”

“That’s what she told me.” Linus watched Julia’s progress, switching cameras as needed to keep up with her stealthy excursion down a set of stairs and around a bend in the hall. The woman had changed into shorts and a T-shirt and pulled her thick brown hair into a ponytail. “Do you suppose she’s headed to the palace gym?”

“She’s going the wrong direction for that.”

“Maybe she’s lost,” Linus nearly growled as the woman took a corridor that led to an outside door. “I told her to page me if she wanted to go anywhere.”

“She’s out.”

The duchess stepped through an exit to the courtyard and skirted a hedgerow, her furtive glances making it clear that she was escaping deliberately—not merely adrift on her way to the gym. “Catch her.”

“She won’t get through the gates.” Linus predicted but ran for the door anyway. The queen’s little sister was an American in town on a visit. She wouldn’t know her way around the kingdom of Lydia and might get lost if she stepped out alone. Besides that, as the ambush on the royal family just over two months before had taught them, even the most beloved royals could become targets of criminal activity.

Which was precisely why Julia needed a bodyguard.

Linus caught sight of her at the back gate talking to the men in the guardhouse. They wouldn’t let her through without a guard. At the very least, they’d check with him before letting her pass.

But as Linus sprinted across the cobblestones, he watched Julia’s sweet smile and fluttering eyelashes do their work.

The pedestrian door swung open.

Before Linus could quite recover from his shock, the duchess was through and the door slammed shut behind her.

“What are you doing?” Linus challenged his fellow guards as he bounded up to the open window of the guardhouse.

Galen, a sentinel who’d defied direct orders to save the lives of members of the royal family during the ambush two months before, looked at Linus without chagrin. “She’s the queen’s sister—”

“I’m assigned to guard her.” Linus tugged on the pedestrian door.

Locked.

“Open this door.” He glared at Galen, and glanced past him to see that another guard was in the booth. Good. There would still be someone to cover the gate if he took Galen with him. “And come with me.”

“Why?” Galen did as instructed and stepped out behind Linus.

“We’ve got to find her.” Linus looked down the limestone street. The duchess had already disappeared. “Did she say where she was going?”

“For a jog.”

Linus let out a frustrated breath and wished he’d followed his instinct to set up a chair right outside the duchess’s suite. But that had felt too much like he was keeping her imprisoned. It still would have been better than having her lost in a foreign country. The woman could have gone in any direction.

“You go that way.” Linus pointed toward the foothills. “I’ll head toward the beach.” He quickly checked his earpiece to be certain he and Galen could communicate with one another. If they were fast enough, they might catch up to the duchess quickly, but they were already wasting valuable time.

As Galen headed uphill, Linus tore down the streets, slowing at each intersection to be certain Julia hadn’t taken a side road. He told himself that she couldn’t have gone far. It wasn’t as though she’d had that much of a head start. He was bound to catch up to her any moment.

But as he passed one side street after another, Linus’s fear for Julia’s safety grew. What had she been thinking? The sun would be setting soon. He understood that she wasn’t used to having bodyguards—she’d already expressed embarrassment over the fuss of organizing the simplest outing—but she clearly didn’t appreciate that Lydia wasn’t entirely safe.

Sure, the sunset looked peaceful as the gentle waves slapped against the pristine white sand beach, and Lydia’s crime rates had traditionally been among the lowest on earth, but that was before all the dangers of late. Julia’s sister, Monica, had been kidnapped and held hostage just over two months before. And while the man behind those crimes was now dead, that didn’t mean the royal family didn’t have to take precautions.

Passing the last of the cobbled streets, Linus leaped over the boardwalk and sprinted downhill toward the beach. The sand was riddled with footprints—most of them pointed inland as folks who’d spent the afternoon on the shore returned home for the night. By this hour the beach was nearly deserted.

To his left, the sand gave way to the docks of the Sardis marina. Yachts and sailboats floated peacefully between piers dotted with the occasional human figure, but none of them matched Julia’s slender frame. None were jogging.

Linus turned right instead, where the shoreline bent around a jutting bluff, its craggy sides clutching the sandy shore with rutted furrows where children loved to play hide-and-seek. But as the sinking sun gave way to lengthening shadows, the hiding places took on a sinister cast. The duchess could easily disappear behind any of the protruding cliffs. He could pass right by her without even seeing her.

What if she hadn’t gone this way at all?

Increasing his pace, Linus raced the sinking sun and tapped the relay button on his earpiece. “Any sign of her?”

“None. You?” Galen panted. His voice carried concern.

“She’s not at the main beach. I’m headed toward the bluffs. Let me know if you spot her.”

“Should we expand our search?”

Linus checked a chasm between bluffs before answering. No sign of Julia there, either. Should they call for more guards to expand the search? The royal guard had cut loose several men who’d been associated with the former head of the royal guard who’d shot the former king.

They were slowly rebuilding their ranks under the leadership of Jason Selini, the new head of the royal guard. But they couldn’t hire just anyone. Royal guardsmen were required to have served four years in the Lydian military. Besides that, after the trouble his predecessor had caused, Jason insisted on carefully vetting all new members of the guard beyond the standard background checks.

Training new recruits took time. Jason had a vision for rebuilding the royal guard stronger than ever, but they weren’t there yet. Linus hated to call more men on a case when they were already shorthanded.

And yet, what was that compared to Julia’s safety? Linus recalled the stories his grandfather had told him, of his days serving in the royal guard. Those men would do anything to protect the royal family. His grandfather’s stories had inspired him to become a guard. More than that, he wanted to make his grandfather proud.

He knew what he needed to do.

As he opened his mouth to instruct Galen to call for more guards, Linus cleared the tip of the farthest-protruding crag and caught a clear glimpse of the northward stretch of beach.

A lone female figure ran stalwartly along the sand, her dark brown ponytail bobbing. Though the evening light was almost gone, Linus recognized the bright pink shorts and pale pink T-shirt Julia had been wearing when he’d watched her on the security screen.

For the first time since she’d gone through the palace gate, he exhaled freely. “No need. I’ve spotted her. She’s jogging on the beach. I’ll catch up to her. You can meet up with us—we’re north of town where the beach access trails connect with Seaview Drive.”

“I can be there in five minutes.”

“Great.” Linus ended the transmission and focused on approaching the duchess without frightening her. Given the darkness and the isolated spot, she’d be startled if he suddenly bounded at her out of nowhere.

He trotted closer until she’d be able to hear him if he called out to her.

“Miss Miller!”

Julia didn’t look back. In fact, she appeared to increase her pace. Was she trying to escape him? Maybe she was frightened at hearing a human voice on the isolated stretch of sand.

“Miss Miller!” He was closer to her already. She had to have heard. “Miss Miller!”

Her steps slowed and she turned back toward him, her brown eyes wide, her lips pursed, focused, questioning.

Linus grinned with relief. She’d heard him. He’d get her back to the palace safe and sound. “Miss Miller, please.” He slowed down so she wouldn’t bolt away again, and called out so she could hear him in spite of the distance and the sound of the waves. “You’re not supposed to be out alone.”

As he spoke, Julia came to a full stop, watching him. The setting sun cast its golden light across her. She looked positively radiant.

Linus felt his heart give a lurch. He told himself it was because he was glad to have caught up with her. He certainly didn’t feel personal attraction toward her. That would be unprofessional. He’d honorably served the royal family for years without ever feeling anything beyond a fervent desire to do his job well.

Granted, the duchess was beautiful. He’d never argue otherwise. But the fast beat of his heart was due only to the exertion of catching up to her, and the fear he’d felt that he might not find her.

It had nothing to do with the way her pursed lips bent upward in a half smile of relieved recognition.

The duchess cast him the briefest look of acknowledgment, lowering her eyes as if feeling chastised for any trouble her escape had caused. Then she turned her head suddenly toward the craggy bluffs just beyond her left arm.

Her eyes widened in shock and her jaw dropped. She started to scream, but long arms reached from the shadows, covering her mouth, scooping her up and carrying her kicking toward the rocks.

Linus snapped into action, hitting the relay on his earpiece as he dashed toward the duchess.

“Galen! Call for backup. The duchess has been attacked.” He listened. Nothing. “Repeat—the duchess has been attacked!”

Had Galen heard? Was his lack of acknowledgment due to an overlapping signal delay in his haste to pass the message along to the other guards?

Linus didn’t have time to sort it out. Julia’s immediate safety was his first priority. He reached the bluffs in time to see the shadowy figure hauling Julia’s writhing form up a trail. No doubt about it, the man’s actions weren’t welcome. Linus wouldn’t hesitate to use force against him if necessary.

But on the steep, rocky trail, he’d have to be careful not to risk injury to the duchess. If she fell from this height, she could be gravely injured, even killed.

* * *

Julia opened her mouth to scream, but a gloved hand clamped tightly over her lips. She tried to pull away, but hard arms tightened around her. Julia twisted and flailed, trying desperately to free herself from the tight grip of the leather gloves that covered her mouth and lifted her up. She wanted to scream, but she could hardly breathe.

“Don’t fight me,” the man warned, his arms tightening as he dragged her from the beach toward the bluffs. “I don’t want to have to hurt you. I just need the file.”

File? She couldn’t make sense of the man’s words. What did he mean? Stars danced across her vision. Beyond them, she saw the dark outline of the craggy bluffs that lined the pristine Lydian beach. A deep chasm ran inland, uphill, away from the peaceful coastline. Her captor carried her up and away, out of sight of the guard who was too far away to be of any help to her now.

A fresh shot of terror surged through her. Trails led up the bluffs toward a highway that followed the coastline all the way to the Albanian border. Where was this man taking her? What was he planning to do? The man had come out of nowhere, leaping from the shadows of the rocks and grabbing her the very instant she’d realized he’d appeared.

She had to get free of him before he reached the highway. If he got her in a vehicle, she might never get away.

Her attacker had tight hold of her arms and torso. She tried to jab him with her elbow, to pry her arms free—anything—but his overwhelming size advantage made that impossible. With a desperate lunge, she kicked at him with flailing legs.

Thunk.

Pain shot up her leg as her shin slapped against the protruding rocks of the cliffs.

If she could have, she’d have cried out in pain. Tears stung her eyes, but she refused to give in to self-pity for even a second. The man already had every advantage. She tried again to wriggle free. She couldn’t even see her captor. How could she fight him?

Suddenly the man cried out and she felt the arms around her slacken.

“Run! To the beach!” The guard’s voice echoed across the rocks.

Twisting and writhing, she lunged free from her attacker as the guard pried him away. Darkness filled the small gorge where the trail cut through the cliffside. Julia lunged back in the direction of the seashore, clutching the rocky sides of the gorge as pain speared up from her injured shin. She half hopped, half dragged herself away, crumbling almost to a crawl as her ankle protested and she scrambled to put distance between herself and the battle being waged behind her.

She looked back to see two shadowy figures fighting in the distance and cringed at the sound of knuckles connecting against bone and flesh. If she could have seen who was who, or even stood on her injured leg, she might have tried to help. Instead it was all she could do to pray silently but earnestly for the safety of the guard who’d come to her aid.

“Who are you?” a harsh male voice demanded. The guard who’d come after her? In spite of the darkness of the evening, she was nearly certain it was Linus. The handsome guard’s chivalrous actions the day before—opening doors for her, pulling out her chair, bringing her anything she wanted before she had to ask for it—had left her feeling uncertain of precisely where she stood with him. To her understanding, his gracious behavior was simply part of his job. But at the same time, she wasn’t used to it, and had escaped for her evening run alone in part to distance herself from his unfamiliar courtesies.

Now Linus’s chivalry had him struggling with her attacker, demanding to know the man’s identity and intent.

The masked man didn’t answer, but pulled back far enough to throw a punch, sending a stinging blow across her rescuer’s face before darting away into the shadows of the craggy cliffs.

Rather than chase after him, Linus spun toward her, the concern on his features only easing slightly when he spotted her.

He ran from the shadows toward her, and for the first time she got a look at his face, certain now of his identity.

Linus. The man had a great smile, but right now his lip was bleeding from his fight with her captor, and his expression was one of concern.

“Are you okay?” He bent down beside her.

Julia pointed up the cliffs. “He’s getting away.”

“I called for reinforcements. They’ll catch him. I can’t leave you alone.”

Julia had hold of her bloodied shin. Already a bruise was starting to swell above her short socks.

Linus carefully lifted the injured limb. His touch was gentle, his fingers calloused and comforting as he inspected her injury in the waning light.

“I kicked the cliffs while I was fighting to get away.” Something halfway between a sob and a laugh came from her lips. “I hurt myself more than I hurt him.” Her words were buried under an overwhelming urge to cry. She’d come to Lydia to support her sister, who seemed weighed down by the stress of her new role as queen. How would Monica feel once she found out what had happened?

Julia wondered if she’d been wrong to come to Lydia after all. She’d been unnerved by strange occurrences over the past few weeks. And with her sister in need of a familiar face around the palace, the trip had seemed like a perfect excuse to leave her troubles behind her.

What had happened? Her attack couldn’t be related to her troubles back in Seattle. It just couldn’t. That would mean whoever had tried to hurt her had followed her halfway around the world.

Nobody was that crazy.

Were they?

The man had said he wanted a file. The request fit too closely with the events back home, and yet...which file did he want? And why? What could possibly be so important?

Linus spoke into his earpiece. He quickly relayed what had happened, giving his fellow guards their location and instructing them to try to find her attacker among the cliffs, or on Seaview Drive, the highway that followed the Lydian coast.

Then he returned his attention to her. “Can you walk on it?” Linus bent one gentle arm around her torso as if to help her up.

Fighting back tears, Julia realized there wasn’t time to cry. What if whoever had attacked her came back before Linus’s fellow guards arrived? What if the brute wasn’t alone? Were there other men lurking among the bluffs? She shivered as she tried to stand.

With a tentative hand she reached for the guard. His arms were very muscular, the sweat already drying from the breeze off the sea. She placed her hand on his forearm and felt her heart lurch. What did it mean? There wasn’t time to consider it. Leaning heavily on Linus, she hoisted herself onto her good foot and tested her injured limb.

“Ow.” She winced as her toes touched the sand.

“I need to get you out of here,” Linus cautioned her softly. “Can I carry you?”

“You can try.” She started to protest that she wasn’t as light as she looked, but before she could speak Linus scooped her up, cradling her in his arms as though she didn’t weigh a thing. He turned and trotted down the beach, moving as quickly as she had while jogging.

Tears leaked down her cheeks in spite of her efforts to restrain them. Her ankle throbbed. Somewhere in the craggy cliffs behind them, her attacker was probably escaping.

“Do you have a flashlight?” Julia sniffled back her tears.

“Not on me. Sorry.”

“Shouldn’t we try to find that guy before he gets away?”

“No. We could be outnumbered. That man was a trained fighter.”

The sobs she’d been biting back rippled convulsively through her. Why had a trained fighter attacked her on Lydia’s peaceful beach? She slumped against Linus’s shoulder, grateful he’d intervened.

“I called my fellow royal guards,” Linus assured her, still running. “They’ll look for him.”

“He’ll be long gone.”

“Good. Maybe he won’t ever come back.”

Julia wanted to believe the guard’s assessment. The attack had to have been a fluke, a freak coincidence after the incidents back home. The guy was probably some random weirdo. Surely Linus had chased him away for good.

Right? Just some random weirdo who happened to be a trained fighter.

Who’d jumped out of nowhere when she was the only person around, and asked her for a file, mere weeks after someone had broken into the files in her office.

A random coincidence?

Julia heard a low, pain-filled moan and realized it came from her own lips. She’d come to Lydia to support her sister. But what if she’d brought more trouble to the kingdom of Lydia?

Linus paused at a bench. He lowered her onto the seat as he spoke into his earpiece. “I’m returning Miss Miller to the palace.”

After another brief exchange, he assured her, “Guards are scouring the bluffs.”

“They haven’t found the guy who attacked me?”

“They’re looking for him.” He shook his head apologetically. “It’s dark. Those cliffs have a lot of places where a person can hide. Seaview Drive connects to a number of spur roads into the mountains, besides leading to the border. He could be hiding anywhere.”

Julia nodded and tried not to let her terror show. Her attacker hadn’t been caught after all. He’d gotten away and could return again. Julia shivered, not because of the temperature, but at the thought of her attacker on the loose, somewhere in the vicinity, possibly even watching them from a distance right now. Unable to bear any weight on her bruised ankle, she leaned on Linus and looked past him to the darkness beyond. The sun had set and the first stars twinkled down on them.

The beach looked serene, even in darkness.

But the deceptive darkness hid someone who wanted to hurt her.

TWO

Linus stood panting next to the bench and studied the duchess. A dozen different thoughts warred for attention inside his head, not least among them his concern for Julia’s immediate safety. Where had her attacker gone? Had he been acting alone? Between the darkness and the craggy bluffs, the man could be anywhere.

Why had the duchess been attacked? If the man had meant her immediate harm, he could have knocked her off and run away before Linus could have caught up to him. No, it seemed the man wanted to kidnap her or at least drag her out of sight before enacting his plans.

Linus felt his stomach roil with revulsion. He didn’t want to imagine what the assailant’s plans had been. From what he had observed of her, Julia Miller was a delightful, caring young woman. She hadn’t done anything to provoke the attack. Even now, with her face streaked with sand and sweat and her hair ruffled from its ponytail, she looked sweet. Innocent. Pretty.

He put those thoughts out of mind. He shouldn’t think about how the duchess looked, and he could grill her on possible theories later. Right now, he needed to focus on her well-being. That meant calming her fears and determining whether the injury on her leg warranted a trip to the hospital. And he needed to figure out how to get her off the beach. After chasing her all the way from the palace, fighting off her attacker and then carrying her back through the shifting sand, he was beat. He wasn’t sure he could carry her all the way to the hospital, or even to the palace. But he was reluctant to pull any men off the search for her assailant just to fetch them a car.

On top of all that, Linus couldn’t shake the question of why the duchess had deliberately run off without him in the first place. Sure, she’d probably underestimated the risk and just wanted a moment to herself. But she could have explained as much to him and he’d have worked something out so that she could have some space and still be safe.

Didn’t she trust him?

Or was she running from him?

The thought clamped around his lungs with cold fingers and he stopped panting. During their interactions over the past two days, he’d felt an odd frisson, of attraction or aversion, he couldn’t be sure which. But there was something there. He’d told himself not to worry about it, but if it was enough to send the duchess running from the palace without him, then he couldn’t ignore it any longer. It would have to be addressed.

Lowering himself onto the other end of the bench, he faced Julia.

In the light of the rising moon, he saw the glimmer of a streak of tears descending down each of her cheeks.

He swallowed. How was he supposed to raise the question that had suddenly become the foremost on his mind? If she really didn’t want him around, she certainly wouldn’t want to discuss it with him.

“Did I offend you?”

She startled and blinked up at him.

In his exhaustion, his voice had come out a good half octave lower than its usual bass. He probably sounded sinister. Clearing his throat, he tried again. “I’m sorry. You’re supposed to page me if you want to go out.”

“When I go out under guard it seems like such a fuss. I thought it would be easier this way.” The emotion behind her words strained her voice plaintively.

Linus almost felt guilty for pursuing her. But then, if he hadn’t arrived when he did, her attacker would have carried her off. Obviously she wasn’t going to share more of her feelings right now, and he needed to get her to a secure location. He switched topics. “How’s your leg? Do you need a hospital?”

“It’s just a surface injury. I can try walking.” She planted her feet on the ground and started to stand, then winced.

Linus scooted across the bench to her side, ready to help in whatever way he could, but unsure if she welcomed further contact with him. It would be easier if he didn’t find her so charming, if her predicament didn’t bring out every protective instinct inside him, even if he knew where he stood with her.

She rested one hand on his shoulder for just a moment before gulping a breath and letting go, trying again to stand on her own.

A whimper escaped her lips.

“You can lean on me,” he offered. They’d lingered too long. He had yet to hear a report of capture, and that wasn’t a good thing. They needed to get moving. If Julia’s attacker decided to circle around to strike again, he could have easily caught up to them by now, even going out of his way. For all they knew, the man might have accomplices.

“You’re exhausted.” She met his eyes. Tears still pooled among her lashes.

Linus refused to think about how pretty she looked. “Let me help you. If I need to, I will carry you all the way to the hospital.”

Her face puckered and she looked as if she was about to cry. “You don’t need to do that. I can walk.” She straightened and forced herself to take a step.

Her injured leg gave way beneath her.

Linus got under her arm in time to prop her up. The woman was too independent for her own good. For her safety, he had to get her off the beach quickly.

Even if it made her cry.

“Come on. Lean on me.”

“I hate to be a burden.”

“It’s that or I carry you.” To his relief, she relented to leaning heavily against him, half hopping as they made their way toward the boardwalk that led to the marina. From there, they could connect with the sidewalk along the main boulevard.

They made it a few more steps before the duchess sniffled.

“Are we hurting your leg? We can stop.”

“My leg is fine.” Her words came out in a strained whisper.

The shock of her attack was taking its toll on her. And her leg wasn’t fine—he could feel her shudder in pain with every step she took.

“Please let me carry you again,” he requested, unwilling to pluck her up against her will, especially after the way her attacker had manhandled her. He’d only provoke more tears that way. “I’ll get you back to your sister.”

“No!”

Her sudden insistence surprised him, and he stopped walking long enough to look her full in the face. “Your sister, Queen Monica—”

“Don’t tell Monica what happened.”

“She’ll have to know.”

“Please.” Julia’s grip tightened around his waist, and her free hand clutched his wrist. “She’s been through too much lately. She looked so tired today. I don’t want her to worry.”

“The royal guard was dispatched to look for your attacker. Your leg is injured.”

The duchess sucked in a trembling breath. Given his proximity propping her up, Linus felt it ripple through her. She clearly felt strongly about the issue. “Don’t let on to Monica that anything’s happened just yet. There has to be some way around it. I came to Lydia to support her, not to give her more to worry about. We can’t put any more stress on her. She already looks so haggard.”

Linus saw the queen on a regular basis, and while he wouldn’t have chosen the word haggard to describe either of the lovely Miller sisters, he had to acknowledge that Queen Monica hadn’t been her usual radiant self for the past few weeks. “What’s been upsetting her? Her kidnapping was over two months ago. Is it post-traumatic stress?”

“I don’t know.” Julia let out a long breath. She sounded relieved that Linus was taking her request seriously. “But I’ve never seen her look this way and it worries me. She’s had so many sudden changes—not just the kidnapping and fighting to get her son back—but becoming queen, moving halfway around the world. I thought my visit would give me a chance to help her work through all she’s been through, but if she hears what happened tonight it will only make it worse.”

The duchess had a point. Linus couldn’t deny it. He didn’t want to upset the queen further—part of his mission as a member of the royal guard was to protect the royal family, not just physically, but from all harm.

That meant worry and stress, as well. It was the job of the royal guard to worry about safety so that the members of the royal family could focus on their duties without fear. If the queen’s haggard appearance came from feeling unsafe, that meant the guards weren’t doing their jobs. Linus took that personally.

“Okay,” he relented, “I’ll see what I can do for tonight at least. Right now we’ve got to get you back to safety. We’ve wasted too much time. Can I carry you?” He’d rested enough with all their talking that he figured he could handle the exertion again.

Julia looked up at him with her warm brown eyes, and Linus felt that underlying current he’d sensed before, an emotional charge he couldn’t yet identify. Did she suspect that he felt a sense of attraction to her? He had no intention of acting on it, but perhaps she didn’t realize that. Or had he offended her in some way? That might explain why she’d run off without a guard.

She still leaned slightly on his arm, unable to put any weight on her injured leg. As Linus adjusted his arm to better support her, he couldn’t help but wonder what she was thinking.

* * *

The guard had been more than patient with her. Julia realized that. He was also trying his best to be appropriate and respectful, in spite of the circumstances. Instead of hoisting her over his shoulder and trundling her off to the palace, he’d patiently listened to her fears, and even agreed to try not to say anything to Monica yet.

For that, Julia knew she was indebted to him.

On top of that, the man had taken quite a bashing in his fight with her attacker. A trickle of blood leaked from his left eyebrow—that would be a black eye by morning—and his lower lip looked puffy. She examined it in the moonlight perhaps a few seconds too long before she turned her gaze away.

Linus had taken quite a beating on her behalf.

It wouldn’t be fair to cause any more trouble. The way he spoke of safety and the need to return her promptly to the palace, she knew he feared what could happen if they lingered near the beach any longer. And in spite of her best efforts, Julia’s hobbling was painfully slow. So even though she hated being a burden, Julia agreed to let him carry her again.

He cradled her head against his shoulder as he made his way uphill from the beach to the palace. It was a steep climb, enough to make anyone feel winded, even if they weren’t carrying a cumbersome load.

“Is there anything I can do to make it easier?” Julia asked, still feeling guilty after all Linus had done for her.

“If you could relax,” Linus strained, “that would help. When you sit so stiff—” he sucked in two more breaths and glanced around, his dark eyes narrowed as he scanned the storefronts and alleyways “—it makes it harder to carry you.”

“Oh.” Julia hadn’t thought of that. She wasn’t used to being carried and realized she’d been straining ever-so-slightly as though to keep a small distance between them.

It was foolish to resist leaning on him. She was only making things more difficult for him. Reluctantly, she pressed her cheek against his shoulder and closed her eyes to the embarrassment she felt. She could feel the surging beat of his heart as he strained to move her uphill as quickly as possible. She let out an anxious breath and focused on breathing in slowly.

Over the scent of the sea and the closed shops and eateries they now passed, Julia caught a whiff of manly scent—something wild and strong and oddly soothing. She breathed in again, more slowly this time and felt her fears ebb away. She was in good hands. Linus was watching out for her. Whatever was going on, whoever had attacked her, Linus and his fellow guards would sort it out. The guards had kept the Lydian royal family safe against awful foes earlier that summer.

They’d see her through this mess, too.

“Almost there,” Linus gasped his way up the last ridge to the palace gates.

Glad as she was to be safely back at the palace, Julia felt a distinct swirl of disappointment. Now she’d have to discuss the details of the attack. By rights, she’d have to tell them everything about her fears back home, even if that ended up having nothing to do with tonight’s attack. She’d only been practicing law for a couple of years, but that was plenty long enough to understand the problems one could get into from withholding pertinent information.

And she’d have to let go of Linus. She told herself that should be a relief, but as he lowered her to standing, still propped against him to keep the weight off her injured leg while they waited for the pedestrian gate to open, Julia wished she had an excuse to press her cheek to his shoulder again.

Silly. Absurd, really. But it had been so comforting to be close to him.

Linus helped her hop through the door, and a pair of guards hurried over from the guardhouse, quickly forming a human chair with their arms, carrying her sling-style across the lawn.

“To the palace?” one of the guards asked.

“No.” Julia started.

“To the guardhouse,” Linus explained. “She doesn’t want the queen to be worried.”

Whatever the other guards thought of her request, they kept their mouths shut and delivered her inside with a minimum of fuss, planting her on a modern sofa in the front waiting area while one of them fetched a first-aid kit. For the first time, Julia was able to get a look at the injury in decent light, and was relieved to find only a nasty scrape and some bruising—painful, but nothing that required a hospital visit.

Linus stood facing the corner, speaking earnestly into his earpiece, scowling. Julia couldn’t make out his words, but from what she could see of his face in profile, he didn’t look happy.

“They didn’t catch him?” she asked when Linus ended the transmission and turned toward her.

He shook his head regretfully.

Julia looked down at her leg. One of the other guards dabbed with gauze at the bleeding parts, cleaning it with gloved hands.

When she looked back up at Linus, she saw the front of his pale blue button-down royal guard shirt rising and falling as he pulled in deep breaths. She sensed his repressed frustration that the shadowy figure had evaded them.

She also guessed that as soon as he caught his breath, he’d want to know everything she could tell him about the man who’d attacked her. If she’d had answers or understood the man’s reference to a file, she’d have gladly shared those details. The little bit she knew only made her shiver with greater fear. She wasn’t looking forward to reliving those few terrified moments, but worse yet, she didn’t want to confess who she feared it might have been.

* * *

When Linus looked back at Julia, her attention was focused on Jason Selini, the head of the royal guard, who’d come in from off duty in response to the attack, and now knelt at the duchess’s side, bandaging the scrape on her leg.

Linus watched her in puzzlement for a moment, wondering. He hated that she’d been attacked while under his guard. Worse still, he couldn’t help wondering why she’d purposely escaped from the palace without him—and if her reasons might be related to her attack.

“Do you need anything?” he asked when she looked up. “A drink? Something to eat?”

“I am a little thirsty.”

Linus listed drink options, and Sam, another of the guards, went to fetch them both some juice. With just the three of them in the room, Linus hoped Julia wouldn’t feel too overwhelmed. If it had been up to him, they’d be inside the palace and she’d have her sister at her side to comfort her, but Julia had been adamant about not alarming the new queen.

He crouched alongside Jason so that he could look up at the duchess. He didn’t need her feeling lectured or looked down upon. “We need to find out everything we can about the man who attacked you this evening.” Linus tried to make his low voice less imposing. “What can you tell us about him?”

“I couldn’t see him. It was dark.”

“You didn’t recognize anything about him?”

“Should I have? You fought him. What did you notice?”

Linus swallowed. “He’s about six-two, one-eighty. Trained fighter.”

Julia shuddered. “Why would a trained fighter attack me?”

Linus watched Julia’s face carefully. He’d always been adept at reading people—far more adept than at reading words in books. Now he watched her eyes dart between their faces before she glanced down. She felt ashamed and was weighing her next words.

The door burst open, and more guards poured in.

Julia’s eyes widened at the activity.

Linus sensed there was more Julia wanted to say, but she clearly wasn’t going to open up in front of so many people. He leaned toward Jason and murmured quietly, “She knows something.”

“About her attacker?” Jason whispered back.

The duchess watched the men pour into the room discussing what they’d found on the beach—footprints and sure signs of their scuffle. She looked overwhelmed.

And Linus knew the commotion wouldn’t die down anytime soon. The members of the royal guard had always taken their charge to protect the crown very seriously. If possible, they were even more zealous about their duties since the attacks that had threatened the royal family two months before. The attack on Julia was bigger than any threat to the royal family since the crown had been restored with the coronation of King Thaddeus and Queen Monica.

As control central for such events, the royal guard headquarters would be far too distracting a place to hold such a sensitive conversation.

Linus looked back to Jason. “Where can I talk to her?”

Jason looked thoughtful, and Linus could guess what he was thinking. The interrogation room was meant to intimidate, not set a frightened female at ease. In fact, the whole royal guard headquarters was set up for tough men to do hard work. There wasn’t a room in the building where the duchess might feel at ease enough to open up about her attacker and the fear that haunted her eyes.

“Take her back to the palace.” Jason cleared his throat and addressed the duchess. “I understand you don’t want your sister to know about the attack,” he conceded. “We don’t have to tell her yet this evening. Linus can escort you back to the palace and avoid your sister, but he’s going to need to ask you some questions about the attacks. And we’ll have to brief the king and queen tomorrow. Will that be okay?”

Julia wrapped her arms around her shoulders as she nodded, blinking back tears. Yes, the events of the evening were catching up to her. Linus feared he might not learn much tonight.

Frustrating. Still, he’d do his best.

“Want to try walking on it?” he asked as Julia placed her feet on the floor and braced herself to stand.

She nodded and eased herself slowly to standing. He felt a moment’s triumph at the small victory, but when she tried to shuffle forward a step, she winced.

He swooped in beside her and she took his arm, leaning on him slightly for support.

“I can do it,” she whispered.

“You don’t have to. We can find a wheelchair—”

“I can do it.” Julia grimaced and leaned heavily on his arm as she made her way forward, growing more certain with each step.

Much as Linus appreciated the woman’s determination, he wished she’d relent to letting him carry her. It would be so much faster that way, and she wouldn’t have to risk straining her injury.

They made it more than halfway across the lawn toward a back entrance to the palace when the duchess stopped to catch her breath.

Linus had been waiting for an opening. He needed to ask her questions. Given the way she insisted on tiring herself out, he feared that once they reached the palace, she’d be too exhausted to talk about the attacks and close the door in his face. Then he’d never learn what doubts had clouded her eyes.

He cleared his throat. “You probably want to forget all about what happened this evening, but before you do that, I need to know everything you were able to observe about your attacker, any clues you might have that would help us identify him.”

“I couldn’t see him in the darkness. He was wearing a mask.”

“I know,” Linus acknowledged, thinking quickly. He’d already been briefed about the queen’s little sister before he was assigned to guard her, so he knew a few things about her background, and could guess how that might get in her way. “You’re a lawyer, right?”

“A trial lawyer.”

Having testified in court before about work-related cases, Linus knew about her line of work. “In court, you have to know things with certainty and be convinced of guilt or innocence beyond a shadow of a doubt.”

“Yes.” She spoke the word slowly as she looked up at him through the misty moonlight. Obviously she had to wonder where he was going with his line of reasoning.

“Right now I need the opposite from you. I know you can’t say with any certainty who attacked you, but I want to know your hunches, your gut instincts, your fears. Anything you might have picked up on that would give us a clue about this guy.” Linus watched her carefully as he spoke. Even in the moonlight, he could see enough of her face to tell that his own hunch had been correct.

She knew something.

He just had to convince her that it was okay to tell him what it was.

“It’s not anything.” Julia shook her head dismissively.

Still, Linus felt hopeful. The woman had enough of a grasp on what she knew to discredit it. That meant she could likely put it into words if he could persuade her that it would be acceptable to do so—even if that went directly against her usual practice as a trial lawyer. He waited patiently.

“Back home,” she started softly, then pinched her eyes shut. She clearly felt foolish uttering the words out loud.

“Back home?” Linus repeated, prompting her.

“Seattle,” she clarified. “Seven thousand miles from here.” She huffed a tiny laugh. “Who would be crazy enough to follow me halfway around the world?”

She spoke so softly Linus had to strain to hear her. And yet, as her words sank in, he felt a distinct chill. Had the duchess been threatened even before she left home? If she hadn’t been the victim of a random attack, she could be targeted again. Especially if her attacker had already traveled so far to get his hands on her.

“Tell me what you suspect,” he prompted softly.

“He said something.” She shook her head slightly, but her eyes had met his. “I couldn’t have heard him correctly.”

“Tell me what you think you heard.” He locked on her gaze and held her attention, focusing on imparting a sense of trust, of safety, of acceptance. “The smallest clue can be important,” he assured her as doubt rose in her eyes.

She almost smiled then, resignedly, and opened her mouth.

Then a small electronic sound cut through the silent night.

“My phone!” Julia pulled back from him and reached for a small zippered pocket on her shorts. “I have a text.”

Linus felt his hopes deflate. Whatever Julia had been going to tell him, she wasn’t likely to speak up now.

Important as it seemed, his concern about her confession dimmed the moment Julia read the message on her phone.

“Oh, my—” she covered her mouth with one hand, looked up at him with terrified eyes, and whispered past her fingers “—no.”

THREE

Did you get what I sent you?

Julia stared at the words, trembling, not just because of the message they implied, but because of the sender.

“What is it?” Linus had been propping her up, and now leaned nearer, the injuries to his face more painful-looking up close.

Julia pinched her eyes shut against the sight.

Linus lifted her hand and read the message on the screen of her phone. “What?” He repeated. “Did you get something?”

“No.” She shook her head adamantly. “I didn’t get anything. I don’t know what it means.”

“Julia.” Linus spoke softly, his touch soothing as he propped her up. “Talk to me. I saw your reaction. This message frightened you. Why?”

“Did you get what I sent you,” she repeated, praying the worlds didn’t mean what she feared they meant. “What does that mean?”

“A delivery of some sort? A package?”

“Or a surprise visitor.” She didn’t want to believe the attack and the message were related, and yet...

“Your attacker?” Linus took the phone from her trembling hand. “Who’s the sender? Who is this Fletcher Pendleton?”

“It’s complicated.” Julia tried to straighten out her thoughts. What was the best way to explain?

“Let’s get inside.” Linus scooped his arm around her waist again, lifting her up to her toes as he guided her toward one of the rear doors of the palace. “Then I need you to tell me.”

Emotionally drained, Julia leaned on Linus as he guided her inside, grateful for his steady arm to lean on and his apt understanding of the situation. They needed to get inside before her sister noticed her hobbling across the courtyard and came to check on her. More than that, they needed to sort out what was going on. Had Fletcher sent the thug who’d attacked her on the beach?

She hated to think he’d do such a thing. And yet, given his antics of late, she could almost believe he had.

Linus settled Julia onto a wood-inlaid fainting couch in one of the palace receiving rooms. The cozy parlor was near the rear of the palace and appeared to be seldom used, so they weren’t likely to be interrupted. Besides that, it was close to the door, so she didn’t have to hobble very far to reach it.

“Are you comfortable? Do you need anything?” The muscular guard, his injuries still untended, looked at her earnestly. Julia couldn’t imagine how he could be so concerned about her comfort while his own eyebrow continued to leak blood at a slow trickle.

Linus swiped at his forehead with the back of his hand, his gaze never wavering from her face.

Julia felt a spear of guilt. She wanted to fetch a first-aid kit or at the very least a cube of ice for his swollen lip. The man had done so much to protect her, and now seemed determined to get the sofa pillows arranged around her in the optimum position to ease the pressure on her leg. Were all the royal guards so perfectly sweet and attentive? Julia couldn’t recall a time when she’d felt so pampered.

“Now.” Linus plunked an ottoman beside the fainting couch and sat, meeting her eyes. “Fletcher Pendleton?”

“He’s an engineer. He’s brilliant. Probably going to be a millionaire. Or he was.” She realized her initial assessment of the man was now grossly out of date.

“How do you know him?”

Julia sighed and thought back in time. It had been one of her first cases as a lawyer. She’d been so eager to do everything right, so earnest, so thorough. In spite of the many cases she’d dealt with since, that one stood out in her mind.

“Fletcher Pendleton created an ultra-efficient engine design for cars. But he was working for a small automotive company at the time, a branch of a successful tech company, Seattle Electronics. Since he was working for Seattle Electronics when he designed the engine for them, they held the patent for his design, but then Motormech Industries tried to buy the design from him.”

“They can’t do that—not if the company doesn’t want to sell.” Linus scowled.

Julia was glad the guard understood. “Precisely. I handled the case. It was very straightforward. We settled out of court. Fletcher Pendleton turned over all his design materials to Seattle Electronics. Motormech stepped away from the deal. Seattle Electronics retained ownership of the design and the car went into limited production as the SE323. That was after I was involved. I’ve only been practicing law for two years, but since then I’ve been busy with other cases and I didn’t pay any attention to what Seattle Electronics was doing.”

“What was Seattle Electronics doing?” he asked in a whisper when she fell silent.

“Making cars. But there was a flaw in the design. The SE323 malfunctioned and overheated at high speeds. There were accidents—people were injured, and a couple of Seattle Electronics’s employees died testing a car. Seattle Electronics was sued by several different parties.” As she stated the simple facts, she looked around at the elegantly decorated parlor, anywhere but at Linus and the injuries he’d received from helping her. His eyes were too kind, his face too ruggedly handsome. She was afraid she might start staring.

“Did you handle any of those cases?”

“No. But since I’d handled the original case, I paid attention whenever I saw their names in the news. Last I heard, Seattle Electronics had filed for bankruptcy protection.”

“And Fletcher Pendleton?”

Julia felt an uneasy swirl in her stomach at the mention of the man’s name. “That’s the strange part. I worked with him briefly when I represented the case. Didn’t hear from him for nearly two years after that. Then out of the blue I got an email from him asking if he could meet me somewhere.”

“Somewhere?”

“He didn’t want to come to the office. He wanted to meet me in private.”

Concern swept across Linus’s features. “Did you?”

“No. His request struck me wrong. I hardly knew him, and he refused to meet in a public place. He’s a rather big guy.” Pulled in by Linus’s concern, Julia found she couldn’t force herself to look away from him any longer. His brown eyes simmered with concern for her safety, reminding her all too clearly of how she’d felt when he’d carried her back along the beach. His strong arms had enveloped her securely, keeping her attacker and her fear at bay.

“How big?”

Julia struggled to think. “Over six feet tall.”

“Six-two, one-eighty?” Linus echoed the specs he’d stated earlier.

Julia froze. She stared into Linus’s eyes as though she could find the answer there. But all she saw was an earnest desire to help, and determination to uncover the truth.

Linus waited before asking in a patient tone, “Could the engineer have been your attacker?”

Julia hated to impugn a man who might be innocent. And yet, the circumstances all pointed in the same direction. Someone had fought with Linus on the beach. Someone had tried to carry her off. Though she hadn’t heard him speaking enough to recognize his voice, neither could she rule him out. Reluctantly she admitted, “It’s possible.”

“Do you have any other information about him? Contact info?”

“I have his phone numbers, his address, his email address, along with all the emails he ever sent me. I never delete anything—I’m a lawyer. We understand the importance of an evidence trail.”

“Good girl.” Linus began to smile, but then his eyes narrowed. “All the emails? How many did he send you?”

“When I represented Seattle Electronics, he was forthcoming with everything. I got the impression he wanted to cooperate. Maybe he even felt bad for letting negotiations with Motormech go so far.”

“Or he wanted you to think he felt bad,” Linus surmised.

“Maybe.” She sighed regretfully. “Anyway, he sent me a few scattered emails and text messages over the past couple months asking me to meet with him. Not harassing, necessarily, but enough that it creeped me out—that, and his insistence on meeting me in private.” It was too much to look at Linus without remembering the feel of his arms around her. She wished she could reach for him and feel his strong shoulder against her cheek again, but she couldn’t make such a request after all he’d done for her that evening. So instead she leaned her head back against the pillows and closed her eyes. She felt exhausted by all that had happened and irked by the nagging feeling that she’d forgotten some important detail. But what?

“I’m glad you didn’t go,” Linus told her, his voice gentle, even caring. “If you get a chance, can you forward me those emails and texts?”

“Sure.” She kept her eyes closed, wishing she could block out all memory of what happened on the beach. Rather than trying to remember the details, she wished she could forget.

* * *

Linus absorbed the information Julia had given him. He wanted to ask her more questions, but the duchess looked exhausted, and he almost thought she’d fallen asleep. She ought to be tucked securely into her suite before she turned in for the night, but he didn’t want to disturb her, not when the fear had finally begun to fade from her features.

For his part, he wouldn’t be able to rest any time soon. Not until he’d learned everything he could about this Fletcher Pendleton—including whether he’d recently traveled to Lydia. If the man was currently on Lydian soil, Linus wanted to catch him before he left again.

But then, if the man was after Julia, he probably wouldn’t leave the country. Not yet, not until he’d gotten what he’d come for. If anything, he’d try something more aggressive the next time. But what did he want?

Linus didn’t understand why the man would be after Julia. Did he resent her involvement in his case, or blame her for the role she’d played in ending the deal he’d nearly made? Perhaps he’d watched her on the televised coverage of Queen Monica’s coronation and wedding vow renewal ceremonies. Maybe he thought he could somehow tap into her fifteen minutes of fame.

If Fletcher Pendleton was their man, he already had several advantages over them, including a motive they had yet to understand. Linus was going to have his work cut out for him if he intended to catch Fletcher before the man tried to hurt Julia again. And he feared Pendleton would, indeed, try to hurt Julia again.

Linus took a step toward the door and the floor creaked beneath him.

Julia’s eyes snapped open. “Linus?”

He was back at her side in an instant. “Yes?”

“One other thing. It might be important.” She made a face. “Yes, it’s probably important.” She met his eyes and her lower lip trembled.

Linus returned her gaze without wavering and tried to communicate trust, reassurance, safety. She had to feel safe enough to share her fears. At the same time, he wished he could erase the worry that had clouded her features.

“The man who attacked me tonight said something.” She pinched her eyes shut.

In spite of his frustration that she hadn’t mentioned it earlier, Linus tried to be encouraging. “What did he say?”

“He said—” her voice squeaked as she quoted “—I don’t want to have to hurt you. I just need your file.”

“Your file?” Linus repeated.

“I think that’s what he said. That’s what it sounded like.”

“Any idea what he meant by that?”

“I don’t know.” She paused and wriggled her lips a bit more, clearly fighting back waves of emotions that threatened to leak out with her words. “Well, maybe there is something. It’s probably nothing. Even the police seemed skeptical.”

“The police?” Linus felt a jolt of alarm snap through him. Though it confirmed his hunch that she’d experienced trouble back home, he still didn’t like it. “When were the police involved?”

“Don’t tell my sister,” Julia insisted. “She doesn’t know. I don’t want her to worry.”

“I don’t want her to worry, either,” Linus agreed, “but I need to know what happened. I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on.”

Julia looked up at the elaborate plasterwork that decorated the high ceiling of the parlor. She appeared to be gathering her thoughts. “Three weeks ago when I arrived at my office on a Monday morning, my office was...disturbed.”

“Disturbed?” he prompted when she was silent for some time.

Julia locked eyes with him again. The unshed tears that shimmered behind her lashes begged him to believe her. “I have a violet plant near my window. I was going to water it first thing when I noticed that a couple of leaves had been bent. Violet leaves are very tender. If you bend them they snap and they don’t recover—they leave a brown mark right along the bend. Then I looked closer and the dirt was loose.”

“Someone knocked your plant over?”

She nodded solemnly. “And then whoever knocked it over set it back up again and put the dirt that had fallen out back under the leaves.”

“Cleaning lady?”

“No. The cleaning lady doesn’t work weekends, only Tuesday nights, and she doesn’t have keys to the offices—she just cleans the restrooms and public areas.”

Linus understood. “Too much sensitive client information inside the offices.”

“Exactly. After I noticed the plant, I got curious. My office door is always locked—sensitive client information, you know—so no one should have been in there. Nothing else looked out of place. But when I checked my file cabinet, the lock had been picked on one of the drawers.”

“How do you know?”

“The lock looked a little scraped up. And when I tugged on the handle, it came open, even though it should have been locked.”

Linus tried not to wince at the thought of Julia’s hand erasing any fingerprints that might have been on the handle—but then he reminded himself that any criminal fit to pick a lock was probably wearing gloves. Besides, there was a far more important question he needed to ask. “Was anything missing from the file cabinet?”

Her expression clouded immediately. “I scoured it folder by folder. I couldn’t find anything missing—not a single page. I called the police and they came to investigate, but I have to admit I felt foolish. They tried to take my case seriously, but other than someone reading confidential client information, I couldn’t imagine then what the motive might have been.”

“You couldn’t imagine it then,” Linus repeated softly, hoping she’d clarify.

She did. “The file drawer that was damaged contained the Seattle Electronics vs. Pendleton file.”

He swallowed as the significance sank in. “Where’s the file now?”

“In my office back in Seattle.”

Linus tried to put the pieces together, but he couldn’t make them fit. “The guy on the beach said he wanted your file.”

“That’s what I think he said,” Julia said, correcting him.

If the situation hadn’t been so critical, Linus might have laughed at her lawyerlike insistence on clarifying that point. But either way, he couldn’t see the sense in the man’s motive. If Pendleton wanted her file, why would he follow her to Lydia instead of staying in Seattle and taking the file while she was out of the country? Linus shook his head, unable to answer the many questions that were already piling up. Only one thing mattered for the moment, and that was Julia’s well-being.

“It’s late. I should get you back to your suite.”

Julia reached for him without protest, meeting his eyes just long enough to flash him an appreciative smile before turning her attention to her feet. As her small hand settled on his arm and his free arm wrapped around her waist, supporting her as he led her back to the hallway, a new fear hit him.

He liked the duchess.

Not that he’d ever disliked her. In fact, he’d held her in complete respect from the moment they’d first been introduced. But it was more than that, now. He’d fought for her. Held her—even held her while she cried.

This was new, dangerous territory, and he couldn’t have stumbled into it at a worse time.

Earlier that summer, the head of the royal guard had conspired against the royal family, nearly ousting them from the throne. Linus and his fellow loyal guardsmen had helped the Royal House of Lydia reclaim the throne, and the former head of the guard had died trying to stop them.

Jason had started his term as new head of the guard by thoroughly investigating the records and backgrounds of all the royal guards.

Including Linus.

Jason had discovered Linus’s juvenile criminal record, during the rebellious phase he’d put behind him so long ago. Jason understood that Linus wasn’t a threat to the crown, that he’d learned his lesson long ago and would never return to a life of petty crime, but the new head of the guard had also made one thing perfectly clear when he’d revealed to Linus what he’d learned.

If Linus ever did anything that would require an investigation, Jason would have to share the details of what he’d learned with the relevant authorities, including the royal family. Linus would most likely lose his job—especially if the revelation was prompted by a strike against him.

The solution was simple. Linus could not allow a single blemish to mar his record in the future, or he might lose everything he’d worked so hard for—his spot on the royal guard, and any shot he ever had at earning his grandfather’s respect. His grandpa Murati had bailed him out too many times when he was a teen, and inspired him to turn his life around. Linus wanted to make him proud by being the best royal guard he could be.

Which was why the surge of unfamiliar emotions he felt for Julia were as dangerous as the man he’d fought earlier on the beach. Right now, he was ready to track down anyone who might ever hurt her, to head back to Seattle if necessary to make certain she was safe. But was that the best plan, or were his growing feelings fueling his zeal?

Linus tucked his arm more securely around Julia as they made their way up the stairs to her room. She looked up at him briefly before settling her cheek against the crook of his shoulder.

It was a convenient spot for her to rest her head. It made climbing the stairs easier.

It also sent his heart soaring with emotions he didn’t dare explore.

Julia Miller was Queen Monica’s little sister, and soon to be a duchess of Lydia. Linus had no right to touch her, except insofar as she needed his help as she did right now. He’d need to get his head on straight and get his emotions under control.

He needed to be the perfect royal guard. Any missteps and he might find himself ousted from the guard. Who would keep Julia safe then?