A ROYAL WEDDING—AND A SHOCKING CRIME

After rescuing jewelry designer Ruby Tate from an attacker, Lydian royal guard Galen Harris suspects the crime wasn’t a random incident. Jewelry thieves have set their sights on Lydia’s royal family, and they won’t let anyone stand in their way—including Ruby, who’s in town to help the princess with her wedding jewels. The closer Ruby and Galen get to uncovering the mystery, the harder it is to deny their feelings. But with a deadly gang of criminals after them, will they live to see their own happily ever after?

Protecting the Crown: The royal guardsmen serve their country with honor and integrity

“How do you know he followed you?”

“I heard footsteps.” Ruby’s voice broke.

Jade-green eyes blinked at him with fear in their depths.

Galen felt his heart twist. Part of him had been eager to see Ruby ever since he’d heard she’d stepped in to fill the role of Anastasia’s assistant, as the talented princess designed all the jewelry for the upcoming royal weddings. An equal part of him had been wary of a potentially awkward reunion. But awkwardness had become the least of his concerns.

“Are you okay?” He spotted the red marks along her neck where the strap of her bag had cut against her. “Did he hurt you?”

“I’m fine, I think.” She touched her neck. “Just sore.”

He ignored the way he felt sitting close to her and focused on the attack.

He had things to do—such as reporting the incident to royal guard headquarters and making sure Ruby really was all right.

And figuring out who her attacker was, and what he was after. And then, making sure the man never hurt Ruby again.

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.

Royal Heist

Rachelle McCalla

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MILLS & BOON

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Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:

Who created all these?

He who brings out the starry host one by one

and calls forth each of them by name.

ecause of his great power and mighty strength,

not one of them is missing.

—Isaiah 40:26

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy,

and where thieves break in and steal.

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

—Matthew 6:19–21

To Eddie and Ginger McCalla. Thank you for raising your son to be an honorable and Godly man.

Contents

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

TWENTY

TWENTY-ONE

TWENTY-TWO

DEAR READER

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

ONE

Ruby Tate looked over her shoulder at the sound of footsteps behind her.

A hulking figure, more shadow than man, slipped behind the nearest building.

Ruby blinked. Was someone there, or were her eyes playing tricks on her in the dimness of dusk? Unsure of how to react, Ruby walked faster. At the end of the block she turned the corner. The road bent uphill toward the Lydian royal palace. She would soon put the empty street behind her.

Footfalls echoed behind her again—moving faster now.

Ruby increased her pace to a trot. She had two blocks left to reach the door to her apartment building, built into the rear wall of the palace grounds.

The looming sounds behind her picked up their pace, as well. Was it her imagination, or was he gaining on her?

Ruby ran. She gripped her purse with one hand to keep it from thumping against her hip as she accelerated to a sprint. She could still hear the resounding proof—louder and faster—that she was not alone.

Risking another backward glance, Ruby saw nothing.

No one.

She slowed, looking back again, this time scanning the street for the source of the noise she was nearly certain she still heard.

Where had the man gone? Ruby panted, catching her breath, thinking quickly. Was someone actually chasing her? In all the times she’d visited the Mediterranean kingdom of Lydia with Princess Stasi years before, while the two of them were roommates studying gemology in the United States, Ruby had never heard of any violent crimes in the Christian monarchy. She and Stasi had been out late and walked the city streets, without incident, far more times than she could count.

The memories stilled her fear. In those days, Princess Stasi had a bodyguard named Galen, a youngish guard with a lopsided smile, who’d acted as much as an accomplice as a guard, helping them sneak back inside the palace when Stasi had missed her curfew, keeping Stasi’s identity under wraps so they could mingle anonymously with the locals.

But everything had changed in the last year. In June, a fiery ambush against the royal family had shattered the peace of the tiny kingdom. And Ruby hadn’t spoken to Galen since their painful parting the previous summer.

A noise startled her.

Were those footsteps again?

Ruby wasn’t about to stick around to find out. She sprinted toward the safety of the palace, her ballet flats slamming against the cobblestones as she glanced between buildings, looking for the source of the sounds. Between her rushed breathing and the distant traffic noise from a busy thoroughfare several blocks away, Ruby couldn’t be sure what she heard.

But it sounded like the footsteps were drawing nearer again.

With one long block to go, Ruby passed the break of a side street, glancing down the branching road in time to see a large man tearing toward her from the shadows. Something covered his face—a sheer mesh, like nylon stockings, distorting his features into those of a hideous monster.

The man had her cut off. If she ran straight for her apartment door, she’d run right into his path. He’d be on her in seconds.

Ruby nearly stumbled as she changed direction, taking the other branch of the cross street at a dead sprint, the heavy footsteps closing in.

She cut down an alley. She’d taken this path with Stasi years before. There was a pedestrian gate just ahead that led through the palace wall, with a gatehouse manned by royal guards.

Royal guards meant safety—if she could stay ahead of her pursuer long enough to reach them.

Thick boots hammered the cobblestones directly behind her. He was close, far too close. She could hear each rasping breath as the man panted in her wake. The palace wall was near but still too far away.

Something tugged at her hair. Fingers swiped her arm, grasping at her shirt.

She was never going to make it. The pedestrian gate lay a full twenty yards ahead, already within view, but rough hands closed over her arms, breaking her flight and tugging her backward.

Ruby let out a panicked scream a split second before a hand slipped over her mouth.

* * *

“What was that?” Galen Harris asked.

“Eh?” Elias, whose guard shift had ended half an hour before, lingered in the pedestrian gate guardhouse, chatting as he so often did.

“It sounded like a scream.”

Ever since Princess Anastasia had called ten minutes before, asking him to watch for her assistant Ruby’s return, Galen had kept his attention on the security screen, which he’d switched to show the area outside Ruby’s apartment door. There’d been no sign of the princess’s friend.

Not out back, anyway. The scream had come from down the block, beyond the scope of the security camera. Galen peered out the rear window and caught sight of two figures struggling in the distant darkness.

“Watch the guardhouse!” Galen punched the button that unlocked the door. He burst out as the woman screamed again, the sound muffled. The evening’s dying light glinted off her red hair.

Ruby.

Galen bounded through the door. He’d heard she was in town, and wondered if Ruby would let him see her again after the way her visit had ended the previous summer. Certain his company wasn’t welcome, he’d purposely avoided her.

But he couldn’t stay away now.

“Halt!” he shouted. “Royal guard!”

The attacker glanced up, his features marred by nylon netting. He moved his hand from Ruby’s mouth only to grab her by the arms.

Galen tore toward them. The masked man tugged at Ruby’s purse strap, shoving against her shoulder with his other hand as he wrenched at the bag.

With a leap, Galen threw himself at the hefty brute, slamming his arm down on the hand that gripped Ruby’s purse strap.

The man’s grasp broke as he stumbled backward, still standing, even with Galen half on top of him.

“Run to the gate!” Galen shouted to Ruby as he attempted to restrain her attacker. The thug spun on his heels to run, but Galen didn’t want the mugger running free on the streets of Sardis, Lydia’s capital city. He grabbed the man by the arm, pulling him back.

Behind them, he heard the faint buzz that meant Elias had deactivated the electronic lock on the door so that Ruby could get inside. Relieved that she was safe, Galen turned all his attention to the angry man in front of him.

Tugging hard on his arm, Galen tried to bring him down, but his massive opponent spun his arm toward Galen’s neck.

Galen saw the blow coming a split-second before it hit him and ducked to take the blow with his hard forehead instead of his neck.

The man grunted as his fingers crunched against Galen’s skull.

Taking advantage of the man’s momentary weakness, Galen threw his weight against him, heaving downward on his arm. But in spite of his strength and skill as a fighter, Galen was outweighed by Ruby’s attacker who resisted his downward pull.

Changing tactics, Galen jabbed one heavy boot toward the middle of the man’s legs, hoping to knock his knees out from under him. The thug pulled away, clear of Galen’s kicks.

Galen lunged onto the man’s back, determined to bring him down. The attacker sagged, but snapped one arm over his shoulder toward Galen’s face. This time his opponent angled his fist deeper and caught Galen full on the nose, snapping his head backward and sending tears to his eyes, momentarily stunning him.

Before Galen could pull him in again, the assailant dived toward the alleyway and fled into the night.

A gush of blood flooded from Galen’s throbbing nostrils. He squinted after the man, but his vision was blurred with tears and he could hardly see where the attacker had gone.

“Galen?” A female gasped behind him.

“Get inside.” He gestured to Ruby, who’d stepped back outside and now hovered anxiously near the gate.

She ducked back into the guard booth. As Galen staggered back to the brightly lit doorway, she reappeared with a towel in her hands. “Here.” She reached toward his bleeding nose.

“I’ve got it.” Galen accepted the towel but insisted on holding it himself, gingerly prodding the bridge of his nose; at least the thug hadn’t broken it.

“Sit down.” Ruby led him toward the chair where he’d been sitting until he’d heard her scream.

“Who was that guy?” Galen tried to look Ruby in the eye, but the fat towel clamped over his nose blocked most of his vision.

“I don’t know. Did you recognize him?”

“No. Where’d he come from?”

“The streets. He followed me, I think from as far as Stasi’s studio.”

“Followed you?” The words hit him harder than the blow to his nose. It was one thing to have Ruby attacked by a vicious purse-snatcher. It was far worse to think the man had tailed her, targeting her specifically. “How do you know he followed you?”

“I heard footsteps.” Ruby’s voice broke.

Galen angled his head and adjusted the towel so that he could see her face. He might not stanch the flow of blood as quickly with his head down instead of up, but he needed to see her. He needed to know whether she was okay.

Jade-green eyes blinked at him with fear in their depths.

Galen felt his heart twist. Part of him had been eager to see Ruby ever since he’d heard she’d stepped in to fill the role of Anastasia’s assistant, as the talented princess designed all the jewelry for the upcoming royal weddings. An equal part of him had been wary of a potentially awkward reunion. But awkwardness had become the least of his concerns.

“Are you okay?” He spotted the red marks along her neck where the strap of her bag had cut against her. “Did he hurt you?”

“I’m fine, I think.” She touched her neck. “Just sore.”

Elias, who’d been hovering silently, his attention divided between the two of them and the security screens, reached for the small fridge where the gateway guards kept their lunches and beverages. “Put something cold on that,” the older guard suggested, placing a chilled soda in her hands.

Ruby held the bottle like an ice pack against her neck. “Thank you. That helps.”

Relieved that she wasn’t seriously injured, Galen went back to wondering why the young American had been followed. “He wanted your purse?”

“Did he?” Ruby gingerly touched the red mark left behind when her attacker had tugged on her purse. “I didn’t think I made an obvious target, but I guess by walking home alone...” Her words broke off again, and she took a couple slow breaths, meeting his eyes over the towel he held clenched to his nose.

“You weren’t an obvious target,” Galen reassured her, trying not to think about the way her shining eyes made his heart leap or how much he’d missed seeing her since the last time she’d visited Lydia. Ruby was heir to an American jewelry chain. He was a humble sentinel with the Lydian royal guard. Their lives were worlds apart. She’d pushed him away when he’d tried to overlook their differences before. He ignored the way he felt sitting close to her, and focused on the attack. “If that man wanted to snatch a random bag, he could have gone downtown. Plenty of women don’t guard their purses very well when they go out on the town.”

Ruby’s freckles scrunched slightly as she wrinkled her nose, visibly fighting back her emotions in order to speak. “But why would he want my bag?” She broke his gaze and turned her head away.

“Are you carrying many valuables?”

“Hardly. Not much cash, a debit card, but my bank account is nearly empty already.” She opened her purse and took a quick inventory, rifling through papers and receipts. “Lip balm, keys, cheap sunglasses—which are now broken.” Ruby’s voice faltered as she pulled out the ruined eyewear. The shades had snapped along one rim. A lens fell out as she lifted them.

Galen reached for the fallen lens, then quickly pulled his hand back as Ruby bent to pick it up, as well.

Best to give the pretty redhead her space. That’s what she’d asked him for the year before, and he wasn’t about to push the issue. He had things to do—like reporting the incident to royal guard headquarters, and making sure Ruby really was all right.

And figuring out who her attacker was, and what he was after. And then, making sure the man never hurt Ruby again.

TWO

Ruby nearly dropped the broken sunglasses before she got them back into her purse. Maybe she could fix them.

Just like all the other things in her life that needed fixing right now. She’d come to Lydia at Princess Anastasia’s invitation. Her best friend from gemology school had set the ambitious goal of designing unique jewelry for the many upcoming Lydian royal weddings, starting with the marriage of Princess Isabelle and Levi Grenaldo in just over a week.

Those pieces were ready to go, but Stasi and Ruby still worked long hours trying to meet the deadlines that lay ahead, which was why Ruby hadn’t left the studio until twilight. Ruby was thrilled to help the princess. More than that, she felt honored that Stasi had given her family’s line of jewelry stores, Tate Jewelry, exclusive reproduction rights to all the designs.

Given the level of public interest in the royal weddings, the Tate Jewelry reproductions should sell well. Maybe even well enough to save the family business. But Ruby had a lot of work ahead of her if that was going to happen. She didn’t need the interference of an attacker to set her even further behind. If Galen hadn’t come to her aid, she might be as broken as the sunglasses in her purse.

Horrified that Galen had been hurt while helping her, Ruby turned away from the sight of the injured guard. It was hard enough for her to be near him at all. Seeing him hurt, remembering how much she cared for him...it was too much to think about, especially in the wake of what happened.

Ruby stared through the street-side window at the crime site, a mere dozen yards away, where she’d struggled against the masked man. Galen’s blood had splashed on the cobblestones, marking the spot. Her heart pinched at the sight.

Galen Harris.

She’d purposely avoided him since she’d been back in Lydia because of her embarrassing last encounter with him the previous summer and her feelings toward him that had made their final parting so awkward. She’d made up her mind that she needed to keep her distance from him, but telling him so had proven catastrophic.

It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy his company. It was precisely the opposite. The man could distract her from anything, even her goal of saving her parents’ business, which she must do to earn back their trust after her accidental betrayal years before.

If she revived her friendship with Galen, she didn’t know if she could leave Lydia again. The tiny Christian kingdom was her favorite place in the world, not just because of the friendly people and perfect climate, but because of the fascinating history of the place. The kingdom of Lydia could trace its history all the way back to the days of the Bible. The kingdom was named after the woman whose house church had grown into a small, independent nation. Princess Stasi and the rest of the Lydian royal family could trace their lineage all the way back to Lydia, the dealer in purple cloth who appeared in Acts 16: 14 & 40.

Ruby wasn’t sure which was more difficult—leaving Lydia or leaving Galen. One glance at the guard stirred her dormant feelings back to life. His ready smile was irresistible. His dark hair, now cropped to military shortness, curled as it grew out, ready to burst forth like his fun-loving nature the moment it escaped the rigid parameters around him. But given the way she’d left things with him the year before, she doubted he’d want to be friends anymore, anyway.

Rather than think about Galen, Ruby focused on the cobblestones outside and tried to sort out what had happened.

Why had that awful man attacked her? The brute had obviously planned ahead—he’d brought whatever that was that he’d put on to disguise his face. Ruby shuddered at the memory of the man’s fearsome appearance.

He’d looked warped—grotesque, even. And yet, Ruby couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d seen him before somewhere. She tried to recall his features. His nose had seemed large, but then again, maybe that was because the mesh had flattened it. His hair had been...pale.

She wanted to remember more, but the one thing that stuck with her was the lingering sense of recognition. In spite of the distorting effects of his mask, there was something familiar about him. Unsettling, but still, familiar.

She couldn’t place it. Maybe it would come to her.

“I think the bleeding’s stopped.” Galen sniffed a few times as if to be sure.

Ruby turned to face him, saddened that his lopsided smile had been erased by the attack. His bushy eyebrows—which bent stubbornly downward and gave him a sad-eyed teddy bear look—were ruffled, swelling upward from a bruise already forming on his forehead.

Her heart wrenched with concern, but she managed to keep her voice level. “Thank you for saving me.”

Galen opened his mouth, looked as though he was about to protest, to say that he hadn’t saved her at all, but then he nodded. “I’m just glad I heard you scream.”

She thought perhaps he might say more, even wished he’d bring up their awkward parting so she could apologize, though she dreaded having such a conversation. Instead he turned to face a bank of monitors, clicked a few keys on a keyboard, and a moment later, one of the screens showed the scene just outside the window.

“I’m going to back up the security footage and review what happened,” Galen explained gently. “I was watching the view of your apartment door when the attack occurred, so I haven’t seen what this camera recorded. I understand if you don’t want to watch, but it might be helpful—”

“I want to.” Ruby surprised herself with the conviction in her voice, and Galen’s eyebrows went up. “Maybe I’ll recognize him.” To her relief, Galen didn’t ask any more questions. He simply reversed the footage to the point when she came running into view.

At the sight of her own terrified face, Ruby wasn’t so sure if she should have insisted on viewing the replay after all. But her attacker appeared on the shadowy periphery a moment later, pulling her back until they struggled just beyond the scope of the security camera, their feet darting on and off the edge of the screen.

The screen showed Galen clearly as he ran to her aid and Ruby shuffling backward toward the gatehouse.“Not a single image,” Galen muttered as he clicked back to the moment when the attacker had rushed her, head down, and pulled her from the camera’s view.

“It’s as if he knew the range of the camera,” Ruby whispered.

“It wouldn’t be hard for him to guess if he had scoped out the palace wall ahead of time. The cameras are in clear view to deter trespassers.” Galen reviewed the scene again, this time zooming in toward the man’s head. The high-resolution image stayed crisp, but it still didn’t help much. “I can see the top of his head under his nylon, but I can’t even see if the man has hair or not.”

“And we can’t see any of his face.” Ruby realized she’d bent down and taken hold of the back of Galen’s chair as he sat using the security computer. When he swung his chair around, suddenly their faces were quite close.

She pulled away a reluctant second too late. She’d seen more than she wanted to of the swelling bruises on Galen’s face. She’d met his eyes long enough to feel the latent connection, to know in the bittersweet pit of her heart that he remembered all the time they’d spent together, that he wondered where they stood now.

What could she tell him? I’m sorry. The words burned in her throat, unspoken.

“Are you going to report this incident to headquarters?” Elias asked.

“Right away,” Galen assured the older guard. “I was just hoping to have an image to send along with my report.”

“I should head back to my apartment and get out of your way.” Ruby took a step toward the door.

“Wait.” Galen stood. He raised one hand as though to reach for her, then returned his arm quickly to his side. “Do you want someone to walk you home?”

Ruby felt her heart swell with a mixture of regret and appreciation. Even though she was within the protective walls of the palace grounds, beyond the reach of the man who’d attacked her and run away, she still hadn’t been keen on stepping out into the darkness alone. How thoughtful of Galen to consider her feelings.

Before she could muster up words, Elias stepped forward. “I can walk her home. You’ve got a call to put in and a gatehouse to keep secure. I’m off duty.”

“That’s right.” Galen looked the tiniest bit disappointed as he accepted Elias’s offer. “Thank you.”

And though Ruby felt grateful for the older guard’s willingness to see that she arrived back at her apartment safely, she couldn’t help feeling the slightest bit disappointed, too. She told herself it was simply because she’d hoped for another opportunity to thank Galen, but her heart wouldn’t believe it.

She wanted him to walk her home, though she dreaded discussing the way they’d left things, and she’d told herself a thousand times to keep her distance. It was precisely the reminder she needed. Galen was a distraction she couldn’t afford, not with all the long hours of hard work that lay ahead of her, both in Lydia and back in the US. Perhaps it was best to leave things at that.

“Thank you,” she whispered, the words inadequate after the blows he’d taken on her behalf.

“Just doing my job.” He kept his face to the screen, but she glanced back to find him looking after her, too far away now for her to read his expression. She might have thought she saw a glimmer of longing, but it was surely just a trick of the light.

* * *

“You abandoned your post.” Jason Selini, the captain of the Lydian Royal Guard, glared at Galen.

“That guy was going to carry off Princess Anastasia’s assistant. Besides, Elias had the gatehouse covered.” Galen wished the royal guard had enough men to have two guards posted at the gatehouse at all hours, but following the attack on the royal family at the beginning of the summer, they’d had to let go any guard with ties to the insurgents. Rebuilding the force would take time.

“Elias was off duty. You should have called for backup.”

“And waited while that man—”

“Guards could have arrived in under a minute. If that attack had been a ruse to draw you away from your post, you fell for it. You left the whole palace vulnerable.” Captain Selini flopped a file open on his desk.

Galen recognized the pages with a sinking heart.

“Last month,” the captain continued, “you let Duchess Julia through the gate without a guard. You have breached protocol twice in less than a month. That alone is grounds for suspension.”

Galen felt as though a cold hand had clenched him in its grasp. He wanted to protest, but the captain clearly wasn’t going to listen to his defense.

“In light of the events of last evening, Princess Anastasia has requested an evening escort for her assistant. She specifically requested you.” Selini raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Do you have any idea why?”

“Because I fought Ruby’s attacker?”

“Because you and Ruby have a history together, according to the princess. I looked into this history.” Selini flipped back several pages in his file.

Galen’s heart sank. He knew what those pages held. During the tenure of the former head of the royal guard, Galen’s infractions hadn’t been considered much of a concern. But the former captain had been engaged in the treasonous conspiracies that had led to an ambush on the royal family, and had nearly toppled the monarchy. Jason Selini had taken the traitor’s place and seemed determined to restore the royal guard to its former glory by wiping away every trace of misbehavior.

“It seems two years ago,” the captain summarized from the report, “you made an unauthorized journey to the archipelago in a royal guard motorboat with the princess and her friend at night.”

Galen recalled the event distinctly. Princess Stasi had wanted to watch a meteor shower far away from the lights of Sardis. Galen’s plan to borrow the boat would have worked perfectly if only the engine hadn’t refused to start when they’d tried to head home. After attempting to row back to the marina with little success, he’d ended up tying a rope from his waist to the prow and swimming back to shore, tugging the disabled craft behind him. They’d arrived at the dock shortly after daybreak, an hour after the boat was reported stolen.

The former head of the guard had laughed heartily when Galen had explained the story.

His new boss didn’t laugh. “Compounded with your recent infractions, these reports provide sound basis for your immediate dismissal.”

Galen couldn’t speak. Would he really lose his job? Jason Selini, appointed in the wake of the ambush in June, had terminated any and every guard who’d been linked to those who’d conspired against the Royal House of Lydia, determined to defend the royal family even from those hired to protect them.

Captain Selini obviously had no qualms about firing guards. And while Galen had wholeheartedly supported his boss’s decisions—supported every move that would restore the royal guard to its former glory—he hadn’t expected the captain’s zealous housecleaning to threaten his job.

Selini ran his hands through his thick hair, revealing a few gray roots that had sprung up in recent months. His face, too, had lost its former easygoing expression, replaced with a stern grimness impressed by the weight of his newfound responsibilities. “I’ve got six new recruits scheduled to start in two weeks, as soon as they can be officially transferred over from the Lydian army. I can’t afford to let you go just yet. You have two weeks left.”

With a pounding heart, Galen listened to his supervisor’s words, waiting for the final verdict. The treason among the ranks of the guard had dealt a horrific blow to their prestige. Galen’s own brothers ribbed him mercilessly for wearing the same uniform as those who’d tried to overthrow the monarchy. Galen had vowed to help reclaim the royal guard’s reputation.

He couldn’t do that if the captain fired him.

How could he ever face his older brothers if he lost his job? His family had served in the Lydian military for generations. His brothers were all men of rank. After serving four years in the Lydian Army, Galen had become a guard—in part to escape his brothers’ constant scrutiny and the reminder that he could never measure up.

If he was fired from the guard, he’d never be able to show his face at a family gathering again. Worse yet, he wouldn’t be a part of the guard he wanted to help restore.

The captain glared at Galen as he continued. “For the next two weeks, I’ll be keeping close tabs on everything you do and every choice you make. If, at the end of that time, I determine that these protocol lapses are typical of your judgment, then you will be terminated. However, if you can prove to me that you have what it takes to be a royal guard, then you can keep your job. Agreed?”

Galen nearly sagged with relief, and panted to catch the breath he’d been holding the entire time Selini had spoken. “Agreed. Thank you. You won’t be sorry.”

“I hope not.” The captain closed the file and rapped the pages against the desk like the blade of a guillotine slamming down. “Now, Princess Anastasia wants a royal guard escort for her assistant every evening on her way home from work. She’s specifically requested you for the job. I’m not thrilled with her selection given your record, but since we don’t have a decent picture of her attacker, and since you’re the only guard who’s actually seen the man, you’re the obvious choice.”

Still feeling exhilarated by the news that he hadn’t yet been terminated, Galen smiled giddily at the thought of spending more time with Ruby. “Yes, thank you.”

If anything, his boss appeared concerned by Galen’s response. He leaned across his desk, and his eyes, already glaring, narrowed to dark slits. “Are you certain you can handle that?”

Galen sobered immediately. “Yes.”

“Quite certain?” Selini didn’t look convinced.

“Quite certain,” Galen assured his superior officer.

It wasn’t until he’d been dismissed and made it halfway down the hall that he realized maybe he wasn’t after all. Could he handle walking Ruby home for the next two weeks, with Jason Selini scrutinizing his every move, ready to dismiss him for the slightest infraction?

He wasn’t sure which was more worrisome—the man who’d attacked Ruby, or the thought of trying to maintain protocol while in her very distracting presence. He’d felt their old connection from the moment he’d looked into her eyes the previous evening. If it hadn’t been for her cold request the summer before, Galen might have acted on those feelings.

As he’d promised Captain Selini, could he handle walking Ruby home? From a professional standpoint, it shouldn’t be difficult. He was a trained royal guard. He knew what he was doing. But what about the woman who could make him lose his head with a single look? Suddenly he wasn’t so certain at all.

* * *

The evening after the attack, Ruby was alone at the studio after everyone else had left for. She looked up from the table where she sat sorting gemstones into precise piles by color and size and she startled.

A broad-shouldered figure loomed in the doorway across the room. Shoving the magnifying goggles high onto her forehead, she blinked at the figure.

“Galen!” She gasped in relief when she recognized him. “I didn’t realize anyone else was here.”

“Kirk and the princess let me in as they left. I thought they’d told you I’d be stopping by to escort you home,” Galen explained. Kirk Covington, Princess Stasi’s fiancé, had been a sentinel with the royal guard for years before saving Stasi’s life and being assigned as her primary guard.

“Stasi mentioned that she’d requested a guard, but she didn’t say who it would be.” Ruby peeled off the goggles and placed them on the table.

“I’m the only one who saw the man who attacked you.” Galen shrugged, his words an excuse for his presence.

Ruby still felt the urge to argue against it. “I caught a glimpse of him, too.” She stretched her arms above her head, releasing the kink that had built up in her neck over the course of the many hours she’d spent hunched over her work. “But that doesn’t mean I’d recognize him unless he came at me with panty hose over his face again.”

“I hope that doesn’t happen, but if he shows up again, at least you won’t be alone this time.” Galen glanced around the studio. “Are you ready to head home?”

“Not just yet, if you don’t mind. If I don’t seal these stones into separate containers, someone could bump the table and my entire evening’s work could be lost.” She picked up the first container. “It won’t take me more than ten minutes.”

“Take your time. I’m going to walk the perimeter.”

“Great idea. Kirk does the same thing several times a day.” Ruby returned her attention to the task before her, making precise notations on each container to identify the contents.

Absorbed by her task, Ruby had almost managed to stop thinking about Galen’s presence when he called out to her from across the room, “Ruby? I need you to come over here, but stay down, out of sight from the windows.”

THREE

Ruby felt awkward as she crawled on her hands and knees across the varnished wooden floorboards toward the second story window. Ahead of her, Galen crouched to the side of the expansive glass panes, hidden from outside view by the wide limestone window casing.

“What is it? Do you see someone?” Ruby asked as she drew slowly nearer.

“There’s a man at the corner smoking a cigarette. He’s leaning against the building across the street. It could be completely innocent, or he could be waiting for you.”

She was almost to the window. “The man who attacked me last night had that lingering scent that smokers have.”

“And Lydia has one of the lowest smoking rates on the planet. That doesn’t mean he’s our man, but it’s certainly an implicating factor.”

Ruby reached the window. Instead of the cigarette odor they’d been discussing, she caught a whiff of Galen’s cologne, a faint but exotic scent that immediately reminded her of the time she’d danced with Galen, two summers before. Her heart began to beat faster as the treasured memory welled up. She tried to put it from her mind and focus on the situation.

“Keep your head just above the windowsill,” Galen instructed her. “We’re on the second floor and he’s at ground level, so he shouldn’t be able to see you as long as you stay low.”

Ruby slowly lifted her head just high enough to allow her to see out, while Galen crouched down beside her, until they were both peeking out in the same direction. The sun had nearly set, and though electric lights illuminated most of the cobbled streets, the place where the man had chosen to stand was cast almost entirely in shadows.

The only thing Ruby could see clearly was the orange glow of a cigarette. “He’s certainly built like the man who came after me last night.” Ruby was able to make out enough of the large silhouette to determine that much. “I wish he’d step into the light so we could see his face.”

“If he’s the same man, I doubt he’ll do that. But I’ll keep watching. You can finish what you were doing. I just wanted you to get a look before he disappeared.”

“Thank you.” Ruby met Galen’s eyes, aware of how close their hands were, clinging to the windowsill, and how near his face was to hers. An indigo bruise branched out from his nose, deepening to a ruddy purple under his eye. Ruby sucked in a sharp breath. “Your face looks awful.”

Galen grinned the lopsided grin she’d missed so much. After an awkward silence in which she tried to think of what to say to clarify what she’d meant, Galen responded, “Yours looks quite the opposite.”

Mortified, Ruby dropped to the floor and crawled back toward where she’d been working. Had Galen meant his words to sound flirtatious? She didn’t want to know the answer.

Over the course of her many summer visits to Lydia, she’d worked hard to maintain a purely professional relationship with the gorgeous guard. The first summer she’d had a boyfriend back in the US, so she’d made it a point never to act on the attraction she had felt toward Galen. And by the time she’d had a school year away to contemplate the feelings that wouldn’t go away, she’d realized that a relationship with Galen would never work.

He was committed to life in Lydia. She had long ago promised her parents she’d help with their chain of jewelry stores once she finished her studies—and that required her to live in the United States. And she’d never been the type to have a casual fling with a man just because he was cute, even if he had sad-teddy-bear eyes. If she couldn’t foresee a future together, she didn’t see the point of wasting her time and emotional investment in a relationship.

Galen was a great guy; definitely marriage material for some lucky Lydian girl. But Ruby belonged on the other side of the globe. Galen was a friend—a great friend, who’d only ever been a gentleman in the past, in spite of the adventures they’d shared that had given him plenty of opportunity to make a move on her if he’d wanted to. Most likely the amiable sentinel was just trying to be kind.

There was nothing more for her to read into his words. There would never be anything more between them than friendship—their awkward parting the previous summer had surely guaranteed that. She’d hate to mess up what camaraderie they now shared by drawing attention to words he couldn’t possibly have meant to sound flirtatious. Even if he felt for her something like what she felt for him, nothing could come from it.

It would be difficult enough for her to leave Lydia when her service to Princess Stasi ended. She didn’t think she could leave Galen behind again, not if he felt for her what she felt for him. It was best not to think about those feelings, certainly not to discuss them.

Ruby had solidified her convictions by the time she labeled the last of the tiny containers. “Is he still there?” she asked Galen, who remained crouched at the windowsill where she’d left him.

“I believe so. He stepped back, but I’ve seen that shadow move, so I think he’s just around the corner. Do you feel comfortable walking home or do you want me to call for a car? I’d have driven myself but—”

“The streets in this part of the old city are too narrow for parking and driving.” Ruby understood completely. “The nearest decent parking is in the royal garage. And we don’t have very far to go.” She pondered the choices before them.

Was the man on the corner the same person who’d come after her the night before? She had no way of knowing, not unless he tried to come after her again. And until they caught whoever had attacked her, she would never know when he might be lurking behind her. Perhaps it would be best to give him a chance to show himself. Maybe then her life would return to normal.

“I don’t suppose you can ask your fellow guards to sneak up behind this guy and nab him, can you?”

“Sorry.” Galen stayed low, out of sight of the window as he shuffled toward her, standing when he reached the table where she’d been working. “He’s not breaking any laws right now. We don’t have any way to prove it’s your attacker. The only way to legally apprehend him is to catch him in the act.”

Ruby shuddered as she imagined what that act might be. Grabbing her? Fighting Galen again? What had the man been trying to accomplish, anyway? “Have you got a quick way to call in more men if this guy tries to jump us again?”

“Yes. The head of the guard assigned extra men to this shift in response to last night’s attack. There are two men on duty in the guardhouse, and they can call more reinforcements if they need to. I’ll call them now and tell them we’ll be leaving, so they know to watch for us.”

As Ruby listened to Galen’s half of the conversation, the guard used his radio earpiece to contact the other men and fill them in on the situation, including the fact that they’d spotted a man across the street. “We haven’t gotten a good look at him. Might be our guy. Might not. We should have a better idea in a few minutes.”

Galen offered Ruby a focused smile as he ended the conversation. “They’ll be watching for us.”

Reassured, Ruby did her best to sound confident. “We’ll be fine. You fought him off last night. Why would he be crazy enough to show up again? He has to know I won’t be walking home alone after what happened. That’s probably some innocent man taking a long smoke break.” Ruby made up her mind. “Your men are expecting us. Let’s just go.” She grabbed her pile of notes from that day’s work and stuffed them into her purse, strapping it across her chest as usual.

Galen walked with her to the stairwell. “I’ll step outside first. Then I’ll stand behind you as you close the door. I want you to walk just ahead of me, a little to my right, closest to the buildings. That puts me in between you and anyone who might come from behind.”

“Okay. What do we do if he shows up?”

“Let’s try to stay together. If I tell you to run, head for your apartment door or the gatehouse like last night. The guards will have one man watching through the window, and one watching the security footage of your door. I’ll call for reinforcements if this guy makes any move toward us. If I can, I’d like to bring him in—but not if it means putting you in danger.” Galen’s gaze settled on hers with a protective expression that bordered on...

No, that couldn’t be it. Not affection. Galen knew better. She’d made herself perfectly clear the year before. Even if he felt things for her, she wouldn’t believe it.

Couldn’t return it.

Mindful of her decision not to let on to him about her feelings, she turned her face to the door. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”

* * *

The night air felt cool on his face as Galen stepped outside. As promised, he took his position just behind Ruby as she bolted the door and slipped the key into her purse. In those brief moments, he turned to get a clear view of where the man had been standing.

The spot was empty. If it hadn’t been for the lingering scent of tobacco in the air, Galen might have wondered if he hadn’t imagined seeing the shadowy figure. There was no sign of the man anymore.

Ruby turned resolutely toward the palace.

Galen listened carefully as he kept pace half a step behind her. He heard no footsteps, saw no evidence of life.

He exhaled with his mouth half open, not wanting even the sound of his own breath to disguise any sign that Ruby’s attacker might be near. Tuning out the distant noises of traffic from several blocks away, Galen listened closely for the faintest footstep.

Nothing.

Good. Though he wanted to catch the man, he didn’t want to put Ruby in danger. If he’d thought the guy was crazy enough to show up two nights in a row, he’d have requested more guards with him. But no mere mugger would bother to show up two nights in a row or try to attack a woman surrounded by royal guards. If Galen made such a request only to walk home undisturbed, he’d look foolish. Jason Selini would question his judgment.

No, it was better this way. No extra guards, and no sign of Ruby’s attacker.

They turned the corner at the end of the block. The palace lay up ahead, in clear sight. Ruby looked at him over her shoulder and offered him half a smile, hope sparkling in her eyes. She felt it too, then—relief that the man had decided to leave them alone. Maybe Galen’s presence had been enough to keep the thug away.

But a few steps later he heard a crunch like gravel under the sole of a boot.

Ruby must have heard it, too. She stiffened and slowed her pace slightly, as if stalling her steps to hear as much as possible between each footfall.

Galen held his breath, praying silently that Ruby’s attacker would stay away.

A few more steps crunched softly behind them.

He turned his head, quickly scouring the street behind them, but saw no one. The sound continued. It seemed to be coming from around the corner, though the echoing effect of the tall stone buildings made it difficult to tell for sure. The man could be anywhere.

Ruby glanced up at him, her green eyes wide.

“Walk faster,” he whispered.

She didn’t need any encouragement. Galen took three long strides after her before the clear sound of footsteps rounded the corner. One glance over his shoulder told him their disguised attacker had returned.

“Run!” Galen swept one arm around Ruby’s waist as he hurried her forward. At the same instant, he clamped down on his push-to-talk button to call the guards to their aid. But as he opened his mouth to speak, his ears were assaulted with a static-filled squeal.

What was wrong with his radio? Galen didn’t have time for troubleshooting. Their pursuer was a mere half block behind them, maybe less.

They crossed a bisecting street. Ruby’s apartment lay one long block ahead of them. Galen dared to look over his shoulder as they darted across the intersection, hoping to see that they were far enough ahead of the man to safely reach Ruby’s apartment. A shadow passed under a streetlight at the corner behind them, disappearing in the other direction.

“Where is he?” Ruby gasped between breaths.

“He’s gone.”

“What?”

Ruby’s steps slowed. Galen, likewise, stopped running to listen. Silence. Had the man given up?

“I think I saw him dart around that corner away from us.” Galen shook his head, still listening closely. He heard a distant sound, which might have been footsteps, but it was difficult to tell as he and Ruby both sucked in deep breaths after their panicked run.

“I hear—” Ruby began in a whisper.

But Galen heard it, too, and pulled out his earpiece so he could hear more clearly. The sound of approaching footsteps had returned, but now they seemed to be coming from the side street opposite the corner around which the man had seemed to disappear.

How had the man gotten across the street? Was it some sort of trick, or another person entirely?

Galen formed a plan quickly. He wanted to ID the perp, if possible—but he couldn’t let Ruby stay out in the open. A deep alcove beckoned from the doorway of the nearest building.

“In here.” Galen nearly lifted Ruby off her feet as he swept her behind the protecting stone enclosure, positioning himself in front of her, ears attuned, one eye peering just past the rim of the stonework.

As he’d suspected, a massive man darted out from around the opposite corner, his face distorted by a semitransparent, tight-fitting elastic garment. The man glanced about as he ran, then skidded to a stop fewer than twenty yards from them.

Galen ducked his head back.

Ruby clung to the light blue shirt of his royal guard uniform, looking up at him from very close range, her expression trusting in spite of the fear that haunted her eyes. This close, he could feel her warmth and smell the light perfume she wore. He turned his attention from her to the street, refusing to think about how it felt to have her practically in his arms.

Ordinarily he’d have backed away, honoring her wishes to keep a formal distance between them. He didn’t have that option, not with their pursuer moving toward them as the big man searched out his lost prey.

The doorway where they hid was set back one yard or more from the stonework facade, the decorative archway providing a narrow nook for them to hide, out of sight from anyone looking directly at the building, provided they pressed flat against the adjoining wall.

“He’s looking for us,” Galen explained, his voice barely a breath as he tried to compress himself as flat as possible against the wall without crushing Ruby. She too shrank back as they listened to the man approach, but Galen could still feel her heartbeat slamming into his.

A gruff voice rumbled from the street. “Where’d they go?” A pause. “Not anymore.” A stream of curses was followed by, “Not tonight.”

The sound of footsteps faded into the night.

Galen waited a few more tense heartbeats, then peeled himself away from the wall. He needed to distance himself from Ruby, especially since he wanted to pull her into his arms to hold her close and keep her safe. Instead, he looked out into the night. The orange glow of streetlights illumined all that was left of the evening.

“What happened to your guards?” Ruby asked in a tiny whisper. “I thought you were going to call them?”

As she spoke, Galen heard footsteps—this time coming from the direction of the palace wall. He recognized the familiar dark slacks and pale blue shirt of the Lydian guard uniform.

“Linus!” he called out.

The guard turned, relief on his face as Galen stepped from the doorway, pulling Ruby out after him.

“What happened? I was listening for you, but when I checked the radio, all I got was static.”

“He must have jammed the system.” Galen was still trying to sort out what had happened. “He may have been wearing an earpiece, as well. Even though he appeared to be alone, he was talking to someone.”

“An accomplice?” Ruby’s voice, sounding small and vulnerable, pulled Galen’s attention from his fellow guard to the woman he’d promised to protect.

Galen stared at Ruby as the full impact of her words hit him. It was worse than he’d feared. Not only was someone targeting her specifically, but they weren’t working alone.

Cold dread filled Galen as he looked at Ruby’s innocent face and wondered what she was up against. He needed to figure it out—quickly, before the men did anything to hurt Ruby.

And he needed to convince his boss that he knew what he was talking about when he requested more men for the next evening, and every evening until these men were caught. And in the meantime, he’d have to stop staring into Ruby’s jade-green eyes or he might easily give in to the impulse to pull her close to him.

FOUR

Ruby stepped through the pedestrian gate ahead of the guards and headed toward the royal guard headquarters, a three-story brick building located on the palace grounds across the courtyard from the garages. Before she and the guards reached the building, the vehicle gate opened and a car pulled through.

“That’s Kirk’s car,” Linus noted.

The coupe rolled toward them and Princess Anastasia leaped from the passenger door, rushing at Ruby and embracing her. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Ruby felt grateful for the hug, but embarrassed that her friend had interrupted a rare evening out on her account. “You’re supposed to be on a dinner date.”

“We hadn’t ordered our food yet. I was worried about how you were faring, so I asked Kirk to call the guards. They told us what happened. I feel responsible—you came to Lydia at my invitation, and now you’ve been attacked twice.”

“Only once, technically.” Ruby stepped back toward Galen as she explained, “We were chased this evening, but thanks to Galen’s quick thinking, the man didn’t catch us.”

“Unfortunately, we didn’t catch him, either,” Galen lamented.

“No, but we may have learned a few things.” Linus led the way to the royal guard headquarters. “Let’s get those observations on record before either of you have time to forget any details.”

Kirk and Stasi followed them inside. Once they were all seated around a table in the conference room, Ruby and Galen recounted everything they could recall, from the moment Galen spotted the figure smoking outside the studio. But when they reached the point in the story where Galen had tried to radio for help, Linus stopped to clarify.

“What happened with that transmission? The royal guard has been using these earpieces for three years, ever since they hit the market. They’re supposed to be the best of their kind. We’ve never had a problem before.”

Galen shook his head slowly. “I don’t know enough about this technology to guess how they did it. Can we call Simon in here?”

Moments later, the royal guard’s technology expert for the evening shift stood among them, nodding as Galen recounted the trouble with the earpiece kits.

“It had to have been deliberately jammed,” Simon concluded after hearing the facts. “Given that you’d just used it with no trouble, I’d say he waited until his accomplice was chasing you before jamming the signal.”

“It had to be an accomplice?” Ruby didn’t like the thought of a team working against her using sophisticated equipment—especially when she didn’t even know why. “One man couldn’t have jammed the signal while chasing us?”

“Highly unlikely. He’d have to have a transmitter tuned to the same frequency as our receiving equipment, with the same type of modulation and enough power to override the signal at the receiver. I can’t imagine someone coordinating all that while slipping on a mask and running after the two of you on foot.”

Ruby wasn’t clear on all the technical specifics Simon had quoted, but she agreed with the guard’s conclusion. Which left her with one looming question. “Why are these guys after me? What do I have that is worth so much effort?”

“They came after you two nights in a row, even after I fought one of them last night.” Galen looked apologetic for reminding her of the incident as he explained why they had to revisit it. “That tells me that whatever they want, it’s urgent. Under any other circumstances, you’d think they’d lay low for a few days in hopes that we’d lower our guard.”

“We’re not going to lower our guard.” Princess Anastasia crossed her arms with determination. “I’ll talk to the captain of the guard myself if I have to. This issue will have priority status.”

“But your sister’s wedding is next Saturday,” Kirk reminded his fiancée. “I’m certain that’s going to remain our top priority.”

“That’s all the more reason we’ve got to get to the bottom of this.” The petite princess was known for her tenacity. “The guards will need to focus on Isabelle’s wedding. These guys need to be stopped before then.” She turned her attention to Ruby. “Can you think of any possible reason these guys keep coming after you?”

Ruby squinted her eyes shut, thinking carefully, then shook her head. “Nothing.”

“They tried to take your purse last night,” Galen reminded her.

“But there’s nothing in it worth stealing.”

“Can we see?” Stasi requested.

With a shrug, Ruby turned her purse upside down over the table, unceremoniously dumping it out in full view of everyone. Stasi helped her rifle through the sparse contents. “Your keys.” She picked through them. “Do you suppose they wanted your keys to break in to the studio?”

“But why go through Ruby for the keys?” Galen asked. “Why not break directly into the studio?”

“We’ve installed a sophisticated security system,” Kirk noted, “but if they’re clever enough to jam our radio signals, you’d think they could circumvent those defenses.”

Ruby listened to their conversation with half an ear, her attention already focused on three pages of notebook paper she’d carefully folded and tucked away in her purse before leaving the studio that evening.

Her jewelry design notes from that day’s work. She’d been faithfully toting copious notes back to her apartment every evening, accumulating a file of all the details so that Tate Jewelry could make accurate reproductions. The exclusive rights were a precious gift from her friend Stasi. If the replica jewelry sold as well, and Ruby hoped it might, it amounted to Ruby’s best hope for saving her parents’ business and earning back their trust. The design notes were invaluable to her.

Might they also be valuable to someone else?

Ruby cleared her throat. “What about this?”

“Your design notes?” Stasi’s eyes widened as the meaning of Ruby’s suggestion sank in. “Do you think my designs are that valuable?”

“Darling.” Kirk placed a hand on his fiancée’s shoulder. “You always underestimate the value of your work. Your jewelry is highly sought after, and it’s sure to become vastly more so with all the media coverage of the upcoming royal weddings.”

Stasi blushed at Kirk’s assessment.

Galen didn’t look convinced. “How would these guys know you had the designs in your purse?”

Ruby and Stasi looked at one another thoughtfully.

“We talk about jewelry all the time,” the princess admitted.

“We’ve talked about the designs in public,” Ruby added.

“At lunch the other day—”

“And when we were shopping—”

“Walking home from the studio—”

Linus interrupted them. “I don’t think you should discuss the designs in public anymore. But that said, those are just a few pages in your purse. Wouldn’t they need the rest of your notes for that information to be useful?”

Ruby nodded.

Galen murmured in a low voice, “I’m not one hundred percent convinced this is what those guys were after.”

“Neither am I,” Linus agreed.

“But what else could there be?” Ruby had been pondering the question all day, ever since the attack the evening before, but still hadn’t come up with an answer.

Nor did anyone else at the table posit an explanation.

After a thoughtful silence, the princess concluded, “The most important thing right now is keeping you safe. I hate to restrict your freedom, but from here on out I don’t want you leaving the palace grounds alone.”

Ruby nodded solemnly. Other than traveling to and from Stasi’s studio, she rarely went anywhere without her friend. And Stasi always had a guard—usually her fiancée, Kirk—at her side. The new imposition wouldn’t change much.

“I’m going to look into alternate earpiece communication kits,” Simon offered.

“And I want physical stats on this guy,” Linus cut in. “If he got close enough to the palace to deduce our radio frequency, he’s probably been lurking around. We shouldn’t have to wait for him to come after Ruby again—if we know what he looks like, we can nab him the next time he sticks his head up.”

To her frustration, Ruby didn’t have anything helpful to offer in the way of a physical description. While Galen estimated the man’s height and weight, Ruby pinched her eyes shut and visualized the menacing face she’d seen under the elastic mask the night before. She couldn’t imagine why she’d thought the man seemed familiar. Where would she have seen him before? Lurking around, as Linus had suggested? Had he been watching her, sticking to the shadows as he had that evening at the studio, his cigarette glowing like a lone orange eye?

The thought made her shudder.

“Are you okay?” Galen asked.

Ruby opened her eyes to see Galen’s teddy-bear brows bent upward with concern. He reached for her hand where it rested at the edge of the table, still gripping her notes on Stasi’s designs.

She recoiled at the thought that he might hold her hand. She could still feel the embrace of his strong arms around her as they’d hidden from her attacker. Her heart lurched, torn between reaching for him, and the fear of letting herself share any more connection with a man she wouldn’t see after her job in Lydia ended.

Galen pulled his hand back, no doubt recalling her request from the year before. Or perhaps he’d never meant to take her hand at all. “You’ve had a rough couple days.”

Ruby shook her head. “I’m okay. I was trying to figure out why the man who attacked me seemed so—” she struggled to speak through the complicated feelings that clogged her thoughts “—familiar.” It wasn’t quite the right word, but it was the closest thing she could think of.

“Familiar?” The princess repeated the word with alarm. “Do you think you know this guy?”

“I don’t know.” Ruby wished she could take the word back, even if she didn’t know what else to replace it with. “I couldn’t really see his face. Maybe I imagined it.”

“Familiar how?” Galen quizzed her. “What does he remind you of?”

Though she hated revisiting the fear-filled memory, Ruby closed her eyes again and tried to link the man’s image with whatever it was that she felt she recognized. “I don’t know,” she concluded again, frustrated with the whole business. “I don’t know why these guys are after me, or what’s so important to them. I’m not sure if I recognize something about that masked man or if I’m just imagining things.”

“It’s okay.” Galen reached out to her with his words, even as he kept his hands at his sides. “You don’t have to know. It’s our job as the royal guard is to keep you safe.”

Stasi jumped in. “As Kirk is always reminding me, safety means more than just freedom from injury. It means freedom from indirect harm, as well. Stressing about your own safety is bad for your health. Speaking of, have you had anything for dinner yet?”

“No.”

“Neither have we,” Kirk reminded Stasi.

“Let’s head over to the palace,” Stasi suggested. “They’ve always got something prepared over there.” She pulled Ruby to her feet.

* * *

“Galen!” Princess Stasi called back from the doorway. “Come on.”

Surprised by the invitation, Galen declined. “I’m on duty tonight.”

“Which is why you’re coming to supper with us. You’re in charge of guarding Ruby from now on. You’ll need to coordinate your schedule with hers.”

“I’m a sentinel, not a bodyguard.” Galen hated to argue with a member of the royal family, but guarding Ruby around the clock would mean a whole lot more than just walking her home. He’d promised her at the end of the previous summer that he’d keep his distance. How was he supposed to do that if he was at her side all day, every day? He’d been tempted enough to pull her into his arms on the street outside the palace walls earlier, lasting less than an hour before temptation had struck.

Besides, the assignment didn’t fit his job description. The royal guard had three distinct positions for non-officers: detectives, bodyguards and sentinels. Galen’s job description was all about guarding buildings, vehicles, and by extension, all the people inside them. He wasn’t authorized to protect just one person.

“Kirk was a sentinel before he became my bodyguard.” Stasi clearly didn’t see why the difference would be an issue. “He can explain the differences for you.”

“But Captain Selini has to authorize all changes.” Galen felt the futility of his defense as he spoke the words. The captain had already assigned Galen to walk Ruby home. Whatever his cautions about protocol, Selini would most likely agree to Princess Anastasia’s expanded request.

“He’ll authorize it,” Stasi assured him, already headed down the hallway, clearly trusting him to follow. “I’m the one who appointed him Captain of the Guard,” she added with a laugh.

Galen followed, but he didn’t laugh. He couldn’t guard Ruby. That would mean spending time with her, watching her smile, hearing her laugh, fighting the urge to beg her not to leave Lydia again. It would mean resisting, every moment of every day, the urge to pull her into his arms, to be close to her as he’d always longed to be. He’d promised Ruby he’d keep his distance. He intended to keep that promise.

But what other options did he have? Stasi wanted him to guard her friend. The captain had to go along with the royal request. Galen couldn’t challenge it—he was already under threat of losing his job. What if he accepted the assignment only to offend Ruby by his closeness? If she complained, Galen would receive the third strike against his record and be kicked off the royal guard.

But if he wasn’t there to guard her, who would keep Ruby safe?

Ruby met his eyes as they entered the kitchen, passing through the doorway at almost the same moment, her sudden closeness a reminder of those brief moments when they’d huddled together, out of sight of her attacker. She gave him an uncertain look, half fear, half questioning. Galen felt his heart twist, his mind made up. He’d keep Ruby safe, whatever the cost.

Even if it cost his job.

FIVE

While the captain took a phone call, Galen stepped into the hall and quickly dialed Ruby’s number. She answered after the second ring.

“You’re late.” In spite of the accusing nature of Ruby’s words, her tone sounded lighthearted over the phone.

“I’m sorry,” he explained quickly, ready to respond the moment Jason Selini finished with his phone call in the office. “My boss called me in to talk about what happened last night. I didn’t think it would take this long.”

“Do I need to be there?”

Ruby’s question surprised him.

“No, it’s fine. It’s mostly about guard issues.” Like the fact that he might lose his job—something he didn’t want Ruby to find out, if he could help it. Knowing Ruby’s insatiable curiosity, she’d want to know what he’d done to endanger his position. She’d feel terribly guilty if she learned that he was in trouble for rescuing her two nights before, and for going out in the boat two years ago.

Galen quickly adjusted the plans they’d made for that afternoon. “Can you wait at your apartment until I’m done here? It shouldn’t be much longer.”

“No problem. I have other things I can work on until then.”

“Thank you for being flexible.” Galen watched through the interior window to the captain’s office as Selini hung up the phone. “I’ve got to go.”

“Okay, see you—”

Unwilling to waste even a few spare seconds, Galen ended the call and stepped back into the captain’s office. To his relief, it appeared some of Selini’s initial anger had cooled while he’d been on the phone. Galen felt the faintest twinge of hope.

“Where were we?” Selini ran his hands through his gray-flecked hair. “I’m not happy with how this situation has developed, but at this point, it seems we’ve painted ourselves into a corner. Ruby trusts you. You’re as familiar with these events as anyone. So, while I disagree on principle with the princess’s decision to move you from sentinel to bodyguard, nonetheless, I’m going to confirm it. She moved Kirk from sentinel to bodyguard, and that turned out quite well.”

“Yes.”

“Although I won’t have this case ending like theirs.”

“Sir?”

“Kirk’s engagement to the princess.” Selini scowled with displeasure. “And now Linus Murati, attached to the duchess. I don’t want the royal guard developing a reputation. Don’t get romantically involved with this woman. Your position is precarious enough as it is.”

“Yes, of course.” Galen tried to speak with gusto, to make it sound as though nothing could be further from his mind.

Dismissed, he hurried through headquarters and across the palace lawn to the interior side entrance to Ruby’s apartment building. The ancient servants’ quarters had been beautifully renovated, modern conveniences enhancing the artful stonework and exposed timbers giving the building a high-end feel. Galen paused just long enough to press his thumb to the touch pad and waited for his print to register, illuminating a green light that indicated he was cleared to enter.

He headed up the stairs toward her door, eager to get on with the plans he and Ruby had made over supper the evening before. Given the possibility that her attacker was after the jewelry designs, Ruby wanted to visit the studio again to secure more of her notes and other materials that might benefit someone intent on knocking off the princess’s designs.

As he approached Ruby’s door, Galen steeled his determination. Of course he’d meant every word when he’d assured his superior officer that he wouldn’t get involved with Ruby. He’d reminded himself of the importance of keeping his distance ever since the enjoyable meal they’d shared in the palace kitchen with the princess and Kirk the evening before. Ruby made him laugh. She was a good friend.

And that was as far as their relationship would go. “Friends,” he reminded himself in a whisper just before he buzzed the intercom under her apartment number. “Just friends.”

Then Ruby opened the door, a sincere grin replacing the haunted expression she’d worn the night before. Galen felt a giddy smile rise to his lips.

Just friends had never looked so difficult.

* * *

Ruby felt her heart heave a sigh of relief at the sight of Galen. His face was starting to heal. She felt bad about his injuries.

More than that, she was relieved that he’d arrived to escort her to Stasi’s studio. The more she’d thought about the possibility of someone breaking into the studio, the more she feared she’d left too much information within easy reach of a thief. Papers she still needed could be filed away in locked cabinets. She’d shred anything that was no longer necessary.

The future of Tate Jewelry rested on the success of her royal jewel replicas. If thieves got their hands on that information ahead of time, Ruby didn’t know how she’d salvage her family’s stores. Everything her parents had worked so hard for all their lives would be lost. How would she earn back their respect then?

“Thanks for helping me today,” Ruby said with sincerity as she pulled her apartment door closed behind her.

“No problem.”

But Ruby suspected it might be a problem. “You’re not in uniform.” She’d immediately noticed his green polo shirt and blue jeans. As they trailed through the hall and down the stairs to the door that led out through the back palace wall, she asked, “Are you off duty?”

“Technically I’m supposed to be off today—”

“I can’t impose on your personal time.” Ruby slipped in front of him as he reached for the door handle, as if she could physically block him from heading outside with her. She had enough reservations about spending so much time around him. Certainly she shouldn’t infringe on his personal time.

“It’s fine.” Galen grinned one of his half smiles that was almost a smirk. “Captain Selini didn’t have any qualms about calling me in today. He’s working on his day off, too. Besides, securing these papers is important, right? I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to them. Or to you.” As he spoke, he reached past her for the door handle, his last three words softer than the rest, as though he’d realized at the last second he shouldn’t speak them aloud, but by then they were already spoken.

Ruby’s heart gave a crazy leap, but her feet froze in place. Too late, she stepped away so he could reach the door. His hand brushed her arm, and she felt an embarrassed flush rise through her. “Oh!” She ought to protest further, but words failed her. She had to focus all her suddenly depleted brainpower on stepping out of the way of the door as he opened it for her.

She ducked around his arms, met his eyes briefly and blushed deeper. “Warm day today.” She fanned herself as she stepped outside, hoping he’d attribute her sudden color to the heat of the mid-September weather.

“A beautiful day,” Galen observed once he’d pulled the door securely closed behind them. When making their plans the previous evening, they’d debated whether to walk or take a car. Given the lack of parking, taking a car created more difficulties than it solved, taking them far out of range of the palace and the helpful presence of the nearby royal guard—and also introduced the possibility that Ruby’s attacker might lie in wait behind the car, if he decided to show up at all. Since the man had only appeared at dusk before, they could assume Ruby would be safest on foot in the bright light of day.

As they started down the cobbled street toward Stasi’s studio, Ruby tried frantically to think of something to say to Galen to break the awkward silence. They’d had no trouble chatting over supper last night, but Kirk and Stasi had been with them then. Kirk had told stories about Galen, of the time he’d helped him change a flat tire, and how Galen had been sent by the old, corrupt head of the guard to intercept Kirk and Stasi as they’d tried to escape from the insurgents following the coup against the monarchy earlier that summer.

Rather than stop them, Galen had told Kirk to give him a black eye. Galen had used the injury as an excuse, claiming Kirk had overpowered him.

Galen had turned red at the story and insisted his actions hardly made him a hero, though Kirk and Stasi both insisted that he’d saved their lives and quite possibly the crown. As far as Ruby was concerned, Galen was a hero.

Given the time they would be spending together, she felt she ought to clarify her statements from the summer before, and apologize for the harsh way her words had come out. But the mere thought of that encounter sent embarrassment through her all the way to her toes. She couldn’t bring herself to raise the subject.

To her relief, Galen picked a different topic to discuss.

“I don’t know a whole lot about jewelry,” he confessed as they walked along the street at a leisurely pace. “The princess’s designs must be something special though if these guys are after them.”

“Oh, they are.” Ruby felt a rush of relief. She could talk about jewelry all day. “Stasi’s always been a talented designer. Her pieces were selling extremely well, even before she let her name be attached to them. Now that people know they’re designed by a princess, they’re even more popular.”

“But I don’t understand when she says she’s designing the royal jewels. I thought all the crown jewels already existed.”

“The ancient crown jewels are hidden in a secret vault,” Ruby related. “Stasi uses them as inspiration for her own pieces, and since I’m her assistant, I have access to the vault. The way I understand it, every member of the royal family has their own jewels. The reigning king is crowned with the same crown worn by his ancestors, but other members of the royal family have jewels designed for them personally, and each king throughout history has had his own personal jewelry, including a unique signet ring.”

“So Princess Stasi’s designs don’t replace the ones in the secret vault?”

“No, but most of them will probably end up in the vault. It’s loaded with jewelry from the Lydian royalty of the past twenty centuries.”

Galen let out a low whistle. “Would I love to see that. I’ve studied the history of the monarchy—royal guards are required to memorize the list of kings and queens, along with the dates of their coronations.”

“That must be quite a list. Lydia has a long history.”

“It is a long list, but I’m glad we’re required to learn it. I think it gives us a better appreciation of what we’re guarding. Not just a building. Not just people, but a long legacy of faithful leaders who’ve given their lives to the glory of God and the welfare of the Lydian people.”

Ruby’s heart swelled as Galen spoke. She heard the note of awe, the trial-tested devotion he felt toward the land that he loved. It left her at a loss for words. He’d always had that love for his country—a love that reminded her why she and Galen could never be together.

He loved the kingdom of Lydia. She loved the tiny kingdom, too, and found it increasingly difficult to leave at the end of each summer visit, but she didn’t belong in Lydia. Her place was back in the United States, running Tate Jewelry at her parents’ side. It was her duty. Until she repaid her parents for her betrayal years before, she’d always be bound by her responsibility to the family business.

Ruby tried to focus on that goal. She looked ahead of them toward the corner they’d turn to reach Stasi’s studio.

A burly figure hurried across the street, glancing briefly their way before disappearing in the direction of Stasi’s studio.

With a gasp, Ruby grabbed Galen’s arm.

“What is it?”

“Did you see that guy?”

“The bald man?”

“With the tattoo of the eagle on his arm?”

“Was it an eagle?” Galen increased his pace to match Ruby’s as she hurried toward the corner. “I couldn’t see the whole thing. His sleeve covered part of it.”

“I’ve seen the whole thing before.”

“Wait.” Galen pulled her to a stop, standing in front of her and looking into her eyes. “You know that guy? He looked tough.”

Ruby nodded as the memories caught up to her. “His name is Luciano...something. He was a security guard at our school.” She tried to step past Galen, eager to catch up to Luciano and make sure she’d correctly identified him.

Galen blocked her path, looking unhappy at the idea that Ruby might get any closer to the man ahead of them. “Your school?”

“Back in the US—where Stasi and I studied gemology together. We were roommates, you know.” Ruby stepped in the other direction, still focused on catching up to the man. What was he doing in Lydia, so close to Stasi’s studio?

“He’s from the US?” Galen’s voice rose with consternation. “And he’s familiar to you?”

Ruby caught the emphasis Galen placed on the word familiar, and recognized it from when she’d used it the evening before. She stopped trying to sidestep Galen and looked into his dark brown eyes, which snapped with zealous concern. She understood now why he’d barred her way.

“What’s he doing in Lydia?” Galen glanced warily behind him in the direction the man had disappeared.

Ruby’s mouth had gone dry. “The studio is that way. Do you think we should follow him?”

“Not alone.” Galen pulled out his phone, then made a face at the screen.

“What?” Ruby had noticed that, in keeping with his off-duty ensemble, Galen wasn’t wearing his earpiece.

“I don’t know. Captain Selini...” Galen’s knuckles whitened as he gripped the phone, clearly wrestling with a decision.

“Your boss?”

Galen nodded. “He gets upset when things go wrong. If that Luciano guy is the man who attacked you, we should catch him. But if he’s not, I could get in big trouble for calling guards away from their posts as we are shorthanded.”

“Stasi told me all about that.” Ruby understood, and she realized why Galen was hesitant to call. “I can’t say for certain that the man crossing the street was Luciano. He could be anyone. Don’t call.”

“You’re sure?”

Ruby took Galen’s arm and steered him toward the studio again. “Not until we get a better look at this guy. I don’t want you to get in trouble with your boss.”

Galen hurried along beside her, but he slowed as they neared the corner. “We’re not going after this guy by ourselves.”

“Right. We’re just trying to get a better look at him—and to make sure he’s not headed toward Stasi’s studio.” Ruby glanced around the corner but hung back since Galen grabbed her arm, and seemed prepared to pull her away if she went too far.

There were no people or cars on the street, just limestone cobbles, pots of fragrant bougainvillea and geraniums, and storefront signs for various offices. Accountants, lawyers, dentists...nothing that was open on a Saturday. So where was the man headed? Even if he wasn’t Luciano, the man didn’t look like any dentist or accountant she’d ever seen. So what was he doing in this neighborhood, and where had he disappeared to?

“Ruby.” Galen’s voice sounded low and close to her ear. “I don’t have a good feeling about this. That guy is around here somewhere. If he has partners, we could be walking into trouble.”

Ruby knew Galen was brave. The black eye he’d earned defending her, along with the one Kirk had given him three months before, proved that the royal guard wasn’t afraid to take a hit. Which made the apprehension in his voice that much more unsettling.

She turned to find he had moved closer to her as they both bent around the corner of the building, looking down the street toward Stasi’s studio. He rested one hand on her shoulder, the warmth of his fingers spreading through her cotton blouse.

“If it’s just some innocent guy, and you call in extra guards for nothing, you’ll get in trouble,” she reminded him.

“And if it’s the same man who attacked you before, and we get too close and something happens to you, I’ll never forgive myself.” Galen’s eyes locked on hers.

Ruby couldn’t look away. She wanted to apologize for her harsh words the summer before, to clarify, maybe even try to explain. But the danger around them took precedence, no matter how powerful her feelings.

“I should take you back to the safety of the palace,” Galen concluded. “Then I can return alone.”

“No.” Ruby shook her head hard enough to break eye contact. She peeked down the street. “If he was headed toward Stasi’s studio, he’s already had enough of a head start. We can’t walk away, not when we’ve gotten this close to him.”

“Then I need to call in reinforcements.”

“But what if it’s nothing? Won’t your boss be unhappy?” Ruby caught his eye again and immediately wished she hadn’t. He was too close, and his determination to protect her only made her unwanted feelings toward him that much stronger.

“I’ll take that risk. I’m not putting you in danger.”

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