LITMIR.BIZ

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be welcomed. I’ll be back by dinner,” she told Kris and moved away from them, heading to her car.

      For the next few seconds Gary and Kris simply stared at her walking away, until finally Kris clapped a hand on Gary’s shoulder.

      “You might rethink your plan after spending the day with her when she’s in this type of mood,” Kris told him. “So I guess this is payback for letting her kiss you in the first place.”

      Gary felt the corner of his mouth lift in a smile. He was certain no living and breathing man would have been able to resist kissing a woman like Samantha DeSaunters.

      When Kris had walked away, feeling a little more triumphant than Gary appreciated, Gary walked over to the car. He nodded to Phillipe. The driver had remained standing by the back door, closing it only after Gary slipped onto the leather seat.

      “What are you doing?” Samantha asked immediately.

      “You have appointments today, correct?”

      “I have appointments. Not you,” she stated easily.

      He shook his head. “I’m going where you go today.”

      “This is ridiculous. It doesn’t make any sense at all. As far as your rationalization for why your idea is such a great one, I—”

      He hadn’t been able to resist. Her hair was pulled over one shoulder, the tiny earrings twinkling at her ear. The blouse she wore was cut low and her jacket was open so that he could see hints of her cleavage. But it was enough to drive him freakin’ crazy in the few moments they’d been alone.

      Gary had tried to focus on what she was saying by looking at her mouth, but that was a mistake. Her lips were covered in a peach-colored gloss, the bottom one a little plumper than the top. Glimpses of her straight white teeth and just a peek of her tongue had his body aching for another taste. Just once more.

      So he’d quickly closed the space across the seat of the car, using one hand to grasp the back of her neck and pull her in for the assault.

      The moment his lips touched hers Gary knew it was a mistake. And yet he continued. He moved in farther, thrusting his tongue deeper, letting the sound of her long and sensuous sigh drape him like a cloak. Her hand instantly came around to cup his neck in the same way he was holding her. When he tilted his head one way and deepened the kiss, she tilted hers the opposite way, taking everything he had to offer. It was like a perfectly matched battle. Only, Gary knew way back in the recesses of his mind, that they were uneven. This wasn’t what they were supposed to be doing. It wasn’t expected or acceptable for either of them.

      And yet he continued.

      The car was moving down the incline toward the front gate and came to a halting stop, as did their kiss. Gary pulled back just enough to turn his face so that he could look out the window at what was going on.

      There was another vehicle at the front gate, trying to gain access.

      On a curse, he pulled completely away from her and reached to open the door. Stepping out, he circled the car and headed to the gatekeeper’s booth. Inside was a guard dressed in full palace regalia, the navy, gold and white colors of the DeSaunters’s flag displayed prominently in the uniform. A badge hung from the guard’s right lapel.

      The front gates were twelve feet tall, black iron and operated on an automatic lock system. Since he’d been there, they’d been updated to also include an electronic sensor hidden in the small speed bump leading onto the property. If by chance someone decided to let an uninvited guest through the gates, monitors in the private security room in the palace would be alerted. Specially selected guards that Gary had referred, and Kris and Rafe had approved, manned these monitors.

      “What’s the problem?” Gary asked the guard when he entered the booth.

      Turning, the pinch-faced man looked up to see him. The second week of Gary’s arrival consisted of a meeting with every guard who’d previously worked at the palace and he personally met with each of the new hires, as well. They all needed to know that he was now supervising the security at the palace. His military background coupled with his relationship with Kris put him in a position higher than Salvin Gathersburg, the chief of the palace guards. Those initial meetings had come in handy for moments such as this.

      “His name’s not on today’s log. He says he has an appointment with Prince Kristian,” the guard—Rutger, as Gary recalled—informed him.

      “Have you called his assistant?”

      “I did. She did not see his name in her appointment book, either. She was looking for the prince, to ask him if he knew anything about this person before I send him away.”

      “What’s his name?”

      “Kendon Arnold,” Rutger told him.

      Gary walked out of the booth and headed to the side of the gate where there was a doorway. Reaching into his back pocket, he retrieved the key card he and every guard on staff now had for this entrance and swiped it over the pad beside the knob. The locks released with a loud clicking sound and he walked through the door and right up to the driver’s side of the white SUV waiting to get inside the gates.

      “You said you have an appointment with the prince,” Gary began immediately. “Who are you and what’s it in reference to?”

      The guy, who looked to be in his early twenties, kept his hands firmly clenched on the steering wheel where Gary could see them. A glance inside the SUV confirmed the passenger seat was empty. He wore a lightweight blue jacket with a striped shirt beneath it and sunglasses covered his eyes.

      “I’m interested in opening an account at Serenity Trust,” he told him.

      “Then you should be at the bank, not here,” Gary replied.

      His hands did not move, and while his head remained turned in Gary’s direction, Gary wasn’t sure the man was looking at him. Something wasn’t right here.

      “He will want to meet with me personally,” the man stated.

      “What’s your name?”

      Rutger had already given Gary this information but he wanted to hear the man say it. He wanted to see if he could tell if he was being told a lie.

      “Kendon Arnold” was the easy reply. Too easy.

      Gary nodded. “I’ll give the prince your message. If you’re right and he wants to meet with you, he’ll be in touch. But there will be no meeting today, so back this truck up and leave the property. Further sightings of you or this vehicle near the palace without the prince’s approval will result in your arrest. Do I make myself clear?”

      There was a moment when Gary thought he was going to have to pull the man from the truck and detain him until the island police could come and arrest him but the guy shrugged.

      “That is clear,” he said. Then he put the SUV in Reverse and backed away from the gate.

      Gary watched as the vehicle turned and drove down the driveway. At the end of the cement drive, the road split in two directions. The SUV turned to the right and Gary frowned. That direction led back to more winding dirt roads and into the forested part of the island. The same forested part that ran along the back perimeter of the palace.

      Gary pulled his cell phone from his pocket and began composing a text message to Kris. The crown prince wasn’t going to like this any more than Gary did, but he needed to know.

       Chapter 4

      Sam watched intently from the front passenger seat of the car. She’d gotten out of the vehicle and moved onto the seat beside Phillipe while Gary had been in the security booth. Yes, it was running away from the problem. But there was no other way, she insisted as she’d avoided Phillipe’s questioning gaze and pulled her seat belt into place.

      If she and Gary were

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