She stared at the bracelet. Should she leave it with the note? No. She wanted something to remind her not to put her trust in men. Each time she’d done so she’d been hurt.
The bedroom door opened. Startled, she sprang to her feet and spun around, clutching the letter to her chest.
Ian stepped inside and closed the door. His face showed no emotions. “I will show you out.”
How many times had he said those words? “Do you always clean up his messes?”
“Dominic doesn’t make messes.”
She blinked in surprise. The man rarely spoke to her. She hadn’t expected an answer. And Ian had used Dominic’s name instead of his title. Progress. But too late.
He noted her cut, opened a dresser drawer, withdrew a white handkerchief and offered it to her.
Dominic’s handkerchief. She carried it to her nose and inhaled a faint trace of his cologne and then wrapped it around her finger in a compression bandage. “How are you going to get me past Dominic’s guests?”
“The Royal Suite has a hidden escape exit. Come with me.” He stalked into the walk-in closet, bypassed Dominic’s neatly hanging clothing and perfectly aligned shoes and twisted a fleur-de-lis at the base of the sconce light on the far wall. A panel slid sideways to reveal a dimly lit space beyond.
She edged forward, leaned in and looked at the shadowy area. “Where will this take me?”
“Follow the hall to the fire stairs.”
So this was it. She was being shuffled out the back door like…a mistress. She gulped down tears of shame and loss and looked at the note in her hand. She should have left it on the desk.
“Would you give this to him?” She stabbed it toward Ian. After a moment’s hesitation he accepted it. The guy didn’t like her. Would he deliver her message?
Madeline cupped his hand with hers and looked into his dark eyes. “And, Ian, please, please, keep him safe.”
Chapter 10
“She’s a child.” Dominic stared at the photograph in dismay. “What will I have in common with such a baby?”“She is nineteen. The same age as your first wife when you married,” Ricardo, the Minister of State and senior council member said as he laid three more photographs of the pale blonde on the glass-topped balcony table. “Young enough to bear many heirs.”
Disgust rolled through Dominic. It wasn’t the girl’s fault. She was attractive enough, but far too young for his tastes. He preferred mature women. Women who weren’t too shy, insecure or inexperienced to speak their minds. Women like Madeline.
He looked over his shoulder at the closed bedroom door. Time had run out. He’d have to tell Madeline the truth and then say goodbye. He wouldn’t get to show her Paris or Venice as planned. An odd sensation of panic bound his chest, making it difficult to breath.
His gaze returned to the picture in his hand. He’d always known his obligations to Montagnarde took precedence over his personal wishes. He led a privileged life, but those privileges came at a price. “Have I ever met her?”
“Twice, she says.”
He had no recollection of either occasion. This young woman had made no impression on him whatsoever. That did not bode well for their future. And yet he was expected to marry her, bed her, impregnate her. The sooner the better.
His father placed a hand on his shoulder. “Love will come, Dominic. It did for your mother and I and for each of your sisters. It did with Giselle.” His fingers tightened, released. “Ricardo and I are in need of sustenance. We will adjourn to the dining room downstairs. Clean up and join us.”
The pair left, the suite door clicking shut behind them. Their bodyguards would be waiting outside. Only Dominic’s insistence had kept Ian present for this confidential meeting. Matters such as this required the utmost discretion.
Dominic faced the bedroom door with a growing sense of dread. When Ian’s knock had awoken him this morning, Dominic had not suspected the upheaval about to take place. And then Ian had informed him that his father was in the elevator and on the way upstairs. The weight of Dominic’s responsibilities had crashed down on him. His father’s arrival had been a surprise—an unpleasant one. For the king’s arrival could only indicate two things. The end of Dominic’s freedom. The end of his days with Madeline.
He glanced at his wrist and realized he’d failed to don his watch in his haste to dress and get out of his room before his father entered. Since Giselle’s death his father had adopted the habit of sitting in Dominic’s room at the palace and discussing the upcoming day’s events while Dominic dressed.
Dominic hadn’t wanted to expose Madeline to the embarrassment of his father barging into the room.
He shoved a hand through his hair. He wouldn’t be able to wake Madeline with leisurely lovemaking this morning as he had each day for the past week. And once he told her the truth the best interlude of his life would be over.
Over.
His future committed to someone else.
The choking sensation intensified. He tugged at his already loose collar to no avail. Loss mired his steps as he approached the bedroom. He braced himself, turned the knob, pushed open the door.
The bed was empty, the bathroom dark. He entered, searching for her hiding place. “Madeline? You can come out. They’re gone.”
“She is not here, Dominic,” Ian said behind him.
Dominic glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand and exhaled. She usually sneaked out at dawn, but not this morning. He smiled, but the smile vanished when he realized there would be no more sunrises with Madeline.
“She’s gone.”
The finality of Ian’s words made the back of Dominic’s neck prickle and his stomach tense. “How?”
“There is an emergency exit. I showed her the way.”
“Why have I never been told of this exit?”
“I feared what you would do with the knowledge.” Ian offered him an envelope bearing the Hôtel Reynard insignia in the upper left corner. “She overheard your conversation with your father and the Minister of State.”
Dominic closed his eyes, clenched his teeth and let his head fall back. She should have heard the words from him. Exhaling a pent-up breath, he extracted the letter and read.
Dominic
Thank you for making my vacation memorable.
I’ll be swamped with wedding duties over the next week. No time for fun and games or distractions.
You were great. Just what the doctor ordered. But like any prescription, this one has run its course.
I hate goodbyes, so this is the only one you’ll get.
Goodbye.
I wish you the best.
Madeline
Pain swamped him like a tsunami. He called on numbness, his familiar companion in years past, but it refused to come. He swallowed once and then again. His hands fisted, the letter crumpling in his grip.
Madeline deserved the truth. The whole truth. She needed to know how important she was to him. How magnificent a lover. How good a friend. And he had to explain why he must say goodbye. She would understand. He would make her understand. “Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“Fernand was excused from his duty while Mademoiselle Spencer supposedly spent the night on the yacht. In my urgency to remove her from the suite this morning I did not call him to track her when she left this room. I assumed she would return to her suite. She did not.”
“She can’t have gone far. I have her passport.”
“It appears both of you went missing last night which proves my point about the secret exit. I am too old for shenanigans like this, Dominic.”
Censure tainted Ian’s voice. Censure Dominic deserved. “She treats me like a man, Ian. Not a future king.”
Ian nodded sympathetically. “I know, but you have your destiny. And if you insist on putting yourself in danger I will not be able to do what Mademoiselle Spencer asked of me. Keep you safe.”
Dominic’s head jerked up. He searched Ian’s eyes. “She didn’t leave cursing me for my deception?”
“I cannot read the woman’s mind. But she was not swearing or throwing things.”
“Find her.”
“Dominic, perhaps it is best to let things be.”
“Find her.” And when Ian didn’t move, Dominic added, “That is a royal command.”
Ian snapped to attention, pivoted sharply and headed toward the door. Dominic had never spoken to him as harshly.
“She ran,” Dominic called after him. Ian stopped without turning. “Why did she run, Ian? Madeline Spencer is no coward. She is courageous and mouthy and she fights back. The Madeline I’ve come to love would have been in my face and reprimanding me for another lie of omission.”
His heart slammed against his ribs like a ship against an iceberg, winding him, chilling him. Love.
He loved her. He loved her sassy mouth. Her earthy sensuality. Her refusal to kowtow. He loved the way she listened to his plans for Montagnarde and added her own suggestions.
He loved her. And he couldn’t have her. Agreements had been signed. Promises made. Breaking them could cause an international incident.
Ian slowly turned, looking as if he, too, were shocked by Dominic’s discovery.
“Why would she run?” he repeated.
“Perhaps she does not wish to engage in a losing battle, Your Highness.”
Dominic didn’t believe that. There had to be more. But what? He straightened the crumpled page and studied it more closely. What wasn’t she saying? Despite the bland note, he knew she had feelings for him. She’d shown it in countless ways in bed and out. She’d ended things far too easily.
Dominic rubbed a hand over his bristly jaw and tried to decipher the puzzle of Madeline Spencer. Too courageous to run, replayed in his head. And then the pieces of the puzzle slid into place.
She’d only had one other lover. A man she’d believed she loved. Could she possibly love him, Dominic wondered? He could not leave Monaco without finding out.
“She would only run if it hurt too much to say goodbye,” he told Ian. He ripped off his shirt. “I must shower and join my father. I want Mademoiselle Spencer found and in my suite when I return. If she wants to say goodbye, then she’ll have to say it to my face.”
“I need you to hide me,” Madeline said as soon as she, Candace and Vincent reached the shadowy alcove of the cathedral.
“What?” Candace asked.
“Just for the rest of the day.” She fussed with the buttons on the dress she’d bought in a nearby boutique rather than risk returning to her suite.
“Come again?” Vincent stood to her right presenting her with his unscarred left side. Candace said the wounds he’d sustained in the pit fire still bothered him despite the numerous plastic surgeries which had reduced the severity of his scars.
“I need to hide from Prince Dominic of Montagnarde and his henchmen,” she whispered.
Candace straightened to her full five feet three inches. “Did that jerk hurt you because if he did, I’ll—”
“Have you done something illegal?” Vincent interrupted.