Royal Line (Tattered Royals #1) - Carrie Ann Ryan Page 0,22

She was in my bed, but I sure fucking wasn’t.

There was no way I was going down that road.

She was a princess, and I was just a guy who had shown up in the right place at the wrong time. I hadn’t even been hired to keep her safe, but I’d be damned if I let her get hurt. I’d get her pert little ass home, then I’d be done.

Then deal with her.

I knew that twisting feeling in my gut. The one that kept me in the suite’s living area… It was fear. I was losing my goddamn mind.

Sac up. She’s a princess. She can’t hurt you.

Lies. But still, I went back into the room and pierced her with a grim, determined expression. In response, she scowled back. She had her arms wrapped around her knees, and it looked like she was counting to herself, probably to hold back that temper. How often did she do that? I had to admit that I liked it when she spit fire though.

Because even though I knew that she had that fear within her, she still had a temper on her and wasn’t afraid to match me. And if I was capable of caring about another human being like that, I probably would have thought it was hot.

But no way.

“Okay, we’re calling your brothers.” I held up the device I’d retrieved from the other room. “This device will scramble our location. But you still need to be brief. Do you understand?”

She nodded enthusiastically and scrambled off the bed, and I reached out to steady her as she tilted to the side. I was worried about that. She should be steadier, shouldn’t she? Max was the one on my team with the real medical training, and I wondered if I should give him a call.

She was warm to the touch, and she pulled away as if I had shocked her. And maybe I had. Perhaps it was just static electricity and not whatever the fuck else was going on between us.

Because there sure as hell wasn’t anything going on between us.

She let out a breath, probably annoyed with herself for moving too fast after getting hurt, but then she was all regal business again. “Is this phone safe? Because you seem to think mine isn’t.”

“Your phone might be safe, but why risk it? Between using this sat phone and the IP relay, this should be safe.”

She stared at me, unblinking, before shaking her head. “Whatever. I’m calling my brothers. We’re going to end this.”

“Sounds like a plan, princess.”

“Stop it,” she whispered while dialing numbers on the phone.

I was surprised she knew any of their numbers. Most people these days didn’t know phone numbers off the top of their heads. But then I realized most royals knew to memorize specific numbers to get where they needed to go.

I was surprised she hadn’t had a panic button on her.

Maybe she had and just hadn’t pressed it.

I didn’t know much about her, only what the tabloids told me and what little she’d told me about herself.

I was intrigued by her. That fierce personality and the way she’d told me that she was a photojournalist with such passion and excitement. Maybe I could have believed it if I hadn’t seen her face on a tabloid in a supermarket stand.

She was beauty personified, sex with curves and pouty lips.

And I refused to even let my mind go further down that path.

“Roman.”

She only said her brother’s name, the King of Alden, before she held the phone back, a deep grumble of a voice shouting back at her.

“Are you done?” she asked and then pulled the phone away again.

I stalked over to her and tore the cell from her hand.

She reached for it, but I held it up above her head. And when she jumped, pressing her body against mine, we both froze for a minute. And then she took a staggering step back. I ignored the ache, or whatever the hell I was feeling, and put the phone to my ear. “Stop yelling at your sister, or I’m going to hang up.”

“Who the fuck are you?”

“I’m the man who contacted you last night,” I said, and I could practically feel the daggers from London.

“Kannon?” Roman asked, anger in his cultured voice.

“That’s me. And here’s your sister back. We’re going to put you on speakerphone. Don’t fucking yell at her.”

“I’m her king, you asshat.”

“And I don’t give a flying fuck.” I put the phone on speaker and laid it on the