the longer we shopped, but as soon as I left the store I ran into a crowd of people hollering my name. Chadwick put an arm around me while Becca made a path for us to the car.
I thought we were in the clear as we pulled away from the curb, but cars surrounded us almost immediately.
“What are they doing?” I leaned forward to look out the window. “This is dangerous!” I squeaked when a car swerved close to us around a corner. Our driver slammed the brakes and we skidded, just missing the curb.
“Sit back, Samantha.” Chadwick moved to make sure I was buckled in.
“This is cr—”
A light blue van slammed into the back of our car, making my teeth snap shut. Blood pooled in my mouth from where I nipped my tongue. I covered my lips with my hand and looked around wildly. Camera flashes blinded me as I tried to see just what had happened. A motorcycle stopped in front of our car and the person on the back snapped pictures through the front windshield.
“Are you okay?” Becca turned around in her seat.
“Yeah.” I nodded my head and tried to quell the nausea that was bubbling in my stomach. Adrenaline and anger ran through my body. Balling my hands into fists I glared out the window at the people still busy taking photographs.
“Can you get us out of here?” Chadwick asked.
“As soon as I have an opening.” The driver never took his hands off the steering wheel.
“Should we call the police?” I looked from Becca to Chadwick.
“Best to get out of here fast.” Becca shook her head.
My door handle made a loud noise as someone tried to open the door. I turned to check that it was locked and almost sighed in relief when I realized it was closed for sure. The driver took his foot off the brake and edged forward. I watched as he pushed the bike with the front fender and almost cheered when the motorcycle driver pulled away from us.
Our car shot forward and I felt like celebrating, but I still felt sick. I couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact that someone had hit our car just to get a picture of me.
“It’ll calm down, Samantha. They just don’t know what to make of you.” Chadwick patted my arm.
“Are you kidding? They could have hurt us! They did hurt us! I bit the shit out of my tongue.” I waved my hand in the air. “All that for a picture of me? Me? Why?”
“You’re interesting and they make the most money by selling photos of interesting people.” Chadwick pursed his lips.
“I’m not interesting. I’m the same as every other person. I have to brush my teeth, use the bathroom, and take a bath, same as everyone else.”
“You also just found out that you’re the duchess to a huge estate in a foreign country.” He frowned. “I understand what you’re saying, and they shouldn’t behave the way they are, but it’s because you are interesting. Things will calm down.”
“Please don’t say eventually.” I shook my head. “Everyone keeps telling me that it will calm down eventually, but it just seems to be getting worse.”
“I know.” He frowned and looked out the window as we reached the palace gates.
The car deposited me and my bags at the main door while Chadwick basically pulled me into the palace. That was fine by me. I didn’t want to stay in that car another second.
Catherine and Alex were chatting near the entrance to a room. They were both wearing jeans and I felt incredibly overdressed. This was the first time I had seen Alex in jeans and I had to admit it might be my favorite view of him. His worried gaze found mine immediately.
“Are you okay?” He took a step toward me and stopped.
“Yeah. I’m okay.” I ran a hand through my hair but dropped it when I realized it was shaking. “It was pretty crazy.”
“We heard the bodyguards talking about it. That must’ve been scary.” Catherine shook her head. “I’m so sorry they’re hounding you like this.”
“Maybe when they figure out how boring I am, they’ll leave me alone.” I tried to make a joke, but it sounded a bit too hopeful.
“I’m sure it’s going to calm down.” Alex’s fingers opened and closed by his legs. He looked antsy. In fact he looked as shaken up as I felt.
“You went shopping without me!” Catherine glared at the bags someone carried in. I was grateful the