Prologue
~Liam~
“Just landed,” Phillip, who happens to be Princess Eleanor’s personal security, says into my ear. I glance at the time.
Two in the goddamn morning.
“See you in ten.” I hang up the phone and reach for my jeans. Usually, I would wear something more formal while on duty as the head of security for the royal family’s Montana estate. But at two in the morning, the princess will have to deal with jeans and a T-shirt.
At least they’re clean.
Six hours ago, I received a call from Phillip, giving me the heads-up that they were leaving London and headed here. But he requested I not tell Prince Sebastian, the man who pays my salary—and the eldest of the royal siblings.
Well, fuck that.
The prince is my boss, and in the past year that I’ve been employed here, we’ve established mutual trust and admiration.
His baby sister’s random trip across the pond isn’t a secret I plan to keep.
I jog from my apartment in the guesthouse of the lake-front property in Cunningham Falls, Montana, to the main residence. I key in the security code for the door and let myself in. I find Sebastian sitting in the kitchen, quietly reading something on his iPad.
“Good morning,” I murmur and nod my head in a bow when he looks up at me. “Your Royal Highness.”
“At this hour, you can call me Sebastian.”
I feel my lips twitch. “Any idea why she decided to come all this way in the middle of the night?”
He shakes his head. “With Ellie, she could have just been in the mood for dinner at Ciao tomorrow.”
I’ve met the princess a few times. She’s a likeable woman. Beautiful. Smart.
Okay, so she’s more than beautiful. She’s stunning.
She’s also a pain in my ass and almost died on my watch last summer, so I’d rather she not show up here at all. Especially when her trip is shrouded in secrets and drama.
Then again, maybe this is just Eleanor’s life.
“The car will be here any minute,” I inform Sebastian.
“You didn’t have to come to the house.”
“It’s my job.”
I receive a text, alerting me to the car pulling into the drive, and then walk to the entryway. Before anyone can knock, I open the door and look down into bright blue eyes.
“Hello, Princess.”
Her mouth opens and closes, but she pulls herself together, lifts her chin into the air, and nods.
“Hello, Liam.”
“Your brother is in the kitchen.”
I step back to allow Eleanor and Phillip to enter the house, close the door behind them, and walk back to the kitchen in time to hear Eleanor say, “It was supposed to be a surprise.”
She glares over at me, but I stand my ground and cross my arms over my chest.
“Keeping secrets from His Highness isn’t what I’m paid to do.”
“It wasn’t a harmful secret,” she mutters. “Well, surprise anyway.”
“Hello, darling.” Sebastian offers his sister a hug. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”
“Oh, you don’t want to know, and I don’t want to talk about it,” she replies before sinking into a chair next to her brother. “Let’s just say I needed a holiday. Far away from London.”
“How long will you be staying?” Sebastian asks before I can.
“As long as possible. Maybe a couple of months.”
I swallow the expletive before it crosses my lips.
A couple of months.
I trade a look with Phillip. “Will you be staying with her?”
“She’s my charge,” he says with a nod. “I go where she goes.”
“You have a family in London,” Eleanor reminds him. “You certainly don’t have to stay. With Liam and Nick and the rest of Liam’s team, I’ll be safe.”
“We’ll discuss it,” I say to Phillip. “If you don’t need us any more tonight, we’ll go back to headquarters.”
“Go, get some rest,” Sebastian says. “And thank you.”
“Thank you,” Eleanor echoes as Phillip and I walk out of the main house and down to HQ where the security team lives while on duty.
Nick—Sebastian’s wife Nina’s personal security—and I live here full time. The other team members live in town and work in shifts.
“You can take the second bedroom on the right upstairs,” I inform Phillip.
“Thanks, but I’ll be up now. Jet lag.”
I nod. I rarely sleep myself. And now that Eleanor is on the property, I’ll sleep even less. She has that effect on me. “Our first meeting will be at 0700.”
Chapter 1
~Ellie~
“Hello, Mummy.” I grin at the face of my mother, who’s holding the phone just a little too close for FaceTime. It seems whether you’re royalty or not, the older generation struggles with technology.
I’m lying on the bed in the guest room with the phone propped on the pillows and my chin resting in my hands.
“I have your father with me,” she says and turns the phone so I can see the king. “Say hello to Ellie, dear.”
“Can you let Father hold the phone? He has longer arms, and I can see you both that way.”
“I have it,” Father says. Suddenly, both of my parents are in the frame.
“That’s better. Hello to both of you.”
“How are things in Montana?” Mum asks.
“Oh, it’s beautiful here. Summer is lovely.”
“Now that the pleasantries are out of the way,” Father says, his brows lowering in a frown. “Why in the world did you sneak out of here without a word to anyone?”
“I had my security with me,” I say in my defense. “I wasn’t completely irresponsible.”
“That didn’t answer my question,” he replies, and both of them wait silently for me to answer.
It won’t do any good to lie. They’ll find out eventually.
“Beau proposed to me,” I admit, nausea at the very thought of it taking up residence in my belly. “Last week, the evening I left London.”
“Oh, darling, that’s wonderful,” Mum says, but I shake my head.
“It’s not wonderful. I don’t love Beauregard. I don’t even like him. He’s pompous and rude. There’s not a kind bone in that man’s body.”
“Well, then a simple no would have sufficed,” Father says. “There was no need to flee the continent.”
“Yes. There was.” I swallow hard. “I know you love me very much, but I’m so tired of you trying to find me a suitable match. The men you try to set me up with are awful. They may have the right pedigree, but that doesn’t make them good people.”
“Britain is full of eligible men,” Mum says. “You’ll find one that suits.”
“And sooner rather than later,” Father says.
“I’m not an old maid.”
“And you won’t turn into one either,” Father says. “I’ll give you thirty days in Montana, but you’ll come back in time for the state dinner next month. There will be plenty of eligible men there, and you have responsibilities.”