Claimed: Gowns & Crowns, Book 3 Read Free Page A

wavering in the heat so as almost to appear a mirage, was a man walking toward them. Not one man, either, but many of them. “Um, are you in trouble or something?”
    Stefan stiffened without turning around. “No,” he said crisply. “There is nothing scheduled this morning, and my itinerary was logged.”
    She lifted her brows. “Your itinerary included making out with me on the beach?”
    HIs smile was back for a moment. “It should have, but no. I advised that I was going to search for you. Clearly, I was successful.” He’d moved back far enough that she could scoot completely off the netting, and she folded up the strands in as neat a packet as she could manage while he watched her.
    “They could be coming for you,” he said.
    Nicki snorted. “Not hardly.” She said the words without heat, but she knew her place among her friends. She was the fun adventure-girl sidekick, a little difficult for the rest of them to figure out, with their careful plans for the future—never mind that for two of them so far, those careful plans were falling to pieces around them. But either way, she wasn’t the one that people would be coming for, unless…
    She glanced up with sudden interest. Just a few days earlier, she’d offered her services to the royal family in one highly specific way, a way that meant more to her than any of them realized. She’d never thought they’d take her serious but…
    She cleared her throat, going for casual. “You don’t suppose they found something new about Ari, do you? Maybe where his plane landed in Turkey?”
    Predictably, all of Stefan’s good cheer fell away from him like an avalanche. Prince Aristotle Andris had crashed his small plane a year earlier, somewhere over the Aegean Sea. The family had been in mourning ever since—until recent new evidence pointed them toward a coastal town in Turkey…a coastal town that Nicki, of all people, knew well. Alaçati, Turkey was host to an international windsurfing competition, and she’d competed there the previous summer. It was a thin connection, and in truth she didn’t know how she could truly help—yet. But she wanted to help.
    Needed to.
    Stefan’s face shuttered. He had no interest in accepting her aid, he’d made that abundantly clear. “Then they would definitely not be coming for you.”
    He rolled to his feet and held out a hand, which she ignored as she pulled herself to her feet as well, dusting the sand off her legs. Somehow Stefan had managed to thrash around without marring a single hair on his head or dirtying his spandex with so much as a grain of sand. It almost made her want to push him down into the dune.
    Instead he turned smartly and began walking back toward the approaching men, and Nicki squinted into the sun and followed behind him. She knew the tall, slender man in the center, his face impassive as he stopped, allowing them to come to him. Cyril Gerou was the royal family’s chief advisor, with ties to the military and communications and probably every other arm of royal rule in the tiny country. He was a good man, she supposed, but he suffered from a perennial case of the grumpies, which Stefan seemed to catch whenever he was within ten feet of the guy. Like now.
    “Sir.” Stefan nodded as Cyril bowed to Nicki. “Is anything wrong?”
    Cyril shook his head. “We weren’t sending a search party out, I assure you. The men are about to go on maneuvers, and I decided to accompany them. When you were spotted, I thought it would be a good time to discuss developments. My apologies,” he turned to Nicki. “I didn’t know you were with the ambassador.”
    Yeah, well, that’s because the ambassador was mashed up against my face. “No worries. I was leaving for a jog anyway when Stefan and I ran into each other. I can let you guys talk?”
    “Where are you going?” Stefan’s words were too sharp, and she pivoted toward him, gratified to see the warring emotions flit across his face for a moment. He