Princess in Love Read Free

in his place.
    Though it happened twenty years ago when she was barely old enough to toddle, she
     would never forget the night an assassin sneaked into her father’s bedchamber while
     she was sitting on his lap in front of the fire. The man had brandished a knife that
     gleamed dangerously in the firelight. Absolutely terrorized, Rose had watched her
     father strangle the villain to his death.
    She felt that same paralyzing fear now and tried to tell herself it was not rational.
     This was not Petersbourg where her father’s enemies still gathered secretly to plot
     an overthrow of the New Regime. She and her brothers were in England on a diplomatic
     visit.
    There were no enemy Royalists here. She was quite safe, except for the wind and the
     rain, of course, but surely the passengers in the approaching vehicle would offer
     assistance and everything would be fine. In an hour or two, she and the duchess would
     be enjoying a hot meal while sipping tea in a cozy inn.
    As the vehicle rumbled to a halt behind them and the horses shook noisily in the harness,
     Rose clasped her hands together on her lap to hide the fact that they were trembling.
    Samson opened the door and got out. A strong gust of wind blew into the coach and
     the door slammed shut behind him.
    Voices shouted over the roar of the storm. Good Lord, what was happening? Was Samson
     all right?
    Rose slid across the seat to look out the window and nearly swallowed her tongue when
     the door flew open again and she found herself staring up at a tall man in a top hat
     and black overcoat, holding himself steady against the wind. It was too dark to make
     out his face, and the terror she experienced in that moment was more piercing than
     the panic she’d felt when the coach nearly flipped over and toppled down the hillside.
    “Your Royal Highness!” the man shouted, and she was taken aback by the familiarity
     in his tone. “May I join you inside?”
    Before waiting for an answer, the stranger swung his large frame into the vehicle,
     removed his hat, and sat down on the facing seat.
    As the golden lamplight reached his face, Rose sucked in a breath of surprise.
    “Lord Cavanaugh? Good heavens, what are you doing here?”
    “I am here to rescue you, of course,” he replied with a magnificent smile that melted
     all her fears about highwaymen, but reminded her that she and Lord Cavanaugh had once
     flirted shamelessly in Petersbourg. Although as soon as her heart had become involved,
     he had rejected her. Quite cruelly in fact.
    Her pride was still bruised by those events, but she would die a thousand deaths before
     she’d let him see it.
    “My word,” she replied, sounding completely cool and collected, not the least bit
     unruffled. “How is this possible? Did you somehow learn we were stranded? I was not
     even aware you were in England.”
    Removing his black leather gloves, he shook his head elegantly, and as usual her heart
     stumbled backward into that old infatuation that simply would not die, no matter how
     many times she tried to beat it into submission.
    But how could she, when Leopold Hunt was the most darkly sensual and seductive man
     in the world? She’d been enamored of him since she was a young girl.
    Damn him, and damn her stubborn attraction to him. She hated that he made her feel
     flustered. She thought she was over that by now. It had been two years, for pity’s
     sake, and she had done very well since then, behaving with complete indifference toward
     him as if none of it mattered at all.
    “If I had known,” he said, “I assure you I would have come much sooner, so I must
     confess the truth. This is an utterly odd coincidence that causes me to wonder if
     there are higher forces at play. Of course I knew you and your brothers were visiting
     London, but what in the world are you doing here, Rose, on this remote country road?” His stunning blue eyes turned to the duchess,
     as if he realized only then that they were not