THEIR_VIRGIN_PRINCESS Read Free

“I scarcely think someone has come to Her Highness’s coronation ball to try to
     kill me . If they’ve come to hurt
     someone, it’s most likely the others in the royal family. Really, Landon, study
     a little more history.”
    He stiffened, his whole body tightening. His eyes turned
     cold again. A sickening feeling slid through her, and she knew that she’d just
     hurt him. “I wasn’t very good at history, Princess. You’ll have to forgive me.
     I’m just a dumb grunt following the orders of my CO. If you have a problem with
     it, you should take it up with Dane.”
    Alea winced and looked away. What had she done? An apology
     sat right on the tip of her tongue. Why? This wasn’t her fault….but it wasn’t
     his either. He was just doing his job. But damn it, she was being followed
     twenty-four seven. The only place she was allowed to be alone was her bedroom,
     and even then, the minute she opened the door, one of them waited outside. She
     felt like a prisoner in so many ways, and it was wearing her out.
    As he stared a hole right through her, Alea felt her resolve
     weakening. She yearned for those blue eyes to glow with the warmth they had
     just minutes ago.
    The door to the balcony opened, and a lean figure slid
     through. This man didn’t have a problem with his tuxedo. She was fairly certain
     that Oliver Thurston-Hughes had been born in a tux. The very noble Brit
     wouldn’t have done anything so common as to have been born naked.
    “Alea? Darling, are you out here?” He nearly bumped into
     Landon. “Bloody hell, who are you?”
    “I’m over here, Oliver,” she said before Landon could reply.
    A broad smile came over the handsome Brit’s face, and he
     stepped around the guard, utterly ignoring him, then walked toward her. “I’ve
     been looking all over for you. That receiving line was complete hell. I’ve
     never seen so many people.”
    Oliver had been at the last British royal wedding, so Alea
     doubted that, but he was always polite. Oliver would never say a social
     function wasn’t the greatest event he’d ever attended. “I was happy when it was
     over. My face hurts from smiling. Where’s Yasmin?”
    He shrugged an elegant shoulder. “Last I saw, she was
     dancing with the Prime Minister. She’s been looking for you, though. Alea, it’s
     so good to see you.” He smiled warmly. “You’ve been a virtual stranger ever
     since…”
    His words trailed off, and she could see the way he paled
     when he realized what he’d nearly said.
    “Since she was taken hostage and forced to endure something
     most people wouldn’t survive?” A sarcastic voice with a low Texas accent cut
     through the awkward silence. Now Landon decided to get chatty? “I’m sure she’s sorry she didn’t just pause her
     recovery to call you up the second she got home.”
    “No one asked you,” Oliver shot back. “Why is he here?
     You’re not seeing him, I hope?”
    She saw far too much of Lan. And far too little. “He’s my
     bodyguard. I’m sorry I haven’t called.”
    “You don’t owe him an apology,” Landon ground out.
    “Stay out of this.” She couldn’t handle him getting involved
     in her personal life. She could barely handle him being her constant watchman.
     She turned back to Oliver. “I am sorry. It’s been hard to get back into the
     real world.”
    Oliver was everything that Landon wasn’t. He was perfectly
     charming as he stared at her with a pitying little frown. “Of course it is,
     darling. I apologize. It’s terribly selfish of me. It’s simply that Yasmin and
     I have missed you.”
    “I’ve missed you, too.”
    They hadn’t missed her enough to put off their wedding while
     she’d been kidnapped. She guessed she couldn’t really blame them. She’d been
     gone for months. They’d assumed she’d been killed, her body buried somewhere in
     an unmarked grave. Yasmin hadn’t had any idea that she’d been found until
     months after the fact. Yas