Читать книгу In Pursuit of a Princess - Lenora Worth - Страница 11

TWO

“Really, this isn’t necessary.”

Gabriel glanced over at Lara Kincade, surprised that she had not wanted to call her security team or the police. He and Deidre had finally convinced her to call her head of security.

“But it is. You have to take these things seriously even if you think they’re pranks.” He studied the little satin-covered doll with the big blue eyes and the blond yarn hair. “A voodoo doll is a signal, prank or no prank.”

“I get this sort of ‘signal’ all the time,” she said, one arm wrapped around her waist, propping up the other arm she had lifted to her face. She stood just that way, her fingers curled against her chin, while she studied the red-satin-lined box with the odd-looking little figurine lying inside. “When I was young, I saw one of these in a store window down in the Quarter. I begged for it, but my mother refused to let me have it. She told me it wasn’t the kind of doll with which a little girl should play.”

“It’s not the kind of doll a grown woman should fool around with, either,” Gabriel replied, his English not nearly as proper as hers. But then, he’d practically grown up down in the Quarter. He’d learned street smarts long before he’d studied photography, and he’d learned how to read people long before he’d studied journalism. And something about the woman standing in front of him didn’t wash. She was too calm, too practiced. “You can’t take any chances.”

“They’re on the way,” Deidre said as she bustled around the room with a cell phone in her hand, her dark eyes wide with concern. “Ma’am, I’m so sorry.”

“Deidre, you did nothing wrong,” Lara replied, her eyes still on the package. “Stop apologizing and please stop pacing.”

Deidre skidded on the spot but looked anxious all the same. “I should have waited until we’d had the package checked by one of the guards. I know the protocol.”

“Deidre, remind me again—you didn’t see who delivered this?” Gabriel said.

Deidre looked at him, then glanced toward the princess.

“Go ahead, answer him,” Lara said on a gentle voice. “He’s here to observe and take pictures, but he might be able to help.”

“I didn’t see anyone, and Herbert has already gone home so we can’t ask him.”

“Maybe we can call him. He might have taken the package.” Gabriel wanted to reassure the girl. “I’m trying to piece things together before we call the police.”

“The police?” Lara glared at him and shook her head. “I told you, no police. My head of security—”

A door down the hallway burst open and a tall bull of a man with tight graying curls muscled his way into the room. “Your Highness, we’ve alerted the team. We’ve got guards stationed all around the property.”

“—is here right now.” Lara moved away from the offending package but waved her hand toward it. “Thank you, Malcolm. There it is. This is what all the fuss is about. Quite silly, honestly.”

Malcolm glanced at the voodoo doll, then turned to stare at Gabriel. “What’s your take?”

Gabriel lifted his eyebrows, surprised that anyone cared about his thoughts on this. He didn’t want to be involved in whatever was going on. He’d already met Malcolm Plankston through a thorough vetting interview that had left him wondering if the man would even let him go on with his assignment. Apparently, he’d been approved. “I take it very seriously,” he said. “I’ve encouraged Princess Lara to call the police.”

“And I’ve discouraged that notion,” Lara retorted. “It’s another of those odd pranks people tend to play on me. Some of the locals don’t appreciate my interest in rebuilding New Orleans. They tend to forget that I lived here for many years myself.”

“I agree with Mr. Murdock,” Malcolm said. “The authorities need to hear about this. You’ve stirred up publicity with this art fundraiser and the public knows you’re here. You’re vulnerable.”

“No,” Lara said, shaking her head. “The local police will laugh in my face and tell me this is just someone’s way of welcoming me home. You know how they scorn my presence here. They think I’m just another celebrity wanting media attention. I won’t bring them in on this and that’s final.”

Gabriel knew not to argue with a woman who stood tapping her expensive-looking leather pump against the polished wood floor. And he knew not to overstep his position by urging her head of security to go against her wishes.

Malcolm lifted the doll with a pair of tweezers that somehow appeared out of nowhere. Probably from inside Deidre’s deep pockets. The woman kept pulling things out of each one like a magician pulling rabbits out of a hat.

“Odd little thing,” Malcolm said, his mustache twitching while he seemed to stop blinking. “I’ll take it out to the shop and analyze it, but I think it’s harmless.” He dropped the doll, then turned to the princess. “I won’t call in the New Orleans police this time, Your Highness. But if anything else out of the ordinary occurs, I will have to do my duty and report it.”

“Agreed,” Lara replied, clearly relieved that she wouldn’t have to deal with anyone else official tonight. “I promise I’ll keep you apprised. Deidre and I will be diligent on that account, I can assure you.”

Malcolm cast a furrowed glance toward Deidre. “I assume you will make sure this never happens again.”

Deidre’s eyes misted. “You have my word on that, sir.”

“Good,” Malcolm the Intimidator said in his firm, gruff, no-nonsense voice. “Your position here could very well depend on it.”

Lara walked around the desk and took Deidre’s hand. “It’s all right. You are not going to be dismissed. Go on to bed and get some rest. I’ll be fine.”

Deidre rushed out of the room, her brown ponytail bouncing, her walnut-colored loafers squeaking.

Lara had a serene look on her face when she reached out her left hand and placed it on Malcolm’s gray wool suit. “Don’t ever reprimand Deidre in that way again, Mr. Plankston. Do I make myself clear?”

Malcolm swallowed, gulped and nodded. “I meant no disrespect, ma’am.”

“Good night, Malcolm.”

And the man was officially dismissed.

Which left Gabriel alone with a princess. An ice princess.

“Impressive,” he said, rocking back and forth on his boots. “I’ll have to remember not to get on your bad side.”

She gave him an emerald-tinged stare. “Deidre has been with me since the day I married Theo. She’s a dear girl—not much younger than me, really—a bit shy but very efficient. I won’t have Malcolm bullying her since his team seemed to have entirely missed this delivery’s arrival. He knows this wasn’t her fault. I’m the one who insisted on relaxing my security while I’m here. I’m the one who wanted a little more privacy and a lot less formality.”

Gabriel could understand her need for privacy, and he was pretty sure she should learn to relax a little more. But she was a princess, after all. “You’re known the world over. Privacy is a hard commodity to come by, especially when someone as famous and well loved as you comes to New Orleans. That’s the proverbial fishbowl way of living, Your Highness.”

“That is a way of living that I have found very wearisome, Mr. Murdock. And please, call me Lara.”

“As long as you call me Gabriel,” he reminded her with a soft twist of a smile. “And it’s time for me to go, too. Are you sure—”

“I’m fine. If I know Malcolm, he’ll have a guard at the front door to make sure you get out safely and I stay in safely. I’ll show you out.”

She walked him to the door, her heels clicking in a dainty princess way. “I suppose I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“That’s the plan.” He turned and took her hand. “Thank you for tea and dinner and...a bit of excitement.”

“Don’t get used to that,” she said on a soft smile. “My life is not as exciting as the world might think.”

Gabriel bid her good-night, thinking she was wrong on that.

And as he tipped his hand to the burly guard hovering on the front veranda, he was pretty sure the excitement was just beginning.

* * *

Lara sat at her dressing table in her upstairs bedroom, staring at her reflection in the mirror. With no makeup and her hair down around her shoulders, she looked drawn and fatigued. Not exactly the image the world wanted to see.

She didn’t care about that right now. She only saw the shadow of a mourning widow in her gilded mirror. And so much more. How did she explain to the world that she was tired of being a princess and that she only wanted to be herself, free and unencumbered by rules and protocol and regulations and proper procedures?

Lara turned from her brocade-covered stool and tugged her cashmere robe around her. It was early spring in the South, but the nights could still be cool. She paced over the hundred-year-old, hand-woven rug centered in the sitting area of the big, comfortable bedroom then went to the French doors and stared out into the back garden. Her mind fluttered here and there like a butterfly.

Esther and Cullen had gotten married right here in the garden. She’d insisted on giving them a reception to remember, and they’d pulled it off without too many problems with the media. Friends of a princess getting married didn’t carry nearly as much weight as a princess getting married. Or remarried. The tabloids had a new story every week on that one. By the latest count, she should have been remarried about four times at least.

But she had yet even to go out with a man, let alone consider marrying one.

She thought of Gabriel Murdock and felt a strange tapping in her heart. He was certainly handsome in a swarthy, swaggering way. The man looked like a map of life, world-weary and scarred, well traveled and frayed, and interesting.

Too interesting. When he’d taken her hand, a pleasant warmth had moved through her and reminded her she was still a woman.

Her cell hummed. She didn’t recognize the number. “Hello?”

“I got your invitation.”

“And I got your gift. You can’t scare me.”

“I’m not trying to scare you. I’m trying to help you.”

“By threatening me?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

Lara put her hand to her heart. “Good, because you have the answers I need, so I won’t fall for any tricks. I’ll see you at the gala.” She let out a breath. “And please quit making hang-up calls. It’s juvenile.”

“Is that all you have to say after all this time, Lara?”

“Yes. Good night.”

Lara moved around the room, turning off lamps, her hands trembling. She kept going back over the day’s activities, wondering how that package had gotten past security. And wondering how he had found her private cell number.

Putting her unwanted guest out of her mind for now, Lara regrouped and looked at her day-planner. Today had been busy, but tomorrow would be jam-packed. And she’d have Gabriel Murdock trailing her with every task. Was she really ready for that kind of up-close scrutiny? And by a man who seemed to read her like a book and look through her carefully controlled facade to see her deepest, darkest fears and secrets?

She thought about the man who’d just called her. It had been a long time since she’d seen him or heard from him. And she’d been biding her time until she could see him once again. “I can do this,” she whispered. “I have to do this.”

A shudder tiptoed down her spine.

“Remain calm and carry on,” she repeated. That used to be a joke between Theo and her. It was the mantra of a great queen and it did apply to the average commoner, too.

“That’s me,” Lara whispered as she climbed in bed and tugged at the last light. The room went dark on her fears and worries. She’d been a commoner, but a wealthy, well-heeled one at that. Money and prestige could open a lot of doors. Having a social pedigree that went back to the founding fathers didn’t hurt, either. But even so, when the announcement of her marriage had been made, she’d been analyzed, studied, prodded and trained in everything from etiquette to speaking in public to greeting people to writing a proper thank-you card, all of which her mother had already trained her on anyway.

Being a princess was much harder than being a woman.

Right now, however, she mentally pushed her princess away and, being a woman, thought about the fascinating man with whom she’d shared her dinner. And wondered why she’d invited him to stay for a meal. That hadn’t been on the agenda.

But then, neither had receiving that hideous gift. The voodoo doll only brought back bad memories of other times when she’d been afraid and full of doubts. Maybe this had nothing to do with that. Or it could have everything to do with that and the phone call she’d just received. She missed Theo, but she was determined to live life on her own terms. And she was determined to find answers to the questions that had haunted her since Theo’s death.

Obviously, after receiving that cryptic call, she understood the little voodoo doll had something to do with her nosing around where she shouldn’t.

Lara punched her pillow, hating this time of the day when she felt so alone, so lonely, so unsure of anything but how much she missed her husband. Telling herself to get a grip, she pushed out of her mind that image of the little grinning doll with the pin stabbed through her heart.

“You can’t pierce my heart,” she whispered to the night. “My heart has already been broken.”

But she intended to find the man who’d killed Theo. And she intended to do that here in New Orleans, with the world watching.

She drifted off to sleep thinking of her husband and Gabriel Murdock. Trying to hold one close in her memories and trying to push the other one back into a proper place, she finally went from being awake to being in a dream that ran through her head like a vivid movie, complete with voodoo and warnings from Deidre and Malcolm and with a man standing in the shadows, holding a camera.

The man called to her and Lara tried to reach him. He threw down the camera and reached out a hand. But she couldn’t quite grasp his fingers.

She woke up near dawn thinking of her husband.

But the man in the dream had been Gabriel Murdock.

Lara lay there pushing at the covers, her body still exhausted from running through that mist, her memories as wild and colorful as the images in her mind.

A piercing scream sounded through the night, bringing her up and out of her bed. Grabbing her robe, Lara rushed to her door and followed the hallway to the sound of the scream.

Deidre’s room.

But before Lara could open the door, Malcolm and two bodyguards were there with guns drawn.

“Step back, Your Highness,” Malcolm said, his beefy arm blocking her way. “It might not be safe.”

He knocked and called out. “Deidre?”

No answer.

“Go and check on her,” Lara demanded, impatient with the head of security.

Malcolm motioned to the two guards. They were about to break the door down when Deidre opened it and ran straight into Lara’s arms.

“What happened?” Lara asked, holding the younger woman.

Deidre lifted up, her dark eyes wide, her hair unbound and curly around her face. “I heard a noise on the upstairs balcony, ma’am. Someone walking, I’m sure. Then I saw a shadow near my window.”

Lara held tight to the frightened girl. “Are you sure?”

Deidre bobbed her head, her words shaky. “Very sure. A man was standing there.”

Malcolm put his big arms across his chest. “So you screamed?”

“Yes.”

“But you didn’t answer when we came to the door.”

“I was still frightened.”

He motioned again to the two men. “Search the balcony and the grounds.”

Lara took Deidre by the arm, her own jitters making her shaky. “Come with me. We’ll sit awhile and I’ll make us some chamomile tea.”

Deidre looked mortified. “Ma’am, you don’t need to wait on me. I’m...okay.”

“You are not okay,” Lara countered. “Malcolm, we’re going down to the kitchen. Could you make sure a guard is nearby while we brew our tea?”

“Certainly, Your Highness. But please let us secure the house before you wander around.”

Lara nodded. “Deidre, let’s get you a robe from your room.”

The girl followed Lara into the room and stood by the door, staring out into the night. “I saw a man there, Miss Lara. I promise.”

“I believe you,” Lara replied. She helped Deidre with her robe. “Did the man try to get into your room?”

“No. He just stood there. When I screamed, he ran away.”

Lara took in the information but said nothing. She wouldn’t allow Deidre to see her fears. That might put the girl over the edge.

But when they were turning to leave the room, something caught Lara’s eye. “Just a moment, Deidre. Stay there by the door, please.”

Deidre nodded. Lara walked to the open door that led out onto the balcony, careful to stay on the edge of the sheer lace curtains. Peeking around the lace, she saw something through the moonlight, lying there on the planked floor. The guards had rushed right past it. Another package, this one bigger than the first one.

Another delivery. But how in the world had the intruder planned to get that box inside? And what if he’d been looking for her room instead of Deidre’s?