Natural-Born Protector / Saved by the Monarch (28 page)

Then they were outside the back door of the queen’s quarters. Two dozen royal guards blocked the entry, but they immediately let the princes through. Arpad warned them of General Rossi’s betrayal.

“Have you seen him?” Miklos asked as he passed through.

“No, Your Highness,” one of the guards responded.

Good. They were in time then.

Inside the spacious parlor they entered were six more guards, along with the captain of the guards. He immediately gave his report.

“I’m in radio contact. The tide is turning. We have the upper hand almost everywhere except at the base of the South Tower. The army base has been taken back. More loyal troops are on their way.”

“The queen is well?” Benedek asked.

“She’s with her ladies in waiting, sequestered in her bedroom.”

Miklos inspected his brothers. Janos had the least amount of blood on him; the small stains on his sleeve were barely noticeable. “You check on her.” No way was he going in there with his hand dripping blood.

Janos took off, looking eager to go. And Miklos suspected it wasn’t all about their mother. Rumor had it he had his eye on one of the queen’s ladies. He was probably as worried about her as Miklos was about Judi.

Pain pulsed up his arm. The drug Vince had given
him was clouding his mind. He regretted taking it, would rather feel the sharp edge of pain and be in full command of his faculties if they were to win this battle.

“We’ll need weapons,” Arpad was telling the captain.

The guards immediately shared their arsenal with the princes.

The dozen men, the guards and the princes, were reflected in the gilded mirrors that covered the parlor’s walls, giving the impression of a much larger force Miklos wished were real.

Janos came back, reporting that the queen was well, given the circumstances. She was aware of what was going on to some extent, but was being shielded from the severity of the fight. “Dr. Arynak is with her.”

“You stay with her, too. She might need you,” Miklos told his brothers. “I’m going to the South Tower.”

“Collecting your princess?” Lazlo wiggled his eyebrows. “How charmingly old-fashioned. Prince Charming riding to the rescue.”

His brothers were all grinning and flashing him looks full of meaning. Secretly, they were all probably happy that he was the first to lose his freedom and not one of them, instead. He had thought of it in those terms when he’d first been given news of Judi’s imminent arrival to the country, but his opinion had changed drastically since.

Istvan, the cultural anthropologist, was mumbling something about mating rituals in different cultures. In response, Arpad made some lip-smacking noises.

Juveniles, every last one of them. God help the monarchy.
But when Miklos moved toward the door, they were right behind him.

“You stay,” he said. “Especially you.” He glared at Arpad.

“Just walking you to the door.” His older brother humored him.

But they all walked out with him.

Janos flashed a reassuring grin. “We’ll just walk you to the end of the hallway.”

Which was a blatant lie. They had no intention of letting him go alone. Miklos was sure of that, but didn’t have time to argue with them.

The rest of the royal guard stood in front of the main entrance of the queen’s quarters. Some wanted to go with the princes, but Arpad categorically refused. They were to stay and protect the queen and the ladies of the court.

The princes got as far as the top of the stairs before they were first fired upon. His heart nearly stopped when Arpad went down.

Miklos shot back, holding the attackers at bay. “Take him back,” he yelled at Janos. “He’s the damn crown prince.” Dammit. This was not supposed to happen. Shoulder-shot, he registered. “Make a compress!”

Janos and Istvan took Arpad back. He looked more frustrated than in pain, even though blood was running down his arm in rivulets.

“I’m good,” he said. “I can still go.”

But his siblings weren’t impressed. All Arpad could do was shoot Miklos a dirty look as the other two forcibly dragged him off.

Miklos forged forward, Lazlo and Benedek behind him. A businessman race-car driver and an architect. The two youngest of the brothers, the twins. If anything happened to them on his watch, his mother was never going to forgive him.

He used the rifle he had received from the royal guard, then his sword when he was close enough to the enemy. He had always been the best swordsman among the brothers.

They fought their way down to the ground level, only meeting small pockets of resistance. Bodies littered the stairs. The courtyard was where the fighting was at its fiercest. They threw themselves into the melee, loyal soldiers immediately grouping around them.

He glanced up to the South Tower. He still couldn’t see Judi, nor could he see any of his men up there anymore. He needed to figure out what had happened to them.

He uttered a fierce cry and charged into the battle.

M
IKLOS’S MEN HEADED
down the stairs the second they saw him come from the main building. Judi was kept protected at the back.

He was still alive. He was still alive. She kept repeating that to herself. She just about had a heart attack when he’d disappeared on the other side of the roof earlier. She’d thought that he had fallen, so she’d spent the last hour imagining him lying broken on cobblestones somewhere below.

But he was in the castle yard, fighting.
Still alive.

There were only nine of his platoon left. She could barely stand that thought, knowing all the rest had died for her. The loss was inconceivable. They had gone one by one into the staircase to hold the enemy back from reaching the top of the tower.

They were pushing that enemy back now. They met with Miklos in the nearly collapsed guardhouse. He had a fierce-looking sword in his left hand, like a hero of old, and was using that to fight. When he saw her, he seemed to gain new strength. He cut down the few enemies that still stood between them.

Then they were moving outside, back toward the savage fighting in the yard. The men formed a circle around her. The battle was in its final stages, everyone bloody and exhausted.

“Give me a gun. I demand a gun!” she yelled.

The men ignored her.

“Take the rifle.” Mikos offered the weapon slung across his right shoulder. She had to slip it off, as he had a sword in one hand, and the other one wasn’t working just now. It was ready to go; all she had to do was squeeze the trigger. Which she did, aiming at a soldier who was shooting at their small group from the top of the castle gate. She shot until she saw him tumble.

Endless minutes elapsed before their group passed through the bloodshed and reached the main building. Loyal troops who were pushing the enemy back from the ground floor immediately formed a shield around them.

“The castle is three-quarters ours again, Your Highnesses,” one of them said, and Judi realized that at least some of the men with Miklos were his brothers.

When she looked closer, she realized that two looked exactly alike. The royal twins, she thought, recognizing them at last. They were both incredibly handsome. The tabloids hadn’t done them justice.

That anyone would risk his life for her boggled her mind to start with, but that royal princes would be running to her rescue…It seemed beyond the realm of possibility.

“My brothers Lazlo,” Miklos introduced the one who had a slight limp, “and Benedek.”

The architect, she thought, and was immediately charmed when they apologized that they were too bloody to kiss her hand. Gentlemen in the middle of bloody murder. They sure were princes.

The whole group was marching up the stairs. She tried not to squirm and be too embarrassed as the twins openly checked her out and silently communicated with each other.

Then Miklos stopped in front of a gilded door. “These are my quarters,” he told her. “You go and check on Arpad,” he said to his brothers.

Half the soldiers who’d followed them in stayed with Miklos, the other half went with the other princes.

Then the richly painted, twelve-foot-high doors in front of her swung open and the opulence of the place left her speechless. They were in a large receiving room filled with the most beautiful furniture, the twenty-foot-high ceiling soaring above, a ten-foot fireplace on the wall opposite them. The walls were hung with tapestries that depicted hunting scenes. The whole room was done in silver and brown with royal blue used as the accent color.

Everything was incredibly masculine and breathtakingly elegant.

The quiet beauty of the room was a complete contrast to the raging battle in the courtyard, to the grime on both herself and Miklos, to the bloody bandage on his hand. Since she’d entered, she had a feeling that she didn’t belong here. But right at this moment, Miklos looked like he didn’t quite belong, either.

It made her feel better.

She had little time to admire her surroundings, however, or to relax. The next second she was in Miklos’s arms, and he was kissing her.

His passion was hot and fierce. It possessed her. She had never been as happy or willing to give herself. All her fear, all the stress of the last couple of days, disappeared and released a huge wave of energy that turned into sexual energy between them.

She wanted him with the same fervor that he wanted her. Right now, right here. On the floor, even; she didn’t care.

But he picked her up, and long moments passed before she remembered his injured arm and began to protest. By that time they were in his bedroom and he was laying her on his enormous royal bed.

His mouth possessed hers. She gave herself to him. Would it be so terrible to be married to me? he’d asked not long ago. Not if it would be like this. She wanted him. She couldn’t remember wanting any other man so much.

She ran her hands up his strong arms, over his back, impatient for more. She wanted to feel his full weight on her as he covered her.

But he didn’t join her on the bed.

“Rest,” he told her when he pulled away, breathing as hard as she was.

Fevered tension stretched between them. Rest was the last thing on either of their minds. She could still feel his lips crushing down on hers, and she wanted more. She wanted him to hold her, wanted to hold him until the reality that they were both alive had a chance to sink in.

“It’s not safe to let our guard down. Not yet,” he said with frustration clear in his voice. With effort, he pulled back from the bed.

She tried to get her racing heart under control.

“There’s a bathroom through there.” He pointed to another door. “You can clean up if you want.”

“Your hand?”

“It’ll be fine for a little longer yet.”

“No, it won’t! Miklos, please listen to me. This is senseless.”

“My people need me.”

“They’ll need you even more after this is all over. Let the soldiers finish.”

“I’m a soldier,” he reminded her.

“You’re an injured man. You’re a prince. You have a duty to stay alive, dammit.”

A pained smile played at the corner of his lips. “Chancellor Hansen would have said the same thing.” His face clouded at the mention of the name.

He went back for his rifle, which she’d dropped when they’d come in, and brought it to her. “Lock the door behind me and don’t let anyone in unless you hear
my voice. The guards will stay outside. If anyone comes through that door, don’t ask questions, just shoot them.”

“You can’t be going back to the battle.” Desperation pushed her off the bed at last.

He bent to kiss her again, briefly this time, as if not trusting himself.

“Don’t go. Didn’t that guy say that they had three-quarters of the castle back? Please don’t leave me. I couldn’t stand if anything happened to you,” she admitted.

His gaze swirled with dark heat. But he turned from her anyway.

“What happened to your family?” she asked as it suddenly occurred to her that she’d only seen two of his brothers.

He hesitated, then turned back. Warmth filled his eyes. “My mother is well-protected. My brothers are a rough lot. They can take care of themselves.”

And so could he. She knew that, but it didn’t make watching him go any easier. “Be careful. Stay safe. Come back to me.”

“I plan on it.”

On his way out, he walked to the bathroom to check it. And from the way he suddenly froze, she immediately knew that something was terribly wrong.

Judi took a step back, gripping the gun hard, fighting the urge to hyperventilate.

Miklos backed away, too. A man followed him out of the bathroom. His uniform told her who he was: the general. The man had his gun aimed at Miklos’s head. The scene was enough to stop her racing heart midbeat.

“It wasn’t suppose to happen this way. It was supposed to go quickly and quietly,” the man said, then added, “You were supposed to be spared.”

She had no idea what the guy was talking about, but Miklos’s eyes hardened.

“You thought you could use me after you killed my family?” he asked

“If we had a royal on our side, the royalists would have been appeased. It would have been the easiest way. You would have lost your title, but you could have gotten a high-enough post in the new cabinet.”

Miklos’s whole body was tense as he watched the man. He looked ready to spring forward, and she prayed that he wouldn’t. No matter how quick he was, a bullet from the general’s pistol would be quicker.

The man watched Miklos with mild regret on his face. “I always loved you like a son.” He shook his head. “You should have been the crown prince. I could have made that work. None of this would have happened.”

“You mean if I were the crown prince, you might have let me become king and tried to rule through me. We had a close relationship, which you never had with Arpad.” Miklos’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

The general nodded.

Tension was so thick in the room she could hardly breathe. She could do something, she told herself. She had a gun. She should do something.

But neither man paid any attention to her, as if they’d discounted her altogether. Miklos to keep the general’s attention off her, she suspected, and the general because he correctly assessed the situation and knew that even without a weapon, Miklos was the more dangerous opponent.

Didn’t take a genius to figure that out. He could probably see the rifle wavering with each tremor that ran down her arm.

Anger rolled off Miklos in waves. “So this is where Arpad’s near misses came from. It’s why his plane almost went down last month, isn’t it? And that boating accident, too, had been planned?”

“Those were fully investigated and ruled accidents.” The general’s thin lips stretched into a syrupy smile.

“Investigated by a team you recommended,” Miklos shot back and charged forward.

“Stop! Nobody moves!” Judi shouted and took one step forward, pointing the rifle at the general, wondering
if she should shoot a warning round into the ceiling. Could she damage some priceless fresco, and hope that history would forgive her? She could and she would, she decided.

The general looked more amused than scared. “Drop your weapon. You’re more likely to hit him than me.”

He was right. Could she toss the gun to Miklos? She glanced at his damaged right hand. No way to know how good a catch he was with his left. And if she shot the ceiling, the royal guards would rush in. If the general felt trapped, he would shoot Miklos for sure.

“Let her go,” Miklos bargained. “She has nothing to do with this. She’s leaving the country. We’re not marrying.”

“Not indeed. She should have never come here. Wouldn’t have come here if I had more time to arrange it. Unfortunately, her arrival was rather unexpected.”

A chill ran down Judi’s spine at his words. Especially when they were underscored with his cold stare.

“I always hoped you would marry my daughter,” the man told Miklos casually.

Surprise flashed through Miklos’s face. “She’s barely twenty.”

The man’s raised eyebrow said that mattered little to him. He really was blinded by ambition.

“Drop your weapon.” He barked his order to Judi, his eyes glinting with determination, the barrel of his pistol pushing into the skin of Miklos’s forehead.

She lowered her gun, tears filling her eyes as she wished she were good enough to use it. But if she
squeezed that trigger, if she hit Miklos, or if the general shot him, it would be all over. If all she gained them was a few more minutes, there was still hope that something could happen.

And it did.

Her giving up drew the general’s attention from Miklos for a split second, even if it was to gloat at her.

At the same time, Miklos reached for his sword, and ran the general through in one smooth move.

Surprise crossed the man’s face. But he was still standing, his finger on the trigger. And when Judi saw that finger move, she brought the rifle up and shot the man in the head.

The lucky shot of a lifetime.

It helped that by then Miklos had ducked out of the way.

When the general collapsed, she felt like she was about to follow him down to the marble tiles.

Miklos grabbed the man’s gun. Then he was at Judi’s side, gently removing the rifle from her trembling hand. “Take it easy, warrior princess.”

The guards were bursting in from outside, weapons raised.

She barely registered them. She clung to Miklos’s strength, to the thought that they were both alive, that she couldn’t have lived if anything happened to him. And she knew that she would not be taking a cab to the airport anytime soon; she wouldn’t be going back to Washington for a while yet. She had found something with Miklos that she had never had in D.C. She might not have known him long, but she knew all she had to
know. As much as she had fought it, she had fallen in love with the prince.

Not the smartest thing she’d ever done. Even back when he did want to marry her, he’d been clear about the fact that theirs would be an arranged marriage, a marriage of convenience. Love was never under discussion. More fool she.

He could have given her castles and jewels, the life of a princess. But his love was the only thing she wanted.

L
ATE MORNING, WHEN
the castle had been cleared of the dead and the injured, and security restored, the castle yard cleaned, Judi lay on a recliner on the balcony of one of the guest suites, wrapped in a sumptuous down comforter.

She’d been asleep already, awakened by a bad dream of bloody fighting and wanted fresh air and to look at the stars above, needed a moment of reconnecting with the universe. The past few days had been so insane that in hindsight she almost had trouble believing that they’d actually happened.

She needed to make some decisions about her future, about Miklos, and she couldn’t make them inside the opulent room, which completely overwhelmed her.

And as if conjured by her thoughts, she heard his voice on the balcony beneath hers. He was talking to one of his brothers.

“She’s magnificent,” the brother said.

“She’s mine, Benedek.” Miklos’s voice carried a tone of warning.

Benedek laughed. “I think I’m half in love with her. So are Arpad and Janos and Istvan and Lazlo.”

Miklos grunted. “Get your own princess.”

“We’re even willing to forgive her for bringing down the general.” Benedek paused. “The villain should have been vanquished by one of the Brotherhood.”

“She’s an extraordinary woman,” Miklos agreed, his words filling Judi with warmth.

“So you’re in love with her?”

Judi held her breath.

But Miklos didn’t answer his brother’s candid question.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been in love,” Benedek mused.

Hard to believe, Judi thought. Benedek didn’t have his twin brother’s wild streak—with Lazlo, she had a feeling nobody knew what he might do next—but he did have that jaw-dropping, masculine gorgeousness that all the Kerkay brothers possessed. She’d seen the queen’s ladies-in-waiting swarm around him earlier. But something in his voice talked of past history and regrets. His tone was too light, forced, as if manufactured to cover secrets.

And Judi was starting to feel uncomfortable. The brothers were having a private conversation. She stood slowly, without making a noise, and retreated toward the door.

The last thing she heard was Miklos saying, “Maybe you need to let go of your infatuation with that American opera-singer diva first. You need to find
yourself a real woman. You’re still a young pup. It can still happen.”

She lay on her carved four-poster bed, feeling alone in the opulent room with its ceiling frescos of snowcapped mountains and the work-of-art crystal chandelier. The room would have made anyone feel like a princess, but she felt only uncertainty.

When Benedek had asked Miklos if he was in love with her, he hadn’t responded.

And he hadn’t come to her. She’d been moved into this guest suite from Miklos’s bedroom by a flock of servants. That, in itself, was telling.

Not long ago, he’d told her he no longer wanted to marry her. Looked like he meant it. She squeezed her eyes shut and groaned into her pillow.

She wasn’t princess material. She knew nothing about royal protocol. In fact, she hated rules and regulations. He knew it, she knew it. He was making the right decision, she tried to tell herself.

But knowing that didn’t help her heart to ache any less.

He’d asked her once whether she was like the princess in her children’s video games, living in her own little labyrinth. He’d meant living with limited choices. And she realized now that maybe she had been, limiting her own choices to make sure she avoided hurt and pain.

Losing her parents had been hard, but losing her stepmother had been harder still. She remembered her stepmother more than either of her biological parents and, right or wrong, missed her more. At one point she
had decided that she didn’t want any more loss and stopped getting attached.

The boyfriends who accused her of being commitment phobic had been right.

An arranged marriage would have been her worst nightmare—all the commitment without any of the love she craved.

M
IKLOS WAS MORE THAN
ready to grab some rest when Assemblyman Egon stepped in front of him. The man had rushed to the castle to have an emergency meeting with Arpad in the wake of the night’s violence. Egon had been Chancellor Hansen’s right-hand man, very likely the person who would replace him.

“A word, Your Highness.” Tall as a beanpole, with the eyes of a fox, he stood squarely in front of the prince. Daring, but the new chancellor would need that quality.

“Tomorrow.” Miklos stepped around him and kept walking.

The assemblyman fell in step beside him. “I understand the Lady Judit is still in the castle.”

“She’s resting.”

“Have any commitments been made?”

“No.”

“Good.” His sigh of relief was audible. “The Assembly has been considering, Your Highness. She might not be the right choice. In fact, we believe she is not. It has always been only Chancellor Hansen who pushed her as the best candidate.”

“Chancellor Hansen died last night for this country,”
Miklos reminded the man sharply, not liking the direction the conversation was taking.

“Forgive me.” The man had the good sense to look chastised. “But the issue of the Lady Judit—”

“Is my decision entirely.”

“Certainly, Your Highness. I’m merely suggesting that the general’s daughter—”

“Are you jesting?” They reached the staircase and Miklos stopped to face the man.

“The general’s death, coming at the same time as Chancellor Hansen’s, will shake the country. There will be fear of retribution for the rebellion. If the monarchy is seen as too heavy-handed…A gesture of forgiveness would be best, Your Highness. And the general’s daughter is a native daughter of our country. She is dedicated to youth and charity.”

“She
is
a youth. She wants to marry me?” he asked incredulously. “I rather imagine the girl would be grieving.”

“After a suitable period of mourning, of course. She will be persuaded that the marriage would be the best thing. She will do her duty, I’m sure, to save her family from disgrace.”

“Her father’s actions are no disgrace of hers.”

“Certainly, Your Highness. And your understanding will raise your popularity among the people. I knew…The Assembly is confident that you will do your duty. I will make arrangements for the Lady Judit to be returned to her home before the day is out.”

“You will not.”

“Your Highness, duty—”

“Duty be damned.” He turned his back to the man and took the steps two at a time to see Judi.

H
ER THOUGHTS DRIFTED
to all she and Miklos had survived together in the last couple of days. Whatever happened next, the most important thing was that he was alive. He’d fought in the terrifying battle to take back the castle, and he’d made it.

He was a warrior prince.

He was the kind of man daydreams were made of.

He could have been hers. She could have been his.

Don’t think about that.
If she could fall in love against her will, then, maybe, if she worked hard enough, she could fall out of it.

He liked her, but not enough to overlook the fact that she’d make a lousy princess. He’d told her as much after they’d made love in the general’s prison. But despite that, she couldn’t regret that night. At least she would have those memories of him. Her mind went back to those heated and all-too-brief moments between them. She was tired to the bone. Her thoughts drifted, her body still exhausted. Judi was nearly asleep again by the time a muted knock sounded on her door.

“Come in.”

“Did I wake you?” Miklos stopped, his silhouette tall and wide-shouldered, just inside her bedroom door.

Her heart started into an erratic rhythm. She shook her head with a nervous smile.

“Sorry I didn’t come sooner. I took the chopper to the hospital. Dr. Arynak wouldn’t let me rest until I had the hand checked out.”

“How is it?” She sat up in bed.

“The bullet went through. One of the bones shattered, but not too badly. They put the pieces back together.” He came closer.

She noticed the fresh, white bandage. Relief filled her. She’d been worried about that. “They let you leave?”

“They weren’t given a choice. I had to come back to talk to you,” he said softly, reaching her bed. His eyes were dark with unnamed emotions.

Her heart clamored in her chest.

He reached out his good hand and cupped her face. “I’m sorry you were drawn into this mess. I can’t stand the thought that something could have happened to you.” He was leaning toward her.