Read [Montacroix Royal Family Series 01] - Guarded Moments for Free Online

fat cat, the color of old stonework, curled up on a balcony overlooking nearby Lake Losange and took a bath in the first shimmering beam of golden alpine light.
    Two men—one in his mid-thirties, the other at least twice that—sat at a wrought-iron table on the balcony, talking quietly over their cafe au lait. "She has arrived," the younger man said.
    The older man nodded. "So it begins. What security have the Americans provided?"
    "None."
    The older man didn't answer immediately. Instead, he appeared to be mulling over the unexpected news as he lit a cigarette. "That is a surprise."
    "A pleasant one."
    "Perhaps." The man exhaled a cloud of smoke, watching the slender blue column rise, then dissipate on the crisp air. "The princess is traveling all alone on this cultural tour?"
    "Not exactly."
    "Aha. I thought not."
    "There is a man accompanying her. But he is only a minor diplomat and no threat to us."
    "I wonder." The man reached down and stroked the cat's damp, newly bathed fur. In the early-morning silence, the animal's purring sounded like a small, finely tuned motor. "If this American diplomat proves to be a nuisance, he must be eliminated, as well."
    "Of course. I've already made provisions for such an eventuality."
    " C'est bon ." His lips, beneath the salt-and-pepper mustache, curved upward as he lifted his cup in a silent toast. "This time," the younger man promised, "we will not fail."
    Rigid determination hardening their dark eyes, both men's gazes moved to the island in the middle of the diamond-bright lake, where the Giraudeau palace turrets jutted above the mist-shrouded trees.
    3
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    The Montacroix ambassador's reception for Princess Chantal was the social event of the season. While in other cities wealth might be the key to social success, in the nation's capital, political clout was what counted; tonight, all the heavy hitters were in attendance. Everyone in "The Green Book"—Washington's social register—had been eager to meet the glamorous princess.
    And Chantal did not disappoint. She was, quite simply, the most beautiful woman Caine had ever seen. Eschewing the elaborate beading, sequins and chiffon flounces worn by the other women, who seemed grimly determined to outdo one another, Chantal had opted for a strapless, floor-length tube of black satin that captured the light from the crystal chandeliers and gleamed with her every movement.
    She'd pulled her thick, dark hair into an elaborate twist at her nape, thus emphasizing her high cheekbones and sultry, dark eyes. An avalanche of milky pearls curved around her neck, tumbling down toward a single, flawless ruby. Enormous blood-red rubies adorned her ears, and a glowing pearl had replaced the canary-yellow diamond on the ring finger of her right hand. She was, Caine noticed, still wearing the thin silver ring.
    From the moment she entered the embassy, Chantal was in total control of the situation. As he watched her in the reception line, standing beside the ambassador and his wife, greeting the Washington notables with a graceful warmth that seemed inbred, Caine couldn't help wondering if there was some genetic code that made a princess a princess.
    While he admired her behavior, Caine found the ease by which she slipped into a friendly yet vaguely distant regal bearing strangely inhibiting. Although he'd been surprised to discover Chantal to be such a multifaceted woman, thus far he'd been able to deal with all her varied personalities, including the one he most disliked—the pampered prima donna. But the woman he now observed possessed an intrepid self-assurance he knew went all the way to the bone. Gleaming steel wrapped in black satin—that was the princess Chantal.
    He felt an unwelcome stir of desire and told himself that it was going to be a very long three weeks.
    Strange how he reminded her so of Burke, Chantal mused later in the evening as she cast a surreptitious glance toward Caine. For a diplomat, he was surprisingly