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rehearse.”
    “Thanks, but we have a way to go.” Chantel tapped a finger on the banister and wondered why she felt such instant distrust. Dismissing it as overwork, she turned back to Bennett. “I have to run. Try to make some time for me, darling.”
    “Of course. You’re coming to dinner Saturday with the rest of the cast?”
    “Wouldn’t miss it. I’ll see you there, Lady Hannah.”
    “Goodbye, Miss O’Hurley.”
    After giving Bennett a quick pat on the cheek, Chantel descended the stairs again and let the director trail behind her.
    “She’s quite a woman,” Bennett murmured.
    “Yes, she’s very beautiful.”
    “There’s that, too.” Without looking at her, Bennett took Hannah’s arm again. “I suppose I’ve always admired her willpower and ambition. She’s determined to be the best and isn’t afraid to work for it. Every time I see her on the screen, it’s breathtaking.”
    Hannah dug her fingers into her purse and reminded herself she was supposed to be unassuming. “You admire ambition, Your Highness?”
    “Nothing’s changed for better or worse without it.”
    “Some men still find ambition in a woman unflattering, or at least, uncomfortable.”
    “Some men are idiots.”
    “I couldn’t agree more,” Hannah said dryly, dryly enough that he lifted his brow as he gazed at her.
    “Why am I never quite sure whether or not you’re insulting me, Hannah?”
    “I beg your pardon, sir, I was simply agreeing with you.”
    He stopped again. From the stage came the murmur of voices, but the hall was deserted. Bennett took her chin in his hand, ignoring her jolt of shock, and studied her face. “Hannah, why is it when I look at you I’m not convinced I’m seeing all there is?”
    Alarm bells went off in her head. Her face paled a bit. She knew it, but thought, hoped, he would take that as natural. Not by another blink did she show concern. “I don’t know what you mean.”
    “I wonder.” He moved his thumb over her jawline, then just beneath where the skin was softer yet, and warm. “Yes, I wonder more than I should about you, Hannah. Do you have an answer for that?”
    There were amber flecks in his eyes, turning what might have been plain brown into something tawny and compelling. He had the mouth of a poet and the hands of a farmer. Hannah wondered how it was possible to combine the two as her heart, always so steady, began to drum against her ribs.
    “Your Highness—” It was both the lady without and the lady within who fumbled.
    “Do you, Hannah?”
    He saw her lips part. Strange, he hadn’t noticed how attractive her mouth was before—soft, just a bit wide and beautifully shaped without cosmetics. He wondered if it would taste as cool as her voice or as rich as her eyes.
    She had to stop this, here and now. The yearning building inside her could only be destructive. Even as she longed to reach out, she cast her eyes down. “No, sir, except that many times men are intrigued with a woman simply because she’s not what they’re accustomed to.”
    “We’ll see.” He backed off, though the effort it cost him was a surprise. “I’ll take you back now, Hannah, and we’ll both give it some thought.”

Chapter 3
    Hannah was given free run of the palace and the grounds. She had only to ask and her bath would be drawn or her bed turned down. If she developed a craving for hot chocolate at 3:00 a.m., she could pick up the phone beside her bed and request it. As a guest of the Royal Family, she was afforded every amenity the palace could offer.
    And as a guest of the Royal Family, she was afforded her own guards.
    Hannah considered them only a slight nuisance. It was a simple enough matter for someone of her talents to make them think she was tucked safely away in her rooms while she was somewhere else entirely. However, the fact that she was being watched made it difficult to set up a meeting with her contact on the outside.
    Using the palace phones was out of the question.