Read To Steal a Prince for Free Online Page B

of our alarms are on a hair-trigger right now. We don’t want any more incidents.”
    “Of course. I’m so sorry.” I step away from the table, looking at it fearfully.
    “It’s all right, Grace.” Damon wraps me in one arm. I’m not sure if he’s subtly telling the director not to reprimand me, or trying to save me from my own clumsiness.
    Arian mumbles into his walkie-talkie, informing security that it was a false alarm. Once he’s satisfied that no one will come storming in on us, he starts the footage again.
    “If you’d like, Highness, I could speed up the tape.”
    Damon frowns. “Is that wise?”
    “We also have experts examining it. And I can make copies for your own personnel to review.”
    The prince nods. “I would like copies. For now, let’s speed it up.”
    Arian pokes a button, making minutes tick away like seconds. I’m glad I’m not going to have to sit through hours of museum visitors, especially since I’ve already played my part. Throngs of people swell around the crown, but it never moves even a millimeter. Shadows grow longer, and fewer people trickle through. At last, the visitors disappear and the crown descends into its vault.
    Sighing, the director ejects the disc and hands it to Damon. “There’s more footage from the vault, with even less action. I’m afraid we simply haven’t found anything yet.”
    “There has to be something.” The prince sounds so defeated.
    Arian clasps his hands, at a loss. “I’ll let you know if our experts catch anything. I assure you, Highness, we’re putting everything we have into this.”
    Damon gives him a curt nod. “Keep me updated. Make sure to report to me and not my father. He won’t want to know about this until we know what happened.”
    “Of course, Your Excellency.” Arian bows deeply.
    Is he dismissing us? I can’t have that. Not until Damon gets his crown back. I can’t bear to see him like this, his shoulders slumped and eyes deadened.
    I clear my throat. “Excuse me, Director?”
    “Yes?”
    “How many times did you test the metal?”
    “More than once, I can assure you. Believe me, Miss, despite recent events, we do run a professional operation.”
    “Would you mind testing the crown one more time, just so we can see for ourselves?”
    Annoyance flashes across Arian’s face. “Would you like this, Highness?”
    Damon nods. “At least then I can’t deny it.”
    “Very well.” The director smiles, our cheerful host once again. “I must warn you, our tests haven’t varied much.”
    Putting on a set of gloves, Arian picks up a scanner. A beam refracts through the central gem, casting purple rainbows on the walls. The scanner beeps, its reading complete.
    “Let me get you a printout.” Arian taps a screen, and paper streams out. Ripping it from the machine, he holds it out to Damon. “Here are your results, you see here—” Arian blinks, his mouth agape.
    “What does it say?” The prince pulls the paper from his hand.
    “At the bottom, you’ll see the crown’s metallic signature compared to what the scanner read.” Arian rocks on his heels, trying to pull himself together. “The last number shows how similar they are.”
    “But this says they’re a hundred percent match.”
    “I saw that too, Highness. Let me try a different scanner.”
    Purple shadows swirl on the walls again. Damon leans in to look at the crown. He glances at me, and I see the wild hope in his eyes. His look of pure desire makes my heart speed.
    “Here’s the printout.” Arian snatches it the moment it emerges. He spins to show Damon, and their eyes dart to the last line.
    “Another perfect match,” Arian whispers.
    Damon grabs my hand, pulling me over to the crown. “My eyes must have deceived me. Look how it glistens!”
    I’m more interested in how his eyes glisten, but I politely fix my gaze on the crown. “It really is beautiful.”
    “It’s here. It’s safe.” Damon turns to me, his face lit up with joy. I