Free Courted: Gowns & Crowns, Book 1 by Jennifer Chance

danger, and I apologize for that.”
    She was shaking her head, but he could see the beginning edge of distress settle over her as her gaze strayed again to the bank of TVs. He turned her toward his security detail, worry already knotting his gut.
    “Just go,” he said.

Chapter 5
    “You’re tougher than you look, babe.”
    “Like that would take much.” Em grimaced as she and Frannie made their way back through the streets of Garronia’s capital city. With the assistance of the GNS whatever group, they’d received new clothing, including the kingdom’s traditional brightly-colored scarves that effectively covered their hair and draped down over their shoulders.
    Told to walk hunched over and quickly once they reached the streets of the city, they’d been taken along a series of passageways that the guards had explained were cut into the very rock of Mount Nazar, where the royal residence was located. They’d ended up about a quarter mile away from the Visitors’ Palace, and once they’d made it into open territory, the guards had fallen back to a respectful distance. Deciding to play it safe, she and Fran had steered well clear of any TV monitors, at least until they’d made it to their hotel.
    There, an unusually large number of people—many of them with the kind of real cameras that marked them as professionals—milled around the airy open foyer. Frannie and Em hunched further, muttering into their makeshift disguises. They’d worked out what they would say if they were caught, but no one so much as looked at them.
    Em felt like she was walking through some kind of dream landscape. They were actually doing it—evading the paparazzi, paparazzi who were all here in this hotel because they wanted her picture. It was almost exciting if she ignored the roiling nausea in her gut.
    Fran squeezed her arm. “Hang in there, girlfriend. This honestly is going to be the best vacation story ever. Focus on that.” A cry went up outside of the hotel’s front entryway as they reached their elevator bank, and Em glanced that way, noting that the gawkers had caught sight of one of the guards.
    They’d discussed this in advance too, that having the guards enter the hotel would be a clear indication that Emmaline was on-site, so it was better to create a distraction outside, so she and Fran could more quickly return to their rooms. After all, they weren’t officially in any danger, just unduly popular for the moment.
    Worked for her. In front of them, the elevator door swished open, and she bolted for it.
    “Hold the doors, please?”
    Frannie’s startled laugh turned into a cough, and Em didn’t trust herself to speak, so they both crowded into the elevator, practically shrinking into themselves to keep quiet as Nicki and Lauren breezed into the elevator car. The door slid shut, and Frannie straightened first.
    “About time you guys got here.” As Nicki and Lauren jerked back in surprise, she pulled off her scarf then shook it out like a pillowcase.
    Nicki recovered first, her eyes bottle-cap round. “Oh God! That’s what you bought shopping? You were supposed to make her look hot, Fran, not like some sort of Greek grandma.”
    Em pulled her own scarf off as Frannie kept talking. “Did you not have your phones? Because we totally just caused an international incident.”
    Em winced. “Really, Fran?”
    “What are you talking about?” Lauren’s brows shot up. “You were photographed? Today at the beach? I thought something like that might happen, but then when no one said anything, I figured you made it out of there without being noticed. Then my phone ran out of juice.”
    “I shut mine off because I didn’t think roaming charges in the middle of the mountains would be such a hot idea,” Nicki put in. “And, oh my God, you would not believe how much fun we had!”
    “Seriously, what happened?” Lauren’s words carried over Nicki’s as they exited the elevator and turned left toward the room. “And