Free Command Performance by Nora Roberts Page B

your father.”
    “It is at his request that you stay with us. The security at the hotel has, of course, been strengthened.”
    “Why?”
    “These are uneasy times.”
    There was a ripple of anxiety, but it was for him, not her, not her company. “So your sister said to me a few months ago. Your Highness, if you or your father feels there’s danger, I want to be with my people.”
    “I understand.” He set down his glass. “The hotel is very secure, Eve, and we don’t feel your troupe is in any danger. My father feels, and I agree, that you, because of your personal connection with our family, are another matter. We would prefer it if you’d stay in the palace if for no other reason than to avoid the reporters who will clog the hotel lobby for the next few weeks. Or you can simply accept the invitation because my father is fond of you.”
    “You put it so that if I do what I choose I’m ungracious.”
    “Yes.” He smiled again and picked up his glass.
    “Very well, I accept your invitation. And I’ll have some diet soda—something with caffeine. A lot of caffeine.”
    “You’re tired from the flight.”
    “From the flight,” she agreed as he added ice to a glass. “From the weeks before the flight. I think I’ve been averaging about five hours a night between preproduction meetings, auditions, dry rehearsing and paperwork. I didn’t realize all my people would have to go through the security clearances.” Absently she fiddled with the daisy. He watched her fingers stroke the white petals. “Then when I hired two more, we had to rush them through. I hope it’s worth it.” She sipped and waited for the caffeine to jolt her system back to life.
    “Do you doubt it?”
    “Only several times a day.” Her feet had eased out of the toes of her shoes without her being conscious of it. Her shoulders were relaxed. Heavy, her eyes drooped down to sensuous slits. “I am pleased with the new people. She’s an ingenue, straight out of college, with a lot of potential. I’m going to have her understudy the second lead in the Neil Simon play. And Russ Talbot’s a real pro. He’s done a lot of little theater and off-off-Broadway stuff. We’re lucky to have him. He’s cast as Brick for
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
. That’s going to be our first production.”
    She drank again and hoped she wasn’t making a mistake there. It was such a steamy play, such a passionate one. For weeks she’d toyed with doing a comedy first, to give both the audience and the troupe a running start. Instinct had her opting for Tennessee Williams as an opener.
    “I sent copies of all the scripts with the staging. I assume your assistant has read them all.”
    “They’ve been read,” he said simply. By him. There was no need for her to know now just how closely he intended to work with her. “They’ve been approved—tentatively.”
    “Tentatively.” That had been something that had had her back up for weeks. “I find it difficult to understand why you feel it necessary to have two alternates. From an artistic angle and a practical one, it’s going to be very difficult if we have to switch things around now. We open in three weeks.”
    “Time enough to replace one of your productions if we find it unsuitable.”
    “Unsuitable? Just who makes that kind of judgment? You?”
    He studied his mineral water and said nothing for a moment. There was no one, no one outside his immediate family, who would have dared use that tone with him. Deciding on patience, Alexander wondered if Americans were audacious as a rule, or if she were simply an exception.
    “In my capacity as president of the center, the final judgment would be mine.”
    “Swell.” She chugged down more soda. “Just swell. Prince or president, you don’t make my life easy. I selected these four because—”
    “I’ll listen to your reasons tomorrow. We have a meeting scheduled for—nine, I believe. You’ll meet Cornelius Manderson, who manages the center. My