Free The Surprise Princess by Patricia McLinn Page B

Katie,” said Hunter Pierce of the State Department’s Security Service. “It’s good to see you again.”
    Hunter Pierce. April Gareaux. …
Oh, God
.
    She turned away, half stumbled, found Brad’s arms around her. “Katie. Listen, please—” She tried to escape from his hold, and almost went down completely.
    “Sit here,” Bette said, a hand on her shoulder as she guided Katie to an easy chair. Other voices were saying things, lots of things, all trying to sound reassuring, soothing, persuasive, she was sure. It took several moments for the sounds to begin to sort out to words spoken by individuals.
    “We just want to talk to you,” Grady Roberts said.
    “That’s not entirely true.”
    Katie’s head came up at those words, and she met Leslie Roberts’ gaze. “We don’t just want to talk to you. We want you to listen. And afterward, we want you to agree with us that you should meet King Jozef.”
    Katie was aware of someone – she thought it was Tris Dickinson – muttering, “Way to ease into it.”
    But she appreciated Leslie Robert’s honesty. It gave her an anchor. “No. I told him—
Him
.” She specified Hunter Pierce. “I’m not the right person.”“Katie.” Brad was there, crouched in front of her. “This isn’t going to go away. And—”
    “C.J. and Carolyn?”
    “It’s my doing. If you’re pissed at somebody, be pissed at me.”
    “But they know. That’s why they pushed this trip. That’s why … this whole weekend.”
    He was going to lie. She saw that. And then he didn’t. “Yes. They know.” He took both her hands in his and she was so numb she couldn’t feel it. “Katie, you have to deal with this. One way or the other, it isn’t going away. Face it and—”
    “I don’t—”
    “We want you to meet King Jozef tonight.”
    Katie’s head jerked up to April Gareaux, standing behind where Brad crouched beside her chair.
    Brad’s voice pulled her back. “I told you all no, not unless Katie agrees. You’re not going to spring a king on her.”
    Spring a king
. She almost laughed. Was that a sign of hysteria?
    “And we agreed he would not be here,” Hunter said. “To start.”
    April was directly in front of her now. It was almost like looking in a mirror. Except a mirror that knew how to do things with makeup and hair that were far beyond her.
    “Katie, will you talk with me alone for a while? You won’t feel as pressured, as you must now with so many of us and just you and Brad. If it’s only you and me, then it’s even, right? We’ll leave the rest of them here and go into Paul’s office and we can—”
    “Not Paul’s office,” Bette said firmly. “You’ll both have nightmares. Use mine.”
    There was a sputter of knowing laughter from several directions that broke the tension.
    Katie glanced toward Brad. His blue eyes were intense and focused on her. None of the laughter had come from him. How odd. He’d been the one to spring this on her …
spring a king
… so she should feel betrayed. Yet his presence, his look gave her the security to say, “Okay.”
    ****
    In the office, they simultaneously slewed around on the love seat to face each other. It made her think of mirrors again. Only the mirror didn’t play by the rules, because it arbitrarily changed just enough that it wasn’t like looking in a mirror.
    April’s mouth quirked. “Weird, isn’t it?”
    Katie wondered if she and April sounded as much alike as they looked alike. They said you didn’t know the sound of your own voice. She’d have to record her voice, listen to it, then listen to April’s – oh, God, why was she focusing on this?
    “Very. But you’re so much prettier—”
    The other woman snorted. “I am not. You have much better features than I do.” She tipped her head. “I learned a lot about clothes and hair and makeup after Hunter asked me to…”
    The way April said his name, Katie knew that was some of the difference between them. The other woman loved and