Free High-Stakes Affair by Gail Barrett Page B

them, he exhaled and forced himself to breath. They’d escaped.
    For now.
    But even as he distanced them from the royal guards, he couldn’t outrun his doubts. No one had seen them at the river. No one had followed them to the coroner’s house. And yet the guards had surrounded the building and shot at them, as if they’d divined their plans.
    And he could no longer ignore the conclusion staring him point-blank in the face. The princess must have betrayed them—but how?
    He clenched his teeth, a hot blaze of fury scorching his gut. He knew one thing. As soon as they got to safety, he was going to find out.
    By the time they arrived at his estate, Dante was hanging on to his temper by the barest thread. He waited until Paloma entered the courtyard, then pushed his motorcycle inside, letting the door slam shut with a resounding thud. Not trusting himself to speak, he set the kickstand on the bike, stalked to the long bank of windows in the living room and glared out. Thunderclouds gathered in the morning sky, as black and forbidding as his mood.
    Paloma joined him at the window an instant later. His jaw like steel, he trained his gaze on her. The guilt in her eyes confirmed his suspicions, telling him everything he needed to know.
    “I called my brother,” she admitted, hugging her arms. “Just before we left. I told him you hadn’t kidnapped me and asked him to call off the guards.”
    He worked his jaw. “You told him where we were going?”
    “I…yes. But this couldn’t have been his fault.”
    She couldn’t be serious. “Just how the hell do you figure that?”
    Misery filled her eyes. “I don’t know. But he couldn’t have been responsible for this. Someone must have made a mistake.”
    Incredulity made his voice rise. “You’re defending him? After he nearly had us killed?”
    “I realize that’s how it looks.”
    “That’s how it is. ”
    “No, it’s not. That’s insane. My brother would never try to kill me!”
    “I hate to break it to you, Princess, but he just did.”
    Her jaw turning mulish, she shook her head. “Look, even if you believe he has it in him—and I certainly don’t—what would he have to gain? I’m rescuing him from that blackmailer. He wants me to find that evidence. He doesn’t have a reason to wish me harm.”
    “So how do you explain the guards?”
    “I don’t know. Maybe Tristan didn’t tell my father in time. Or maybe the guards acted alone. It’s possible,” she said when he hissed in disbelief. “Just last month our security chief attempted a coup.”
    Dante didn’t buy it. Not after his sister’s death. “You keep telling yourself that and you’ll be dead.”
    Her amber eyes flashed. She braced her hands on her hips. “What is it with you? Why can’t you believe me?”
    “Because those guards just tried to kill us. What else should I think?”
    She slowly shook her head. “It’s not just now. You’ve been this way from the start. It’s as if…as if you resent me. Despise me. What did I ever do to you?”
    He worked his jaw, struggling to corral the anger, but his tenuous hold on his temper slipped. “You really want to know?”
    “I said I did.”
    “Fine. Ever hear of the Mothers’ Massacre?”
    Her head reared back. “Of course.”
    “Well, my mother was one of the women your father killed.”
    Paloma blinked, her eyes registering shock.
    But he leaned even closer, not about to stop. “You remember how it happened, Princess? The king had outlawed demonstrations, but a bunch a mothers decided to defy the ban. They wanted to protest the price of bread. They were desperate. Starving. Hell, I could count my sister’s ribs. You lived in a castle, surrounded by luxury, while everyone in Reino Antiguo starved. And your goddamned guards shot them—a bunch of defenseless women. Your father gave the order to fire.”
    The color leached from her face. “That’s not what he said.”
    “I was there, Princess. I was hiding behind the fountain