Princess in Peril (16 page)

The men had their
instructions. There was no reason to speak.

Levi nodded, drew his sidearm and headed for the cover of several broad landscaping bushes that rimmed the corner of the house. From there he leaned against the cool brick and peeked around the corner.

Clear. He gave a nod to his men. Three men followed Joe toward the front of the house. Levi and a man named Greg ducked to avoid being seen through
the windows as they ran for the garage. The pattering of gently falling rain helped to
conceal the sound of their activity, though the soggy earth was less than ideal and would likely leave telltale footprints.

A voice came out of nowhere. “Do you hear something?”

There was nowhere to hide on the wide-open patio, so Levi sprinted forward, jumping on a guard as he came around the corner. The
man crumpled.

“Larry?” Bootsteps echoed on pavement.

Levi dragged Larry’s prone figure against the side of the house with a nod to Greg, who stepped up in time to knock the gun out of the air as it preceded its carrier around the corner of the house. Whatever he did next must not have worked so well because when Levi spun around, he saw them engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

The butt of his gun
ended their struggle. “Shh,” he reminded Greg, who helped him drag the second guard beside Larry. Part of their mission as Sanctuary officers was to do no harm, so they had no intention of killing men who, for all they knew, were innocent other than their choice to work for an unethical employer. But at the same time, they couldn’t risk the pair rousing and alerting Spiteri to their presence.

Greg had rope in a fat pouch pocket of his pants, and the two expertly restrained the guards.

Two down. How many more to go?

Levi peeked around the corner. No one coming. He nodded to Greg and they hurried along the wall, stopping to peer around the corner.

A guard stood blinking into an open bay of the garage. He appeared to be talking into an earpiece. “Larry, you’re supposed to check in every
fifteen minutes. You’re two minutes late. Don’t make me come back there.”

Levi recognized the wire that dangled from the guard’s ear—it matched those worn by the guards they’d tied up behind the house. He also saw another man sitting on a lawn chair nearby, an AK-47 balanced across his knees.

Rather than take on both of them, especially when he couldn’t see who or what might be hiding in the
open garage, Levi ducked back and whispered to Greg. “Two armed guards. One of them is coming around to check on Larry. We take him, then get the next guy when he comes to check on his friend.”

Greg nodded and took a couple of steps back.

The point of a gun made the corner first. Levi grabbed the hand that held it, smashing its knuckles against the side of the garage and pulling the gun from
the loosened grip before flipping the man over his back. He landed on the ground with a groan.

“Shh.” Greg shook his head as he knocked the man out with a kick from his boot.

But it was too late. Levi heard another set of boots pounding pavement.

“Vinni?”

Little as Levi wanted to tangle with the assault rifle, he had no choice. The gun came around the corner, and Levi twisted it sideways as
he pulled it from the guard’s hands. No sense letting the guy get off a shot. Nothing would give them away like gunfire.

“Hey!” The man yelled as he followed his gun around the corner. Levi planted the butt of the handle between his eyes. The man wavered and dropped.

Greg helped him tie them up. “We’re getting low on rope.”

With a nod, Levi ducked around the corner and peered into the garage.
After circling the SUV and several ATVs parked inside, he reported to Greg. “I found rope. And our guards who accompanied Isabelle, Ralph and Tony. It’s tied around them. Untie them and save the rope. We might need it.”

“Are you sure it’s safe to untie Ralph and Tony?” Greg asked, getting to work on the knots.

“If they were on Tyrone’s side, I don’t think they’d be tied up.”

Silenced by the
gags in their mouths, the men nonetheless nodded agreement with Levi’s words. Levi left them in Greg’s capable hands.

They’d wasted so much time on the guards. It had been hours since Isabelle’s message. Levi couldn’t wait any longer. He needed inside the house.

Isabelle balked as Tyrone wrapped thick rope around her ankles. He’d tried to tie her feet to the bedposts the last time they’d been
in this room, too. At least he’d let her keep her clothes on thus far, preserving her last shred of dignity. “You don’t need to tie me up.”

Tyrone only laughed. “Do you think I’m stupid?”

Rather than answer his question directly and risk angering him further, Isabelle kept her mouth shut. Samantha stood in the doorway with the gun pointed their way.

There was no way out. Isabelle blinked back
frightened tears as she looked around the room. As she recalled, the second-story windows opened over the paved patio out back. No good to jump from, even if Tyrone hadn’t just tightened the knot that held her right ankle to the bed. Thinking and praying hard, Isabelle tried to come up with a way to escape. Nothing.

She looked back at Samantha holding the gun. An instant later the gun flew from
Samantha’s grip and a hand covered her mouth, pulling her back.

Isabelle gave a tiny gasp.

“What?” Tyrone growled.

“You’re—you’re tying that awfully tight.” She spoke loudly to cover any sound that might come from whatever was happening in the hallway. “Don’t you think that’s awfully tight?” She kept talking. She
had
to keep talking. “You
don’t have to be mean about it, you know. You’ve already
threatened my sister in Milan and my brother in North Africa and my parents in the care of General Lucca.”

Isabelle wasn’t sure who was in the hallway, but anyone who cared enough to knock Samantha out couldn’t be all bad. There was no telling if she’d survive the next few minutes. But she could give whoever was out there information that would help them find her family.

“What’s wrong with you?”
Tyrone tightened the knot on her other ankle and leaned over her. “I thought you were a classy woman, but now you’re screaming like a little girl.”

Isabelle couldn’t see more than an instant’s glimpse of the figure who crept into the room on Tyrone’s right side, and she wasn’t about to give away the person’s presence by trying to get a better look. When she’d fought off Tyrone the last time she’d
been in this room, she’d injured his right eye, and he’d gone almost blind on that side.

Whoever was sneaking up on him across the thickly carpeted floor was either aware of the weakness or very, very lucky.

“Tyrone,” she tried to think of something she could say to keep his attention, but her mind was nearly frozen with fear. “I think there’s something you need to know.”

“What could be so
important that you have to tell me right now? I think you’re just stalling.”

“No, this is really important.” She focused on keeping her eyes on his, on not looking in the direction from which she’d seen the figure approaching, but what was taking him so long? Had she only imagined someone had come to rescue her? “I think you ought to know that the Lydian laws of succession demand that an heir
be a person of faith.”

“Faith? That is nonsense. What is your point?”

“Just that if you’re going to reign as regent over our child,
you’ll have to make full confession of your sins, and then everyone would know—”

“That is no problem. I will lie.”

He’d hardly spoken the words when he fell with a shudder almost on top of her, and then strong hands pulled him back into a heap on the floor.

Levi!

“What took you so long?” Isabelle whispered as she pulled at the knots that tied her ankles to the bed.

“Shh.” Levi pulled out a pocketknife and cut the cords. She clambered from the tall bed with his help and briefly landed against him before stepping over Tyrone’s prone figure.

Hurrying to the hall, Isabelle saw a furious-looking Samantha bound and gagged with a guard standing over her.

“Make sure Spiteri doesn’t leave,” Levi told the guard as he led Isabelle toward the stairs.

They were halfway through the dining room en route to the back kitchen door when the front doors burst open.

“We’re under attack!” a uniformed man yelled as he rushed into the foyer.

“I’ll get him,” the Sanctuary guard waved Levi on as he leapt over the stair rails onto the yelling man.

“Hurry.” Levi
darted around the dining room table. “Do you know how many men are guarding this place?”

“He always used to have a dozen or so,” Isabelle recalled as she scrambled after Levi.

The words were no more than out of her mouth when she heard a ferocious shout echoing through the foyer. Glancing back, she saw the man who’d been guarding Samantha struggling with the uniformed man who’d burst through
the front door. And coming down the stairs in a rage, Tyrone Spiteri.

L
evi pulled Isabelle through the back kitchen door at a run. Greg stood talking to Ralph and Tony as he coiled the rope into a neat ball.

“Spiteri is behind us! Hold him off! Get the ‘copter! Do something!” Levi shouted as he sprinted past the men, never letting go of Isabelle’s hand.

The helicopter was almost a mile away at the stable. They’d never outrun Spiteri on foot.

“Where are
we going?” Isabelle asked as he pulled her toward the woods.

“I have horses up ahead.”

He could hear shouting behind him but wouldn’t risk looking back. The ground was rugged, the trees unevenly spaced, and one false move could cost them everything. Dark clouds had moved in, bringing with them more rain, and this time, wind and the rumble of thunder.

The horses whinnied a greeting, and the
chestnut gelding Levi had ridden earlier pawed the ground eagerly.

For a moment, Levi considered letting Isabelle ride one of the other horses. But he quickly realized that would leave one of his men without a mount. And the slender princess would hardly slow his horse down.

Besides, she already had her shoe through the stirrup and
was pulling one jeans-clad leg over. It was all Levi could do
to untie the horse and climb on behind her.

“Hah, boy,” Isabelle urged the horse on its way, leaning close to the animal’s mane.

The high whine of a motor caught Levi’s attention, and he looked back in time to see three ATVs peeling out from around the garage. Spiteri rode the one at the head.

“Which way?”

“We’ve got a helicopter at the riding stables.”

Isabelle gave a nod and ducked lower
and the horse stretched out. In spite of the trees, the wind and the rain, the animal seemed to have no qualms about running at a full gallop. Well, this was his home turf. And Levi suspected the rumbling thunder may have spooked the animal, sending him running for the safety of his stable.

Fortunately, though the trees tended to be fairly spread out, they grew in such random spots that the wider
ATVs had to swerve wide here and there. That, Levi realized, seemed to be their only advantage.

“Hi-yah!” The cry from behind had Levi turning his head again, and this time he spotted his men on horseback. Three came after the ATVs. He could just see the other two headed toward the open yard and the straightest route to the stables.

Levi felt a burst of hope. If the pilot could reach the helicopter,
they would at least have a chance of taking off the moment they reached it. And even a split-second advantage might be all they’d get.

A sudden loud crack sent bits of bark exploding from the nearest tree. At first Levi wasn’t sure if it was gunfire or lightning, but a second shot rattled through the leaves near his head, confirming the worst. Spiteri and his men were shooting at them.

Levi
reached around Isabelle and pulled the reins to the left, taking them wide around the next tree.

“What are you—” Isabelle began, but as bullet holes appeared in the tree trunk, she quieted her protests. “They’re shooting at us?”

“We need to be evasive.” Levi pulled the horse to the right. “They won’t be too accurate, between the rain and the trees and the fact that they’re moving, but it only
takes one lucky shot.”

“One unlucky shot,” Isabelle corrected him, pulling the horse farther to the right.

“Not too far that way. There’s a gorge.” He warned her.

“I know. But a gorge is better for us than for them. The sides are shallow in a few places. We might be able to make it across. Those ATVs aren’t so nimble.”

Levi glanced behind them. One of his men had leapt from his horse and was
wrestling with a guard on an ATV. Isabelle’s plan sounded dangerous, but the other two ATVs were gaining on them. They had little choice.

“All right. Ease closer to the gorge, but be careful. It’s difficult to see in this rain.”

Lightning shot through the sky somewhere ahead of them as Isabelle guided the horse farther to the right, and the accompanying clap of thunder sent their already-spooked
horse rearing back.

From his precarious perch on the back of the saddle, without even so much as a toe through the stirrups, Levi had little else to hold on to but Isabelle as the chestnut gelding pawed the air in terror. Levi wasn’t about to risk pulling Isabelle from the horse.

He grabbed for the saddle as he fell backward but found nothing but open air. His back slammed against the wet earth.

“Levi!” Isabelle screamed as the frightened horse shot forward again.

Leaping to his feet, Levi started to run after the horse, but
he could hear the ATVs roaring forward just behind him. He ducked behind a tree and tried to catch his breath.

Seconds later an ATV skidded to a stop. Levi glanced around, hoping to spot some means of escape. There. The gorge was just beyond him.

Darting out from
the cover of the tree, Levi ran for the rim of the gorge. Maybe, if he could make it down the bank—

Shots rattled the leaves near his head as he ran. But this time, instead of the engine of the ATV, Levi heard cursing as Spiteri ran after him.

The ground was slick, and rotting leaves clung to his shoes. The edge of the gorge was close, but he quickly saw it was steep at this point, the drop
off was sharp and the bottom was out of sight far below.

Suddenly his foot went out from under him and he slid in the wet mud, skidding toward the edge of the ravine. He scrambled to catch hold of something, hoping to avoid a fall from this potentially deadly height, but everything was mud and loose leaves that crumbled to mush as he grabbed at them.

His feet cleared the edge of the gorge.

“Ah-hah!” Spiteri pounced on his chest, slamming the breath from his lungs before hauling him to his feet.

Levi flung himself away from the rim of the cliff, pulling Spiteri down into the mud with him. Tyrone was fumbling with something—his gun. He was attempting to reload the pistol.

With a quick kick, Levi sent the gun flinging out over the gorge. It rattled against the rocks as it fell.

“You idiot!” Spiteri lunged at him.

His hands full of mud and rotting leaves already, Levi shoved the muck toward Spiteri’s face, smearing his eyes, which he already knew were the man’s weak point.

“Augh!” Spiteri cried, swiping the muck from his face.

Taking advantage of the distraction he’d caused, Levi scrambled through the mud away from the ravine. Through the woods he could see Isabelle
guiding the horse back toward him.

“No! Turn back!” He shouted at her. She had to get away. Spiteri was still dangerous.

Glancing back at his enemy, he saw Spiteri pull a gun from a holster near his ankle.

Isabelle was in range!

Levi jumped on Spiteri, grabbing the wrist that held the gun and pushing him back against the tree. He knocked the gun against the rough bark with all his might, but
the man’s stubborn grip on the gun would not be broken.

Spiteri pulled his knee up into Levi’s stomach.

His abs contracted, but he didn’t let go of the man’s hands. He didn’t dare.

“Levi!” Isabelle screamed as the horse drew near.

“Stay back! Get to safety!” he tried to yell at her, but a rumble of thunder cut him off.

As Isabelle and the horse pulled closer, Spiteri got his finger on the
trigger and the gun went off, a wild shot into the stormy sky.

The horse reared back, pawing at the air.

Realizing the danger as the hoofs flashed near his face, Levi flung himself to the side, away from the massive striking hoofs.

With a horrible crunching sound, one hoof caught Spiteri in the chest.

The man’s face blanched, his ribs likely broken. Then Spiteri twisted himself out from between
the tree and the crushing hoof.

He spun back toward the cliff, and for a few seconds wavered between standing and falling. The horse reared again.

Spiteri leaned back, away from the pawing hooves and fell over the edge.

Levi launched himself toward the horse. Isabelle had lost hold of the reins and clung to the animal’s mane. They were too close to the edge on the slippery soil. Far too close.

Grasping through the air, Levi’s fingers found the reins and he pulled the animal back, patting its neck, murmuring soothing sounds to calm the frantic gelding. To his relief, the horse consented to his urging and moved toward safety.

Isabelle slid from the saddle and Levi pulled her into his arms just as the sound of an approaching ATV neared them. Levi turned to block the princess from the
oncoming vehicle, but then he recognized Greg piloting the machine.

“Spiteri’s men have all been subdued,” Greg informed him.

“Excellent. Call Joe—I think he was headed back toward the stables. See if he can get the chopper in here and bring that officer to make the arrest. Spiteri fell down the gorge.”

Greg clambered off the ATV and looked over the edge. “He’s not moving,” he reported.

Relieved,
Levi turned his attention to the woman in his arms. Isabelle had buried her face against his shoulder and held him tight.

“Your Majesty?” Levi smoothed back her hair, which had flown wild in the rain and now clung to her cheeks. “Are you all right?”

“I’m all right now.”

“Why did you turn back? You could have reached the helicopter by now. You could be safe.”

“I couldn’t leave you.”

“Yes,
you could. It’s your royal duty—”

“It’s my royal duty to protect my people,” Isabelle interrupted him. “And I finally figured out how best to do that.”

“By running away from help?” he chided her.

“No.” Her arms tightened around him, and the press of her warm body against him was more than he could ignore. “By running to you. Spiteri wanted me to marry him to produce an heir. I finally realized
the one way I can stop him or anyone else who might try to enact the same plan.”

Levi’s heart thundered along with the rumbling in the sky nearby. “How’s that?”

Her winsome smile as she looked up at him nearly brought him to his knees. “By getting married to someone else first.”

The breath left his throat. What did she mean? “You can’t—” He shook his head as she nuzzled closer. “Marriage is
a serious thing, a covenant between a couple and God. You can’t get married just to stop evil from getting the upper hand. It doesn’t work that way.”

“What if I get married because I’m in love?”

He could feel the blush on her cheeks stealing its way to his. “You—you don’t mean—”

She rose up on her tiptoes to kiss him.

It was as wonderful as the kiss they’d shared at the airport. More wonderful,
actually.

She pulled away too soon. “I thought so,” she whispered.

The gift of speech had left him. “Hmm?”

“You love me, too.”

Something wild and strong rose up in his chest. “I have always loved you, Isabelle, and more so every moment I’m with you. But you’re a princess.”

The corners of her eyes pinched with sadness. “I suppose you’ve got to stay in this hemisphere?”

A roar above the treetops
caught his attention as the helicopter hovered low over the gorge.

“There he is!” Greg shouted, as Joe leaned out the door of the helicopter, the state police officer just visible beyond his elbow. Greg gestured to where Spiteri had fallen. “He hasn’t moved.”

“Joe!” Levi shouted to his brother.

Joe waved back.

“How would you like to be the president of Sanctuary when Dad retires?”

Joe looked
dumbstruck for a moment. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted,” he shouted back. “But you’re the oldest.”

“I’ve had an offer I can’t refuse.”

Isabelle giggled and pulled him close.

With a wave, Joe lowered himself down to retrieve Spiteri.

“So, does that mean you’re willing to go along with my plan?” the princess asked.

“You’ve patiently gone along with all my plans, so I suppose it’s only fair.” He
leaned down and kissed her again, until the impatient stomping of the horse reminded him that they were standing outside in the rain, and it would soon be dark.

“We should get you out of the rain.” He reached for the horse’s reins.

Isabelle held back. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

His mind muddled with emotion, Levi wasn’t sure what she meant.

She gave him a patient smile. “The media
will want to know what’s up. I need something official to tell them.”

“Since when do you care what the media want?”

Her only response was an expectant smile.

“Are you sure?” He took a step closer and wrapped one arm around her waist. “So much has happened so quickly. It was only a few days ago you were irritated with me and tried to have me removed from my post as your bodyguard.”

“I was irritated
because I thought you were cute, and I was sure you were up to something.” She brushed a light kiss across his cheek then whispered in his ear, “And I was right. Besides—” she batted her eyes as she looked up at him “—it might be useful having an international law expert in
the family. I’m overdue for a mission trip to Africa. Maybe you can pull some strings for me.”

“Africa might have to wait
until we’ve found the rest of your family. But then, yes, I think we might make a very good team.”

“We already do make a good team.” Isabelle looked past him, and Levi turned in time to see Spiteri being raised into the helicopter. It didn’t appear as though they’d even tried to make the man comfortable. The older officer clapped the cuffs on him.

A satisfied smile passed over Isabelle’s face.

Levi took hold of both her hands before dropping down on one knee.

“Are you all right?” Isabelle gasped.

“Never been better.” He smiled up at her. “Princess Isabelle … “ He kissed her hand. “Your Highness, would you do me the honor of being my wife?”

Isabelle dropped down onto her knees in the mud beside him. “Yes, yes, yes!” she squealed, covering him with kisses.

“Wait,” he protested, trying
to help her to her feet while kissing her. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to go.”

“Isn’t it?” she giggled as they fell back onto the sodden leaves.