Shea wasn’t surprised, but she wondered why Bryan had never told her that he did so much to contribute to the welfare of all of the citizens of his country. “He never told me.”
The prince shook his head. “He wouldn’t. Bryan has always considered it part of his duties as a royal living a life of privilege. He’s never seen anything he does as extraordinary.”
She followed the family into the great room. A fire was laid in the massive fireplace, and the colorful stones dotting almost every surface seemed to sparkle. “The beads and marble in here are incredible,” Shea marveled, turning her head in every direction only to see more colorful stones.
Reanna laughed. “They aren’t exactly stones. They’re gems. Rubies, emeralds, diamonds, sapphires, topaz, and every other precious and semi-precious gem you can think of. Rubare Collina has a rather over-abundance of them.”
“Oh, God. I’m walking on millions of dollars’ worth of gems?” Shea looked down at her feet, trying to keep herself from stepping on diamonds. It was impossible. The floor was littered with inlaid jewels.
“You’ll get used to it,” Reanna said in an amused voice as she patted the seat beside her on the couch. “Come tell me about your visit to the summer house.”
Shea gave up looking at her feet and sat next to Reanna, letting out a sigh of relief that she wasn’t stomping on any precious stones.
“Don’t worry. You’ll be fine with all of this eventually. Bryan’s residence is lovely. It’s grand, but not like the royal main residence here. This castle was made to impress, with the royal emblems plastered everywhere. Outside the castle, life isn’t that much different than it was in the U.S. except on special occasions. Xander is a lot like Bryan, and he loves mingling and talking to the citizens. Everything is usually a lot calmer. Once you and Bryan are married, everything will go back to normal.” Reanna hesitated before asking, “You are marrying him, right?”
Shea looked at Reanna, smiling at her weakly. “Yes. We’ve agreed it’s the safest and best way to protect Hayden.”
“Is that the only reason?” Reanna queried softly.
“No. I want to marry him,” she admitted to Reanna and to herself out loud. “He’s the most incredible man I’ve ever known.”
“Of course you’re talking about me,” a mischievous masculine voice pronounced over Shea’s head. “But really, we haven’t even been introduced. I am, however, very flattered.”
Her head jerked up to meet a pair of twinkling blue eyes set in a dark, handsome face. Shea smiled at the unknown man. She couldn’t seem to help herself. “Christopher, I presume?” He was a slightly younger version of Xander, and could only belong to the Demande family.
“Stop being Prince Charming, Christopher and properly introduce yourself,” Reanna demanded with very little rancor. In fact, she sounded amused.
“Very well,” Christopher said agreeably. He reached for Shea’s hand and bent elegantly over it. “Christopher Demande…at your service.” He grinned as he straightened. “I assume you’re the poor woman who’s marrying my brother.”
Shea was just wondering if she should stand when Christopher seated himself next to her on the other side of the couch. Dressed casually in slacks and a buttoned-down shirt, he relaxed against the back of the sofa, his manner casual but his eyes assessing her boldly. Despite his arrogant comment, Christopher’s observation wasn’t carnal or sexual. He was looking at her as though he were trying to figure her out, wanting to know what was inside her thoughts.
She turned her head and met his gaze. “Poor woman?”
Christopher shrugged. “My brothers might be rich, but living with them is hell. Hence, any woman getting married to them is to be pitied. I should know.”
“Don’t mind him,” Reanna said teasingly. “He’s just jealous that no decent woman will take him on. He’s already married to Dyholm and his mad scientist experiments.”
“Scientific discoveries that have made this family the richest on earth, if you please,” Christopher grumbled to Reanna. “Speaking of my brothers and Dyholm…where is everybody? I went by the mine on my way here and nobody is there. Is it a holiday of some kind that I don’t know about?”
Shea shook her head. “You must be mistaken. Bryan is there. He had a work emergency and was headed to the mine. There was a problem.”
“What kind of problem?” Chris asked gruffly, suddenly alert and completely serious.
“He didn’t say. The engineer wasn’t very informative and then he wasn’t answering Bryan’s calls. He had to go to the mine himself to check out the situation.” Shea’s heart accelerated, suddenly worried by the pensive look on Christopher’s face.
“The place is completely deserted. Something’s not right. All of the crew and managers shouldn’t be gone. And I didn’t see Bryan at all,” Christopher said curtly as he stood and strode over to Xander’s side.
Shea turned her head to give Reanna a puzzled look. “Is he right? Is something wrong?”
Reanna’s brows drew together as she looked at Shea. “It’s strange. The mine shouldn’t be deserted.”
“Oh, God. Bryan!” Shea gulped in a breath, trying not to panic. “We need to go. We need to find out if everything is okay. What if it’s the Arcano? What if it was a trap? Christopher said he didn’t see Bryan.”
Xander and Christopher stood across the room having a heated conversation. Shea could tell both men were debating what to do about the unusual situation at the mine.
Reanna clasped her hand, keeping her in her seat. “Xander or Christopher will go, and they’ll take backup. Xander will probably go since Chris doesn’t know about the Arcano yet. If this is something set up by the Arcano, we have another job to do, and we need to do it fast.”
“What do you mean?” Shea’s heart was hammering, her anxiety for Bryan’s safety out of control. “I have to do something, Reanna. He has to be okay.” Panic filled her senses and her eyes began to tear. She couldn’t bear to think of something happening to Bryan. Every moment was critical right now.
“We can do something,” Reanna said determinedly as she squeezed Shea’s fingers. “Are you ready to do whatever you have to do to get Bryan out of danger?”
“Yes,” Shea answered breathlessly with no hesitation.
“I have an idea.” Reanna jumped to her feet. “We don’t know right now if something really is happening at the mine or if it’s just a miscommunication. But if something is happening, we need to do something to pacify the Arcano.”
Shea stood and the two women looked each other in the eyes. She didn’t care what she needed to do. She’d do it. It didn’t matter if everything was a misunderstanding. She didn’t want to take even a small chance that Bryan could be in danger. “Tell me,” Shea insisted adamantly. “I’ll do anything.”
Reanna looked at her sharply and nodded. In that moment, the two women formed a bond that would never be broken; a cohesive, protective instinct to protect their family together, and the people they loved.
Chapter Ten
Bryan knew he’d been set up the moment he’d set eyes on his chief engineer’s face. He should have known something was wrong when he’d entered the site and every vehicle was gone except for Philip’s. His chief engineer’s brown truck was the solo vehicle sitting in the makeshift parking lot, which was devoid of any other vehicles. Usually, the place was humming with activity. Even after he’d seen the deserted lot, although his gut had been telling him something wasn’t right, he thought logically that Phillip had evacuated the site, so he’d brushed off his negative instincts.
He shouldn’t have. Not listening to his instincts was likely to be a fatal mistake.
His driver, Charles, had dropped Bryan off at his residence, from which he’d driven his heavy truck to the current mine site. The mining area was no place for a Rolls Royce, and he preferred to drive himself. It had given him time to fantasize about all of things he still wanted to teach Shea, the things he wanted to do to her and with her, and how h
e could make her love him.
Now, one of the things he regretted the most was the fact that he might never get the chance.
Bryan had only gotten a glimpse at Phillip’s maniacal face before he’d been slammed over the head with a piece of equipment large enough to make him lose consciousness. He was awake now, pissed off, and sporting a massive headache, his vision still blurry.
His back propped against a rock, he was trussed up in ropes from his shoulders to his waist, bindings that held him fast against the boulder.
Execution position.
All Phil had to do was swing the large machete that he was currently holding, slamming the blade through his neck and against the rock to take his head off. Bryan struggled against the bindings, trying to figure out a way to get himself loose.
“You should have married, Your Highness. You had warnings,” Phil spat out angrily, his face red with fury.
“I’m marrying Shea,” he told Phil calmly, still unable to reconcile the man standing before him as the same chief engineer he’d come to know and like over the last several years. A man he had trusted…until now.
“She hasn’t declared herself, and you didn’t heed the orders of the Arcano,” Phil answered in a surly, hostile voice.
“King Xander announced that she has declared herself.”
