A Prince's Ransom: Kidnapped by the Billionaire Read Online Free PDF Page B

just… couldn’t they have gone to France, instead? Where there weren’t stuck up princes who would do the things a certain prince had already done?
    She raked her free hand through her hair as they approached the next exhibit. The tour guide’s accent was a lot thicker than the guide’s at the palace had been, so she didn’t understand much; something about artifacts recovered during a war in which they’d aided France. He also sounded very bored while having to explain this to a bunch of American college students. Well, he wasn’t the only one who was bored, that much was for certain.
    Katherine turned away to inspect an intricate vase in one of the glass displays nearby; it looked pretty old, chipped and worn in a few places, but the delicate paintings of flowers and gold filigree were lovely . She wrinkled her nose at the plaque on the display, though, struggling to read it in French.
    She turned away and meandered further away from the group, examining the things everyone else had been crowded around and she had been too short to see herself. Glancing around her for a moment, she reached out and delicately ran her fingers across the elegant carving on top of what was either a jewelry box or a music box. It seemed odd to her that there was no glass ceiling to this display…
    Even as she thought the words, there was a sudden siren blaring overhead and she jerked back her arm in alarm. Oh shit, she’d just tripped something because she had touched the damn thing. The rest of her group covered their ears, and the tour guide tried to shove his way through to see what was going on. He’d switched entirely to French, though, so pretty much no one in the group understood him.
    Katherine gulped, and then quickly scurried away from the display and down one of the nearby halls. She hadn’t actually done anything wrong, but she was not about to stick around and get in trouble in front of everyone. There had to be a restroom around here somewhere that she could hide out in for a few minutes. She would worry about finding the rest of her group after.
    She hurried to follow the signs to the restrooms, wincing as a little bit of her coffee sloshed onto her hand. Her breath was quick when she ducked into the ladies’ room, glancing for a moment back out into the museum. It didn’t seem like anyone was following her… that was a very good thing. She would have expected Tara to notice at the very least, but the siren had probably startled them all too much.
    Taking a deep, relaxing breath, Katherine retreated properly into the restroom, looking around; no one was in here—also a good thing—and after a few more seconds, the alarm finally stopped blaring. If that had been her fault, then they would see that nothing had been taken and she wouldn’t be in any real trouble.
    Seriously, if they didn’t want people touching it, they should put a lid on the display , she told herself weakly. And maybe a sign . She didn’t think she’d seen a sign.
    Standing there for a moment, her bladder gave a little tug of need and she decided that it was actually fairly good timing. She’d had too much coffee. Setting her cup by one of the sinks, she headed to the stall at the very end, aware that the door to the restroom opened as she locked the stall door. Grabbing the top of her capris, she undid them and lowered herself onto the toilet seat, shutting her eyes and rubbing her temples. She was too tired for this shit. She wanted to go back to the hotel and collapse. Maybe she would tell Dr. Walker that she wasn’t feeling well. It was better than wandering around a museum with a tour guide she couldn’t even understand.
    Without opening her eyes, Katherine’s brow furrowed. She had heard footsteps come in, but she hadn’t paid attention to them until she realized she hadn’t heard one of the other stalls close or the sink turn on. Maybe Tara had followed her? She opened her hazel eyes and tilted her head to see if she could see