Prince Charming Read Online Free PDF

little wretch!”
    Nobody made a fool of Rafael di Fiore and got away with it. He swatted bits of twigs and dried leaves off his clothes, noticed in disgust the dirt patches on the knees of his white breeches, then scuffled lightly down the embankment, the bone-dry earth crumbling softly under his no-longer-shiny shoes.
    “Your Highness, are you all right?” cried the two guards who had stayed behind to assist him.
    “I’m just perfect,” he spat, ignoring the fact that he had indeed lost his lordly temper. He stomped past them to the large white stallion from which one of the soldiers had dismounted. “I want them caught! Do you understand?” he said in crisp fury. “I want them jailed by morning and I don’t care if I have to do it myself! You!” he ordered the first man. “I’m taking your animal. Help the driver and follow us with the coach. That way.” He pointed up the road.
    “Y-yes, Your Highness,” the man stammered while the other swung up onto his mount and galloped off with Rafe to join the chase.
     
     
    “Let them go, I say!” Dani shouted, choking in the dust the soldiers’ horses had kicked up. “Get off my land!” She was nearly trampled by the stamping, rearing horses on her lawn as she pushed into the soldiers’ midst.
    One of the soldiers captured her around the waist before she could reach her friends. “Not so fast, little lady!”
    “What is the meaning of this?” she demanded, shoving him off.
    “Stay back, ma’am! These are dangerous men!”
    “Don’t be absurd! This is the village blacksmith and these are his brothers. Obviously, you’ve made a mistake!”
    “No mistake, ma’am. They’re highwaymen, and we caught ’em red-handed.”
    “That’s impossible!” she scoffed.
    A gray-eyed man approached her, frowning. By the insignia on his coat, she saw he was their captain from the Royal Guard—the toughest soldiers in the kingdom.
    God help us, she thought.
    “Do you know any reason they’d be riding here to your house, ma’am?” he asked suspiciously.
    “We have a shortcut through her field!” Mateo snarled at him.
    The captain glanced at him skeptically, then looked at her again. “And who might you be, miss?”
    She lifted her chin. “I am Lady Daniela Chiaramonte, granddaughter to the Duke of Chiaramonte, and you are trespassing on our land!”
    Some of the soldiers exchanged awed glances at the name, she noticed proudly.
    “Go inside and stay out of this, milady,” Mateo warned her through gritted teeth.
    “He’s right, ma’am. You’d best go back inside,” the gray-eyed captain said warily. “These are dangerous criminals, and I’m under orders from Prince Rafael himself to place these men under arrest.”
    “But surely not the boy as well!” she cried in distress, pointing at Gianni. She looked at the child and saw his chin trembling as he watched them arguing. He moved closer to Mateo’s side.
    The man glanced at the child, weighing the decision as Maria came down from the front door carrying a lantern. The small, stout housekeeper held up the lantern and faced the big men with a pugnacious look, slipping her arm around Dani’s waist in a seemingly comforting gesture, but one which Dani knew was intended to hold her back.
    The captain bowed to her. “Ma’am.”
    “What is going on here?” Maria demanded as Mateo, Rocco, and Alvi were manacled. “We don’t want any trouble with you!”
    Just then, a shout sounded from down the drive by the rusty gates. Dani looked over and saw that two more riders were joining them. Her stomach plummeted all the way down to her feet when she saw the broad-shouldered rider charging up the drive astride the huge white horse.
    She held her ground for the simple reason that she could not move a muscle.
    “Santa Maria,” the old woman breathed. “Is that who I think it is?”
    Prince Rafael eased his mount from a gallop to a vigorous canter, bouncing the horse to a masterful halt in a cloud of dust