The Christmas Princess Read Online Free PDF Page B

extended a blue pen to her.
    She didn’t take her gaze from his as she also sat, then took the pen. She broke the look only to focus on the paper.
    She spread her hand to keep it in place while she wrote her name. The paper felt warm. From being inside his coat, next to him. Her heart slammed —
one, two, three
— before she signed quickly, and returned the pen.
    “Sharon — Ms. Johnson,” she amended when something streaked across his eyes, “said you’d be handling this, uh, situation. So what is this all about? How am I going to convince anyone I’m a princess?”
    “For operational security, you will only be told what you need to know. What I am authorized to tell you now is that we will begin instructing you in what you need to know immediately, while we attempt to arrange a meeting with King Jozef of Bariavak.”
    She pushed aside stomach-clenching thoughts at the second half of that sentence and focused on the first.
    She’d just signed up for princess school.

CHAPTER FIVE
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    Over the following days, April came to feel exactly like a fairy tale princess.
    Not the Disney kind, the Brothers Grimm kind.
    The kind locked up in a castle — or in this case, a one-bedroom suite in an exclusive hotel across Lafayette Park from the White House — who has to go through many trials in hopes of being set free.
    * * *
    That first day, Hunter drove her to pick up her belongings at the apartment building, then to an alleyway entrance to the hotel. One of the most famous hotels in Washington, both for its history and location.
    “I can carry—”
    “Just your handbag. The dog and luggage will come up later.”
    “But—”
    Before she got more out, he’d bundled her out of his anonymous dark car as if the sky were pelting rain instead of sparkling dry. He pushed open the back door into the hotel. She started forward — and walked directly into his back.
    Instead of holding the door open for her to go in first, he’d stepped in front of her. She backpedaled. But the instant she broke contact with him he reached back and gripped her arm, sliding his large hand up the inside of her upper arm and drawing her whole body close to his back.
    Warmth and a scent combining wood smoke and soap rushed around her. His body was as solid as the granite her thoughts had likened him to in the conference room yesterday. But granite couldn’t have moved the way he did to keep her plastered against him, going through the doorway and into a small hallway.
    When he released her she felt like a puppet who’d had its strings cut.
    He gave her no time to recover, hustling her along with his hand wrapped around her arm, into a service elevator, up several floors, out the elevator, down a hallway, and into a room.
    They’d moved so fast, she stopped inside the door catching her breath while he looked through the suite with efficient thoroughness. He clearly was checking for more than if there were enough towels in the bathroom.
    “Are you going to tell me more about—?”
    “I’ll be right back.”
    And he was gone, locking the door as he left.
    Without moving position, she looked around the suite. Her eyes took in the classic sofa and two easy chairs. A small dining table in the corner by windows that showed only bare tree branches from where she stood. An open door revealed a pristine bedroom and the elegant bathroom beyond.
    Her brain pounded with two thoughts: She should have asked more questions. What had she gotten herself in to?
    Before she could unstick herself from the spot or the thoughts, he was back with Rufus on a leash and a couple of the bags. He gave her a sharp look, apparently recognizing she hadn’t moved.
    “What were you looking—?”
    “I’ll be back shortly. Stay in the suite. Do not call or communicate in any other way with any of your friends or relatives. Do you understand?”
    “Yes, but—”
    He was gone again.
    Rufus rushed around her, wagging his plumy tail, until he had wrapped her ankles