In Pursuit of a Princess

“You’d best watch out for that one, ma’am,” her overprotective assistant had cautioned. “Especially since you refused to bring a full detail with us.”

“I’ll be perfectly fine,” Lara had replied. “I don’t want guards hovering around me day and night. Our smaller team is sufficient. I need some freedom for a change.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

But Lara knew that the guards were out there somewhere, watching in spite of her need to break free. She wasn’t so complacent as to think they had let her get away with her request so easily. She would always be a member of the royal family, even if her husband was no longer alive. She owned a mansion full of priceless artifacts and antiques, too. And that meant protection, since even now she had death threats and stalkers and all sorts of other worries to consider. Now was not the best time to have a photographer trailing her, but it couldn’t be helped. She needed publicity for her cause. She’d have to be very careful about what she revealed to him, however.

But this one—Gabriel—seemed capable of handling anything they might encounter together. The man had been embedded with American troops in the Middle East, had trailed drug lords and terrorists undercover through the jungle to get the real story. He seemed to be content and confident in his own skin, even if his eyes did hold a rim of sadness. Lara felt a strange sense of peace, the first real peace she’d felt since Theo’s death.

“This is really good,” Gabriel said now. “My compliments to the chef.”

“We have a good friend who is an accomplished chef,” Lara replied, happy that he approved of the cuisine. “Even though Deidre is an excellent cook, Herbert insists on cooking for me when I’m in town. He so enjoyed teaching Theo all about Creole and Cajun cooking and the difference between the two.”

“Spoken like a true Louisiana soul,” Gabriel replied. “Did your husband enjoy eating the local dishes?”

“Oh, yes. He was willing to try anything. Even alligator meat and frog legs—I’ve never managed to acquire a taste for either.”

The room went quiet as she remembered the good times she’d had with Theo. Finally, she glanced over at Gabriel and realized he’d put down his fork. “I’m so sorry. It’s just...I miss him.”

“I understand.” He pushed his plate away. “From everything I’ve seen and heard, he was a good man.”

“The best.” She blinked away her grief with a quick flutter of her lashes and a flash of regret in her expression. “Now, let’s move on, shall we? We have a lot to discuss. I’ll show you some of the other art pieces—some I own and others on loan for the reception we’ll hold here before the official show in the Quarter. As you know, I intend to be in New Orleans for at least three months. How long do you plan to...shadow me?”

He gave her a direct look. “I have the whole month.”

One month, weeks and weeks, with this nice-looking man. Lara had to wonder if they’d get along, or if they’d wind up getting on each other’s nerves.

“Don’t look so glum,” he said, as if reading her mind. “I don’t bite. I know my job and I know my place.”

She shook her head. “But I want you to feel comfortable. I want you to get the story right. You know, a lot of people think I’m just interfering, trying to get publicity or pity, anything you can think of. They can’t seem to grasp that I lived here for many years and I want to give back to the place I love.”

“I don’t care what other people think,” he replied. “I’m here to follow you and to capture that essence that makes the world so fascinated with you.”

“I’m not so sure I have an essence,” she retorted, embarrassed by the way he looked at her. “I do care or I wouldn’t be here.”

“I believe you.”

“Then let’s get started. I’ll have Deidre bring dessert and we’ll eat while we compare.”

For the next couple of hours they nibbled on their mini-fruit tarts and drank more coffee while they went over the details of the next week.

Finally, Lara glanced up and noticed the time. “It’s close to eleven. You must be exhausted.”

“No, I’m good.”

He gave her that look again, the one that made her blush. Was he one of those night owls who needed little sleep?

“But I imagine you’re tired.”

“I am rather fatigued,” she said, patting at her hair. She longed for a bubble bath and a good night’s sleep.

They both stood up and Lara was about to escort him to the door when Deidre walked in with a package. “Ma’am, I found this at the back door.”

“The back door? That’s odd. No one alerted us.” Lara took the square box and began to open it, thinking it might be the stationery she’d ordered from her favorite local paperie. “Do you mind if I check on this?” she asked Gabriel. “This might be the addressed invitations for the gala and silent auction we’re having at an old mansion in the Quarter. We had a typo in the first batch, so they were going to do a rush order to get them here in time.”

“Of course not.” He sat back and studied his notes.

Deidre watched as Lara tugged at the box. “I’ll put it away after you’re finished, ma’am.”

Lara pulled back the tissue paper and gasped, then backed against a chair, the box still in her hands.

Gabriel jumped up and grabbed the box. “That’s not invitations.”

Deidre peered over into the open package. “Oh, my. Oh, ma’am, I’m so sorry. I’ll take it away immediately.”

Lara nodded, put her hand to her throat. “Yes, please do.”

“No, don’t touch it.” Gabriel pushed Deidre away. “We need to alert security.”

“No. I don’t think—”

“Yes,” Gabriel said. “Just as a precaution.”

After Deidre turned away to pull out her phone, Lara regained some of her composure and stared up at Gabriel. “I think someone is trying to warn me away from New Orleans.”

He frowned, his gaze centered on her. “I think you might be right.”

She closed her eyes and thought about what she’d seen in that box. It was just superstition, nothing else. Or had the horror she’d feared started already? Had her tormentor already arrived in New Orleans?

Gabriel seemed to be as concerned as she was. He took her hand away, forcing her to open her eyes. “Who do you know that would send you a voodoo doll with a pin through the heart, Princess?”

TWO

“Really, this isn’t necessary.”

Gabriel glanced over at Lara Kincade, surprised that she had not wanted to call her security team or the police. He and Deidre had finally convinced her to call her head of security.

“But it is. You have to take these things seriously even if you think they’re pranks.” He studied the little satin-covered doll with the big blue eyes and the blond yarn hair. “A voodoo doll is a signal, prank or no prank.”

“I get this sort of ‘signal’ all the time,” she said, one arm wrapped around her waist, propping up the other arm she had lifted to her face. She stood just that way, her fingers curled against her chin, while she studied the red-satin-lined box with the odd-looking little figurine lying inside. “When I was young, I saw one of these in a store window down in the Quarter. I begged for it, but my mother refused to let me have it. She told me it wasn’t the kind of doll with which a little girl should play.”

“It’s not the kind of doll a grown woman should fool around with, either,” Gabriel replied, his English not nearly as proper as hers. But then, he’d practically grown up down in the Quarter. He’d learned street smarts long before he’d studied photography, and he’d learned how to read people long before he’d studied journalism. And something about the woman standing in front of him didn’t wash. She was too calm, too practiced. “You can’t take any chances.”

“They’re on the way,” Deidre said as she bustled around the room with a cell phone in her hand, her dark eyes wide with concern. “Ma’am, I’m so sorry.”

“Deidre, you did nothing wrong,” Lara replied, her eyes still on the package. “Stop apologizing and please stop pacing.”

Deidre skidded on the spot but looked anxious all the same. “I should have waited until we’d had the package checked by one of the guards. I know the protocol.”