Romancing the Crown: Nina & Dominic: A Royal Murder

The place was on fire!

In full-blown panic now, she scrambled to her feet and out of the tub. She grabbed the door handle, then stopped herself and flattened her palm against the door. Hot! She didn’t dare open it. The fire roared and crackled audibly on the other side.

Hurriedly climbing up on the commode, Nina raked the curtains aside and shoved open the tiny window. No way could she fit through it, she thought, but she had to try.

Shoving her head, one shoulder and arm through the opening, she screamed for all she was worth. When she grew hoarse, she stopped and began wriggling, gaining only an inch now and then in her struggle to break free. Frustrated and panicked, she screamed again.

This time a siren screamed back. She glanced to her left. Glass and flames had burst outward through the front window of the living room.

People were running toward the guesthouse through the gardens, two men dashing toward her. McDonough shouted, but she couldn’t distinguish his words.

“Help!” she cried. “Over here! I’m stuck!”

Together, Ryan and the other man dragged over a wrought-iron bench, climbed up and began hammering at the top part of the window that had her trapped, breaking the panes and mullions until the entire thing gave way. They roughly shifted her sideways so that her hips fit through the opening and finally yanked her free. The three of them tumbled into the bushes below, landing in a heap.

She’d no sooner hit the ground than McDonough had her in his arms and was running away from the building. Oddly, she thought of the purse and the earring inside it. Grasping at the shoulder bag, she clutched it to her and sighed with relief. It was still on her shoulder. She hadn’t lost her clue.

If it was a clue.

Chapter 4

Ryan dumped her unceremoniously into the back seat of a waiting car. “Are you hurt?” he growled, grasping her hands and bringing them to his face. He took a deep breath in each of her palms, then released her. A strange thing to do, she thought, looking down at them, flexing her fingers.

“Um, no, I don’t think,” she replied, sounding rough, either from the smoke or the screams. Her hips were banged up and her throat felt raw. She glanced down and saw a cut on her lower leg from the broken glass. It stung a bit, but she was out of that firetrap and that was all that mattered to her at the moment.

“Good God, you’re bleeding,” he muttered, running his hand beneath her calf. Without warning, he slid both his hands up under her skirt and tugged down her ripped panty hose. She had no thought to object, as she watched him discard them and straighten her clothes.

“Medic! Over here!” he called, his voice deep and carrying on the night air above the racket around them. Then he spoke softly to her. “Listen to me, Nina. Did you see anyone inside the house?”

“No,” she rasped. “Whoever set the fire was there, but I didn’t see them.”

“You didn’t start it,” he said. It wasn’t a question.

“Of course not!”

A man in white came loping over. “Her leg,” McDonough said, holding it to examine it himself now that it was bare. “Superficial cut, but it needs cleaning.” He allowed the medic to look. “Let’s get her over there.”

He helped her out of the car and picked her up again, carrying her to the small white emergency vehicle that had pulled up several car lengths away in the middle of a flower bed. He set her inside the double doors in back. “Get in there and stay in there, you hear me? I’ll be back in a minute.”

Nina nodded and crawled up on the cot. She was exhausted. And scared. But no one would dare try to hurt her in front of so many people. Would they?

In the confusion, anyone could approach. The EMT started to climb in. If he closed those doors, she would be alone with a stranger. God, anyone could steal a white coat!

She scrambled out before he could stop her and began running. “McDonough! Ryan!” she yelled. Her voice wouldn’t cooperate, emerging at little more than a ragged whisper. Oh, God, oh, God, where had he gone? “Ryan!”

Strong arms closed around her from behind and she began to struggle, determined to get away.

“Nina! Calm down. It’s me. You’re okay now,” he said, his tone sounding angry, yet with the only power available to relieve her mind. He turned her around, grasping her shoulders. “Look at me.”

Nina flung her arms around his neck and held on. “Don’t leave,” she gasped.

He lifted her again, holding her close, his jacket rough against her cheek, his face pressing hard against her hair.

“I’ve got you. I’m here, Nina. Settle down now. We’ll go back to the ambulance and I promise I’ll stay with you. Okay? You’ll be fine. Safe.”

She nodded, sniffling, as she burrowed as close to him as she could get. There was no one else in this entire country she could trust at the moment. “Thank God you were here!” Then a thought occurred. “Why were you here? How did you get here so quickly?”

“Followed you, you little nitwit. I just gave you too much slack in the leash.”

“Leash?” she demanded, suddenly incensed. “What am I, a puppy?”

“Don’t start with me, all right? I was minutes behind you, but you faked me out. From what you told the guard, I thought you’d gone into the palace to ask questions. By the time I found out you weren’t there, the fire alarm sounded. Now hush. We’ll discuss that later. Count on it.”

“Okay,” she murmured, grasping him tighter as another stranger approached.

“Take it easy,” he said soothingly. “It’s Dr. Chiara. He’s the palace physician.”

Ryan placed her back inside the ambulance and left her there with the doors open while he spoke with the doctor. Nina gave up trying to hear what they were saying. The noise outside obliterated everything else. She did keep her eye on him, however, to make certain he stayed near.

The doctor checked her out, administered oxygen and gave her an injection.

“I should send you to the hospital overnight,” he told her.

“No!” she argued. “I just want to go back to my apartment.”

Dr. Chiara addressed Ryan. “She should be fine, but watch her. If she shows any sign of respiratory distress, get her over to Augustus on the double.” He patted her arm.

“I will, Nick. Thanks,” Ryan said.

After the doctor had bandaged the cut on her leg, Ryan carried her back to the car he had taken her to after the rescue. This time he put her in front and went around to the driver’s side.

“I wish you’d agree to go to the hospital,” he grumbled.

“Not a chance.”

“Stubborn.”

Though he was obviously angry with her, he still hadn’t upbraided her the way she’d expected, nor had he threatened her with any reprisals. But she knew he wasn’t through with her. Not by a long shot.

As soon as he fastened his seat belt and checked hers, he sat there, silently pinning her with a gaze so intense, she felt interrogated already. Tired. Wrung out. Incredibly sleepy. “What in the world was in that shot?”

“Antibiotic,” he snapped, then abruptly launched into another tirade. “You had no business being in that guesthouse. You nearly got yourself killed.”

“I wanted to see for myself,” she muttered, “because… because Desmond lived and died there. I promise you I didn’t strike any matches.”

He said nothing, and Nina felt obliged to fill the silence.

“I swear I didn’t,” she insisted, her words slurring. “I only wanted to be in there by myself, see if I could feel what he felt, what he was like. Only… only there was nothing there of him.” Tears leaked down her cheeks and she swiped at them angrily. “And then…”