The Princess Problem
by Christi Barth
Copyright © 2019 by Christi Barth. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.
Chapter One
In the glorious days of the Renaissance, ink on your fingers marked you as a thinker, a dreamer, an artist. But in modern day Manhattan? It just made Kelsey Wishner feel like a criminal.
“Shouldn’t this stuff be gone by now? I got fingerprinted almost two days ago,” she said, scrubbing her hand against her black yoga pants. A.k.a. her lounge-work-everything pants. Because one of the best perks of working from home was never having to dress up.
Unlike her more practical sister Mallory, who’d gotten her stilettos stuck in grates and broken them off three times in the three days they’d lived here. At this rate, she’d be shoeless before Memorial Day.
Mallory rolled her eyes. “It’s your own fault, hashtag overachiever.”
True. Safety-first NYC fingerprinted its teachers, and Kelsey had insisted on applying for that second job teaching part-time.
“Manhattan’s expensive,” she shot back. Moving to the Empire State wasn’t scary. Affording it was. As Mallory well knew, since she ran their budget. “Our meal plan is currently ramen noodles, oatmeal, and bananas until we nail down how much taxis and the subway will cost per month. I refuse to let us be those sad-sack transplants that New York chews up and spits out in a matter of months.”
“Yeah our budget is tight, but you need to wear the fact that we’re here like a badge of honor.” Mallory grabbed her hand and raised it triumphantly. “We finally made it. We’re official residents of the most exciting city in the world. Just think—we can now get anything and everything delivered to our door, twenty-four-seven.”
That was definitely a perk. Kelsey tapped the stack of flyers already accumulating on the kitchen counter. “Let’s order a pizza at three a.m.”
Mallory laughed, her auburn ponytail bobbing. “I said wear this like a badge of honor, not go crazy. I’m not going to be awake then, let alone hungry.”
Practicality was so not the order of the day. “Call it an early breakfast. You love cold pizza. We’ll set our alarms. It’ll be fun. A pinching-ourselves, made-it-to-Manhattan moment.”
“Didn’t we take the ferry out to the Statue of Liberty today for that?”
Kelsey sniffed. “It’s a big city. We deserve more than one moment.”
“Didn’t we have another moment yesterday when you got me up pre-dawn to be at Rockefeller Center for the Today show?”
Her hands tightened on the next plate, popping a whole bunch of rows on the bubble wrap. Okay. They’d been cleaning and unpacking for hours. It was clear her sister needed a break. Kelsey ought to give Mallory a pass.
She didn’t want to wait, though. She didn’t want to miss a moment of watching the excitement unfold around her. Half the fun of a 3 a.m. pizza would be looking out the window to see who else was up, what sort of activity was out on the street.
Luckily, a knock on the door prevented—or at least postponed—Kelsey’s argument. “I’ll get it.”
“Leave the chain on,” Mallory said.
Fair enough. They’d lived in a tiny Michigan college town their whole lives. Their street sense hadn’t kicked in yet, let alone been honed. Caution was good.
Boring…but good.
Standing behind the door, Kelsey angled her neck to peer through the two-inch crack afforded by the chain, and promptly threw caution to the wind. In fact, she couldn’t slam the door fast enough, undo the chain, and wildly beckon to Mallory as she swung it back open.
Because in the hallway was a cluster of hot men. Two of NYPD’s uniformed finest, biceps bulging against the short sleeves. Behind them were three taller, even hotter men in suits.
Dating wasn’t on their New York adventure to-do list for at least a month. Mostly because Kelsey didn’t want to be labeled as a naïve rube. Or worse, a tourist. She wanted to meet Manhattan men on a level playing field, once she knew the subway lines backward and forward and didn’t jump every time a taxi honked.
She was, however, willing to re-prioritize the to-do list.
“Hello.”
“Ma’am.” The adorable shorter cop tapped the brim of his hat. “Are you Kelsey Wishner?”
“I feel like I should ask why before answering.”
The tallest suited man, one with piercing blue eyes, elbowed the cops aside. He opened an ID holder to flash…something at her. Something with his picture and a fancy golden crest. “I’m Elias Trebanti. I’m here on a mission for the royal family of Moncriano. These police officers can vouch that they’ve verified my diplomatic credentials. May I speak with you? Inside?”
Kelsey looked at Mallory. They raised opposite, questioning eyebrows at each other. Then she went on tiptoe to peer down the hall. Nope. No cameras. That ruled out a reality TV prank show. This was weird, but also kind of exciting. In a semi-scary way.
After a brief nod from the cops, she stepped back and waved them inside. Only Elias entered. Elias of the close-cropped dark hair, knife-edged cheekbones, and muscles that the tailored suit somehow did not hide at all. He shut the door, glancing around the small living room packed with too much furniture their parents had insisted on sending along. Two steps had him at the kitchen, and another five sent him down the hallway to their bedrooms.
Mallory rushed after him. “Hey. You need a separate invite to go that far. Get back out here.”
“My apologies.” His heels all but clicked together as he executed a military-sharp turn. “I had to make sure that nobody else is present.”
“You could’ve asked,” Mallory snapped with a miffed puff of air that fluffed her bangs. Now the stranger was in trouble. Snitty Mallory was no fun whatsoever. Even diplomatic credentials wouldn’t protect him from her wrath.
“That wouldn’t have proved anything.” Softening infinitesimally, Elias put his hand over his heart and gave a micro-bow. Maybe that translated to an apology in his country? “In my business, you can never be too careful.”
Now they were getting somewhere. “What business is that?” Kelsey asked. She noticed he was still casing the apartment. His eyes practically drew a connect-the-dots line from each window, to each door, along the top of each framed photo, to the cluster of phones and laptops on the oval coffee table.
“I’m in the Royal Protection Service.”
Kelsey couldn’t help but laugh. “Then I’m quite sure you’ve got the wrong apartment. There’s nothing for you to protect here.”
Those blue eyes snapped right to her, and her laughter died in her throat. Was it possible to feel a zing just from an eye lock? “On the contrary. I’m here for you.” Unexpectedly, because he’d been all business and stiff thus far, Elias roughly scrubbed a big hand across his face. “This is going to sound crazy, but hear me out.”
“Okay.” His accent was faint. Mostly British, but with rolled Rs that made her think of the rolling hills and sun-kissed grapevines of the Italian countryside. She could listen to it all day.
Drawing himself up into a precise line, Elias slowly said, “You, Kelsey Margaret Wishner, are a princess of the House of Villani.”
Mallory gasped. Kelsey shushed her. “We’re hearing him out.” But she did grab her big sister’s hand and squeeze it tightly.
“You were kidnapped when you were three months old. The royal family, the country, the world has been looking for you ever since.”
Kelsey gaped at him.
No way. She’d been willing to listen about the princess thing. Maybe the Wishners were connected through a great-great-great-great grandparent to some distant cousin in a royal family. Sure. She’d buy that.
But a kidnapping?
That was beyond ridiculous. Insulting, actually. Hurtful to her parents, who were wonderful and loving and, oh, had been there her whole life. Right along with Mallory.
Instead of getting angry, Kelsey flipped back to her original hypothesis. It was a reality show. It had to be. She squinted at the lapel of his pale-charcoal suit. No obvious pin-type camera. Not on his shirt buttons, either. She really hoped they’d win money for playing along. Broadway tickets to Hamilton just might be in the budget this year, after all.
Crossing her arms reminded her of the faded—no, downright ratty—concert tee she wore. With yoga pants. Not a good look at all if they were being filmed. Kelsey rolled her lips together tight to try and make up for not having on even a leftover stain of lipstick. “And you happened to find me after twenty-five years? Now? Here?”
“You applied for a New York state driver’s license two days ago. As soon as your fingerprints hit the database, it set off an alarm back at the palace. I verified the match, ran a background check, and got on a plane to retrieve you.”
It was too much to take in. Too much to focus on the absurdity of his claim. Kelsey honed in on the less than respectful wording he’d used. “Retrieve me? I’m not a piece of missing luggage.”
One side of his mouth tugged up into the start of a smile. It transformed his face, made him look warm. Approachable. Yummy. “Christian warned me I should use the flight to work up a speech. I hate it when he’s right.”
“Christian? Who’s that?”
“Your older brother. His Royal Highness Prince Christian is heir to the throne of Moncriano.”
Every new specific the man tossed at her chipped away at what used to be solid ground beneath her bare feet. “You’re telling me I have a brother?”
“And a sister. Princess Genevieve.”
“I already have a sister,” Kelsey said fiercely, the words coming out low and hard and fast. Once more, she clasped Mallory’s hand. “She’s standing right next to me. And at this moment, that’s the only thing I know and believe with total certainty, so watch yourself.”
“I’m sorry.” He gave another micro-bow. “I’ve a one-track mind on carrying out the most important duty of my life. If you would indulge me a little longer?” Opening the door, he murmured to his fellow suits, then turned back to her with a tablet.
Elias held out his hand, palm up. It took her a second to catch up and do the same, but then he encircled her wrist and traced the ink stain on her fingertip. Something shot through her. Awareness? Interest?
Oh, who was she kidding—it was full-blown lust. From a featherlight brush on a finger. A touch that kicked every single erogenous zone on her body into overdrive.
What. Was. That?
He placed her finger over the top border of the tablet. A blue light flashed.
Two seconds later, what she assumed was her fingerprint flashed on half the screen. The other half filled with another box containing a fingerprint. It moved left. As soon as the two images merged, the word CONFIRMED flashed in bright green caps.
Whoa. That was more…official…than she’d expected from a reality show prank.
Her stomach clenched. This suddenly felt all too real, and Kelsey had no idea what to do about that. But Elias apparently did.
He swiftly dropped to one knee. Brought her hand to his mouth, and brushed his lips across the back of it. “Your Royal Highness, I pledge my life and my loyalty to you.”
Well, that was certainly a heady thing to hear.
For a moment, the part of Kelsey that had loved the Camelot myth as a child wallowed in the fairy-tale romance of those words.
Then two, no, five sirens interminably crawled past their building. Their four-story walk-up on the edge of Midtown, the one that she and Mallory had planned and scraped and saved to afford. The one that was a culmination of their lifelong dreams. It might be gritty and not at all glamorous, but it was every bit as rewarding to Kelsey as getting the gold in a medal ceremony.
Her new life, here with Mallory—that was all that mattered. Not some fantastical story, with no logical explanation concerning the small fact of how her real parents had birthed her and raised her, about people far away that she’d never heard of before.
She yanked her hand out of his grasp and gave a sharp tug on the hem of her ancient tee. Back in high school when she’d bought the thing, her breasts had been a cup-size smaller, so Mr. Bodyguard was probably getting an eyeful. “Thanks for the heads-up. If you have additional information, you can email it to me.”
“Additional information?” His lips, super full and downright bitable if she hadn’t been trying so hard to give him the bum’s rush, twitched. “What I’m giving you is your life back.”
That slick, snarky tone put her hackles up. It was so patronizing. As if whatever Kelsey had going on in New York simply didn’t measure up to what he offered. “I have a life already. One I’m pretty darned ecstatic about. One’s all I need.”
“Your Highness, I don’t think you understand. I flew here to bring you home. To bring you back to your family and restore you to royalty.” Elias stalked to the door and threw it open. “These men outside? They’re here to supervise packing your things. We’re headed to the airport immediately.”
Well, he’d just made this far easier. “I don’t believe you, and I’m not going anywhere.” Then Kelsey planted a hand on his chest—a brick wall of a chest—and shoved him back one more step so that she could slam the door in his face.
Mallory let out a hollow laugh. “This counts as enough excitement to get me out of three a.m. pizza, right?”
Spinning around, Kelsey was about to let her off the hook. But then the door rammed back open. Hard. Hard enough to jolt it sideways from its top set of hinges.
Elias stood there, canted sideways a little, easing his shoulder back. Aside from that readjustment, he was still slickly suited. Not a hair out of place. Not an inch of his starched shirt untucked. Even though he’d just—sort of—broken down the freaking door.
Damn it, that easy show of strength was sexy but also infuriating. His Royal Protection pay had damned well better cover their security deposit, not to mention the upcharge of getting someone out here right away to fix the door.
He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I get the distinct impression this will not be the only time I give you this lecture. Let me be clear: I am now, officially, your shadow. Not to be an annoyance, not for protocol, but for your safety.”
“I can take care of myself. You wouldn’t be able to guess how many places we’ve stashed pepper spray around this apartment.” Plus, Kelsey wasn’t afraid to use the old reliable knee to the groin maneuver.
“Whether you remember or not, whether you believe me or not, the fact is that you are a princess of the House of Villani. That necessitates round-the-clock protection. Protection that will be easier all around if you cooperate.”
Mallory stepped up, toe to toe with him. Even in yellow-and-white striped cotton pajama pants and a white tee, she managed to look haughty. She gave Elias a measured once-over from head to toe. Chin jutted out, she asked, “How qualified are you to protect my sister?”
“Right now? I’m wearing two guns and two throwing knives. I’m an expert in three forms of martial arts. I’m a trained sniper. And, most importantly, I’m willing to give my life to save hers.”
Seriously? Elias had known her for maybe seven minutes, and he’d not just throw down for her, but sacrifice himself? Kelsey wasn’t sure if that fell more on the side of sexy or scary. All she knew was that his somber but factual ticking off of his abilities had given her goose bumps on every inch of exposed skin.
Knees more than a little wobbly, she sank onto the nubby brown sofa they had big plans to recover. “We haven’t even finished unpacking. I can start emailing these…people”—because how could she call them family?—“and maybe come for a visit in a year. After we’ve saved up enough money for the flight. Moving to New York has us on a tight budget.”
Elias threw back his head and laughed.
Mallory frowned as she sat next to Kelsey. “There’s nothing funny about how expensive it is to live in Manhattan.” She was the one in charge of their bank accounts. The one who’d run the numbers eight different ways to make sure that they’d waited to move until their emergency cushion was exactly the right size. The one who’d nixed a stop at Junior’s because she’d called spending twenty-seven dollars on a Reuben and a slice of cheesecake “a laughable splurge.”
“You’re exceedingly wealthy, Your Highness.” The laughter dissipated, and Elias became quite matter-of-fact. “The private plane waiting for us at LaGuardia belongs to your family. As does a yacht, several boats, countless cars, three palaces, five manor houses—”
Kelsey held up a hand to cut him off. She’d seen movies, for crying out loud. Flicked through glossy magazines when stuck in line at the grocery store. Royalty equaling immense wealth wasn’t something that had to be explained to her. Wrapping her head around the fact—that she’d known for all of, oh, ten whole minutes—that she was royalty? That was the sticking point.
“I get it, but you’re going to have to give me a minute to freaking catch up.”
“I appreciate that. We don’t have a minute, however. You don’t have the luxury of time to take this all in. Your family needs you. Your country needs you. I’m doing my duty by bringing you back, and I’m going to do my damndest to make sure you do yours.”
Duty.
That word struck her, hard. Like a physical jolt to her belly that stole her breath away. Kelsey sagged against the back of the couch. Her parents—the ones she knew, anyway—had drummed responsibility into her.
Elias might not realize it, but he’d just given her a reason that she couldn’t fight. If everything he told her was true, then Kelsey did have a duty…to an entire country. Her own whims and wishes and dreams paled next to the word “duty.” Not that she knew yet entirely what that entailed.
“Can you give us a minute?” Mallory asked.
One dark eyebrow raised, practically to his close-cropped hair. “Her Royal Highness slammed the door in my face. I’m not leaving this apartment again until she comes with me.”
Shooing him, she said, “Then go stand in the kitchen. Just give us the illusion of privacy and maybe ten feet of space, okay?”
With a nod, he eased back across the apartment until he stood at the sink and politely turned his back.
Mallory clasped her hands, then pointed with both index fingers at her little sis. “You should go.”
The effort it took to refrain from rolling her eyes surely earned Kelsey one of those expensive slices of cheesecake. Because, yes, that was one option, sure. An option that completely decimated the New York dream she and Mallory had worked toward their entire lives. A dream Kelsey craved more than an endless buffet of ice cream and pizza put together.
She buried her face in her hands. “I should crawl under the covers and wait to wake up from this super bizarre dream.”
Mallory poked her in the side. “Bizarre, yes, but an opportunity you can’t ignore.”
Kelsey looked at her sister’s wide, excited eyes, and tucked a leg underneath herself, curling farther away from the sight of the ramrod spine of her bodyguard. Because the man had a presence that was impossible to ignore. It was distracting. The last thing she needed was to be distracted from this decision about doing a one-eighty with her life.
“There’s so much we don’t know right now. So much that doesn’t make sense.”
“You won’t find answers here. You’ll find them in Moncriano. If your family has really been missing you, searching for you, for twenty-five years? How can you possibly deny them a visit? Not going, now that they know about you, would be heartless.”
Ouch. That angle hadn’t yet occurred to her. All she could focus on was the fact that strangers were trying to rip her away from her life. But Mallory made a point that was yet another sucker punch, this time to her heart.
Family was everything.
The love Kelsey had for her sister and her parents was so deep, so much a part of her as to be almost indescribable. The pain the Villani family must’ve gone through missing their child—her—for an entire lifetime had to be horrible. It was her, yes, duty, to put that to rest. To put a bandage over that raw wound.
“You’re right. I know you are. It’s just hard to face.” Kelsey lowered her voice to a whisper. “That talk of duty really got to me, too.”
“Are you kidding? Anything that hot hunk of a man says in that luscious accent packs an extra punch. If he told me it was my duty to go clean Times Square with a toothbrush, I’d do it.”
What was she implying? With a frown, Kelsey said, “Agreeing to pick up and leave America to go meet a brand new family in a country I swear I’ve never heard of has nothing at all to do with the hotness of my bodyguard.”
“Of course not. It doesn’t hurt, though.” Mallory patted her on the thigh. “It’ll also help that I’m coming with you.”
Relief coursed through her, as soothing as chugging milk after accidentally eating the tiny, fiery chilies in Drunken Noodles. “What? No. I can’t ask you to do that. I mean, I want you to. Desperately. But you just got a new job.”
“It doesn’t start for three weeks. I’m not leaving you to face all of this alone. We’re a package deal. Always have been.”
That was the truth. They were best friends as much as sisters. Kelsey couldn’t imagine being an hour away from her sister, let alone an entire ocean apart. With Mallory by her side, maybe this whole, crazy adventure that Elias had dropped on her was doable.
Kelsey leaned over and gave her big sis a long, tight hug. “Thank you so much. I love you.”
“I love you, too. We’ll always be sisters, no matter what.”
Aaaaand there was the last, hardest punch to the gut.
Did this news mean that Mallory wasn’t actually her biological sister? Elias hadn’t mentioned that there were two kidnapped babies from the royal family. So…was she adopted? Or was Mallory?
Holy crap. “Of course we will be,” she said fiercely. “Nothing could ever change our bond. Nobody knows me as well as you do. Nobody else knows that I hate Girl Scout cookies.”
“Nobody else knows I gave up the dream of being a doctor because blood makes me woozy.” Mallory shuddered. “It’s humiliating to have an entire career field out of your grasp with one puke.”
Standing up, Kelsey said, “Elias? You can stop worrying about dragging me out of here in a fireman’s carry. I’ll go to Moncriano with you. On one condition.”
“If it’s that you want a tiara to wear on the plane, I’ll admit I didn’t bring any of the Crown Jewels with me.”
Was he cracking a joke? “What? A tiara? Why would I want that?” She plucked at her yoga pants. “I’m not coming with you because of glittery princess perks. I’m coming because it’s the right thing to do.”
Mr. Inscrutable’s eyes warmed. And his chin tilted to the side the tiniest bit. “I’m both surprised and pleased to hear that.”
“My condition is simple, and not up for discussion: Mallory’s coming, too.” Flashing her sister a smile, Kelsey added, “We’re a package deal.”
“That’s it?”
“Yes.”
Giving another one of those military-sharp corner turns, Elias nodded at Mallory. “You are more than welcome to accompany the princess. I’m sure your presence will be a comfort to her.”
“Consider me her emotional fleece blanket.” Mallory snatched her beloved green and lavender fuzzy blanket off the back of the couch. “Speaking of which, this will be the first thing in the suitcase.”
“No suitcases. No time to pack. We have to be out of this country before word leaks about who and where she is.” He cast a sidelong glance around the room. “There’s especially no time for you to finish unpacking, and then repack half of it. I’m leaving Lathan and Marko to supervise. A moving company should arrive in twenty minutes.”
That—even more so than Elias bringing along the NYPD as an escort—hit home to Kelsey what sort of power he wielded. It was eleven thirty at night. There should be no way he could’ve arranged to have a moving company come now, with less than a day’s notice.
Just what was she getting herself into? She stuffed her laptop, iPad, and phone into a tote. Then it hit her. “We can’t leave the country. We don’t have passports.”
“Arrangements have been made. Nothing will stand in the way of me getting you back to Moncriano.” Grim determination coated his voice more thickly than road dust in the summer.
Kelsey had no doubt he would’ve carried her out of here over his shoulder if that’s what it took. She wondered what that would’ve felt like, but she had far bigger things to occupy her mind. What would her new family be like? What would it be like to be a princess?
What on earth had actually happened to her twenty-four years and nine months ago? And why hadn’t her parents told her about it?
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