Some Like It Deadly (Going Royal #3)

Chapter 1

Kate

The sharp trill of the phone split the silent darkness in half. Kate Braddock jerked upright and had the phone in her hand, and answered before her mind fully processed the steps from sleep to waking. Adrenaline flooded her system, but training kept her voice calm. “Braddock.”

Too many middle-of-the-night phone calls heralded bad news.

“Kate.” Peterson’s voice sent relief chasing through the adrenaline pumping through her system.

“My apologies for the odd hour.” The head of security for Armand Dagmar personally and the Andraste Royal Family in general didn’t sound remotely apologetic.

Nor did he sound deeply concerned, which hopefully meant, Anna, her protectee and the fiancée of the grand duke was also fine.

Of course, as her boss, Peterson never sounded disturbed.

“It’s fine, sir.” She gave the perfunctory answer and shoved a hand through her hair. The sharp tug helped fuel her sleepy mind. Slanting a look at the clock, she sighed. It was only four-thirty in the morning. On her day off—the single day she’d had off in weeks. “What can I do for you?”

“We have a delicate situation and I am going to be blunt, Braddock. You’re actually the only woman for the job.” Plunging right in and ripping off the Band-Aid was far preferable to beating around the bush. At this early hour, all she required were the specifics with no sugar coating involved.

“What’s the job?” Pushing back the blankets, Kate rose and padded to the kitchen. She’d already set up the coffee maker the night before. All she had to do was hit the on switch.

“Richard Prentiss slipped his security detail this weekend.” Prentiss was the grand duke’s best friend, and he’d been involved in a rather spectacular car accident a few months earlier.

Kate was impressed—with Prentiss, not his security detail. How they let a wounded man slip them didn’t bode well for their future in the business.

“He was beyond our supervision and out of communication range for nearly seven hours.” And then as if anticipating her question, Peterson added. “He left his cell phone at the house, and returned via taxi looking none the worse for wear, but…”

“But he slipped his security.” The loss had likely pinched the pride of a man as thorough as Peterson.

He was damn good at his job. She didn’t envy the members of the detail who’d failed to keep the attorney under surveillance and safe.

They wouldn’t have their jobs much longer—if they hadn’t been fired already. “So what does that have to do with me?”

“Mr. Prentiss informed the grand duke he would be returning to his regular duties at his office tomorrow and he wants the security detail pulled.” In a reverse of his earlier bluntness, Peterson circled around to his point.

Kate turned at the sound of the coffee maker finishing its job, and poured herself a mug of the dark blend.

The process kept her busy and her mouth shut.

She was a good soldier, and well-trained. Peterson would get to what he wanted soon enough.

“Look, Braddock, the grand duke wants to appease Mr. Prentiss, but he’s not prepared to remove security from him. Chatter has slowed, but it hasn’t quieted fully. When we inserted you with Miss Novak, you downplayed your presence as personal security by acting as her assistant.”

And there it was.

“You want me to do the same for Mr. Prentiss?” She hadn’t been especially fond of deceiving Anna, but then she’d never had to lie to her directly either.

Peterson and the grand duke had simply told her that Kate had been vetted by security and could act as her assistant.

That Kate could do the job. The deception kept her in Anna’s orbit.

Every time Anna left the tower to work, Kate had gone with her.

“Yes, we’ve arranged to have his legal assistant head out on a worldwide cruise, all expenses paid.

She leaves today, in about three and a half hours, I need you to meet with her and get everything you’ll need to know about how to do the job because you’ll be interviewing with him tomorrow.

I’ll have the car picking her up swing by to get you in ninety minutes.

” Peterson had thought of everything, his smug tone might be well deserved.

Mr. Prentiss wasn’t the easiest protectee.

So much for her day off. “Do you think that Mr. Prentiss is just going to hire me because his assistant left? I’m assuming he has others in that law firm he could borrow—”

“He could, obviously, but he and the grand duke are scheduled to have lunch later today and…” Peterson trailed off and actually sighed.

“Let’s just say that he’ll receive the news of his assistant’s departure under controlled circumstances and the grand duke will then volunteer your services.

We’ll get you in the door, but you’ll need to secure the position. ”

How very Machiavellian of the grand duke.

“You’re asking me to protect someone who doesn’t want a detail and who won’t know what I’m doing.” The potential for clusterfuck was enormous. Anna had been a similar case, but she’d also had a full detail on her at all times in addition to Kate. “What kind of detail is Prentiss going to have?”

“A discreet one.” He paused a beat, then continued, “Kate, I know this isn’t the easiest assignment.

I wouldn’t ask you to do it if I didn’t think you were fully capable of it.

The grand duke is worried about Mr. Prentiss’s visibility.

We can’t properly secure him without his cooperation.

You will have backup, but they could be twenty seconds out. ”

And twenty seconds could be the difference between life and death.

“Understood.” She drained her coffee and glanced at the wall clock. “I’ll be ready in ninety minutes for the car.”

Once he had her agreement, Peterson disconnected the call and Kate carried her cell phone into the second bedroom that she’d converted into a workout room. Five minutes later, she was running on the treadmill. Too wired to go back to sleep, she checked the time.

It was nearly noon in Germany, her brother usually had Sundays off and spent them watching recorded sports.

After hitting her brother’s contact, she waited.

When he answered on the second ring, the last knot of tension Peterson’s middle of the night call had wound in her soul relaxed. “Hey, Beany Baby, how are you?”

His groan made her laugh.

He was okay. Alive.

She could handle everything else.

RICHARD

“I’m not going to lie to you, Ms. Braddock—the job won’t be easy.

This position demands travel at least forty percent of the time.

Where I go, you go. When I need a file, I need you to pull it up.

You have to anticipate last minute changes and I may be calling or texting you at three in the morning to come in because we need to have a brief in front of a judge at eight.

” Richard Prentiss leaned back in his chair and studied the blonde woman seated across from him.

Her calm, cool eyes—he couldn’t tell if they were hazel or just a very pale brown—betrayed no hint of concern.

Considering he was offering her well-compensated indentured servitude, he’d hoped for a little more bite in her responses.

“This is a steep learning curve and I wish that Miranda had given me more notice before she left, but we have to work with what we have.” He wasn’t sure what frustrated him more—Miranda leaving on such short notice or that she left at all.

Miranda Keen had worked for him since he’d hung his shingle and despite Armand’s copious attempts to fund his law firm, Richard had built his client list from the ground up.

No one knew him better than Miranda—and no one deserved to come into a windfall as much as she, either.

He’d paid her well, but that didn’t mean she wanted to spend the rest of her life working sixteen-hour days.

“That won’t be a problem, Mr. Prentiss. I’m used to a tough schedule and travel.

” Of course she was. Kate Braddock had been recommended to him by Armand during their racquetball game—the first he’d been able to play since a car accident laid him up some months before.

Losing a kidney and his spleen meant a lot of changes in his routine, but he was finally well enough to kick his armed babysitters to the curb.

He’d understood the need for increased security, particularly during his recovery, but he didn’t like having a posse of heavily armed babysitters entrenching themselves in his life, tearing it apart, and dictating his movements.

Armand hadn’t liked the idea, but as Richard had informed his best friend, he could stuff it.

“True, you’ve been with Anna the last few months.

” Richard grimaced and drummed his fingers against the resume sitting atop her personnel file.

The speed of Miranda’s departure meant he had to cut corners to find her replacement.

Kate’s previous stint with Anna meant he didn’t have to worry about a background check.

She’d have been vetted by at least two different security agencies. “How will she handle your departure?”

“I believe the recommendation came from Miss Novak, Mr. Prentiss. She has a full staff to help with her foundation responsibilities and an additional two secretaries beyond myself. Her precise words were that she would miss me personally, but professionally she was covered.” The wry response suggested a sense of humor and Richard nodded, but continued to drum his fingers.

It was all a little too neat for his level of comfort.

The world did not provide easy solutions—and in his experience, if one didn’t examine every angle of a potential Trojan horse, one deserved to be burned.

And she comes recommended by Armand who wants me safe, so chances are she’s exactly what she appears to be.

Still.