Page 70 of Palace of Betrayal

Roz turned to the screen as Kanan stepped up behind her to lay his hand on his wife’s nape, an easy affectionate move, which showed how far they’d come.

“Roz?”

Her cool blue eyes met Bebe. “Yes?”

“Thank you for coming.”

A small twitch of her lips was her only response, and it was enough. Leo took her hand, and they headed upstairs to find a double bed waiting in the first bedroom they came to. “This place is so pretty.”

Leo placed their bags, one filled with clothes for the auction, the other with weapons and her wigs and disguise make-up inside. She was going as Chelsea tonight. Not something she relished but added a further layer of deceit to back up their claims. The woman herself was still being held without charge as was the law for treason in Soflye. They had sixty days to charge her, and Bebe knew it would never get that far. The shallow woman would plead guilty and ask for an incapacity plea.

Not wanting to think of her anymore, she joined Leo by the window, the shutters obscuring them from view while still letting in the sights below. Her hand on his back, he turned to her, his eyes going to her mouth and desire bloomed between her legs.

“Have you been here before?”

“A long time ago, yes. Prince Luca Buccio and I spent a summer at the same prep school. He’s a good guy. I find it difficult to believe he’d be involved with any of this. But then again, I haven’t seen him in a long time, and I didn’t see what was right in front of my face, so who knows.”

“If anyone can get to the truth, it’s Mercy.”

“You worry about her?”

She wasn’t usually such an open book, but it seemed Leo could read her easily. “She went through something beyond awful while doing this job and it took her a long time to recover. If you can really recover from what happened to her. She has this vulnerability about her now that makes us all very protective.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Leo cupped her cheeks and brought his lips to hers as she basked in the feel of his mouth on hers. It wasn’t a wild, passionate kiss, but a gentle heat filled with love and compassion.

Lifting his head, he brushed her hair back from her neck. “We should get a few hours’ rest. Tonight will be crazy and we need to be sharp.”

“Thanks for having my back when I wanted to come. I’m not sure Roz would’ve backed down otherwise.”

Leo sat on the bed and pulled her down until she was cradled with her back to his front, his arms tight around her body holding her close. “I think it was a test from Roz to see if I’d support you and I do. I always will.”

A sigh of contentment flowed through her, and she wished they had the luxury of getting undressed and allowing their skin to touch, but they had to be ready in case there was an attack. “Leo?”

“Yes, my love?”

“If something goes wrong….”

His hand lifted to turn her head toward him. “Nothing will go wrong.”

“But if it does….”

“No, I won’t accept that. We’re going to go in, buy that bloody program, and get ourselves out of there and back home.”

She would’ve argued but he kissed her, and she lost her train of thought.

“Now get some rest.”

“Okay.”

She wanted to fight it, but the last few days had dragged every ounce of energy reserves she had out of her and now she was on empty. To ensure she was at her best she needed to recharge so she could have her man’s back.

Three hours later, she woke when a tap on the door had her sitting up straight.

“Hey, we need you downstairs.”