Page 27 of To Claim His Heir by Christmas

Though, honestly, she was mad even to trust that he’d take her home in two days. But the alternative was hauling out the big guns—her father. Who would likely kick off a military invasion. And that was the last thing she wanted. Hence she’d surrendered to the dark Prince.

Certifiable? Probably.

The opening bars of muffled Mozart trilled through the room—again!—and Luciana vaulted off the bed, the bare pads of her feet hitting cool glass as she searched every table-top. Because that sounded suspiciously like her phone. Which made no sense considering he’d told her it wouldn’t work anywhere near the castle. But maybe he’d changed his mind about taking her there, maybe they were miles away from the horrid place––

‘Oh, good Lord. My bag!’ She’d never been so darn happy in her life! She could kiss that horrible brute right now.

Snatching the black leather heap from the side table, she shoved her hand in, rummaging to the bottom.

‘Don’t ring off…don’t stop. Please don’t stop ringing.’

Shaking like a windswept leaf, she barely managed to hit ‘accept’ and mash it to her ear.

‘H…Hello?’

‘Luciana?’ Claudia’s voice was a sound for sore ears. ‘Thank God—where are you?’

‘I’m…’

Common sense smacked her upside the head. Where the blazes was Thane? She didn’t want him party to this conversation.

‘Hold on a minute,’ she whispered frantically as she ducked and dived all over the room, opening and closing doors, her heart slamming around her chest, feeling like an extra out of a badly acted eighties cop show.

Aha! There he was. The fiend. In the distance, standing on the beach, talking to a short dark-haired man. Throwing a stick into the water, of all things.

Unleashing a pent-up breath, she slumped where she stood. Looked pretty innocent to her. No dastardly guns drawn or fisticuffs. Yet.

‘Okay, I can talk. Is Nate all right?’ she whispered, stepping back out of sight, hoping the walls didn’t have ears. Or maybe she was on camera. Her gaze darted around the four upper corners of the room just in case.

‘Of course he’s all right. He’s out with Lucas and Isabelle. Now, for heaven’s sake, where are you?’

Good question. She actually couldn’t believe she was about to say this. ‘I’m in…Galancia.’

‘Galancia?’

Claudia’s holler had Luciana wrenching the phone from her almost burst eardrum.

‘Oh. my God. I thought Augustus had been smoking pot or something.’

‘The only thing Augustus gets high on is women.’

‘Eww. He didn’t? When you were there?’

‘Sure he did.’

‘You can’t marry that man, Luce.’

Oh, great—Claudia sounded like Thane. Thane who wanted her ‘very, very badly’.

Luciana rubbed the heel of her hand over her left breast. Naïve fool that she was, she wanted to believe those three little words. Words that whispered to a secret place inside her. So it was fortunate that his mind-blowing pheromones hadn’t obliterated her every brain cell. Obviously he wanted something from her—everyone always did. She just wasn’t sure what.

‘Did Augustus tell Father?’ she asked.

‘No, not yet. Lucas made him keep his mouth shut until we heard from you. Half of me wondered if you’d just ducked out on Augustus, so we were giving you today to contact us before raising the alarm. Especially with Dad the way he is. Luce, what were you thinking, going there with that man?’

‘I didn’t have much choice.’

She stormed around the room, shaking the kinky mess from her ratty locks. Ugh, she felt gross. And that was when she spied her case on a pale ecru velvet chaise longue. Her case!

Mid jiggy-dance, she froze as every ounce of blood drained to her toes. Had he searched it? Hauling it from the chaise, she plonked it on the end of the bed and fumbled with the lock. The still locked lock. Phew.

Shoulders slumping, she tuned back in to Claudia’s voice.

‘What do you mean, you didn’t have much choice? Did he force you? Did he…kidnap you? Did he?’

Claudia’s glorious indignation flew down the phone line, and it was so good having someone in her corner. She took a great gulp of air to rake him over the hot coals…

And her gaze crashed into the wide stretch of canvas over the carved bedstead, making the words jam in her throat.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com