Read Online An Officer and a Princess by Carla Cassidy - Free Book Online

things to consider. If only…” he allowed his voice to trail off.
    Josephine could guess where his thoughts were going. “Yes, if only we could find Michael,” she said, surprised to feel the burn of tears behind her eyes.
    â€œWell, I’ll see you tomorrow?” Edward said, as if he sensed her need to be alone.
    â€œYes.”
    With a nod, Edward turned and left.
    Michael. Michael. Michael. Her heart cried his name in an endless litany of pain and love. Where are you? Why aren’t you here with me?
    He’d already missed so much. He’d been absent for Dominique’s marriage to the King’s High Counsel, Marcus Kent, and had missed seeing her burgeoning pregnancy. She was already through her second trimester.
    Josephine frowned, a sudden thought skittering through her mind. So far Dominique had insisted nobody be told the sex of the baby she carried. Neither Dominique nor Marcus knew.
    But, if the baby was a boy, with Michael and Nicholas absent, then the baby was the true heir to the Edenbourg throne. Before Edward stepped down, before Luke could step in as regent, Josephine needed to talk with Dominique.
    Of course, the best possible solution was to find Michael alive and well. The tears that had burned behind her eyes now slid down her cheeks as she thought of her husband.
    Please, Michael, get home safely. The country needed him. But, more importantly, she needed him.

Chapter Five
    A dam sat in the back of the tavern and watched as Isabel made her way toward the bar. It was nearing closing time and Adam was tired and more than a little bit cranky.
    For seven nights he’d slept in that infernal chair. And for seven days and nights he watched every man in this place lust after his “wife,” and his own lust for her had grown by the minute.
    Tonight she was clad in a black dress no bigger than a handkerchief. Gold chains served as the back of the dress, displaying far too much skin as far as Adam was concerned.
    Beneath the chains, her skin looked creamy and smooth, and he knew every man in the pub had entertained the fantasy of touching that skin. He’d certainly spent far too much time indulging in sensual fantasies where she was concerned.
    For the past seven days he’d seen a side of Isabel he hadn’t known she possessed. She’d been good-naturedly flirtatious with the men in the tavern, and part of her allure was the fact that she seemed so genuinely unaware of her allure.
    Adam frowned irritably. He certainly wasn’t unaware of her allure. Her scent wrapped around him at night like a warm, sensual blanket and he was beginning to learn the little habits that made her unique.
    She was cranky in the mornings, but always cheerful by the end of her first cup of coffee. She liked croissants, not toast and butter, and never jelly.
    Her lower lip trembled when she was trying to hide her emotions and she always uttered a soft little sigh just before she fell into deep sleep.
    For all intent and purposes, Adam had all the intimate knowledge of her that a husband would have…except he hadn’t made love to her. And he suspected that’s why he was feeling cranky.
    Of course, he preferred to think that his crabbiness came from the fact that they hadn’t gained any information in the last seven days. He preferred to believe that it was work-related frustration that gnawed at his insides and not the sufferings of sexual deprivation.
    His gaze narrowed as Blake Hariman walked in. The big man with the tattooed arms scanned the room, his gaze lingering on Isabel, then moving to meet Adam’s gaze. The two men held eye contact for only a long moment, then Blake broke the stare and headed back toward the billiard tables.
    Adam frowned thoughtfully. He had the feeling Blake was sizing him up, but for what, Adam had no idea. Every night the two men had sat across the bar from one another, and every night Adam had felt Blake’s watchful gaze on