Read Online Royal Captive by Dana Marton - Free Book Online Page A

don’t like electricity.”
    “It gives heat and light, what’s not to like?” He was never going to understand women.
    “I got shocked as a kid.”
    That explained things. “You won’t get shocked now. Look, it’s all completely insulated. Just stay still.”
    “And if you leave me behind?”
    “You have to trust me.”
    “Like you trusted me to swim for help?”
    He rubbed his nape for a second. “It’s different.”
    “Because you’re a prince and you think you can order me around.” Her hands went to her hips again as she glared at him.
    He wanted to kiss her. Utter nonsense. The swaying of the ship was scrambling his brain.
    “That, too,” he admitted. “Plus, I have the fork. And I’m not afraid to use it.” Maybe some humor would disarm her.
    A smile hovered above her top lip. Then she said, “I want it to be noted that I’m trusting you, even though you were completely unwilling to trust me.”
    Not entirely fair, to be certain. “Might I point out that between the two of us I’m not the one with a history of criminal activity?”
    “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I wish you would stop insinuating things,” she told him.
    He motioned toward the crevice, pitying every policeman who’d ever had to interrogate her. “Are you going to get in there before someone comes or would you like to wait and chat a little longer?”
    She drew a deep breath and did an about-face. “Let me see this.” She arranged a few more wires, turned again and stepped in backward. Flattened herself. “And where will you be?”
    “Leave that to me.” He picked up the panel.
    “Watch my nose,” she snapped at him.
    Unnecessarily. He was already watching the parts of her that stuck out. Mostly her breasts, but they stuck out farther than her nose anyway.
    His gaze traveled up and met hers. She looked miserable. He couldn’t blame her. On a rare impulse, he leaned forward and pressed a brief kiss on her lips, then gently put the panel in place to stop her in case she thought to retaliate.
    “What was that?” she whispered furiously as the first screw slid into place.
    Her lips had been incredibly soft. He could still feel the contact. “For good luck,” he said. Not that he really knew what the hell he was doing.
    “I thought you didn’t believe in luck.”
    She had him there.
    “Just because I don’t believe in it, doesn’t mean we don’t need it.” Which made little sense. He hoped she wouldn’t notice.
    He made quick work of the screws, made sure nobody could tell anything had been tampered with. Then he emptied the two cardboard boxes he’d noticed earlier, distributed their contents on the shelves so the extra parts wouldn’t be too obvious.
    Separately, neither of the boxes would have been large enough to hide him, but next to each other, with one side taken out of each and the holes fitted together, he could squeeze in and settle into a semicomfortable position.
    Which was probably still a lot more comfortable than Lauryn was, he thought, not without some guilt. “Are you okay?”
    “Hunky dory,” came the muffled reply.
    Probably one of those Americanisms. “And that means?”
    “Fine. I’m fine.” She sounded decidedly snappish.
    He thought it might be better not to annoy her any further so he remained silent. They spent an hour or so that way. In the end, she was the first to speak.
    “How long do you think it’ll be before they come?”
    “They’ll check on us soon. It’s almost morning.”
    The sun did rise after a while. It shined right on his box, making him sweat.
    Nobody came.
    Finally, he heard the door open and shouting ensued immediately, spiced with a lot of Turkish swearing.
    Someone kicked the shelf. Istvan held his breath. If they kicked his boxes and they slid apart…
    But the man seemed to have already spent his anger.
    The sound of boots running down the hallway came next.
    He lifted the top of the box that held his upper body and stole a look. Then