The Princess and the Outlaw. Leanne Banks

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СКАЧАТЬ told herself not to think about it. It wasn’t her responsibility. These genealogy charts required her complete and immediate attention. She’d used every possible device to procrastinate doing her work entirely too long. Inputting her second cousin’s name to the chart, she forced herself to focus. Whenever she conducted her research on people whom she knew, she often thought about their personal stories. Her second cousin Harold had moved to Tibet and his sister, Georgina, had married a man from England and was raising her children in the countryside. Pippa had always liked Georgina because she’d been such a down-to-earth sort of woman. It was a shame she didn’t see her more often.

      Harold and Georgina’s deceased parents had owned a lovely cottage on the other side of Chantaine that was now left vacant because neither Harold nor Georgina visited Chantaine very often. Why, in fact, Pippa was certain it had been nearly eight years since either of her second cousins had set foot on Chantaine.

      Pippa stopped dead, staring at the cursor on her laptop. Vacant lovely cottage. Nic’s parents.

      “Stop it,” she hissed to herself. It would be incredibly disloyal. If her brother Stefan ever found out, he would never forgive her. And there was no way he wouldn’t find out. Not with her security haunting her. She was lucky she’d escaped discovery today.

      Back to work, she told herself sternly and worked past midnight. She finally crawled into bed, hopeful she would fall into deep sleep. Thank goodness, she did. Sometime during the night, she sank into a dream where a black limo crawled through a beautiful cemetery. Cars and people dressed in black but carrying flowers followed the limo. Everything inside her clinched with pain. A white butterfly fluttered over the black limo, capturing her attention. It could have been the spirit of…

      Pippa suddenly awakened, disoriented, the images of the limo and the butterfly mingling in her mind. She sat up in bed, her heart slamming into her chest. Images of her brother Stefan, Nic, his mother, Amelie.

      This wasn’t her business, she told herself. Her heart ached for Nic and his mother, but she couldn’t go against her family to make his mother’s dream come true. She just couldn’t. It wouldn’t be right. It would be a terrible betrayal.

      She tried to catch her breath and closed her eyes. She tried to make her brain stop spinning. How could she possibly deceive her family for Nic? For Amelie?

      But how could she not?

       Chapter Two

      It took most of the rest of the day to catch up with her cousin to get permission to use the cottage. Georgina was so gracious that it made Pippa feel guilty. Oh, well, if she was going to go through with providing the cottage for Nic’s mother and father, then her web of deception was just getting started. The choice to deceive her family was unforgivable, but the choice to turn her back on Amelie was more unacceptable. Her stomach churned because she wasn’t a dishonest person. The prospect of all the lies she would have to tell put a bad taste in her mouth.

      She would normally try to reason with Stefan, but Pippa knew her entire family was unreasonable about the Lafitte matter. She would have to learn to push aside her slimy feelings about this and press on. The first task was to call Nic.

      Nic studied the recent reports from his and his father’s business on his tablet PC while he drank a glass of Scotch. He took a deep breath of the Mediterranean night air as he sat on the deck of his yacht anchored close enough to shore for his mother to catch a glimpse of her precious Chantaine whenever she liked. He just hoped she didn’t do anything impulsive like jump overboard and swim to shore. Rubbing his chin, he shuddered at what a nightmare that would be. He couldn’t put it past her, though, especially after she’d sneaked off the other morning.

      Nic was caught somewhere between genie and parent, and he wasn’t equipped to be either. The reports on both his father’s businesses and his own looked okay for the moment, but he knew he would have to go back to the States soon for his father’s company. With Amelie’s illness, Paul Lafitte had understandably been distracted. Despite the fact that they’d separated on two different occasions, Amelie was the light of Paul’s life and Nic wasn’t sure how his father would survive after his mother… Nic didn’t even want to think the word, let alone say it, even though he knew the time was coming.

      Sighing, he took another sip of his Scotch and heard the vibrating buzz of his cell phone. The number on the caller ID surprised him. After his surprise meeting with Princess Pippa the other morning, he figured he’d never see her again except for public affairs.

      He picked up the phone and punched the call button. “Nic Lafitte. Your Highness, what a surprise,” he said, unable to keep the bite from his voice. Pippa had turned out to be the tease of his life.

      “Hello. I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” she said, her voice tense with nerves, which made him curious.

      “Just a perfect glass of Scotch and rare solitude,” he said.

      A short silence followed. “Well, pardon the interruption, but I have some news that may be of interest to you.”

      “You called to tell me you missed me,” he said, unable to resist the urge to bother her. During and after their little interlude last year, the woman had bothered the hell out of him.

      He heard her sharp intake of breath and realized he’d scored. “I called about your mother.”

      His pleasure immediately diminished. “What about her? Have you discussed the situation with your family, and now they won’t even allow her and my father in the harbor?”

      “No, of course not,” Pippa said. “If you would just let me finish—”

      “Go ahead,” he said, the semi-peacefulness of the evening now ruined.

      “I found a cottage for your parents where they can stay,” she said.

      Nic blinked in sudden, silent surprise.

      “Nic, did you hear me?”

      “Yes. Repeat that please.”

      “I found a cottage for your parents on Chantaine,” she said.

      “Why?” he demanded.

      Another gap of silence followed. “Um, well, I have these cousins Georgina and Harry and neither of them live in Chantaine anymore. They haven’t even visited in years, and they inherited a cottage from their parents. It’s been vacant, again for years, so I thought, why not?”

      “Exactly,” Nic said. “Why not? Except for the fact that my father has been banned from setting foot on Chantaine. I don’t suppose your brother experienced a sudden wave of compassion, or just a rational moment and has decided to pardon Paul Lafitte.”

      “You don’t need to insult Stefan,” she said. “My brother is just defending my father’s honor.”

      “Even though Stefan wouldn’t have been born if your father had married Amelie,” Nic said.

      “Yes, I know it’s not particularly logical, but the point is I have found this house. Your mother wants more time in Chantaine. Staying there can make it happen.”

      “You still haven’t addressed the issue about my father,” Nic said.

      “Well, СКАЧАТЬ