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  The SEALs and the FInCOM agents had leapt into action, ready to protect Joe. They’d hustled him into the limousine and to safety, but Veronica was shaken.

  She sat in her hotel room, fighting tears, praying Joe would arrive soon, praying his quicksilver smile would make her forget about the danger he was in, day in and day out, as he stood in for the real prince. But she had to remember that he was no stranger to dangerous situations. His entire life was filled with danger and risk. Even if he survived these particular assassins, it would only be a matter of time before he’d be facing some new danger, some other perhaps-even-more-deadly risk.

  How could she let herself love a man who could die—violently—at any given moment?

  “Yo, Ronnie.”

  Veronica turned around.

  Joe. There he was, still dressed in his shiny white jacket and dark blue pants, his hair slicked back from his face. He looked tired, but he smiled at her, and she burst into tears.

  He came across the room so quickly, she didn’t see him move. Pulling her into his arms, he held her tightly.

  “Hey,” he said. “Hey.”

  Embarrassed, she tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let her go.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “Joe, I’m sorry. I just…”

  Joe lifted her chin and kissed her gently on the mouth.

  “I’m all right,” he told her, knowing, the way he always did, exactly what she was thinking. “I’m fine. Everything’s okay.”

  “For right now,” she said, looking up into the mysterious midnight depths of his eyes, wiping the tears from her face with the heel of her hand.

  “Yeah,” he said, catching a tear that hung on her eyelashes with one finger. “For right now.”

  “And tomorrow?” she asked. “What about tomorrow?” She knew she shouldn’t say the words, but they were right on the tip of her tongue and she couldn’t hold them back.

  He gently ran his hand through her hair again and again as he gazed down into her eyes. “You really that worried about me?” he asked, as if he couldn’t quite believe her concern.

  “I was scared today,” Veronica admitted. She felt her eyes well with tears again and she tried to blink them back.

  “Don’t be scared,” Joe told her. “Blue and the other guys aren’t going to let anything happen to me.”

  Nice words and a nice thought, but Blue and Cowboy and Harvard weren’t superhuman. They were human, and there was no guarantee one of them wouldn’t make a very human mistake.

  Tomorrow at this time, Joe could very well be dead.

  Tomorrow, or next week or next year…

  Reaching up, Veronica pulled his head down and kissed him. She kissed him hard, almost savagely, and he responded instantly, pulling her against his body, lowering his hands to press her hips closer to him.

  She found the buckle of his belt and started to unfasten it, and he lifted her up and carried her into the bedroom.

  Veronica pulled him tightly to her and closed her eyes, trying to shut out her fears. With the touch of his hands, with his mouth and his body against hers, tomorrow didn’t exist. There was only here and only now. Only ecstasy.

  But when morning dawned, and Joe crept out of bed trying not to wake her, Veronica still hadn’t slept. She watched him dress, then closed her eyes as he kissed her gently on the lips.

  And then he was gone.

  It was not beyond the realm of possibility that he could be gone forever.

  Phoenix, Arizona.

  The April sunshine was blazing hot, reflecting off the streets, heating the air and making it difficult to breathe.

  Inside the protection of the limousine parked on the street in front of the brand-new Arizona Theatre and Center for the Arts building, Joe was cool and comfortable.

  But he was glad for the sunglasses he wore. Even with them on, even with the tinted glass of the limo, Joe squinted in the brightness as he sat up to get a better look at the morning’s location.

  A broad set of shallow steps led to a central courtyard. It was flat and wide and surrounded by a series of marble benches placed strategically in the shade of flowering trees. The lobby of the theater was directly behind the courtyard, and the Center for the Arts offices surrounded it on the other two sides.

  There was a stage in the courtyard, set up in the shade of the theater. That was where Joe—as Tedric—would go for the theater’s dedication ceremony.

  People were already milling around, trying to stay cool in the shade, fanning themselves with copies of the arts center’s events schedule.

  Joe could hear Veronica over his earphone as she sat in the surveillance van.

  “Please test your microphones, Alpha Squad,” she said.

  Blue, Cowboy and Harvard all checked in.

  “Lieutenant Catalanotto?” she said, her voice brisk and businesslike.

  “Yo, Ronnie, and how are you this fine morning?” Joe said, even though he’d spent the night with her, even though he’d left her room mere hours earlier and knew exactly how well she was.

  “A simple check would be sufficient,” she murmured. “Cameras?”

  Joe grinned into the miniaturized video camera that the FInCOM agent sitting across from him was carrying. God forbid someone should find out about the incredible steamy nights they spent together—the high-class media consultant and the sailor from a lousy part of New Jersey. Veronica always played it so cool in public, often addressing him as “Lieutenant Catalanotto,” or “Your Highness.”

  Actually, they’d never talked about whether or not she wanted their relationship to go public. Joe had just assumed she didn’t, and had taken precautions to protect her.

  Of course, Blue and Cowboy and Harvard knew where Joe went every night. They had to know. Without their help, it would have been too damned hard to get out from under the FInCOM agents’ eyes. But aside from the ribbing he endured when the four SEALs were alone, Joe knew his three friends would never tell a soul. They were SEALs. They knew how to keep a secret.

  And as far as Joe was concerned, Veronica St. John was the best-kept secret he’d ever known.

  She’d been upset last night. That incident in Albuquerque had really shaken her up. She’d actually cried because she’d been so afraid for him. For him. And the way she’d made love to him…as if the world were coming to an end. Oh, man. That had been powerful.

  Joe had thought at first that maybe, just maybe, the impossible had happened and Veronica had fallen in love with him. Why else would she have been so upset? But even though he’d tried to bring up the subject of her concerns for his safety later in the night, she hadn’t wanted to talk.

  All she’d wanted was for him to hold her. And then make love to her again.

  Joe smiled at the irony. He falls in love for the first time in his life, and for the first time in his life, he’s the one who wants to talk. Yeah, it was true. He had been in bed with a gorgeous, incredibly sexy woman, and what he wanted desperately was to talk after they made love. But all she wanted was more high-energy sex.

  Of course, Joe reminded himself, he sure had suffered, making Veronica happy last night. Oh, yeah. Life should always be so tough.

  Joe closed his eyes briefly, remembering the smoothness of her skin, the softness of her breasts, the sweetness of surrounding himself in her heat, the hot pleasure in her beautiful, bluer-than-the-ocean eyes, the curve of her lips as she smiled up at him, the sound of her ragged cry as he took her with him, over the edge…

  Joe opened his eyes, taking a deep breath and letting it quickly out. Oh, yeah. He was going out in public in about thirty seconds. Somehow he seriously doubted that old Ted would appreciate Joe pretending to be the prince with a raging and quite obvious royal hard-on for all the world to see. And he had a job to do, to boot. It was time to go.

  Joe climbed from the limo and felt the sudden rush of heat. It was like opening an oven door. Welcome to Phoenix, Arizona.

  As the FInCOM agents hustled him across the courtyard,