Rachelle McCalla - Royal Heist

A ROYAL WEDDING—AND A SHOCKING CRIME

After rescuing jewelry designer Ruby Tate from an attacker, Lydian royal guard Galen Harris suspects the crime wasn’t a random incident. Jewelry thieves have set their sights on Lydia’s royal family, and they won’t let anyone stand in their way—including Ruby, who’s in town to help the princess with her wedding jewels. The closer Ruby and Galen get to uncovering the mystery, the harder it is to deny their feelings. But with a deadly gang of criminals after them, will they live to see their own happily ever after?

Protecting the Crown: The royal guardsmen serve their country with honor and integrity

“How do you know he followed you?”

“I heard footsteps.” Ruby’s voice broke.

Jade-green eyes blinked at him with fear in their depths.

Galen felt his heart twist. Part of him had been eager to see Ruby ever since he’d heard she’d stepped in to fill the role of Anastasia’s assistant, as the talented princess designed all the jewelry for the upcoming royal weddings. An equal part of him had been wary of a potentially awkward reunion. But awkwardness had become the least of his concerns.

“Are you okay?” He spotted the red marks along her neck where the strap of her bag had cut against her. “Did he hurt you?”

“I’m fine, I think.” She touched her neck. “Just sore.”

He ignored the way he felt sitting close to her and focused on the attack.

He had things to do—such as reporting the incident to royal guard headquarters and making sure Ruby really was all right.

And figuring out who her attacker was, and what he was after. And then, making sure the man never hurt Ruby again.

RACHELLE McCALLA

is a mild-mannered housewife, and the toughest she ever has to get is when she’s trying to keep her four kids quiet in church. Though she often gets in over her head, as her characters do, and has to find a way out, her adventures have more to do with sorting out the carpool and providing food for the potluck. She’s never been arrested, gotten in a fistfight or been shot at. And she’d like to keep it that way! For recipes, fun background notes on the places and characters in this book and more information on forthcoming titles, visit www.rachellemccalla.com.

Royal Heist

Rachelle McCalla

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:

Who created all these?

He who brings out the starry host one by one

and calls forth each of them by name.

ecause of his great power and mighty strength,

not one of them is missing.

—Isaiah 40:26

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy,

and where thieves break in and steal.

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

—Matthew 6:19–21

To Eddie and Ginger McCalla. Thank you for raising your son to be an honorable and Godly man.

Contents

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

TWENTY

TWENTY-ONE

TWENTY-TWO

DEAR READER

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

ONE

Ruby Tate looked over her shoulder at the sound of footsteps behind her.

A hulking figure, more shadow than man, slipped behind the nearest building.

Ruby blinked. Was someone there, or were her eyes playing tricks on her in the dimness of dusk? Unsure of how to react, Ruby walked faster. At the end of the block she turned the corner. The road bent uphill toward the Lydian royal palace. She would soon put the empty street behind her.

Footfalls echoed behind her again—moving faster now.

Ruby increased her pace to a trot. She had two blocks left to reach the door to her apartment building, built into the rear wall of the palace grounds.

The looming sounds behind her picked up their pace, as well. Was it her imagination, or was he gaining on her?

Ruby ran. She gripped her purse with one hand to keep it from thumping against her hip as she accelerated to a sprint. She could still hear the resounding proof—louder and faster—that she was not alone.

Risking another backward glance, Ruby saw nothing.

No one.

She slowed, looking back again, this time scanning the street for the source of the noise she was nearly certain she still heard.

Where had the man gone? Ruby panted, catching her breath, thinking quickly. Was someone actually chasing her? In all the times she’d visited the Mediterranean kingdom of Lydia with Princess Stasi years before, while the two of them were roommates studying gemology in the United States, Ruby had never heard of any violent crimes in the Christian monarchy. She and Stasi had been out late and walked the city streets, without incident, far more times than she could count.

The memories stilled her fear. In those days, Princess Stasi had a bodyguard named Galen, a youngish guard with a lopsided smile, who’d acted as much as an accomplice as a guard, helping them sneak back inside the palace when Stasi had missed her curfew, keeping Stasi’s identity under wraps so they could mingle anonymously with the locals.

But everything had changed in the last year. In June, a fiery ambush against the royal family had shattered the peace of the tiny kingdom. And Ruby hadn’t spoken to Galen since their painful parting the previous summer.

A noise startled her.

Were those footsteps again?

Ruby wasn’t about to stick around to find out. She sprinted toward the safety of the palace, her ballet flats slamming against the cobblestones as she glanced between buildings, looking for the source of the sounds. Between her rushed breathing and the distant traffic noise from a busy thoroughfare several blocks away, Ruby couldn’t be sure what she heard.

But it sounded like the footsteps were drawing nearer again.

With one long block to go, Ruby passed the break of a side street, glancing down the branching road in time to see a large man tearing toward her from the shadows. Something covered his face—a sheer mesh, like nylon stockings, distorting his features into those of a hideous monster.

The man had her cut off. If she ran straight for her apartment door, she’d run right into his path. He’d be on her in seconds.

Ruby nearly stumbled as she changed direction, taking the other branch of the cross street at a dead sprint, the heavy footsteps closing in.

She cut down an alley. She’d taken this path with Stasi years before. There was a pedestrian gate just ahead that led through the palace wall, with a gatehouse manned by royal guards.

Royal guards meant safety—if she could stay ahead of her pursuer long enough to reach them.

Thick boots hammered the cobblestones directly behind her. He was close, far too close. She could hear each rasping breath as the man panted in her wake. The palace wall was near but still too far away.