Lucy Monroe started reading at age four. After she’d gone through the children’s books at home, Lucy’s mother caught her reading adult novels pilfered from the higher shelves on the bookcase…alas, it was nine years before she got her hands on a Mills & Boon® romance her older sister had brought home. She loves to create the strong alpha males and independent women that people Mills & Boon® books. When she’s not immersed in a romance novel (whether reading or writing it), she enjoys travel with her family, having tea with the neighbours, gardening, and visits from her numerous nieces and nephews.

Lucy loves to hear from readers. Visit her website at www.LucyMonroe.com

Dear Reader

Can you believe Mills & Boon is celebrating its hundredth year of publication? I can and I can’t. You see, I find it easy to accept that a publisher who has brought so much pleasure to so many (including myself) has done so successfully for an entire century. But in the same vein I find it amazing that a publisher who has been at it so long is so incredibly in tune with current readers. Mills & Boon has allowed me to explore issues facing today’s woman that other publishers are unwilling to consider. Modern™ Romance does exactly that.

Call me sappy, if you like, but it brings tears to my eyes to realise that FORBIDDEN: THE BILLIONAIRE’S VIRGIN PRINCESS is part of such a legacy. I am truly honoured that Mills & Boon has allowed me to bring Sebastian and Lina alive for readers in this, their hundredth year. Just as M&B has grown and changed with the times, Lina is looking for a modern life—even though she’s a princess from a very old family. Sebastian doesn’t think they have a future, and that eats at a heart already made cynical by life. But in the end I think this modern-day alpha will find that love is a more powerful force than he ever imagined.

Blessings and love to you all as we celebrate M&B’s centenary!

Lucy

FORBIDDEN: THE BILLIONAIRE’S VIRGIN PRINCESS

BY

LUCY MONROE

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MILLS & BOON

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For all the readers who wanted Hawk’s story.

Thank you for writing me. And with special thanks

to Mills & Boon for letting this, my twentieth story

for them, be part of their amazing 100 years

and still going legacy!

CHAPTER ONE

LINA MARWAN stood on the edge of the bridge, her eyes shut as she searched for her center.

A slight breeze caressed her sun warmed skin. It was a beautiful day to be alive. She released the railing and nothing stood between her and open air…a fifty-foot drop to the rushing waters of the river below.

Adrenaline coursed through her at the thought of what she was about to do. Her breaths came in short pants and sweat formed on her temples and palms. She curled her fingers into fists and then released them several times as she forced her lungs into a more relaxed rhythm.

Loud voices from behind her disturbed the peace she was trying to attain. Opening her eyes, she looked back over her shoulder and saw him.

Sebastian Hawk.

The last person she expected to see at this moment in her life. The last man she expected, or wanted, to see ever again. Before, or after, death. God wouldn’t be so cruel as to put her and the deceitful bastard in the same part of heaven.

Well, there was nothing for it. He was here and it would only be a matter of seconds before he convinced the officials holding him off the bridge into letting him come for her.

She faced forward again, spread her arms like wings and let her body fall forward as the sound of Sebastian’s roar echoed off the ravine’s rocky walls.

Soaring through the air like a bird diving for its prey, memories from eight years before flooded Lina’s mind in a reel-to-reel play of her time with Sebastian Hawk.

Headed toward the University Center, Lina rushed across the quad. She was late for the meeting, but it couldn’t be helped. She’d had to ditch her bodyguard. Again. He was reading a book on Ancient Egypt on the ground floor of the library. He believed she was in a study group meeting in one of the rooms on the second floor. If the poor man knew how many hours he spent in the library while she was elsewhere, they would both be in a lot of trouble.

He was easy to fool. Too easy for her ego. In his mind her high grade point average attested unequivocally to many hours spent studying. She did study, just not nearly as much as he believed. However, like her father and far too many other men from her country, her guard did not believe a woman could get the grades she did without putting a huge effort into the task. All of the guards in her current security detail were similarly afflicted in their thinking.

When she had discovered the benefits to this particular formerly annoying trait she had been grateful for her father’s insistence on supplying her bodyguards from her home country for the first time.

Raised in America since she was six, she’d often chafed at the attitudes exhibited by her Marwanian guards. Then she had arrived at university and discovered how easy it was to gain temporary freedom on the pretext of studying. She grinned. Life might not be perfect, but it certainly was fun.

Her grin changed to a grimace as she ran into a rock wall dressed like a man.

She bounced backward, landing right on her bum in the grass. “Ooof.”

“Are you all right?” Oh, wow. The rock wall had a voice that made her insides ping.

She looked up…and up…a couple of inches over six feet of rippling muscle, until their eyes met. His were gray. A dark, mysterious gunmetal gray. Though, right at that moment, their expression was perfectly readable. They were lit with concern. For her.

Nice.

Her smile returned and she stuck her hand out. “Fine. Thanks. Give me a lift?”

His lips quirked. “Certainly.” He reached toward her and their hands connected.

Starbursts might have gone off, she wasn’t sure. Because the momentum from his tug landed her body against his and her senses went supernova. Her dazzled brain registered that his mouth was still curved in that half-curve. She wondered what he’d look like with a full-blown smile. Devastating, probably. She probably wouldn’t survive it.

“You sure you’re okay?” he asked, looking really concerned now.

And darned if she didn’t really like that. “Wonderful.”

“You don’t need help to remain standing?”

“No.” Did she look like she needed help?

“Then, maybe you’d like to let go? Not that I mind the close contact.” Warm amusement laced his words.

“I should…let go I mean.” But her body made no effort to move backward.

He laughed. “My name is Sebastian Hawk.”

Ulp. His laughter sent shivers through her as she found herself mesmerized by the absolutely gorgeous smile that accompanied it. Okay, so she’d survived a close encounter with his smile, but wasn’t so sure about her mental faculties.

This man was very destructive to rational thought processes.

“And you are?”

Right. Very bad for normal brain activity.

“Oh, I’m Lina Marwan.” She never used her complete name Lina bin Fahd al Marwan anymore.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lina,” he said as he gently set her away from him.

She had to fight the urge to press forward and reconnect. Was this what it felt like to be attracted to a man? If it was, she could now be glad she’d spent her teen years at an all-girls school. Unlike her classmates, she’d never had the opportunity to spend time with boys her own age during school breaks. Her family kept too close of tabs on her for that.

In the year and a half since she came to university, she’d hugged a couple of boys, friends she met in her secret pursuits, but they’d never affected her like Sebastian Hawk. She’d always wanted to know what it was like to kiss a boy, but only in the abstract. Now she wanted to know the very concrete reality of kissing Sebastian Hawk.

The craving was so strong, her lips twitched. Sebastian’s gray gaze was knowing—as if he could read the unfamiliar desire surging through her.

The tower clock chimed the quarter hour across the quad and Lina’s body jolted with memory.

“Shoot. I’m late. I hope I haven’t missed my chance to sign up for the kayaking trip.” She still hadn’t worked out completely how she was going to get away from her bodyguard and family for an entire weekend, but she was determined to go on this trip.

“You kayak?” Sebastian asked in a surprised tone.

“It’s one of my favorite things. Not that I get to go as often as I like.” She started walking briskly toward the University Center.

He kept pace with her. “When did you learn?”

“In high school.” There were benefits to being the female offspring to a Middle Eastern king.

Sure, at first, when she’d been sent away from all that she knew, she’d felt abandoned. But as she’d grown older, she’d realized her parents’ lack of interest in her daily life was to her benefit. They were very conservative and that attitude influenced their Americanized relatives they’d placed her with at the tender age of six.

However, she still had more freedom living with her relatives than she would ever have had at home. And she’d gotten her first taste of real freedom when she’d gone to boarding school in seventh grade. The exclusive, all-girls prep school was far from the typical American middle and high schools, but she’d been allowed to do things there she would never have been able to do when living with family. Things like kayaking.

“I see. I thought the kayaking trip was a three-day getaway.”

“It is. Are you going?” she asked, unable to stifle the hope in her gaze as her eyes remained locked with those of the tall, dark-haired hunk.

She felt the same adrenaline rush she got when competing in a race. Man, this being attracted to a guy thing was nothing like she’d expected it to be. It was almost scarily consuming. As exciting as taking a kayak out on white water. Maybe even more so.

Hawk had to bite down on an ugly four-letter word.

The diminutive princess was just full of surprises. The first had been when he’d seen his newest charge hurrying across the quad when she was supposed to be safely ensconced in the library studying with a small group of female friends. The plan had been for him to confer with her bodyguard and then arrange to “bump into” the princess on her way out of the library later.

It was a good thing he’d seen her, or he would have been just as ignorant of her true whereabouts as her hapless guard. The man needed to take a course in security from Hawk Investigations.

“I don’t kayak,” he said to her, “but I’d like to learn.” Which was a total lie. He had no desire to learn, but he had experienced canoeing. Even if it wasn’t his favorite thing, it was close enough to the other that he was confident he would make a good showing of himself on the water.

A man did what he had to for his job. And Hawk’s current assignment was sticking close to Princess Lina bin Fahd al Marwan.

Her smile was dazzling. “If we hurry, maybe we’ll both still get a chance to sign up for the trip.”

Options clicked through Hawk’s mind. One, he could prevent her from making the meeting at all. Two, he could scuttle any chances she had of going on the trip with a single phone call. Or he could follow his instincts and go on the trip with her.

Her obvious attraction to him would make it easy to arrange for her to miss the meeting, but this woman would probably find a way to sign up for the trip regardless. Lina Marwan, as she called herself, was nothing like the shy, quiet, studious, nineteen-year-old he had been led to expect.

Did anyone in the princess’s life know who she really was and how she amused herself?

The answer was no doubt in the negative, which was why he also did not want to scuttle the trip entirely.

He’d been hired as extra security during a time of increased risk for the Royal Family of Marwan. However, if his interaction had the benefit of allowing him to help her security detail enhance her overall safety—so much the better. He had to identify the ways she circumvented it in order to prevent her from doing so in the future.

Letting her make the trip while he accompanied her to ensure her safety, would give him the opportunity to see what measures she took to avoid her security detail.

He made all these determinations in the space of seconds.

“Lead the way,” he said with a smile.

She nodded, but instead of increasing her pace, she stopped, her dark brown gaze fixed on his lips.

“Lina…”

“Uh, yeah, right…go.” She made a visible effort to look away. Flipping her long black ponytail over her shoulder, she started jogging toward the University Center. “The meeting was supposed to be upstairs.”

His long strides matched her speed with little effort, but his body heated in reaction to the enticing bounce of her feminine curves. The attraction was definitely mutual, which should make his job that much easier. He wouldn’t have to pretend an interest to stay close to her. Though his original intention had been to strike up a friendship, being just slightly more than friends would be an even better “in” to the princess’s life.

However, he would only take it so far. He didn’t do long-term and for so many reasons, Lina was not a candidate for a short-term affair. Not only was she the daughter of a client and herself his assignment, but she was a princess from a part of the world that placed a lot of importance on a woman’s virginity. It wouldn’t be fair to the princess to take their association beyond friendship and mild flirting.

Although he had a sense of honor that would not allow him to use the innocent, he was not above using her attraction to him.

Lina stopped in front of an athletic-looking blond man who had been coming down the steps in front of the U.C. “Hey, Bob. Did we miss the meeting?”

“Yeah, but no biggie. All we did was pass out info sheets and take names.”

“Can we still sign up?” she asked enthusiastically.

The jock put his hand on Lina’s shoulder and squeezed, his smile practiced and more than a little flirtatious. “Anything for you, sweetie.”

Another curse fought for release from Hawk’s mouth. Did she have a boyfriend her family didn’t know about, too?

“Great.” The diminutive princess bounced on the balls of her feet. “Sebastian’s a new kayaker. I’d like him assigned with me…” She turned to look at Hawk. “I mean if you don’t have an issue with a woman teaching you.”

“No, I’d like that.”

“Hey, Wayne could train the newbie and then you could be my partner,” Bob suggested.

“The newbie would prefer to partner his new friend.” It was the only way the princess was getting out on the water. A bodyguard could hardly do his job from the shore or another boat.

“Oh, I’m sorry. We didn’t mean to talk about you like you weren’t there.” Lina’s doelike eyes shone with genuine repentance. “I hate it when people do that to me.”

He supposed, considering the strongly conservative and male centered family she came from, she’d had a lot of experience with it, too. “No problem.” But the look he gave Bob told the other man not to mess with him.

From the expression on the college boy’s face, he got the message, but didn’t look happy about it. Again Hawk wondered if the relationship between Bob and Lina was closer than merely friends with a mutual interest in kayaking.

“Look, I’ll sign you both up, but I’ll need your contact details,” Bob said to Hawk. “I’ve got Lina’s. In fact, I already signed you up, babe. I was going to bring you the info sheet in World Politics.”

Lina smiled at Bob, her eyes lit with gratitude and excitement. “You’re the best. Thanks.”

Bob slipped his backpack off his shoulder and dug out a notebook. “Here, just put your stuff in here.” He didn’t let go of the notebook when Hawk reached for it, though. “You are a student here, right? This trip is only open to students at the university.”

Lina frowned, but her expression cleared when Sebastian said, “I’m in the MBA program across the street.”

“Oh. Okay then.” Bob let go of the notebook.

Hawk took it and flipped through the pages until he came to a list of names under a handwritten title, “Kayaking Trip.” He pulled his pen out of his pocket and took pictures of the list of names under the guise of clicking the pen open. He added his name and cover contact information to the bottom of the list.

He would have someone at Hawk Investigations run a report on the names on the list to make sure none of them represented a threat to Lina’s safety.

He wondered how she planned to dupe her bodyguard for an entire weekend, but he had no doubt, whatever her plan was, she would succeed. A princess who had managed to become an expert kayaker while going to the exclusive boarding school she had attended without her family’s knowledge was adept at getting around their strictures for her life.

Bob looked at his watch and then at Lina. “We’ve got almost an hour before class. Do you want to get coffee with me at the Starbucks on State Street?”

She bit her bottom lip and looked sideways at Hawk, then nodded. “Can we get our coffee at the cafeteria, though? I need to pick something up at the library before class.”

Hawk almost laughed out loud. She had to pick something up all right…her bodyguard. “You don’t mind if I tag along, do you?” he asked. “I could use a cup of coffee myself.”

Lina’s mouth curved into another blinding smile. “No, of course not. You’ll have to let me buy, though. It’s the least I can do after running into you in the quad.”

“You’re the one that ended up on the floor. I think I should buy.”

Bob shook his head. “Whoever wants to buy, let’s go. I need my fix of caffeine.”

“Were you up studying late again last night?” Lina asked him.

“You could call it that.”

She smacked his arm lightly. “You are so bad. Who was it this time? The sexy sorority girl with a boyfriend at a different school or the gymnast?”

“I’m not seeing the gymnast anymore. Her coach told her one more late night and lack of focus the next day and she was off the team.”

So, Bob was a player. And Lina knew it. The question was, did he plan on adding Lina to his list of conquests? Not on Hawk’s watch, he wouldn’t. Her family had hired his agency to see to her safety and he would do so. On every front. What she and the jock-boy did when Hawk finished with the case was not his problem.

He studiously ignored the tightening in his gut that occurred at that particular thought.

The student cafeteria coffee wasn’t bad. They even had an espresso machine. Not that Hawk drank specialty coffees, but both Lina and Bob did and from the hum of pleasure Lina emitted as she took her first sip, Hawk assumed it was good. He’d won the argument about him paying, but then he had expected to.

He wasn’t in the habit of losing—at anything.

“Are you going to the environmental demonstration tonight?” Bob asked Lina as he leaned back in his chair, his gaze following a curvy coed cross the dining room.

“I’m not sure, but I’ll try to be there.”

“There’s a rumor the Young Republicans are going to show up to heckle us.”

“Well, if they do, they’ll be heckling half their membership. Environmentalism isn’t the partisan issue big politicians say it is. There are conservationists on both sides.”

“If you say so.”

“You know I do.”

“Are you a political science student?” Hawk asked Lina, already knowing the answer, but wanting to get her to tell him more about herself. How much honesty was she willing to give?

“We both are,” Bob answered for her. “Lina’s a fence-sitter, though. She won’t identify with either of our major parties.”

Lina simply shrugged, but didn’t mention what Hawk assumed was her real reason for not identifying with either party. She was a citizen of Marwan, not the United States.

“I’m not a Young Republican and it kills my dad.” Bob’s satisfied smirk said a lot about why he leaned to the left politically.

Lina sighed and shook her head. “I swear you go to the rallies simply out of reactionary rebellion.”

“Didn’t you tell me once that you decided to study politics because your dad told you not to?” Bob asked pointedly.

The princess nodded, not looking the least bit phased. “It was a little more complicated than that, but his negative reaction to my interest in the subject did spur me on. However, how I react to what I’ve learned in my studies is the result of personal convictions. I hold beliefs different from my family, but not because I want to get a rise out of my dad. I doubt he’d even deign to notice, but my family’s political beliefs have had a strong and sometimes negative impact on my life.”

“In what way?” Bob asked.

Lina merely shook her head and changed the subject. Apparently Bob was not a close enough friend to be aware of Lina’s position as daughter to a desert king.

CHAPTER TWO

OVER THE NEXT WEEK, Hawk learned that, though Lina could be described as nothing less than involved, she had no friends that knew the truth about her. In fact, while she had many people she spent time with, she had none Hawk would classify as close friends period. At least the report about her he had received had been correct in that regard. Even if it had been wrong about so much else.

And nothing in the report had prepared him for the growing attraction between them. He had thought it would be something he could use to stay close to her, but discovered quickly that it was far more a detriment than a benefit in regard to doing his job.

How could he protect her when he was distracted by how her ebony hair shone in the sunlight? His fascination with her waist-length hair had been born the first time he saw her wear it down. It looked and felt like silk. And how did he know how it felt?

He couldn’t stop himself from touching it. And Lina didn’t seem to mind. While she shied away from a lot of physical touch from others, keeping hugs short and one-armed with even her female acquaintances, she leaned into Hawk’s touch. Not that he had touched her…that way. But he wanted to. Badly. His fingers actually ached to brush against the luscious curves hidden under her clothing.

It wasn’t that she wore anything overtly sexy, but it was the way she moved, with an innate sensuality he was certain she had no idea she possessed.

Like right now, she was sitting across from him at the Starbucks her friend Bob had first mentioned. The way she held her head in attention while Hawk spoke highlighted the delicate curve of her neck and drew his gaze down to breasts that were molded lovingly by the cotton of her T-shirt. He was pretty sure she wasn’t wearing a bra. Or the one she had on was so thin she might as well not be wearing it, because for the last several minutes her nipples had been hard. His mouth was watering for a taste of the sweet flesh.

“Sebastian?” she asked in a soft…almost uncertain voice.

His gaze shot from her breasts to her face and he felt himself going red. When was the last time that happened? He was a twenty-seven-year-old millionaire in his own right. He’d left blushing boyhood behind too long ago to remember it, if indeed it had ever been a phase for him. “Yes?”

“I…uh…I wondered if you wanted…um…”

“Yes?”

She was silent for several seconds, chewing on her bottom lip, looking too damn delectable. Then she said all in a rush, “Maybe we could go for a walk down State Street.”

“Sure. If you’ve got the time.” Once again, her regular bodyguard believed that she was studying. This time, at home.

When Hawk had learned Lina knew how to bypass the security and leave the apartment she shared with a chaperone next to the one that housed her security detail, he’d been ready to strangle somebody. Her bodyguards were at the top of Hawk’s list. How many times had the princess left her home unprotected? Hawk had not revealed the security breach to the family retainers, though.

He was operating under the assumption that the threat to her family could be from within and he wasn’t taking any risks. He would give a full report with detailed suggestions for improving security for the princess when this situation was over. He had another operative from his staff at Hawk Investigations watching Lina’s building when he slept. And she was supposed to be sleeping. With the feisty princess one could never be sure.

Normally he would have the entire case assigned to his operatives, but Hawk had made his investigative agency an international contender and multimillion dollar company by knowing when it was prudent to take a personal interest in a client’s needs. He’d certainly made the right call this time.

Lina moved close to him as they walked along the tree-lined street near the capitol building and, of its own volition, his arm snaked around her petite waist.

It was only natural considering his role, but it felt too good. Not only was she a client (even if she didn’t know he was her paid protector), but Hawk didn’t do affectionate gestures and warm fuzzy feelings. His liaisons with women were just that. Commitment free, exchanges of pleasure without any false protestations of emotion. He didn’t even have female friends. He had no interest in getting serious with a woman. In any guise. Ever.

Every woman he had known had been devious in her own way. The woman who had given him birth had pretended maternal interest until the day she found a more lucrative benefactor than his father. She’d dumped them both and had contacted Hawk exactly twice in the intervening years. Both times she had wanted to use him. He’d let her the first time, but known enough to send her packing the second.

His grandmother was just as mercenary, though she’d stayed with Hawk’s grandfather. He didn’t know if the men in his family sucked at picking out women to share their lives with, or were simply unlucky. Either way, he’d managed to follow family tradition twice before establishing a firm rule about the type of relationship he was willing to have with the feminine sex.

Which was none at all. Not with the women related to him and not with the women who occasionally shared his bed.

While the things he felt around Lina were more intense and harder to control, he had to control them. Because she was no different than the other women in his life he should have been able to trust.

She lied to her security detail and family on a regular basis. Would she be any more trustworthy in a relationship?

He didn’t think so. After all, she hadn’t yet told him the true nature of her life. They might not be in a relationship and she wasn’t even a candidate for a brief liaison. But she didn’t know that. As far as she knew, their flirtatious friendship could go anywhere. Yet she still maintained the deception about her life.

And that life—her existence as a princess—was one reason the depth of his desire for her was so completely unacceptable. Even if she wasn’t his assignment, an affair would carry too many complications with it.

Not only was there the whole virginity thing, but Lina herself was not the type of woman to be content with a little, or even a lot, of between the sheets pleasure. She was more the type to believe in everlasting love and the whole fantasy that went along with it.

He might not trust her. He may be more cynical than other men still naïve to the ways of women, but Hawk wasn’t about to be the cause of Lina’s shattered fantasies. That would happen soon enough. Life would see to it.

Not even a princess was immune.

On top of all of that, Hawk had worked too hard to build his company into an international power player in the industry. He wasn’t risking its reputation for a woman. No matter how enticing she was.

Flashing faster than instantaneous replay, scene after scene of her time with Sebastian rolled across the movie screen in Lina’s mind.

Sebastian had offered to drive her to the kayaking excursion in his car. A Dodge Viper, the same gunmetal gray of his eyes, the powerful sports car didn’t have room for anyone else. So they would spend the ninety-minute drive to the campground alone. She found her attention occupied by his profile and the way his powerful thighs bulged in his jeans, rather than the admittedly gorgeous scenery out the window.

She’d spent endless hours thinking about this man, trying to decide if he was as interested in her as she was in him.

She had no experience and no one she felt comfortable going to for advice. That left her with her own opinion based on…well nothing. Okay, there’d been the gossip from other girls in high school, but none of it seemed to apply. Sebastian wasn’t pushing for sex or copping a feel every time they were in a remotely private place.

She thought it was probably because he was older, a graduate student who already had some experience in the business world.

She was pretty sure he desired her, though. The way he looked at her at times made her brain melt. And other bits as well.

She’d tried reading women’s magazines, but they all touted open communication in a relationship. Did that mean she was supposed to just ask him?

She would rather pick up on nonverbal clues. And she was convinced there were some.

Sometimes, his eyes would gleam with something that responded to the ache deep in her womb whenever he was around. But he had never acted on it and they had been seeing each other for three weeks now. They hadn’t had any dates per se, but he’d been around pretty much constantly since she’d run into him in the quad.

Since he did not seem like a big joiner, the fact that he was at meetings she’d never before seen him at or rallies she was pretty sure he had no personal interest in, she had to assume she was the reason he showed up. Which meant he wanted her, right?

It amazed her, really. That a man like Sebastian would be interested in Lina Marwan was pretty incredible. She was accustomed to people being drawn by her royal status, but like the rest of the students at the university, he had no way of knowing she was a princess. But he liked her…maybe…

He was everything she had dreamed of finding in a boyfriend, not that he was actually her boyfriend.

She sighed. Sebastian gave her a questioning look. She smiled a little and shrugged. Thankfully he didn’t ask her what she was thinking. She might just blurt it out and embarrass herself unbearably.

He was so gorgeous; he was assertive without being domineering. He listened to her, maybe even better than her brother. He was smart and driven—his going for an MBA showed that. And he was intense in this really, super sexy way. Was it any surprise she was falling for Sebastian Hawk in a big way?

The problem was that sometimes she was convinced that all he wanted was friendship.

She was so bad at this whole male-female thing. Her lack of practical experience was becoming a real nuisance. If she had been like the other girls who attended the female-only academy she had, she would have at least had a chance when not in school to meet people of the opposite gender. To learn to flirt for goodness sake. Though she had to admit that even if she had the opportunity, the male dominant nature of her family had made her wary around men and she probably would have shied away from any sort of interaction.

That caution combined with the reality that in order to date it would have meant further deceptions, or the indignity of being subjected to not only a bodyguard, but a chaperone as well, had also kept her from pursuing or responding to the pursuit of any guys since she’d arrived at university. Until Sebastian.

Of course, it helped that he was willing to spend time with her doing the things she already arranged for involvement in.

Only…for this man, she would do whatever it took to see him personally. She just wished she knew what to do with him.

Not that lack of experience had ever stopped her from trying something that she wanted to. She was not the demure, ornamental—aka useless—piece of feminity her father believed her to be.

Sebastian was so different from the men in her family. He never dismissed her thoughts as unimportant simply because she wasn’t heir to a throne or provincial position. He wasn’t surprised by her intelligence and he didn’t seem to think her political science major was a waste of her time. Not that he knew why she had chosen that major, but he acted like he believed she could, and most likely would, do something valuable with her education.

That was her hope.

She’d spent her childhood separated from her home, only to see her parents and siblings one week out of the year when she flew to Marwan and stayed in the royal palace with them. She did not remember her parents ever touching her with affection, and knew for a fact her father had never once given her any recognition as anything but his inferior female offspring.

She refused to spend her adult life feeling and being insignificant. She wanted to make a difference in the world and not merely as the attractive, well mannered appendage on some man’s arm.

“You’re pretty quiet over there,” Sebastian said.

“I was thinking how different you are from the men in my family.”

“Yes?”

“Yes.”

“In what way?”

“You don’t discount me simply because I’m female.”

“Who does that?”

“My father. To some extent my uncle. Others.”

“Your brother?”

She didn’t remember mentioning her brother, but she must have done so. She gave one of the rare smiles that occurred when she thought of her family. “My brother is different. He has been raised to be just like my father, but he’s not. You can’t tell on the surface, but he does special things to let me know.”

“Like what?” Sebastian’s obviously genuine interest encouraged her to be more open with the truth than she would have normally.

“He spends time with me.”

“Don’t your parents?”

“My mother does…sort of.” Though the sessions spent training Lina for her station could hardly be classified as mother-daughter bonding time.

“Not your father?” Sebastian didn’t sound surprised or disapproving, simply curious.

“No. He’s far too busy to spend quality time with a mere daughter.” Though, according to her sister, their father made limited time available to his daughter still living in Marwan.

“That bothers you?”

“Wouldn’t it you?”

He looked a little startled and then shrugged. “I suppose. But in my case it was my mother that couldn’t be bothered to see me. My dad is and has always been pretty busy with his business interests, too, though.”

“And that doesn’t upset you?”

“Why should it? I’m busy with my own life.”

“So, you don’t think a family should spend time together?”

“You mean the dream of dinners together and family camping trips every summer?”

“Something like that.”

“If you’re born into a family like that, I’m sure it’s nice. But if you aren’t, you have to accept your circumstances and move forward.”

“Or change them.”

Again, he looked surprised by her comment.

“How would you do that?”

“Me, personally? I plan to marry someone who believes family is as important as I do or I won’t marry at all. I will spend time getting to know my children, if I have any. No son or daughter of mine will grow up feeling expendable.”

“You think you are expendable to your parents?”

“I know I am.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I came to the U.S. at the age of six because my mother’s older sister had been unable to conceive and it was decided that she would be given the honor of raising me. I only see my parents once a year, for a week.” She never ever gave details of her life to people, but Sebastian was different. She trusted him.

“And your brother?”

She smiled again, warmth filling her at thoughts of her brother. “When I’m staying with my parents, he makes sure we eat at least one meal together each day. And we talk. He asks about my life and listens to my answers. He praises me for my grades and other things. He’s the only person in my family who knows that I was on the kayaking team at school. He also makes sure he comes to visit me every time he is in America. My father flies to Washington, D.C., at least twice a year, but he’s never once made the additional effort to come see me as well. Even when he and my brother are traveling together and Hasim makes arrangements to do so.”

“I’m sure he’s confident that you are well taken care of by your aunt and uncle.”

“I am. I don’t want to denigrate them in any way to you. My aunt is sweet, if a bit reserved, and my uncle is much more open to new ideas than my father, having been raised himself in Canada. He was a third son.

Though sometimes family attitudes still show, I was allowed to attend university only at his insistence. If it had been up to my parents, I would have gone to a finishing school in Europe.” Even after her father had agreed to her university education, Lina had taken the added precaution of pursuing United States citizenship as soon as she turned eighteen.

It had taken her two years and had been the reason she’d learned to ditch her bodyguard as well as how to get out of her home undetected. She had two sets of papers. Her Marwanian papers, which she used traveling under the aegis of her country’s ruling family. She also had legitimate U.S. passport and citizenship papers, which her family knew nothing about.

As a Marwanian citizen, her father had had final say over anything and everything in her life, no matter what her age. That was not true for all Marwanian women, but as a member of the ruling family, she could not legally act without her father’s permission. However, as an adult U.S. Citizen, her freedoms were numerous including the right to refuse to return to Marwan if it became necessary.

“But your relationship with your parents makes you unhappy?”

“My lack of a relationship. Like I said, if I have children, I want a different life for them.”

“I am sure you will succeed at whatever you set your mind to.”

She gave him a glowing smile. She was definitely falling in love with this man. “Thank you.”

* * *

When they arrived at the cabins the kayaking group was staying in, Hawk noticed only one other car there. It turned out to be Bob’s. He and three more members of the group were still unloading. Hawk made sure that he was in one of the bedrooms of the cabin Lina was staying in. He noticed that Bob did, too. In fact, they were sharing the room. Which worked for Hawk. He was a fan of efficiency and this would allow him to keep an eye on both the princess and her wannabe hook-up.

Lina was sharing her room with one of the other coeds. A blonde who looked like a pinup and talked like

G. I. Jane. Lina told Hawk when they were reconnoitering the lake (well he was surveying their environment, Lina was just walking) that the blonde was former military and had just started university this semester.

Hawk had known that from his agency’s reports. What he hadn’t known was that Lina’s admiration for the other woman’s independence and lifestyle bordered on hero-worship.

“She’s been to seedy bars in more countries of the world than I’ve even visited.”

“And you see this as a good thing?” Hawk asked.

Lina’s laugh was joyous and too damned appealing to his libido. “Yes. My life has been so sheltered. A weekend like this is as about as adventurous as I’ve ever gotten.”

“But you want more adventure?” Hawk asked with a sinking feeling. If her family didn’t beef up Lina’s security, she would get that adventure. She was too resourceful not to.

“Yes. I want to travel. I want to do things…help people. See the world, but not as a member of…um…the privileged classes. As someone trying to make a difference.”

“You make it sound like you want to join the Peace Corps.”

“That’s one of my dreams, but I doubt I’ll ever realize it.”

Hawk had to take a deep breath or choke on his surprise. A princess in the Peace Corps? He didn’t think so. “If you can’t have a dream, find a practical replacement.” Like donating money to worthy causes. That was something a princess could do without causing a political incident.

Lina stopped walking and stared out over the lake, her expression thoughtful. Hawk stopped, too…but he watched his princess. Her golden skin glowing in the sunlight, her perfect features shone with a beauty that took his breath away. Of its own volition, his hand reached out and brushed her hair away from her face.

She shifted slightly so their eyes met, her velvet-brown irises drawing him in, her smile tempting him to taste her lips. Her head tilted; his dipped until their lips barely brushed. Electricity jolted through him at the contact, freezing time around them. Neither moved. They did not deepen the kiss, but nor did they move apart. Both stood in a paralysis of feeling he knew he had never experienced and suspected she had not, either.

They were only linked physically in two places—his lips barely touching hers and his hand still against her cheek—but he felt the connection in a place deep inside that he had not even known existed.

“Hey, you two.” Bob’s voice brought Hawk abruptly to his senses.

Yanking his hand away from her cheek, Hawk stepped away from Lina.

What the hell was he doing? He hadn’t even heard Bob’s approach. This was totally out of line. He would fire an operative for being so sloppy. If Bob had been a threat, Lina could be dead right now. Cold chills chased along his skin.

He was here to protect Lina, not make love to her. Or moon over her like some lovesick calf. He was not the mooning type.

Maybe he needed a vacation. One filled with discreet liaisons that would rid his mind of his…the princess’s image.

One thing he knew with certainty. The idealistic pocket-size Venus was turning out to be a weakness he could not afford, “Hi, Bob.” Lina’s voice was softer than normal and her eyes were unfocused.

Hawk had to suppress a groan. This thing was getting totally out of hand. It already was, a taunting voice whispered inside his head. Bob gave them both a knowing look. “This is supposed to be a sports trip, not a romantic getaway.”

Sebastian glared at Bob. As if jock-boy wouldn’t take advantage if he got the chance. And he’d have a hell of a lot less scruples about it than Sebastian did.

Lina looked away, her cheeks going an adorable pink.

“Was there something you wanted, Bob?” Hawk asked. Trying to forget that the word adorable was not usually part of his vocabulary and that he had applied it to a client.

“Just thought I’d check the lake out. We’ll start out on the smooth water tomorrow morning. Assess everyone’s skill level, then move to the river after lunch tomorrow.” He gave Hawk a significant look. “That is provided we’re all ready to move to the river.”

Hawk was about to assure the other man that he would be ready when Lina spoke up. “If Sebastian isn’t comfortable enough for moving water, I’ll stay on the lake with him in the afternoon.”

And just like that, Hawk’s plans for proving his proficiency changed. “If you’re sure you won’t mind,” he said.

Bob frowned. “That’s hardly fair to you, babe. I’m sure one of the other experienced kayakers would be willing to stay with him.”

Hawk noticed Bob didn’t volunteer.

Lina’s features set in what was becoming a familiar look of stubbornness. “Don’t be silly. I invited Sebastian to come on the trip. I promised him I would teach him and I will.”

Which was exactly what she did. Hawk’s previous experience canoeing made learning the balance and movement of the kayak easier, but Lina was also a good teacher and could take most of the credit for his proficiency by afternoon. He was careful to dump into the water a couple of times though to lend credence to his request to stay on the lake for the rest of the day.

They all ate lunch together in the biggest cabin. Lina was animated and grinning most of the time, praising him for his efforts and complimenting the others on their techniques. She and her roommate got into a discussion of what their most challenging kayaking course had been. And that’s when he learned that Lina had come very near to drowning once, sending a sick feeling through him.

Her senior year of high school, while on a very difficult race course, another kayaker had dumped. She’d bumped her head and hadn’t come up. Lina dove into the white water to save her. Both girls had come close to drowning, but Lina had managed to get them to shore.

Hawk experienced an unexpected, unfamiliar, and not to mention totally irrational fear as Lina recounted her story. That fear did not dissipate when Lina looked on with wide-eyed wonder and no small amount of interest when her G.I. Jane roommate recounted shooting the rapids on the Yangtze River. Damn…if Lina’s family didn’t do something soon, she was going to get herself killed in her search for adventure.

She needed a husband to watch over her.

Heaven knew her father, uncle and their hired security weren’t doing a good enough job. Unreasoning black anger washed over Hawk at the thought of a protective male in Lina’s life that was not him. He dismissed the image of Lina in some faceless man’s arms with a vicious precision he refused to analyze.

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