Princess in Peril by Rachelle McCalla Page A

as they came to a stop near the doors to the outside.
    “Here comes our car,” Levi sounded hesitant, “right on time.”
    “Are we going to get in it?”
    “Those two men are still watching us.”
    Isabelle’s heart sunk. After all their maneuvering she couldn’t imagine the men were following them by accident. She wrapped both arms around Levi’sshoulders, wishing there was some way she could hide. But obviously they’d already found her. She hiccupped back a fearful sob.
    Levi’s arms wrapped around her, pulling her closer into his warm embrace.
    “Do something,” she begged him, daring to look up into his eyes.
    He bent his face closer to hers and his lips grazed the arch of one eyebrow.
    Isabelle recalled all the negative articles thathad followed her breakup with Tyrone Spiteri. They’d called her frigid, dispassionate, unloving. But she was none of those things.
    Tentatively, she raised her face closer to his.
    The men were searching for the Ice Princess. They didn’t think she was capable of affection. Could she throw them off her trail?
    Levi cupped her face in both hands, as though he could block all sight of her from themen who were watching. “Shall I?” he asked hesitantly, drawing closer by millimeters.
    Instantly she realized what he was about to do. At the same second, she knew she sincerely wanted him to.
    Unable to find her voice, Isabelle gave a tiny nod, and then Levi’s lips met hers.
    It was nothing like the kisses she’d shared with Tyrone—
nothing
like them. Relief washed over her along with a rush ofattraction toward the man who’d proved she really was capable of affection.
    No matter what the media said.
    Her hands tightened their grip on his shoulders and she rose up on her tiptoes as though doing so would help her kiss him better. To her delight, he didn’t pull away but seemed to lose himself in the contact between them.
    Lightheaded, Isabelle pulled back just long enough to catch a breath.
    “They’ve turned away.” Levi’s words jolted her back to reality. “Now.” He slipped one hand into hers and tugged her toward the car.
    They were moving away from the station by the time Isabelle collected her thoughts. “Did they follow us?” she asked, still trying to straighten her head out after that mind-blowing encounter.
    “No. I saw them looking back inside the airport as we pulled away—they’rewell out of sight now.” He pulled back from her for the first time since they’d left the plane. “You can stop hiding for now.”
    “Thank you.” She turned away from him and watched New York slipping by out the window. It would be wise, she knew, to keep her distance from Levi as much as possible. His kiss had only been meant to throw off her pursuers. In her head she knew that. Now if only she couldconvince her heart, which was leaping about inside her and couldn’t seem to understand why she was no longer in his arms.
    Meanwhile, Levi was on his phone talking in low tones and consulting with their driver. She quickly determined there was no point trying to sort out what was going on bylistening to his half of the conversation. She’d leave that to him while she sorted through the crashingwaves of emotion that assaulted her heart.
    Levi’s tug on her hand a little later pulled her out of her thoughts.
    “Are we there?”
    “No.” Levi cleared his throat. “We’re at Central Park. We’re going to hop out and walk a few blocks while the car circles back again. If we decide the coast is clear, we’ll get back in the car.”
    Isabelle didn’t have to ask if he thought they were being followed again.She doubted he’d risk taking her out in the open if he didn’t feel it was necessary. “And what if the coast isn’t clear?”
    “It’s a big park.”
    “Levi?”
    “We’ll try to hide. I’ve got my phone. If I need to, I can ask Sanctuary to send out decoy princesses, but I don’t want it to come to that.”
    “Why not?”
    “Right now there’s still