A ROYAL WEDDINGâAND A SHOCKING CRIME
After rescuing jewelry designer Ruby Tate from an attacker, Lydian royal guard Galen Harris suspects the crime wasnât a random incident. Jewelry thieves have set their sights on Lydiaâs royal family, and they wonât let anyone stand in their wayâincluding Ruby, whoâs 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
âHow do you know he followed you?â
âI heard footsteps.â Rubyâs 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 heâd heard sheâd stepped in to fill the role of Anastasiaâs 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.
âAre you okay?â He spotted the red marks along her neck where the strap of her bag had cut against her. âDid he hurt you?â
âIâm fine, I think.â She touched her neck. âJust sore.â
He ignored the way he felt sitting close to her and focused on the attack.
He had things to doâsuch 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 sheâs 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. Sheâs never been arrested, gotten in a fistfight or been shot at. And sheâd 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.
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.
âIsaiah 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.
âMatthew 6:19â21
To Eddie and Ginger McCalla. Thank you for raising your son to be an honorable and Godly man.
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 againâmoving 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 proofâlouder and fasterâthat 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 sheâd 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, whoâd acted as much as an accomplice as a guard, helping them sneak back inside the palace when Stasi had missed her curfew, keeping Stasiâs identity under wraps so they could mingle anonymously with the locals.