One sweet, unassuming book blogger targeted by an assassin. One handsome prince sworn to protect her. These two have nothing in common, except undeniable chemistry and the target painted on their backs.

When Prince Conner Udine promised his best friend and former Marine buddy that he’d protect his sister, he never imagined that it would lead to a lifetime commitment. But as a sixteenth century law resurfaces, his life plan takes a drastic turn, and now he has to marry before his thirtieth birthday or he’ll lose the throne and hasten his father’s illness that will lead to his death.

Olivia Hawke’s feelings for Conner are her best kept secret. A romance between them would be inappropriate. But now that he’s her protector, and she has to live in his castle, that secret is getting harder to keep. And when it’s revealed that he has to marry someone, and fast, things go from awkward…to dangerous.

Will she agree to give him her hand and finally get the happily-ever-after she’s always dreamed of, or will her fear for his safety, and her own, cause her to turn down the proposal of her dreams?

Olivia Hawke put her book down and for one second imagined that she was a nanny to some imagined child, because then Prince Conner Udine might possibly fall in love with her. Not that Conner had a child and she was not a nanny, but she was in his castle. She glanced out at the town below from the huge glass windows. The book she read really let her imagine a way that a prince might somehow love her, a commoner.

She sighed and went to her laptop. It was time to get back to working on her book blog affiliate links and write the review. She glanced out another royal window at the Adriatic Sea and sighed again. For prison, she had hit the jackpot.

Okay—technically this was a protection service, not an actual prison. At the moment, it felt like a distinction without a difference.

A knock at the door made her stand. She lowered her head and imagined for a second Conner. If somehow Conner  walked in there, kissed her senseless and asked her for her virginity, she’d say yes.

It would never happen though. She was the boring, dependable Hawke that wore her hair in a ponytail most of the time while her sister, Scarlett, dazzled the world with her brains and beauty, starting her own makeup line. Olivia blogged about books and had never discovered a passion for anything beyond reading. Unlike her sister, she didn’t have the confidence to turn her passions into a business.

“Come in.”

The old door creaked open enough for her to see who it was. Olivia tried to tamp down her disappointment when she saw it was only Mikel. The elderly state man and royal advisor was nice enough, but nothing like the handsome, sexy prince.

“The Royal Prince formally requests your presence, Miss Hawke.”

Seriously? The image of Conner unbuttoning her plain shirt and releasing her breasts played out in her mind. Clearly the romance in the novels she blogged about were getting the better of her. She coughed and tightened her loose ponytail. “Why would Conner suddenly need to see me?”

“It’s not my place to say, Miss.”

At least he hadn’t mentioned that he was a prince and should be called that to his face. Under normal circumstances she would respect that, but he was introduced as Conner and her brother’s friend. She learned his title after, so it was hard to defer now.

A conversation with a real person might be nice. She hadn’t really had one in weeks, except on the phone to her mother. Olivia rubbed the goose bumps forming on her arms, and her heart surged even as her eyes narrowed. “His Royal Highness has left me alone for weeks and ensured I had bodyguards if I dared go outside.”

“We’ve enjoyed having you stay with us.” Mikel bowed and tapped on his suit lapel.

Her mind raced. Enjoyed. The past tense of the sentence left only one conclusion. “Oh, the threat is over? I can move back into my condo?”

With the turn of his heels, she assumed she was right. She followed Mikel out of her room, down to the hall toward the main part of the house where all the wings met. The palace  was far bigger and more opulent than any home she had grown up near, and there were plenty of glitzy, nouveau-rich-types wanting to show off their Miami mansions. No one, including her family, had anything like this. Life-sized portraits stared down at her as she and Mikel passed the triangular windows. The red carpet underneath her feet that covered the marble floor was thick and hushed all footsteps. Near the tapestry of a knight fighting a bull, Mikel pointed toward Conner’s game room. “Please go inside.”

“Mikel, you’ve been my friend. Thanks for everything.” She smiled and walked through the door he opened for her. Once she went home, no one would open doors for her.

The last time she was in this room was the first night she came to Montina Castle and Conner told her to stay out of sight in her room. In the days that followed, she’d had no sight of Conner and her heart had crumpled. At home, she’d at least not be in his house near people who cared about him, and dream every night he’d come through her bedroom door.

Mikel’s face flushed. “My job includes ensuring that you have everything you need, and I hope to continue this service to you.”

Not if she went home today, although it was late in the afternoon. Perhaps he meant till morning, when there would be a flight for her.

He closed the door behind her. She swallowed and glanced around the room. It was dark, but she could still see the billiards table in the center of the room and a card table near the window. She called out. “Conner?”

The footsteps she heard were obviously high heels and more than one pair. Staff wouldn’t send her to more staff and Mikel had said Conner had wanted to see her. She lifted her chin as the other door across from her opened and revealed two women with clipboards. One of them turned on the light switch and the chandelier illuminated the room.  Olivia stood straight and asked, “Oh. Who are you?”

Without an answer, they circled her like sharks, and the dark-haired woman with glasses boldly lifted a lock of Olivia’s hair. Then the other woman, the red haired one, snapped her fingers and said, “We’re with his royal highness’s court. Yes, without the glasses and with more makeup, you might be perfect. I will have dresses made up at once.”

“Dresses?” No. She avoided royal dinners and kept to herself as Conner had requested. She’d not break the rules now. Besides, it was better to nurse her schoolgirl crush out of sight. She waved her hands to ward off the glamour consultants. “Seriously, no. I’ve been keeping my end of the bargain with Conner. I stay out of sight and he keeps his promise to my brother by protecting me. I’ve not done anything other than stay in my room, as requested.”

“And charmed everyone on my staff, Olivia,” Conner’s voice boomed from behind her. She turned and saw him; his brown eyes were warm and deep and pools of intensity that made her trust him, plus his gorgeous dark hair and determined chin above a tailored suit that showed off every muscular contour.

The two women clicked their heels and left, but Olivia was too mesmerized by Conner to notice. What made the prince almost human were those sexy dimples of his and that brilliant smile. She could imagine if she closed her eyes and puckered her lips what his kiss might feel like.

He approached her, and the smell of trees mingling with testosterone that was unique to Conner wafted into her lungs. It made her ache for his touch.

“There you are.”

She’d been here, waiting for him, since she arrived in his castle, but she kept her lips closed. Fantasies were for when she closed her eyes, not real life. He stopped before her and she crossed her arms, scowling to pretend she wasn’t attracted to him. “Why did you need to see me and why are they drawing me dresses?”

Conner’s brown eyes mesmerized and had her imagining how safe she’d be in his arms. No assassin’s bullet from Maddox Murdock had touched her that night in the hospital where he’d stayed with her and kept her safe. He’d held her hand while she stood near her father, unsure whether he’d live or die. Not once had Conner complained at their sleepless nights in the hospital. He’d comforted her with a hug, and she remembered how amazing it was to feel the strength of his arms and the warmth of his body against hers. The look he gave now reminded her of that moment.

An older man in a suit waved at the prince from the door. Conner nodded and then placed his hand on her shoulder. A jolt of energy coursed through her as he gently guided her towards the next room. “Come. Walk with me.”

“Okay.” She stayed beside him without another word.

They entered what appeared to be a private office. Conner flicked on the lights and she saw a marble desk that made the American President’s look cheap. He closed the massive oak door and stood beside her near the window. She traced the frame with her finger and waited. He straightened his spine and said, “Olivia, we came to an agreement quickly. You’ve been staying here and out of sight.”

“Yes.” When she hid from the world with a good book, she was her usual self. The threat that had brought her to stay with her brother’s friend in the palace seemed miles away now, but with the suspect in prison without bail, it was time to go home. This must be his way of saying goodbye. Perhaps the dress was intended for her last night here. She lowered her arms and stared out at the lush green lawn. “I’ve been working in the suite you gave me.”

“You grew up with every comfort.” He turned toward her and leaned on the windowsill.

Oil had made her family wealthy, but that did not make them old world royalty.

He continued. “You probably also know more of the people I need to know.”

This wasn’t sounding like a goodbye. Her body grew warm, but she lowered her gaze. “I don’t know European royalty or anyone in the Mideast. If you need to know the American one percent, then I’ve pretty much met everyone.”

He reached out, touching her arms with a gentleness that belied the strength of his hands and she almost melted. “I need your help.”

“How?” Obviously, she would never refuse. Every night since she’d come to his castle, her Conner filled her dreams, not that he knew this.

“I need you to be my fiancée for the next few weeks.”

The world seemed to stop spinning for a moment. “What?” Pretending to be Conner’s fiancée might be the chance to wow him with her amazing personality—or it would be the death knell for her crush. She steadied herself against the nearby desk. “Why?”

“My kingdom cannot come to terms with the fact they have crowned an American nobody whose grandparents packed and left rather than lose their heads to a communist regime. My parents came here in 2002 and ruled for years, but now it seems it’s my turn.”

After the war she had heard of a few people regaining titles and lands that had been lost. Gabe had told her all about Conner’s background the night he had asked him to watch her. She swallowed her pride. If his parents retired, Conner, from what she could tell would be a fair ruler. He didn’t need pretenses.

“You’ll be a good king,” she whispered.

A smile grew on his face for a second. “If I portray you as my fiancée it will alleviate any concerns that I am not on par with the rest of the realm’s returned nobility.”

No one in his right mind would think Conner was less than perfect. Sure, he had a bad boy history of dating a lot of women and joining the US Marines at eighteen, but neither made him any different from princes of other countries.

She reached out and placed her hand on his smooth cheek. “I don’t understand. Why would I be able to help you?”

“There are many that envy your family’s lifestyle, but you don’t flaunt your background. The people who lived under communist rule will accept a sensible American heiress, and the returned dignitaries can’t object to someone like you.”

He’d be fine without her. She began to take her hand away, but he reached up and held it there. She held her breath and her body went completely still. If he wanted to kiss her, she’d let him, but she blinked and knew her affection was unrequited.

She stared into his chocolate-colored eyes. “I could just go home. Maddox has been arrested so you don’t have to protect me anymore.”

“Your brother wants you safe and I want you to help me. You can say no, Olivia. I won’t force you.”

Her brother, Gabe, hadn’t been sure who was after their family. He just knew they were all in danger. Unlike her sister who fought him about protection, she had gone upstairs, packing her laptop and a few clothes. When she’d come back downstairs, she’d almost tripped on her own foot at the thought it was Conner who was coming for her. He could never force her. She was more than willing to spend her life in his arms.

His explanation seemed to disguise some other agenda. He lowered her hand. She wasn’t stupid, but she knew he wasn’t being straightforward about why he needed a fiancée. “Why did you agree to protect me?”

“I owed it to Gabe for not revealing who I was in the Marines.”

Yes. She heard in the hospital from Conner the night her parents woke up about how many people in their unit were billionaires and princes. But Conner believed his friends were like his extended family, which meant she believed Conner must be the same. She nodded. “Please answer this one more question.”

“What?”

The truth? She swallowed and intended to press him, but instead asked the other burning question she had meant to ask when they first met. “Why did a foreign prince join the US Marines?”

He smiled at her and took her hand and placed it near his heart, but kept his palm on top of hers. “I was born in America and grew up in New York. I knew I was exiled royalty but that didn’t count for much when I was a kid. I joined the Marines to feel like a part of my country, despite the fact my parents became the rulers of Montina.”

“Okay.” She needed to work harder to ask the hard questions. In life she was always the ‘good’ sister or daughter who pleased everyone. Why couldn’t she be more like Scarlett who always said everything she felt? Now, she was about to agree to pretend to date the man she secretly loved because he asked her to, without a real explanation. Her older sister would never have put herself in this situation. But Olivia wasn’t her.

She swallowed and nodded. “I’ll stay a few more weeks and pretend to be your fiancée. I’ve always wanted to be a real princess.”

“Tonight, please accompany me on a public date.”

Pretending for him would be an incredible chance to take a photograph of him in his kingdom on her old fashioned camera and always remember these moments. It was better than a cloud that she’d never log into. Even if she married and had children with someone boring in the future, she’d have the picture album to remember the few days she had spent as the girlfriend of a prince. Not even Scarlett had done that.

Her mind raced. “I’ll wear something I already own for this one.”

“See you later, Olivia.” He kissed the back of her hand before he let her go.

Breathless, she answered, “Bye.”

No matter his reasons for needing a fake fiancée, she’d get to actually spend time with Conner. Olivia’s heart soared while her mind conjured a fantasy of a kiss on one of his balconies. Perhaps one day her dreams might come true. For once, she had a chance to find out.