Command Performance by Nora Roberts Read Free Book Online Page B

overflowing as she stroked Alena’s hair. Grief filled the room, replacing disbelief. In a movement that had nothing to do with protocol and everything to do with compassion, he knelt in front of them and urged the brandy on Alena.
    “You have a sister,
madame,
” he said gently. “Would you like me to phone her now?”
    “My children.”
    “I’ll have them brought home.”
    She took a shaky sip of brandy. “I would like my sister, Your Highness.”
    “Where is your phone?”
    “In the office. Maurice’s office, down the hall.” She turned back into Eve’s shoulder and wept.
    * * *
    “You were very kind,” Alexander said when they were back in his car.
    Eve shut her eyes, leaning her head back against the seat. “Kindness often doesn’t seem to be enough.”
    He could say nothing to that. He’d felt the same. Why, when he carried the burden of power, was there so little he could do?
    “What will happen to her?”
    “She and her children will be provided for. We can do that.” He pulled out a cigarette. The taste in his mouth was already harsh. “We can’t heal the wounds.”
    She heard it in his voice, the bitterness tinged with frustration. For the first time, she thought she really understood. “You want to punish someone.”
    He lit the cigarette, then turned to see her eyes open and on him. “I will punish someone.”
    The way he said it had Eve’s mouth going dry. He had the power, not only in his title, not only in his birthright. If he’d been born a peasant, he’d have had it still. Maybe it was this above everything else that kept her drawn toward him even as she inched away.
    “When you were on the phone, Alena asked me who had done it. I had to tell her I didn’t know, but I know she’ll ask again, when the grief eases.”
    “When the grief passes there comes a hunger for revenge.”
    “You want that.”
    “It could have been my father.” For the first time, she saw his control slip. It dangled dangerously a moment, showing in the heat and fury of his eyes, before he ripped it back. “We are responsible to our country, to our people. Seward’s death will not be ignored.”
    “You believe the bomb was planted for your father?” She reached out to take his wrist. “It was meant for him?”
    “It was planted in his office. It was only coincidence that he was called away moments before the explosion. Had he not, he would have died with Seward.”
    “Then that’s all the more reason he should come home.”
    “That’s all the more reason he must stay. If a ruler is intimidated, his country is intimidated.”
    “Damn it, he’s your father.”
    “He is Armand of Cordina first.”
    “You don’t believe that. You don’t really feel that way.” The intensity was in her voice, in her fingers asthey gripped his flesh. “If your father’s in danger, you have to convince him to come back.”
    “If he were to ask my advice, I would tell him that to return to Cordina before his business is completed would be a mistake.”
    She withdrew slowly until they were no longer touching. “Bennett said you were hard, had to be hard. I wonder if he meant this much.” When the car pulled up at the palace steps, she was out before him. “For a moment back at that house, I thought I saw something in you, warmth, humanity. I should have known better. You have no feelings, because you have no heart.”
    He caught her arm before she reached the door. “You understand nothing. I’m under no obligation to explain myself to you or to anyone.” Yet he had a need to. The man inside the title desperately needed her understanding. “A man is dead, a good man, an honest man, a man I hunted with, gambled with. His wife is left with her grief and the grief of her children and I can do nothing. Nothing.”
    He tossed her arm aside, then strode back down the stairs. Eve watched him disappear into the side garden.
    For a moment she stood where she was, breathing hard, close to tears. She took a deep