There was no use squirming, she told herself. He’d very probably enjoy it. “You were saying?”

“According to your diary, the traveling is wearing. You’ve never been particularly fond of it, but you do it, year in and year out, because it’s necessary. Funds must be raised, functions attended. You work, Gabriella. I promise you.”

“I’ll have to take your word for it.” She slipped the rose back into the vase. “And I want to begin. First, if I’m to keep the loss of memory discreet, I need the names of people I should know.” Skirting around the desk, she took her seat and picked up a pen. “You’ll give me what you know. Then I’ll call Janet Smithers. Do I have appointments today?”

“One o’clock at the AHC Center.”

“Very well. I’ve a lot to learn before one.”

* * *

By the time Reeve left her with her secretary, he’d given Brie more than fifty names, with descriptions and explanations. He’d consider it a minor miracle if she retained half of them.

If he’d had a choice, Reeve would have gotten in his car and driven. Toward the sea, toward the mountains—it didn’t matter. Palaces, no matter how spacious, how beautiful, how historically fascinating, were still walls and ceilings and floors. He wanted the sky around him.

Only briefly, Reeve paused at a window to look out before he climbed to the fourth floor and Prince Armand’s office. A cop’s work, he thought with some impatience. Legwork and paperwork. He was still a long way from escaping it.

He was admitted immediately, to find the prince pouring coffee. The room was twice the size of Brie’s, much more ornate and rigidly masculine. The molding on the lofted ceiling might have been intricately carved and gilded, but the chairs were wide, the desk oak and solid. Armand had the windows open, so that the light spilled across the huge red carpet.

“Loubet has just left,” Armand said without preliminary. “You’ve seen the paper?”

“Yes.” Reeve accepted the coffee but didn’t sit, as the prince remained standing. He knew when to reject protocol and when to bow to it. “It appears there’s relief that Her Highness is back safely and a lot of speculation on the kidnapping itself. It’s to be expected.”

“And a great deal of criticism of Cordina’s police department,” Armand added, then shrugged. “That, too, is to be expected. I feel so myself, but, then, they have next to nothing to go on.”

Reeve inclined his head, coolly. “Don’t they?”

Their look held, each measuring the other. “The police have their duty, I mine and you yours. You’ve been with Gabriella this morning?”

“Yes.”

“Sit.” With an impatient gesture he motioned toward a chair. Protocol be damned, he wasn’t ready to sit himself. “How is she?”

Reeve took a seat and watched the prince walk around the room with the same nervous grace his daughter had. “Physically, I’d say she’s bouncing back fast. Emotionally, she’s holding on because she’s determined to. Her secretary’s briefing her on names and faces at the moment. She intends to keep her schedule, starting today.”