“Why not?”

“A princess in a swimsuit? I might as well invite the paparazzi to throw me on the front page of their tabloids.”

“We don’t have any paparazzi here,” Levi said. “At least not yet.”

“True.”

“What else besides swimming?”

Cassie ran through her various skills, weighing her enjoyment of each.

Before she formulated her answer, Levi added, “If you could walk out of your room and do anything you wanted, what would it be?”

“I like walking. Just walking.”

“Walking,” Levi repeated.

“The fall of my sophomore year of college, I got to spend a day in Tallinn, Estonia,” Cassie said. “I was on my way to Helsinki for a trade summit, but for that one day, it was just me.”

“And your security detail.”

“Well, yes, but while I walked around the old-town part of the city, they let me pretend I was alone.” She smiled at the memory. “I walked up to the old Russian Orthodox church, looked out at the Baltic Sea from a park above the city. I wandered through the parks and browsed the little shops. I loved it.”

Levi’s gaze intensified, and Cassie’s cheeks grew warm.

“Do you have a couple hours to spare tomorrow?” Levi asked. “I think you would enjoy a trip into Bellamo.”

“Is it safe for me to go into town?”

“I think so.” Levi reached out and tugged gently on a lock of her hair. “I would suggest wearing a hat and your colored contacts though.”

“Are you going to get into trouble for entertaining me instead of working?” Cassie asked.

“We’ll both get our work done,” Levi said. “We’ll call this outing a lunch date.”

“For someone who wasn’t sure we could pass as boyfriend/girlfriend, you’re sure getting into this charade.”

Levi twirled her hair around his finger, their faces close. “To my surprise, I’m enjoying it.”

Cassie’s heart skittered. “I am too.”

CHAPTER 7

After escorting Cassie to her suite after their ride, Levi made his way to the security office. Franco sat in front of the bank of security monitors, images of various sections of the grounds visible.

“Anything concerning?” Levi asked.

“No activity except for the groundskeepers, you, and your girlfriend.”

The reference to Cassie as his girlfriend illustrated that the gossip chain at the chateau was still alive and well. Rather than ask the source of Franco’s information, he said, “I’ll try to bring her up here to meet everyone when the shift changes.”

“How long is she here for?”

“Not sure yet. At least a couple weeks.”

“I guess her visit was a good reason to delay your departure,” Franco said. “Any chance you’re thinking about staying?”

Falling back on his latest cover story, Levi said, “My new job pushed back my start date by a month while they process the rest of my clearances, but I’ll be leaving when they get everything sorted out.”

“Too bad.”

“You’re stuck with me for the time being.” Levi took a seat at the empty computer station beside Franco. “I spoke to King Eduardo earlier today. He asked that we keep an eye on the stability in the region.”