“The one in Norway that scares you shitless even looking at it?”

“That’s the one.” Another breath. “I’m going to hike up there and see it.”

“Why? You’re terrified of skyscrapers, and that’s a whole lot higher. What are you trying to prove, Alexis?”

There it was, the thing her sister didn’t understand. Avery had been scared enough of losing her ability to have biological children that she took matters into her own hands and made life mold to her expectations. There was no obstacle she couldn’t look at and figure out a way to overcome.

Alexis had never had that kind of courage. No, that wasn’t true. She’d been downright fearless growing up. But then Mom died and everything changed. Her dad did the best he could, but he wasn’t Mom. And then Yé-yé and Nâinai moved in and took over.

Some days she felt like she’d just been going through the motions since then. She needed this, needed a reset button, to get her life figured out so she didn’t go to her deathbed wishing she’d made different choices. The first step had been Ireland with its magic and population that was so in love with life, it was hard for some of it not to rub off on her. Just like Mom had described.

Next, it was time to face her fears. If there was nothing left to be afraid of, maybe she could start to reclaim her life the way their mother would have wanted her to. She’d spent so long dancing to other people’s tunes, it was a foreign concept.

Alexis bit her lip. It wasn’t about proving something. It was about reclaiming herself. She couldn’t set that aside, even for her sister. “I love you, Avery. Give Drew a kiss for me. I’ll call in a few days or a week or something.” She hung up before her sister could say anything else. There was nothing to say. The decision had already been made. She was here, and she was going to see this through.

Luke woke up to the sound of his satellite phone ringing. He rolled over, reaching for Alexis and coming up empty. Only then did he open his eyes. Empty bed, empty room, open door to a dark bathroom. She was gone. And he had no idea where she was staying, so it wasn’t like he could camp out in front of her hotel and wait for the princess to show herself. He’d well and truly fucked up. “Shit.” He rolled back over and grabbed the phone. “Yeah?”

“Where the hell are you?”

Flannery. He closed his eyes and collapsed back onto the bed. “You know where I am. You’re the one who booked my ticket.” And now he had to admit that he’d had a line on Alexis and let her get away because he was too tired from fucking her all night to wake up when she slipped out.

On second thought, maybe he’d leave out that last part.

“And now you’re making jokes.”

Because he didn’t have it in him to do much else. Every part of his body hurt from the hike yesterday and what he’d done to Alexis last night. He wanted to roll over and go back to sleep for a few hours, but that wasn’t in the itinerary—not when she’d ghosted on him. “I lost her.”

“No shit. I knew that before you did, apparently.”

He opened his eyes. Flannery knew where she was? What the hell had changed between yesterday when they’d only known she booked a flight for Cork and now? “How?”

“She called her sister. They only talked for a few minutes, but it was enough for her to let us know where she’s headed.”

That got him moving. Luke stood, and flinched when his knee voiced a protest. Stupid goddamn injury. He wouldn’t let it slow him down. He couldn’t. “Tell me.”

“Look, I wouldn’t have asked you to do this if I thought you couldn’t handle it. But…what the hell happened?”

What happened was that he’d been assaulted, and then turned around and lost his head over this woman. It crossed his mind that she was onto why he was here and had played him, but he dismissed the thought. If she knew he’d been sent to keep her safe, she would have given him a piece of her mind and told him where to shove it. That said, he wasn’t about to tell Flannery how badly he’d botched protection duty. “She just got away from me. Where is she headed?”

Flannery hesitated so long, he was half sure the man would call him off the whole mission. “Norway.”

The problem with Europe was that it had far too many places within easy reach. He had a list of destinations where Avery thought her sister might go, but nothing more than his best guess at the order. Norway hadn’t even been on the fucking list. “What the hell is she after in Norway?”

“Ever hear of Pulpit Rock? It’s called Preikestolen locally.”

No, but he was about to get educated. “Why wasn’t this on the list of possible places she’d go?”

“Because it’s a goddamn mountain, and her sister is afraid of heights.”

More self-discovery shit? Of course. “Where do I need to fly in?”

“Stavanger.”

Good enough. He’d read up on his way. “I’ll be on the next flight out.”

“Thanks, man.” Again, a hesitation. “Thank you for doing this. We’re all really worried about her.”

Which only drove home that there was something Flannery wasn’t telling him. She might be a princess, but he still had a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that she knew she had people worried sick about her, and she’d just dropped everything and taken off. Normal people planned a trip like this, gave their family an itinerary with the expected day they’d be back, and then flew to Europe.

He hesitated, torn between wanting to know what the hell was going on and not wanting to waste any more time on this phone call. “You didn’t tell me a whole lot about her when you called for help.” And he’d owed Flannery enough that he hadn’t bothered to ask. Now Luke was wondering if that had been a mistake.

“She’s important to us, and we’re worried about her. I wasn’t aware you needed a goddamn profile.”

He didn’t, not if his only goal was to keep her safe. He shoved down his irritation. Mostly. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll keep her out of trouble.” He hung up.

Yeah, he’d keep her out of trouble, but she was going to get an earful when he found her. Who the hell did she think she was, bouncing out on him like he was some kind of dirty one-night stand?

The fact that she’d been up-front about calling them exactly that didn’t change a damn thing.

Luke stopped next to the dresser, his gaze falling to the piece of paper there. There was no explanation, no way to get a hold of her, just a hastily written, You gave me back a piece of what I was looking for. Thank you. Yet another indication that he was swimming in deep waters, and no one had thought to warn him that there were sharks about. What the hell is she running from? He frowned at the note. Or running toward? He wanted to rip it up and flush it down the toilet, but he stuffed it in his pocket instead.

He had a plane to Norway to catch.

Chapter Seven

Two motherfucking miles. Luke cursed again as his knee cried out. Two miles up. Because apparently Alexis the Princess simply had to climb to the top of a goddamn cliff and stare off it. Maybe she was calling in the birds from the area to do her cleaning à la her Disney counterparts, or she just wanted to feel closer to nature, but Christ, she could do either of those things on flat ground that didn’t require him to bust his ass up a path…

He stumbled to a stop, looked up…and kept looking. “You have got to be fucking with me.” The path turned into a goddamn mountain, so steep he’d have to use both his feet and his hands to climb, and it was riddled with boulders. He’d be lucky if he made it to the top without spraining an ankle.

This all could have been bypassed if he’d caught an earlier flight. But the early one—the same one he suspected Alexis was on out of Cork—had already left by the time he made it to the airport. So he was stuck with the evening flight. By the time he made it to Stavanger, it was well past dinnertime, and he had no idea where she would have picked to spend the night. The helpful stewardess had told him that the hike to Pulpit Rock—or Preikestolen as most people called it—was an all-day event. So at least he’d been spared from chasing after her in the dark.