aDo you know Iam in line to be the king of England?a he asked. He was so focused on Nick, he barely even glanced up to thank her as she handed him a glass.

aYou donat really expect me to believe that, do you?a Nick scoffed. Bingo. Ralph had gotten him to speak.

aItas true.a Ralph set his glass down on the end table nearest him. aWeare distant cousins of the queenas. In fact, my eldest brotheras an earl. And if he and all seventeen hundred and fifty-eight other members of the royal family die, Iall be crowned the next king. But you donat have to call me Your Highness. Ralph will do.a Nick was stunned. aYou want me to call you by your first name?a aI thought that might be a good idea,a Ralph replied. aYou donat mind, do you? You Americans prefer informality, right? Just do me a favor and donat pronounce my name the American way. Ralph,a he said, heavy on the L, then shuddered. aSounds kind of like the noise your dog makes when he loses his dinner, doesnat it?a Nick laughed but caught himself and stopped. aI donat want a tutor,a he said flatly. aI donat want to learn to read. Iave gotten along just fine without ita"at least everywhere but at that stupid school.a aAh.a Ralph nodded in understanding. aWell, then.a He thought about that. aIf you donat want to learn to read, I canat very well force you, can I?a Nick was completely unprepared for such a reasonable response. He didnat know what to say and his evil eye faltered.

aTell me then,a Ralph continued. aWhat do you want to learn how to do?a Eve felt invisible. It was really pretty amazing. She was used to being the center of attention but neither Ralph nor Nick seemed to know she was even in the room. She crossed her legs with a whisper of silk, but Ralph didnat so much as glance in her direction. Every fiber of his being was focused on Nicky.

Who had crossed his arms and was back to glaring at Ralph, chin held at a decidedly aggressive angle. aI want to learn to box.a The Englishman didnat hesitate. He didnat even blink. aExcellent. My brother and I both boxed at school. Between us we had two pairs of gloves. I can ask my mother to send thema"a aThere are gloves out in the garage,a Nicky informed him. aHanging on the wall.a aBetter and better,a Ralph declared. aHowever, since itas been some years, and since Iave never actually tried to teach anyone to box before, weall need to make a quick trip to the town lending library to get a book on rules and technique. What say we go now?a aNow?a Nickas voice cracked in surprise. aWell, sure.a aI wonder if your sister would drive us in that car of hers.a Was it possible head forgotten she was in the room? Eve cleared her throat and he looked over at her, his eyes dancing. He was enjoying himself. Head gone up against her brotheras evil eye and had actually come out of it sparkling. aOh, hello, Lady Eve. Unless this old place has its own library . . . ? a aIt does.a Even more amazinga"Nick was actually excited and letting his excitement show. aThere are shelves and shelves of books,a he said in his regular voice, not that angry and dripping-with-scorn voice, nor even that dead, flat tone he used when he was forced to be at least partially polite to teachers and tutors. aMore than you could count if you spent an entire week at it. And thereare ladders on wheels to get up to the top shelves.a aWell, then lead on, Nick old pal. Isnat that what you Americans call each other?a They went down the hall at Nick-speed, and Eve had to run to keep up. She finally stopped and kicked off her high-heeled shoes, but by then shead lost them. When she reached the library, they were already inside.

Ralph was on one of the ladders, showing Nick howa"if he pushed just soa"gently though, not with a great deal of forcea"he could glide all the way from one side of the room to the other.

aAny chance these books are in any kind of order?a the tutor wondered aloud as he climbed down to give Nick a turn.

aTheyare arranged by subject, fictionas by author,a Eve informed him. James Hertford loved his books.

Nick was riding the ladder back and forth now. aYouare the first tutor whoas ever taught me anything useful,a he proclaimed.

aThen weare off to a fabulous start. Tell me, if this were your library,a Ralph called up to him as he quickly scanned the shelves, awould you file Boxing under Boxing or Sports?a aIf this was my library,a Nick pronounced, aIad toss all the stupid books out in the yard and use this room for a theater. Or maybe a zoo.a aSee now, I like it just as it isa"as a library. Because even though Iam rusty when it comes to boxing, as long as I know how to read, I can find a book, read it, and relearn everything I mightave forgotten anda" Aha!a Ralph said, triumphantly pulling a book from the shelves. aA Gentlemanas Guide to Boxing. Just the thing! Come quick, Gentleman Nick, and show me those gloves anda" No! Iave a meeting in town with my new landlord. And I must pick up my trunka"itas coming in via train. I really just stopped in to say hello. Classes donat officially begin until tomorrow. Which is good actually. It gives me time to read this book.a aBut arenat you staying here?a Nick asked. aWith us? This place has forty bedrooms at least anda"a He cut himself off, the funniest look on his face. It was the first time in his entire life that head ever implored a teacher to stay.

Lord, Ralph Grayson was good. Nick was completely enthralled and totally unaware that the lesson head just been given had little to do with mastering the library ladders and everything to do with the mighty power of books.

aWhy donat you go dust off those boxing gloves,a Ralph told the boy. aIall be back in the morning, first thing. I promise.a In a flash Nick was gone.

Leaving Eve alone with Ralph.

aIam sure youare probably wondering whether Iave gone completely mad.a He was gazing down at the book he still held, but now he glanced up at her, amusement in his eyes.

aNo,a she said quietly, aIam not.a He smiled at her. Now that Nick was gone, she was the focus of all that energy and intensity. It made her heart feel as if it had lodged in her throat.

aGood,a he said. aI hope Iall see you tomorrow, too. I donat suppose you also harbor a secret yearning to learn to box?a Eve laughed, suddenly giddy with hope that this would work out, that this man truly was the answer to all of her and Nickyas prayers. aNo, but I donat suppose youad teach me how to sail? James bought Emily a yacht for a wedding gift, only she gets seasick, so theyare probably going to sell it. Iad love to go out in it at least once before they do and . . .a She was babbling. She sounded like a ten-year-old. If she didnat shut up, head guess that she wasnat twenty after all, and then she wouldnat have the power to . . .

Make him leave.

She didnat want him to leave.

But she would. Sooner or later, head get down to the business of trying to teach Nick how to read. And then even head get frustrated and end up calling Nicky stupid.

It was senseless to hope that head be any different. Because hope only hurt. It lifted you up, sure, but then, when dashed, it dragged you lower than you were when you started.

Hope stank.

aWould you like me to drive you back into town?a she asked as she walked Ralph toward the door, hoping he wouldnat notice the sudden rush of tears to her eyes. Maybe in the close confines of the car, if she gazed at him from underneath her eyelashes, he would try to kiss her.

And then shead have all the ammunition shead need to use against him.

aNo, thanks,a he said. aI have to get used to the bike ride, and anyway, itas not that far.a As if head just read her mind, his gaze dropped to her mouth for just a second. But then he looked back into her eyes and his always-ready smile faded. aAre you all right?a he asked softly. aI know this canat be easy for you, with your parentsa death still so recent.a Head said death. Head actually said the word, instead of trying to soften it up and make its horror and ugliness into something polite by using some asinine euphemism like apassing.a Eve liked Ralph Grayson so much, it hurt. aThank you,a she managed. aIam . . . all right.a Theyad reached the front hall and he paused, turning to face her. aI understand now why Mr. Hertford made arrangements for me to have lodgings in town. Youare almost unbearably lovely.a He didnat say the words as if he were only teasing. He spoke them almost reverently, as if they were the gospel truth, and for a moment Eve was thrown.

Shead never received such a forward compliment before.

What would her mother do?

Shead play it as if it were a flirtation. Shead throw out her chest, look at him from underneath her eyelashes, and flirt shamelessly back. aBy any chance, are you asking me to have dinner with you?a Eve said the words, but it was her motheras voice she heard.

And Ralph laugheda"the way men had laughed with her mother. Deep and rich and intoxicatingly warm, his laughter seemed to wind its way around her. And for the first time, Eve understood why her mother had enjoyed making her collection of men laugh.

aYes, actually,a Ralph said, aI suppose I am. Are all American women always so direct?a aNot all,a she countered. aJust . . . the interesting ones.a That was a line stolen from one of her motheras movies, right down to the little hesitation after the word just.

aSo will you?a he asked, his eyes all but throwing sparks. aHave dinner with me, Eve?a Oh, dear Lord. Was that enough? The fact that head asked her out? Or would she actually have to go out with him, too, to hold it against him later?

She wanted to go and yet she didnat.

Eve opened the front door, hoping he wouldnat notice that her cheeks were flushed. aIam making you late for your appointment.a aHmmm. Suddenly not so direct . . .a aMaybe you should ask me again sometime, when it doesnat seem so much as if it were my idea.a Another of her motheras saucy linesa"this one not from a movie, but from real life. Eve had heard her mother say it to more than one handsome man. Shead practiced saying it herself, into the bathroom mirror. This was the first time shead ever made it all the way through without laughing and rolling her eyes.

aFair enough.a Instead of going out the door, Ralph stopped right next to her, close enough for her to feel his body heat. He didnat speak for several seconds, until she looked up at him. aI donat suppose itas been long enough yet to qualify as again sometime . . . ?a Up close, his eyes were a remarkable swirl of green and brown. And while head clearly shaved this morning, she could already see the shadow of stubble on his chin and cheeks. This was not some mere boy she was dallying with. This was a grown man.

Wordlessly, quite terrified, she shook her head no.

aIt hasnat been that long since youave been out of school, has it?a he asked.

Again Eve shook her head. If only he knew . . .

aMe, neither,a he told her. aAnd, you know, I really miss it. I wouldave liked to have been a student forever, just always keep learning. But you donat have to be in school to do that, do you?a She found her voice, afraid head think her some kind of an idiot if she just kept shaking her head. aI guess not.a aThis summer, Iad planned to learn the history behind the caves here on Thanet,a he said, still in that hypnotizingly gentle voice, amaybe explore some of the Roman ruins on the island. I was looking forward to that. But suddenly I seem to have developed an intense fascination with the New World.a He was going to kiss her. Shead seen men looking at her mother the way Ralph was looking at her right now. He leaned closer and . . .

aWell,a she said loudly, stepping back, away from him, giving him her most blinding smile as her heart pounded. aSee you tomorrow, then.a Ralph blinked. And stepped back.

She knew shead confused the heck out of him.

Well, tough, because head confused her, too.

aRight,a he said. aUntil tomorrow.a Eve watched him ride away, down the long, picture-perfect drive toward town. She sat heavily on the steps, her knees still trembling, as she both dreaded and anticipated the coming day.

Seven.

SIX OaCLOCK.

It started as the smallest of sounds, over in the far corner of the room, up by the ceiling.

It was a buzzing. Just the faintest hint of a noise.

Then it got louder and it was accompanied by a small amount of plaster, just a dusting, falling from the ceiling into one of the bathroom stalls.

Osman Razeen glanced up, but then quickly looked away.

He thought it was a rescue teama"coming to blast them free and to blow Meg away.

Meg would have thought so, too, except that it was six oaclock, and John had done everything but flat out tell her head be back at six. Sharp.

aMeg.a It was John Nilssonas voice.

aYes.a Somehow head figured out a way to drill a hole into the ceiling so they could talk without anyone overhearing or seeing. Maybe head scrambled or altered the signal being sent via all the cameras and mikes the FBI had put into place. It didnat matter how head done it. It only mattered that no one knew.

aIam going to cut a bigger hole in the ceiling and come down,a he told her. aDonat shoot me, all right?a aPromise me the people in this embassy donat know this is happening,a she said, dizzy and sick from the knowledge that if John were lying and she believed him, Amy amd Eve would die. But, God, she wanted to believe him. aPromise me they canat see or hear this.a aI promise.a Her hostages looked startled. They looked at each other, looked up at the ceiling, looked at her.

aThen I wonat shoot you,a she promised John.

Whether or not she shot Osman Razeen was a different story. Meg aimed her gun at Razeenas heart as the buzzing sound started up again, louder this time. Her own heart was pounding.

This was it. The moment of truth.

She sat looking into her hostageas eyes, picturing herself being charged with first degree murder, thinking about the terrible gamble she was taking with Amyas life by not simply killing this man right here and right now.

It wasnat as if he were Mother Teresa. He was a terrorist.

All she had to do was squeeze the trigger and he wouldnat be a terrorist anymore.

He wouldnat be anymore.

But once John dropped down through that hole in the ceiling, once he was in this room with her, shead be past the point of no return.

Her hands started to shake, and she set the gun down on the floor. She was already past the point of no return. What happened to her didnat matter anymore. But she knew one thing for surea"if she were going to shoot Razeen, it wasnat going to be by mistake.

Meg hugged her knees into her chest, watching bits of plaster fall from the ceiling like snow now. But the main chunk of the ceiling was somehow pulled up and out, leaving behind a dark space that was soon filled by Johnas face and shoulders.

aMay I come down?a Head nearly always been so polite and well-mannered. Even when he was kissing her.

She nodded, unable to speak. She knew he saw her gun on the floor. He saw everything. He always had.

aWhatas going on?a the ambassador finally dared to ask as John pulled back and then lowered his legs and then the rest of him from the hole in the ceiling. He swung himself over the metal frame of the stall and dropped lightly, athletically, onto the tile floor.

He started toward her, and Meg couldnat stop herself.

She started to cry.

And John was there, down on the floor next to her, pulling her into his arms, onto his lap, holding her close.

aThey took Amy,a she sobbed.

aIam sorry,a he said. aChrist, Meg, Iam so sorry.a aWhatas going on?a the ambassador said again, louder this time.

Nils let Lieutenant Paoletti handle it as the CO, his senior chief, and Sam Starrett also lowered themselves down into the K-stani embassy menas room. Max Bhagat and several of the FBI agents werenat far behind.

He didnat try to do more than hold on to Meg, all but ignoring the murmur of voices as Paoletti and Bhagat explained the situation to the three former hostages. Young daughter kidnapped . . . Meg under duress . . . only way to get the FBIas attention . . . no one knows theyare in here . . . going to take them out through the ceiling, leave a tape loop running while they pretend to wait out the situation.

He sensed more than saw Sam claim possession of Megas handgun. Sensed Sam reach out to touch Meg briefly on the back in a vain attempt to offer a little more comfort.

Nils wanted to tell her it was going to be all right, but Jesus, he had no way of knowing that her daughter and her grandmother werenat already dead.

aIam here,a he said instead, painfully aware of how little that might mean to her. He tried again. aYouare not alone in this anymore, Meg.a She clung to him, and he held her just as tightly, stroking her hair, kissing the top of her head, wishing . . . Christ, he didnat know what he wished.

Maybe he wished that she couldave been in his arms any place else in the world and at any other time but here and now.

She wasnat alonea"to hell with that, too. A lot of good it would do her, to know she wouldnat be alone as she buried her daughter.

God damn it. Nils felt his own eyes burn, felt sick to his stomach, felt the awful injustice of a dead ten-year-old lodge tightly in his chest and make it hard to breathe.

He could feel Lieutenant Paoletti standing off to the side, giving both of them some space. But they didnat have much time. The Kazbekistanis wouldnat believe that Meg could hold her hostages and sit in the menas room under siege without food or sleep forever.

aI need you to be tough for just a little bit longer,a he told her. aCan you do that for me, Meg? Weave got a lot of questions that only you can answer.a She was shaking, trembling, but she somehow managed to nod yes. She released her death grip on his neck and pulled back to look at him, wiping her eyes with one shaky hand.

aThey kidnapped Amy and my grandmother,a she said. aThey said they were Kazbekistani Extremists, and that if I didnat come here and abduct or kill the new ambassadora"they didnat really care whicha"theyad kill them. Iam so sorry, John, I didnat know what else to do. They told me if I told anyone, if I asked for help, theyad know it and Amy and Eve would die.a Her eyes welled with tears again, but she wiped them fiercely away. aI didnat know what to do,a she told him again. aBut then I thought of you. I thought if anyone could get me out of this . . .a aYou did the right thing,a he reassured her. aCalling mea"asking for mea"was the right thing.a She looked over to where Wolchonok was unlocking the hostagesa handcuffs, her voice suddenly sharp with fear. aWhat is he doing? Heas not just going to let them go, is he? If the Extremists donat think that Iam still locked in here with them . . .a aItas all right.a Lieutenant Paoletti approached. aWeave got a tape loop running. On the surveillance monitors, both you and the hostages will look as if youare sitting here, waiting. In truth, weare going to be taking all of you out of here and over to a safe location. No oneas going to see you leave, no oneas going to know.a aThe hostages have agreed to remain in isolation in one of our safe hotels until we can find more information as to the whereabouts of your daughter and grandmother,a Max Bhagat added.

The two men sat down right there on the floor to talk to Meg. As they introduced themselves, Meg shifted away from Nils, out of his arms.

That was typical of hera"even at a time when no one would fault her for leaning on a friend. With her initial outburst over, she now had to stand alone.

aWhy donat you tell us what happened, Meg,a Paoletti said, in that soft-spoken, easygoing manner he had of making everyone around him feel as comfortable as possible. aStart from the beginning and take your time.a Meg nodded. She held her hands in her lap, gripping her own fingers tightlya"but even that wasnat enough to hide the fact that she was still trembling.

Maybe she stood alone because that was what shead always done. Maybe it was the only thing she knew how to do.

aI had to pick up some files for a translating project Iad been hired to do,a she started, aand Amy, my daughter, wanted to take Eve, my grandmother whoas visiting us from England, to the Smithsonian for her birthday.a Her voice trembled and she had to stop to clear her throat.

Nils could understand what it was like to want to appear strong, so he wouldnat take her hand unless she gave him some kind of sign that she wanted him to do that.

But there was strength in numbers, too, and he didnat want her to forget that from now on, she didnat have to go through this alone.

So he shifted closer to her, there as they sat on the tile of the Kazbekistani menas room floor. Just a little bit. Just enough so that his knee touched her leg.

And she didnat shift away.

It wasnat much, but it was a start.

Sam was gathering up his gear, getting ready to move to another suite in the hotel that had just become available, when Alyssa Locke came in.

Her partner, Jules Cassidya"the short, too-pretty guy with the bleached blond haira"was there with two other FBI agents, monitoring the tape loop WildCard had set up, making sure that any Kazbekistani officials could pop into the FBI surveillance room at the embassy at any time and see continuous images of Meg and her three hostages, still sitting in the menas room.

Even though they were all long gone.

aWhat are you still doing here?a Alyssa greeted her partner with a warm smile.

Sam didnat even rate a cold nod.

aI was just about to head home,a the little fucker said, abut my incredible ability to prognosticate told me you were about to arrive, so I decided to wait.a aSomeone called and said I was on my way over,a Alyssa interpreted, giving him another kickass smile.