He’d have sworn by her responses and words that last night had been special for her too. So why had the walls gone up in the light of day? And what had she been doing up so early after such a late night?
That was his problem. He didn’t understand women. He never had. Abbi used to tease him about it. But there was nothing funny about this situation—not after that threatening note.
“Annabelle, where’s your security?”
“Obviously not here.”
“I don’t understand. Why would you leave without them?”
“Because...”
“Because what?” He wanted a real answer. What was going on with her? She’d been acting strange all morning.
“Because you wouldn’t leave me alone. You kept wanting to talk about last night and I didn’t. I didn’t plan to leave the palace, at least not at that point and so I didn’t tell anyone.”
“You ran off?”
“No!” She frowned as her grip on the steering wheel visibly tightened. “I...I just didn’t stop to tell anyone.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
She took her eyes off the road for a second to glare at him. “No. It isn’t.”
Grayson sighed. “Okay. I guess I did push the subject this morning. I’m sorry. I just thought we could talk things out.” When she opened her mouth to protest, he continued before she could speak. “But no worries. Just turn around. We’ll be back at the palace in no time.”
Her lips pressed together. She didn’t say anything and the car didn’t slow down. Maybe she didn’t hear him.
“Annabelle, turn around.”
She eased up on the accelerator and the car started to slow down. He breathed easier. She’d turn around and soon they’d be back at the palace. No harm. No foul.
She put on the turn signal. So far so good. He glanced around. “What is this place?”
“It’s a historic landmark. It’s where our ancestor’s fought to maintain our monarchy and traditions.”
Any other time Grayson wouldn’t have minded stopping and exploring the site, but not today. When Annabelle didn’t immediately turn around, he thought she was just looking for a safe place to maneuver the car.
“You can turn here. I don’t think there’s anyone around to see if you drive off the road.”
“I’m not turning around.”
“What?”
“This is our destination.”
“Annabelle, this isn’t funny.” A feeling of déjà vu came over him. “Turn around.”
“No. We’re here and there’s something I need to see. It won’t take long.”
Arguing with her was proving fruitless so he pulled his cell phone from his pocket. He went to dial, but realized he didn’t know the phone number of the palace. And that wasn’t his only problem. There wasn’t a signal out here in the middle of nowhere.
He held up his phone and waved it around. Not even one bar appeared on his phone. This wasn’t good. He had a bad feeling about this whole expedition. A very bad feeling.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
THEY’D COME THIS FAR; she wasn’t about to back away now.
“Come on.” Annabelle got out of the car.