“You can take your apology and—”
“Cancel those flight plans, Ari.” My brother cut into our conversation. “Call and arrange for our personal plane to fly Ms. Allen and Luc to Las Vegas so they can take care of whatever emergency has frightened Ms. Allen. As soon as possible.”
“Oui, Votre Altesse.”Aristide bowed slightly andleft the room.
I turned and threw a hostile look at my brother. “Is that your way of apologizing?”
“Oui. I am sorry. I won’t interfere with your love life anymore. Or encourage others to do so, either. Clearly I have no clue when it comes to matters of the heart. And I happen to agree with Aristide. Ms. Allen is a wonderful person who deserved better from all of us.”
“Thank you, Bastien.”
“What the hell are you standing around for? Go get your woman!”
I shook my head at my brother, but I practically ran out of the palace to the car that was waiting for me out back. I spent the endless drive to the airport practically vibrating with tension. What could’ve caused Hannah to run? Did something happen to her family? I searched on my mobile for any headlines tied to Hannah but didn’tfind anything that would’ve made her run. Was it my family? Had things been so bad that I didn’t notice?Merde,this car needed to go faster.
As we pulled up to the airport, I called Dimitri. “Where is she?”
“I tried to stop her,monsieur,but she grew tired of waiting for Aristide. She’s at the Air France counter arranging her own flight.”
I ended the call without replying to Dimitri. “AirFrance,” I barked at Nicolas.
He pulled up to the Air France departure lane, and I jumped out before the car stopped.
“Monsieur!”
“Prince Lucien, wait!”
They could catch up. I had to get to my woman now. I tore into the departures terminal like a madman. Fortunately for me, everyone inside the terminal was more interested in their baggage and flights than the harried prince frantically searchingfor the Air France desk. Spying it about twenty meters away, with Hannah handing over her credit card, I leaped into action. I ran across the terminal and arrived panting at the desk just as the agent handed Hannah her tickets.
“Here you are. You’re leaving from terminal two. You need to—”
I plucked the tickets from the employee’s hand. “She doesn’t need these.”
Hannah gasped. “Luc—”
“Monsieur,I will call security if you don’t—” The ticket agent gaped as she apparently realized my identity.“Votre Altesse. Je suis désolé.”
I waved away her apologies. “Ms. Allen will not be needing these. Please refund the money onto her card. Is there somewhere private where she and I could talk?”
The attendant waved to the closed door behind her.
“Perfect.Merci.” I grabbed Hannah’s hand and pulledher behind the counter and through the door and into the tiny office beyond. I closed the door behind me with a bang and turned to Hannah’s pale, slumped figure. “What the hell is going on?”
Hannah looked at me with wide eyes welling with tears. “I was going to tell you. I swear I was, but when I got off the phone, I just lost it, and Aristide was there being so understanding. I just…I don’t…I’mso sorry.”
“Mon chou.”I pulled her into my arms and held her tight. “It’s going to all right. Whatever is going on, it’ll be all right.”
“You can’t say that,” she wailed.
“Oui,I can. Whatever is going on will be all right because I’m here with you. We’ll get through this together.”
“You can’t say that. You don’t know.”
“I can. Together—”
“I havecancer.”
Hannah’s tear-filled voice waslike a sledgehammer, shattering the image I had of our life together. Everything I thought we were building toward was gone in a blink of an eye.
