Princess by Christina Skye

one star in an investigator’s report can mean thousands of dollars lost. Staff bonuses are cut too, which means big bucks.” She finished the seam and studied the effect. “What are you people doing here? Is this some kind of secret mission?”
    Jess didn’t want to talk about towel allotments and personnel evaluations. She was far more interested in her mysterious new friends.
    “Forget about us. I want to hear more about this retaliation stuff.” Hawk’s face was grim. “Has that happened to you?”
    Izzy left the room again, talking on his cell phone, and they were alone. “First tell me what you were looking for this morning.”
    “What do you mean?” Hawk said tightly.
    “You wanted to know where I’d put something—and you seemed pretty damned concerned.”
    “You must have misunderstood.”
    “I know what I heard,” Jess said quietly, holding out his finished jacket. “You were looking for something important you thought I had. It had to do with my laundry carrier.”
    He ran his fingers along the neat seam. “Drop it, Jess.”
    “More orders, Lieutenant?”
    “Call me Hawk, damn it.”
    Dishes rattled outside in the hall and Izzy reappeared, pushing a cart covered with dishes. “Quesadillas, steak, and fries. Stop arguing and start eating.”
    Jess took a deep breath. Both men were hiding something. Her sister would know how to handle something like this, but Jess wasn’t Summer.
    So she’d eat and then hit the road. She was smart enough to know when she was in over her head.
    “Explain to me again how this thing of yours works?” Hawk was demolishing the last of an exceptionally good quesadilla as he studied Jess. “You’re supposed to be related to the king of Monaco?”
    “Monaco has a prince, not a king. And I’m not necessarily from Monaco. It’s important to keep changing the details, so sometimes it’s Hungary, sometimes it’s Luxembourg, or maybe Spain. Not many people stay current on lesser branches of European royalty.”
    Hawk shook his head. “So people believe you’re some kind of minor princess when you offer them a bribe?”
    “The pink heels and pink silk suit help.” Jess raised an eyebrow. “I’m very good at my job, Lieutenant Mackenzie,” she said in accented English.
    “I have no doubt, and call me Hawk.” He eyed the food untouched on Jess’s plate. “Aren’t you going to eat?”
    “I’m working on it.” Jess was feeling edgy, though she couldn’t figure why. The weird stuff happening to her? Or was it this uncomfortable awareness of the commando type sitting across from her?
    “If you’re not going to have those fries, maybe—”
    “Be my guest.” Jess slid a mound of french fries onto his plate. She couldn’t eat, mostly from stress. Since she currently had six dollars and twenty-three cents in her pocket and not a whole lot more in her bank account, she was looking at a lot more peanut butter sandwiches and free snacks from the hotels she visited.
    None of which was anyone else’s business.
    “By the way, I meant to thank you for your excellent driving today.”
    “I still hit you. I should have been faster,” she said tightly.
    “It was my fault, not yours.”
    “Okay, you can take all the guilt for the accident.” Jess took a deep breath. “That’s one sweet piece of metal you were riding. A Husky, isn’t it? Four-stroke cylinder and electric starter?”
    Hawk snagged another one of her fries. “You follow motorcycles?” he said in disbelief.
    “Only Ducatis and Huskies. Nothing else comes close.”
    “You won’t get an argument there. I made some modifications on the motor, and the throttle tends to run a little high, but that makes for a nice edge off-road.”
    Jess swallowed, reining in her excitement. “You retooled the system yourself?
Now
I’m impressed.”
    Hawk shook his head, laughing dryly.
    “Probably you should tell me why that’s so funny.”
    “Because I can almost see you flying along in a beefed-up