Hiding out with a Royal Billionaire Read online

  Hiding Out with a Royal Billionaire

  A Sweet Romance

  Sophia Summers

  Contents

  Read all books by Sophia Summers

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Read all books by Sophia Summers

  Read all books by Sophia Summers

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  Other books in the Vacation Billionaires Series

  Her Billionaire Lifeguard

  Her Billionaire Professor

  Her Billionaire Bellboy

  Her Love and Marriage Brides Series

  The Bride’s Secret

  The Bride’s Cowboy

  The Bride’s Billionaire

  Read all the books in The Swoony Sports Romances

  Hitching the Pitcher

  Falling for Centerfield

  Charming the Shortstop

  Snatching the Catcher

  Flirting with First

  Kissing on Third

  Her Billionaire Royals Series:

  The Heir

  The Crown

  The Duke

  The Duke’s Brother

  The Prince

  The American

  The Spy

  The Princess

  Her Billionaire Cowboys Series:

  Her Billionaire Cowboy

  Her Billionaire Protector

  Her Billionaire in Hiding

  Her Billionaire Christmas Secret

  Her Billionaire to Remember

  Her Single Holiday Romances

  Taming Scrooge

  1

  Brooks Politano and Skye Costas jumped into the clear, blue/green water off Spain. Bubbles rose up in a soft tickle on Skye’s skin. She breathed in her oxygen and adjusted the pressure in her ears bit by bit as she followed Brooks deeper into their dive site.

  The filtered sunlight grew dim and the water turned dark green and then brown and then black. They switched on their flashlights, descending even deeper. Skye squealed in excitement even though no one could hear. They were finally going to see the lost Voyager ship of the Spanish Conquistadors, the ship everyone had thought was gone forever. Brooks continued down deeper ahead and she followed. According to her GPS coordinates they should be arriving any second. Right on schedule the tall mast of rotting wood appeared below. Brookes’ head turned to her, and she gave him a double thumbs up. He’d been her best friend since they were kids. And they’d been looking for The Voyager for almost that long.

  The deck was old, rotting, green, with plants growing, but not too many. They were deep enough she hoped that more of the vessel would be preserved. They made their way to the cabins’ deck and hovered around an opening that looked like a doorway. At their feet, holes in the wood, showed a shadowed hull of the ship as their lights reached the furthest depths of the ship. “Do you think it’s in there?” Their radio communication held no crackle. It was a bit eerie in the silence of the depths until she heard his voice respond.

  “Only one way to find out.” He lowered himself to the decking and lifted two of the rotting boards. It created an opening wide enough. He slipped through and Skye hurried after. They sunk lower, into the bottom of the ship. The base was covered in thick green moss. They swam just above the bottom of the wreckage. One whole side of the wood on the ship had rotted through so as she turned away, her back was vulnerable to the black depths of open water. Her flashlight directed beams over the floor beneath her by inches. Brooks did the same. He swam at her side. They would search the whole of the ship, piece by piece. She lifted her beam up to the side, checking out the markings. Perhaps there’d be something left? So far, nothing. But she kept looking, alternating between the floor beneath and the sides all around her and then something caught her attention. “Look!”

  She swam closer, but Brooks kept searching the bottom. A black scar, looked like a burn in the wood had lasted the test of time. It was a circle with a line through it and then a triangle. She pulled a camera out and captured the image. “Fascinating.”

  “Come here.” Brooks’ excited tone had Skye at his side immediately.

  “What is it?

  “This is it.”

  “You sure?”

  “One w—”

  “Way to find out!” She hurried to his side.

  Brooks reached out through the rubble and dug through a large amount of soft mass. The water turned cloudy and green all around them. He pulled and scraped and dug through until his pitch ax clinked. They waited for the cloud to clear. The ax rested on something hard, something solid, and black. “Let’s clear the rest.”

  They cleared the top, revealing what looked like the lid of a box. Brooks dug around it, clearing the thick mossy substance off the side, revealing a latch. As they both peered closer, the insignia became more visible on the latch. A crest of the Mosqueda, an ancient Spanish name. Brooks’ eyes lit with excitement even under the mask and Skye laughed through her mouthpiece. Brooks pressed on his comm unit for the boat to send down a transport. And even though Skye was dying to open the trunk right then, she made a circle around the rest of this cargo area on the boat. They’d send a team down to do the rest of the excavating since they’d found the most important item already. But she wanted to take a look around first anyway. The rest of the cargo hold looked like a hold for humans. And the skeletons and the chains made her shiver. But she forced herself to check out as much as she could.

  Brooks’ light flashed at her so she turned. The transport from above had arrived. She kicked over and together, they shifted the box, nudging it free and slid it up onto the cargo platform. The motorized unit would take it back up to the boat. But not yet. They both wanted to be there when it was opened.

  Buried treasure. It wasn’t the monetary value which was supposed to be incredibly large. For Skye—and she imagined for Brooks also— it was more about the quest. They’d talked about the lost treasure of the Voyager Conquistador for as long as she could remember. They had played, ‘find the lost ship,’ so many times she’d lost count. And here they were, living their own legend. She couldn’t even grasp that this moment was really it, the one they’d talked about forever.

  She swam/danced in a circle, Brooks laughing at her from where he stood. Then the water rippled close to her cheek, as though something swum by, really close. Brooks was suddenly right in front of her, blocking her view and shielding her from something. “What is it?”

  “Stay very still.”

  His body was rigid, alert, his head swung around, looking in al directions. Her eyes travelled to the side he wasn’t blocking. A spear stuck in the side of the wood. A modern looking spread, one that had definitely not been there moments before. Her breathing sped up and Brooks must have noticed on her oxygen dial. He held a finger up and then held his mask close to hers. Then he winked. And she nodded. She trusted Brooks. She didn’t know how he would possibly know anything about being attacked by spears under water, but if he was winking at her, all would be well. He pushed buttons on the transport and then motioned for her to grab on underneath. She held on tight as the motorized cart started moving through the water. Brooks held onto its side and the two of them allowed the transport to move them up through the depths to the warmer and lighter water and then up to the surface.

/>   As soon as Brooks’ head was above water, he whipped off his mask. “Hurry!”

  The guys on the boat jumped into high speed. As soon as Skye was pulled up on board, the boat took off. Brooks stood at her side, holding her steady, but his eyes were once again searching the water all around them. Then he hissed and pointed. The other guys joined them and they began to talk to him and each other about things Skye had never heard of before. “The Green Dragons.”

  “I think so. It was their signature move.”

  “Why not do more? Why just the warning?

  “I’m not sure.”

  Skye shifted her weight. “Can we look inside?” Her smile was meant to lighten the mood. The tense faces and urgent tones were making her worried. She’d rarely seen Brooks as anything but professional and cheerful and fully capable to handle anything. This side of him shook her confidence.

  Brooks received some kind of communication on his phone. Then he smiled at her. “That, is the best news I’ve heard.” Brooks tilted his head toward the captain’s brigg and laced his fingers through hers. “They’ve got it under lock and key already, but I know someone.” He dangled a keyring.

  “Isn’t this your boat and your team?

  “That’s what I’m talking about. I know someone.” He shrugged. And she laughed.

  They walked faster. Skye jumped on the first step up the stairs then Brooks scooted past her.

  “Oh no you don’t.” Skye moved in front of him.

  When they got to the top of the stairs, they broke out into a full run for the door at the end of the narrow hallway. Brooks reached it first, but he held it open and let Skye go in first.

  “Ugh. I can’t even enjoy it.” But secretly she was grateful for Brooks’ chivalry. It was almost as if he were born with it. She’d always felt important and special to him even when they were scrappy kids, and she knew he’d just as soon have her eat mud as get the first cookie, he still offered it and still let her go first.

  His actions made her more courteous as well, and they both approached the trunk together. They knelt in front of it, the lock hanging, dangling in a tantalizing temptation. Brooks pulled out the lock cutters, a huge metal tool which he clamped onto the lock ring and squeezed. Too easily, the lock fell to the ground.

  Skye held her breath, and they both leaned in closer while Brooks reached forward and lifted the lid.

  At first she thought it was all corroded and gross because all she saw was green but then Brooks put on a pair of gloves and gently moved some of the green mossy substance aside to reveal the warm yellow tones they’d been waiting for.

  “No way! We did it!! There’s actually treasure in the Voyager Conquistador.”

  “Did you ever doubt?

  Skye reached forward and picked up a gold and remarkably shiny coin. “How does it still look so good?”

  “I don’t know. The sediment must have protected it from the acidic wood deteriorating all around it. And the water was cool. It must be more pure too because other metals wouldn’t have lasted.”

  “This is so cool. So what does this mean?”

  “It means. That the Voyager was right where we thought she would be. That she was obviously carrying wealth, and that…”

  They both fell backward and the trunk slid towards them a few inches. The boat burst ahead with a ton of speed.

  Brooks closed the lid and pushed the trunk forward to a closed cabinet. “Help me open the door.”

  Skye rushed forward and lifted the latch to open the cabinet door. Inside was a safe. “Wow, this is really lucky you have this.”

  Brooks didn’t say anything. But he slid the box forward and into the cabinet. Then he closed the safe, typed in a code, and closed the cabinet door after. He picked up his radio. “What is it?”

  “We’re being chased.”

  “The Green dragon?”

  “No, these look like local pirates. We might know the guy in the lead.”

  “Do we stop and talk reason?”

  “I don’t think they’re about reason today.”

  Skye felt like she was seeing a whole different side of Brooks. “Are they after the gold? And what was that spear all about? Who are the green dragons?”

  “So many questions. Which I will answer. But first, let’s just get out of this mess, okay, preferably without losing the treasure we only got to look at for five seconds?”

  “I’m so with you there. What do we do?”

  “Well, I’m pretty sure we can out race them, but if I know these guys, they will have people at all the normal ports, searching for us, and the boat and the gold.”

  “So we go somewhere not typical?”

  He tapped her nose which at the moment she found more annoying than endearing. “Precisely.”

  2

  Brooks tried to be reassuring, but the pirates behind them were closing in. If he couldn’t get enough distance between them, he’d never be able to go to port at all, a typical or typical. And he wasn’t sure what to do about it.

  They raced across the open waters which were thankfully clear except for a yacht or two with their sails up. Today would be a perfect day to put up their own sales, sit back on deck and relax into the swell of waves.

  The spear had been shocking enough. For the Green Dragons to even know where he was, know where the boat was…or perhaps he’d led them to it. At least he’d led them away now, hopefully convincing everyone involved that the ship had given up the last of its treasure.

  He hated keeping things from Skye, even though he’d been doing it since he was in college, it still felt off. She’d been a part of all of his dreams as a child, all of his adventures, and certainly she was very much a part of this discovery.

  “What’s that?” Skye stepped over to the windows. “Helicopters too?”

  Brooks looked up, alarm growing, until he saw the Spanish crest. “Ha ha! Atta boy!”

  “What? Do we know them?”

  “That’s Lucan Valdez!”

  “That’s Lucan? Himself?”

  “Well, actually I don’t know, but these are his birds and he’s come to scare off our pirates.”

  A loud speaker blared out over the water around them. “You are all under arrest for pirating in Spanish waters. Stop your boats and prepare to be boarded.”

  “Wooohooo!” Brooks waved out his window and saluted the helicopter. But Lucan stepped to the open door of the helicopter and signaled that Brooks too should stop.

  “What? Does he think he’s going to arrest us?”

  “Surely not.”

  Brooks lifted a phone to his ear. “Hey thanks for stopping those guys on our tail, man. We’re in a real bind here…You can’t be serious.” He pocketed the phone. “We’ve been asked to submit to a search and detainment before we will be permitted to go again.”

  “Do you think he knows something we don’t?”

  “I’m sure even knowing something we do, would merit a search. But it’s not like him to take it by force.”

  “I guess we are in Spanish waters.”

  “Yes, technically, but the sunken ship is not.”

  “But clearly it’s the Conquistador, a Spanish ship.”

  “But finders keepers. It’s an actual law.”

  “I see that, but Lucan and his wife, the queen, might not see things in the same way.”

  “Very true.” Brooks’ mind raced through a million possibilities. “Okay. The gold is safe where it is. But I’d rather Lucan didn’t know about it. Not until I figure out what is going on.”

  “We thought we were the only ones who knew about it at all.”

  “And we still might be the only ones. All everyone knows is that we came up in a hurry with the transport and they might have seen it unload something or they might not. But we have a great alibi in that a spear was thrown at your head.”

  “It was!”

  “Well, not exactly your head, it missed.”

  Skye didn’t look so good. Maybe everything at once was too mu
ch for her.

  “I’m glad you’re amused by my near death experience.” She whirled away from the window and away from Brooks. “I want you to know I’ve noticed what’s going on. And don’t think I haven’t seen some serious holes in your story. I’m expecting an explanation as soon as we figure all this out.”

  “On my honor. I’ll answer whatever questions you have.” Hopefully she wouldn’t know which ones to ask.

  The boat slowed and Brooks was grateful to see they had stayed significantly further away from the other boats. There was no way he was going to let Lucan’s interference put them in a risky position with the pirates. He spoke into his comm. “Keep an eye on them.”

  “Roger that.”

  The helicopter circled low and soon they were joined by boats from the Spanish shore.

  Skye wrung her hands together and started pacing.

  “Hey now, come on. It’s Lucan. We know him. Our parents were friends. And besides, he’s part of the Prince’s Society.”

  “Now’s not a good time to mention that’s a completely sexist group, is it?”

  “Not a good time, but I’m happy to address it later.”

  “Fine. Okay, but so what if it’s Lucan. Something is off here, and you’re not telling me everything. One of our oldest friends is circling above us in a helicopter. Do we know who we can trust? Your men? Lucan’s men? Those guys in the boats?”

  “I’m gonna go with a definite no on the guys in the boats. But my men? Lucan’s men? I’m pretty sure we can trust them. No one is one hundred percent trust worthy, except maybe you.” The truth of it sunk in. Skye was one of the few people he trusted implicitly.