Penelope had been delighted to discover her school tour was being led by her new friend. As they'd walked along the footpath between buildings, she had slipped her arm through Amanda's and said, "Are you really a PTA mom at this school? Well, that is absolutely wonderful! I'd been trying to think of a way to see you again to say thank you!" She lowered er voice and asked,"You didn't get in trouble because of me, did you? That Mr. Stetson seemed pretty annoyed when I explained what happened and what a quick thinker you were."
Amanda glanced over her shoulder at where Lee was pacing ten feet or so behind them. "Oh no, that's just his natural mood. He can be a bit of a grouch but he's quite nice really." She gave him a tentative smile, then wiped it off her face when he glowered back. Wow, I really am in trouble, she thought. He doesn't usually stay mad for a whole day.
"You really could have kept the sweater, you know," Penelope was joking with her now. "Perks of being a princess – you get a lot of free clothes!"
"Oh I couldn't have done that! It wouldn't be right when I was just trying to help you out of a jam."
"Well believe me, I really appreciated it and although my husband was furious, it was a lot easier to get him out of a bad mood and laughing again when I got to tell him about trying to get away from the McKinneys' new golden retriever puppy!"
"Oh my gosh! I had no idea!" Amanda was giggling along with her now. "Did he give you any problems?"
"No, but it made me scream a bit when I suddenly found a wet nose pressed into my hand though. I was lucky that didn't bring the search party down on me. I just gave him a few of the cookies and ran for it, before he could lick me to death."
"Well if you thought he was cute, just wait until you see the baby buffalo you have waiting for you at the National Zoo!" quipped Amanda.
"Oh goody, another one," Penelope answered, rolling her eyes.
"You've gotten more than one buffalo?" asked Amanda.
"Well, not specifically a buffalo, no" answered the princess, smiling. "But I do have a baby giraffe named after me and an okapi."
"What's an okapi?"
"I'm not really sure," admitted Penelope, giggling "It was kind of an antelopey thing with striped legs and it was very cute."
"All babies are cute," said Amanda and watched the smile dim on Penelope's face for just a moment, replaced by something more forced and polite and felt her own smile falter wondering what she'd said.
"Your Highness?" said Lee from just behind them. "It looks like we've run out of time for you to see that earthworm demonstration, we'll have to head back to the motorcade if you're going to make it to the Zoo on time."
Penelope's smile warmed again as she looked at Amanda. "No time for the earthworms? Well, who says prayers don't get answered?"
"Seriously, what is your problem? You've been in a rotten mood since yesterday!" Francine was standing, hands on her hips on the front steps of the Zakirian Embassy, glaring at Lee. "We are at a fabulous party full of the crème de la crème of Washington society and you are looking like someone just took your favorite toy! I usually at least get a crack out of you about blowing my clothing allowance, and tonight, nothing!"
Lee had the grace to look embarrassed. "I know, I know, I'm sorry! It's just there's something about this whole thing that's got my Spidey senses on overload and I can't figure out what it is. Everything looks right but it feels wrong."
"Your Spidey senses?" repeated Francine in a tone of disbelief. "You are such a pessimist! You sound more and more like that fairy tale, you know the one? 'Everyone says this bed of twenty mattresses is so comfortable but poor little Prince Lee can only feel the pea'!"
"Make fun all you want but there was a pea in that story, wasn't there?" Lee jabbed back. "And then Amanda got mixed up in all this and…" he ran his hand through his hair and grunted in frustration.
"What does Amanda getting involved have to do with it?" asked Francine in confusion.
"Really? When has a case ever gotten simpler from having Amanda King wander into the middle of it?" he asked her in an incredulous tone.
"Okay, for one, this isn't a case, it's a straight up security detail job and for two, how many times now has she saved your butt just by showing up?"
"That's the problem!" he groaned. "That's exactly what I mean!" He began ticking them off on his fingers. "Amanda wanders into a gunfight in a train station. Amanda wanders into the middle of an assassination attempt in a hospital. Amanda ends up working for an international gun smuggler and then a pervert who is just lucky he's still walking!"
"Wait, what pervert?" Francine tried to interrupt, only to have Lee sweep it aside to continue his list. "Amanda finds a kid on the street who just happens to be the key to an attack on national security and now, now, she's best buddies with a Crown Princess of an oil rich country because she met her at the grocery store and you're asking me why every single hair on the back of my neck has been standing up for the last twenty-four hours?"
Francine looked at him thoughtfully. "Okay, when you put it like that, I can kind of see your point, but I still think you're overreacting. I mean, we're all here, plus the royal couple's own security staff – what harm could she do?"
"Well, since she's not here – thank God! – none at all. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to knock back this really excellent single shot of Scotch whiskey and then I'm going to play my cover by going over there and hitting on that beautiful woman who just arrived." He waved his arm to where a lone figure in a backless gown with her back to them was chatting with the barman. He drained his glass, then stalked off towards the woman.
"Lee, that's not a woman, I mean, that's... You know what? Never mind," Francine trailed off as Lee walked away. "This I gotta see," she muttered happily to herself and began to skirt the pool to get into good viewing position.
"What are you doing?" said a voice in her ear suddenly, making her jump.
She turned to find Efraim hunched down peering over her shoulder in the direction she'd been staring. Francine slapped him lightly on his chest.
"Beaman! You know I hate it when you do that!"
"So what are you doing?" he asked, grinning.
"I'm watching Lee hit on a beautiful woman," she giggled.
"Haven't you seen that before?" he asked curiously.
"More times than I can count, but this time he's set his sights on that woman in the black dress," she pointed to the figure at the bar.
"Well, she does look very pretty, but why is that funny? Ooohhhhh." Efraim started to laugh as well as he finally realized why she was laughing.
The object of their mirth continued to walk around the far side of the pool, arriving just as the barman handed the woman a tall tropical drink with a beaming smile. He looked up and met Lee's eye who waved his empty glass and nodded. "Another Glenfiddich, please," he said as he admired the way the sparkled straps of the woman's dress accentuated the curve of her shoulder blades and the Zakirian patterned shawl that hung on her arms drawing the eye down to her tiny waist. Her hair was up – something Lee always enjoyed - but with a few tendrils hanging down that gave a hint of what it might be like if it was to come down later. This evening might not be an exercise in frustration after all, he thought, congratulating himself on having spotted her before any of the other men could.
"Yes Sir, certainly Sir"
Lee put on his most honeyed tones and turned to the woman. "You know, I never understood the attraction of those little umbrell-Amanda!" His jaw dropped and he thought his eyes might actually pop out of his head like a cartoon character.
Amanda turned and greeted him with her brightest smile. "Oh hi, Lee! I was wondering where you'd gotten to. I mean, not where you'd gotten to, exactly because I knew you were here somewhere and you were probably working or doing something for security, but I'd seen Francine earlier today and she said this was supposed to be a pretty easy evening for you guys."
Lee turned to look across the pool, stunned expression still in place and caught sight of Francine and Efraim lounging against the bar on the other side, laughing like idiots and toasting him with their drinks. He realized Amanda was still rambling; he barely listened as he looked her up and down, the strappy dress, the high heels, the party make-up, the plunging neckline… Where the hell had this Amanda come from?
"What are you doing here?" he finally blurted out, interrupting her.
"Well, that's just what I was getting to," answered Amanda cheerfully. "Like I said, the princess sent me this beautiful Zakirian cashmere shawl as a thank you for the school tour and for, you know, the other thing." She faltered slightly as he scowled then plunged on, "And along with that, she sent an invitation to come tonight and you know, it's just crazy because one minute, I'm out on the front lawn teaching Phillip how to do a hook slide and the next minute, I'm inside ransacking my closet looking for something to wear."
"Barely wear, you mean" he muttered then kicked himself when her smile vanished.
"Oh, do you think it's too much? I knew I should have worn the blue taffeta my mother suggested but I wanted to wear the shawl and they didn't go together and I don't have a lot of evening wear because well, you know, mother, two small boys, I don't get out much."
"A-man-da!" he finally managed to get a word in edgewise. "You look fine, I mean, you look-" he paused. Beautiful said the voice in his head. "Lovely," he finished with the slightly less enthusiastic adjective.
He glanced over at Francine who now had a slight scowl on her face because, even from a distance, she could tell he'd upset Amanda somehow.
"It's the perfect dress for an event like this," he went on trying to make up for his earlier stumble. "It's just that I was surprised because I've never seen you like this before, you know." He waved a hand up and down in her direction in a vaguely helpless way. "You know, dressed up."
Her smile had warmed again as he'd stuttered through the explanation. "I suppose that's true." She reached out to straighten his tie slightly. "It's kind of like a first date."
"This is not a date!" He had no idea why he'd blurted that out, but for some reason it made her laugh.
"Well of course it isn't!" she giggled. "You're working and you didn't even invite me!"
"No, but I did!" interrupted a smiling voice beside them before Lee could answer. They turned to find the princess beaming at them. She reached forward to kiss Amanda's cheek before holding a hand out to Lee to shake. "I trust you two are having fun?"
"Oh Lee and I never have any fun," quipped Amanda.
Lee turned to stare at her as the princess began to laugh. "What? Never?" she asked in a teasing tone.
"Oh never when he's working," grinned Amanda, "Mr. Stetson takes his job very, very seriously. I can't tell you how many times I've had to pick him up off the floor when he's collapsed from working so hard."
Lee opened his mouth to argue but finally gave a rueful smile in the face of the mischief in her eye. The princess looked back and forth between them for a moment before linking her arm through Amanda's and leading her away. "You, however, are not working, Amanda, and I'd like you to come meet my husband."
Amanda began to protest. "Oh, he doesn't want to meet me! He's a prince and I'm just a housewife."
"And my friend," said the princess firmly. "And that prince was once just a foreign exchange student who married a nice American girl like you so you just think of him as Rheza and it will all be fine. Don't be nervous, now come on."
As the two women walked away, dark heads together laughing, Lee shook his head, chuckling and raised his eyes heavenward, wondering how he had ever ended up with Amanda King in his life. As he did so, the sudden movement of a flock of pigeons taking off from the roof caught his eye and then the glint of the evening sun off something long and thin that looked exactly like –
"AMANDA!" he yelled at the retreating pair. "GET DOWN!" He had barely taken a step towards them as Amanda and Penny whirled at the sound of his voice. In that split second, he heard the shot ring out, Amanda's eyes widened in shock and then she was falling, pulling the princess to the ground as she collapsed, hand outstretched to him as he began to run.
