“Unforgivable.” And then the prince chuckled. “Tell me, my friend. How did you find that little gift I gave you? Was she as sweet as you hoped?”

It took Coop a moment to understand what he meant, and then his jaw set in a most unpleasant way. She shot forward before he erupted. “Your Highness,” she gushed. “I’m so honored to meet you.” She fingered her zebra-striped sarong in a semicurtsy that would almost surely have amused Coop if he weren’t so pissed off.

The prince addressed her with a degree of arrogance that signaled he was doing her a favor by speaking to her at all. “Madam. I hope you’re finding my ship comfortable.”

“Oh, yes. It’s really, really super awesome.”

He returned his attention to Coop, already forgetting her existence. “Coop, sit with me. Our last visit was too short. Do you remember the Titans game where you fumbled on third-and-four? I was looking at the film, and it’s clear to me what you did wrong.”

Piper wanted to take his head off, but her iron-willed lover had himself back under control, so she went over to join the girl-women.

They were all legs and breasts, lithe and perfect, even without their heavy eye makeup, belly chains, and the elaborate manicures that left their hands as useless as the feet of aristocratic women had once been in China. They didn’t seem interested in talking to each other, but they responded to Piper’s conversational gambits.

Two were from Miami and the third was Puerto Rican. One had recently graduated from high school, another was working on her GED, and the third had dropped out of college freshman year. They hadn’t known each other until three days ago, when one of the prince’s aides had spotted them on the beach and invited them to be the prince’s “guests” for the week, promising them each a thousand dollars a day for their time. All three cast envious gazes toward Coop. She could see their curiosity about how someone who was neither lithe nor perfect had managed to attract his attention.

“We both like sports,” Piper said, as if that explained it.

“I like sports,” the one named Cierra offered wistfully.

“I thought it would be exciting being with a real prince,” the Puerto Rican beauty said, “but it’s kind of boring.”

“He can’t get it up without porn,” the recent high school graduate and only brunette whispered.

Piper didn’t want to hear the details of the odious prince’s sex life, and she decided to test the waters. “Coop seems to like him,” she lied. “He even gave him his Super Bowl ring.”

The recent high school graduate rolled her eyes. “We know. He brags about it.”

“Really?” Did that mean he hadn’t yet discovered it was a fake? Piper pretended to adjust her sunglasses. “He’s not wearing it. I guess it’s too heavy.”

The girl shrugged.

“He’s got small hands,” Cierra said.

“Small everything,” the other blonde said.

They laughed, as worldly wise as the most practiced courtesans.

“He put it on my big toe,” Cierra announced. “Last night.”

“I’ll bet it fit better than on his skinny finger,” the brunette said.

“He told me he’s going to have it sized.” Cierra yawned. “Like I care.”

Piper pretended to adjust her swimsuit straps. So, the Prince didn’t know it wasn’t the real thing. But the jeweler would as soon as he saw it, and he would certainly pass on that information.

The girls had fallen silent again, and Piper tried to sort out her thoughts. If the prince thought the ring was genuine, he couldn’t be the person threatening Coop. But the fake ring was still a ticking time bomb. Coop should have bribed the guy some other way, but no. Coop believed he was invincible.

She rose from the chaise. Wrapping her makeshift sarong around her waist, she wandered over to the men. She took pleasure in interrupting the prince’s lecture on how quarterbacks gave away the play by staring down the pass receiver, a mistake Coop had undoubtedly corrected before he’d left high school.

Coop had his game face on. Just barely. She touched his shoulder. “I’m going to take advantage of the gym. I’ll see you later.”

He regarded her suspiciously, but with lunch being laid in front of him, he couldn’t easily excuse himself to go with her.

As soon as she was out of sight, she bypassed the gym and slipped up the steps. At the top, she ran into a uniformed crew member. She smiled, one more guest exploring the ship. “I can’t believe you get to work here. Everything is so beautiful.”

“Yes, madam.”

“Is there really a nightclub on the ship? That’s so amazing. I’d love to see it.”

“On the third deck. I’ll show you the elevator.”

“Oh, no. I can find it myself. I want to see the salon first. Who knows if I’ll get a chance to visit a ship like this again?”

“As you wish.” He gestured toward the stern.

In the main salon, another crew member was vacuuming the largest Persian rug Piper had ever seen, spoiling any chance Piper had to sneak up the main staircase to the prince’s private quarters on the top deck. The man turned off the vacuum and nodded politely. Piper babbled about how fantastic the ship was, speculated on how much it must have cost, and finally moved toward the elevator. There was no button for the top deck, so she hit the one for the third.

It opened onto a triangular room with a small dance floor, a disco ball, and ocean views. A door on one side of the bar took her into a longer corridor, where she discovered a service door that connected the decks for the crew.

As her foot hit the first tread, she heard someone enter the stairwell below. She rushed to the top, moving as soundlessly as she could, and slipped out into a mercifully empty service corridor for the fourth deck.

A door at the end opened into a small kitchen. She passed through it into a dining room and through that into a room dominated by a giant television screen. Behind her, she heard voices. She dashed through the closest door and found herself in the prince’s bedroom.

It was almost comically overdecorated, but the ceiling mirror above the bed curtailed any amusement. Behind her, the voices were coming closer, speaking a language she couldn’t understand. She dove for what she hoped was the closet.

It turned out to be little more than a shallow niche holding racks of shoes. She squeezed into the tiny space between the racks and the door. The darkness was thick and claustrophobic, smelling too strongly of musk, leather, and something overly sweet.