The Prince's Secret Baby Read online

  She wanted the scent of him, the sound of his voice, the sweet, slow laugh, the feel of his hands on her, the touch of his mouth…

  She was totally gone on him. And he’d better return to her in a week, as he’d promised, or she would do something totally unconstructive. Track him down and shoot him, maybe. Not fatally, of course. Just wing him.

  At the office the next day, she got calls from a couple of oil company executives, representatives of two of the companies Rule had said he could deliver to her firm. The calls eased her mind a little.

  Okay, he hadn’t been in touch the way he’d promised that he would. But he was moving ahead with his plans to help her get away from Texas gracefully. That was something. A good sign.

  Before the end of the day, she’d set up the first getting-to-know-you meetings between her partners and the reps from the oil companies.

  Thursday morning at six-thirty, at the exact moment that her alarm went off, the phone rang. Jarred awake, she groped for the alarm first and hit the switch to shut it off.

  Then she grabbed the phone. “Hello, what?” she grumbled.

  “I woke you.”

  Even half-asleep, gladness filled her. “Hello.”

  “Are you still angry with me?”

  She rolled over onto her back, and raked her sleep-scrambled hair back off her face. “I could ask you the same question.”

  “I know I said I’d call every day…” God. His voice. How could it be better, smoother, deeper, just plain sexier than she remembered?

  She corrected him. “You said you would call constantly. That’s more than every day.”

  “Will you ever forgive me?”

  She chuckled, a low, husky sound. She just couldn’t help it. All he had to do was call and her world was rosy again. “I would say forgiveness is a distinct possibility.”

  “I’m so glad to hear that.” He said it tenderly. And as if he really, really meant it.

  “I miss you, Rule. I miss you so much.”

  “I miss you, too.”

  “How can I feel this way? I’ve only known you for, what, five days?”

  “Four days, nineteen hours and…three minutes—and you’d better miss me. You’re my wife. It’s your job to miss me when we’re apart.”

  “Well, I’m doing my job, then.”

  “Good.”

  “And I’m sorry,” she said, “that we argued.”

  “I am, too.”

  “Those two oil men called yesterday. I set them up with my partners.”

  “Excellent.”

  She hesitated to ruin the conciliatory mood by bringing up a certain princess. But she really did want to know what had happened. “Did everything work out then, with Liliana?”

  “You were right,” he said quietly. “I should have sent someone to be with her.”

  “Oh, no. What happened?”

  “When I told my mother that Lili hadn’t seemed to take the news of our marriage well, she rushed off to comfort her. Lili wasn’t in her rooms. Lili’s attendant said that she’d fled in tears.”

  “Omigod. She’s missing, then?”

  “No. They found her shortly thereafter. She simply turned up, looking somewhat disheveled, or so I was told, and insisting she was perfectly fine.”

  “Turned up?”

  “One of the servants found her in the hallway between Maximilian’s apartments and Alexander’s. She claimed she’d simply gone for a stroll.”

  “A stroll?”

  “That’s what she said.”

  “Is she friends with your brothers? Did she talk it out with one of them?”

  “Not possible.”

  “Why not?”

  “Max is with his children, at his villa. And Alex and Lili have never gotten on, not since childhood.”

  “That doesn’t mean he might not have been kind to her, if he saw that she was upset.”

  “Sydney, he’s hardly come out of his rooms since he returned from Afghanistan. But you’re right, of course. Anything is possible. Perhaps she talked to him, though no one told me that she did.”

  “But…she’s all right, then?”

  “Yes. She did end up confiding in my mother. And in the end, Lili promised my mother that she is perfectly all right and that no one is to worry that her father’s famous temper will be roused. Lili said she had finally realized that she and I were not right for each other, after all. She told my mother to wish me and my bride a lifetime of happiness. My mother believes that Lili was sincere in what she said.”

  “Okay. Well. Good news, huh?”

  “I believe so, yes. Lili departed yesterday morning for Alagonia. King Leo has not appeared brandishing a sword or insisting on pistols at dawn, so I’m going to venture a guess that renewed animosity between our two countries has been safely averted.”

  “I’m so glad. I have to admit, I was worrying—that Liliana might have done something crazy, that her father might have taken offense. And then, when you never called, I only worried more.”

  “I’m a complete ass.”

  “Do you hear me arguing? Just tell me you’re coming back here to me by Tuesday or Wednesday, as promised.”

  “Sorry. I can’t do that.” He said it teasingly.

  Still, her heart sank. She tried to think of what to say, how to frame her disappointment in words that wouldn’t get them started fighting all over again.

  And then he said, “I’ll be there tomorrow.”

  She felt deliciously breathless. “Oh, Rule. Say that again.”

  “You do miss me.” The way he said that made her heart beat faster.

  “Oh, yes, I do,” she fervently agreed. “I want to have time with you. I want you near me. Here we are, married. We’re going to spend our lives together, yet in many ways we hardly know each other.”

  “Tomorrow,” he said. “It’ll be late, around ten at night, by the time I reach your house.”

  “Tomorrow. Oh, I can’t believe it—and late is fine. I’m lucky to get home by nine-thirty, anyway. I’ll be here. Waiting.”

  “I have work to do there, too, you know. I have to introduce your partners to any number of excellent potential clients, so they’ll realize they owe it to you to let you go right away.”

  She beamed, even though he wasn’t there to see it. “I can’t tell you how glad I am that you’re coming back now. It will be so good, to be with you every day—even if I do spend way too much of every day at work. But I’m going to change that. When I’m through at the firm, I’m going to make sure I never again take a job where I hardly see my son, where I’m rarely with my husband.”

  “I do like the sound of that.”

  “Good— Oh, and I forgot to tell you. Trevor will be so pleased to see you. He’s been asking for you.”

  “Tell him I’m on my way.”

  Chapter Ten

  Sydney was waiting at the picture window in the living room Friday night when the long, black limo pulled in at the curb. The sight of his car had her heart racing and her pulse pounding so hard, it made a roaring sound in her ears.

  With a glad cry, she spun on her heel and took off for the door. Flinging it wide, she ran down the front steps and along the walk. He emerged from the car and she threw herself into his arms.

  He kissed her, right there beneath the streetlight. A hard, hot kiss, one that started out desperate and ended so sweet and lazy and slow.

  When he lifted his head, he said, “I thought I’d never get here.”

  She laughed, held so close and safe in his arms. “But you are here. And I may never let you go away from me again.” She took his hand. “Come inside…”

  The driver was already unloading Rule’s bags. He followed them up the front walk. Joseph followed, too.

  In the house, the driver carried the bags up to the master suite and then, with a tip of his cap, took his leave.

  Joseph remained. For once, he wasn’t wearing those dark glasses. But he still had the Bluetooth device in his ear. And he carri
ed a black duffel bag.

  Rule looked slightly embarrassed. “I’m afraid Joseph goes where I go.”

  Sydney spoke to the bodyguard. “I hope you don’t mind sleeping in a separate room from His Highness.”

  The severe-looking Joseph almost cracked a smile. “Ma’am, if you have a spare room, that would be appreciated. If not, the sofa will do well enough.”

  “I have a guest room.” She indicated the doorway at the end of the hall. “The kitchen is through there. While you’re here, make yourself at home. You’re welcome to anything you find in the pantry or the fridge.”

  “Thank you, ma’am.”

  She turned to Rule. “Are you hungry?”

  His dark eyes said, Not for food, and she felt the loveliest warmth low in her belly, and a definite wobbliness in her knees. He told her, “I ate on the plane.”

  So she led the way up the stairs and showed Joseph to his room, indicating Trevor’s bathroom across the hall. “I’m afraid you’ll have to share the bathroom with my son.”

  “Thank you. This will suit me very well.”

  Before joining Rule in her room, she tapped on Lani’s door and told her friend that Rule’s bodyguard was staying in the guest room.

  Lani, reading in bed, looked up from her eReader, over the top rims of her glasses. “Thanks for the warning—and don’t stay up all night.”

  “Yes, Mother.”

  “Say hi to Rule.”

  “Will do.”

  She went to her own room and found Rule standing in the bow window, staring out at the quiet street. “Lani says hi.”

  He turned to her. “I like your house. It’s comfortable, and the rooms are large. Lots of windows…”

  She hovered in the open doorway, her stomach suddenly all fluttery. “We’ve been happy here. It will be strange, to live in a palace.”

  “I have other properties. Villas. Town houses. You might prefer one of them.”

  All at once, the life that lay before her seemed alien, not her own. “We’ll see.” The two words came out on a breath.

  He held out his hand to her. “Are you shy of me now, Sydney?”

  Her throat clutched. She spoke through the tightness. “A little, I guess.” A nervous laugh escaped her. “That’s silly, isn’t it?”

  He shook his dark head. “Come here. Let me ease your fears.”

  Pausing only to shut the door and engage the lock, she went to him and took the hand he offered. His touch burned her and soothed her at once.

  He reached out with the hand not holding hers and shut the blinds. “I put my suitcases in your closet… .”

  She moved in closer. He framed her face. She said, “It seems like forever, since you left… .”

  “I’m here now.”

  “I’m so glad about that.”

  He kissed her. And the throat-tight nervousness faded. There was only his mouth on her mouth, his hands against her cheeks, brushing down the sides of her throat, tracing the collar of her cotton shirt, and then going to work on the buttons down the front of it.

  She was breathless and sighing, pulling him closer. He took away her shirt and her bra. He pushed down the leggings she had pulled on after work. She kicked away her little black flats and wiggled the rest of the way out of the leggings.

  And then he went to work on his own clothes, kissing her senseless as he ripped off his jacket, his shirt, his trousers…everything. She had only her panties on and he was completely naked when he started walking her backward toward the bed.

  “Wait,” she breathed against his lips.

  He only went on kissing her—until she gave a gentle shove against his chest. With an impatient growl, he lifted his mouth from hers. “You know you’re killing me… .”

  She put her finger to those amazing lips of his. “Only a moment…”

  “A moment is too long.” But he did let her go.

  She turned around and pulled the covers down, smoothing them. “There.”

  “Sydney…” He clasped her by the hips and drew her back against him.

  “I’m here. Right here…” She lifted her arms and reached for him, clasping his neck, turning her head to him so their mouths could fuse once again.

  His tongue plundered her mouth and his hands covered her breasts. And she could feel him, all along her body, feel the power of him, the heat. Feel the proof of how much he wanted her, silky and hard, pressing into her back.

  And then he was turning her and guiding her down onto the sheets and right then, at that moment on that night, she was the happiest woman in Texas. There was only the feel of his big body settling against hers, only his kiss, only his skilled touch, on her breasts, her belly and lower.

  He took away her panties and those wonderful fingers of his found the womanly core of her and she moaned into his mouth. He kissed her some more as he caressed her, bringing her higher, making her clutch his hard shoulders and press herself closer.

  Closer…

  And then she couldn’t wait. Not one second longer. She eased her hand between them and she wrapped her fingers around him and she guided him into place.

  When he came into her, she let out a soft cry at the sheer beauty of it, at the feel of him filling her. So perfectly. So right.

  He kissed her throat, and then scraped the willing flesh there with his teeth. And then he licked her. And then he blew on her wet skin and she moaned and pulled him closer again, lifting her legs to wrap around his waist, pushing herself harder against him, demanding everything of him, wanting it all.

  When he held her like this, when he worked his special magic on her skin, she had no doubts at all. She would follow him anywhere, and she would be happy.

  Just the two of them and Trevor. And maybe, if they were lucky, more children. Three or four. Nine or ten…

  She’d forgotten how many she wanted, how many they had finally agreed on. And what did it matter how many? She would love them all, every one.

  And by then, she’d forgotten everything—everything but this, but the man who held her, the man who filled her. The pleasure was building, spinning fast, and then gathering tight.

  Only to open outward, a sudden blooming, so hot and perfect. She cried out again, loud enough that he had to cover her mouth with his hand.

  She laughed against his fingers, a wild sound. And then he was laughing with her. And still the pleasure bloomed and grew. And all at once, they were silent, serious, concentrated, eyes wide open, falling into each other.

  Falling and spinning, set gloriously free: the two of them, locked together. She was lost in his eyes. And more than happy to be so.

  She whispered his name.

  With a low groan, he gave hers back to her.

  * * *

  She must have slept for a time.

  When she woke, he was braced up on an elbow, looking down at her, his eyes black velvet, his mouth an invitation to sin.

  She reached up, curved her fingers around the back of his head, pulled him closer. They shared a quick, gentle kiss. “It’s so good, to wake up and find you here. I want to do that for the rest of my life.”

  “And my darling, you shall. Now go back to sleep.”

  “Soon. Tell me about your parents. Are they angry, that you married me?”

  “No. They’re pleased. Very pleased.”

  She wasn’t buying that. “They don’t even know me. You met me and married me in like, ten minutes or less. How can they be pleased with that? I mean, I could understand if you said they were…accepting. But pleased?”

  “They know me. They know that I’m happy, that I’ve found the woman I want to be with for a lifetime. They’re relieved and they’re grateful.”

  “Well, okay.” She traced the shape of his ear. It was such a good-looking ear. “I get that. I mean, they were probably getting pretty concerned, right, that you wouldn’t marry in time?”

  “They were, yes.” He caught her hand, kissed the tips of her fingers.

  “But if you’d married t
he Princess of Alagonia, wouldn’t that have made them a lot happier?”

  “No. Evidently not. They told me they didn’t think Lili and I would have been a good match.”

  “You’d think they might have said that earlier.”

  “My response exactly.”

  “Someone should change that ridiculous law.”

  “My mother’s great-grandfather, who ruled Montedoro for fifty years, did change it. He abolished the law. And then my mother’s father put the law in place once again.”

  “But why?”

  “My mother’s grandfather didn’t marry until late in life. He had eight children, but only one was legitimate, my mother’s father, my grandfather. Then my grandfather had just one child, a daughter, legitimate, my mother. The family was dying out. My grandfather took action. He put the law back in place.”

  She laughed. “And then your mother obeyed it. She married young, brought in fresh blood and took her reproductive duties to heart.”

  “Yes, she did. And look at us now.”

  “Heirs and spares all over the place.”

  “That’s right. So you see, the law has its uses.”

  She frowned, considering. “There must be any number of ways around it. You could marry someone in time to keep your inheritance, and then divorce her as soon as your thirty-third birthday has passed.”

  He nuzzled her neck. “Already planning how you’ll get rid of me, eh?”

  She laughed, and caught his face and kissed him, hard, on the mouth. “Never. But you know what I’m saying, right?”

  “We are Catholic. The heir to the throne always marries in the church. Divorce is not an option in the church. There is annulment, but there are specific grounds for that, none of them pretty. And you have to understand. In my family, we are raised to respect the Prince’s Marriage Law. We believe it is a good law, good for Montedoro—especially after we saw what happened when my great-great-grandfather abolished it. And we grow up committed to the spirit of that law, to finding a proper marriage partner by the required date. My parents were good parents, parents who spent time with their children, what you would call in America ‘hands-on’ parents. My mother considers each of her nine children to be every bit as important as her throne.”