messages from you. Nothing. I lost hope.” And now she wondered, had the warrior prince been too ill to contact her? But if so, how had he gained custody of Nico?
Again, that pensive silence and then in a faraway murmur, he said, “I wish I could believe that.”
So did she.
“You said our relationship was nothing but a fling.”
He went still, his gaze somewhere in the distance. When he spoke, the word was soft and held no rancor, but it cut just the same. “True.”
Regardless of his fury at her for putting Nico up for adoption, the prince himself had never intended to return.
“I’ll go.” She stood and headed for the door. Aleks remained where he was.
As she started out, she heard him sigh.
“Go to Nico,” he said. “I’ll be there as soon I’ve dressed.”
CHAPTER FIVE
“S HE WAS SEEN COMING from your rooms, Aleksandre. What are you thinking? You’ve fallen under her spell again, haven’t you?”
“Don’t be foolish.”
Last night had rattled him, but his mother was already distressed enough. He would certainly not tell her as much. Sara in her white gown and flowing red hair had stirred his desire as well as his memory. When she’d touched his scars and looked at him with wide, compassionate eyes, he’d been sorely tempted to pull her into his arms and tell her every place inside him that hurt.
Thank heaven, he hadn’t. Her nearness was like a drug that addled his senses. In the light of day, he could better recall the myriad reasons for remaining impersonal with the lovely Miss Presley.
But more than this, he’d been rattled by her dogged devotion to Nico. Within hours after surgery, she’d insisted on sitting at his bedside, one hand touching his limp fingers, her eyes brimming with tears.
He didn’t understand this. He didn’t understand her. Why would a woman discard a baby and four years later behave this way? Guilt?
Once she’d breached Nico’s sickroom last night, she’d refused to leave until dawn. The boy was restless, she’d said, and needed her. He suspected Maria was partly the reason for her determined stay. Sara didn’t trust Carlo’s mother, an ungrounded reaction, and more proof of how misguided he’d been to fall for the American in the first place. She was the untrustworthy one, not Maria.
Maria was the most loyal person in his castle. Like mother, like son. Because of Carlo’s heroic sacrifice, the Prince of Carvainia would care for Maria all the days of her life.
The memory of Carlo, his best friend and bodyguard, brought both pain and gladness and dreadful guilt. No friend could ever be as faithful as the man who’d laid down his life for his monarch.
“Aleksandre, please.” His mother, his greatest ally, was unstoppable when she’d set her mind to something. Such had been the case when she’d rescued Nico from America. Such was also the case with the reappearance of Nico’s birth mother. Though grateful to see her grandson beginning to recover, the topic of Sara turned her into a nag. “What was Sara Presley doing in your room?”
“We were making passionate love.”
The queen sucked in a shocked gasp. “Aleksandre!”
He bowed slightly. “I’m sorry, Mother. That was uncalled for and untrue.”
And he desperately wished he hadn’t put the image in his mind. He was having quite enough trouble with Sara Presley as it was.
Thanks to her, he was exhausted, though not from lovemaking. He might be in a less cranky mood had it been thus. Other than carrying Sara out of Nico’s room kicking and screaming, there was little he could do last night but doze in a chairand wait for morning. When he had awakened at sunup from an erotic dream to find Sara still in nightgown and bare feet, it had been all he could do to escape the room with his dignity.
Suddenly, the door to his office burst open without the usual protocol. The prince whirled, on guard and ready for attack.
A harried-looking attendant cried, “Your Majesty, you must come. Nico
Again, that pensive silence and then in a faraway murmur, he said, “I wish I could believe that.”
So did she.
“You said our relationship was nothing but a fling.”
He went still, his gaze somewhere in the distance. When he spoke, the word was soft and held no rancor, but it cut just the same. “True.”
Regardless of his fury at her for putting Nico up for adoption, the prince himself had never intended to return.
“I’ll go.” She stood and headed for the door. Aleks remained where he was.
As she started out, she heard him sigh.
“Go to Nico,” he said. “I’ll be there as soon I’ve dressed.”
CHAPTER FIVE
“S HE WAS SEEN COMING from your rooms, Aleksandre. What are you thinking? You’ve fallen under her spell again, haven’t you?”
“Don’t be foolish.”
Last night had rattled him, but his mother was already distressed enough. He would certainly not tell her as much. Sara in her white gown and flowing red hair had stirred his desire as well as his memory. When she’d touched his scars and looked at him with wide, compassionate eyes, he’d been sorely tempted to pull her into his arms and tell her every place inside him that hurt.
Thank heaven, he hadn’t. Her nearness was like a drug that addled his senses. In the light of day, he could better recall the myriad reasons for remaining impersonal with the lovely Miss Presley.
But more than this, he’d been rattled by her dogged devotion to Nico. Within hours after surgery, she’d insisted on sitting at his bedside, one hand touching his limp fingers, her eyes brimming with tears.
He didn’t understand this. He didn’t understand her. Why would a woman discard a baby and four years later behave this way? Guilt?
Once she’d breached Nico’s sickroom last night, she’d refused to leave until dawn. The boy was restless, she’d said, and needed her. He suspected Maria was partly the reason for her determined stay. Sara didn’t trust Carlo’s mother, an ungrounded reaction, and more proof of how misguided he’d been to fall for the American in the first place. She was the untrustworthy one, not Maria.
Maria was the most loyal person in his castle. Like mother, like son. Because of Carlo’s heroic sacrifice, the Prince of Carvainia would care for Maria all the days of her life.
The memory of Carlo, his best friend and bodyguard, brought both pain and gladness and dreadful guilt. No friend could ever be as faithful as the man who’d laid down his life for his monarch.
“Aleksandre, please.” His mother, his greatest ally, was unstoppable when she’d set her mind to something. Such had been the case when she’d rescued Nico from America. Such was also the case with the reappearance of Nico’s birth mother. Though grateful to see her grandson beginning to recover, the topic of Sara turned her into a nag. “What was Sara Presley doing in your room?”
“We were making passionate love.”
The queen sucked in a shocked gasp. “Aleksandre!”
He bowed slightly. “I’m sorry, Mother. That was uncalled for and untrue.”
And he desperately wished he hadn’t put the image in his mind. He was having quite enough trouble with Sara Presley as it was.
Thanks to her, he was exhausted, though not from lovemaking. He might be in a less cranky mood had it been thus. Other than carrying Sara out of Nico’s room kicking and screaming, there was little he could do last night but doze in a chairand wait for morning. When he had awakened at sunup from an erotic dream to find Sara still in nightgown and bare feet, it had been all he could do to escape the room with his dignity.
Suddenly, the door to his office burst open without the usual protocol. The prince whirled, on guard and ready for attack.
A harried-looking attendant cried, “Your Majesty, you must come. Nico
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