Pregnant with the Prince's Child by Raye Morgan Page B

“What’s that burned-out house behind it?”
    He didn’t answer for a moment and she realized that he was too emotional to speak at first. Then he cleared his throat and said, “That was my mother’s Victorian tea house. She loved having her friends over for high tea. They would sit on the little porch and watch the ducks and eat their watercress sandwiches and sip their Darjeeling. Nothing made her happier.”
    She hesitated to ask when he was so affected by it, but her curiosity was running wild. “What happened to it?”
    He took a deep breath. “Long story. Bottom line, enemies of my father burned it down.”
    How awful. “What? Why would anyone do such a thing?”
    “There are bad people in this world, Janis.” He touched her cheek again, but playfully this time. “Stay away from them if you can.”
    “I try to. Were your parents hurt?”
    He looked at her in surprise, then smiled. “This happened years ago. My father left it that way as a reminder.”
    “I see.” Though she didn’t, not really.
    He stood brooding over the view for a few more minutes, and she waited, not wanting to break into his reverie.
    “Okay, here’s what happened,” he said at last, as though he just couldn’t hold it in any longer. He reached out to use her shoulder, leaning on her as though his legs were getting tired. “Well, my father made some bad decisions. Kylos got into some trouble. He was always getting into trouble, but this time it was really bad. My father needed money fast, but times were tight, and he couldn’t find anyone who could lend him that much. So in the end, he had to turn to the mob.”
    At the sound of that three-letter word, disbelief filled her. This couldn’t be happening. She’d never heard a whisper of it. Her heart turned to stone and something deep inside her began to pray. Please, please, please, don’t let it be the Gorgonios.
    “It was a lot of money and he couldn’t pay it back. He went into hiding for a long time. My poor, tiny little mother had to fend for herself.” Anger began to boil up in him. “The police could keep the mob from hurting her, but they couldn’t keep them from ruining her financially. She was just barely able to hold on to the house. But in the meantime, they did burn down my mother’s tea house, just to make sure we knew they were serious.”
    She murmured something, hoping it sounded sympathetic, but there was a loud buzzing in her ears. Was she going to faint?
    “Everyone knows what happens when you don’t pay off your loan in time to a member of the mob. They ruin your life or they break your legs.” His laugh was humorless. “My father was lucky. He still has his legs. He finally pulled together the resources from some old friends and came back, paid off the loan and eventually all was well. But it took him years to get back into shape as far as money went and it broke their health in the meantime. And so they finally gave up and went overseas to live.”
    “Oh.” It sounded to her as if she were drowning, but he didn’t seem to notice. He was caught up in his story.
    He looked at her and suddenly his hand slipped around her shoulders, pulling her in close. “I guess you know that in Ambria, the mob means the Gorgonios. Luckily, I recently heard that most of the family is in prison. Especially Max Gorgonio, the lousy bastard. I say don’t rest until you get them all behind bars.”
    She could hardly breathe. Would he still want her if he knew she was one of them? She flailed about fruitlessly, trying to find a way to change the subject. Turning toward him, she was horrified and confused, and he took her emotion to be something very different. Softly, slowly, he kissed her lips, and she found herself curling in against his warm body, hungering for more, yearning for the strength and protection he could provide.
    “Oh, Mykal,” she whispered so softly he couldn’t hear. “If you only knew…”
    “Sorry,” he murmured as he pulled back.