by Abby Green
The palace staff set right to work unpacking and putting everything away. In no time, that job was done and the soft-spoken, efficient maids had vanished. Lani retreated to her room at one end of the apartment, probably to work on her novel or jot down her first impressions of Montedoro in her journal. Trev sat on a glorious red rug in the sitting room playing with his plastic blocks, and Rule was off somewhere conferring with his private secretary, Caroline.
For a while, Sydney leaned on the carved stone balcony railing, the doors to the sitting room wide open behind her, and stared out at the boats floating on the impossibly blue sea. There was a soft breeze, like the lightest brush of silk against her skin. She felt tempted to pinch herself. It almost seemed like a dream that they were actually here, in Montedoro, at last.
And it got even better. Her period was now almost three weeks late. She had no morning sickness, but she’d had none with Trev, either. What she did have were breasts.
They weren’t huge or anything, but they were definitely fuller, and more sensitive than usual. That was the same as with Trev, too.
Another baby. She put her hand against her flat stomach, the way mothers had been doing since the beginning of time. Another baby. When she’d had Trevor, she’d told herself to be grateful for one. And she had been. So very grateful.
But now, well, she was pretty much positive she would be having her second. Incredible. Talk about impossible dreams coming true.
She’d bought a home test the week before. And today, as she leaned on the stone railing and admired the sea, she was thinking it was about time to take the test.
And about time to tell Rule that their family was growing.
“Mama! Come. Play …”
She turned to smile at her son, who had stacked several brightly colored blocks into a rickety tower and waved two more at her, one in each chubby hand. “All right, sweetheart. Let’s play.” She went and sat on the rug with him.
“Here, Mama.” He handed her a drool-covered block. Lately, as his back teeth came in, anything he got his little hands on ended up with drool on it.
“Thank you.” She wiped the drool off on her jeans and hooked the block at the base of his tower. As long as she was helping, she might as well improve the stability a tad.
A few moments later, Rule appeared. Trev cried his name in sheer delight, “Roo!” And he came right over and scooped him high into his big arms. “Roo, we play blocks!”
“I can see that. Quite a fine tower you have there.”
“Mama helps.”
“Oh, yes, she does.” Rule gave her a smile. Her heart did a couple of somersaults. “My parents are impatient to meet you.”
“I’m eager to meet them.” She gazed up at him from her cross-legged seat on the red rug and wondered if there was a woman alive as fortunate as she. At the same time, she was just a little nervous to be meeting his mom and dad, aka Their Highnesses, for the first time. “But maybe I need a few tips on palace protocol first….”
He shook his head as he kissed the fingers that Trev was trying to stick into his mouth. “We’re invited to their private apartment at six. We’ll visit, you’ll get to know them a little. Then we’ll have an early meal. There will be no ceremony, no protocol to observe. Just the family. Just us. Together.”
“Perfect,” she said.
“I knew you would think so.” He asked Trev, “How about you, young man? Ready to meet your new grandpa and grandma?”
Trev beamed. “Yes!”
The sovereign’s apartments were larger than Rule’s, but even the private foyer had a welcoming quality about it. She got the sense that real people lived there. The floor was marble, inlaid with ebony and jade, and the chandelier was a fabulous creation of ironwork and crystal. But the hall table had a bowl filled with shells on it and a family photo taken outside, beneath the wide-spreading branches of a gnarled oak tree. Sydney barely had time to pick out a much-younger Rule from the nine children arrayed at the feet of the two handsome dark-haired parents, before the thin, severe-looking woman who had opened the door to them was leading them on, down a hallway lined with oil portraits of princely relatives, the men wearing uniforms loaded down with ribbons and medals and the women resplendent in fancy ball gowns and glittering tiaras.
Rule had hold of Sydney’s hand. He carried Trev high against his chest on his other arm. As they approached the end of the hall, he squeezed her fingers. She sent him a smile and squeezed back, all too aware of the fluttery, anxious sensation in her stomach.
The hallway ended at a sitting room. The tall woman nodded and left them. The same dark-haired man and woman as in the picture in the foyer rose from a matched pair of gold-trimmed velvet chairs to greet them.
“At last,” said the woman, who was tall, full-figured and quite beautiful. She seemed ageless to Sydney. She could have been anywhere from forty to sixty. She had the eyes of an Egyptian goddess and a wide, radiantly smiling mouth. “Come. Come to me.” She held out slender arms.
Sydney might have stood there, gaping in admiration at Rule’s mom forever. Luckily, he still had her hand. He started forward and she went with him.
Then, all at once, they were there.
Rule said, “Mother. Father. This is Sydney, my wife.”
And then Rule’s mom was reaching for her, gathering her into those slender arms. “Sydney,” she said, with such warmth and fondness. “I’m so pleased you’re here with us.”
“Uh. Hello.” Smooth, Sydney. Very smooth. Really, she should have insisted that Rule at least tell her what to call this amazing creature. Your Highness? Your Sovereign Highness? Your Total Magnificence? What?
And then Rule’s mom took her by the shoulders. She gave her a conspirator’s grin. “You shall call me Adrienne, of course—except during certain state functions, before which, I promise you will be thoroughly briefed.”
“Adrienne,” Sydney breathed in relief. “Rule speaks of you often, and with deep affection.”
Those Egyptian eyes gleamed. “I am so pleased he has found what he was seeking—and just in time, too.”
And then Rule was saying, “And this is Trevor.”
Rule’s mom turned to bestow that glowing smile on Trev. “Yes. Trevor, I …” HSH Adrienne’s sentence died unfinished. She blinked and shot a speaking glance at Prince Evan. It only lasted a split second, and then she recovered and continued, “Lovely to meet you.” Trevor, suddenly shy, buried his head against Rule’s neck. Adrienne laughed. She had an alto laugh, a little husky, and compelling. “How are you, Trevor?”
“I fine,” Trevor muttered, his head still pressed tight to Rule.
Rule rubbed his back. “Say, ‘Hello, Grandmother. So nice to meet you.’“
It was a lot of words for a suddenly shy little boy. But he said them, “‘Lo, Gamma. Nice to meet you,” with his face still smashed into Rule’s neck.
“And it’s a delight to meet you, as well.” Adrienne loosed that husky musical laugh again.
And then Trevor’s dad was taking Sydney’s hand. “A Texas girl,” he said in a voice as smooth and rich and deep as his son’s. “Always a good choice.”
Sydney thanked him and thought that he was almost as good-looking as his wife. No wonder Rule was drop-dead gorgeous. How could he be otherwise with a mom and dad like these two?
They all sat down. The severe-looking woman reappeared and offered cocktails. They sipped their drinks and Evan wanted to know about her parents. So she told them that she had lost them very young and been raised by her grandmother. They were sympathetic and admiring, of her Grandma Ellen and of the successes Sydney had achieved in her life. They knew she was an attorney and asked about her work. She explained a little about her experiences at Teale, Gayle and Prosser.
The talk shifted to Rule and the progress on his various projects. It was a bit formal, Sydney thought. But in a nice, getting-to-know-you sort of way.
She was so proud of Trev. He sat quietly on Rule’s lap for a while, watching th
e adults, big dark eyes tracking from one face to another. Both Adrienne and Evan seemed taken with him. They kept sending him warm looks and smiles.
Slowly, Trev was drawn in. After twenty minutes or so, during a slight lull in the conversation, he held out his arms to Adrienne. “Gamma. Hug, please.”
Adrienne reached for him and Rule passed him over. She wore a gorgeous designer jacket and a silk dress underneath. Sydney worried a little that Trev would drool on Her Highness’s lovely outfit.
But Adrienne didn’t seem concerned. She hugged him and kissed his cheek and he allowed it, all shyness fled.
Lani appeared about half an hour into the visit, ushered in by the thin woman. After a brief introduction, she took Trevor with her back to their rooms.
The rest of them went in to dinner, where they were joined by two of Rule’s brothers—Maximilian, the heir apparent, who’d come up from his villa to meet Rule’s bride, and Alexander, the one who’d been a prisoner in Afghanistan.
Sydney liked Maximilian from the first. He was almost as handsome as Rule and he seemed to her to be a kind man, and very charismatic. He had sad eyes, though. She remembered what Rule had told her, about Max losing his wife in a water-skiing accident, and wondered if he was still grieving the loss.
It was difficult to like Alex. He was darkly handsome like the rest of the family, but more powerfully built and very quiet. He seemed … angry. Or perhaps sunk in some deep depression. Sydney supposed his attitude wasn’t all that surprising. She imagined that being kept prisoner by terrorists would give anyone a bad attitude. But she could easily see why he and Princess Lili didn’t get along. Sydney doubted that Alex got along with anyone.
Rule’s other brother, Alex’s twin, Damien, was something of a jet-setter. He was off on a friend’s yacht. Two of his sisters, the youngest and second-youngest, Rory and Genevra, were away at school. Alice and Rhiannon were at an event in Luxembourg. And the oldest sister, Arabella, had gone to Paris. When they were home from school, Rory and Genevra still lived at the palace. The three older sisters had their own villas.
Dinner was several courses. The food was delicious. There was wine. Excellent French wine. As she’d done since she first suspected she might be pregnant, Sydney took care to drink very little of it.
Later, back in their own apartment, she and Rule celebrated her move to Montedoro by making love—twice. Once, while standing up against the tall, beautifully carved bedroom doors. Very well hung, those doors, she’d teased, as he was moving so deliciously inside her. Those doors didn’t rattle once no matter how enthusiastic they became.
Eventually, they got into bed, where they made love the second time. It was after that second time, when she lay tucked close against him, that she told him, “Your mother says there’s a large library here at the palace. A lot of books on Montedoran history. She also says the palace librarian can answer just about any question I might have about your country.”
He stroked her arm in an idle, thoroughly distracting way. “Going to become a Montedoran scholar, are you?”
“I need to catch up, to understand how things work here, so I can begin to consider the kind of work I want to do, to discover where and how I can be most useful to my new country.”
“So ambitious.” He said it admiringly as he caressed her breast.
“You know I lose IQ points when you do that …”
He covered her breast with his warm hand. “I love your breasts.”
“Good. You’ll be seeing a lot of them as the years go by.”
He caught her nipple between his fingers and squeezed. She sighed. He said, in a gentle, careful voice, “I believe they are fuller than they used to be.”
It was the perfect opportunity to tell him that there was a reason her breasts were bigger: she was having his baby. But instead, she elbowed him in the ribs. “Oh. You like them because they’re bigger.”
He nuzzled her hair. “Are they bigger?”
She got up on one elbow, where she could see his eyes. “Yes.” She knew then. She could see it in his face, in the breathless way he looked at her. He knew already. She gave him a teasing smile. “My breasts are bigger. It’s a miracle.”
He asked, almost shyly, “Sydney … is it possible that you …?”
She smiled even wider. “That I what, Rule?”
“Don’t tease me. Please.” His eyes had gone dark as the middle of the night. It was a soft, yearning sort of darkness. He really, really wanted to know.
And her heart just … expanded. It felt suddenly twice as big as a moment before, as if it were pushing at her ribs, trying to make more room inside her chest. “I think so,” she whispered. “I think we’re going to have a baby.”
He held her gaze, steadily, surely. “You think?”
“All the signs are there. The same ones I had with Trev. And my period is almost three weeks late. I haven’t taken the home test I bought yet, though.”
He touched her chin, brushed his thumb across her lips. “When will you take it?”
She smiled against his touch. “How about tomorrow morning?”
“Sydney …”
“What?”
“That’s all. Just Sydney. Sydney, Sydney, Sydney …” He took her shoulders and pulled her close so he could kiss her. A long kiss, so tender. So thorough. So right.
She settled back onto his chest again, her chin on her arms. “So. You’re happy?”
He stroked her hair. “I am. I can’t tell you how happy.”
“You’re a good father. Trev is crazy about you.”
He smoothed her hair, guided it behind her ear. “Trevor is everything I ever wanted in a son. And you are everything I ever dreamed of in a wife.”
She remembered his mother’s reaction at her first sight of Trev and smiled to herself. “Did you see how surprised your mother was when she met Trev? I’m guessing she noticed the uncanny resemblance between you two.”
His hand stilled on her hair. “What makes you think that?”
Had something changed in his eyes?
She asked herself the question—and then decided it was nothing. He was stroking her hair again, regarding her so tenderly. She said, “I thought she looked pretty stunned when she saw him—you didn’t notice the look on her face?”
“Hmm. Yes, I suppose …”
She asked, “Did you see it, or didn’t you?” At his shrug, she frowned. “It was only there for a second and then gone. I guess I might have imagined it….”
He framed her face between his hands. “Come here. Kiss me.”
She pretended to consider. “Well, now. That’s a pretty tempting offer.”
“Come here. Let me show you how tempting….”
She lifted up over him and then, with a happy sigh, settled her mouth on his. He was right. The kiss tempted her to kiss him some more.
Kisses led to more caresses and they made love again. Slowly. Beautifully.
She gazed up at his unforgettable face above her and thought how it just kept getting better between them. How there was nothing, ever, that could tear them apart.
An hour later, Rule lay in the dark staring up at the ceiling, listening to his wife’s even, relaxed breathing beside him.
His pregnant wife …
He was sure of it. And so was she. The test in the morning was only a formality. She was having his baby.
His second baby.
And yes. He’d seen that look on his mother’s face, too.
His mother had known that Trevor was his. One look at the boy and she’d had no doubt.
Very soon now, Her Sovereign Highness would be summoning him for a private talk. She was going to want to discuss the startling resemblance between him and his supposed stepson.
She would also be going after his father, working on the poor man. She would be insisting that her Prince Consort tell her the truth if he knew anything about what was really going on with Rule and his new wife and the child who was the mirror image of Rule at that age. One
way or another, Adrienne would get to the bottom of it.
And as soon as she knew the truth, she was going to be after Rule to come clean with his wife. His mother was as much about integrity and truth in life and marriage as his wife was.
Rule felt the day of reckoning approaching. He had everything now: the woman he’d almost given up on finding; a healthy, happy, perfect son—and a second child on the way.
The only real question was how much he was going to lose when Sydney finally learned the truth.
Sydney’s hands were shaking.
She turned her back to the test wand she’d left on the corner of the serpentine marble counter and held both hands out in front of her. Yep. Her fingers trembled like leaves in the wind.
“Silly,” she whispered. “So silly …” With a low moan, she lifted her hands and covered her face with them.
Really, there was no reason she should be such a bundle of nerves over this. She was either pregnant or not—and she just knew that she was. In a moment, the timer would go off and she would have proof.
No reason to be freaked out over it. No reason at all.
Rule tapped on the bathroom door. “Sydney? Are you all right in there?” As if in response to his question, the timer she’d set on the marble enclosure around the ginormous sunken tub started beeping. “Sydney! Are you all right?”
She went over and flipped the switch on the timer. It fell blessedly silent.
Rule didn’t. “Sydney, my God!” He pounded on the door.
She whirled, stalked to the door, twisted the lock and flung it wide. He stood there looking fabulous, wearing nothing but a worried expression. Through clenched teeth she informed him, “I am fine. Get it? Fine.”