Null and Void

by Susan Copperfield

  He scowled. “That’s not very nice.”

  “Neither is telling me to give you my phone.” My phone rang, and I glared at the wretched device. Once again, it was from a Montana number. “You owe me for this, Mr. William Dylan Niell.”

  I let it ring three times before I answered, in my sweetest voice, “Mackenzie Little speaking.”

  “Miss Little, I apologize.”

  “I don’t believe you for an instant. I might be a null, but I’m not stupid. I’ve been dealing with men like you the entirety of my life. I’m a threat to the status quo, as you’re aware that I’m the mother of your king’s only child, and that unless I’m out of the picture, he won’t have a son—or worse, I’ll have his son, and you’d be forced to put up with me. That leaves a sour taste in your mouth, doesn’t it? You’re probably one of the men who would have to be threatened with being accused of child trafficking and slavery to be convinced nulls deserve better treatment. I’m going to give you a choice: we can clear the air, or I can go out of my way to make things difficult for you. I don’t care what you think about me or nulls. Nothing you do is surprising. It’s just symptomatic of social prejudices. I’ve inconvenienced you. That’s fair enough. But I won’t allow some snot RPS agent to step on me because I don’t have the pedigree you approve of. I have zero use for you, and frankly, I don’t really care if you show up or not. I can ask Jessica to provide an agent who can do his job without allowing his prejudices to influence his work performance. While it’d pain me, I can call the head of my detail back on duty, as I’m certain he’d be capable of putting the interests of his principals above any personal feelings on the matter. I’m also not above tossing this tracked phone from a fifteen-story window and parking the Ferrari somewhere someone could steal it just to make your job more difficult.”

  The silence served me, and I gave the man a minute to stew on my words before I added, “And I’m not above telling our daughter to dispose of her phone and sending her a non-tracked model.”

  “Can you really tell him no?”

  “I just did. He wanted me to give him the phone when you called me back, and I told him no.”

  “Give me the phone, Mackenzie.”

  I rolled my eyes. “No, jerk. Go back to sleep. I liked you better when you were quieter and not interrupting my phone calls.”

  “You really told him no.”

  Why was that so hard to believe? “Jesus, do they not have dictionaries in Montana? Not only did I tell him no, I called him a jerk for trying to boss me around. I’m tired, and I really don’t want to deal with this right now.”

  “I love it when you’re cranky,” William murmured, stretching out and looking me over.

  “No. Stop bothering me. I’m on the phone.”

  “I seem to have made an unfortunate error of judgment,” the RPS agent confessed. “I apologize.”

  As he sounded like he meant it, I relented. “Very well. Apology accepted. I also apologize for losing my temper with you.”

  “No apology needed. You spoke the truth.”

  “I was still rude.”

  “I take it His Majesty is no longer asleep on your couch?”

  I got up, crossed into the living room, and held out my phone to William. “Now you may borrow my phone, but you may not yell at the RPS agent on my phone. If you want to yell at anyone, you can do it on your phone.”

  “Bossy,” he complained while taking my cell. “Hello, Alfred. Please don’t antagonize my future wife. She’ll throw staplers at me if provoked, and she has an unfair advantage. I also don’t want kicked out of her condo, as she graciously permitted me to stay with her. The security seemed reasonable. There were guards posted at the entrances, and there’s a bottleneck from the garage to the elevator upstairs; you have to change elevators to reach the residences, and anyone coming up from the garage has to go past security.”

  “And the building is already being monitored by the Texan RPS,” I added.

  William relayed my message, and he spent a few more minutes discussing security matters with Alfred before hanging up. Sighing, he set my phone on the coffee table. “I’m sorry for him. He does a good job, but he’s from an old elite line. He’s never going to approve, but he won’t interfere if he values his job.”

  I had the feeling if Alfred valued his life, he’d keep his prejudices carefully hidden in the future. “I still have work to do, so you can just go back to napping if you’d like.”

  “Can I talk you out of working? I’d really like a chance to talk you out of working.”

  “Mireya was very clear, sir. If I let you near me, you’ll get me pregnant. Again.”

  “You say this like it’s a bad thing. I don’t think it’s a bad thing at all. I’m sure Jessica wouldn’t mind if I spent an inappropriate amount of time in Texas convincing you to come live with me in Montana.”

  “I have an auction to plan. That was the deal. Senator Forester would pass my wish list bills, and I would head the auction committee. I’m a woman of my word.”

  “I know. That’s part of what I love about you. No matter what, you’ve always done your best to keep your word. You’re honest. I’ve lived most of my life with people trying to feed me bullshit trying to impress me.” William’s expression turned wry. “You spent all your time trying to make me go away so you could watch me go. Don’t think for a moment I didn’t notice.”

  “Of course. You’re an empathic leech.”

  “I am, and I’m latched onto you, and I’m not going to stop chasing you until you accept me. But you already have, haven’t you?”

  I wanted to kick him in the shins, and once I finished kicking him in the shins, I had an entire list of things I wanted to do with him, things I’d spent far too long dreaming about. “Condoms might work.”

  “I wouldn’t count on it. It’s part of my bloodline magic. Mom and Dad tried. I have a lot of siblings.”

  “How many?”

  “There are seventeen of us.”

  “Seventeen?” I squealed.

  He grimaced. “My mother was predisposed for having twins. There are six sets of twins, one set of triplets, and two singles. Olivia and I are the singles. None of them are identical, either. I have three brothers, and the rest are all girls. I have four older sisters, then there’s me. Fredrick’s the youngest of the lot.”

  “There are seventeen of you.”

  “Unfortunately.”

  “How many of you are married?”

  William held up four fingers. “With children. My sisters. They plan on stopping at two or three, and because they’re blessed to be girls, they can use traditional methods of birth control with great success. Three birth controls stacked together should have worked.”

  “Except they were all duds. Even my standard one was proven to be a dud.”

  “That was not how I planned to become a father,” he admitted.

  “How were you planning on becoming a father?”

  William moved fast, and he cornered me against my kitchen counter, chuckling. “My original plan was to let you work your magic on null rights in Texas while I kept an eye on your situation. Once you made good progress, I was going to plan a few official visits to congratulate Texas on its groundbreaking work on human rights. I’m still going to do that, of course. I was planning on charming you into coming to Montana with me, marrying me, and then we’d do our best to conceive our first child during our spectacular honeymoon. The only thing I regret is that to help so many others, I had to hurt us both. I’ve already proposed motions in my congress to aid in Texas’s efforts to return taken null children to their families. As soon as the votes are in next week, Montana will make an official announcement on the matter.”

  “My allergies are going to be a problem.”

  “I have a few theories about your cold urticaria. I already spoke with Dr. Glaskow about it, and Jessica called me about the lightning experiment. Your agent’s a clever man. I like him. I’m thinking about hiring him away from Texa
s and bringing him and his family to Montana so he can remain the head of your detail. I expect Jessica and I will have a glorious argument over it.”

  “What theory?” I demanded.

  “Talents need to be used, or they bottle up and flare. Since a talent like yours can’t flare, it has to bleed out some other way. So, I propose we try an experiment under very careful conditions. I’ll use my talents on you, you’ll ignore me, and we see if that adverse reaction to the cold goes away. If it does, it’s because your talent needed an outlet.” Ducking his head, he pressed his lips to my neck and kissed me. “We can experiment after I let you have your way with me to your heart’s content.”

  “You have my attention.”

  “I know.” With a wicked chuckle, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to him. “I’ll make it worth your while if you obey me tonight.”

  I bet he would. “And tomorrow night?”

  “It’ll be my turn to obey you. I’d say we could take turns on Saturday, but unless I can convince you to come back to Montana with me, I have to go back on Sunday after the ride.”

  “I have to plan the auction.”

  “Come home with me after the auction, Mackenzie. If you’d have me, I’d marry you tonight.”

  “You’re being absurd.”

  “I’m sure Jessica would enjoy putting together an impromptu wedding.”

  “No.”

  “But I flew from Montana to claim you,” he complained, holding me tighter. “I’m not going to let some upstart prince put his hands on you.”

  “Weren’t you an upstart prince when you put your hands on me?”

  “No, I was already a king. I did my royal duties in the evenings, and I recruited a lot of help from my siblings. It was only supposed to be for a month. I was stressed and needed to step away. Things remained quiet, so I got extra time. I’d found you, and I didn’t want to go home yet. I was hoping you’d come back with me, but when you refused my job offer…”

  “What was that job offer, anyway?”

  William snickered. “To be my queen, of course. I was just going to package it as a managerial position and ease you into it.”

  Knowing him, I wasn’t surprised at all. “You sneaky jerk. You were going to lure me into your bed either way.”

  “Yes, I was. I really would’ve caused a major incident had you decided to go to Canada. First, I would’ve demanded they marry you off to me, then I would have had to pay them a disgusting amount of money to compensate them for doing it. It would have been a brutal victory for Canada, and I would’ve been stuck, because you’re worth far more to me than keeping my pride and dignity intact.”

  “Tell me more.”

  “You just want me to grovel.”

  I grinned, leaning against him and savoring his warmth. “A little. I was pretty upset with you when I saw the car. All those threats about marrying a damned king, and you knew I was talking about you. Jerk.”

  “I’ll confess, I was really confused until I realized you don’t have a good visual memory. Once you told me that, I realized I needed to take extreme measures.” His voice turned pained. “There’s nothing as terrifying as letting a pack of stressed children loose in a car dealership with no spending limits. I was convinced our daughter was going to goose me for two cars. She really wanted a four-door family car when I was trying to plan a kidnapping.”

  “Kidnapping’s illegal, William.”

  “People keep telling me that. Then they keep telling me it’s creepy and unattractive. They also said it was a guaranteed way to make you hate me. Are they right?”

  “Generally, they are. Who is they?”

  “Pat, Jessica, and one other person who laughed so hard she cried when I proposed it.”

  “Mireya?”

  “She’s so beautiful, Mackenzie.”

  “She has your hair and eyes, and it seems she has picked up some of your more frustrating mannerisms.”

  He made a satisfied noise in his throat. “Would you have minded if I’d gone through the effort of an elaborate kidnapping in my effort to prove how badly I want you in my life?”

  “I already told Jessica a kidnapping wouldn’t be required. All you’d have to do is talk to me and laugh, and if you kept using your wicked voice against me, you could just lure me into a vehicle with you. You have a very dangerous voice, William Dylan Niell. I listened to you sounding filthy for an hour. At work.”

  “I meant every last word of it. I’m looking forward to working with you. Intimately.”

  My throat dried out, and I swallowed, licking my lips. If he kept talking, I’d be done for with no hope of resistance. “That sounds so indecent.”

  “I’ll show you indecent if you want. All you have to do is obey me for tonight. What say you, Mackenzie Little?”

  I had no doubt my anger and resentment over raising Mireya alone would rear its ugly head in the future, but the truth remained. I had loved him since the day I’d let him go, and I wouldn’t lose my chance to keep him. We’d have to talk about our dreams so I could separate my wishful thinking from a reality I hadn’t believed possible, but that could wait.

  I wanted to feel alive and whole again, like I hadn’t since the day I’d realized I’d fallen in love him. I’d failed him in many ways, viewing him as a threat rather than an ally, never believing he’d felt anything for me back than a brief heat and the flame of a fantasy fulfilled.

  For tonight, I’d push everything aside and live in the moment I’d craved for so long.

  “Yes.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  There wouldn’t be a next time. No, I would never again give William Dylan Niell full reign over me. If I did, he’d love me to death. I’d melt to the floor in a puddle, unable to handle his enthusiasm and need to prove himself any way he could. I’d die. I’d die a happy woman, but he’d kill me with his love.

  Long after I’d surrendered, putty in his hands, he persisted, insistent and demanding, determined to bend me to his will.

  And I had bent until I had nothing left to give. Only then did he relent, tucking me in and holding me until I surrendered one final time to sleep.

  When I dreamed, he remained with me, a quiet presence content to simply be with me.

  I liked to think I’d worn him out as much as he’d worn me out.

  My phone ringing woke me, and I groped for the device, considered chucking it across the room, but I answered instead. I needed to stop answering my phones with inarticulate groans.

  “Mom!” my daughter chirped. “Did I wake you?”

  I tested her ability to comprehend Yawnese and grunted.

  “Apparently, I did. Sorry! I wanted to ask you a question.”

  “What do you want, you miniature demonic entity who hates sleep?”

  She giggled. “Sorry, Mom. I have some time between classes, so it was either now or wait another five hours.”

  William yawned and snuggled closer to me, mumbling.

  Mireya sucked in a breath. “Mom?”

  Crap. “Yes, spawnling?”

  “Is there someone with you?”

  I was so busted, and I had no idea what to do. “Define someone, and define with.”

  “A man. In bed. With you.”

  My life was over, and I had no idea how to explain I knew she knew who her father was without revealing we’d put in some serious effort attempting to grant her wish of a sibling. My face burned, and I spluttered.

  “Mom!” my daughter wailed. “How could you?”

  William took the phone out of my shaking hand. “Good morning, baby girl.”

  My daughter squealed so loud her father yelped and dropped my cell. He scrambled to pick it up, and the squealing continued for at least a minute before I couldn’t hear her anymore. “Thank you for sharing your opinion with us,” he muttered. “Now that you’ve woken the dead between Texas and France, what was your question? Ah. Yes. There is a man in bed with your mother. As I heard the second question, I can answer that for you
. I flew in late last night, and she graciously invited me to come home with her.”

  I whimpered, and William pulled me closer to him, keeping one arm wrapped around me while he listened to our daughter. “No, I’m not agreeing to anything like that. Ask your mother.”

  He passed the phone back to me. “She has a question for you.”

  I braced for the worst, expecting her to pop a question about what I’d been doing with her father. “What do you need, spawnling?”

  “I need horses for school. Two of them.” My daughter gulped. “We’re supposed to start riding lessons, and everyone else has their own horses. We’re supposed to start in two weeks.”

  I needed to kiss the ground Jessica walked on. “Then I suppose it’s a very good thing I already bought two horses for you.”

  Mireya gasped. “You bought me a horse?”

  “No, spawnling. I bought you two horses. I’ll make sure they get to you in time for your lessons.”

  “You really bought me horses? But Mom, they’re so expensive. How could… I…”

  I stretched, and William snuggled closer to me, his breath teasing the back of my neck. “I conned a gullible woman out of them just for you, and I made her give me a good payment plan for them. And as someone named Mireya earned herself an excellent scholarship, I have chosen my reward of two good horses.”

  Instead of a squeal, Mireya subjected me to her most excited scream. “Mom!”

  “Is there anything else you need for school? If not, please share some of those squeals with Adam. He’s been recruited to help you learn how to care for your new horses. One is a stallion, and should you get any requests for him, you’re to ask Adam so he can discuss pricing and specifics with his mother and father. Understood?”

  I translated her babbling as acknowledgement and, chuckling at the mayhem I was about to unleash, suggested she go talk to Adam. To ensure she did what I wanted, I hung up and set the phone on my nightstand.

  “You’re delightful,” William murmured.

  “I’m going back to sleep now.”

  He scooted closer, reaching over me to check my phone for the time. “What about your work?”