The Reluctant Prince

by Candice Gilmer

“The servants and doctors, Your Majesty. Seven members of the staff here alone know of your condition,” Bastien stated.

  “You questioned the staff?” the queen asked.

  “It is my job, Majesty,” Bastien replied.

  “I may not like it, Bastien, but I must keep it quiet. Soon it will be necessary to share the diagnosis with the children.”

  “We all know how servants are privy to everything that happens in any home. With this timing, I would bet my life on someone getting bribed.”

  “My servants are loyal to the royal family.”

  “Someone has been paid. Hadrian is the primary suspect. His mother’s feelings for his father…”

  “You may be a lead guard, Bastien, but you do not know the details. Margaret may have hated Aubert, but she couldn’t have hated him that much. She let Hadrian come back here.”

  “She could have been subtly planting the seeds of hatred in him from his youth,” Bastien stated.

  Never. His mother had never done any such thing. He wanted to barrel in the room and inform them all of this very fact, but he held back.

  “If anything,” the queen said, the only voice of reason in the room. “Margaret planted Hadrian’s desire to not be here. I’m surprised he hasn’t gone home already. He’s never been fond of being on the island. That is his mother in him.”

  “I have to consider everything,” Bastien replied.

  This was too much, even for Hadrian. He flung the door open. The royal guards jumped, one grabbing his arm and the other pulling out a gun and pointing it at him.

  “Let go of me,” Hadrian snapped. The king had dropped the oxygen mask, and the queen stood next to his chair, blocking any view of the device from Hadrian.

  “Let him go. Rude as he is, we cannot shoot him for it.” The queen’s jaw was locked, her eyes narrowing to slits.

  “You know damn good and well I didn’t have a thing to do with the attack on Michel.” Hadrian glared at Robert, then at Bastien.

  Bastien puffed up to his full size. “You cannot deny the logic.”

  “Damn logic. Think. I would never hurt my cousins, even if my mother hated my father.”

  The king raised an eyebrow at him. “You’ve been out there a while.”

  “So?”

  “Did you have a purpose? Or are you gathering intelligence for your defense?” Bastien asked.

  “I did have a purpose. I have to go back to the States as soon as possible.”

  “What for?” the queen asked.

  “A friend of mine needs me.”

  “Your new girlfriend that Alicia doesn’t approve of?” the queen asked, in a regal tone, the one she used when she didn’t want anyone knowing how she felt, one way or another regardless of her response.

  Hadrian grimaced, knowing that Alicia probably put all sorts of ideas in the queen’s head. “Alicia doesn’t control my life.”

  “Of course she does. That’s why she was hired.”

  “Well, I want to fire her. I’m tired of her telling me who to see, what to do, and when.” He froze, unable to believe he actually said those words.

  The king shrugged. “So fire her.” Patrice shot a nasty look at her husband. He met her gaze, unapologetic, then faced Hadrian again. “There’s no law that states you have to have an assistant. If she makes you that miserable, get rid of her.”

  Hadrian blinked. “And you’re okay with that?”

  “Why wouldn’t we be?” the king asked.

  He glanced between the two of them. The king didn’t seem to care. Queen Patrice, however, looked very unhappy at the prospect.

  “Majesty?” He met the queen’s unhappy expression.

  “Alicia was hired to make sure you were organized and your personal life was taken care of. If you think you can handle it on your own, well, then feel free to discharge her.” It was obvious she didn’t like the idea of Hadrian not having an assistant. “But do not blame me if you cannot keep up.”

  Hadrian rolled his eyes. “I will do it immediately.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Hadrian had his Blackberry out and was going through it. And he was frustrated as Hell.

  So much of his life was wrapped up in Alicia’s phone that he had no idea where he was or what he was doing. How could he possibly fire her and take care of everything on his own?

  He pretty much needed everything that was on her phone to figure out what he needed to do.

  Deciding that the best thing he could do was get her phone and transfer everything over, he headed for her suite at the palace. When he knocked on her door, she didn’t answer, so he stuck his head in.

  And he heard the shower running.

  One glance around her suite, and he saw her cell phone sitting on the dresser.

  Perfect.

  Transferring the data wasn’t hard to do, a matter of beaming it from her phone to his. It took a little time, that’s all.

  So like an impatient child, he stood there, tapping his foot as he waited for the two phones to finish talking to one another and transferring the data. He copied every file she had on the phone to his, and he figured he’d sort it all out later.

  He kept checking over his shoulder. Surely she’d be popping out of the shower any moment. And she’d probably have a fit if she saw him messing with her phone. She was overly protective of the thing.

  He watched the screen to see when the data finished transferring.

  “Hadrian? Did you need something?” Alicia asked, coming out of the shower.

  He jumped as he covered his phone with his hand. “I was wondering, do you have the number for a florist in your phone?” He held it up to her, tapping the screen back to the main menu before giving it to her.

  “I do. Why do you need a florist?” Fresh and clean from the shower, her normally full curly hair hung in waves down her face. She barely looked like the same person he was used to dealing with.

  “I want to, uh, send my mother some flowers.” That sounded good. Sure. It could work.

  “She left. Why do you want to do that?” Alicia’s brow was arched, and she stared at him like he’d lost his mind.

  “She’s doing me a favor when she gets back to the States. I wanted to arrange a thank you for her.”

  “I’ll do it,” she said, tapping immediately on her phone. “That’s what you pay me for.”

  “Alicia, I want to do things for myself. Surely I can handle sending flowers to my own mother.”

  She shrugged. “Suit yourself.” She tapped a few things on the phone, and Hadrian’s phone beeped, saying he’d gotten a new email. “Everything’s there. Considering we’re here, your best bet would probably be an online order.”

  “I’ll do it, thank you.” He turned and left the room, hoping she didn’t realize something was up.

  Pregnancy sucks.

  The morning sickness is miserable.

  Especially since I was getting it at night. At least I wasn’t running to the bathroom at work. Some things really were blessings in disguise.

  I came out of the bathroom after throwing up for a good twenty minutes and wished that mouthwash, while minty and fresh for most people, wouldn’t send me retching again. I thought I might get something cinnamon and see if that wasn’t so bad.

  I collapsed on my couch, and my cell phone rang. I had learned my lesson, though, and I glanced to see who it was.

  This time it was Bella.

  “So whatcha doin’?” she asked.

  “Sitting on my couch.”

  “Well, it’s Saturday night. Why don’t you come out?”

  The very thought of it made me want to puke again. I hadn’t had a smoke in about two weeks, and while I’d been faking it well enough at work, the smell of it anymore made me sick.

  Everything made me sick to my stomach.

  “I really don’t feel like it.”

  “Come on, a bunch of us are going to Doolat’s tonight. It’s a hole in the wall, cheap and not far from where you live.”

&nb
sp; “Really, I don’t think it would be a good idea.” My stomach started to swirl, and I grabbed an open pack of saltines off my counter, stuffing two in my mouth to hopefully calm my gut down.

  “Are you sick or something?”

  “Yeah, I’ve been throwing up all night.”

  “You’re not pregnant are you?”

  “Me? Pregnant? That’s a laugh.” Oh, boy was it. Too bad it was only funny because it was true. I tried not to let my mind wander to the thoughts of what the Hell I was going to do with myself if this whole pregnancy thing turned out bad for me.

  I tried to remember what the doctor said. It’s a baby. Babies are not bad things…

  “Well, I was just checking. You have been acting funny all week. Even at lunch, you seemed off.”

  I wanted to tell her that I was pregnant, and the reason I’d been off was because I was trying not to throw up at the smell of the cigarettes she smoked.

  I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I had hoped, for that first week, that maybe, just maybe the doctor was wrong. Then the morning sickness kicked in.

  In the paperwork the doctor sent home with me, one of the little booklets talked about nausea, and that it was a sign the pregnancy was going well. I wanted to go to the bookstore and get a book on pregnancy so I could figure out exactly what was going on.

  “What’s the name of that book that all the pregnant women get?”

  “What Happens When You’re Pregnant. What do you want to know that for?”

  “Client’s pregnant. I wanted to get her a copy.” Sounded good, right? I thought it sounded fabulous.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Funny I don’t believe you.”

  I almost hung up the phone. This conversation was going nowhere. I didn’t need any shit from her. I’d had enough of Jim’s crap this week.

  However, she was probably the closest thing to a best friend I had and in the last six months, had been there whenever I needed her. “Look, it’s been a long week. Jim’s been sending me packages.” Which was making my stress levels shoot sky high. Couldn’t be good in my current condition.

  “What?”

  I’d received three envelopes so far. All pictures of Jim and I from our marriage together. All of them with graphics around them that said things like “meant to be together.”

  The most disturbing thing was that some of the pictures were recent ones of me, superimposed, badly, I might add, over older pictures. More proof that he’s out there, watching me all the time. If he got whiff of me being pregnant, well, I might as well move to another town. It would get really ugly really, really fast.

  If Jim was anything, he was a traditional type guy. And since I’d never gotten pregnant while we were together, then I must have been dysfunctional.

  “Wait a minute.”

  “What?” Bella asked. She’d been on a tirade of how she was going to kill Jim, but my mind had wandered in the middle of it. It wasn’t anything I hadn’t heard before, anyway.

  “Jim couldn’t get me pregnant.”

  “So, what’s that got to do with anything?”

  Elation wrapped around me. “It was him. Not me. It wasn’t my fault.” I jumped up from the couch and started dancing around the apartment. Jim swore up and down it was my fault. No one in his family had any trouble conceiving children. So it had to be something wrong with my girly parts.

  Not to mention, his mother always alluded to unclean living that caused me to be infertile.

  I wanted to go scream in their faces, and show them the paperwork from the doctor that said I was pregnant.

  Me. Sydney Martinson.

  Ha!

  “Sydney? What are you doing? You sound crazy.”

  “Oh yeah. Uh huh. I’m normal. Oh yeah.” I bounced around the room, doing a cross between the Cabbage Patch and MC Hammer’s dance moves.

  “You’re scaring me. Are you on something?”

  I laughed. “I’m not on a damn thing. And I feel awesome.” At the moment, I really did. I might be bending over the toilet every so often, but I was pregnant.

  My girl parts worked.

  “Okay, I’m coming over there.”

  “No, really, you don’t have to.”

  “You’re acting nuts. I’m on my way.” The phone disconnected, and I sat there laughing.

  One of the packets of photos was lying on the coffee table. Jim glared up at me with a wicked grin on his face. I’m sure he thought it was a sexy look, but to me it looked like he was about to kill some defenseless animal. Like a bunny.

  “You almost had me convinced, buddy,” I said, tucking the picture back in the envelope. “I almost thought it was my fault. And all the time, it was you.”

  I leaned back on the couch. “One night with Hadrian, and I’m all knocked up. Hadrian, even if I never see you again, this is completely worth it.”

  There was a knock at my door.

  I headed for the door. “God, Bella, drive like a bat outta—” I opened the door. It wasn’t Bella.

  It was a Federal Express deliveryman. “Sydney Martinson?”

  I nodded.

  He handed me his clipboard. “Sign here.”

  I signed the little screen where my signature was never very legible on the stupid electronic things. He handed me a box around the same size as a shoebox.

  “Where’s it from?” I asked, looking over the box for a return address.

  The deliveryman was gone though, and I didn’t get an answer. I closed the door, and brought the box inside.

  The label said it was shipped out of New Jersey. I didn’t know anyone from New Jersey. I lived in Kansas. At least not that I could think of.

  A thought crossed my mind, absolutely killing my elation of being pregnant. What if Jim ordered something off of eBay, and sent it to me? I almost dropped the box on the coffee table. I didn’t want to open it at all.

  Then I couldn’t help wondering if it was a bomb. Or some long ago lost item from our wedding. Or worse, a wedding cake bomb.

  I leaned over, tilting my head to the side, listening for ticking. I didn’t hear anything. Well, it probably wasn’t going to explode. I put the thing by the trash in the kitchen. I figured if it did explode, it would take out the fridge, and I’d be safe in other parts of the apartment.

  Probably not the most sound thinking, but it worked for me.

  My cell phone started to ring.

  Now I knew it was from Jim. Had to be. He was probably watching to see when his, whatever the Hell it was, got delivered.

  “What do you want, jerk?”

  “Getting presents are we?” Jim said.

  “Is your life so pathetic that you have to watch me all the time?” I asked.

  “I am a hunter. I’m stalking my prey.”

  I snorted. “You’re not a hunter. You’re a bottom dweller, feeding off the trash.”

  “Then what does that make you?”

  I hung up the phone. I didn’t need his crap today. “Stupid bastard.” He’d killed my buzz about being pregnant. Not that being pregnant was a great thing in my life right now, but knowing it wasn’t his kid, and that I really could get pregnant, well, that was a good thing.

  “I should have told him,” I said to myself. “Just to gloat.” I glanced down at the stack of photos from him. “Well, maybe not.”

  This time, when there was a knock at the door, it was Bella. She came right in, not bothering with any formality and sat on the couch.

  “Ohh, you changed your hair.” She ran a hand down the back of my head. “Nice. So, are you pregnant or what?”

  I hung my head. “I’m pregnant.”

  She rubbed her forehead. “Please, please, please tell me it’s not Jim’s baby.”

  “Eww, oh, Hell no.” I plopped next to her. “Whatever made you think it was?”

  “Well, you’ve been so weird. Jim’s been all in your face these last couple of weeks, I couldn’t help wondering if he had manage
d to get back in your bed and that’s why he’s doubled his efforts to annoy the shit out of you. Men see sex as a mating thing, you know. They think once they get it from you, they can get it any time they want it.”

  I laughed at her. “Spoken like a true single woman.”

  She let out a sigh. “Men don’t do one-night stands, I swear they don’t.”

  “With your body, I’m shocked that you’d be surprised.”

  Bella smirked. “Well, the sisters are influential, there’s no doubt about that.” Then she blinked, a kind of reset button in her brain. I’d seen the gesture so many times, I knew she was about to dive back to the original subject at hand. “So who’s the father, if it’s not Jim? Are you seeing someone?”

  “I’m not technically seeing anyone. I let my birth control shot slip. I missed an appointment back in October.”

  “Good God. So who?” She stared at me for a second and then her eyes lit up. “It’s him, isn’t it?”

  I nodded. “It couldn’t be anyone else.”

  “Have you told him yet? What are you going to do?”

  “I haven’t told him yet. As far as what going to be done, I’m going to have a baby.”

  “Are you sure you can handle it?”

  For the first time, since having the news that I was pregnant, I felt very defensive of my condition and the little baby growing inside me. “Of course I can handle it. I’ll be thirty this summer. It’s not like I’ve never been around babies before.”

  “Well, you can’t have blue hair when you’re a mommy.”

  “Is my hair blue right now?”

  “No. But, I mean, you’ll have to give up on a lot of your luxuries.”

  “What friggin’ luxuries? The occasional book to read? There’s the public library. Same with movie rentals. I can get a lot at the library for free. Or damn near close.”

  “I don’t want to see you getting in over your head.”

  “I’m already in over my head. I’m going to have to find a new place to live. All things considered, that’s probably not a bad idea anyway, what with Jim following me around.”

  “Babies need a lot of stuff. You’ll have to save your money, because I bet your insurance doesn’t pay much on unwed mother plans.”

  “Probably not.” She was right, there was a lot to consider. “Though I bet I could buy a pretty cheap house right now. My credit’s decent, and I only have the one credit card that has a balance—a maxed balance, but still. I should be able to get something.”