The Surgeon King's Secret Baby

by Amy Ruttan

  Of course. He grinned.

  There was a confident air about him. One she envied.

  “Well, let’s go, then.”

  Reagan waved at Sophie on her way out and Sophie nodded in response. Reagan would be in the hospital. There was no way she was going to leave Peter for another night.

  “So this Andreas...” she started.

  What about him? Kainan asked.

  “He sounded Hermosian to me.”

  Kainan frowned. What makes you say that?

  “I spent over a year in Isla Hermosa. He reminded me of someone, but I can’t remember...”

  Déjà vu, that’s all. It’s being around me. You think anyone with that type of accent is Hermosian, he signed, cutting her off.

  He was annoyed.

  “Why are you getting so angry?”

  I’m not angry.

  “You’re being very touchy about it.”

  I don’t know where Andreas is from. He arrived at the hotel with some coworkers around the same time I did and we’ve met in the hall a few times. Can we just drop it?

  “Sure.”

  And she should. She didn’t want to get involved with him. Peter was her priority. The only problem with that was that Kainan was Peter’s father.

  She couldn’t lock Kainan out. For the sake of Peter she had to care, had to be involved and let Kainan in.

  Plus you cared for him once.

  Yes, she had, but that felt like a lifetime ago. They’d both been very different people back then.

  “Good.” He said the word out loud and then cleared his throat, interrupting her thoughts.

  It was apparent that he was still annoyed about the course their conversation had taken, and for some reason Reagan couldn’t help but wonder if he was hiding something about Andreas. And, if he was, why?

  It’s not your concern.

  But Reagan knew when people were lying, and she had the gut feeling that Kainan was lying to her.

  The question was why.

  Who cares?

  And that thought made her force those doubts from her mind. She really didn’t have time for this. What Kainan did was his own business. She didn’t have time to form a relationship with Kainan outside the bond of their son and their professional relationship. All she had time for was her son.

  That was all that mattered.

  Kainan opened the door to the lecture hall that was inside the hospital and gestured for her to take the lead.

  Right now she had to focus on translating the American Sign Language for the medical students in this room. This was her new assignment. She was here to work with Kainan and that was it. Her feelings with respect to Kainan couldn’t be allowed to come into play.

  She had to keep reminding herself of that fact.

  * * *

  When Kainan had been able to speak, and before civil war had torn his country to shreds, he’d been at the forefront of surgery. He’d been on a fast track to win a Nobel Prize in medicine for his surgical advances.

  Of course then his father had died and his brother had taken over. He hadn’t even lasted a year and then everything had gone to heck.

  One of the perks of working here in this hospital in Toronto, while waiting for surgery to correct his voice, was being able to continue with his medical research. He was looking forward to that.

  That was, of course, if he could train his medical students in triage in time to work on his research. It had been a long time since he’d taught. And he wasn’t sure he had the patience for it.

  Of course with Reagan by his side it would be a snap. Not only because she would be able to help him communicate with these eager medical students, but because when they had worked together in the field, in the mobile military hospital, everything had just seemed to flow.

  And as he worked with her now, guiding his students through triage in a mock active war zone, he was happy to be with her again.

  He’d forgotten how well they worked together. Two surgeons from two different countries, different backgrounds, but they came together seamlessly to create perfection.

  Just like Peter.

  His heart swelled with pride for a brief moment as he thought of the beautiful boy who was clinging to life in the pediatric critical care unit.

  Everything was right when he was with Reagan. It thrilled him, but terrified him just the same.

  If his brother were still King, then he would be jumping into the fray with her, begging her to stay with him. But now that he was King he didn’t have his own life, and he hated the thought of ruining her life too. As much as he loved his country, he hated being King. He hated the shackles, the restrictions it entailed.

  It was tearing him up inside. Just as it had destroyed his mother. And although Reagan was strong, she was vulnerable, and he didn’t want to hurt her or overtax her.

  “Mother, why are you so sad?” he’d asked once, when his mother had barely looked at him.

  She’d put her arm around his shoulders as she’d sighed, looking out at the sea.

  “I want to be free, Kainan.”

  “You are free. You are the Queen.”

  “I know.”

  Kainan turned his focus back on the students. This was his task now. He couldn’t let memories distract him.

  “Good,” he said, to a student who was performing a very complicated stitch with makeshift tools.

  “Thank you, Dr. Laskaris.” The student was beaming.

  Kainan nodded and moved on.

  As he walked the room, watching Reagan showing a couple of medical students a technique for draping with plastic, he saw Andreas out of the corner of his eye, standing outside the window of the lecture hall where they were with the medical students.

  Kainan’s stomach dropped to the soles of his feet.

  There was a determined look about Andreas. Kainan had known Andreas for some time, and he knew when his head of security was stressed. And Andreas was stressed now.

  Kainan darted out of the room. Reagan called after him, but he ignored her as he caught up to Andreas.

  “The press know,” Andreas said, not mincing his words. “I do not know who leaked it, Your Majesty. The press are outside the hotel and in the avenue below us...”

  Are they here in the hospital?

  Andreas pursed his lips together and nodded.

  Dammit.

  Kainan raked his hand through his hair. He was enraged that he’d been discovered, and if he found out who had sold him out he was going to ignore his Hippocratic Oath and do horrible things to that individual.

  “Kainan, what’s...?” Reagan trailed off as she looked at Andreas closely, and she wasn’t just recognizing him from this morning either.

  Kainan’s heart skipped a beat, because Andreas had been a soldier as well as a bodyguard during the Hermosian civil war. Andreas had been injured and Reagan had been the one to aid him.

  And, by the way Reagan looked at Andreas now, she was picturing him with his head shaved, instead of with the long dark hair that Andreas now sported.

  “I know you,” she whispered.

  “Of course—we met this morning,” Andreas said, trying to bluff it out.

  Reagan shook her head. “No, you were a soldier. I treated you. I remember you with shorter hair and you...you are Hermosian.”

  Andreas looked worried and sent Kainan a look, which Reagan caught.

  “What’s going on?” she asked, her voice rising. “And don’t get annoyed with me, Kainan. I know something is going on. There’s something you’re not telling me.”

  Let me explain, Reagan, Kainan signed, and scrubbed his hand over his face.

  He saw that Michael McNeil, the Chief of Surgery, was rushing toward them.

  “Dr. Laskaris—a word!”

  Reagan frowned. “M
ichael? Are you okay?”

  “No,” Michael said hurriedly, and then he crossed his arms, looking directly at Kainan. “I have press surrounding my hospital.”

  “Press?” Reagan asked.

  “Yes, and they’re blocking the ambulance bay. I have all my security guards trying to keep them out, but how do you keep people out of a hospital?” Michael looked annoyed. “Dr. Laskaris, they’re looking for you!”

  Kainan’s stomach knotted. He was angry, but he felt defeated, because there was no sense in hiding now.

  He’d been found. Even though he’d been trying to keep a low profile until after his surgery, when he hoped he’d have a voice again.

  Reagan looked confused. “Kainan, what’s going on?”

  Andreas cleared his throat and Michael stood behind Reagan, his hands on his hips, looking just as confused as she was.

  Kainan took a deep breath and mustered all his strength to whisper breathlessly, “I am the lost King of Isla Hermosa.”

  Chapter Five

  “YOU’RE...WHAT?” REAGAN ASKED, not sure that she’d heard Kainan correctly. “You’re a king? The Hermosian King? I thought he died?”

  Kainan sighed and turned to look away.

  “Dr. Laskaris?” Michael asked.

  Andreas stepped forward. “He became King when his brother King Aleksander the Seventh died after an explosion in the palace. As you’re all aware, King Aleksander’s rule was tenuous, at best...”

  Kainan spun back round, and there was a fire in his dark eyes that scared her.

  I am King. My brother is dead and I am the missing King, he signed.

  Reagan frowned. “The name Laskaris isn’t associated with the Hermosian crown, and you told me when we first met that your family was from Greece.”

  Kainan sighed. My mother was born in Greece. Isla Hermosa was founded by the Spanish and the Greeks. The name Laskaris is tied to the Hermosian crown, but it is kept for the “spares.” Like me. I didn’t want to change it when I became King. I am still Dr. Laskaris.

  There was a sadness to his expression which softened her a bit. It was apparent that he wasn’t happy with his new position in his country.

  “You were injured in an IED blast?” Reagan asked. “At the front?”

  Yes. I was injured trying to save my brother, but that was for nothing. He died after the explosion. I am the last of my line, so the Canadian government thought it prudent to take me away from my country. They brought me here, where I recuperated, and now I wait for surgery. I cannot sit idly by and do nothing. But it is not safe for me to go back yet.

  Reagan nodded, but it was hard to take it all in.

  Why hadn’t he told her that he was a prince when they were working together? She’d thought he was just a surgeon.

  But had they ever really talked about personal stuff?

  No, they hadn’t. Not ever.

  It explained why Kainan had that air of command about him. Why other people in the Hermosian Army and the wounded civilians had been in such awe of him. He’d been a prince and she’d been too blind or naive to see it.

  Another scary thought sank into her mind. If Kainan was King that meant Peter was a prince.

  Peter might not be able to stay with her if it came to a custody fight. Even at his tender age Peter had a duty to the country of his father’s birth. He belonged to Isla Hermosa.

  Not to her.

  As if sensing her apprehension, Kainan signed, This changes nothing. Peter is your son. I will not take him from you.

  She wanted to believe him, but she was having a hard time processing all this.

  “I’m surprised that your brother allowed you to serve as a doctor in a field hospital,” she said, because she didn’t know what else to say. She didn’t know of many surgeon kings.

  My late brother didn’t care much for me. I was only the spare. Kainan turned to Andreas. Please help Dr. McNeil deal with this security situation.

  Andreas bowed deeply. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

  Michael and Andreas walked away. Kainan turned to her, pain etched across his face.

  I am sorry, Reagan. I could tell no one. Not until I’d had the surgery. Canada needs to protect me until my coronation.

  “When is that? When is your coronation?”

  New Year’s Day.

  “And your surgery?”

  The twenty-sixth of this month. It’s risky.

  “How risky?”

  With the severe amount of scar tissue...

  He frowned and her heart sank. She knew.

  “It’s bad, then?”

  Yes.

  She nodded, but still the reality of it all was not sinking in. “That day at the palace...”

  I tried to save Alek, but Alek wouldn’t leave. The fool thought I wanted to be King.

  “Why would he think that?” she asked.

  My brother was a fool. The IED went off as I was trying to get him out of the palace and he didn’t survive his injuries. So here I stand. King of Isla Hermosa. A voiceless king.

  “I don’t know what...” She trailed off as she thought about Peter upstairs. The sense of dread was threatening to drown her. The thought of the press pushing their way into Peter’s room was too horrible to think about. “Do the press know about Peter?”

  Kainan shook his head. No, they do not. They do not know about you or Peter, and I plan to keep it that way to protect you both.

  She nodded, but she wasn’t sure that he would be able to. She wasn’t sure about anything, and she didn’t even really know him anymore.

  Reagan had thought that Kainan was just a simple Hermosian surgeon. Nobody famous, just a person who tried to save lives, like her. But instead he’d been living this whole double life when they were on the island.

  He was a king. Kainan might have called himself the “spare,” but he was still royalty. It was a little too much to take in at the moment.

  No wonder there was so much security surrounding Kainan at the Royal York. No wonder the Canadian government had insisted that Kainan come here, Dr. Shaw was one of the best otolaryngologists in the country. It also explained why he was being put up in such an opulent hotel.

  Kainan was being protected.

  “Dr. Laskaris, Dr. Cote...what should we do now?” asked a medical student.

  Reagan and Kainan both spun round to see a few of the medical students in the doorway. A couple of them were staring at Kainan with wide-eyed awe.

  These students must have heard about the civil war that had ripped the island nation of Isla Hermosa apart. How the late King Aleksander had been a tyrant and driven the country’s resources into the ground. As well as cutting off a lot of trade and manufacturing, King Alek had been an ill-informed, misguided playboy who had cost a lot of lives.

  And they probably all knew about the missing King too.

  The missing King who was standing in front of her. Who was the father of her baby.

  At least the press doesn’t know about Peter, and we have to keep it that way.

  “Why don’t you head back to the university? Class is dismissed for today,” Reagan said, making an executive decision.

  The students turned back into the room to gather up their stuff and Reagan started to walk away, because she needed to let all this sink in.

  Kainan caught up with her as she headed down a quiet hallway that was rarely used. The beds on that wing were closed, and she needed the peace of the closed ward to regain her composure. But she had a feeling that was not going to happen, because Kainan had followed her and insisted on signing.

  I meant what I said. This changes nothing, Reagan. My being King changes nothing about this situation. We’re in Canada. We’re not in Isla Hermosa.

  She wanted to believe him, but she couldn’t.

  It’s Kainan, a little voice s
aid, but that didn’t matter anymore. She didn’t know him. Not really. The man she’d thought she knew didn’t really exist. He was a stranger.

  Nothing changes, he reiterated.

  “Oh, really?”

  “I am still me,” he whispered breathlessly.

  “I don’t know who that is.” She stopped to face him. “I never really knew you. We spent all that time together, working side by side, but we were strangers.”

  Kainan scrubbed a hand over his face. I couldn’t tell you I was spare to the heir. Do you know how many women found out who I was and immediately changed. They just wanted my wealth. They wanted status. With you I could just be me.

  “You knew I wasn’t like that.”

  In the end, yes, I did. But you can understand my hesitation. At the beginning I knew nothing about you either.

  Reagan thought about this, then nodded. “How many women are we talking about?” she asked, trying to ease the tension a little.

  Kainan smiled. Okay, not that many. When women found out who I was they pursued me. I wasn’t the playboy my brother was.

  “I just wish you had told me.”

  What would telling the truth have done? Nothing. We were at war. I don’t think of myself as a leader. I wasn’t trained to step into my father’s shoes. All I ever wanted to be was a surgeon, and it was refreshing to be just that when we were working together.

  “What does this mean for our son?”

  Nothing at the moment. He is illegitimate.

  Her eyes widened at his words. Nothing at the moment. What did he mean by that?

  Despite what he’d said about nothing changing, did he mean to legitimize Peter and take him away? And then she recalled what legitimizing meant to a royal. It meant marriage. And if it meant what she thought it meant, she would need more than a moment. She would need a lifetime.

  There was no way she was going to marry Kainan just because they had a son together—just because they’d once had feelings for each other and had had a great night of sex.

  That was not something to base a marriage on. Her parents had married for that, and her mother had resented her for pushing her father away. First of all because he’d wanted a son and then because he’d thought Reagan was a burden, cramping his lifestyle.