by Kristi Gold
“You’re wrong,” she said adamantly. “I realize now only an honorable man would so obviously love a child he just met. I see it every time you look at Sam.”
Every time he looked at her, he felt things he could not explain, and shouldn’t be feeling. “Then what would stop you from exploring our relationship on an intimate level, particularly when you were so bent on doing so in Chicago?”
“I’m taking your need for celibacy into consideration.”
That vow was quickly becoming the bane of his existence. “I do not believe that to be the case.”
She sighed. “Fine. Truth is, I don’t want to get hurt.”
He slid a fingertip along her jaw. “I would never do anything to hurt you, Piper.”
“Not intentionally,” she said. “But if we take that all-important step, I worry it’s going to be too hard to walk away. And we both know I’ll be walking away sooner than later.”
Letting her walk away wouldn’t be one of his finest moments, either. But he could make no promises. “I propose we continue with our original plan and learn all we can about each other while you’re here. Anything beyond that will happen only if we mutually decide it’s beneficial for both of us.”
She tapped her chin and pretended to think. “A prince with benefits. That does sound intriguing.”
He had resisted her long enough was his last thought before he reeled her into his arms and kissed her. She didn’t reject the gesture at all. She didn’t push him away or tense against him. She simply kissed him back like a woman who had not been kissed enough. And as usual, his body responded in a way that would merit a serious scolding from his former governess.
Bent on telling her what she was doing to him, he brought his lips to her ear. “If we had no care in the world, and all the privacy we needed, I would lift up your dress, lower your panties and take you right here.”
She pulled back and stared at him with hazy eyes. “I could think of worse things.”
He could think of something much better. “You deserve a bed and champagne and candles our first time.”
“You’re certainly not lacking in confidence.”
Subtlety had never been his strongest suit. “Provided we decide to take that next step.”
“Provided we could actually find the time to do it while adhering to your son’s schedule.”
Right on time, the sound of a crying baby filtered out through the nursery’s open window. “I shall go see about him,” he said without removing his hold or his gaze from her.
“I’ll do it,” she answered without making a single move.
“I already have.”
Adan glanced to his right to see Elena strolling onto the terrace, his son in her arms, sending him away from Piper. “We were on our way.”
Elena rolled her eyes. “You were on your way, all right, but that had nothing to do with the bambino.”
Caught by the former nanny like a juvenile delinquent stealing candy from the market. “We shall take charge of him now.”
Elena moved in front of him and smiled. “I will watch him for a while until you and Miss McAdams return.”
“Where are we going?” Piper asked before he could respond.
“Your presence is requested in the conference room. Both of you.”
Perhaps the first information from the engineers, although he had a difficult time believing they’d have anything significant to report in such a short time. “Shouldn’t we wait to meet with the conservation crew until after Rafiq returns?”
“Rafiq arrived a few minutes ago,” Elena said. “He called the meeting.”
Damn it all to hell. He’d been summoned to take his place in the king’s hot seat. “Did he happen to mention anything about water conservation?”
“I would speculate he’s interested in conserving the military commander in chief’s reputation.” Elena cradled the baby closer and patted Adan’s arm. “Good luck, cara. You are absolutely going to need it.”
Depending on what his brother had in store for him, he could very well need to call out the royal guard.
Five
Dead silence—Piper’s first impression the minute she followed Adan into the conference room for the so-called meeting. And she had no doubt she knew exactly what was on the agenda—quite possibly her head delivered to her personally by the king of Bajul.
He wore a black silk suit, dark gray tie and a definite air of authority. His coal-colored eyes and near-black hair would qualify him as darkly handsome, and somewhat intimidating. Very intimidating, Piper realized when he pushed back from the head of the mahogany table and came to his feet. Adan might be an inch or so taller, but his brother’s aura of sheer power made him seem gigantic.
The mysterious Mr. Deeb stood nearby, absently studying his glasses before he repositioned them over his eyes. “Please join us,” he said, indicating the two chairs on each side of the stoic monarch.
Adan had already settled in before Piper had gathered enough courage to walk forward. She could do this. She could face Rafiq Mehdi with a calm head and feigned confidence. Or she could turn and run.
Choosing the first option for diplomacy’s sake, she claimed the chair opposite Adan as the king sat and folded his hands before him on the tabletop. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Ms. McAdams,” he began, “though I would have preferred to have done so under different circumstances.”
She would have preferred not to meet him at all today, if ever. Sucking up seemed like a fantastic idea. “The pleasure is all mine, Your Excellency. My grandfather has said some wonderful things about your leadership. And you may call me Piper.”
“And you may address me as Rafiq, since it seems you have become a part of the royal family without my knowledge.”
Piper swallowed hard around her chagrin. “Actually, that’s not—”
“Are you going to jump to conclusions without hearing our side of the story, Rafiq?” Adan asked, a serious hint of impatience in his tone.
The king leaned back and studied them both for a moment. “I am giving you the opportunity now.”
“I have a son,” Adan said. “That whole wife issue was simply a misunderstanding, and that is all there is to the story.”
Rafiq released a gruff laugh. “I fear you are wrong about that, brother. I know this because I have heard the entire sordid tale. And I do believe that included you delivering the ‘wife’ proclamation yourself.”
Piper noticed an immediate change in Adan’s demeanor. He definitely didn’t appear quite as confident as he had when they’d entered the room. She had to come to his defense due to her contribution to the mess. “Your Excellency, I’m in part responsible for—”
Adan put up a hand to silence her. “It was simply an error in judgment on both our parts. We were attempting to protect each other and my son.”
“Yet instead you have created a scandal at a time when we are trying to convince our people this conservation project is worthwhile,” Rafiq replied. “Their attention has now been diverted from the need to relocate some of the farms to an illegitimate child born to the man in charge of protecting our borders.”
“Never use that word to describe my son again,” Adan hissed. “I may not have known about him, but he is every bit a Mehdi.”
Rafiq looked extremely surprised. “I never thought of you as being the paternal sort, Adan. That being said, it is my understanding his true mother is the narcissistic Talia Thorpe.”
Evidently the royal family and staff held the model in very low esteem. “That’s true,” Piper interjected before she could be cut off again. “I was simply pretending to be the baby’s mother to delay the questions over his parentage.”
“Yet everyone now believes you are his mother,” Rafiq replied. “That has created quite the dilemma.”
; “I promise you I will handle this,” Adan said. “I will retract the marriage statement and explain that Samuel is my child from a previous relationship.”
Rafiq straightened and scowled. “You will do no such thing.”
Adan exchanged a look with Piper before bringing his attention back to his brother. “You would have us continue the lie?”
“As a matter of fact, that is exactly what you will do,” Rafiq began, “until you find some way to be rid of the model, for both yours and your heir’s sake. Naming her as the mother will only wreak more havoc. The woman is known for posing in the nude in several photographs.”
The king’s condescension ruffled Piper’s artistic feathers. “Some do not find nudity offensive. It would depend on what the photographer was attempting to convey.”
“Centerfold photos,” Adan added. “She posed for several magazines, in print and online. Some of those publications are obscure and questionable at best.”
That did change everything from an artistic standpoint. “Are they widely circulated here?”
Adan looked somewhat sheepish. “After word got out that we were involved.”
The king turned his full attention to her. “Ms. McAdams, if you would kindly continue the charade until your departure, then we will make certain you are compensated.”
She could not believe someone was offering to pay her for a humongous fib that could alter her own life. “No offense, Your Excellency, but I can’t in good conscience accept money for my silence.”
“Temporary silence,” the king added. “And I was not suggesting a bribe. However, I will award the contract to your corporation upon review of the bid. Once you have returned to the States, we will issue a statement saying you felt it best that the marriage be dissolved on the basis of irreconcilable differences, and that you feel your son should live in his homeland.”
“And what do you propose we do with Talia?” Adan asked. “Bind and gag her before she leaks the truth to the media?”
“She we will have to pay,” Rafiq stated. “I am certain it will cost a fortune to have her relinquish her rights as well as execute a legal document forbidding her to have any claim on the child. Fortunately, you have the means to meet her price, however high that might be.”
Adan released a weary sigh. “Rafiq, this could all backfire no matter how carefully we plan. Talia could refuse to meet our terms, and furthermore, the truth may surface no matter how hard we try to conceal it.”
“I trust that you and Ms. McAdams will see that does not happen.”
The man was making too many impossible demands as far as Piper was concerned. “How do you propose we do that when you risk someone within these walls leaking that information?”
“The staff normally practices absolute discretion,” Rafiq said, mirroring Adan’s words from the day they discovered Sam existed. “Yet it would be foolish not to believe someone with lesser responsibility in the palace could sell the information to the highest bidder. Therefore it is paramount you both act as if you are a wedded couple at all times. We will issue a press release stating you were married at an undisclosed location prior to the pregnancy.”
As she regarded Adan, Piper couldn’t quite contain her sarcasm. “Would that be all right with you, dear?”
He shook his head. “None of this is right, but I do believe it is a viable plan, at least for the time being.”
She saw her control over the situation begin to slip away. “Do I have any say in the matter?”
“Yes you do,” Rafiq said. “You are free to refuse and leave immediately. With your company’s crew.”
A not-so-veiled threat. She mulled over a laundry list of pros and cons while Adan and the king waited for her answer. If she didn’t agree, they would lose the contract, and that could send the struggling business into a free fall. If she did agree, she would have to stay on for at least a month immersed in a massive lie. And most important, she would be charged with contacting her grandparents to break the news before someone else did. She could only imagine her grandfather’s reaction to either scenario. Then again, if she went along with the marriage pretense, she’d have the opportunity to stand up to him once and for all if he gave her any grief. She could finally be her own person and control her own life—for at least a month. Not a bad thing, at that.
A few more seconds ticked off while she weighed her options. The one bright spot she could see coming out of this entire debacle had directly to do with Adan. Being his make-believe spouse could come with some serious perks.
She drew in a deep breath, let it out slowly and said, “I’ll do it.”
Adan looked caught completely off guard. “You will?”
“I will.” She rose from the chair and managed a smile. “Now, if you gentlemen would please excuse me, this pretend wife needs to make a call to her very real grandparents.”
Adan stood and returned her smile. “Feel free to use my private study next door.”
“Thanks. I believe I will.”
Piper did an about-face, strode into the hall and prepared to lie.
* * *
“Have you totally lost your ever-lovin’ mind, sweet pea?”
Oh, how she hated her grandfather’s pet name for her. But Piper had to admit she was enjoying his shock. She’d never seriously shocked anyone in her sheltered life up to this point, at least not to this extreme. “No, Poppa, I’m quite sane. I would have told you sooner about the marriage but it was rather spontaneous.” And pure fiction.
“When did you meet this character?”
Lie number one. “Quite a while ago, when I was in the U.K. last year.”
“And you didn’t bother to tell me this when you knew full well I was sending you to his country? That dog just don’t hunt.”
Lie number two. “We’ve kept our relationship quiet because we didn’t want other contractors thinking I could influence the bidding process.”
“And you don’t have an influence over the bid now that you’ve gotten yourself hitched to him, sweet pea?”
Lie number three. “Not at all.”
A span of silence passed before he responded. “I guess there’s nothing I can do about it now, but at least it’s good to know he’s got royal blood and money to burn.”
Of course that would be Walter McAdams’s main concern when it came to her choice in a life partner. It always had been. “I’m sure when you met him back in Chicago you realized he’s a very charming man.”
“A charming snake,” he muttered. “Of course, your grandmother’s all atwitter over this. She wants to talk to you, so hang on a minute.”
Piper heard him put down the receiver, followed by muffled conversation before someone picked up the phone again. “My little sugar plum is a married woman!”
Enough with the overly sweet endearments, she wanted to say, but kept her impatience in check. “Yes, Nana, I finally took the plunge.” Headlong into a humongous fabricated fairy tale.
“I saw a picture of him on the internet, Piper. My, my, he’s a good-looking young man. When did you two meet?”
Piper was frankly sick to death of fibbing, so she decided to try on the truth. “In a hotel bar. I attempted to seduce him but he didn’t take the bait. He’s quite the gentleman.”
As usual, her grandmother giggled like a schoolgirl, a good indicator she didn’t believe what she’d heard. “Oh, child, you are still such a cutup when it comes to boys. And you don’t have to tell me any details right now.”
But she did have to tell her more truths. “Nana, Adan is a very public figure, so you might hear a few rumors that aren’t exactly accurate.”
“What kind of rumors?” she asked with obvious concern.
She could trust her grandmother with some of the facts, even if the woman was a little too steeped in Southern society. “Fi
rst, you have to promise me that whatever I tell you, it has to remain strictly confidential.”
“Sugar, you know how I abhor gossip.”
An advantage for Piper in this gossip game. “All right. You’re probably going to hear that we’ve had a baby together.”
Nana released an audible gasp. “Did you?”
Heavens, the woman wasn’t thinking straight. “Do you recall me even remotely looking pregnant over the past few months?”
“Well, no.”
“Precisely, because I wasn’t. Adan does have an infant son, but obviously I’m not his mother. That said, as far as the world knows, Samuel is my baby. The biological mother’s identity is a well-kept secret and has to remain so for reasons I can’t reveal.”
“Is she an actress? Maybe a singer? Oh, wait. Is she a call girl?”
Piper had no idea Drusilla McAdams even knew what that was. “Don’t worry about it. I just need you to refuse to comment on anything if any reporters track you and Poppa down, and keep everything I’ve told you to yourself. Can you do that, Nana?”
“I certainly can, sugar plum,” she said. “And I’m so proud of you, sweetie. It’s admirable you’re willing to take another woman’s child and raise it as your own.”
“I learned that from you, Nana.”
A span of silence passed before her grandmother spoke again. “I have never regretted raising you and your sister, Piper. I do regret that Millie could never be a decent mother to you. But that’s mine and your Poppa’s fault. We spoiled her too much, maybe even loved her too much. She never had a care in the world aside from herself.”
She still didn’t as far as Piper could tell. She’d barely even seen her fly-by-night mother over the past few years, let alone established a relationship with her. “You were very good to me and Sunny, Nana. Millie is responsible for her behavior, not you. And I don’t believe you can ever love anyone too much.”
“Only if they can’t possibly love you back, honey.”
Her grandmother’s words gave her some cause for concern. If she happened to stupidly fall in love with Adan, she wondered if he had the capacity to return her feelings. Probably not, and she certainly didn’t intend to find out. Sadly, sometimes intentions went awry. “Look, Nana, I have a few things to do, but first, do you have any questions for me?” Piper held her breath and hoped for a no.