admit I admire her.” He wished that was all he felt for her. “Darrell was only in her teens when Melissa died. Since then she has sacrificed her life for Phillip. She could have put him up for adoption instead of adopting him herself. She’s made the perfect home for him. He’s bright, talented.”
A frantic look crossed over his mother’s face. “Does Isabella know he was adopted? Does she realize Ms. Collier isn’t his real mother?”
His lips thinned. “Not yet. If she agrees to marry me, I’ll tell her the truth on our honeymoon. Hopefully the news that Darrell and I were never involved will relieve her fears.
“But for now, no one but you and Phillip know the truth. I don’t want Phillip hurt by this.
“Make no mistake—” His body went rigid. “Darrell’s his real mother. It was her eyes he first saw when he came into the world.”
The most fabulous eyes Alex had ever seen. Like the rare violet hue of the morning sky silhouetting the peaks of the Alps.
“You know what I meant—”
He opened the door. “I don’t have time for this now, Mother. Isabella and her parents are waiting for me.”
The whirr of the helicopter’s rotors sounded overhead. Phillip and the boys ran into Darrell’s room to look at it from the balcony.
“Dad’s back! We’re going to go meet him.’
“Wait, Phillip—” Darrell cautioned.
“Why?”
“Because he always has important things to do first.”
“That’s what mother says,” Jules muttered. Vito nodded. They adored Alex, but they also revered him as king. Phillip had a different problem. To him Alex was his father. Period.
“He said he’d phone you when he could, sweetheart.”
“But it’s already afternoon.”
Darrell was painfully aware he was long overdue. He and Isabella must have managed to work things out, otherwise he would probably have come home a lot sooner.
In order to pass the time without falling apart, she’d talked Phillip into taking a walk on the extensive grounds with her. Then they’d gone swimming with the boys.
The four of them would still be having fun if clouds hadn’t started to gather. At the first sign of lightning she’d insisted they go indoors. A storm was almost upon them. Darrell was thankful the helicopter had landed before Alex got caught in the downpour.
She shivered when she remembered his cousin’s plane had gone down in bad weather, leaving his sons fatherless.
They were so darling, Darrell couldn’t help but love them. She could tell Phillip liked them, too. It was a heady experience to be looked up to by the younger princes who were already enriching his life.
Alex had been worried about Phillip not wanting to hang around waiting to spend time with him. But his fears were groundless. You couldn’t separate Phillip from his father now or ever.
“I’ll get it,” Phillip called out the second the phone rang.
Darrell’s heart raced so hard it was a good thing he picked up instead of her. Since he’d climbed up her balcony, the less she had to interact with Alex the better.
Their conversation didn’t last long. Phillip hung up and turned to her with an excited look on his face.
“Dad wants us to meet him at his office. He says he’s got something special planned and you have to come, too, Mom, because we’re going to have dinner with Aunt Evelyn after.”
Aunt Evelyn…
Darrell hadn’t even met the boys’ mother yet, but Phillip was already calling her aunt.
“Hurrah!” Jules cried enthusiastically.
Under the circumstances Darrell couldn’t refuse. It was a good thing she’d put on her pleated tan pants and fitted purple top. Not too dressy, not too casual for her first meeting with his cousin-in-law.
The boys knew their way around the castle blindfolded. She followed them down the exquisitely sculpted marble staircase to the first floor. They took a right through the magnificent vaulted corridors lined with paintings and tapestries leading to the king’s official workplace.
“See the flag?” Vito spoke up.
“Yes.”
“If the Valleder flag is posted, then you know Uncle Alex is in the city and his ministers can have access to him.”
“That’s very interesting. Thank you for telling me.”
“You’re welcome.”
The boy knew everything and took it all so seriously, Darrell decided he had the makings of a king.
Then she glimpsed the real king. At the first sight of Alex in a black turtleneck and jeans standing in the huge double doorway, her pulse skittered off the charts.
The boys huddled around him while he gave their dark blond heads a gentle roughing.
Yesterday she’d felt those strong hands in her hair and knew how it felt. She almost passed out reliving the sensation until she remembered he’d spent the night with Isabella.
Judging by his laid-back demeanor, he’d won Isabella over and there was going to be a wedding. Then she would always have the right to his affection.
Darrell couldn’t bear it.
“Mom?” Phillip shook her arm, jerking her from a place she’d promised herself never to go again. Her gaze happened to collide with a penetrating pair of eyes that were more gray than green at the moment.
“When a storm rages, there’s a knight whose ghost walks around the castle below the waterline. Chaz and I only saw the back of him one time. I thought we’d all go down and search for him now.”
The boys laughed nervously. Phillip smiled, but his heels moved up and down, indicating his adrenaline had kicked in.
“Think you’re up to it?”
Alex had issued her a direct challenge she couldn’t refuse. In truth she didn’t want to. Who else besides Alex would think up something this entertaining for a bunch of adventurous boys on a dark, dreary afternoon inside a castle of all things?
“I wouldn’t miss snooping around this place for anything in the world.”
Another smile of satisfaction curved his lips. “Then let’s go.”
With a heavy-duty flashlight in hand, Alex strode down the hall forcing everyone to run after him.
“Admit you’re a little freaked, Mom.”
She was, but not for the reason her son was
