to hug her, to thank her, to promise her the moon. And it was stupid. He didn’t want her in his life anymore, and frankly, she didn’t want him in her life, either.
Hell, he wasn’t even sure she’d ever wanted him in her life. They’d known each other a little over a month. She had probably awakened one morning completely appalled by what she had done and had grabbed the opportunity to end their marriage when her father had summoned her. Actually, she could have been so appalled that she called her dad to get her out of her mistake. For all Seth knew, she could have been the brains behind the annulment.
Still, he understood what Pete was telling him. If he let Lucy go, especially if she took their child to another country where her father was king, Seth might never see his son again.
He waited ten minutes as the nurse had asked, then knocked before entering Lucy’s room. He made the mistake of allowing his eyes to meet hers. He saw the warmth and softness in her pretty brown eyes and felt the attraction, the passion. All the wonderful things they’d once shared.
Damn!
He reminded himself to fight the feelings and reminded himself that even if he were fool enough to get involved with her, she didn’t want to be involved with him. They were a bad combination. She had apparently seen that first. And when she’d run home to daddy, the king had disposed of Seth as if he were a scarred two-by-four.
That sobered him.
“I was hoping you would stay in Porter for a week or two so we could hammer out a visitation agreement.”
Lucy played with the cover on her bed. “Seth, there are a few things I need to tell you…”
“I hope one of those things isn’t that I don’t have any rights.”
She shook her head. “No. You are the baby’s father. You have all the usual rights. In fact, I would like to name our son after your father. Owen.”
The gesture surprised Seth so much he nearly had to sit. “Why?”
She smiled. “I think it’s appropriate. One of the few things I remember you telling me in our short time together was how much you had loved your dad and how much you had missed him after he died. You told me your brother Ty had worked very hard to make up for the loss, but you always felt it.”
Well, if that didn’t shoot a bunch of holes into his theory that they hadn’t really talked, Seth didn’t know what did. Still, when push came to shove, she’d regretted their marriage and dumped him. Even if they had talked, they really didn’t know each other. And even if they spent time getting to know each other that wouldn’t change the fact that they weren’t getting back together. He now thoroughly mistrusted monarchies and she would be an idiot to give up her throne for him.
Hell, who was he kidding? She just plain wouldn’t give up her royal status for him.
Fortified by the truth of that, he caught her gaze again. She smiled slightly, honestly. And he felt the pull of attraction again.
Damn!
“I don’t know what to say,” he said, bringing his thoughts back to her kind gesture.
“Don’t say anything. Owen is your son, too.”
He took a breath, praying for strength in dealing with this woman who was drawing him under her spell again.
“Unfortunately, any visitation agreement that you and I create will have to be approved by my father’s barrister,” she said, sending him crashing back to reality.
“I don’t see why,” Seth said as anger spiked through him. He wasn’t upset about the fact that Lucy wanted a lawyer to represent her; he simply didn’t like the counsel she had chosen. Her father’s barrister. The royal lawyer. The one who looked out for the rights of the monarchy first. Not even Lucy. The monarchy. “Why don’t you just hire an attorney here?”
“Because that’s not how it’s done in Xavier.”
“Well, honey, you’re not in Xavier right now.”
“I’m aware of that. However, you seem to be missing the big picture. Your son isn’t just your son. He isn’t even simply my son. He is Xavier’s next king. And Xavier has a say in what goes on in his life.”
Seth stared at her. “Are you kidding me? You’re telling me that some guys in long black robes, probably wearing powdered wigs, are going to dictate how I raise my son?”
“Not dictate,” Lucy insisted. “But they will participate in things like his baptism, where he will also be consecrated as Xavier’s next sovereign.”
“Is that anything like selling your soul to the devil?”
“Seth, please. It’s a ceremony. There will be approximately ten or twelve ceremonies Owen will be required to attend. Until his coronation, when he will live in Xavier.”
Seth combed his fingers through his hair, mad at himself for getting angry with her, but knowing he’d panicked because the last royal decree of her country’s sovereign had destroyed their marriage and God only knew what the monarchy would do to an innocent little boy destined to be king.
Seth suddenly realized that controlling himself around Xavier’s beautiful princess wasn’t the only challenge he faced. He also had to fight for Owen’s rights. If he didn’t do something, there would be no Little League for his son, no mountain adventures, no cabins, cars, dates…Hell, his son might not even go to high school! Who knew what school a future king would have to attend.
Somehow or another, over the next few weeks Seth had to figure out a way to keep Owen in America.
Because if he didn’t, Owen Bryant would end up like his princess mother, controlled by the wishes and whims of her country. And that was the real bottom line. That was what had hurt Seth the most. When Lucy was told she couldn’t get married because she was already betrothed, she hadn’t fought to get out of the betrothal. She’d simply left him.
That was why he could never lose an inch of his heart to this woman again.
Chapter Two
“I thought you were taking me to a hotel,” Lucy Santos said quietly, as she glanced at Seth’s brown brick house. Seated in the back of his SUV with her son who was sleeping soundly in his infant car seat, she caught Seth’s gaze in the rearview mirror.
Seth tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “I brought you here because I think it’s smarter for you to stay with me than to get a hotel room.”
Smarter? Lucy almost laughed as she considered the man she’d decided to marry in less time than she typically spent choosing a gown for one of her father’s formal affairs. This morning Seth wore a pale green Polo shirt that brought out the green of his eyes, khaki trousers and brown loafers. But when she had arrived at his door the night before, he’d been wearing only jeans that hung low on his lean hips and she’d collapsed against his naked chest. At the time, she’d been in too much pain to register a reaction to his smooth, warm skin. But right now, she couldn’t stop picturing the hard muscles of his torso, or remembering how nice it was to fall against the security of his strong body and realizing with sudden clarity why she’d married him after knowing
