Escaping with the Billionaire: The Maverick Prince / Billionaire, M.D.. Catherine Mann
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“I’m sorry.” Kolby eyed the wheelchair folded up and tucked discreetly alongside the fireplace. “You musta been bery sick.”
“Thank you. I have good doctors.”
“You got germs?”
A smile tugged at the stern face. “No, child. You and your mother cannot catch my germs.”
“That’s good.” He stuffed his tiny fists into his pockets. “Don’t like washin’ my hands.”
Enrique laughed low before his hand fell to rest on one dog’s head. “Do you like animals?”
“Yep.” Kolby squirmed downward until Shannon had no choice but to release him before he pitched out of her arms. “Want a dog.”
Such a simple, painfully normal wish and she couldn’t afford to supply it. From the pet deposit required at her apartment complex to the vet bills…It was out of her budget. Guilt tweaked again over all she couldn’t give her child.
Yet hadn’t Tony been denied so much even with such wealth? He’d lost his home, his mother and gained a gilded prison. Whispers of sympathy for a motherless boy growing up isolated from the world softened her heart when she most needed to hold strong.
Enrique motioned Kolby closer. “You may pet my dog. Come closer and I will introduce you to Benito and Diablo. They are very well trained and will not hurt you.”
Kolby didn’t even hesitate. Any reservations her son felt about Tony certainly didn’t extend to King Enrique—or his dogs. Diablo sniffed the tiny, extended hand.
A cleared throat startled Shannon from her thoughts. She glanced over her shoulder and found a young woman waiting in the archway. In her late twenties, wearing a Chanel suit, she obviously wasn’t the housekeeper.
But she was stunning with her black hair sleeked back in a simple clasp. She wore strappy heels instead of sneakers. God, it felt silly to be envious of someone she didn’t know, and honestly, she only coveted the pretty red shoes.
“Alys,” the older man commanded, “enter. Come meet my son and his guests. This is my assistant, Alys Reyes de la Cortez. She will show you to your quarters.”
Shannon resisted the urge to jump to conclusions. It wasn’t any of her business who Enrique Medina chose for his staff and she shouldn’t judge a person by their appearance. The woman was probably a rocket scientist, and Shannon wouldn’t trade one single sticky hug from her son for all the high-end clothes on the planet.
Not that she was jealous of the gorgeous female with immaculate clothes, who fit perfectly into Tony’s world. After all, he hadn’t spared more than a passing glance at the woman.
Still, she wished she’d packed a pair of pumps.
* * *
An hour later, Shannon closed her empty suitcases and rocked back on her bare heels in the doorway of her new quarters.
A suite?
More like a luxury condominium within the mansion. She sunk her toes into the Persian rug until her chipped pink polish disappeared in the apricot-and-gray pattern. She and Kolby had separate bedrooms off a sitting area with an eating space stocked more fully than most kitchens. The balcony was as large as some yards.
Had the fresh-cut flowers been placed in here just for her? She dipped her face into the crystal vase of lisianthus with blooms that resembled blue roses and softened the gray tones in the decor.
After Alys had walked them up the lengthy stairs to their suite, Kolby had run from room to room for fifteen minutes before winding down and falling asleep in an exhausted heap under the covers. He hadn’t even noticed the toy box at the end of his sleigh bed yet, he’d been so curious about their new digs. Tony had given them space while she unpacked, leaving for his quarters with a simple goodbye and another of those smiles that didn’t reach his eyes.
The quiet echoed around her, leaving her hyperaware of other sounds…a ticking grandfather clock in the hall…the crashing ocean outside…Trailing her fingers along the camelback sofa, she looked through the double doors, moonlight casting shadows along her balcony. Her feet drew her closer until the shadows took shape into the broad shoulders of a man leaning on the railing.
Tony? He felt like a safe haven in an upside-down day. But how had he gotten there without her noticing his arrival?
Their balconies must connect, which meant someone had planned for them to have access to each other’s rooms. Had he been waiting for her? Anticipation hummed through her at the notion of having him all to herself.
Shannon unlocked and pushed open the doors to the patio filled with topiaries, ferns and flowering cacti. A swift ocean breeze rolled over her, lifting her hair and fluttering her shirt along her skin in whispery caresses. God, she was tired and emotional and so not in the right frame of mind to be anywhere near Tony. She should go to bed instead of staring at his sinfully sexy body just calling to her to rest her cheek on his back and wrap her arms around his waist. Her fingers fanned against her legs as she remembered the feel of him, so much more intense with his sandalwood scent riding the wind.
Need pooled warm and languid and low, diluting her already fading resistance.
His shoulders bunched under his starched white shirt a second before he glanced over his shoulder, his eyes haunted. Then they cleared. “Is Kolby asleep?”
“Yes, and thank you for all the preparations. The toys, the food…the flowers.”
“All a part of the Medina welcome package.”
“Perhaps.” But she’d noticed a few too many of their favorites for the choices to have been coincidental. She moved forward hesitantly, the tiles cool against the bottoms of her feet. “This is all…something else.”
“Leaving San Rinaldo, we had to downsize.” He gave her another of those dry smiles.
More sympathy slid over her frustration at his secrets. “Thank you for bringing us here. I know it wasn’t easy for you.”
“I’m the reason you have to hide out in the first place until we line up protection for you. Seems only fair I should do everything in my power to make this right.”
Her husband had never tried to fix any of his mistakes, hadn’t even apologized after his arrest in the face of irrefutable evidence. She couldn’t help but appreciate the way Tony took responsibility. And he cared enough to smooth the way for her.
“What about you?” She joined him at the swirled iron railing. “You wouldn’t have come here if it weren’t for me. What do you hope to accomplish for yourself?”
“Don’t worry about me.” He leaned back on his elbows, white shirt stretching open at the collar to reveal the strong column of his neck. “I always look out for myself.”
“Then what are you gaining?”
“More time with you, at least until the restraining order is in place.” The heat of his eyes broadcast his intent just before he reached for