the trunk, escaping the chaos. But she’d barely settled inside before the reporter blocked the prince’s path. “Is the baby your bastard child?”
Adan grabbed the journalist by the collar with both hands. “The child is not a bastard,” he hissed. “He is my son.”
Piper saw a disaster in the making and had to intervene. “Adan, he’s not worth it.”
The reporter cut a look in her direction. “Is this woman your mistress?”
Adan pointed in her direction. “That woman is... She is...my wife.”
* * *
“Your wife? What were you thinking, Adan?”
He hadn’t been thinking at all, only reacting. But after spending a good hour sitting on the veranda outside the nursery, that was all he had been doing. “The bloody imbecile insulted my child, and then he insulted you.”
Piper yanked the chair opposite his back from the table and sat. “Telling the press we’re married was a bit extreme, don’t you agree?”
That extreme stemmed from wrath over the circumstance. “Had you not begun this debacle by claiming to be Samuel’s mother, then I would not have had to defend yours and my son’s honor.”
She sent him a withering look. “For your information, I was simply trying to protect you from answering questions you weren’t prepared to answer. I had no idea you were going tell the world you’re Sam’s father, nor did I have a clue you were going to have us living in wedded bliss.”
“I believe that would be preferable to confirming you’re nothing more than a mistress who bore my bastard child.”
“What would have been wrong with letting everyone believe he’s mine and leave it at that?”
His anger returned with the strength of a tempest. “I will not deny my son to anyone. Under any circumstance.”
She blew an upward breath that ruffled her bangs. “Okay, it’s obvious we’re not going to get anywhere by playing the blame game. The question is, what are you going to do now? I don’t think moving to Antarctica is a viable option with a month-old child.”
The trip was beginning to appeal to him greatly. “If I refuse to comment further, the rumors will eventually die down.”
She leaned back and released an acerbic laugh. “By the time Sam turns twenty?”
He recognized the absurdity in believing any scandal involving the Mehdi family would simply go away. “You’re right. I will have to come up with some way to explain the situation. But I will not retract my statement regarding my son.”
She appeared resigned. “I understand that, but you have to be worried Talia might find out someone else is pretending to be your son’s mother, not to mention your wife. If she decides to come forward, everyone will know Sam’s the result of a relationship out of wedlock and you lied about our marriage.”
Since his ex was the consummate publicity hound, handing her that bone could prove to be problematic eventually. “To my good fortune, she’s unreachable at the moment. I highly doubt she will hear any of this until she returns to France.”
“Possibly, but I’m sure the king has heard by now and—” she streaked both hands down her face “—if my grandfather finds out, he’ll demand I board the next plane bound for the Carolinas.”
Despite what had transpired an hour ago, he still did not want her to leave for many reasons. “As far as I know, you have not yet been identified.”
“I saw camera flashes.”
“And you were wearing sunglasses. You could be any number of women who’ve crossed my path.” He regretted the comment the moment it left his stupid mouth.
“All your ex-lovers?” she asked, her voice surprisingly calm.
He grasped for anything to dig himself out of the hole. “I meant any woman, whether I’ve slept with her or not. When you are constantly in the spotlight, your reputation becomes completely overblown. My brother Zain could attest to that. His reputation preceded him before he married Madison.”
“I recall Elena mentioning they’re in Los Angeles,” she said. “Is his wife from the States?”
“Yes, and she is unequivocally the best thing that has ever happened to him. I sincerely never believed he would settle down with one woman.”
She leaned back against the seat and began to toy with the diamond pendant dangling between her breasts. “Well, since I’m apparently just any woman, I suppose I shouldn’t be worried at all. However, if I know the press, it’s only a matter of time before they learn who I am.”
Adan pushed out of the chair and moved to the veranda’s edge to stare at the mountainous panorama he had always taken for granted. “It would be better for Samuel if everyone believed you are his mother, not Talia. She has quite a few skeletons in her dressing room closet.”
Piper joined him and folded her arms atop the ledge. “Haven’t we all in some way?”
He turned and leaned back against the stone wall. “I would have a difficult time believing you have anything scandalous to hide.”
She smiled. “Well, apparently I gave birth and I haven’t been exposed to sex in quite some time. That would be some fairly heavy fodder for the gossipmongers.”
He shook his head and returned her smile. “It’s good to see your wit is still intact.”
“Hey, if you can’t immediately fix a terrible situation, you might as well find some humor in it.”
A true optimist. He added that to his ever-expanding list of her attributes. “Do you consider the thought of being wed to me so terrible?”
“Actually, I can think of a few perks being married to you would provide.”
He inched closer to her. “What perks do you have in mind?”
She faced him and folded her arms beneath her breasts. “Living in a palace immediately comes to mind.”
Not at all what he’d wanted to hear. “That’s it?”
“Who wouldn’t want to be waited on hand and foot?”
He reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear. “I’m disappointed that’s the best you can do.”
She frowned. “If you want me to include your expertise as a lover, I can’t speak to that because I don’t know. Not that I didn’t try my best to convince you to show me in your hotel room.”
He still wanted to be her lover. More than he’d wanted anything in quite some time, aside from being a worthy father to his son. “Since the rest of the world now believes we’ve conceived a child together, perhaps we should give lovemaking serious consideration.”
Her grin rivaled the sun setting on the horizon. “Procreation in reverse. I kind of like the thought of that, but...” Her words trailed off along with her gaze.
