Pregnant with the Prince's Child (7 page)

But right now, he didn’t want to dwell on that. He’d come out here to try and get his head straight. He had to think and decide what he wanted to do with his life, before others made that decision for him. The way things were going, it looked like he just might be the lost prince. Wow. Wonderful. What was that going to do for him? He took a deep breath and frowned. That and a half-crown coin might get him a pint at the local pub.

Hey. He smiled wryly to himself. Maybe it actually would. Maybe people did give princes free food and drink just for showing up at their place. If so, it might actually be worth something.

But he had to get serious and be practical. Did he really want to become a prince and go to live in the castle with the rest of the royal family? Offhand, he didn’t think he was suited for the job. It seemed superfluous. He had half a mind to tell them to take their royal crown and… Well, if he did turn it down, he probably wouldn’t be quite that rude about it. But he was tempted just to say no.

And yet, he didn’t want to be too impulsive. What if there were more to it? What if he could step in and find an important job to do? What if being royal could really put him into a position where he could make a difference?

Probably a pipe dream. Still, this was all sort of interesting, being tapped as a possible lost prince and all. It wasn’t quite as good as being a war hero, of course, but it was something. He’d been told he’d done some pretty good things in the war, and he hoped that was true. But what good did it do if you couldn’t remember it?

When you got right down to it, it all seemed so pointless. He’d never wanted to be a prince. Most of his childhood had been spent wanting desperately to be a football star. As that dream died, others took its place. He wanted to be a fireman. Then an astronaut. And finally he’d settled on architecture. He’d had a thriving business, but the war had loomed and he remembered thinking being a spy would be great fun. They told him that was exactly what he’d become, though he didn’t remember it at all.

But a prince? No, that had never been on his horizon and he wasn’t really sure what royalty did beside stand around and look important. Was it really a full-time job? Or were you allowed to follow other pursuits on the side? Someone would have to explain all these little details to him at some point, and then he would make the final determination whether he would submit to the royal rigmarole or not.

Still, it wasn’t really filling his mind with eager thoughts. In some ways, it seemed almost irrelevant. His own two lost years were more of an obsession. That was what he couldn’t stop thinking about. Where had he been? What had he done? Whom had he offended? Whom had he made love to?

Two years. A lot could happen in that amount of time. He could remember how excited he’d been to begin his military career. He’d prepared himself in every way he could think of. He’d worked out and read books and agonized over his own belief system. He’d filled out the paperwork.

And then—nothing. It was as though he’d walked through a door into another world and stayed there for two years. Now he was back and he wanted to retrieve what he’d lost.

Loss. The word resonated with him. Yes, that was what he was feeling, why he was so restless and dissatisfied. He felt loss—and not just of time and experience. He felt a deep, dark, aching loss in his soul. He needed someone. Something was missing.

He started to stand and the pain hit him like a knife in the back. Gasping, he fell back down onto the bench. For the moment, pain was all there was.

Janis was muttering to herself as she hurried through the house toward the backyard. She’d overslept and then she’d had to deal with a little bit of morning sickness, something she hadn’t had until recently. Now she didn’t know where Mykal was and she was furious with herself.

“If I’m going to make a fool of myself hanging around here, I might at least do a good job of keeping tabs on the man,” she muttered aloud. “What is the point if I’m not even vigilant?”

She’d woken up, pulled together her clothes and dashed through the house finding absolutely nobody. He had to be outside. She was out the door and into a garden that must have been beautiful once, but had gone a bit too much to seed lately. And then she saw Kylos and Griswold on either side of Mykal, bringing him back to the house.

She gasped. He looked terrible, drawn and pale. The two men were holding all his weight and practically carrying him along. Her heart was in her throat as she ran out to meet them.

“What happened?” she cried.

Kylos gave her a murderous look. “I guess his pain medication wore off and he decided to go gallivanting around,” he said coldly. “Too bad you can’t be bothered to make sure he’s medicated.”

“No,” Mykal murmured, shaking his head. “I don’t want any pain medication.”

“What you want and what you need are two different things,” Kylos told him sternly.

The house phone began to ring, adding to the sense of frenzy.

“Oh,” Janis said, reluctant to leave them but knowing there was no one else to answer the phone in the house. These three were definitely occupied. “Shall I…?”

“If you please, miss,” Griswold said, staggering under Mykal’s weight. “I’m afraid I’m tied up at the moment.”

“If you wouldn’t mind,” Kylos added through clenched teeth, his eyes shooting daggers.

“Of course.” She threw a pained glance at Mykal and a glare back at Kylos and ran into the house and then headed for the study, picking it up in the nick of time.

“Hello,” she said breathlessly, looking back to see where they were taking Mykal. “This is the Marten residence.”

“This is Queen Pellea,” the musical voice on the other end announced in a friendly manner. “I’d like to speak to Mykal, please.”

“Oh.” Janis stood as though struck dumb. It was the queen. She’d never spoken to a queen before. “Oh, my goodness.”

“Is he available?” Her voice rose as she began to intuit that something might be amiss. “What’s wrong? Has something happened to him? Please, fill me in right away.”

Janis could hear the emotional connection in her voice and for some reason, it touched her heart and caused all her own emotions to come pouring out. Suddenly, she found herself talking to the queen as though she’d known her all her life.

“Oh, Your Royal Highness,” she said, not sure if she had the right address but too upset to care. Looking around again, she could see that the men were taking him back into the bedroom. She needed to get to him. She needed to help.

“I’ve been trying to keep him quiet,” she said quickly, “but you can’t believe how hard it is. I just woke up to find he’s been out running around in the yard and of course now he’s collapsed and…and…”

“Okay,” Pellea said briskly. “We’re moving up the timetable. I’m sending someone over as soon as possible with an ambulance. I want him here at the castle where we can keep an eye on him.”

“Oh.” She swallowed. She supposed that was probably for the best, but it seemed sudden.

“What is your name, dear?”

She drew in her breath sharply. She had so many names to sift through before deciding what name to give. There was her natural name, Janis Gorgonio, a name that would send up red flags anywhere it was mentioned. Then there was Marten, her married name. And Davos, her mother’s name, the one she had mostly gone by all her life in order to avoid people knowing she was born a part of the Gorgonio mob family.

“Uh…Janis. Janis Davos.”

“And you are…?”

“I’m helping. I’m sort of an assistant. Trying to keep him calm. I know any sort of movement can be so dangerous for him.” Her voice was shaking with her fear for his safety and she stopped for a moment, embarrassed. “He doesn’t want to take anything that will make him drowsy, so I’m just trying to keep him from hurting himself.”

“Really?” The queen’s voice was all sympathy. “How long have you known him?”

“Uh… Actually…”

Janis drew in a shuddering breath. She couldn’t lie to the queen! “It’s sort of a strange situation. You see, he has this amnesia thing and so he doesn’t remember me. But we knew each other quite well and…”

“Say no more,” Pellea said as though she understood everything that was still unspoken. “I get the picture and I trust you. I can hear your honesty in your voice. I want you to come to the castle with him.”

“Oh, Your Highness…” That was something she hadn’t expected.

“And call me Pellea. I know we’re going to be good friends.”

Call me Pellea.
This was the Queen of Ambria talking to her like this. She was touched and grateful. “Oh, I hope so.”

“I’ll get the medics ready to roll. Someone will call when they are on their way.”

“Thank you so much.”

She rang off and turned to go to Mykal, but Kylos was standing just a few feet away, glaring at her and her heart jumped.

“So you knew him before, did you? I knew there was something fishy about you. Why keep it a secret? What’s your angle?”

Mentally, she shook herself. It wasn’t easy making the transition from the queen’s kind generosity to Kylos’s feral animosity.

She looked toward the bedroom. She really wanted to go in and see about Mykal. “It’s a long story and I…”

He grabbed her arm, fingers digging in. “You’re a lying little thief, aren’t you?”

She looked up into his face. She had the urge to send him sprawling again, but she resisted it. “No. No, I swear, I didn’t really lie, I just let you think things that weren’t true.”

“Oh, really! I’m afraid the subtlety of that distinction is somewhat lost on me, darling.” He squeezed her flesh painfully. “I want an explanation and I want it now.”

Giving him back as fierce a glare as he was giving her, she began to peel his fingers off her arm, one at a time. “I have to check on your brother first. Then I’ll fill you in on the background to this. I swear.”

He grabbed her chin in his other hand, holding it roughly. “You’d better keep that promise. I’ll give you exactly ten minutes and if you don’t meet me back here, I’ll tell Mykal what a lying little rat you are.”

And then, to her surprise, he let her go. As she hurried back to the bedroom, she couldn’t help but wonder at his motives. He must want to know her story awfully badly to bargain with her like this. And the way he’d said it implied he wasn’t planning to kick her out—at least not yet.

But was he going to tell Mykal? Maybe yes, maybe no.

Mykal looked drained but recovering his strength. He gave her a crooked smile as she came in and began fussing around him. “Who was on the phone?” he asked as she poured him a glass of water.

She flashed him a brilliant smile. “The queen. She wants you there at the castle as soon as possible.”

“Oh.” He grimaced, looking unhappy. “And what if I decide not to go?”

“What?” She stared at him, aghast. “Why wouldn’t you want to go?”

He met her gaze for a long moment and finally he confessed. “I’m not sure I want to be a prince,” he said.

CHAPTER SIX

J
ANIS
caught herself and held back the cry of dismay that came quickly to her lips. “But…” She swallowed hard. “Mykal, if you are one of the royal DeAngelis family, you can’t pretend you’re not. The DNA doesn’t lie. If the final judgment says you’re a prince, you’re a prince. You don’t get to pick and choose, do you?”

“Imprisoned by my bloodline. Is that the way it goes?”

She bit her lip, thinking how that statement could apply to her as well as to him. She’d been trapped by her family’s past and she’d worked hard to put it behind her, only to have it crop up again and again.

But that background was criminal and she’d known it could ruin her chances of a decent life. This was so different. His true ancestry could transform his life into something so wonderful. But obviously, that wasn’t the way he was looking at it.

“I’ll make the decision on what I want to do with my future,” he said simply. “I don’t have to accept a life I don’t want.”

“But here in Ambria…”

“That’s just it. I don’t have to stay here in Ambria. The rest of the world doesn’t give a damn about princes from Ambria. I can go somewhere else.”

He was right, of course. This was his decision and if he didn’t want to be a prince, what right did anyone have to make him do it anyway? None.

In some ways, she was torn. If he accepted the royal position, she knew he would be lost to her forever. Even if he didn’t she didn’t have much hope with him. But everything in her yearned for his success and happiness, and she had a feeling he shouldn’t pass up this chance.

“Fair enough,” she said at last. “But I would just say one thing. They have wonderful medical care at the castle and that is what you need right now. It wouldn’t hurt to get opinions from the best physicians in the country.” She sighed. “And Queen Pellea seemed so nice.” She gave him a halfhearted grin. “And anyway, since they want you, why not at least give them a shot at convincing you? It can’t hurt. If it’s not meant to be, you’ll find a way to turn it down gracefully, I’m sure of it.”

He stared at her and she couldn’t tell if he’d really been listening. She bent down to fluff his pillows and he reached up and sank his fingers into her hair, letting go easily as she straightened again, watching her hair pour out of his grasp as though it were liquid gold. She looked at him, wide-eyed. He’d loved playing with her hair in the past. Did he remember, even a little bit? The feel of his touch made her shiver.

“I cannot begin to express to you how much I hate this,” he said absently, as though half his attention was still on her hair.

“Hate what?” she asked quickly.

“Not being able to get around by myself.” His gaze met hers. “Depending on other people just to walk in the yard.”

“Have some patience,” she said, shaking her head. “You came in here on a gurney not even fifteen hours ago. You can’t get up and dance. Not yet.”

His eyes were hard as they looked into hers. “Will you dance with me, Janis?” he asked softly. “When I can dance again, I want you for my partner.”

Her pulse began to race. He was half-teasing, playing with her for his own amusement. Little did he know how she wished he really was serious about it.

“I will,” she told him earnestly. “If you still want me.”

She loved him so. Might as well admit it. That hadn’t changed and she didn’t think it ever would.

She’d loved him from the moment she first saw him. She knew very well that the whole concept of love at first sight was ridiculous. She didn’t believe in it. You couldn’t really love someone you didn’t know. So she wasn’t sure just what that was that had grabbed her the first time her eyes had met Mykal Marten’s.

There was no doubt she’d been blown away. After all, he was incredibly good-looking. His dark hair was cut short but it still managed to curl around his head, reminding her of a statue of an ancient Greek Warrior. His body was warriorlike, too—hard and muscular and broad in all the best places. His eyes were pale, pale blue, like spring flowers, but burning with a hard, fearless light that seemed to blaze out from those gorgeous thick eyelashes.

All in all, her heart had stopped in her throat and for a moment, she thought she’d never breathe again. Maybe that wasn’t love, but it was something. It had almost seemed like some sort of force field had sprung between them, electric and throbbing, like a beat at a really hot dance club.

One look and she knew—he was the one.

Had he felt the same? Maybe. Maybe a little. But she didn’t think it had happened to him in quite the same full-throttle way. Still, she’d let him know how she felt from the first. She had no choice. It was as though she needed the breath from his lips to survive.

Now was no different. She would do anything to bring their relationship back to the way it had been. Anything.

And that was her misfortune, because she knew nothing would work. The longer she stayed near him, the more she realized that. Roadblocks were piling up, one after another. It was no use. She’d made up her own mind. She couldn’t go to the castle with him. This would be a final goodbye. She turned away, afraid he would see the tears shimmering in her eyes.

“I’ll just go refill this with water,” she said, blinking rapidly as she took the porcelain pitcher and turned toward the door. “And I think I’ll see if Griswold has made some breakfast for you. I’ll be right back.”

“Janis, wait a minute,” he said, stopping her. “Could you do me a favor?”

She turned back slowly, keeping her face averted. “Of course.”

“There’s something I’ve got to do. If you look in the desk in the study, I think you’ll find some writing paper and a fountain pen. I’d like to send a note to my parents. I know they’ll be affected by all this royal speculation when they hear about it and I want to reassure them that I’m still their son.”

She smiled, loving him, loving his decency. “Of course,” she said, turning to look at him and barely able to resist the urge to throw her arms around him and give him a hug. “Just give me a few minutes.”

He nodded, closing his eyes, and she left quickly, hoping to make quick work of her meeting with Kylos and do the chores for Mykal at the same time.

The study was empty. She found the desk quickly and pulled open one drawer after another until she found the paper Mykal had asked for. She drew the whole packet out and chose two sheets, then looked down, about to put it back. But an official-looking form on the bottom of the drawer caught her attention and she stopped to glance at it, feeling slightly nosy, but interested.

It was a death certificate. That gave her a start, but once she’d read the name on it, as well as the date and place of death, she was even more shocked. This had to be Mykal’s adoptive father. She couldn’t ignore that and she reached down to bring it up, immediately noticing another death certificate, this one for his mother, right under it. She read them over quickly, noting they both seemed to have died in a traffic accident, then heard Kylos coming down the hallway.

Moving as fast as she could, she put back the two documents and placed the packet of paper back where it had been, then closed the drawer just as Kylos entered the room. Turning, she stared at him. His parents had passed away and he hadn’t told Mykal. At least, that was certainly what this looked like. What on earth could be his motive? Should she challenge him on it? Or just add it to the list of things she didn’t trust about him?

But Kylos had his mind on other things.

“Okay, let’s hear it,” he said, facing off in front of her like a prizefighter. “Give it to me straight or you’re going out on your ear.”

She looked at him and wondered why he gave off such bad vibes. She really didn’t like him much. Why did he want to know all this and what did he plan to do with the information? There was no doubt she had better be careful in what she told him.

“Mykal and I met a good six months ago. We were both in the military, still wrapping up war business in a way, and we worked together on a couple of assignments.”

“The war is over,” he said caustically, as though that somehow invalidated her story.

She rolled her eyes. “The war is not over. Sure, there’s a truce of sorts between the royals and the Granvilli side. The Granvillis think they run one small, mountainous part of the island. But things there are falling apart and the royals are just biding their time. They’ll take over soon.”

“‘They’?” He smirked. “So you fought on the side of the Granvilli murdering traitors?”

She winced. Just whose side had she been on when the Granvilli secret police had thrown her into the prison camp? “What does it matter anymore?” she said softly.

“It matters a lot to those of us who are loyal.” But he said it in a pro forma way that let her know he really didn’t care all that much. He’d gone on to something else and he frowned, thinking it over. “But that means Mykal was there, too, on the wrong side. Is that right?” He stared at her. The light of something eager gleaming in his eyes. “Was my brother a traitor?”

She shook her head, but before she could say anything, he went on, frowning. “So that’s why I’m having so much trouble getting any records of his service out of our military bureaucracy. The royals asked me to get together all his history and papers and I’ve been having a hard time. But I’m asking the wrong side for info.” He shook his head as though thoroughly confused. “And that’s why no one could find him for the last two years. He was with the enemy. Who knew?”

She sighed. “It’s more complicated than that and you’re going to have to ask Mykal to explain it. I can’t.”

Kylos stared at her for a moment, then snapped his fingers. “Double agent. Am I right?”

“Ask him.”

He scowled. “You know I can’t do that right now. We can’t do anything that might upset him. And anyway, he claims he can’t remember anything.” His gaze sharpened. “Are you buying that?”

“You mean, do I think he’s telling the truth?” she asked, incredulous. “One thing about Mykal,” she added coldly, “he’s not like the rest of us. He never lies.”

“Wow, you really have been brainwashed, haven’t you?”

She shrugged and threw her hands out, starting to turn away, but he stopped her.

“Okay, you haven’t finished. Tell me more.”

She couldn’t hold back the long-suffering look. “About what?”

“You and my brother. Come on. Lay it on the line. What’s the story?”

She hesitated, but she knew she would have to comply, at least with some sort of sketchy outline of the truth. He’d overheard what she’d told the queen and she couldn’t go back on that. “Well, we became quite close.”

“Really.” He gazed at her levelly. “Was the word
love
bandied about?” he asked with some sarcasm.

She drew in breath through her nose while she considered what to say to that. He didn’t have to know they had actually married. No one had to know about that. At least, not until she and her baby were long gone.

“Sure,” she said at last. “A time or two.”

Something flared in his eyes and then they narrowed. “Sounds just peachy. There’s nothing like a good love story to touch the heart.” He snorted his derision at the concept. “But then there was trouble in paradise, wasn’t there? What happened?”

“We…we had a pretty bad fight a little over two months ago. We broke up and I hadn’t seen him since. I came by yesterday to…to…”

He grunted. “You were hoping to patch things up, weren’t you?”

“Yes. No.” She grimaced in frustration. “Actually I just wanted to tie up some loose ends. I didn’t know about the accident. I had no idea about the injuries. So I was shocked when the ambulance arrived and when everyone assumed I was here to take care of him, I let them believe it.”

“Sure,” he said, sounding as though he didn’t buy a word of it. “And hearing about the royal thing didn’t have anything to do with it. Right?”

“It didn’t.”

His mouth twisted cynically. “But it sure must have pricked up your ears once you heard about it, huh?”

She despised the man. How dare he impugn her motives like this? She had enough to be ashamed of, she didn’t need to regret things she hadn’t even done. “No, honestly, I didn’t know a thing about it.”

“Be serious,” he said scornfully. “It’s been all over the news.”

“I hadn’t heard any news. I’ve been…away.”

His gaze narrowed. “What’s your game, Janis Davos? What is it that you really want here?”

Her chin rose and she looked him in the eye. “I want Mykal to be safe and healthy and happy.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes.”

“Bull.”

“It’s true. When I got here, I was all set to meet with him. I didn’t know he had amnesia until I was talking to him and realized…” Janis shivered, remembering, and suddenly most of the fight went out of her. “It’s just so crazy,” she said weakly.

“So he doesn’t remember you at all?”

She shook her head. “No.”

Kylos nodded, thinking that over. “Why haven’t you told him who you really are?”

She shrugged. “I expected him to know the minute he saw me. But when that didn’t happen, I’d already been told he wasn’t supposed to get too physical or too emotional. And after the fight we had…well, I had to hold off. I couldn’t tell him.”