Reluctantly Royal (19 page)

“Maybe I will.” That calmed my giggles. Would I, could I tell him that I was in love with him? Would that send him running for the hills? The thought almost made me feel nauseous. My eyes traveled over Max’s face, taking in the darker eyebrows, bright green eyes, and strong jaw. He might be an artist, but he was a work of art himself. He shifted from the seat across from me so that he was sitting next to me.

He watched my face, trying to decipher what I was thinking. The thumb of the hand on my knee rubbed gently, causing goose bumps to erupt over my skin.

“Are you being mushy?” Marty’s voice broke our staring contest.

“What?” My pulse quickened, and for a minute I felt like a girl caught by her parents.

“You look all gooey.” He made a kissing face and I felt my eyes widen.

“Would that be okay?” Max asked.

My heart sped up and I started to speak but Marty beat me to it.

“I guess.” He shrugged. “Can we still play video games?”

“You’re not tired of losing to me?” Max laughed.

“I beat you twice last time!” Marty shook his head. “You need to practice.”

“That’s fine. I don’t mind you beating me a bunch more.” Max leaned back in the seat next to me and casually draped his arm along the seat. He looked at me with a calm expression and shrugged.

Could I really just leave it at that? Marty had never seen me with anyone before. When I’d dated people in the past, they’d had no contact with my son. Some of them hadn’t even known I had a son. Which was exactly how I’d wanted it. They were never going to get that close to me anyway.

But Max. Max had come in to our lives from such a different direction. How could I have known we would be here today? I hadn’t put up any walls or set any limits. Max had walked right into our lives and wouldn’t leave when I tried to push him out. It was like he had found a hole and plugged it.

FOURTEEN

M
Y HEART COULDN’T
beat any harder if I was running a decathlon. Asking Marty if he minded if I dated his mother—well, was mushy with his mother—had been scary. Not the jump-out-of-the-dark, haunted-house scary, but the real-life, this-shit-matters kind of scary.

Meredith hadn’t responded and was still sitting rigidly next to me. When I’d asked Marty, I hadn’t thought about how she might feel about the question. It burst out of my mouth without thought. I had wanted to know if it bothered him that I cared for his mother.

Care.

That’s a word that covers all kinds of emotions. You care for your great-aunt Gertrude. You care about acquaintances. You care about your family and their well-being.

You also love your family.

“Have you beaten the Master Robot yet?” I cleared my throat and looked at Marty.

“Not yet, but I think I know how.” Marty sat forward in his seat. “There’s a hidden platform.”

“How’d you find it?”

Meredith relaxed a little and leaned back in her seat. I left my arm where it was, not on her shoulders, but encasing the space around her. I was testing the waters without making a big splash. It was time to tread carefully.

“I was trying to reach the alien boomerang, but kept hitting something. I thought I wasn’t doing it right, but then I realized there was something in my way.” Marty waved his hands around in demonstration and I couldn’t fight my smile. “How cool is that? When I grow up I want to make video games so people can find cool stuff.”

“That would be an awesome job.” I nodded my head.

“I thought you wanted to be a dolphin trainer,” Meredith asked. Her voice was amused and she seemed to relax even more into my side.

“I can do both!” Marty held his hands up. “I could make a game with dolphins in it.”

“Calm down, little man. You’re rocking the car.” Meredith laughed.

“But it would be so cool.” Marty sat back in his seat and put his arms down.

“It takes a lot of math to make video games.”

“Ew.” Marty made a face and it was hard not to laugh.

“She’s right,” I told him. “I have a friend that does computer animation and he spends a lot of time working with numbers.”

“Yuck.”

“It’s not that bad,” I assured him.

“I hate numbers.” He frowned.

I couldn’t argue with him about that because I wasn’t fond of math myself. “Cathy is pretty good at math. Maybe you could ask her to help.”

“I don’t know. I really don’t like math. Maybe I’ll just be a dolphin trainer.”

“Pretty sure there’s going to be math in anything you pick,” Meredith warned.

“Well, that stinks.”

Meredith shook her head, but didn’t say anything. If I had to guess, I would say she was still trying to work things out in her head. Whether she was happy or not, I had no real clue. I’d gone and spoken without thinking again.

But I wasn’t sure if I regretted that or not.

If I was going to pursue whatever it was that was between Meredith and me, then I needed to know that it would be okay with her son. I wouldn’t want to make him upset. Well, it was one of the things I needed to know. I also needed to figure out how I would be able to handle her dreams of being in the spotlight. Just the thought of it made me cringe.

As the car pulled up to the Thysmer burial grounds, I climbed out and helped Meredith and then Marty. To my surprise, Marty held on to my hand, his little fingers gripping tightly.

“I have to go help carry the casket.” I squeezed his hand.

“Will you come back and stand with me?”

“I’ll come back and stand with you and your mom as soon as I can.”

He nodded his head and let go of my hand. I looked at Meredith and stood there for a minute. Her face was full of emotions that seemed to swirl from one to the next.

“If that’s okay with you,” I prompted.

“We’d like that.” Her words were quiet, thoughtful. Holding her hand out to Marty, she walked toward where my family stood.

Turning, I took my place by the hearse and prepared to carry the casket to the tomb. It was a somber task and not one I took lightly. People were gathered about, talking quietly and watching as we placed the casket on a marble table.

I moved through the crowd to take a place next to Marty. He reached up and wrapped his fingers around my own. I noticed a few people glancing in our direction but didn’t pay them any attention. If they wanted to talk about me holding Marty’s hand, then they could choke on their own tongues. I hated the back-talking, the gossiping, and the assumptions that came from being in the spotlight.

But nothing would get me to pry my fingers from that little boy’s hand.

The minister took his time praying as we all stood shifting from foot to foot. All the bells and whistles had been pulled out for the duke’s funeral.

By the time things were wrapping up, I was sweating in my suit. I wanted nothing more than to undo my damnable tie, throw my jacket away, and get the hell away from all of these people. Playing prince was one of the things I hated the most about my life.

As some of the people came forward to greet the grieving family, I fought my urge to fade away. Alex gave me the smallest nod to tell me to go, but I shook my head. Marty had a death grip on my fingers and there was no way I was going to leave him in this flood of people.

“I’m surprised to see you here.” Lady Tabitha, one of my brother’s exes, smiled at me. Her eyes flickered down to Marty. “I don’t usually see you out and about.”

“I came to help a friend.” I offered her a small smile. I’d never cared for Tabitha. She was gorgeous, tall, thin, and blond, but her attitude had become crass over the years. And she was annoyingly involved in climbing social ladders.

“I see.” She looked from Marty to Meredith. “I didn’t realize that you were so close with the Thysmer family.”

I didn’t say anything. She was baiting me, trying to figure out if there was something going on between me and Meredith. And considering that I didn’t know, I wasn’t going to answer. Rather, I wasn’t sure exactly what it was.

“The Thysmers are our neighbors. Arthur has come several times to visit with my father.” She leaned close to me and lowered her voice. “He and Father drank most of our scotch in one sitting.”

“I wouldn’t think that a funeral is the place for gossip, Tabby.” I narrowed my eyes. Tabitha loved to spread rumors. It was something she lived for; it fed attention in her direction.

“It’s the perfect place.” She reached out and straightened my tie. “It’s been too long since I’ve seen you. Where have you been hiding?”

From the other side of Marty, I felt Meredith look in our direction and then quickly away.

“I’ve been putting together an art showing in London.” I looked past Tabitha to the other people milling about. I was more than a little bored and edging into irritation.

“I heard about that. How long will it be going on? I’m going to London tomorrow. I’ll stop by.” She tossed her long hair over her shoulder and flashed a grin. “We could meet up and have dinner.”

“It’ll be running for a few more weeks.” I shifted my feet and Marty pulled on my hand. “What do you need, buddy?”

“I’m hungry,” Marty whispered loudly. I almost shouted in relief. Finally, a way to escape.

Besides, I was hungry too. Meredith was in conversation with the minister, but I saw her look down at Marty quickly and then at me. Did she need me here with her? Or would she be okay with me leaving to feed Marty?

My eyes ran over the line of people that were gathering to talk to her and my family and I made a decision. I just didn’t have it in me to schmooze anyone else.

“Let’s go see if we can find some snacks.” I looked back at Tabitha. “It was nice to see you, but I must be going.”

“Did his mother not bring something for the boy?” Tabitha shot a surreptitious glance in Meredith’s direction. “And you? Playing babysitter? I thought you didn’t like kids.”

I took a step closer to Tabitha and lowered my voice. “I like that boy more than I like most people.”

Turning to walk away, I caught a hint of a smile on Meredith’s face.

“Come on, Marty, let’s get out of here.”

We headed to the limo, where Cathy was talking with Rachel.

“Got any snacks in your car?”

“I think we have some stuff.” Cathy smiled at Marty. “Hungry? It’s been a long day.”

“Starving!”

“Climb in there and see what you can find.” I opened the door and motioned for him to get in.

Marty threw himself headfirst into the car and slid across the leather bench.

“Watch the shoes,” I said.

“I am!” He disappeared in the dark interior.

“How is Meredith?” Rachel asked.

I looked over to where Meredith was standing next to her father and grimaced. She was currently talking with Tabitha, and a pang of guilt slid through my body. I had taken the quickest way out of the receiving line that had formed.

“She’ll be fine.” Cathy read the guilt on my face. “She handles people as well as Alex.”

I looked back toward where she was leaning forward and speaking quietly to an elderly woman. Her shoulders were loose and relaxed and she was smiling. If I wasn’t looking for it, I would miss the way her body was angled away from her father’s, the way she tucked her hair nervously behind her ear.

“It’s not the people that I’m worried about.” I glanced back at my sister.

“He is on good behavior right now,” Rachel informed me. Apparently I wasn’t the only one worried about Arthur. “I’ve kept a close watch on him today. Unless he’s been sneaking stuff in the bathroom, he’s sober.”

I looked back over at Meredith and frowned. Samantha and Alex were right there with her and her father.

“The reading of the will is tomorrow?” I shot Rachel a glance.

She adjusted her glasses and frowned. “Yes. Tomorrow afternoon the attorney will be at Thysmer.”

“Has my mother sent a representative?”

“I believe that she asked Alex to be present.” She looked at me over her glasses. “Unless you want to be there.”

“I’ll do it. The old man already hates me anyway.” I shrugged before checking to make sure Marty wasn’t listening.

“You must have said something that made an impact.” Rachel looked back toward Arthur. “He was sober when I arrived at Thysmer this morning and muttering about a prince.”

“I gave him an order from the crown.” I frowned. It wasn’t something that was done lightly. In fact, I’d never used my title to force something on someone. I was surprised that it didn’t bother me more.

“That explains it.” Rachel sighed..

“Well, it worked.” Cathy sighed. “I’m just glad today has gone smoothly.”

“Now we get through tomorrow.” Rachel nodded her head. “And things will sort themselves out.”

“Do you have any idea what the old man left?” I looked at the small woman.

“I wasn’t privy to that information.” She frowned. “Though I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was concerned.”

I let out a breath. If I was worried, I couldn’t imagine how Meredith felt. She truly felt a sense of responsibility to her township. Having her father take over as duke would leave them in a bad place. However, if her granddad did something drastic, it would change her course of life. It would be nearly impossible to be both the acting duchess and go to school full-time, much less having an active stage career.

Not to mention having a son.

“I found crackers and grapes!” Marty slid across the back bench of the car and held up his treasures. “Anyone want some?”

“I’m good.” I ruffled his hair.

“Well, don’t stuff yourself with fizzy water and crackers. I’m thinking we’ll have a lot of food waiting on us when we get home.”

“You mean Thysmer?” His face took on a worried cast.

“Um, no. I meant D’Lynsal.” I looked over at Cathy quickly, but she shrugged her shoulders. How did the two royals with no kid experience end up with the munchkin? “Is that okay with you?”

“Yeah.” He frowned and popped a grape into his mouth. “I like it there. Mom acts more like herself there.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“Is that because of the mushy stuff?” He cocked his head to the side and looked at me while he chewed.

“Um.” I looked around at Cathy and Rachel. Cathy was smiling, but hiding it behind one hand, while Rachel looked distracted by her phone, obviously pretending that she hadn’t heard what Marty had said.

“I’m just happy you both are comfortable there.” My palms started to become sweaty and I wiped them on my pants.

“Yeah, we are.” He popped another grape into his mouth. “My room is pretty awesome, but I miss my toys.”

“I’m sorry about that.” I frowned. “Is it anything in particular?”

“I dunno.” He shrugged. “Just stuff.”

“I’ve got some outdoor stuff you can play with,” Cathy offered.

“And if you want, you could draw or paint. I’ve got some stuff you can use.”

“That would be cool. Mom said you’re a painter. Not like the ones that paint houses, but the ones that paint pictures of things. Mom likes a painter named Fan Golf.”

“Van Gogh?” I chuckled.

“I guess. He painted lots of things about a missing ear.” Marty took a sip of his water and made a face. “That stuff tickles my nose.”