Page 13 of The Prince's Secret Daughter
She stood there, her thumb brushing absently over the stuffed…uh…animal’s…ear.
Raj saw the truth in her non-answer and the defiant, calculating look in her dark eyes. “I’m guessing she said no, didn’t she?”
The tiny girl’s features crinkled with irritation. “She says I need…” she hesitated, looking around.
“Protein,” another voice came from the far side of the room.
Raj stood up and watched as Helen came down the hallway, wearing the same clothes she’d worn yesterday. He made a mental note to have his assistant deliver new clothes at once.
“She needs protein in the morning,” Helen repeated. The woman who had kept him awake for more than half the night sauntered into the room, looking a bit worn around the edges. He noticed the dark circles under Helen’s eyes and wondered if they were caused by the same memories that had kept him up.
“How about some scrambled eggs and toast?” he suggested. The penthouse butler stepped into the room, sensing a food order was imminent.
“Can I have some sausage?” the small girl’s eyes lit up.
Raj chuckled and nodded his head. “Eggs, toast, and sausage,” he said to the butler, who nodded and disappeared.
“Did you sleep okay?” Raj asked Helen, walking over to her where she remained, hovering in the hallway as if she wasn’t sure if she should enter the main living area or run back to the privacy of the room where she’d slept last night.
“It was…,” she paused, then sighed. “I had a lot of thoughts running through my mind.”
“I know the feeling,” he replied, taking her hand and lifting it to his lips. He heard her swallow hard but kept her hand in his. “Thank you for staying here and trusting my guards to keep you and Angela safe.”
“Thank you for keeping us safe,” she replied with a faint smile. “Will we be able to resume our normal lives tonight?”
“We’ll see,” was his non-committal reply as he led her over to the silver coffee service. “How about coffee first?”
“Actually, I don’t drink caffeine any more. I stopped during my….,” she sighed, glancing over at Angela, who was busy setting up her stuffed kangaroo so that the creature could sit next to her for the meal. Angela was giving the kangaroo a stern lecture about proper table manners. “Pregnancy and caffeine aren’t a good combination.”
He turned and glanced at the butler. “Could you bring a pot of herbal tea?” he asked.
“Thank you,” Helen replied. “Tea sounds lovely.”
He led her over to the table. “I remember how much coffee you used to drink in the morning. And no breakfast.” He let his eyes travel over her still-slender figure. “Do you usually eat breakfast now?”
“I have to,” she admitted, smiling at Angela, who had run back to her room and grabbed several more stuffed animals. “Thank you for getting her pajamas and her friends. I don’t know when you did that, but she was so excited to find them sitting on her bed when she came out of her bath last night.”’
“My assistant arranged it,” he admitted. “I’ll have him get you clean clothes as well.”
She immediately shook her head. “No! Please, I don’t want anyone going through my clothes. I’ll…” she paused, running a hand through her hair. “I’ll be fine until I can get home later today.”
Raj hesitated, but then decided to dive right into the problem. “Honey, you can’t go home.”
Helen froze, staring at him. She glanced at Angela, relieved to see that she was sitting down on the sofa now with a stack of books, surrounded by her stuffed friends. She might be reading, or just looking at the pictures. Either was fine, as long as she didn’t hear that they couldn’t go home.
“What do you mean? We stayed last night only because of what happened with Paul and Nathan yesterday.”
Raj shook his head, then took her hand and led her down the hallway so that they could speak in the penthouse “office” without little ears overhearing.
After closing the door, he turned to face Helen. For a brief moment, he debated telling her the whole truth, but the dark circles under her eyes warned him that she wasn’t ready for the whole truth. Not yet, anyway. Over the next few days,he could give her bits of the truth, so that she wouldn’t get overwhelmed.
Shifting the direction of the conversation, he said, “I think that you and I should head over to the building that was being discussed yesterday and find out what’s going on with the Grishoms. If I could guarantee that Angela will be well cared for by my guards, would you come with me to the site and take a look? Let’s find out what’s there that is so important that they needed to drug people to get it sold.”
He paused, watching as she pressed her lips together. “That…might be a good plan.”
“Plus, you’re rightly concerned about your reputation. If you ever want to be taken seriously in this industry again, then you need to find out what Paul and Nathan were trying to do.”
“That’s a good point,” she agreed, nodding. The wariness evaporated from her blue eyes. Instead, he saw her mental gears starting to turn. She frowned thoughtfully. “Have you spoken with your attorney and accountant? Are they okay?”
