Page 10 of Crowned for His Son

Had his voice caught, saying her son’s name?

Eden’s insides zapped with wild currents as she watched his gaze fly to Max andlinger.

‘Oh. Well, yes, of course. But—’

‘Gracias,’he slid in smoothly. Then, with another charged stare, he stepped back. ‘Two of my guards will keep you company, if that’s not too inconvenient?’

Courteous words that didn’t give a single ounce of room for negotiation. Mrs Tolson’s head was already bobbing as he turned to Eden, clasping her arm and steering her back towards her apartment.

‘Invite me in,’ he said at the door.

Tension knotted in her chest. ‘Do I have a choice?’

He shrugged. ‘There’s always a choice. No matter how much you might want to convince yourself otherwise.’

She felt the barb lodge itself beneath her breastbone, despite having no clue what she’d done to deserve it. She entered her tiny one-bed apartment, telling herself she didn’t care what the shabby but neat space looked like to a man born into royalty, with unfathomable riches, power and influence.

But a tiny part of her couldn’t dismiss that knowledge of falling short. The reminder that, as a child, she’d dreamed of the white picket fence and the loving two-point-four children and family life. And even growing up with the often debauched excesses of Vegas, with very rare glimpses of wholesome, loving families, that kernel of hope had somehow not only survived, it had also grown with the arrival of Max.

One touch…one kiss on top of her newborn’s head and that kernel had sprouted into a towering vow to do everything in her power to create a loving home for her son. Even if that home was just for two.

Those dreams would never come true for herself. But she would take pride in knowing it hadn’t been for lack of trying. A vindictive father who’d never accepted her but ensured she could never claim anything meaningful from him for herself had seen to that. And maybe she wasn’t entirely over the heartache that the man who’d so cruelly told her he wished she’d had never been born had gone out of his way to use his money and influence to keep tabs on her, killing job opportunities before she could secure them, but as long as she had breath in her body she wouldnotbe cowed.

Pushing the bleak thoughts away, she flinched when the door clicked ominously shut behind him.

‘Speak.’

‘Excuse me?’

His nostrils flared, giving him an air of impossible regal authority. ‘I’m hanging on by a thread here, Eden.’

The faintly lyrical enunciation of her name started a shiver through her system. One she desperately clamped down upon before it took complete hold of her. This wasn’t a time to be finding anything about this man attractive. Not when her senses were shrieking of a danger far more potent than the kind she was used to from powerful men like him.

‘And that’s my fault how?’ she snapped—then held up her hand, reminding herself that she needed to get through this as quickly as possible and get back to Max. ‘Look, I don’t know what you want me to say. You seem to think you know me, but I assure you I have no recollection of our ever meeting.’

And yet more and more she suspected he had something to do with her missing memory. And that terrified her more than anything.

‘Are you for real?’ he asked.

‘You asked me that last night. My answer hasn’t changed.’

His jaw clenched so hard she feared it would crack. ‘I ought to commend you, Miss Moss. In my whole life, only one person has been able to pull the wool over my eyes so effectively. Not once, as I thought, but twice. Would you like to take a guess who that person is?’

Dread turned her bones to lead. ‘Me…?’

‘You.’ His smile was almost self-chastening. ‘Which would stun most people. Because usually I’m an excellent judge of character.’

‘What can I say? Can’t win them all.’

The last vestiges of his smile disappeared, and that ferocious gaze pinned her in place once more.

‘What were you doing at Nick’s graveside an hour ago?’

She gasped. ‘You were there? Watching me?’ At his sustained, pointed silence she blurted, ‘Why?’

‘Answer my question.’

‘Because I… I knew him?’

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