Page 18 of Crowned for His Son

She jumped at the mocking whispered comment and snatched her gaze from where it had latched on to Prince Azar, to find the Playboy a few feet away, his hand unfurled in greeting.

‘That’s enough, Teo,’ Azar grated.

‘Really? I’ve barely started.’ He stepped closer. ‘Let me formally introduce myself. I’m Teo Domene.’

She offered her hand and suppressed a gasp when he started to raise it to his lips. A thick rumble from Prince Azar made him freeze. He smiled and winked, before shaking her hand formally and releasing her.

‘Eden Moss,’ she murmured.

Before he could say anything else, the brooding one nudged him out of the way. He didn’t offer his hand, and his gaze was direct, but not as piercing as his brother’s. ‘Valenti Domene,’ he returned. Then, after a moment, ‘You’re Eden Moss.’ It wasn’t a greeting—more like a calibration of past events. ‘Three years ago. Arizona. The Magnis Club.’

‘The Magnis Club?’ she echoed dazedly. Then his words truly sank in, making her inhale sharply. ‘Wait… You know me? You remember me?’

His stare intensified. ‘Any reason why we wouldn’t?’

He opened his mouth, but Azar interrupted. ‘No, there isn’t.’ When both men turned to him, he said, ‘We’ll have to reschedule brunch. As you can see, there’s been a development.’

Both brothers’ focus switched to him, then to Max.

‘The understatement of the century. But understandable,’ Valenti rasped. ‘Is he well?’ he asked gruffly.

Eden barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes as Teo held up his hands.

‘No. Wait… You can’t just throw us out. I have so many questions,’ he protested.

‘They’ll have to wait. But you can say a quick hello to your nephew before you leave.’

The dizzying rollercoaster that had been revving up since Prince Azar had turned up on her doorstep took another one-eighty loop.

‘You don’t know yet that he’s yours,’ she blurted, voicing the same objection as before.

Three pairs of eyes swung her way.

Then Teo barked out a disbelieving laugh. ‘You’d have to have been living in a cave without internet access or to be stone-cold blind to mistake this angelic rascal as anyone but Azar’s.’ Approaching his brother, he smoothed a gentle finger down Max’s cheek, much as Azar had done. ‘How similar is he to that childhood photo of Azar at the same age, Valenti?’ he murmured softly.

‘Similar enough to fool my security software for a minute or two,’ his brother replied. ‘Show her.’

Teo dropped his hand long enough to fish out his phone. Within seconds he was striding back to her, displaying an image that made her heart jump in her chest.

Until that second, Eden had held out some half-hearted hope that the obvious wasn’t true. That once her memory returned there would be some far less overwhelming explanation for what was unfolding.

Reality battered her with hurricane force, driving home the fact that she really had—at some point—shared touches, kisses,bodieswith this man. This man who, on paper, was so like her father—everything she abhorred about wealthy and powerful men and the way they wielded that power.

The way they only needed to snap their fingers to alter lives.

Like hers. Like her son’s.

And yet heat scorched her at their continued scrutiny and the thoughts cartwheeling through her head. Thoughts of what that moment—those moments—had been like.

Had she enjoyed it?

Had he blown her mind and she his?

Her nipples started to tighten, and she swiftly averted her gaze to her son. Her beautiful, caring, harmless son.

Who was now second in line to a European throne.

Stumbling to the nearest chair, she sank into it uninvited—protocol be damned. A moment later a glass of water was pushed into her hand, and she looked up into the eyes of Valenti Domene. His fierce examination had her murmuring quick thanks and refocusing her attention on the plush carpeting.

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