Page 48 of Crowned for His Son

She attempted a more genuine smile, and to her surprise felt her heart lurch wildly when he reciprocated. And when Sabeen swayed towards them, holding an enraptured Max and trailed by a surprisingly sombre Teo, Eden didn’t bother debating if the smile had been for her or for their son.

‘I think this little guy wants hismamáandpapá,’ Sabeen said, her smile beatific as she smiled down at Max.

Azar claimed their son with one arm, while keeping the other around her, and Eden told herself she wasn’t going to wish for a few more of those smiles, just so she could test herself and see if her heart continued to leap in that maddeningly thrilled way again.

Instead, she joined Azar as he threw away the protocol book, wrapped her and his son in his embrace, and swayed across the floor. Applause rang out in the ballroom when Max kissed her cheek, and Azar followed suit with a kiss on the other.

She was brought back down to earth when, after being whisked away by a fleet of royal SUVs to the mountain retreat where generations of Cartana royal couples had spent their wedding nights, Azar showed her to the suite adjoining his, asked if she needed help taking off her gown, and after she said no merely inclined his head.

And walked away.

* * *

‘Good morning, Your Highness.’

She shot an exasperated glare at Gaspar, his insistence on bowing and using the still disconcerting title souring her mood further.

Three days they’d been at the mountain retreat. Thankfully Max, after she’d had to spend her first ever night away from him, had now arrived with Nadia. But even he only occupied only half of her time. She was nowhere near used to having great swathes of her life organised with military precision.

And apparently part of the operation was Azar meddling where he wasn’t wanted.

‘Where is he?’

She forced an even tone. It wasn’t Gaspar’s fault if she was bristling with unspent energy after discovering what Azar had done.

‘Having his breakfast on the west terrace with the young Prince. He said you weren’t to be disturbed if you wanted to sleep in.’

Her lips pursed. She wasn’t going to worry about what the staff thought of her and Azar inhabiting separate suites. They were probably used to such arrangements. Still, she couldn’t avoid that barb in her heart as she tossed her freshly styled hair and hunted him down.

Only to slow metres from the French doors, her attention rigidly captured by the sight father and son made, resplendent in the morning light.

They were completely absorbed in each other, carrying on a conversation that had them both wreathed in smiles, even though she was fairly sure Max was mostly babbling. The barb turned into an acute yearning, digging in deeper where it really shouldn’t. Uncovering her secret desire for love and a family that she’d buried for so long.

Azar’s head snapped up, his eyes zeroing in on her.

‘Buenos dias.Something on your mind,cara?’ he murmured, although the probing gaze searched her face for more. Just as it had done since they arrived here.

It was almost as if he was waiting for…something.

Eden pushed that mystery away and stepped out onto the terrace.

‘You’ve moved my mother toa mansion?’

She’d seen the jaw-dropping floor plans. The list of staff that included a butler, maid, gardener and chef.

Her mother’s call out of the blue half an hour ago had triggered in Eden that age-old yearning that maybethis timeher contact would be selfless. That her parent would be seeking her out for something other than a handout.

She had been…to an extent. Her mother had called beside herself with shock and excitement at her new son-in-law’s generosity. But while Eden had been pleased for her, the alarm bells shrieking in her head couldn’t be ignored.

His eyes flicked to the phone she was waving at him, then reconnected with hers. He was the picture of regal casualness, a completely magnificent creature even the sun worshipped, its golden rays perfectly framing his aristocratic bone structure.

‘She’s the mother of my future queen and the grandmother of a prince. She’s just finished rehab. You expect me to leave her in a halfway house one street away from a place un-ironically known as Crack Cocaine Alley?’

Effrontery dripped from him, as if he was aghast that she dared question him.

‘I— Of course not— But I don’t know what you want in return.’ She knew it had been a poor choice of words when his face clenched hard. ‘Look, I didn’t mean—’

His raised hand told her to stop speaking, and she bristled as he said, ‘Yes. You did.’

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