Page 43 of Claimed By Prince Daddy

A smile touched my lip as I thought of my five-year-old daughter. “Melodina is doing as well as can be expected,” I said. “She…,” a frown tugged at my lips. “Got into trouble at school a few days ago.”

Paul straightened in his chair at that. “What? Not my Mellie; she’s a little angel.”

I snorted. If I knew one thing about my daughter, she could be a little terror to those she didn’t care for. “She hit another child at school for teasing her.”

Samantha pumped her fist into the air. “That’s my girl!”

My eye twitched. “And this is why I don’t invite you to my house often.”

Deflating, Samantha cried, “What? I don’t get it!”

“She means you’re a bad influence, Sam,” Paul laughed before he swiveled around in his seat and took another sip of his coffee.

“Who asked you?” Samantha snapped, her hands clenching at her sides. She then returned her gaze to me. “Why was she teased? It can’t be because of her looks; she’s a beautiful little girl.”

I blinked at Samantha, unable to voice exactly what the real reason was. It was exactly my daughter’s physical characteristics that posed a problem to human children.

Melodina was a very beautiful little girl, and I wasn’t just admitting to that for vanity’s sake. Several people commented on her looks, and there had even been attemptsto scout her for modeling. But I knew where her ethereal-like beauty emanated from—her father.

Drake.

Melodina had the same onyx-colored hair as her father— long and silky, it fell to her waist. She had my large blue eyes; however, her skin was a light-tanned complexion—a middle ground of both Drake and my skin tone. Though the one inherited trait that gave her problems was her slightly pointed ears. A few days ago, she had come crying to me about the children calling her an elf. Then she had promptly proclaimed:

“So I punched her right in the nose! I might be an elf, but she was Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer after I was done with her,” Melody had said, folding her arms across her little chest with a smug smirk curling her lips. The facial expression was identical to her father’s when he was self-assured.

Pulling my thoughts back to the present, I replied to Samantha.

“Oh, you know,” I said, waving her off. “Just the usual thing little kids get picked on—eyes too big, goofy smile, that sort of thing,” I lied.

Samantha blinked. “But none of those apply to Mellie.” She scoffed. “Children can be such brats nowadays.”

“And that’s why I’m not having any,” Paul replied, his gaze never straying from his computer as he went about editing the latest manuscript.

Samantha leaned over his chair, tilting her head to peer at his face. “That’s not why.”

He blinked as if just now hearing her. “What do you mean?”

“You can’t spawn any mini Pauls because you can’t get laid.”

Paul snarled at her, balling up a piece of paper and flinging it at Samantha. She wheeled away laughing.

I shook my head at my friends. Then I glanced at my watch; it was 4:30 pm.

“Hey, I’m taking off early,” I told them, reaching for my purse under my desk. “I promised the nanny that I’d be home early so she could get the night off to spend with her husband. It’s their thirtieth anniversary.”

“Tell them congrats for me,” Paul said.

Samantha twirled a lock of her blonde hair. “Speaking of husbands, we still have to find you one, Amber.”

I shook my head at my friend’s meddling. “I told you, I don’t need a man in my life.” I walked out of my cubicle and headed down the corridor. Leave it to Samantha and her melding.

“But Mellie needs one in hers,” she called out after me.

I stiffened, pausing midstep as her words sent my heart lurching. Little did Samantha know, Mellie did have a father. He wasn’t dead, as I’d weaved the story to my colleagues. He just existed in another realm.

I sighed. Mellie could never know about him. I had raised my daughter as a human. She had no idea of her mixed heritage and could never know. It was safer that way—it kept her away from any potential war and politics of the Lanair realm.

But Samantha’s words haunted me the rest of the way home.

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