The Maverick Prince

by Catherine Mann

  Her gaze locked with his, the room silent but for their breathing and the light snore of the sleeping child. Kolby. Another reminder of why they needed to stay in control.

  In fact, holding back made the edge sharper. He skimmed his knuckles along her collarbone, barely touching. A week ago, that pale skin had worn the rasp of his beard. She didn’t move closer, but she didn’t back away, either.

  Shannon blinked first, her long lashes sweeping closed while she swallowed hard. “What am I supposed to do?”

  More than anything he wanted to gather her up and tell her everything would be okay. He wouldn’t allow anything less. But he also wouldn’t make shallow promises.

  Twenty-seven years ago, when they’d been leaving San Rinaldo on a moonless night, his father had assured them everything would be fine. They would be reunited soon.

  His father had been so very wrong.

  Tony focused on what he could assure. “A lot has happened in a few hours. We need to take a step back for damage assessment tonight at my home, where there are security gates, alarms, guards watching and surveillance cameras.”

  “And after tonight?”

  “We’ll let the press think we are a couple, still deep in that affair.” He indulged himself in one lengthy, heated eye-stroke of her slim, supple body. “Then we’ll stage a more public breakup later, on our terms, when we’ve prepared a backup plan.”

  She exhaled a shaky breath. “That makes sense.”

  “Meanwhile, my number one priority is shielding you and Kolby.” He sifted through options, eliminating one idea after another until he was left with only a single alternative.

  Her hand fell to rest on her sleeping son’s head. “How do you intend to do that?”

  “By taking you to the safest place I know.” A place he’d vowed never to return. “Tomorrow, we’re going to visit my father.”

  Three

  “Visit your father?” Shannon asked in total shock. Had Tony lost his mind? “The King of San Rinaldo? You’ve got to be kidding.”

  “I’m completely serious.” He stared back at her from the far end of the leather sofa, her sleeping son between them.

  Resisting Tony had been tough enough this past week just knowing he was in the same town. How much more difficult would it be with him in the same house for one night much less days on end? God, she wanted to run. She bit the inside of her lip to keep from blurting out something she would regret later. Sorting through her options could take more time than they appeared to have.

  Kolby wriggled restlessly, hugging his comfort blanket tighter. Needing a moment to collect her thoughts and her resolve, she scooped up her son.

  “Tony, we’ll have to put this discussion on hold.” She cradled her child closer and angled down the hall, ever aware of a certain looming prince at her back. “Keep the lights off, please.”

  Shadows playing tag on the ceiling, she lowered Kolby into the red caboose bed they’d picked out together when she moved into the apartment. She’d been trying so hard to make up for all her son had lost. As if there was some way to compensate for the loss of his father, the loss of security. Shannon pressed a kiss to his forehead, inhaling his precious baby-shampoo smell.

  When she turned back, she found Tony waiting in the doorway, determination stamped on his square jaw. Well, she could be mighty resolute too, especially when it came to her son. Shannon closed the curtains before she left the room and stepped into the narrow hall.

  She shut the door quietly behind her. “You have to know your suggestion is outrageous.”

  “The whole situation is outrageous, which calls for extraordinary measures.”

  “Hiding out with a king? That’s definitely what I would call extraordinary.” She pulled off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose.

  Before Nolan’s death she’d worn contacts, but couldn’t afford the extra expense now. How much longer until she would grow accustomed to glasses again?

  She stared at Tony, his face clear up close, everything in the distance blurred. “Do you honestly think I would want to expose myself, not to mention Kolby, to more scrutiny by going to your father’s? Why not just hide out at your place as we originally discussed?”

  God, had she just agreed to stay with him indefinitely?

  “My house is secure, up to a point. People will figure out where I live and they’ll deduce that you’re with me. There’s only one place I can think of where no one can get to us.”

  Frustration buzzed in her brain. “Seems like their telephoto lenses reach everywhere.”

  “The press still hasn’t located my father’s home after years of trying.”

  But she thought… “Doesn’t he live in Argentina?”

  He studied her silently, the wheels almost visibly turning in his broad forehead. Finally, he shook his head quickly.

  “No. We only stopped off there to reorganize after escaping San Rinaldo.” He adjusted his watch, the only nervous habit she’d ever observed in him. “My father did set up a compound there and paid a small, trusted group of individuals to make it look inhabited. Most of them also escaped San Rinaldo with us. People assumed we were there with them.”

  What extreme lengths and expense their father had gone to. But then wasn’t she willing to do anything to protect Kolby? She felt a surprise connection to the old king she’d never met. “Why are you telling me this much if it’s such a closely guarded secret?”

  He cupped her shoulder, his touch heavy and familiar, stirring. “Because it’s that important I persuade you.”

  Resisting the urge to lean into him was tougher with each stroke of his thumb against the sensitive curve of her neck. “Where does he live then?”

  “I can’t tell you that much,” he said, still touching and God, it made her mad that she didn’t pull away.

  “Yet you expect me to just pack up my child and follow you there.” She gripped his wrist and moved away his seductive touch.

  “I detect a note of skepticism in your voice.” He shoved his hands in his pockets.

  “A note? Try a whole freaking symphony, Tony.” The sense of betrayal swelled inside her again, larger and larger until it pushed bitter words out. “Why should I trust you? Especially now?”

  “Because you don’t have anyone else or they would have already been helping you.”

  The reality deflated her. She only had a set of in-laws who didn’t want anything to do with her or Kolby since they blamed her for their son’s downfall. She was truly alone.

  “How long would we be there?”

  “Just until my attorneys can arrange for a restraining order against certain media personnel. I realize that restraining orders don’t always work, but having one will give us a stronger legal case if we need it. It’s one thing to stalk, but it’s another to stalk and violate a restraining order. And I’ll want to make sure you have top-of-the-line security installed at your new home. That should take about a week, two at the most.”

  Shannon fidgeted with her glasses. “How would we get there?”

  “By plane.” He thumbed the face of his watch clean again.

  That meant it must be far away. “Forget it. You are not going to isolate me that way, cut me off from the world. It’s the equivalent of kidnapping me and my son.”

  “Not if you agree to go along.” He edged closer, the stretch of his hard muscled shoulders blocking out the light filtering from the living area. “People in the military get on planes all the time without knowing their destination.”

  She tipped her chin upward, their faces inches apart. Close enough to feel his heat. Close enough to kiss.

  Too close for her own good. “Last time I checked, I wasn’t wearing a uniform.” Her voice cracked ever so slightly. “I didn’t sign on for this.”

  “I know, Shanny….” He stroked a lock of her hair intimately. “I am sorry for all this is putting you through, and I will do my best to make the next week as easy for you as possible.”

  The sincerity of
his apology soothed the ragged edges of her nerves. It had been a long week without him. She’d been surprised by how much she had missed his spontaneous dates and late-night calls. His bold kisses and intimate caresses. She couldn’t lie to herself about how much he affected her on both an emotional and physical level. Otherwise this mess with his revealed past wouldn’t hurt her so deeply.

  Her hand clenched around her glasses. He gently slid them from her hand and hooked them on the front of her shirt. The familiarity of the gesture kicked her heart rate up a notch.

  Swaying toward him, she flattened her hands to his chest, not sure if she wanted to push him away or pull him nearer. Thick longing filled the sliver of space between them. An answering awareness widened his pupils, pushing and thinning the dark brown of his eyes.

  He lowered his head closer, closer still until his mouth hovered over hers. Heated breaths washed over her, stirring even hotter memories and warm languid longing. She’d thought the pain of Nolan’s deceit had left her numb for life…until she saw Tony.

  “Mama?”

  The sound of her son calling out from his room jolted her back to reality. And not only her. Tony’s face went from seductive to intent in a heartbeat. He pulled the door open just as Kolby ran through and into his mother’s arms.

  “Mama, Mama, Mama…” He buried his face in her neck. “Monster in my window!”

  Tony shot through the door and toward the window in the child’s room, focused, driven and mentally kicking himself for letting himself be distracted.

  He barked over his shoulder, “Stay in the hall while I take a look.”

  It could be nothing, but he’d been taught at a young age the importance of never letting down his guard. Adrenaline firing, he jerked the window open and scanned the tiny patch of yard.

  Nothing. Just a Big Wheel lying on its side and a swing dangling lazily from a lone tree.

  Maybe it was only a nightmare. This whole blast from the past had him seeing bogeymen from his own childhood, too. Tony pushed the window down again and pulled the curtains together.

  Shannon stood in the door, her son tucked against her. “I could have sworn I closed the curtains.”

  Kolby peeked up. “I opened ’em when I heard-ed the noise.”

  And maybe this kid’s nightmare was every bit as real as his own had been. On the off chance the boy was right, he had to check. “I’m going outside. The guard will stay here with you.”

  She cupped the back of her child’s head. “I already warned the guard. I wasn’t leaving you to take care of the ‘monster’ by yourself.”

  Dread kinked cold and tight in his gut. What if something had happened to her when she had stepped outside to speak to the guard? He held in the angry words, not wanting to upset her son.

  But he became more determined by the second to persuade her and the child to leave Galveston with him. “Let’s hope it was nothing but a tree branch. Right, kiddo?”

  Tony started toward the door just as his iPhone rang. He glanced at the ID and saw the guard’s number. He thumbed the speaker phone button. “Yes?”

  “Got him,” the guard said. “A teenager from the next complex over was trying to snap some pictures on his cell phone. I’ve already called the police.”

  A sigh shuddered through Shannon, and she hugged her son closer, and God, how Tony wanted to comfort her.

  However, the business of taking care of her safety came first. “Keep me posted if there are any red flags when they interview the trespasser. Good work. Thanks.”

  He tucked his phone back into his jacket, his heart almost hammering out of his chest at the close call. This could have been worse. He knew too well from past experience how bad it could have been.

  And apparently so did Shannon. Her wide blue eyes blinked erratically as she looked from corner to corner, searching shadows.

  To hell with giving her distance. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders until she leaned on him ever so slightly. The soft press of her against him felt damn right in a day gone wrong.

  Then she squeezed her eyes closed and straightened. “Okay, you win.”

  “Win what?”

  “We’ll go to your home tonight.”

  A hollow victory, since fear rather than desire motivated her, but he wasn’t going to argue. “And tomorrow?”

  “We’ll discuss that in morning. Right now, just take us to your house.”

  Tony’s Galveston house could only be called a mansion.

  The imposing size of the three-story structure washed over Shannon every time they drove through the scrolled iron gates. How Kolby could sleep through all of this boggled her mind, but when they’d convinced him the “monster” was gone—thanks to the guard—Kolby had been all yawns again. Once strapped into the car seat in the back of Tony’s Escalade, her son had been out like a light in five minutes.

  If only her own worries could be as easily shaken off. She had to think logically, but fears for Kolby nagged her. Nolan had stolen so much more than money. He’d robbed her of the ability to feel safe, just before he took the coward’s way out.

  Two acres of manicured lawn stretched ahead of her in the moonlight. The estate was intimidating during the day, and all the more ominously gothic at night with shadowy edges encroaching. It was one thing to visit the place for a date.

  It was another to take shelter here, to pack suitcases and accept his help.

  She’d lived in a large house with Nolan, four thousand square feet, but she could have fit two of those homes inside Tony’s place. In the courtyard, a concrete horse fountain was illuminated, glowing in front of the burgundy stucco house with brown trim so dark it was almost black. His home showcased the Spanish architecture prevalent in Texas. Knowing his true heritage now, she could see why he would have been drawn to this area.

  Silently he guided the SUV into the garage, finally safe and secure from the outside world. For how long?

  He unstrapped Kolby from the seat and she didn’t argue. Her son was still sleeping anyway. The way Tony’s big hands managed the small buckles and shuffled the sleeping child onto his shoulder with such competence touched her heart as firmly as any hothouse full of roses.

  Trailing him with a backpack of toy trains and trucks, she dimly registered the house that had grown familiar after their dates to restaurants, movies and the most amazing concerts. Her soul, so starved for music, gobbled up every note.

  Her first dinner at his home had been a five-course catered meal with a violinist. She could almost hear the echoing strains bouncing lightly off the high-beamed ceiling, down to the marble floor, swirling along the inlay pattern to twine around her.

  Binding her closer to him. They hadn’t had sex that night, but she’d known then it was inevitable.

  That first time, Tony had been thoughtful enough to send out to a different restaurant than his favored Vernon’s, guessing accurately that when a person worked eight hours a day in one eating establishment, the food there lost its allure.

  He’d opted for Italian cuisine. The meal and music and elegance had been so far removed from paper plate dinners of nuggets and fries. While she adored her son and treasured every second with him, she couldn’t help but be wooed by grown-up time to herself.

  Limited time as she’d never spent the night here. Until now.

  She followed Tony up the circular staircase, hand on the crafted iron banister. The sight of her son sleeping so limp and relaxed against Tony brought a lump to her throat again.

  The tenderness she felt seeing him hold her child reminded her how special this new man in her life was. She’d chosen him so carefully after Nolan had died, seeing Tony’s innate strength and honor. Was she really ready to throw that away?

  He stopped at the first bedroom, a suite decorated in hunter green with vintage maps framed on the walls. Striding through the sitting area to the next door, he flipped back the brocade spread and set her son in the middle of the high bed.

  Quietly, she put a chair on either s
ide as a makeshift bed rail, then tucked the covers over his shoulders. She kissed his little forehead and inhaled his baby-fresh scent. Her child.

  The enormity of how their lives had changed tonight swelled inside her, pushing stinging tears to the surface. Tony’s hand fell to rest on her shoulder and she leaned back….

  Holy crap.

  She jolted away. How easily she fell into old habits around him. “I didn’t mean…”

  “I know.” His hand fell away and tucked into his pocket. “I’ll carry up your bags in a minute. I gave the house staff the night off.”

  She followed him, just to keep their conversation soft, not because she wasn’t ready to say good-night. “I thought you trusted them.”

  “I do. To a point. It’s also easier for security to protect the house with fewer people inside.” He gestured into the sitting area. “I heard what you said about feeling cut off from the world going to my father’s and I understand.”

  His empathy slipped past her defenses when they were already on shaky ground being here in his house again. Remembering all the times they’d made love under this very roof, she could almost smell the bath salts from last weekend. And with him being so understanding on top of everything else…

  He’d lied. She needed to remember that.

  “I realize I have to do what’s right for Kolby.” She sagged onto the striped sofa, her legs folding from an emotional and exhausting night. “It scares the hell out of me how close a random teenager already got to my child, and we’re only a couple of hours into this mess. It makes me ill to think about what someone with resources could do.”

  “My brothers and I have attorneys. They’ll look into pressing charges against the teen.” He sat beside her with a casual familiarity of lovers.

  Remember the fight. Not the bath salts. She inched toward the armrest. “Let me know what the attorneys’ fees are, please.”