Prince Baby (Silhouette Romance)

by Susan Meier

  She glanced at Seth’s elegant house, beautifully detailed with black lanterns at the entryways and lining the stone walk to the front door. The two-story dwelling was big enough that she and Seth could probably live together for a few weeks without too many complications.

  Particularly since Lucy wasn’t worried that Seth was trying to wiggle his way into her life again. When she’d left him, he had been furious that she had dropped everything because her father had summoned her and livid that her royal responsibilities and duties took precedence over anything in her life—even him. When he didn’t return her calls, it was only logical to assume he had regretted his decision to marry a royal. When he didn’t protest their annulment, she considered it proof he had concluded marrying her had been a mistake. It had hurt at first. Actually, it had darned near killed her. But, in the end, she understood that Seth finally comprehended what she had been trying to explain to him from the first day she’d met him—it was not easy to be a member of a monarchy. And soon his son would be as involved as Lucy was.

  It didn’t seem fair to deprive Seth of this opportunity to get to know his son. Not when she could easily keep herself away from a man who had been glad to be rid of her, no matter how good-looking he was. “Okay.”

  “Okay,” Seth said and pushed open his SUV door. “You get the baby. I’ll grab his luggage.”

  Lucy carefully exited the SUV and reached in to unbuckle Owen and lift him from his protective infant seat. She nuzzled her nose against his velvet-soft face.

  “Hello,” she whispered. She was so full of awe and delight that this baby was hers that she almost lost her breath. After spending her entire life virtually alone, she had someone with whom she was irrevocably bound. Someone who would love her. Someone she could love without reservation, without fear of loss. Cuddling Owen closer, she squeezed her eyes shut and inhaled his sweet baby scent.

  When Owen pressed his nose against her cheek, she knew he recognized her, and the power of instinctive love overwhelmed her again, nearly bringing her to tears and reminding her of how profound the loss of her own mother was.

  “Ready?”

  She faced Seth, wondering how long he had been standing there, but deciding not to make an issue of whether he’d seen her interaction with Owen. Even if he’d watched the entire time, she knew Seth wasn’t looking at her as much as at the baby. Owen was his child and Seth was interested in him, not his baby’s mother.

  “Yes. We’re ready.”

  She followed Seth up the long stone walk to the front door, but as he unlocked it, a black SUV roared into his driveway. The man Lucy recognized from working with him as Seth’s brother Ty climbed out of the driver’s side. A red-haired woman jumped out of the passenger’s side. Clearly obsessed with getting to Seth, Ty didn’t wait for his companion. His long footsteps had him rounding the SUV and striding toward the walk as Seth directed Lucy to the house.

  In the foyer, she noticed the elaborate design of the pale orange tile floor and the elegance of the crystal chandelier that she had missed the night before. Seth hadn’t had this house when they were married. But even if he had, they had decided to keep their wedding a secret until they figured out a way to explain it to her tyrannical dad. So Seth had never brought her to his hometown, let alone to his house.

  “You have a lovely home.”

  Seth gave her a sheepish look. “I had to hire a decorator.”

  She laughed. “Really? A man who builds for a living had to hire a decorator?”

  “I understand floor plans and designs and I can even approve or disapprove the details of an office building, mall or house, but I can’t actually choose fussy things or match colors. God forbid I should have to pick all the frilly stuff for a bedroom.”

  Lucy stopped a smile. No, Seth wasn’t much for frilly things. When she thought of him in a bedroom, he wasn’t mulling over the decor. He was naked, on the bed, in a tumble of sheets and bedspread.

  The picture that formed in Lucy’s head sent heat through her. She chastised herself for letting her thoughts go in that direction because she was absolutely, positively, through with this man. Nestling Owen closer, she glanced around, peering into the dining room, which was furnished with an oak table and hutch, and beyond that to the living room with hardwood floors and an elegant white sofa. “Your decorator did a beautiful job.”

  “Thanks. I took the liberty of having a crib and a few other essentials sent over. I set them up in the master bedroom.”

  An image of her and Seth on a bed with the baby between them appeared in her brain. Quick and perfect, the image filled her heart with the same kind of love she had just felt cuddling Owen. Her chest tightened and tingly warmth enveloped her. But on the heels of those feelings came pure panic. Not only did she not want to have these kinds of feelings for Seth again, but also his assumption that she would jump into bed with him was insulting!

  Eyes wide, she spun to face him. “Seth! You don’t think I’m sleeping with you! Because of my betrothal, we weren’t ever really married. I can’t…You shouldn’t…”

  “Don’t worry, Princess. All that’s behind us. I’m giving you the biggest room so you’ll be more comfortable and so you’ll have more privacy. I’ll sleep in a guest room.”

  Relief poured through Lucy but before she could apologize for the assumption or thank Seth for the courtesy, Ty stepped into the open door of the foyer. Like Seth, he wore plain trousers and a short-sleeved Polo shirt, but the similarities stopped there. Seth had pale green eyes and sandy brown hair, while Ty had black hair and eyes so dark they could sometimes be described as black.

  Ty said, “Hello, Lucy,” then turned to Seth. “You’re in trouble.”

  Seth said, “Hello, Ty.”

  “I didn’t even know you and Lucy were dating! You can’t imagine how shocked I was this morning when my future mother-in-law called me to tell me that her sources at the hospital noticed that my brother had a baby the night before!”

  Lucy stifled a laugh at the exasperated expression on Ty’s face, but Seth sighed. “Ty, Lucy is my ex-wife.”

  Lucy watched Ty’s perfectly chiseled jaw fall. “Ex-wife? You married a princess!”

  “Don’t worry. There’s no impact on Bryant Development…”

  “No impact! If I remember correctly, we lost a ten-million-dollar contract.”

  “Yeah, well, that was all we lost. The marriage wasn’t valid because Lucy was promised to someone else, so she wasn’t free to make that commitment. It’s as if it never happened.”

  Ty stared at Seth. “How can you say it’s as if it never happened? You had a baby!”

  “We did believe we were married for two weeks.”

  “You’re in bigger trouble with Madelyn!”

  Madelyn?

  Lucy’s chest tightened again, but this time it was from jealousy. Telling herself she wasn’t jealous, only looking out for the interest of her baby by being curious about the people who would be around Owen for the next few weeks, Lucy eased the tightness with a soft, inconspicuous breath and glanced at her former husband. “Madelyn?”

  “Ty’s fiancée. The woman who’s probably coming up the walk right now.”

  “And the head of public relations for Bryant Development,” Ty reminded his brother. “How the hell is she going to spin this to make you look sane?”

  “She’s not. My private life is my private life. I don’t see any reason this has to be ‘spun’ for anybody.”

  Ty sighed, then raked his fingers through his dark hair, as the red-haired woman entered the foyer. Lucy realized Madelyn had taken longer than Ty because she had retrieved a six- or seven-month-old baby. Wearing pink bib overalls and tiny tennis shoes, the little blond girl with the toothless grin was adorable.

  “Madelyn Gentry,” Seth said to Ty’s fiancée as the baby she held merrily slapped her cheek, “this is my ex-wife, Lucy Santos.”

  Madelyn caught the little girl’s hand, as if suddenly realizing she needed her full mental ca
pacity. “Ex-wife?”

  “Here we go again,” Seth said, sighing.

  But baby Owen made a mewling sound and he nestled more deeply against Lucy’s breast. She glanced down to be sure everything was okay, and when she looked up, both Madelyn and Ty were staring indulgently at the tiny little boy.

  Lucy smiled, proud of her gorgeous new son. “Would you like to hold Owen?”

  Ty’s eyes widened comically and he shrunk back. “I’m just getting accustomed to Sabrina.”

  “Your baby?” Lucy said, inclining her head in the direction of the little girl Madelyn held.

  “Actually Ty got custody of Sabrina when his cousin and his wife were killed in a boating accident. So he’s still learning the ropes,” Madelyn explained, gently handing the little girl to Ty. “But I’m dying to hold Owen.”

  Lucy gave the baby to Madelyn as Seth said, “Let’s go in the kitchen so I can make some coffee.”

  Ty and Madelyn followed Seth down the short hall by the hand-carved oak stairway, and Lucy followed them. She wasn’t entirely sure she should be in on this discussion and as she reached the huge apple-green kitchen with the light wood cabinets, she decided she should take the baby from Madelyn and bow out.

  Unfortunately, Ty was already talking. “And getting back to the gossip mill that squealed on you. You can expect Captain Bunny to be here any minute now.”

  Lucy glanced at Madelyn. “Captain Bunny?”

  Madelyn clicked her tongue in disgust. “Ty calls my mother Captain Bunny because my dad is retired military, but my mother more or less runs the show in my house. So since my dad was a sergeant, Ty gave my mother a few ranks up and made her a captain. She seems to like that Ty recognizes she’s in charge. The nickname is probably going to stick.”

  Lucy laughed. “Ty, I don’t remember you being funny when I met you to discuss the terms of the mansion contract.”

  “I wasn’t, but I’m changing.”

  He cast a loving glance at Madelyn and Lucy’s heart squeezed with envy. She’d always known there was something missing from her relationship with Seth. This was it. She had loved that she and Seth were so physically attracted that they couldn’t keep their hands off each other, but in the month they were together, there had been no private jokes. No intimate glances. No closeness.

  She stopped her thoughts. The very fact that she and Seth never got “close” was another proof that they were not meant to be together.

  From the counter where he was pouring water into a coffeemaker, Seth said, “Ty, if you still have the list of prospective nannies you interviewed, I’d love to see it.”

  But Lucy shook her head. “I don’t want my baby raised by nannies. I want to care for him. Besides, I thought the whole purpose of us being here was for you to have time with your son.”

  Busy adding the filter to his coffeemaker, Seth laughed. “Lucy, I might want to spend time with Owen, but I don’t know how to care for a baby and I don’t think it’s something they taught in princess school.”

  She stiffened at the slight. She might be a princess, but she was a woman and she had all the normal motherly instincts.

  “A woman who lived down the hall from me in Miami had a new baby,” Lucy said, ignoring the insult to focus on the problem at hand. “When I realized I was pregnant, I asked if I could watch what she did and she let me. She taught me how to hold the baby, how to change a diaper, how to burp him. Then a nurse went over the basics again this morning at the hospital. Plus, I’ve read all the baby books. After a little practice, I’ll be fine.”

  Ty shook his head. “Sorry, Lucy, but I’m afraid I have to side with my brother on this one. Your neighbor might have taught you lots of things, but you’re going to discover there are hundreds of details she couldn’t possibly have covered.”

  “Yeah, Lucy,” Seth agreed. “Ty has had Sabrina since June. It’s taken me three months just to get accustomed to holding her.”

  Lucy understood that she didn’t know every little thing about baby care. She also knew a nanny could certainly be very helpful. But a professional caregiver would also step in every time Owen cried and Lucy wouldn’t have the opportunity she needed to learn to handle him by herself.

  “I’m a quick study.”

  “So am I,” Ty said. “Yet I had a hell of a time. Right, Madelyn?”

  “Only because you didn’t want to learn.” Madelyn faced Lucy. “I think Owen needs a diaper change. You do have spare diapers, right?”

  “We have the things we got from the hospital.”

  “Great. Let’s go change his diaper,” Madelyn said, nodding for Lucy to follow her out of the kitchen. “I’ll take inventory of what you have, so I can shop for whatever is missing.”

  “That would be wonderful,” Lucy said, as Madelyn guided her into the hall and then up the oak stairway. “Seth said he set up everything for Owen in the master bedroom.”

  “Good,” Madelyn said, walking down the upstairs corridor. “You should have the best room in the house.” She paused in front of the door and added, “I also knew we should get out of the kitchen before Ty bulldozed you into something you don’t want.”

  Lucy laughed. “No one bulldozes me. Years of living with a king who is accustomed to everybody obeying him without question have taught me to handle just about anybody.”

  “I was hoping you would say that,” Madelyn said. “But you’re still going to have your hands full holding your ground with Seth.” She glanced at Owen. “From the looks of things, you knew each other about nine months ago, and Seth has changed a lot since then. Don’t expect to be able to sweet-talk him into anything. If he really wants a nanny, you’re going to have a battle on your hands. And I haven’t seen him lose as much as an argument in at least eight weeks. Not even to Ty.”

  Madelyn opened the door to the bedroom at the end of the hall. Stepping inside, Lucy gasped. Seth’s decorator had to be the most talented person on the face of the earth. Not only was the cherrywood furniture exquisite, but also the airy green geometric print bedspread and drapes managed to be elegant and masculine at the same time. Lucy could imagine that with his green eyes, Seth looked delicious tangled in the sheets, and she found herself wondering if his decorator had chosen this particular fabric and color scheme for that reason. She wondered if he’d slept with the woman, and quickly realized that the creator of this room might even be why Seth never came after her.

  She fought the molten jealousy that rose in her by reminding herself that she couldn’t want a man who was totally wrong for her. Seth had deserted her. She’d actually had to debate whether he would even care to know she was pregnant! Worse, they disagreed about the nanny. Just like her father, Seth didn’t want to be a hands-on dad. He would foist the raising of his child off to a stranger.

  “I’m glad Seth isn’t a pushover. Convincing Seth I don’t need a nanny will be good practice for arguing with my dad.”

  Madelyn laughed. “All right. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  “I’m warned but I’m also very determined. My mother died when I was six, and because I was raised by nannies I never really knew her when she was alive. That will not happen with my son.”

  Eyes warmed with compassion, Madelyn nodded and said, “Good for you.” Then she pulled off Owen’s diaper, tossed it in the pail beside the changing table and reached for another.

  Lucy studied every move Madelyn made. Though she had plenty of diaper experience from her neighbor’s baby, and the nurse at the hospital had demonstrated even more basics, Lucy didn’t think it would hurt to watch Madelyn to see if she did anything different, anything unusual, anything Lucy should know. In fact, now that she was alone with her son, she was beginning to feel a bit panicked. She could burp, change a diaper and rock him to sleep…but what if something else happened? What if he got sick? What if he choked! Dear God! She didn’t know enough to be alone with this child!

  Madelyn glanced over at her. “Are you okay?”

  Lucy swallowed. “
Sure.”

  Madelyn studied Lucy for a second, then said very carefully, “In spite of what you told Seth and Ty, you really don’t know a whole heck of a lot about caring for a baby, do you?”

  Fighting her panic because she didn’t want Madelyn to see it, Lucy shrugged. “I lived next door to somebody with a baby…”

  “I know and the nurse at the hospital also showed you a lot of the basics,” Madelyn interrupted Lucy by finishing her sentence for her. “But, Lucy, Ty had a point. Things are going to come up that they didn’t cover.” She caught Lucy’s gaze and very kindly said, “You need some help.”

  Lucy drew a breath. “Okay. You’re right. But I don’t want a nanny. I don’t want somebody who is going to step in before I can when Owen cries.” She drew another quick breath. “At the same time, I’m scared to death.”

  Finished with the diaper, Madelyn slid Owen’s sleeper into place and began snapping the closures. “How long are you planning to stay?”

  “In the U.S. or here at Seth’s house?”

  “Here. With Seth.”

  “I don’t know.” Lucy hedged, not wanting to explain that how long she stayed depended on how quickly her dad could close the legislative session. “Seth and I weren’t specific. We only agreed I would stay here while we talked about the visitation schedule. That would also assure that he has some time to get to know Owen.”

  Madelyn lifted Owen from the changing table and cuddled him against her. “So, technically you could stay in this house indefinitely as long as you never come to terms on visitation?”