Prince Baby (Silhouette Romance)

by Susan Meier

  “I know.”

  Unfortunately, she tightened the belt again and righteous indignation shimmered through Seth. “What I’m saying is that you have nothing to worry about from me.”

  She drew a quick breath. “I’m not worried about you.”

  She might not be “worried” but Seth could see wariness in her eyes, but he suddenly realized she’d said, “I’m not worried about you,” and recognized that had to mean she was worried about herself and her own reactions to him.

  He squelched the urge to feel complimented. What Lucy was doing was being honest. And if she was having trouble handling things, then he had to show her he could be trustworthy enough for both of them. The wise thing to do would be to get them out of this bedroom. That was when he remembered Ty’s plan.

  “You know, while Owen’s sleeping, this would be a good time for us to discuss a few things.”

  She stepped away, over to the vanity, where she grabbed a hairbrush and began pulling it through her abundant curls.

  Mesmerized, Seth watched the brush glide from her temple to her shoulder and then back up again. She had wonderful thick, soft hair. The kind of hair a man could filter through his fingers simply for the pleasure of feeling its silkiness. In the four weeks they’d lived together, he’d done exactly that more times than he could count.

  “Seth, by the time I’m dressed, Owen will be awake again.”

  Hypnotized by the strokes of the brush through her long locks, Seth hardly heard Lucy. He felt himself being drawn back in time. He remembered lying on the huge bed of Lucy’s Miami apartment. With the evening sun saying goodbye by spreading a ray of hazy light across the bottom of her floral bedspread, and Lucy pressed against his side after making love, he would thread his fingers through her soft hair and they would talk. That was when he had told her about his dad. That was how he’d explained his relationship with Ty. That was also when he’d told her about Cooper.

  “Besides, I need to dry this hair before it dries on its own and I’m left with nothing but a head full of fuzz.”

  Trapped in his memories, Seth stared at her, consumed by how much he had forgotten about their relationship.

  Lucy sighed. Apparently thinking he hadn’t replied because he didn’t understand what she’d said, she added, “When naturally curly hair air-dries, you get fuzz, you don’t get curls. It should be called naturally fuzzy hair, not naturally curly.”

  He took a quick breath and forced himself back into the conversation. “Yeah. If you say so.”

  “I say so. Let me dry my hair.”

  She’d said that before. Probably fifty times. After swimming. But more so giggling with glee after making love in the shower. Those crystal clear memories swept over Seth like a steamroller. Stealing his breath. He knew that if he’d allowed himself to remember any of these things before this, he could have minimized them, reduced them. Instead, undistorted and probably correct, his recollections had a powerful effect. He felt as if no time had passed since he’d held her, kissed her, walked hand in hand along the beach with her.

  Knowing this trip down memory lane wasn’t helping, Seth had to get out of the room. “Once you dry your hair, come downstairs and we’ll talk.”

  “If Owen doesn’t awaken.”

  “If Owen does wake up, I’ll hold him while we talk.”

  With that, he left the room and headed down the back stairway to the kitchen. He half expected to see a middle-aged woman at his round oak table, but the room was still empty. Because it was a little after eleven, Seth pulled the deli meat and cheese from the refrigerator and scavenged for where the nanny brigade had hidden the rolls.

  By the time he had sandwiches and coffee made, Lucy came into the room. Dressed in jeans that appeared to be three sizes too big and an equally large T-shirt, and holding Owen, she nonetheless looked absolutely beautiful to Seth. Still, that was the problem. He had to learn to be around her without noticing her beauty, without thinking of her in sexual terms. He had to see her as the mother of his son, the woman who would allow him to raise their little boy through his childhood if he could prove to her that he was trustworthy.

  “I made some sandwiches for lunch.”

  She nodded and slowly, almost fearfully, walked to the round table and took a seat.

  And the best way to prove he was trustworthy was to deal with the fact that everything had changed between them the day before. And the best way to deal with that was to face it head-on. “I’m not going to bite.”

  She almost smiled. “I know.”

  “And I’m really not the enemy,” Seth said, pouring steaming coffee into the two mugs he’d placed on the table.

  “It’s better for Owen if we’re not enemies.”

  “I agree,” Seth said. This little meeting was exactly what they both needed. She couldn’t be afraid of him. He couldn’t spend the rest of his life lusting after her. Twenty minutes alone behaving like mature adults should completely solve this problem.

  He sat on the chair across from her and reached for a sandwich. Silence descended. Seth swore he could hear the clock ticking. Desperately trying to think of something to say that would ease them toward a friendship, he said, “So, did Owen take a long nap this morning?”

  She cleared her throat. “Sort of.” She shrugged. “Longer than usual, anyway. I spent the first hour half expecting him to get up, waiting for his cry, lying on the bed.”

  The memory of her lying on her bed in Miami flashed into Seth’s brain, but this time she was the one confiding things while he dressed for work. She hadn’t really told him secrets because she laughed that her life was an open book. What she’d told him were her plans for her life. Though she was an architect, she couldn’t actually pursue employment, but maintaining her father’s vast real estate holdings was something of a career in itself. She oversaw all building, handled all renovations, met with contractors and even visited job sites. She’d worked so hard and was so independent that it was easy for Seth to forget she was royalty. And equally easy to understand why he had been floored that she’d run when her dad crooked his finger.

  “I’m glad Owen slept,” he replied slowly, cautiously, wishing he wasn’t remembering how wonderfully normal she was, wishing he could think of her again as a stuffed shirt, weak-willed royal, so he could dislike her.

  Particularly since Lucy clearly did not want to be friendly with him. Not meeting his eyes, she busied herself with getting a sandwich and sadness poured through Seth. He remembered days at the beach, dinners on the water, nights spent as close as two people could be and now she didn’t even want to talk to him.

  He took a quiet breath. “You look very natural with a baby.”

  She glanced over and in her eyes Seth saw the same sadness that had just filled his soul, proving she wasn’t as impervious as she wanted him to believe. But before she could say anything, a knock sounded at the kitchen door. Without waiting to be admitted, Mildred walked in with two friends.

  “This is Jeanie and Deb,” she said, pointing at the two women behind her. Jeanie had red hair. Deb was a short and thin brunette. “We brought a little something for the baby,” she said, nodding at the brightly wrapped packages held by the women.

  Obviously relieved, Lucy said, “Oh, how nice!”

  Though Ty believed Seth needed the women who had entered his kitchen, Seth was tired of never having two minutes to himself. Two minutes with Lucy. It seemed everybody on the planet had more say than he had about how much time he would spend with her. Still, he didn’t dare go there. Especially not in front of the nanny brigade.

  Focusing on the other thing that was beginning to dent his male pride, the fact that people kept bringing clothes for his child as if he were unable to support one measly baby, he pointed at the presents. “I can buy the things my son needs.”

  Mildred laughed and made her way to the coffeepot. “Oh, Seth, you are such a man. Don’t you know that women don’t buy presents for babies because we think the baby needs fifty-on
e rattles, twelve stuffed bears and a hundred sleepers? We buy presents because we like to shop for baby things. It’s in our genes.” She paused and turned to her friends. “You guys want coffee?”

  Jeanie brightened. “No, but I wouldn’t mind holding the baby.”

  “No, me first!” Deb said, walking over to Lucy who had risen from the table to join the women.

  Seth looked over at Owen, who was nestled in the crook of Lucy’s arm. Sound asleep, Seth’s son had both fists bunched at his cheeks. His forehead was wrinkled like a basset hound’s. His color was somewhere between red and purple. But he was Seth’s flesh and blood, maybe the only child he would ever have, and he suddenly felt betrayed that his time, his first real personal time with his son and his son’s mother, was being stolen from him.

  Jeanie slipped Owen from Lucy’s hands. “Oh, my God! He’s beautiful.”

  Seth watched as Deb and Mildred crowded around Jeanie. Both sighed.

  Lucy said, “I think he cooed this morning.”

  Mildred spun to face her. “You think he said something!”

  “Just a goo or a coo…”

  Mildred’s face became soft and dreamy. “Sweetie, he’s probably a genius. Seth and his brothers had always been bright—the top of their classes. So if there are any kind of brains at all in that royal family of yours, this kid is destined for greatness.”

  Lucy laughed. “I’m not sure of the IQ’s in my family, but nearly everyone was educated at Oxford.”

  Impressed, all three female visitors said, “Ohhhh…”

  Seth took a quiet breath. For someone who wouldn’t say two words to him, Lucy was suddenly animated and happy. She couldn’t have more clearly expressed her dislike for him if she’d actually said the words. And that feeling of betrayal he had…

  Well, he suddenly realized that when he’d given Lucy her privacy to dress, she’d probably called Mildred.

  He turned and left the room. If that wasn’t proof Seth couldn’t trust her, he didn’t know what was.

  Chapter Five

  The following Monday morning, when Seth arrived at the Bryant Development building after a weekend of having absolutely no time alone with either Lucy or the baby, he saw Madelyn and Ty waiting at the front lobby elevator.

  Walking toward them, Seth noticed that Ty wore an emerald-green sweater over a white oxford cloth shirt and dark trousers and he marveled again at what a difference Madelyn had made in his brother’s life. In a way, by changing Ty Madelyn had altered the entire dynamic of their company. The dress code had been abolished, which relaxed the atmosphere enough that the employees started talking about things they’d never before dared discuss and now Bryant Development had a job-share option for working parents. And Ty was becoming beloved by his employees.

  Ironically, as Ty’s world got better, more comfortable, more relaxed, Seth’s got more and more confusing. With women who seemed to come and go from his home at whim, keeping him from the woman he needed to convince he could be a good dad and also keeping him from the baby he wanted to raise, Seth’s world tumbled further and further toward complete chaos.

  “Hey, Dad,” Madelyn said, greeting Seth as he walked up to them. Like Ty, Madelyn had dressed in slacks and a simple yellow sweater that complemented her red hair. The elevator doors opened and they stepped inside.

  “How was your weekend?” Madelyn asked as the car began to climb.

  “Fine,” Seth mumbled.

  Obviously hearing his lack of enthusiasm, Madelyn studied his face. Seth knew she undoubtedly noticed his ragged appearance, but, luckily, her office was on the second floor and the bell for that stop rang before she could question him.

  She stood on tiptoes and kissed Ty’s cheek, then bounded out. “See you at lunch,” she called with a wave.

  “Yeah, I’ll see you at lunch,” Ty agreed, waving as she turned to walk down the hall. But when the door closed behind her, Ty spun to face Seth and said, “You look like hell. What’s going on?”

  “Nothing.”

  Ty’s eyes narrowed. “Nothing?”

  “The nannies are coming in pairs now. Somebody to watch the baby, somebody to occupy Lucy. I’m starting to think there’s a conspiracy to keep me away from both Lucy and the baby.”

  As the elevator doors swung open on the top floor, Ty said, “There may be.” He caught Seth’s sleeve, preventing him from turning to the right to go to his office. “But let’s not talk about it here. Come with me to my office.”

  They walked in silence to Ty’s office suite where Ty’s secretary, Joni, an older brunette with three kids—all of whom were fast approaching their teens—greeted them. “Good morning, guys.”

  “Morning, Joni,” Ty said absently. He grabbed his messages and walked past her desk.

  Seth said, “Good morning, Joni,” then followed his older brother into his office and waited while Ty closed the door.

  “So what’s going on?”

  “Some days I don’t even get to see Owen,” Seth said, suddenly abundantly annoyed. His anger wasn’t simply caused by his inability to prove himself to Lucy. He had a son, damn it, and he hardly got to see the kid!

  “This might be working to your advantage, Seth,” Ty said as he fell into his tall-back office chair.

  “I know. I know. As long as Lucy is depending upon your future mother-in-law’s friends for help, she’s getting to know the townspeople.”

  “And she’s growing to like them.”

  “Probably. The only person she doesn’t seem to like is me.”

  “So, don’t worry about it. Once she likes the town, she’ll begin seeing you in a different light and she’ll like you.”

  Right.

  “In fact, I think I have a way to speed up the process.”

  Positive anything would be an improvement, Seth said, “What’s your idea?”

  “Well, we want Lucy to like and trust the people of this town.”

  “Right.”

  “And the only time she seems to be uncomfortable is when you’re around.”

  “Thanks.”

  Ty laughed. “Seth, it’s nothing personal.”

  Right. Easy for Ty to say. “So what’s your idea?”

  “We don’t know how long Lucy plans to stay, but if I were to send you out of town every week for the next few weeks, she might stay longer. She would also have a couple of five-day blocks to get accustomed to your house, your neighbors, our town, without the reminder of why she shouldn’t like it here.”

  Seth gaped at his older brother. “Gee, thanks, Ty.”

  “You know what I mean. She’s only been here a little over a week. So it’s natural that she’s uncomfortable. If we remove you from the picture a couple of times, then she’ll have less to be nervous about and adjust more quickly. Once she adjusts to your house and the town, it’s a short step to her being comfortable around you. And pretty soon, the whole picture will have fallen into place.”

  It wasn’t a perfect plan, but, unfortunately, after the last disastrous encounter he’d had with Lucy that had caused her to double up on visitors to avoid being alone with him, Seth knew Ty had a valid point. If Seth were to get custody of Owen, it would be because Lucy believed Owen would be safe in Porter. It would be because Lucy believed Owen could have a normal childhood in Porter. It would be because Lucy liked Porter. And as far as Seth could tell, Ty was right. The one thing holding her back from really liking the town was him. He might as well step aside and let Porter strut its stuff.

  “Great. Send me away.”

  The following afternoon, after a plane ride that took about forty minutes and a bumpy SUV journey that felt like a lifetime, Seth found himself in a town so far in the wilds that they didn’t have cell phone reception. He checked into a hotel where he shared the bathroom with three other guests, then went in search of the county engineer who would have the specifics on the project Ty wanted to bid. Tuesday through Friday, the only contact Seth had with anyone from Porter was the call he made to Ty f
rom a pay phone in the general store. By Friday night, he was so eager to get home he nearly danced with joy. But, of course, he couldn’t get a flight out until Saturday morning.

  He arrived in Porter late Saturday afternoon to find Lucy not only happy and energetic, but also looking more like the woman he had met in Miami. The first week Lucy had lived in his home, Seth had been so preoccupied with the baby that he hadn’t really noticed Lucy was still swollen from her pregnancy. But after a week away, and two weeks since she’d had the baby, it was clear that she had dropped most of the weight that she had gained. And she looked really good.

  Standing by the kitchen counter, far enough away that Seth knew Lucy couldn’t see him, he found himself mesmerized by her and stopped his staring. Lord knew he didn’t want to scare her into bringing in three members of the brigade.

  But when he realized no one was paying any attention to him—Lucy and Mildred were at the kitchen table talking about Owen—he let his gaze tiptoe over to Lucy again and he drank in every bit of her physical perfection. Her shiny hair. Her pink cheeks. The fabulous curve of her waist. When he remembered the way that curve felt against his palm, he knew he’d let his casual glance go a little too far, and he forced his attention on the conversation at the table between Lucy and Mildred.

  “Since Seth is going out of town again this week,” Mildred said as she set her coffee mug on the table, “I’ll ask Audrey and Penney if they want to come over again Tuesday and Thursday nights like we did last week. In fact, if Seth’s going to be out of town a lot, we should form a card club that would meet those same nights at your house so you don’t have to take Owen outside.”

  “That’s a great idea!” Lucy said, and from the way her eyes lit, Seth knew Ty had been correct. Because Seth was away, Lucy was getting to know the people of Porter in a way she couldn’t when he was home. And she was growing to like them. They even referred to Seth’s house as her house.