“When I first scheduled this trip over here,” he said, his voice quiet and noncommittal, “I had planned to return with Lawrence’s son—”
“Stop calling him that,” she interrupted. “He’s not just your brother’s son. He’s a person. He has a name. Joshua.”
“Of course,” he acceded. “I had planned to return with Joshua so that he could be raised in the palace and trained for the duties he will one day undertake.”
“Your mom and dad anxious to meet their grandson, are they?” she asked sarcastically.
He stared at her blankly for a moment, his expression confused as if he were trying to comprehend a question couched in a foreign language, then a flash of something else swept across his features. He blinked and it was gone, but just for an instant Mandy could have sworn she glimpsed sadness in his winter eyes. “Of course the king and queen are anxious to meet Lawrence’s—to meet Joshua.”
“They don’t want to meet Joshua. They want to meet the heir. That’s all he is to any of you. Alena told me how Lawrence was raised. One nanny after another, practically having to request an audience to see his parents. How can you want to do that to a little boy?”
“He’s a prince. He has obligations and duties to his people.”
The waiter returned with their teas, and Mandy busied herself adding sugar and lemon, trying to keep her fingers from trembling visibly. She wasn’t going to get anywhere in a head-to-head battle with this man. All she was doing was letting her anger and fear spoil her judgment. She had to be as cool as he was, fight him at his own game...and win. For Joshua’s sake, she had to win.
“This is a beautiful hotel,” she said, searching for a neutral subject to give her a chance to regain her equilibrium. “Is it similar to the hotels in your country?”
Stephan looked around him. “The service, yes. But we are a small country and very steeped in tradition. Even our renovated hotels are about a hundred years behind yours. That was why the king sent Lawrence to America, so he could bring back progressive ideas. We’re badly in need of change.” He smiled wryly. “As the world heads into the twenty-first century, we’ve barely entered the twentieth.”
She didn’t miss the fact that he had, for the second time, referred to his father only as “the king.” After what Alena had told her about Lawrence’s childhood, she wasn’t surprised. Perhaps Stephan was more like his brother than he’d first appeared. Perhaps the fact that he had no real family had occasioned that brief glimpse of sadness she’d seen earlier when she’d mentioned his parents.
“So Lawrence came to America to study progress, and you went to Europe to study history.”
He nodded and sipped his tea.
“Don’t you have a sister? Alena mentioned a sister.
His taut features seemed to relax infinitesimally, and his long fingers curled around the small cup. He had a soft spot beneath that rigid exterior after all. “Yes, I have a younger sister, Schahara”
“And where did she go for her studies?”
“She’s a woman. The queen taught her all she needs to know at home.”
Mandy set her cup on the table so hard a bit of tea sloshed out onto the immaculate white linen. “Excuse me?”
He chuckled. “I told you we needed to learn about progress. In defiance of tradition, my sister has traveled extensively all around the world on her own accord. She’s really the one with the ideas on how to bring about the progress we so desperately need. She’s already computerized the household records and constantly monitors world happenings by using the Internee.”
“You have computers in your country? Computers aren’t nineteenth century.”
He laughed then, a delicious, low sound that traveled from her ears through her body like a curling, rhythmic wave. “We’re not completely primitive. We have electricity and indoor plumbing and even computers, though only the wealthy can afford the luxuries like televisions and computers, and many of our people still live without most or any of the modern conveniences.”
“That’s part of the changes you want to make?”
“A big part. As I said, Schahara has many plans already mapped out. The king wants to maintain the status quo and doesn’t give much heed to her ideas. However, she will be an excellent adviser to the present king’s successor.”
“And who will that be if Joshua doesn’t...um—”
“If he doesn’t return to Castile? Then I’ll succeed to the throne.”
That was the first encouraging bit of news she’d heard since yesterday. “Well, so, wouldn’t you like to be king?”
“It’s not a question of whether I’d like to be the king. It’s a question of who is the rightful heir to the throne.”
“But you would like to be king.”
“I neither like nor dislike the idea. It’s a duty. If I have to perform it, I will, of course. But Lawrence’s son is—”
“Joshua! His name is Joshua Crawford and he’s my legally adopted son and you can’t just throw him over your shoulder and take him off to another country.” She bit her lip and looked down at the table. She was losing control again.
“I assure you, I have no intention of doing that.” And he was completely in control, as always. “Once I met your family, I realized my original plans couldn’t happen. You and I must find a compromise. I’ve given it quite a bit of thought and have decided perhaps both sides would be best served if we could work out an alternating schedule of living arrangements while he’s underage, say six months a year in each country. That would give him a chance to be with your family as well as to learn about his country.”
Mandy’s stomach clenched. She gazed at Stephan in horror. “Divide him up? Tear him in two? Keep him so unbalanced he never feels at home anywhere, never has a chance to settle into either life?”
“Very well, then what do you suggest?”
It was, she decided, time to play her trump card. She had no other choice. She leaned back in her chair and tented her fingers on the tabletop. “I suggest you get to know him and let him get to know you before we make any decisions.”
“That sounds fair.”
“My mother’s cleaning out the guest room for you even as we speak. You can move in tonight and start getting to know your nephew immediately.”
His eyes widened, and for a moment those banked fires she’d imagined she’d seen in his dark gaze sprang to life as awareness surged across the table between them, tingling along her skin and dancing around her breasts.
She swallowed hard and fumbled with her cup, lifting it to her lips and trying to focus on the lukewarm liquid inside rather than Stephan’s scorching gaze.
When she looked back, the distant January skies had returned to that gaze and once again she had to wonder if her imagination and overactive hormones had created a delusion.
“Very well,” he said. “I’ll check out of here and move into your guest room tonight for a two-week stay. That should give us time to make all the necessary decisions.” Despite his proper language, his voice was husky and raw and she recalled her earlier certainty that he slept in the nude.
And he’d be sleeping under the same roof as she tonight.
Chapter Three
A number of factors had compelled Stephan to agree to Mandy’s offer—or, more precisely, her challenge—for him to stay in her home.