“Yes, but you don’t have to be nude for it. I vote for nude, but we’ll only do what you’re comfortable with.”
“Okay, but not right now.” She wagged a finger at him as he sat forward. “I actually want to ask you a question about your mother.”
“All right.” He canted his head and gave her a searching look. “She knows about you.”
The simple revelation floored her. “Really?”
He nodded slowly. “I don’t know if you remember, but when I took you to the opera in New York, she was there. She just happened to be in the city. I’m fairly certain she paid off my pilot to let her know the next time I flew you out to meet me.” His mouth twisted with a hint of sardonic amusement. “So, once she was there, the first thing she asked was to meet you.”
“But you didn’t introduce us.” The sting of his choice still hurt.
“No, because I didn’t want to scare you off.” Sebastian slid his hand around her nape and nudged her to face him. “My motheris a princess in every sense of the word. She was born to gentility, and it’s ingrained into her bones. Even so, she has absolutely no problems with bending all of her sons to her will. She wanted to meet you because she wanted a chance to interrogate you.”
Okay, maybe not meeting her then wasn’t such a bad thing. She swallowed. “What did you say to her?”
“I told her you were the love of my life and I wouldn’t allow anyone to drive you away. I wanted to introduce you both when you were ready, not a moment before, and, if she loved me, she would give me my wish.” It changed everything, the insight he was granting her. “She glanced past me, said you were coming, then kissed my cheek and whispered…” It was his turn to laugh. “She whispered ‘she’s very beautiful, and your words make her much more so to me. Do not take too much time. I’m not getting any younger and I’d like some grandchildren to spoil.’”
Meredith’s heart lodged somewhere in her throat, and she couldn’t quite swallow the squeak that escaped.
He kissed her and leaned back with a chuckle. “She will love you, Meredith.”
“Bastian, I don’t know anything about being royal.” He’d been so open with her, he deserved the same treatment in return. “I’ll be honest, it’s a lot to even consider. Each and every time I thought about wanting to be with you, I couldn’t figure out how I could be a princess.”
“You merely have to be yourself and everyone else will adapt for you.”
No way could it be so simple. “Really? And the rules? The bowing? The address of others? I mean do I call your brother Armand, or do I call him Your Highness? And how do other people address me? It’s—there are rules.”
Sebastian dragged her over onto his lap. She straddled his thighs and rested her forehead to his.
“Meredith,” he told her. “It is a life lived in layers. Those of us at the center, we know our circle is closed and very small. The further out you go, the more restrained you become. It is no different than you are with your students—gracious, always kind yet firm.”
She’d have to give up her tenured position. Leaving school wouldn’t be so bad. She’d wanted to prove she could do it, and she’d succeeded. But, her doctoral candidates still needed her.
“We don’t have to make any decisions right now.” He threaded his fingers through her hair and nibbled a kiss to her lower lip. “Not about titles or children—and most certainly not about my mother. I want to focus on you and me for the time being and I am admittedly quite selfish. I want all your attention.”
Looping her arms around his neck, she smiled. “We can’t put it off forever.”
“We’re not,” he reminded her with another brush of his mouth to hers. “We’re learning about each other the way we should have all these years. I want you to know everything, and I want to know everything about you.”
“Except for the ketchup because you really hated the ketchup.” Amusement bubbled beneath the nerves in her stomach. Her whole life would change. She’d never thought past the immediacy of them until he mentioned his mother’s desire for grandchildren. Her children would grow up in the legacy of his family—and maybe people would want to kill them, too. The troubling thought lingered, but then Sebastian kissed her. The long, slow, wet kiss short-circuited the dark cloud gathering in her mind.
“I dislike the ketchup, but I love how it makes you smile,” he told her. “Can you forgive me?”
Tumbling with him onto the sofa, she let out a gasping laugh. “Well, we can’t all be perfect…” And then she wasn’t thinking about ketchup or paintings or much of anything. Just Bastian.
SEBASTIAN
The clock on their escape wound perilously tighter with every precious hour he lost to lengthy conference calls with Armand. The escalation of the attack coupled with the rumors of Alyx’ pregnancy weren’t coincidence, nor was the rampant speculation in the press. The morning’s news clippings suggested he was utterly off the market and the stories danced right along the line of the truth—too close to the line.
They had a leak.
So far Meredith’s name wasn’t involved, but Kate was on her way to Italy to meet them. She would take Meredith back via a private jet registered to Daniel Voldakov rather than the Andraste family. Claude Gencome would travel with Meredith and a full detail was on the ground in Boston. Her home was secured and they were already running the faces on her campus through a contact at the FBI to make sure no surprises awaited her.
“I know you want to announce it,” Armand said calmly.
“It will merely paint a target on her. We’ve waited this long, we can wait a few more months.” A piece of his soul died. He didn’t look forward to the lengthy separation they’d need to make sure the news didn’t break until they were ready. He and Meredith were in a much better place, and yet it felt too fragile.
“You’ve said she’s a reasonable woman. Surely, if you explain why, she will understand.”
