He looked at the birth certificate again.Mary Louise Mortimore. His mother. “I got it.” It didn’t seem like anything special, though. He had no idea why Phillip had specifically not included it in the evidence he’d compiled, but Theo had every intention of finding out.
After they got to safety.
He leaned forward. “Greece.”
“Figured.”
Meg had found a blanket somewhere—Galen, no doubt—and had it wrapped around her so that only her face was visible. “What’s in Greece?”
“A property Galen owns that no one in my family or his knows about. He purchased it through a shell corporation within another shell.”
She gave a wan smile. “I’m sure the fact that Greece borders your country has nothing to do with that decision.”
“Well, there is an infinity pool.”
She laughed softly. “Of course there is.”
“Next he’ll try to convince you that naked sunbathing is the thing to do.” Though there was a thread of amusement in Galen’s voice, the tense line of his shoulders gave lie to it. He glanced at Theo in the rearview. “Why don’t you both rest for a bit? It’s a long drive, and we’re going to have to make it longer to muddy the trail.”
“I’ll take over in a few hours.” He should have said he’d drive now, but the truth was that his head pounded hard enough that it was a wonder it didn’t fly right off his shoulders. Theo needed a handful of meds and a couple hours sleep and he’d be as good as new.
Mostly.
“Works for me.”
Theo touched Meg’s knee. “How are you holding up?”
“Oh, you know, I’m peachy.”
Right. Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer. He motioned. “Come here, princess. We both need some rest while we can get it.”
She unbuckled her seatbelt and moved to the center seat. Once she had buckled herself back in, he arranged the blanket around them and tucked her against his side. The tension bled out of her as the space between them warmed. She shivered. “God, this is the most insane experience of my life, and that’s saying something. What the hell did they do—shoot us?”
“Not us. One of the tires.” Galen didn’t look back. “It’s not an impossible shot, but it took a lot of skill to set it up so that the tire would go out right as we hit a curve and send us into the ravine.”
“They really want you dead, don’t they? I thought you had until your brother’s coronation.”
He should shield her from this, but even lies of omission tended to blow up in his face when it came to Meg. Better to put all their cards on the table and let her decide for herself. “They think you might get pregnant.”
She shot up fast enough that she almost clipped him in the jaw. “What?”
Galen took the entrance ramp onto the Autobahn and picked up speed. “If you get knocked up with Theo’s kid, then it bring other factors into play.”
“Why? If Theo isn’t in line for the throne right now, then why would his kid be a factor?”
Theo sighed. “Because my uncle knows he’s spun a web of lies and my brother is barely more than a child. He’s not going to be married and settling down anytime in the next few years,even if he wasn’t taking the throne. That leaves our sister as his only heir, followed by Phillip. And Phillip has no kids of his own. You mentioned a civil war, but having our line die outwouldcause a civil war. There are two lines who could argue that they hold enough royal blood to be next in line after Phillip, and neither of them are going to compromise. It would be England’s War of the Roses all over again. While there are members of both families that would be happy to see that happen, the majority of them prize Thalania and their business interests over their ambitions. If they know that I have an heir, they might be willing to support me despite the evidence Phillip provided. I’m a known quantity, and even though you’re not one of the marriage candidates they’d been pushing on me since I hit twenty-one, it wouldn’t matter. Stability is everything.”
“So many strings.” She gave a sigh of her own and resumed her position tucked against his side. “I think I’m going to try to sleep now.”
He’d said something wrong again. Theo held Meg close and let the hum of the car’s engine sooth his eyelids shut. He never usually had a problem talking to people, especially women, but from the start Meg had cut through the bullshit. She didn’t like words twisted into games, didn’t get off on the push and pull of power plays the way some women did.
She didn’t want his money, but she wanted him.
She didn’t seem too keen on the fact he was a prince, but she didn’t blink at his unconventional relationship with Galen—or that they wanted her to be part of it.
She’d agreed that this should be temporary, but every time he said something that supported that agreement, something shut down in her hazel eyes.
The truth washed over him in a slow surge.She doesn’t like the thought of this ending.She might not want to keep them in any real way, but it would hurt her to walk away.
