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  “I’ll take the baby to the nursery,” Beaumont says to Della. I don’t miss the little kiss she gives my brother.

  “Night, sweet boy.”

  “Daddy,” Aiden whimpers, and my heart pinches.

  “Bless his heart,” Della whispers, coming closer. Tentatively, she reaches out, brushing the back of his hair with her fingers. “I’m sorry for rushing over and confronting you. I didn’t realize…I should’ve come over during the day like a normal person, but I’ve been out of town, working as a camp counselor, and just got home. I found this and…well—I’m sorry for intruding tonight.”

  “It’s not a problem. Really. We’ve sorted everything out.”

  Aiden wriggles around, and upon seeing her he shouts, “Mummy.”

  Fuck. “I’m sorry. He misses his mother.” I wince as his fingers dig into my shoulder. “Just let me put him to bed and we—”

  Aiden pitches sideways and Della grabs him, lifting him into her arms. He tucks his head into the crook of her neck. “It’s okay,” she murmurs, and I realize that she’s not only speaking to him but to me as well. “Everything will be okay, little prince.”

  Her gaze meets mine and there is so much compassion and empathy in the depths of her eyes that I feel as if I’ve found a kindred soul in her.

  Stupid really, considering I’ve known her all of five minutes.

  “You look exhausted,” she says. “Don’t you have a nanny or someone to help you?”

  “No.”

  “Oh.” She starts to walk around the pool and I follow after her, nearly bumping into her when she stops. “Would you mind if I sat down for a while—your son is an armful.”

  “I’ll take him.” I reach for him, but she steps to one side, her head shaking.

  “I don’t mind holding him.” She sits down, and after adjusting Aiden in her arms, she props up her ridiculously long legs on the chair. “You’re welcome to join us.”

  “I don’t think the three of us would fit,” I counter lightly, and she blushes.

  “I meant in the other chair.”

  I bite back the smile that’s trying to force its way onto my face. I can’t remember the last time I flirted, even a little…not even before my parents were…taken from us.

  “Naturally, you did.”

  “Where are you from?” she asks.

  I lift my chin a little. “Can’t you tell?”

  “I was going to say Jerkville but then you said we could stay and you have the cutest kids ever, so I’m going to go with the UK.”

  My mouth opens. No one has ever talked to me like that, especially not a woman. People used to fall all over themselves in order to get my attention.

  Hell, women started turning up nude in my bed the moment I hit sixteen and word got around that I was royally endowed.

  “Are you going to sit or not because my neck’s starting to hurt.”

  There she goes again. “Can’t have that,” I murmur.

  Sitting down, I lean back in the chair and close my eyes, letting the plush cushions give me a measure of comfort.

  I’m only nineteen but I feel as though I’ve aged centuries since we were forced to leave our home.

  Beside me, Della begins to hum. The sound is so soothing that I don’t bother to look for Beaumont before letting myself truly relax. I know he’s nearby anyway.

  “Looks like your daddy is going to sleep,” Della whispers to Aiden.

  “Daddy,” he says, mimicking Della.

  His little voice makes my heart crack. I’m not sure if I should respond or not.

  “Sweet boy,” Della whispers. “You and your brother really are the cutest things ever.”

  I peer through my lashes at her. She’s leaning back like me but Aiden’s in her lap, facing her, and she’s making silly faces at him. She touches his nose, his cheeks, and ears, naming all the parts.

  “He’s had a hard time adjusting.”

  “Has he?” she asks.

  “Very. New time zone, new bed…new people.”

  “He’s not been himself, huh? Maybe even making decisions without fully thinking them through.”

  “Perhaps.” This time I open my eyes and feel myself fall under her spell. “It won’t happen again.”

  She holds out her hand to me. “I say we try being friends, since we’re neighbors and all.”

  With a laugh, I take her hand in mine, ignoring the warmth of her skin and the shot of desire that blasts through me. “Indeed.”

  “Good.” She nods once.

  Reluctantly, I let go and say, “I can take Aiden from you now. I don’t expect you to entertain him.”

  Della arches a brow. “As your friend, I insist on you letting me play with your son so you can get some sleep.”

  “I don’t need any sleep,” I counter, but a huge yawn cracking open my mouth proves me a liar. “Okay, perhaps I need a little, but—”

  “I get it. We don’t know each other that well yet, but your security guy hasn’t taken his eye off me and y’all know where I live. There is literally nowhere for me to go.” She gives me a tentative smile. “Try to trust me, okay?”

  “Trust isn’t something I take lightly.” The men I trusted to protect us were the ones responsible for my parents’ deaths. But for some reason known only to God, I want to trust Della. Perhaps it’s because I need to trust someone again, need my faith in humanity restored.

  “I’m trusting you to keep your word,” she reminds me.

  She’s right. My word is the only thing that assures Della her home is still her home. “Fine. I’ll try.”

  “That’s all you can do. That’s all any of us can do.” She resumes playing with Aiden, singing a nursery rhyme about sheep.

  I can’t stop looking at the two of them. Honestly, I can’t stop looking at Della and for the first time since our exile, I feel hope.

  Chapter 1

  Colin

  TEN YEARS LATER

  It’s the first day of the new school year for my boys and I’m nearly going mad trying to keep up with their questions while I fill out the last of the paperwork at my desk.

  We have exactly ten minutes before the driver picks us up and I’m only half done. At this rate, I’ll never finish.

  “Will I get to eat?”

  “Yes.”

  “Will the kids like me?”

  “Of course.”

  “Can I take Toady?”

  Pausing, I cut my eyes at Aiden. Naturally he wants to take to school the blasted frog we rescued from the pool last night. “Absolutely,” I begin and his face lights up. “Not.”

  He falls into the chair beside his brother and crosses his arms, his bottom lip jutting out like a three-year-old instead of a boy of eleven.

  Amazing that.

  “Is she coming?” Pierce asks as he bounces in the chair beside me. He’s eleven months younger than his brother, but they’re so alike in looks and temperament that they are frequently mistaken for twins.

  Before I can answer, Aiden cuts in. “Della always keeps her promises.”

  I want to ask him if he’s implying that I don’t, but it’s not worth the fight that will inevitably ensue and then end with hurt feelings that will make me feel guilty for at least a week.

  Who am I kidding? I always feel guilty. I felt guilty the first time I sent them away to boarding school, in the grand Sinclair tradition. They’d clung to me, begging not to go…that they’d be so good and listen all the time.

  My heart cracked at that. Still does whenever I think of it—like now. Damn it. I push away the memories and focus on the questionnaire I should have answered weeks ago.

  “That she does, which is why she should be here any second,” I say, agreeing. Setting the paperwork I aside, I rub the bridge of my nose and exhale. “Look. I know you’re nervous about starting a new school.”

  “Our fourth new school,” Aiden reminds me, as if I need to remember the expulsions and fights and general hell that our life became once I sent them aw
ay.

  “Quite so. Your fourth new school, but it is a beginning and with that comes a fresh start.”

  Pierce kicks his legs back and forth, his shoes scraping on the rug. “Della said that our teachers are kind.”

  “And smart.”

  I nod. “Della wouldn’t lie.” Unlike I have to do—day in and day out—to protect them, of course. No need for them to mourn for parents they have no idea are theirs.

  Hell, they think of Della as their mother. She’s been there for nearly every scrape, every first moment—like when Pierce started walking—and every loose tooth. I taught them how to ride a bike. She taught them how to roller skate. I taught them how to swim in our Olympic size pool. She taught them how to fish in the pond behind her house.

  “Nope,” they say in unison.

  “And Della loves us,” Pierce adds.

  “That she does.” And I love Della.

  Not that it matters.

  I can’t tell her how I feel.

  Besides, even if I did, nothing can come of us. For years, I’ve worked tirelessly with Parliament to get our exile overturned. I’ve promised everything but my firstborn in exchange for a full pardon for our family. My last exchange with them has resulted in silence on their end—perhaps a good omen for once, since Prime Minister Davies usually responds with a resounding no in a matter of milliseconds.

  In any case, that, along with raising these two boys, keeping my siblings out of the tabloids, and expanding Sinclair Enterprises are my only goals in this world.

  The topic of our mutual love suddenly appears in the doorway of my office and my heart stutters. I don’t know what prompted my feelings to go from friendship to something deeper.

  I just know that one day we were in the middle of breakfast with the boys and she had to leave to go in to work early…and all I could think as she walked away was that I wanted this every morning.

  With her.

  She brushes back her apricot-colored hair, her silver eyes twinkling in the morning light as she smiles. “Morning, y’all. Ready for school?”

  “Della!” they shout in unison and bolt for her.

  Aiden latches on to her arm while Pierce manages to wrap himself around one of her legs while he looks up at her in utter adoration. Thankfully, she’s not wearing a skirt but rather a pair of khaki pants and a polo shirt with the words AS YOU WISH CLEANING embroidered on the left-hand side.

  “You have to work today?” I ask, turning my attention back to the last page, where all I need to do is sign and date, but for the life of me, I can’t remember my damn name.

  “For some reason my boss doesn’t think my birthday constitutes a holiday, but I did try,” she says, laughter in her voice. “But she did say I could go with you to take these monkeys to school.”

  Right on cue, Aiden and Pierce begin to make monkey sounds. They let go of Della to jump around the room. She laughs at their antics and I can’t help but be enthralled.

  Snap out of it.

  I frown.

  Della gives me a familiar look, one that says Stop being so rigid and join us. How she puts up with me, I’ll never know.

  “Colin?”

  Right. My name. Colin Sinclair. “A moment of silence if you please,” I say, finally signing the paper.

  She snorts a little. “Yes, Your Highness.”

  “Yes, Your Highness,” the boys repeat in unison.

  I look up just as they start to bow and Della curtsies. On any other day, I’d be amused by this and slightly horrified because it is so close to the truth.

  However, her bloody maid’s uniform mocks me, reminding me of our differences, of all the reasons why we cannot be together, that it pisses me the hell off instead.

  “Enough,” I say sharply and the boys freeze. “Get in the car now. We’ll be there momentarily.”

  “Yes, sir.” They pick up their things and take off.

  Della waits until the door shuts with a slam before she cocks an eyebrow at me. “Was that necessary?”

  My jaw clenches. I’m not mad at her. I can’t be mad at her. And I can’t be mad at my boys, either. “Probably not,” I admit. Grabbing the paperwork, I stand up and walk to her. “Rough morning.”

  A small smile appears on her lush mouth. “I can see that.” She touches my cheek. “You missed a spot shaving.”

  I press my hand against hers. The feel of her skin against mine, the feel of her trapped against me…bloody fucking hell it’s good. “I’m a beast in the morning.”

  Her eyes dance. “It’s a good thing I love your library, then.”

  “Forgive me?”

  She cocks her head to one side. “Yes. You’re my best friend. How could I not forgive you?” After another thousand beats of my heart, she finally says, “Can I have my hand back?”

  “What—oh, yes, that…” Reluctantly, I let go of her. “Shall we be off?”

  “Yup. You’ll need to talk to the boys, too,” she says, and I wonder if she’d order me about so easily, or at all really, if she knew who I am. Would she so easily fit in and spend time with my sisters, take them shopping and give them advice…treat Theo like an annoying brother….Would she act like a mother to my boys?

  Would it matter to her that I’m a crown prince without a country, that one of my sisters is the rightful queen of an isle that has all but forgotten us in the decade we’ve been gone? Would she stop seeing me as Colin and treat me as a Your Highness instead?

  I know the answers, which is why I can’t tell her the truth. In my family’s case, the truth will never set us free. It would only kill what’s left of us.

  “I will,” I promise.

  “You’re a great dad, Colin. Stop worrying about the little things and let them be boys…and I promise not to egg them on next time.” She gives me a guilty look. “The bowing and curtseying were too much, huh?”

  “A little.”

  “If I didn’t like you, then I wouldn’t tease you so much.”

  “I hate to see how you’d treat me if you loved me, then.” Oh shit. I did not just say that to her.

  Della’s eyes widen.

  Before either of us can say a word, Beaumont walks inside my office. Damn his timing, yet it’s a relief as well.

  “Time to leave.”

  Della doesn’t wait another second; she flies out of my office. I start after her.

  “It’s never easy to lie to the one who holds your heart,” he says.

  I lift a brow. “Is that how you seduced my mother?”

  He doesn’t flinch and he doesn’t tell me to go fuck myself. Instead, he moves to stand beside the door and waits.

  I pause, one foot inside the car. “That was completely uncalled for and I was out of line. Please accept my apologies.”

  “There is nothing to apologize for,” he says, his head held high. “We must leave now.”

  He’s not royalty, but he’s a class act and I don’t deserve him.

  —

  By the time we arrive at school, the boys are back to their usual mischievously good moods and Della is herself as well.

  As soon as we stop, the boys hug and kiss us both. They don’t wait for anyone to open the door. Pierce slams the door closed so hard that the car rocks.

  They run down the sidewalk, Aiden clutching the paperwork he’d snatched out of my hand without my noticing.

  “I should go with—”

  “Not this time.” Della nods at the entrance. “See, Mrs. Macintosh has them. They are in great hands. And…they have a bodyguard. At school.” Her face contorts slightly. “Are you that worried about them?”

  “Their bodyguard is posing as a secondary resource officer for the elementary school so that none of the families feel unduly frightened at the thought of a man in a suit with a gun standing outside every day. It’s been cleared with everyone on the school board as well. I know this is hard for you to understand, but with our family, security is a must.” Meanwhile the school board thinks we must have more money than God t
o warrant that level of security. I’m more than happy to allow them to think whatever the hell they want as long as our secret is kept and my boys are safe.

  The car pulls away from the curb, my heart speeding up as I get a last look at my boys. While it seems strange that I should worry with them so close to home as opposed to sending them to a boarding school, the schools I sent them to had top-of-the-line security. They were with children just like them, not royalty necessarily, but they were with the offspring of the ultrarich and famous, the infamous and even criminal in some cases.

  While here…no one is like them and I can’t help but think that it means my boys are vulnerable.

  “Oh, I understand, but it’s a tad frustrating because there’s so much I don’t know,” she finally says, sounding slightly exasperated with me. “While it’s not my business, I think you let your secrets get in the way of us.”

  “Us?”

  There is only the barest hint of a blush on her cheeks. “Our friendship.”

  “Right.” My jaw works. “You’re involved in nearly every facet of my life and my family’s life. Please enlighten me how I’m letting anything get in the way of you.”

  “Wow.” She shakes her head at me, her nose wrinkling adorably. “You’re in a foul mood.” She leans forward and knocks on the partition. It comes down. “Can you stop at the corner, please? It’s a nice day for a walk.”

  Beaumont nods and the partition closes.

  “Why are you getting out?”

  “Because today everything I say annoys you and everything anyone does annoys you, and it’s my birthday, which means I don’t have time for people who are annoyed by everyone and everything.”

  I stare at her in utter amazement. When will she stop surprising me with her frankness? “I’m not annoyed.”

  “Yes, you are, and since it’s a rare occurrence, I’ll let it slide.” She taps her finger against my chest. “However, this is my day, so you’d best be in a better mood before dinner.”

  I grab her offending finger, then the rest of her hand and don’t let go. “Listen. There are things going on with me that I cannot share with you, things that I can’t share with anyone, and I don’t know if those things will ever get better.”