Prince Baby. SUSAN MEIER
was trying to wiggle his way into her life again. When she’d left him, he had been furious that she had dropped everything because her father had summoned her and livid that her royal responsibilities and duties took precedence over anything in her life—even him. When he didn’t return her calls, it was only logical to assume he had regretted his decision to marry a royal. When he didn’t protest their annulment, she considered it proof he had concluded marrying her had been a mistake. It had hurt at first. Actually, it had darned near killed her. But, in the end, she understood that Seth finally comprehended what she had been trying to explain to him from the first day she’d met him—it was not easy to be a member of a monarchy. And soon his son would be as involved as Lucy was.
It didn’t seem fair to deprive Seth of this opportunity to get to know his son. Not when she could easily keep herself away from a man who had been glad to be rid of her, no matter how good-looking he was. “Okay.”
“Okay,” Seth said and pushed open his SUV door. “You get the baby. I’ll grab his luggage.”
Lucy carefully exited the SUV and reached in to unbuckle Owen and lift him from his protective infant seat. She nuzzled her nose against his velvet-soft face.
“Hello,” she whispered. She was so full of awe and delight that this baby was hers that she almost lost her breath. After spending her entire life virtually alone, she had someone with whom she was irrevocably bound. Someone who would love her. Someone she could love without reservation, without fear of loss. Cuddling Owen closer, she squeezed her eyes shut and inhaled his sweet baby scent.
When Owen pressed his nose against her cheek, she knew he recognized her, and the power of instinctive love overwhelmed her again, nearly bringing her to tears and reminding her of how profound the loss of her own mother was.
“Ready?”
She faced Seth, wondering how long he had been standing there, but deciding not to make an issue of whether he’d seen her interaction with Owen. Even if he’d watched the entire time, she knew Seth wasn’t looking at her as much as at the baby. Owen was his child and Seth was interested in him, not his baby’s mother.
“Yes. We’re ready.”
She followed Seth up the long stone walk to the front door, but as he unlocked it, a black SUV roared into his driveway. The man Lucy recognized from working with him as Seth’s brother Ty climbed out of the driver’s side. A red-haired woman jumped out of the passenger’s side. Clearly obsessed with getting to Seth, Ty didn’t wait for his companion. His long footsteps had him rounding the SUV and striding toward the walk as Seth directed Lucy to the house.
In the foyer, she noticed the elaborate design of the pale orange tile floor and the elegance of the crystal chandelier that she had missed the night before. Seth hadn’t had this house when they were married. But even if he had, they had decided to keep their wedding a secret until they figured out a way to explain it to her tyrannical dad. So Seth had never brought her to his hometown, let alone to his house.
“You have a lovely home.”
Seth gave her a sheepish look. “I had to hire a decorator.”
She laughed. “Really? A man who builds for a living had to hire a decorator?”
“I understand floor plans and designs and I can even approve or disapprove the details of an office building, mall or house, but I can’t actually choose fussy things or match colors. God forbid I should have to pick all the frilly stuff for a bedroom.”
Lucy stopped a smile. No, Seth wasn’t much for frilly things. When she thought of him in a bedroom, he wasn’t mulling over the decor. He was naked, on the bed, in a tumble of sheets and bedspread.
The picture that formed in Lucy’s head sent heat through her. She chastised herself for letting her thoughts go in that direction because she was absolutely, positively, through with this man. Nestling Owen closer, she glanced around, peering into the dining room, which was furnished with an oak table and hutch, and beyond that to the living room with hardwood floors and an elegant white sofa. “Your decorator did a beautiful job.”
“Thanks. I took the liberty of having a crib and a few other essentials sent over. I set them up in the master bedroom.”
An image of her and Seth on a bed with the baby between them appeared in her brain. Quick and perfect, the image filled her heart with the same kind of love she had just felt cuddling Owen. Her chest tightened and tingly warmth enveloped her. But on the heels of those feelings came pure panic. Not only did she not want to have these kinds of feelings for Seth again, but also his assumption that she would jump into bed with him was insulting!
Eyes wide, she spun to face him. “Seth! You don’t think I’m sleeping with you! Because of my betrothal, we weren’t ever really married. I can’t…You shouldn’t…”
“Don’t worry, Princess. All that’s behind us. I’m giving you the biggest room so you’ll be more comfortable and so you’ll have more privacy. I’ll sleep in a guest room.”
Relief poured through Lucy but before she could apologize for the assumption or thank Seth for the courtesy, Ty stepped into the open door of the foyer. Like Seth, he wore plain trousers and a short-sleeved Polo shirt, but the similarities stopped there. Seth had pale green eyes and sandy brown hair, while Ty had black hair and eyes so dark they could sometimes be described as black.
Ty said, “Hello, Lucy,” then turned to Seth. “You’re in trouble.”
Seth said, “Hello, Ty.”
“I didn’t even know you and Lucy were dating! You can’t imagine how shocked I was this morning when my future mother-in-law called me to tell me that her sources at the hospital noticed that my brother had a baby the night before!”
Lucy stifled a laugh at the exasperated expression on Ty’s face, but Seth sighed. “Ty, Lucy is my ex-wife.”
Lucy watched Ty’s perfectly chiseled jaw fall. “Ex-wife? You married a princess!”
“Don’t worry. There’s no impact on Bryant Development…”
“No impact! If I remember correctly, we lost a ten-million-dollar contract.”
“Yeah, well, that was all we lost. The marriage wasn’t valid because Lucy was promised to someone else, so she wasn’t free to make that commitment. It’s as if it never happened.”
Ty stared at Seth. “How can you say it’s as if it never happened? You had a baby!”
“We did believe we were married for two weeks.”
“You’re in bigger trouble with Madelyn!”
Madelyn?
Lucy’s chest tightened again, but this time it was from jealousy. Telling herself she wasn’t jealous, only looking out for the interest of her baby by being curious about the people who would be around Owen for the next few weeks, Lucy eased the tightness with a soft, inconspicuous breath and glanced at her former husband. “Madelyn?”
“Ty’s fiancée. The woman who’s probably coming up the walk right now.”
“And the head of public relations for Bryant Development,” Ty reminded his brother. “How the hell is she going to spin this to make you look sane?”
“She’s not. My private life is my private life. I don’t see any reason this has to be ‘spun’ for anybody.”
Ty sighed, then raked his fingers through his dark hair, as the red-haired woman entered the foyer. Lucy realized Madelyn had taken longer than Ty because she had retrieved a six- or seven-month-old baby. Wearing pink bib overalls and tiny tennis shoes, the little blond girl with the toothless grin was adorable.
“Madelyn Gentry,” Seth said to Ty’s fiancée as the baby she held merrily slapped her cheek, “this is my ex-wife, Lucy Santos.”
Madelyn caught the little girl’s hand, as if suddenly realizing she needed her full mental