The Monarch's Son. Valerie Parv

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      Thinking of his own loneliness that stretched back to well before they lost Chandra, Lorne wasn’t so sure. Chandra had never been the companion he had hoped for, but she had been Nori’s mother, and the child was entitled to mourn her loss. “How much do you think you might cry then, a bathtub full?”

      Solemnly Nori extended his baby hands about shoulder width apart. “Maybe this much.”

      “That’s quite a lot,” Lorne agreed. “But it’s all right. Cry that much if you want to. And remember, you can always talk to me about mama, or about anything.”

      “Even about koalas?” Nori said, his eyes brightening with hope.

      Lorne restrained a sigh. Had he been as persistent as Nori at the same age? “Yes, even about koalas,” he conceded heavily. “While we’re on vacation, why don’t we visit the zoo and you can see a real koala?”

      Nori’s eyes shone. “You mean it? Can Allie come, too? She said I should call her Allie and she knows all about koalas.”

      Wondering at how easily his son had made friends with their guest, Lorne was aware of a feeling very like envy gripping him. He shook his head. “Alison has other things to do besides entertain you on her holiday.”

      Nori’s tiny chin jutted out. “She’ll come if I order her to.”

      Lorne suppressed a smile. “Not if I catch you first.” Only the day before, he’d found a soldier marching pointlessly up and down the inner courtyard because Nori had ordered it. Then had followed a serious father-son talk about the responsibilities of being royal. “Didn’t I explain to you about giving orders?”

      Nori squirmed uncomfortably. “Yes, Daddy. ’s not much fun being king if you can’t make people do what you want.”

      “That’s exactly why Carramer doesn’t have a king,” Lorne explained. “A long time ago in our history, a king made his people’s lives miserable with his orders. When his son became ruler, he promised never to call himself king to remind himself and his heirs not to treat the people as badly as his father had done.”

      “I won’t make anybody miserable,” Nori agreed impatiently. He had heard the story before and understood the point his father was making. “I just want Allie to come to the zoo with us. I like her, don’t you?”

      “I don’t know her very well,” Lorne evaded.

      “If she comes, you could get to know her.”

      His son would make a good negotiator one day, Lorne thought wryly. “Very well, she can come if you want her to.” It would add to the fiction that she had been taken on as a companion to Nori, he told himself, wondering at the way his heartbeat suddenly picked up speed. It had nothing to do with the prospect of spending time in Alison’s company, he assured himself. After Chandra, getting involved with any woman, particularly another Australian, was the last thing he needed.

      The knowledge didn’t stop a flood of raw emotions from surging through him until he gripped the marble coping of the pool, his fingers whitening with the strain. “How about we get on with your swimming lesson now?” he suggested, hoping Nori wouldn’t hear the tension in his voice.

      His son was too distracted to notice. “After the lesson, can we go to the zoo and see the koalas?”

      Lorne shot an involuntary glance at the windows of the Rose Suite overlooking the pool. “Alison isn’t well enough to go anywhere today. Perhaps tomorrow if Dr. Pascale says it’s okay.”

      As his son mumbled a reluctant acceptance, Lorne thought he caught a glimpse of movement at one of the windows and shook himself mentally. Alison Carter was a temporary distraction, nothing more. Taking her with them to the zoo was unavoidable if Lorne was to keep his word to Nori. But if the doctor approved, she would return to her hostel in Allora afterward and that would be that.

      Forget about her, Lorne ordered himself and slid into the pool. He felt like a poker being plunged into ice water. Steam practically hissed off him, and he knew the heat of the morning had little to do with it.

      Watching Lorne with his son, Allie felt a rush of admiration. He was the ruler of his country, with all the responsibilities that entailed, but he still found time to give his child a swimming lesson.

      This afternoon, after sleeping late, eating the light meal that was brought to her room and taking a leisurely bath in the vast bathroom adjoining her bedroom, Allie felt refreshed. She was still tired from her battle with the serpent yesterday but at least her vision was unclouded.

      Yesterday she had wondered if she’d exaggerated the impact of the magnificent man who came to her rescue. Today she knew she hadn’t. Lorne de Marigny was every bit as prepossessing as she’d first thought. She had reached this conclusion before she knew who he was so his effect on her had nothing to do with his position.

      She chewed her lower lip thoughtfully. Why couldn’t she have been rescued by an ordinary Carramer man, then she could have enjoyed his company, maybe even a holiday romance? The thought flashed through her mind, startling her with its unexpectedness. There could be no holiday romance with the sovereign ruler of the island kingdom.

      She was amazed he had allowed her to stay at the villa, although she recalled it was on doctor’s orders. Not that she imagined Lorne de Marigny taking orders from anyone unless they coincided with his own wishes. He was the kind of man who naturally led rather than followed. If he had been born a commoner, he would still have been a leader, she sensed. Men like Lorne stood out from the crowd no matter what their station in life.

      This perception of him should have been at odds with the gentleness he demonstrated with his son in the pool. The sight reminded her of a lion and its cub. Lorne showed strength when it was warranted and paternal care when it was needed. The fanciful image brought a rueful smile. Lion, indeed! What were lions if not merciless hunters who pulled down living prey on the run?

      He had looked at her as if she was potential prey, she recalled with a slight shiver. It wasn’t fear, more like—she refused to identify her response as pleasure. He was unlikely to feel any such thing after the way she had interrupted his holiday. The sooner she left the royal villa, the better.

      It was hard to make herself believe it. She didn’t want to, she acknowledged with a flash of insight. The obvious trappings of royalty didn’t attract her as much as the warm family feeling she observed between Lorne and Nori. Toddlers could be a handful at the best of times, but Lorne looked as if he genuinely enjoyed interacting with the child.

      When Nori did something amusing, Lorne’s laughter reached her as a warm sound that tingled all the way to her toes. She wrapped her slender arms around herself in an instinctively defensive gesture. Toe tingling was all very well if the man was available and interested, but Lorne was neither.

      A discreet knock on the outer door of her suite startled her. In response to her soft acknowledgement, a maid entered carrying clothes over one arm. “His Highness saw you at the window and requested that you join him at the pool,” the maid relayed. “I was instructed to bring a selection of bathing things for you to choose from.”

      From the woman’s deferential manner, Allie gathered that refusing was not an option. Her bikini wasn’t among the choices on offer, she also noticed. Was it too brief for the prince’s royal sensibilities, she wondered wryly? The maid hardly seemed like the appropriate person to ask.

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