The Prince's Royal Dilemma. Brenda Harlen

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СКАЧАТЬ she talked about the children or sparked like emerald fire when she was angry. He’d kissed more women than he could remember, but it was somehow the lips he hadn’t had the pleasure of tasting that beckoned him—Lara’s lips, soft and full and so tempting. He’d dated women with long hair—some with flowing blond tresses, others with spiraling dark curls, but all he could remember now was the way the copper of Lara’s hair glinted in the sun and the way the short choppy layers emphasized her delicate bone structure and creamy ivory skin.

      “Obviously, there is.” Henri’s comment broke through his reverie.

      Rowan pushed aside the haunting image and forced himself to ignore the almost painful yearning that stirred deep in his belly. “No,” he lied. “There’s no one.”

      His friend responded by arching his brows but didn’t challenge his statement. “Well, then, you better start looking. Though I’ll warn that you will likely be inundated with bridal candidates as soon as the media gets wind of this, as you know they will.”

      He nodded, having long ago accepted the fact that every aspect of his life was subject to public scrutiny, even—or maybe especially—his choice of female companions. “You’re sure there’s no way around this?”

      “I’m not a lawyer,” Henri reminded him. “But I’d assume that the law has stood as long as it has because it is supported by the people.”

      Rowan nodded again. “Thank you, Henri.”

      He bowed and retreated to the outer office.

      His friend’s comment about not being a lawyer reminded Rowan that Marcus soon would be. He picked up the phone to call his brother.

      Marcus Santiago was jolted from a dead sleep to wide awake on the first ring. A quick glance at the clock had his heart leaping into his throat as he grabbed for the receiver. The last time he’d received a call from home in the middle of the night, it was because his eldest brother and sister-in-law had been killed.

      “What’s happened now?” he demanded in a gravelly voice.

      “Everyone’s okay.”

      Marcus let out a sigh and sank back into his bed. “Then why couldn’t you have waited until morning to call?”

      “It is morning,” Rowan told him.

      “Barely.”

      “And I wanted to be sure to catch you before you headed off to class.”

      “I don’t have any classes that start earlier than 10:00 a.m. local time,” he reminded his brother.

      “I’m going to fax you some pages,” Rowan said, ignoring the complaint and pushing ahead with his own agenda.

      “What pages?”

      “A copy of an archaic piece of legislation that somehow still happens to be in effect. I need your interpretation of it and, more importantly, I need you to figure out how I can get around it.”

      Now this was unexpected…and interesting. “Tell me you haven’t violated Tesorian law.”

      “Not yet,” Rowan said, then proceeded to fill his brother in on the details of his recent conversation with Henri. By the time he was finished, Marcus was hooting with laughter.

      “I don’t care that you find this amusing,” Rowan said to him. “So long as you find me a loophole.”

      “Maybe instead of fighting this, you should look at it as an opportunity,” his brother suggested.

      “How is this anything but a disaster waiting to happen?”

      “You’ve been thrown into the roles of prince regent and guardian of our niece and nephews, which hardly leaves you any time for a social life.”

      “You have enough social life for both of us,” Rowan interrupted.

      “You can’t let one unfortunate and long-ago experience sour you on the prospect of marriage forever.”

      “I’m happy with my life, with the freedom to date a different woman every night of the week if I want.”

      While Marcus could certainly appreciate that option and did, he knew that his brother had once wanted something different—until Margot had killed those dreams.

      He also knew that Rowan wouldn’t want to be reminded of the ill-fated affair of which he still bore the scars, so he only said, “You used to envy Julian his luck in meeting and falling in love with Catherine.”

      “Turns out he wasn’t so lucky after all, was he?” Rowan said bitterly.

      “I’m just suggesting you could look at this legislation as an opportunity to find someone special.”

      “I’m not opposed to the idea of marriage—just to having it forced upon me, and within a legislated time frame, no less.”

      Marcus could certainly understand that. “Send me the paperwork,” he said, “and I’ll see what I can do.”

      Ten days after Miss Brennan left the palace, Rowan was still trying to convince himself that he had no reason to feel guilty. But every time he looked into Damon’s tear-streaked face or saw the abject misery in Alexandria’s big gold eyes, he wondered if the decision he’d made was really what was best for them. Even Christian, usually so stoic and accepting, seemed to miss the nanny. And then there was his conversation with Marcus—two days after he’d fired her—wherein his brother explained the circumstances behind the picture of Lara on the beach.

      He’d made a mistake—he’d reacted emotionally instead of rationally, and without having all of the facts. But the picture had done something to him, churned up desires he hadn’t even been aware of possessing. It was one thing to want a woman—he hadn’t lived well into his thirty-fourth year without experiencing the pull of desire and the pleasures of making love. But Lara was the children’s nanny, and he was appalled by the weakness within himself that he could want a woman who was so clearly off-limits, and want her desperately.

      He’d thrown the paper in the trash, but somehow that tempting image of her was burned into his brain. He couldn’t sleep at night without dreaming about her, fantasizing about that slim, sexy body wrapped around him. And when he woke in the morning, hard and aching with wanting her, he could only be grateful that she was gone—far out of the reach of temptation. But after the initial wave of relief passed, the guilt settled in—guilt that, while he might have made the decision that was right for him, he’d made it for all the wrong reasons.

      Of course, the decision had been made, so there could be no going back. Damon would cease throwing temper tantrums when he realized they had no effect; Alexandria would regain her appetite; and Christian would smile again. He had to remain firm in his conviction and trust that their rebellious behavior would pass. They just needed a period of adjustment. The new nanny had only been in residence for a week, and Rowan was confident that it wouldn’t be too much longer before life settled into a normal routine again—and Damon would, hopefully, settle down.

      He hadn’t hired Edna Harris because of her gray hair or long skirts or thick clunky shoes, but he considered those to be definite bonuses. She’d been in the business of caring for other people’s СКАЧАТЬ