“They’re very different from the balloon we were in,” he said. Lise jumped, startled, and caution came to her expression.
“That was then.” Lise put a hand to her chest. “Green, Jake! Green.”
“I think the castle in Scotland was first.” The sun today reminded him of that day—the day they’d helicoptered in to a landing pad near the castle and walked hand-in-hand to the ancient building. It had been lovingly restored but was still crumbling at the boundary, and he’d been smitten with it—smitten with the castle, smitten with Lise. The guidebook in the front hall said the castle was haunted by ghosts. Lise had laughed so hard at that, but that night she’d slept close, as if she might actually believe it. “Then there was the flight to Paris, and then—well, I think you liked the hot air balloon best.”
Lise gave a short laugh. “Amazing that we did it all. I don’t think I’d have the energy for two weeks like that now. This takes all my energy. Yellow, buddy. Which one is yellow?” She bent down and kissed Jake’s cheek, then stayed there as he vacillated between orange and yellow and finally landed on the right one.
“Do you want some help?”
Her green eyes flicked toward his, surprise coloring her cheeks. Lise nodded.
“Red,” Raed called, stepping closer to the balloons and the two of them.
Jake grinned, reaching for the red balloon. Raed wanted to scoop him up in his arms and toss him in the air, wanted to chase him around the lawn, and he thought about it. After a long day at the office it would be the perfect thing. But approaching voices interrupted the moment.
Raed straightened up. It was a group of people—a couple of palace servants leading the way, along with two men Raed didn’t recognize. Delivery people? The gate guard must have screened them. The two of them carried a huge box between them.
“Furniture delivery, Prince Raed,” one of the servants said.
“Things for Jake,” Lise said quickly. “The house wasn’t completely child friendly when we moved in.”
“And this will solve the problem?” Raed couldn’t take his eyes off the men, or the box. They’d both looked up when Lise said child friendly. Child. He saw the calculations in their eyes, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
All Raed’s life, he had been conscious of the way rumors worked in the city. The royal family was under constant scrutiny. It was why he used his nickname so often—if people didn’t know he was a prince, then he’d fade quickly from their memory. There wouldn’t be any scandal if he wanted to take a woman on a date or to a haunted castle in Scotland. But this was how it started. It started with people who didn’t have much to lose starting rumors about what they’d seen in the palace.
“What is it?” Lise said under her breath. “Is something wrong?”
The men went past, working the box up the front steps and into the cottage. They wouldn’t have any idea about Jake. Would they? And how would Jake feel if he knew that Raed had hidden him from the city and the world?
The two men emerged again, and Raed watched them make their way back across the yard. “A few more boxes,” one of them said with a little bow.
As soon as they were out of sight, Lise stepped closer. “Is something going on with those men?”
“It’s really important to be careful about who visits the palace,” he said lightly as she watched after them.
“It’s just furniture,” Lise said quietly.
It wasn’t just furniture, and he knew it, and she had to know it, too. Raed hadn’t expected to feel like he was walking a high wire on the royal family’s own property, and yet—here he was. Everything about the situation was tenuous. Fragile. It was like a gathering storm about to unleash itself across the city. Could you be more dramatic, Bahir? The silent question almost made him laugh. A scandal involving a secret son would be a storm in the city, but it would be worse for his foundation.
“That’s right,” Raed said. “Let’s go into the palace while they assemble it. I’ll send Jana and a guard to supervise.”
A beat passed.
“All right,” agreed Lise. “Hey, Jake, which one is your favorite balloon?”
Jake toddled over to the red balloon and picked it up in his arms, as careful as anything. “Red,” he said, giving them both a toothy smile. “Red.” Then he took off running across the yard, Lise hurrying after him, Raed hurrying after Lise.
How could they be a scandal? His heart demanded to know the answer, and he didn’t have a good one—not one that would make this any less tense. Raed would never act like his son was a scandal, but other people might. And he would just have to deal with that when the time came.
Lise turned her head, shaking her hair over one shoulder, and it was so beautiful in the afternoon light, so golden, that he wanted to run his fingers over it. “Where are we going?” she called.
“Just away from prying eyes,” he answered. “Jake.” He hurried to catch up with his son, coming alongside him in a matter of a few long strides. “Want to race?”
Jake giggled, the sound warming Raed’s heart, and took off running, his gait funny and his enthusiasm total. One of Jake’s feet caught a ridge in the grass, and he screeched, reaching for Raed’s hand. What wouldn’t he do to protect this child?
They went full tilt into the palace, and Raed swept Jake into his arms, both of them laughing. But he felt a lot better when Lise came through the doors and they closed behind their group, shutting the world out.
5
“Everything is going well here,” Lise said breezily to her mother, who lived in London and could only be reached first thing in the morning, before she went into work running the UK branch of a German pharmaceutical company. “Very well. Jake is happy with the change of scenery.”
Her mother laughed. “I doubt he notices a change in scenery. Have you done what you need to do to get that promotion yet?”
“I’ve been here a week, Mother,” she said, keeping her voice light and her laughter lighter. “I don’t think that’s long enough to get a promotion.”
It was, however, long enough for her to discover that the father of her child was a prince and settle into palace life. That was happening faster than Lise was comfortable with.
“You can’t let having a child hold you back.” This was a familiar refrain from her mother, who had been saying it to her from the moment she discovered Lise was pregnant. “Don’t allow yourself to be put on the sidelines, darling.”
“I won’t.” Lise didn’t mention that things would have been significantly easier early on in Jake’s life if she’d had a live-in nanny back then. “I love you. Talk soon?”
“Of course we will.” Her mother made a kissing sound into the phone, and Lise ended the call with a deep exhale. She loved her mother, but the fact was that Ingeborg was a human dynamo who wouldn’t even let a natural disaster stand in her way. Nothing had ever “derailed” her career—not even Lise.
She slipped her phone into her purse and slung it over her shoulder, heading for the golf cart, which she had managed to not crash more than once. Raed had come by an hour earlier to take Jake to have breakfast with his grandmother. What a life they were living. In London, Jake had gone to the daycare at the university until lunchtime, and then they’d have lunch together until Lise’s cousin showed up to watch him in the afternoon. Now he breakfasted with his grandmother and spent his days with Jana, having swimming lessons and visiting the stables and playing whatever games came to his mind. They still had lunch together, provided by the palace chefs.