Claiming His Secret Royal Heir by Nina Milne

Author:Nina Milne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin Romance
Published: 2017-10-19T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

‘ALL RIGHT. YOU WIN. I’ll marry you.’

The words seemed to haunt his dreams, and by the time the distinctive fluting whistle of a golden oriole penetrated his uneasy repose it was a relief to wake up, hop out of the slatted wooden bed and head for the shower. He could only hope the stream of water would wake him up to common sense.

He had won, and there was nothing wrong with winning—it meant he would have a life with his son, would be able to give Amil his principality. That was good news, right?

The problem was Sunita’s words had not been the only ones to permeate his sleeping mind. His father’s voice had also made a showing.

‘Every woman has a price. Find her weakness, exploit it and then you win, Freddy, m’boy.’

He switched off the shower in a savage movement. Time to man up. Yes, he’d won—and that was OK. It was a cause to celebrate—not the equivalent of what his father had done. He was striving to keep Amil with Sunita full-time. He hadn’t destroyed a family—he’d created one. Ergo, he was not his father. It wasn’t as if he had threatened her with joint custody. It had been the only other option—an option he’d known she would knock back.

Rationally, the facts were undeniable. Sometimes in life you had to choose between the rock and the hard place, and he’d done his best to make the rock a comfortable choice for her. He’d offered her the chance to be a princess—most women would have grabbed the baton and run with it.

End of.

Now it was time to figure out the next step.

He pulled on chinos and a navy T-shirt and headed into the courtyard and the early-morning sunshine.

‘Over here.’

He heard Sunita’s voice and spotted her sitting under the shade of a tree, simply dressed in a rainbow-striped sundress, sunglasses perched atop her raven hair. Sunlight filtered through the green leaves of the banyan tree, dappling her arms and the wood of the table, lighting up the tentative smile she offered as he approached.

It was a smile that seemed to bathe his skin in the warmth of relief, pushing away any lingering doubts about his actions.

‘Hey.’

‘Hey...’ He sat down opposite and surveyed the array of fruit. ‘Wow.’

‘I know, right? It’s hard to know where to begin!’

‘I’m not even sure I can name them all.’

‘Chiku, papaya, guava, pineapple, rambutan. They all taste different and they are all delicious.’

He reached for a chiku—a fruit he’d never heard of. ‘It looks like a potato.’

‘Wait until you taste it.’

He halved the fruit to reveal pinkish flesh seeded with a mere three black seeds. He scooped out a spoonful and blinked at the intense sweetness.

‘Better than cotton candy.’

She smiled, and once again relief touched him.

‘About last night...’ he said. ‘I know marriage isn’t your ideal option, but I am very glad you said yes.’

‘It isn’t, but it is the best option on the table and I’ve decided to make the best of it. Perhaps if I’d been more upfront two years ago we wouldn’t be in this mess.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.