Crowns and a Cradle by Valerie Parv

Author:Valerie Parv
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Sarah could hardly believe that another week had passed since Josquin offered to speak to Henry for her. He had been as good as his word, confronting the old prince the next day. But Henry wouldn’t be swayed. However, Josquin had managed to get Henry to delay appointing a full-time nanny until Christophe had settled in to royal life.

“We should be grateful for small mercies, shouldn’t we, Chris?” she said to him as he splashed in his bath. His silken skin was sun-kissed and he looked a picture of health. Her heart snagged as she thought of someone imprisoning her precious child in a royal cocoon. How was she supposed to handle that?

She couldn’t.

“Uck,” he said, splashing at a floating bath toy.

She handed him the toy. “That’s right, duck. Clever boy.” He slammed it down on the water so it made an almighty splash, laughing uproariously as the backwash caught her.

She was forced to laugh, too, as she swabbed her face with a handy towel. “Next time you tell me to duck, I’ll know you mean it.”

She finished bathing him and wrapped him in a towel to carry him to his room. He kicked happily in her arms, trying out two more words he’d added to his vocabulary recently. “No,” she understood, and was amazed at how accurately—and frequently—he managed to use it. But what was “Osh”?

She found out when Josquin joined them in the bedroom. He had taken to appearing each evening when she prepared Christophe for bed. He seemed to enjoy the ritual, although Sarah suspected he was also keeping an eye on them for Prince Henry.

Tonight Josquin was late. She had dried and powdered Christophe and was buttoning him into his sleeping suit when the prince arrived. At the sight of him, Christophe kicked happily. “Osh, Osh.”

She slanted Josquin a curious look, putting two and two together. “Are you Osh?”

The prince looked sheepish. “Christophe couldn’t get his tongue around Josquin, so while you were with your language tutor, I tried teaching him to say Josh. Friends call me that.”

It suited him, she thought. But they weren’t friends. Enemies didn’t kiss one another. So what were they? She couldn’t come up with an answer to satisfy her.

“So now you’re Osh. He’s been saying it all day, and I couldn’t work out what he meant.”

“Now you know.”

“Christophe enjoys his time with you while I’m studying,” she said.

He shook his head. “Marie and Perin will tell you I have as much fun as Christophe does.”

All the same, his work was demanding. When she’d gone for a walk before bedtime, she’d noticed the light still burning in his office. He looked tired now. Fine lines radiated around his eyes, and faint shadows ringed them. As far as she could tell, most of his social activities revolved around his royal role. And with Prince Henry ill, many extra duties fell to Josquin.

The urge to smooth the lines away with her fingers, and press her lips to the grooves edging his generous mouth was so strong that she swayed toward him before she pulled back.

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.