The Future King’s Love-Child Read online

  ‘You can’t tell me it was like that for you with other men,’ he continued when she didn’t answer. ‘I have had lovers before and after you, Cassie, and it was never the same. There is amazing chemistry between us. It makes everything else pale in comparison.’

  ‘You’re chasing a fantasy, Sebastian,’ she said. ‘We’ve both changed. We’re not the same people now.’

  ‘We might have changed but this is one thing that certainly hasn’t,’ he said, and, swooping down, covered her mouth with the crushing urgency of his.

  Cassie knew she should pull out of his hold. There were a hundred reasons to push him away, but somehow she couldn’t quite do it. The moment his lips met hers she felt the rush of need consume her. Her senses leapt with each stroke and glide of his masterful tongue, reducing her to a quivering wreck within moments. Was there no cure for this madness? she wondered dizzily. Everything about him felt so right and perfect. The pressure of his kiss, the movement of his hands from her wrists to her waist, then to just beneath her breasts, not quite touching but near enough to make them start to tingle and swell in anticipation.

  She whimpered as his mouth continued to ruthlessly and passionately plunder hers, the lascivious dart of his tongue sending her crazy with the need to feel him in that secret heart of her that throbbed and ached for his possession. She leaned into his tight embrace, her arms going around his neck, her fingers threading through his thick dark hair as she returned his kiss with an ardour that more than matched his.

  ‘You still want me,’ Sebastian growled against her mouth, barely lifting his lips high enough to get the words out. ‘I can taste it in every kiss we have shared.’

  Cassie shivered as his warm breath fanned her swollen lips and she opened her eyes and looked up at him dazedly. ‘I’ve always wanted you…’

  One of his hands cupped her breast, cradling its gentle weight while the pad of his thumb began to roll over her engorged nipple. ‘I swore I would never allow you to reduce me to this again,’ he said, nibbling at the lobe of her ear with knee-wobbling deftness. ‘But I can’t help it. When I am with you I feel like I am going to burst like a trigger-happy teenager.’

  Cassie felt the hardened probe of his erection pressing into her belly and felt a wave of desire wash over her, leaving her trembling with the force of it. She reached for him, her fingers skating over the waistband of his trousers before they went lower.

  He groaned at the back of his throat as she outlined his rigid form through the fabric of his trousers, his reaction inciting her to roll down his zipper. He sucked in a breath, his hands on her ribcage grasping at her for purchase as she gently peeled his underwear away.

  She could smell the erotic musk of his arousal, the skin stretched so tightly over his length her fingers trembled as she stroked him. He was so strong and powerful and yet her caressing touch brought him to life in a way she found totally exhilarating.

  He groaned again, the deep, almost primitive sound fanning the flames of her desire for him. ‘You have to stop, Cassie,’ he said between ragged breaths. ‘I can’t take any more.’

  Cassie ignored his plea and continued to caress him, but his hands came down on her shoulders and held her aloft. She looked up at him uncertainly. ‘You don’t want me to…?’

  His dark eyes glittered with rampant desire. ‘I want you to but not here and not now,’ he said. ‘You will come to me next Thursday. I will make sure we will not be disturbed. You can stay the night.’

  She lowered her gaze. ‘I can’t stay the night…’

  He brought up her chin with a determined finger. ‘I will send a car for you.’

  ‘You’re not listening to me, Sebastian. I can’t stay with you.’

  ‘Why not?’

  She bit her lip searching for a plausible excuse. ‘I have to work the next day. I don’t want to compromise my work situation. If I turn up late I could lose my job.’

  ‘You will not lose your job,’ he said. ‘Besides, I have already requested your presence at the party I am holding for the children on the following Friday at the palace.’

  Cassie’s eyes rounded in alarm. ‘The party is on Friday?’ she asked. ‘Next Friday?’

  ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘That was what Stefanos confirmed when he brought in our lunch. I wanted to do it sooner rather than later as with the coronation preparations my diary will not be so easy to juggle in the weeks to come. We are going ahead with it, otherwise it could be weeks or even months before I can see to it.’

  Cassie was finding it hard to hold his gaze. She had to fight not to show how deeply disturbed she was by the news of the party. What if one of the staff mentioned to Sebastian she was Sam’s mother? She could hardly tell Sophie and Kara and the others not to mention it, otherwise they might begin to suspect something. She would have to be so vigilant, keeping close to Sam the whole time. That was all she could do.

  ‘I can’t stay overnight,’ Cassie repeated, chewing at her lip even more desperately. ‘I will have to start work earlier on Friday to prepare the children for the party.’

  ‘All right,’ he said after a tense pause. ‘I will agree to have you returned to your house after our date.’

  Our date.

  Cassie’s mouth twisted at the euphemism. ‘You’ve really changed, Sebastian. You never used to be so cold-bloodedly ruthless.’

  ‘If you find me a little more ruthless than before you have only yourself to blame,’ he countered. ‘You did a good job on me, Cassandra Kyriakis. Whenever I become involved with a woman I take control at the start and I make sure I still have it at the finish.’

  Cassie clenched her hands by her sides, her fingertips digging into her palms almost painfully. ‘I’m not going to be your latest whore,’ she said with a last stand of pride. ‘I’d rather be locked up again for the next twenty years than suffer that fate.’

  He had the gall to laugh. ‘Oh, such feisty words, but do you have any idea of how foolish you are being?’

  ‘It can’t be any more foolish than agreeing to lie on my back for you to paw me whenever you like,’ she shot back.

  ‘Do you think I want it to be this way?’ he asked as a flicker of anger lit his gaze from behind. ‘I wish I could look at you and feel nothing, but that’s not the way it is.’

  ‘It’s your pride,’ she said. ‘You want to rewrite the past because I…because…’ she lowered her eyes from him ‘…I wasn’t faithful to you.’

  ‘It is not my pride,’ he ground out harshly. ‘I want you because I have never wanted anyone else like I want you.’

  Cassie swallowed back her anguish at his grudging confession. She felt exactly the same way about him, but the secret of their son yawned like a deep, unbridgeable canyon between them. If he found out about Sam now Sebastian’s whole life would change irreparably.

  All she had to say was: Five years ago I had your son.

  Cassie felt close to tears. She could feel them building at the back of her tight throat, their burning presence a stinging reminder of how much she had loved Sebastian, even though he had ignored her one point of contact with him via her letter, even though he had trashed her character all over again by offering her a short clandestine affair so similar to the one he had offered her six years ago.

  ‘I really need to get going,’ she said, fiddling with her watch.

  He stepped closer and traced the pad of his index finger down the slope of her cheek. ‘One week,’ he said, locking gazes with her. ‘Believe me, Cassie, I will not let this rest until I have one night with you.’

  Cassie wished she had the strength and will power to say no. Any other person and it would have been so easy. But didn’t she owe it to him? She’d had his son. She might not ever be in a position to inform him of it, but surely she owed him an hour or two of her time so she could one day tell Sam what sort of man his father was without revealing his true identity.

  She had been lucky so far. Sam was surrounded by children who had not just one parent, but no parents.
It hadn’t yet occurred to Sam to ask why he didn’t have a father, but she knew in the years to come he would no doubt do so. She had no idea how she would handle the subject. Lying to her little boy seemed morally wrong, and yet wouldn’t it be equally morally reprehensible to destroy Sebastian’s lifelong goal of ruling his people by informing him he had a love-child?

  ‘I guess if you want to see me on Thursday it could be arranged…’ she said, feeling another piece of her heart curl up and die.

  ‘I want to, agape mou,’ Sebastian said, and brushed a soft kiss to her mouth. ‘I want to very much.’

  A knock sounded at the door and with a rueful expression he put her from him gently and strode over to answer it.

  ‘Excuse me, Your Royal Highness,’ Stefanos said. ‘I wasn’t sure if you were aware of the time. You have a meeting with the royal council in just less than fifteen minutes.’

  ‘Thank you, Stefanos,’ Sebastian said. ‘You have timed it well. Dhespinis Kyriakis is just leaving. Could you ensure that she gets back to the orphanage safely?’

  ‘Yes, indeed, Your Highness.’

  Sebastian watched as Cassie picked up her purse and self-consciously straightened her clothes, her cheeks slightly pink and her eyes avoiding his as she brushed past.

  ‘Until Thursday, Cassie,’ he said so only she could hear it.

  She stalled briefly, her fingers tightening on her purse, but then with a small, almost imperceptible nod she continued to move past him and followed the aide down the echoing corridor.

  Sebastian puffed out his cheeks and let the breath escape in a long thin stream, his hand raking down his face in an effort to get his senses back into line. The last hour had been pure madness but it had proved one thing if nothing else.

  What he had said to Cassie was right.

  As stupid and misguided as it was, he was prepared to risk a very great deal to have her back in his arms, even if it was only for one night.

  At the meeting a short time later Sebastian sat forwards in his chair, tapping his pen on the desk impatiently, his frown heavy. ‘So there is still no sign of the Stefani diamond?’ he asked his official council.

  ‘I am afraid not, Your Highness,’ the senior official answered soberly. ‘The coronation plans are still in place but it makes things rather difficult.’

  Sebastian had no time for someone stating the obvious. He knew what was at stake. The icon of the royal house of Karedes was the priceless Stefani diamond, the biggest of the rare pink diamonds found on the neighbouring island of Calista. The fact that the Anstan half had mysteriously disappeared was causing great mayhem in the royal household, for tradition had it no one could become King without the Stefani diamond in their coronation crown. King Zakari of Calista was already hunting for the Anstan half of the diamond, and if it was discovered he could unite both Aristo and Calista into the Kingdom of Adamas once more. This made it all the more imperative for Sebastian to solve the mystery and find the missing diamond.

  ‘I want the investigation to continue until every person who ever handled the coronation crown is interviewed,’ he instructed his officials. ‘And of course there is no need to remind you of how this must remain within the palace walls. I do not want a press leak about this.’

  Once the council meeting was over Sebastian called Stefanos aside. ‘Two things, Stefanos, that I wish for you to see to immediately,’ he said. ‘Firstly, I would appreciate it if you would assist Demetrius in drawing up a guest list with each of the children’s names on it and their carers. I would also like a small gift prepared for each child, appropriate for their age and gender. I will leave it in your very capable hands.’

  ‘Yes, Your Highness.’

  ‘Secondly, I would like you to make some enquiries for me,’ Sebastian said, ‘discreetly, of course.’

  ‘But of course, Your Highness.’

  ‘I want you to find out where Cassandra Kyriakis is living and if or when she was last involved with a lover,’ Sebastian said with a determined set to his jaw.

  ‘I will see to it immediately, Your Highness,’ Stefanos said. ‘Will that be all for now?’

  Sebastian nodded as he clenched and unclenched his fingers inside his trouser pockets. ‘For now,’ he said, silently grinding his teeth.

  After a quick word with Angelica, Cassie went into Sam’s bedroom and sat on the edge of his bed, looking down at his innocent little face, so blissfully peaceful in sleep.

  As she gently stroked the hair back off his forehead she thought of those first harrowing weeks in prison, how she had tried to adjust to being constantly under surveillance, not to mention the sleepless nights and terror-filled days. And that fateful day three months into her sentence when the prison doctor had called her down to the prison surgery for the results of the blood tests that had been ordered the week before. The news of her pregnancy had been an unbelievable shock. For several stunned days Cassie had been certain there must have been a mistake—a mix-up at the pathology laboratory or something. She couldn’t possibly have been pregnant. She had been on the contraceptive pill since she was seventeen. She had not missed a period and apart from some breast tenderness and grumbling nausea and tiredness she had no other symptoms that could not have easily been put down to other causes. Stress, not eating, the death of her father…that last horrendous scene when he had tried to… Cassie had skittered away from memories, trying to keep a steady head in a world that had seemed intent on spinning out of her control, determined to find some other plausible reason why her body was so out of whack.

  But in the end there had been no escaping it. The news of her pregnancy and the subsequent birth of Sam had thankfully—and in Cassie’s opinion miraculously—never been leaked to the press. The prison authorities had made special dispensation for her to keep the baby with her until he was of nursery-school age, when he had been fostered out until her release.

  At least Cassie had been able to get Sam back, which was not always the case with other women. She thought of the frayed photograph Angelica kept by her bedside of the dark-haired little boy, Nickolas, she had lost custody of during the height of her drug addiction. The boy’s father had disappeared, taking Angelica’s only reason for living with him. It had been four and a half years and Angelica still didn’t know if her son was dead or alive.

  Cassie bent forwards and softly kissed Sam’s smooth brow. ‘I am not going to let anyone take you away from me again,’ she promised in a whisper. But the words seemed to echo faintly, as if fate had been listening on the sidelines and was already thinking of a way to step in once more.

  CHAPTER SIX

  ‘YOUR Royal Highness, I have that information you requested,’ Stefanos said as he brought in Sebastian’s coffee a couple of days later.

  Sebastian lowered the newspaper he had been reading and gave his aide his full attention. ‘What did you find out?’

  ‘Cassandra Kyriakis is living at a small flat in Paros Lane with a former drug addict, a woman by the name of Angelica Mantoudakis. Apparently they met in prison but the Mantoudakis woman was released two years ago. She works at one of the local hotels as a housemaid.’

  Sebastian’s brows came together. ‘What about a man?’ he asked.

  Stefanos shook his head. ‘There is no man. However, there is a small child, a boy of about five or so.’

  Sebastian straightened in his chair, a cold hand of unease disturbing the hairs on the back of his neck. ‘A boy?’ he asked, frowning harder. ‘Who does he belong to?’

  ‘I made some further enquiries and found out that Angelica Mantoudakis gave birth five years ago to a boy called Nickolas,’ he said. ‘I wasn’t able to find out much else. The neighbours pretty much keep to themselves in that area, but one of them did say she sees Cassandra Kyriakis taking the little boy with her to the orphanage each day to the nursery school there, one assumes because the Mantoudakis woman’s hours at the hotel prevent her doing so herself.’

  Sebastian hadn’t even realised he had been hol
ding his breath until he let it out in a jagged stream of relief and something else he couldn’t quite identify. ‘Thank you, Stefanos,’ he said. ‘You did well.’

  ‘The council have still not come up with any clues to the whereabouts of the Stefani diamond,’ Stefanos went on. ‘There is a private investigating team working on it, as well as Prince Alex, but so far nothing has come to light.’

  Sebastian felt his jaw tighten all over again. He had lain awake half the night, wondering if the diamond would ever be found in time. No matter how discreet the private investigators would be he was under no illusions as to how long it would be before someone suspected something was amiss and rumours began to circulate. They had perhaps already begun to do so. Sebastian wanted the start of his rulership of Aristo to be as smooth as possible. He wanted to build the confidence of his people, to show them he was nothing like his autocratic father, but would listen to the various concerns brought to him from the community and act on them promptly and appropriately. He had a vision for Aristo, a vision he had nurtured from when he had first started to realise his destiny. He had been born to rule this island and he would do so with strong but considerate leadership, but unless the Stefani diamond was found, his coronation could not go ahead.

  ‘Keep them on to it,’ he instructed his aide. ‘And make sure they keep their heads down while they are at it.’

  ‘Certainly, Your Highness,’ Stefanos said, and after a pause added, ‘I have just been talking to Demetrius about the orphanage party. The director of the orphanage was delighted with the invitation as you are the first patron to have made such a magnanimous gesture.’

  Sebastian waved away the compliment. ‘They are children, Stefanos,’ he said. ‘Little defenceless children with no one to look out for them. It is the very least I can do.’