The Prince's Heir

But that was unnecessary. They’d call. They were honorable people.

He hadn’t been prepared to like this family, but he did.

Mandy was wrong when she’d labeled him unfeeling. In the short time he’d been with her, she’d caused him to feel many things—respect, amusement, admiration and, last but not least, desire in the age-old way in which a man desires a woman. Royalty was not always free to indulge such desire, but that didn’t mean he didn’t feel it.

He, like Mandy’s mother, realized the value of observing the amenities, of refusing to indulge emotions and let them influence one’s life. As a member of the royal family—the future king, unless Joshua’s claim to the throne could be validated—he could never afford that indulgence.

Yet as he stood and said goodbye to the Crawfords, and everyone smiled and mouthed the proper pleasantries, he had a very emotional feeling that before this was over, Mandy, with her fiery hair and blazing eyes, her porcelain skin brushed by freckles and her passion for everything, was going to test the limits of his restraint.

Chapter Two

Mandy leaned against the side of the house, half-hidden by a crepe myrtle bush, shaking in fear and anger as she watched Stephan’s rental car drive away. How was it possible that her whole world could have changed so much in less than an hour?

Though she supposed she shouldn’t be surprised. The last few years had been constant upheaval... leaving her small hometown, Willoughby, for college in Dallas, fifty miles away, renewing her friendship with Alena, then her grandfather’s death three years ago followed closely by Alena’s death, adopting Josh and moving back to Willoughby. She’d thought she could regain stability by returning to the small town and the family she’d once wanted to leave. And she had regained that stability for a while. She’d traded in her MBA to teach first-grade children, some belonging to her former classmates.

Except for her grandfather and her best friend being gone, the time since she’d come back had been like a return to her childhood when she was surrounded by love and everything was secure and unchanging. She’d been given a second chance, and this time she truly appreciated what she had. This time she was holding on with both hands and not about to let it get away from her.

Only a few hours ago she’d left to do her morning of volunteer work at the library, confident that things would be the same when she returned. Then she’d come back and walked into the home where she’d lived since she was a child, where she’d always felt safe, into the kitchen where she’d eaten breakfast that very morning with the people she loved.

But in that kitchen, sitting at that same table, she’d seen Stephan Reynard.

And she had a horrible feeling that her life would never be the same no matter how tightly she tried to hold on to the status quo.

The worst thing wasn’t even that he wanted to take Josh. That was unthinkable, of course, but even worse was that she was inexplicably, insanely attracted to the man who wanted to steal her son, the brother of the man who’d caused her best friend’s death.

For some reason she’d never be able to understand, her hormones had turned on her and focused their attention on this enigmatic man who was the antithesis of everything she wanted out of life. He had wealth and power and that always spelled heartache. If she needed any confirmation of that fact of life... and she didn’t...all she had to do was look at Alena’s life, especially after she became involved with this man’s brother.

Stephan Reynard was from another country. Not just another city an hour’s drive away, but a completely different country, thousands of miles away in distance and lifestyle.

And he was the enemy, the man who thought that country had a claim on her son, who wanted to yank him away from her and from the life she’d so carefully constructed for him.

Yet as much as she feared Stephan and hated him, just as much was she drawn to him. There was something about him, some banked fire in his eyes, something predatory about the way he moved, something primitive buried beneath the layers of civilization and conservative clothing that reached to a part of her she hadn’t even known existed before...and really didn’t want to know about now.

When he’d callously announced Lawrence’s death, she’d been completely disconcerted, not only because she’d liked Lawrence and had been shocked at the news, but also because that meant Stephan had a legitimate reason to take her son. The room had started to spin about her. Stephan must have spotted her weakness, and he’d rushed over to her. For one insane instant she’d wanted to collapse into those arms and be held against that wide chest, to free those uncivilized urges she somehow knew he possessed.

Fortunately she’d recovered her good sense before doing anything that stupid and had not, she hoped, given him any sign of her absurd reaction.

When she’d grabbed him by that ridiculous tie and invaded his space to issue her warning, she’d been fighting dual urges to use that tie to choke him or to pull his lips to hers. Even now she could remember the sizzle that had seemed to pass from his body to hers, though they hadn’t actually touched physically. Even now his elusive scent that was both foreign and familiar, civilized and wild, tantalized her memory.

She snapped a leaf off the bush beside her and crumpled it in her fingers. Her hormones must have gone into overdrive, focusing on the first attractive man they spotted, causing her to attribute to that man all sorts of traits that he didn’t possess. Stephan Reynard was a stuffy, snobbish, arrogant prince who wanted to take her son.

She had to shove her rebellious hormones back into their cells and launch a crusade against Stephan Reynard. She had to protect Alena’s son—her son now—keep her promise to Alena and Lawrence and keep her family intact.

She drew in a deep breath, determinedly pulling in the familiar scents of honeysuckle and trees and dust in an effort to drive out Stephan’s enigmatic, enticing scent.

Spine straight and head high, she returned to the backyard where Stacy, Josh and Prince were involved in one of Josh’s favorite games. Stacy threw Prince’s bone, then Josh raced with the dog to see who would retrieve it.

“I’m going in to talk to Mom and Nana, Stacy. Would you keep Josh out here for a little while longer?”

Stacy tossed the bone, then when Josh and Prince ran after it, she turned to Mandy, a worried frown marring her young features. “What’s going to happen, Sis?”

“Nothing. We’ll figure out some way to deal with this.” She had no idea what that way might be, but she would find it. She couldn’t conceive of anything else.

Josh charged back, jubilantly clutching the plastic bone and chattering happily.

“Good boy!” Stacy approved. “See how much easier it is to carry it in your hand than in your mouth?”

Mandy scooped him up and gave him a big hug, loving him so much it was almost painful. Josh wrapped his chubby arms about her neck and hugged her back, gave her a sloppy kiss, then demanded to be allowed down again so he could play with Prince. She set him on his bare feet and he scampered away.

“He doesn’t appreciate how much he’s loved because that’s all he’s ever known,” Mandy said. “That’s the way it ought to be, and it’s not going to change.”

“I’m with you all the way,” Stacy replied.

Mandy went back inside to her mother and grandmother who sat at the table, waiting for her.

“We got problems,” she said.

Her grandmother grinned wryly. “You always did have a talent for understatement.”

She flopped into the chair beside her. “Any thoughts on what we’re going to do?”

Nana shook her head. “When you told us you were adopting Josh, you didn’t tell us about that decree of illegitimate ascension.”

Mandy sighed. “It didn’t seem important. I thought Lawrence would marry the woman his parents had picked out for him and have lots more sons. It’s the male who determines the sex, you know, so the odds were pretty good on that one. I certainly had no idea the Taggarts would ever in a million years find out about Lawrence. It’s not like they would be on a guest list for the palace ball and recognize him.”

The front door slammed. “Hi, honey! I’m home!”

“In the kitchen, Dan!” her mother called.

Mandy had to fight the urge to jump up, run to her father and throw herself in his big, capable arms, the way she had done when she was a little girl, when he could make everything all better with a kiss. “You’re going to wish you’d stayed at the hardware store!” she shouted instead.

Dan Crawford appeared in the doorway, a large, smiling man with auburn hair fading to a lighter color and streaked with white. He took one look at the three of them and his smile vanished, concern furrowing his brow instead. “What’s wrong? Has something happened to Lynda and the baby?”

“No, they’re fine,” Rita assured him. “Sit down, dear. We need to have a family meeting.”

Dan took a seat at the table and listened quietly while Mandy told him the whole story.

“We need a plan of action,” she concluded. “I don’t think this is going to go away like the chicken pox did.”

Dan Crawford leaned back and exhaled a long sigh. “What did this Stephan Reynard say he plans to do next?”

“He didn’t say,” Rita replied. “He’s staying at a hotel in Dallas and we’re to phone him there after we’ve had time to discuss everything.”

“There’s nothing to discuss,” Mandy said adamantly. “Joshua’s my son now. Both his parents wanted him to have the kind of life I had, not the kind they had.”

“Stephan Reynard is Joshua’s uncle,” her father said, his voice quiet but resolute. “He may not have any legal rights, but don’t you think he’s entitled to some kind of relationship with his nephew? Someday Joshua’s going to want to know about his heritage.”

“Stephan Reynard doesn’t want a relationship with his nephew. He wants to steal him and turn him into a carbon copy of himself, and we can’t let him do that. Josh would be just as unhappy in that role as Lawrence was.”