Prince Baby

“I had hoped to help with Owen last night, but I never heard him cry.”

Seth Bryant turned from the kitchen counter and caught his ex-wife’s gaze. “I can’t believe he slept through the night.”

“He didn’t.” Lucy smiled at Seth as if she knew some great secret, which unfortunately triggered about eight powerful memories of when she’d given him that same smile—all of them sexual—and more than Seth’s chest tightened this time.

The one thing his buddies hadn’t factored into all of their instructions to prove to Lucy that he could be a good dad was that Seth had to be around Lucy. He hadn’t ever been around this woman for a full twenty-four hours without making love to her….

Dear Reader,

To me, September is the cruelest month. One minute it feels like just another glorious summer day. And then almost overnight the days become shorter and life just hits. It’s no different for this month’s heroes and heroines. Because they all get their own very special “September moment” when they discover a secret that will change their lives forever!

Judy Christenberry once again heads up this month with The Texan’s Tiny Dilemma (#1782)—the next installment in her LONE STAR BRIDES miniseries. A handsome accountant must suddenly figure out how to factor love into the equation when a one-night stand results in twins. Seth Bryant gets his wake-up call when a very pregnant princess shows up on his doorstep in Prince Baby (#1783), which continues Susan Meier’s BRYANT BABY BONANZA. Jill Limber assures us that The Sheriff Wins a Wife (#1784) in the continuing BLOSSOM COUNTY FAIR continuity, but how will this lawman react to the news that he’s still married to a woman who left town eight years ago! Holly Jacobs rounds out the month with her next PERRY SQUARE: THE ROYAL INVASION! title. In Once Upon a King (#1785), baby seems to come before love and marriage for a future king.

And be sure to watch for more great romances next month when bestselling author Myrna Mackenzie launches our new SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE miniseries.

Happy reading,

Ann Leslie Tuttle

Associate Senior Editor

Bryant Baby Bonaza

Books by Susan Meier

Silhouette Romance

Stand-in Mom #1022

Temporarily Hers #1109

Wife in Training #1184

Merry Christmas, Daddy #1192

*In Care of the Sheriff #1283

*Guess What? We’re Married! #1338

Husband from 9 to 5 #1354

*The Rancher and the Heiress #1374

†The Baby Bequest #1420

†Bringing up Babies #1427

†Oh, Babies! #1433

His Expectant Neighbor #1468

Hunter’s Vow #1487

Cinderella and the CEO

#1498Marrying Money #1519

The Boss’s Urgent Proposal #1566

Married Right Away #1579

Married in the Morning #1601

**Baby on Board #1639

**The Tycoon’s Double Trouble #1650

**The Nanny Solution #1662

Love, Your Secret Admirer #1684

Twice a Princess #1758

††Baby before Business #1774

††Prince Baby #1783

Silhouette Desire

Take the Risk #567

SUSAN MEIER

is one of eleven children, and though she’s yet to write a book about a big family, many of her books explore the dynamics of “unusual” family situations, such as large work “families,” bosses who behave like overprotective fathers, or “sister” bonds created between friends. Because she has more than twenty nieces and nephews, children also are always popping up in her stories. Many of the funny scenes in her books are based on experiences raising her own children or interacting with her nieces and nephews.

She was born and raised in western Pennsylvania and continues to live in Pennsylvania.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Epilogue

Chapter One

Roaring thunder from a severe mid-September storm shook the windows of Seth Bryant’s enormous two-story brown brick house in Porter, Arkansas, but that didn’t prevent him from hearing the scream coming from his driveway. He bounced from his tall-back black leather chair and bounded out of his office, running up the slim corridor that led to the entryway.

When he reached the front window, he lifted the curtain, peering out into the darkness. In the muted glow of the lamp by his door, he saw Lucy Santos—Princess Lucy Santos—standing on his front stoop, and his look of concern shifted into a look of shock. He couldn’t stop the painful thud that seized his heart. Even wet and windblown she was beautiful. Her dark hair had been tucked under a navy-blue rain hat that matched the huge navy-blue raincoat she wore, but he could see her long, shapely legs. That easily conjured a vivid picture of what the rest of her looked like. Naked. In his bed.

Cursing himself for being an idiot, he dropped the curtain and strode to the hall closet where he extracted his shotgun. Lucy might appear to be alone, but he knew better. Undoubtedly, two bodyguards lurked in the shadows, and even if she somehow had managed to escape them for the night, her chauffeur, Tony, a guy about half the size of a travel trailer, would be with her.

Seth cocked the gun. There was no way in hell she was getting into his house—his life. He didn’t even want her on the same planet with him!

Aiming the shotgun with his left hand, he opened the door with his right. Shirtless and barefoot, dressed only in threadbare jeans, and pointing a weapon, he knew he probably looked like her royal bodyguards’ worst nightmare. A crass commoner with a firearm. He smiled. It was too bad King Dad wasn’t here to see this.

“What do you want?”

“Seth!” Lucy said his name like a gasp, then—as if she didn’t see he had a loaded gun—she fell against him.

He caught her with his free arm but not before her cheek pressed into his bare chest. Shivers of joy ricocheted through him, but he gritted his teeth and squelched them. She’d brought him more pain than joy, and ultimately more anger than pain. He didn’t want anything to do with this woman.

He nearly shoved her away from him. Then her weight and the shape of the body that collapsed against him caused him to realize that her raincoat was huge because she was pregnant!

“Oh, this is rich!” he said, just barely keeping his voice from becoming a shout, though he silently savored his anger. He had earned it. She had disposed of their marriage with a quick, easy annulment. Now it appeared she’d hidden her pregnancy from him. He had every reason in the world to be furious.

He didn’t intend to let her see she still had the power to move him, not even to anger, so he softened his tone. “You’re pregnant! You…Princess!” he said the title like a curse, because to him it now was.

Rain sparkled on her smooth, pale skin. Gazing up at him with dark eyes that glistened, she drew a quick, shallow breath and said only, “Help.”

The distress in her voice caused Seth to forget their fight and to remember that a scream had brought him to his front door. Her scream.

He glanced outside to confirm that she was without her bodyguards and he saw that she’d driven the little red Chevy she sometimes used to sneak out when she wanted privacy.

He peered at her pain-filled face. “Lucy?”

“I think I’m in labor.”

“Oh, my God.” Before Seth could prevent it, a protective instinct rose up in him. As quickly as he could, he carefully leaned his shotgun against the wall, scooped Lucy into his arms and carried her across the pale tile floor of his entryway, through the dining room and into the living room where he deposited her on his white sofa.

“Not here!” Lucy groaned. “This is your living room!” Her eyes bore into his. “If I’m really in labor, we’ll ruin your sofa!”

Seth scowled and he set her down anyway. Damned princess! “Even in pain, you’re worried about possessions.”

“I’m not worried about possessions! I’m being practical. You used to like that about me.” She blew her breath out in three quick puffs, then ran her trembling fingers over her forehead. “The contraction is over.”

Realizing her problem wasn’t life-threatening, Seth tamped down his panic and allowed his anger to return. Still, he didn’t let any emotion to filter into his tone when he said, “While I call an ambulance, maybe you would like to explain what you’re doing here.”

Lucy drew a quiet breath. “Okay.” Her voice shook. Her eyes stayed downcast. “I left Xavier Island when I realized I was pregnant. I needed to finish the mansion in Miami, but I also wanted time alone to decide what to do. In the end I couldn’t keep your baby from you.”

Seth snorted in disbelief as he picked up the receiver of the portable phone on the end table by the sofa. Eight months ago, she’d let her father’s representative end their marriage. Now she expected him to think she considered his feelings? His interests?

“Yeah. Sure. I believe that. I also have some swampland that would make a perfect retreat for your dad. Lots of alligators.”

“Seth,” she implored, grabbing his hand. “I know things ended badly between us.” She caught his gaze. “You also have a right to be skeptical. I wasn’t going to tell you about the baby because I thought it best that we never see each other again, but…”

She broke off with a gasp, then groaned loudly.

Seth’s knees turned to rubber again. “Lucy! Do not have this baby on my sofa!”

She squeezed his hand. “Seth, something is wrong. Everything’s happening too fast…I’m not even due for four weeks! Otherwise, I wouldn’t have risked this long trip!”

“I think your doctor may have miscalculated your due date.”

She closed her eyes and, between pants of air, she said, “That would mean I got pregnant the first night we made love…Aghghghgh!”

Ignoring the vivid images that assailed him when he thought of the heart-stopping passion that had propelled him and Lucy to the bed of his Miami hotel room before they’d even had their first date, Seth punched 911 on the phone’s keypad. When the dispatcher answered, he said, “I have a woman in my house who is in labor.”

“How far apart are her contractions?” the dispatcher calmly asked.

Seth faced Lucy. “How far apart are your contractions?”

Lucy panted a few times before she said, “I had one pain when I got out of the car. One when you opened the door. And now the pain is back. It hasn’t even been a minute. It’s almost like the contractions don’t stop!” She drew a quick breath then groaned again.

Seth said, “There doesn’t seem to be any time in between the pains.”

“Hold on, sir, while I fix your location…” Obviously tracing his address from his phone number, the cool, calm and collected dispatcher said, “I have you listed as Johnson Road. You’re not very far…”

Seth glanced at Lucy. When he saw she was gasping for breath, he said, “Just get someone here!”

“Sir, an ambulance is on its way. Stay on the line and I’ll guide you through…”

Lucy cried out in pain. Seth squeezed her hand. “Hold on, Lucy. An ambulance is on the way.”

“I can’t hold on.” She moaned in agony. “Oh, God!”

Seth fell to his knees beside the sofa. “Operator, things are not going well here.”

“Relax, sir, and tell me what’s happening.”

Before Seth could answer, Lucy said, “I’m going to have this baby right now!” She slid down on his sofa, with her feet flat on the cushion and her knees raised. Every inch of her shook, as if she’d been standing in the cold for hours. Her raincoat crackled and crunched from the nearly violent movement.

Seth said, “Operator, she just said she’s going to have this baby right now, and I believe her. I have two neighbors who are volunteer firemen.” He knew the volunteer firemen had paramedic training because he had considered joining the department himself. “So I think I’m going to hang up and see if I can get one of them to come over.”

He disconnected the call, and, phone in hand, ran to his office to get the number of the two brothers who lived down the street. Once he found it, he dialed quickly, then began running to the living room again.

“Mark,” he said when the older of the two brothers answered on the third ring. “This is Seth Bryant. I don’t have time to explain, but my ex-wife is having a baby in my living room. I need you right now! And I do mean right now!”

Without giving Mark a chance to answer, Seth clicked off the call and raced to the sofa again. Lucy lay groaning and Seth dropped the phone and started undoing the closures of her coat. “Let’s get this off.”

She nodded and he nimbly pushed the raincoat from her shoulders. When he began to ease it from beneath her, she caught his hand. “Don’t! Leave it for damage control.”

Seth laughed, but the laughter was more from nerves than humor. “Okay. Good thought.”

Lucy groaned again, digging her fingers into the edge of the sofa.

“Hang in there,” he said, straightening her coat beneath her. “Everything’s going to be okay. I called my neighbors who are paramedics.”

Lucy said, “Okay,” then panted a few breaths. Seth noticed that she hadn’t stopped squeezing the cushion and knew that what she had said was true. There was no time between the contractions.

“Mark and his brother live three houses down,” he said soothingly. “Nine chances out of ten they only have to jump into their shoes before they can jog up here. Any second now my doorbell will ring…”

She groaned again. Her knuckles whitened as she squeezed the sofa cushion more tightly. “Seth, I can feel the baby coming out.”

Not giving himself time to think, Seth reached under her skirt to remove her underpants. He heard the doorbell and prayed it was Mark. “In here,” he called, knowing he couldn’t leave Lucy to answer the door. But the wind howled, drowning out his voice.

He positioned himself between Lucy’s knees. “In here!” he yelled. “Come in!”

When he didn’t hear the sound of his front door opening he shouted, “In here!” as the child pushed free. Quickly, easily, the baby slid from Lucy and landed in Seth’s hands.

He just barely caught it. “Oh, my God!”

Mark and Ray ran into the room. Ray laughed. “Looks like we’re here just in time.”

Seth glanced down at the baby. His baby. His son.

A prince.

“Oh, my God.”

Seth watched the paramedics roll Lucy and the baby out of his house, down the sidewalk and to the driveway where the ambulance awaited. As they guided the gurney into the brightly lit vehicle, Seth closed his front door and started walking upstairs to get a shirt and shoes so he could join them at the hospital, but he had a quick second thought.

When he entered his bedroom, he grabbed the cell phone he had left on the cherrywood dresser with his wallet and change and dialed the home number for his personal attorney. As Pete Hauser’s phone rang, Seth walked to the window and pulled back the sheer curtain and saw the ambulance speed away in the rainy night.

“Pete?” he said. “This is Seth Bryant.”

“Seth? What are you doing calling at—” he paused and Seth assumed he’d glanced at a clock “—eleven-o’clock on a Friday night!”

Seth winced. “You were already in bed, weren’t you?”

“Of course I was! Tomorrow might be Saturday, but I still have clients.”

Seth winced again. “Sorry, but I have a big problem.”

“What’s up?” Pete asked, instantly alert at the mention of trouble.

“I have a son.”

“What?”

Seth took a quick breath. “Let me start at the beginning. Remember that I told you I had been married, but you didn’t need to worry because the marriage had been annulled and neither one of us wanted alimony or a settlement?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I was wrong when I said we didn’t need to worry. My ex-wife’s dad is a king…”

“Seth, is this one of your jokes?”

“No joke. The bottom line is that our marriage was annulled because Lucy was promised to someone else in a trade agreement…”

“Seth!”

“I’m serious, Pete. Hear me out. She was betrothed to someone when she was a child, and that’s a commitment as binding as a marriage in her country. So when her father found out about our marriage he told her our marriage wasn’t valid. She went to Xavier Island to straighten things out, but she never came back. Her father’s representative came to my door one day with the annulment papers I told you about that essentially said the marriage never happened. But tonight she showed up at my door and she was in labor. She actually had the baby on my sofa. But that’s not the point. The point is she’s an honest-to-God princess. Ty and I might have a bit of cash, but I’m guessing we can’t compete with these people.”

“You’re afraid she’s going to take the baby and you’ll never see him again?”

“Exactly.”

“Okay, here’s what you do. Whatever it takes, you get her to stay in this country while I research the law and locate your best grounds for custody.”

“While you’re researching, Pete, keep in mind that my son is the first grandchild of the only child of a king.”

Seth’s lawyer gasped. “He’s an heir to a throne?”

“I’m guessing. I don’t know much about royalty and monarchies. I couldn’t tell you who gets to rule and who just waves from the carriage in parades. But I do know that Lucy is an only child, and I suspect that a baby’s being firstborn—to an only child—means something.”

“Okay. I’ll hit the books. You keep your princess here. In Arkansas, if possible.”

“It’s called a spontaneous delivery,” the emergency room doctor said, slapping Seth on the back. “Next baby, you’ll be ready.”

“There isn’t going to be a next baby,” Seth mumbled as the doctor pushed open the curtain, walked out of the cubicle and disappeared when the drape fell closed behind him.

Rubbing his hand across the back of his neck, Seth faced Lucy. “So, the doctor wants you to stay overnight.”

Lucy nodded and Seth watched her, working to control the myriad of emotions tumbling through him. He understood what Pete was saying about keeping Lucy in Porter, but what Pete didn’t realize was that Seth was irresistibly attracted to this woman. They hadn’t even left his hotel room on their first date. Hell, they hadn’t even said hello. The day they’d met on the construction site for her father’s Miami mansion, they had fought the sexual connection that sizzled between them for eight long hours. So, when she’d arrived at his hotel room to meet him for their dinner date, she’d fallen into his arms and he’d carried her to bed.

With the exception of time at the construction site, they’d spent the first two weeks of their acquaintance in bed. But that was good because that was how he’d talked himself out of thinking he was in love with her. He simply convinced himself it had only been lust and the thrill of spontaneity that had propelled him and Lucy to Vegas where they were married after only knowing each other a few short weeks.

Blaming their marriage on uncontrollable sexual chemistry made everything easy to understand and justify, but now she’d had his child. And all kinds of crazy emotions bubbled through Seth. He might not love her, but he was absolutely, positively back to being solidly in lust with her. Except now lust was peppered with appreciation for the staggeringly beautiful woman who had given him a son.

He was in deep trouble.

He took a quick breath and reminded himself that Lucy had also married him when she had been betrothed to someone else. She had rushed home when her father discovered their hasty wedding and that had been the end of their relationship. She hadn’t taken Seth’s calls, wouldn’t see him when he’d traveled to her father’s island. Her father had sent the messenger who’d told him their marriage had been annulled. So, yes, looking at her beautiful dark eyes, perfect pink complexion and sinfully rich black hair, he couldn’t deny that he was sexually attracted to her. What man wouldn’t be? Having watched the birth of his son, he also couldn’t deny a certain amount of respect and appreciation. But after the way she had treated him, he couldn’t love her. He wouldn’t love her. It would be emotional suicide.

“And they’ll have a room for you in a few minutes.”

She closed her eyes and murmured, “Thanks.”

“You’ll get the baby once you’re settled.”

“Good.”

Seth ran his hand along the back of his neck again. This was the reason their marriage had been a mistake. Physically, they were a perfect ten. But he couldn’t remember a time they’d ever really talked.

Still, able to communicate or not, they had a baby. And he refused to let the monarchy roll over his parental rights. Xavier Island might be a small country, only one island of several off the coast of Spain, but Lucy’s dad was a savvy leader who knew exactly what to do to keep his country one of the richest in the region. If King Alfredo wanted to, he could find a way to take Seth’s son away from him. So Seth had to be one step ahead of him. That was the important thing right now.

“So…what do we do now?”

“I’m going home.”

He was afraid of that. “Where, exactly, is home?” Realizing how hostile that sounded, Seth quickly amended it. He couldn’t afford to make her mad. Lord only knew what she would do, where she would go. She’d already proved that when she wanted to, she could disappear.

“When I met you, you lived in Miami, then when your dad summoned you, you left for Xavier Island. You said you’ve been in Miami for the past few months, but you were supposed to be marrying a prince. Did you marry him? Do you live in some other kingdom I’ve never heard of?”

“Though my betrothal nullified our marriage, the pregnancy broke the betrothal. The barristers called it an act of God.”

Seth snorted a laugh. “I’ll bet King Dad loved that.”

“When he discovered there was no sanction to the trade agreement tied to the betrothal, he didn’t care.”

Seth shook his head, unable to believe things like this still happened in a modern world. “Well, there you go. Marriage, babies, none of it matters as long as the trade agreement stays intact.”

“Seth, I know you’re mad,” Lucy softly said, “and I also don’t expect you to understand this, but not every country is as progressive as the United States and not every people is as independent. Some of us…”

“Your room is ready!” Popping through the canvas curtain, the nurse interrupted Lucy. She picked up Lucy’s chart and made a quick notation, then said, “The guy behind me is Tom. He’ll be the one taking you up.”

The tall orderly in the green scrubs offered a salute.

The female nurse turned to Seth. “You should go home. Not only is your wife going to need her sleep, but you’ve been through the wringer tonight, too.”

Hearing Lucy referred to as his wife sent a flood of overpowering emotion through Seth. He fought it by reminding himself that he and Lucy were absolutely one-hundred-percent wrong for each other and they had made a huge mistake in getting married. But the feelings wouldn’t go away. He wanted to take her hand and whisper his gratitude. He wanted to kiss her forehead. He wanted to jump with joy and he couldn’t believe he had to control himself. He wasn’t entirely sure he would be able to keep it all inside.