Prince Baby (Silhouette Romance) Read online

  “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

  Prince Baby

  SUSAN MEIER

  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.”