Read Online Her Royal Baby by Marion Lennox - Free Book Online Page B

but Jean-Paul has left the place to be run by power-hungry despots. I have no time to change things. Without a monarchy the country will self-destruct, and I can’t let that happen.’
    Help. The more she thought about it the more she didn’t like it. Not one bit. ‘So Henry needs to go back?’
    â€˜Henry needs to go back.’
    She glanced again across at the cot, where the baby was still fast asleep. He was so little. He was so…needful. ‘You’d put the country’s welfare above Henry’s?’
    â€˜I don’t have a choice,’ he said gently. ‘I swear he’ll be looked after.’
    â€˜He doesn’t need looking after,’ she blurted out. ‘He needs love.’
    â€˜I’ll…care for him.’
    She stared up at him, trying to read his face. Once again she read sincerity. This was a man doing what he thought was best.
    What was there in it for him?
    The Regency. Twenty-five years of playing ruler of the country, she thought, and the idea hardened her heart. If Henry didn’t return, this man would be nothing.
    â€˜I’ve told you—I don’t want this,’ he told her, and she stared.
    â€˜What…?’
    â€˜You’re thinking I want Henry’s return to ensure my own power base, but it’s not true. I never wanted power. I don’t want it now. If leaving Henry here meant Broitenburg could move into a progressive democracy then I’d leave him. You must believe that.’
    â€˜I—’
    â€˜But it won’t happen,’ he told her, overriding her interruption as he tried to give her a sense of his own urgency. ‘The officials are ruining the country. We’re a great little country, but whole industries are moving away because of government corruption. Good people—skilled people—are leaving Broitenburg because their skills go unrewarded.’
    He leaned towards her then, his voice still urgent and his eyes not wavering from hers. ‘As Prince Regent I can change things,’ he told her. ‘The crown has power—too much power—but in the short term that can be used for good. I can curtail government corruption. I can even rewrite the constitution so that the monarchy becomes more in line with the British tradition—where the monarch exists to lead the people as an inspirational role, not controlling day to day living. Tammy, you must give me this chance. I want my country to be the wonderful place it once was.’
    There was passion in his voice. Fire. Tammy lookedacross the table at Marc and saw a man who believed absolutely in what he was doing.
    This man wasn’t corrupt, she thought. He was honest and he was strong and he cared. There was a part of her that recognised something in him that was almost a part of her. Like twin souls…
    For the first time she wondered about him. Really wondered. What had he been doing before Jean-Paul’s death? Where had he been?
    Was there a woman in his life?
    Where had that thought come from? She gave herself a mental slap, hauling her thoughts sharply into line. This was hardly the time for wondering such things. He was pleading for her to hand over her nephew.
    She couldn’t do it.
    â€˜Maybe when he’s older…’
    â€˜Tammy, he needs to come home now. His claim to the throne lapses forty days after his father’s death. I have until Friday.’
    Using her name unnerved her still more. Once more she attempted to focus on what he was saying. Friday. ‘That’s in four days?’
    â€˜Yes.’
    â€˜But…’ She shook her head, bewildered. ‘Why did you leave it this long to collect him?’
    â€˜I thought he was safe.’ Marc’s hands clenched on the table before him. ‘At the funeral your mother told me he was being safely cared for in Sydney. She was so…’
    â€˜I know. I know what my mother can be.’
    â€˜I assumed she was going