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The Prince's Holiday Baby
Brenda Harlen
This dashing Prince is getting a baby for Christmas! Prince Eric Santiago is stunned to discover that he’s going to be a daddy. But he soon decides to install the mother-to-be – beautiful Texas waitress Molly Shea – in the royal palace. The rebellious royal has no patience with appropriate protocol! Rumours are flying about whether the couple will tie the knot before the baby is born.Will Molly say yes and get the happy ending of her dreams – and give Tesoro del Mar a royal Christmas wedding they’ll never forget?
Molly’s breath caught. “I have never seen a sunset like that.”
“And I have never seen anything like you framed by the sunset,” he said.
Then his mouth covered hers.
His lips were warm and firm, confident in their mastery. And, once again, there was no hesitation in her response.
The warm strength of his arms around her wasn’t just familiar, it was right. And the explosion of sensations made her mind spin, her heart pound and her body yearn.
He found the pins that held her twist in place and slipped them out so that her hair spilled into his hands. His fingers sifted through the tresses, caught the ends to tip her head back, changing the angle and deepening the kiss.
She wanted him—there was no denying that fact. But she couldn’t let herself get caught up in the moment, the romance, the fantasy.
There was too much at stake now.
Brenda Harlen grew up in a small town surrounded by books and imaginary friends. Although she always dreamed of being a writer, she chose to follow a more traditional career path first. After two years of practising as a lawyer (including an appearance in front of the Supreme Court of Canada), she gave up her “real” job to be a mum and to try her hand at writing books. Three years, five manuscripts and another baby later, she sold her first book.
Brenda lives in southern Ontario with her real-life husband/hero, two heroes-in-training and two neurotic dogs. She is still surrounded by books (“too many books,” according to her children) and imaginary friends, but she also enjoys communicating with “real” people. Readers can contact Brenda by e-mail at brendaharlen@yahoo.com (mailto:brendaharlen@yahoo.com).
The Prince’s Holiday Baby
Brenda Harlen
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
In memory of Tom Torrance—January
28, 1951-March 6, 2008
A teacher and mentor and friend;
a genuine prince among men.
Prologue
“You didn’t need to come over here, Grandma. I told you on the phone that I was fine.”
Theresa Shea plunked her purse on the bar and narrowed her gaze on her granddaughter behind the counter at Shea’s Bar & Grill. Yes, she certainly looked fine. But Molly had always been one to keep her chin up no matter how much her heart was breaking inside. And she’d had a lot of heartbreak to deal with over the past six months.
“Maybe I needed to see for myself.”
“And now you have.”
“And now that I’m here, maybe I’d like a cup of coffee.”
Molly poured her a cup of coffee, pushed it across the counter.
She’d been working there for so many years now, she didn’t even have to think about the tasks anymore. Everything was automatic, routine, and not at all what James Shea wanted for his daughter.
“What are you doing here?” Theresa asked softly.
“Right now? Trying to figure out the produce order for next week.”
“He wanted you to go to college, to do something more.”
Her granddaughter’s fingers tightened around the pencil in her hand, but there was no other outward sign of the emotions that were churning inside her. Molly didn’t talk about her father but Theresa knew he was in her thoughts almost constantly, especially here, at the restaurant that had been his livelihood and his life. And she knew that Molly was so determined to hold on to Shea’s because it was the only part of her father she had left.
“I’m happy here,” Molly finally said.
“Are you?”
Molly continued punching numbers into the calculator, frowned.
Theresa tried a different tack. “Do you ever write anymore?”
“I write checks to pay the bills.”
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
“It’s all I have time for right now.”
“You have to learn to take time for the things that are more enoyable than necessary.”
“I will,” Molly promised. “After all the necessary things are done.”
Theresa picked up her purse. She knew when she was banging her head against a wall and her granddaughter’s stubbornness was a brick wall.
“All right, I’ll go. But if you need anything—”
Molly leaned across the counter to kiss her grandmother’s cheek. “I won’t. I’ll be fine.”
Which was exactly why Theresa was worried.
The phone rang as she turned away, and Molly reached for it. Theresa didn’t hear the words she spoke, but the tone gave her pause. When Molly hung up, she said only one word, “Abbey.”
Molly’s sister, Theresa’s youngest granddaughter, had disappeared ** a few days earlier after leaving a note that said only “don’t worry—I’ll be home in a few days” and absolutely nothing about where she was going or who she was with.
“Where is she?”
“Las Vegas.” Molly swallowed. “With Jason.”
Theresa didn’t want to ask, was certain she already knew, and her granddaughter’s next words confirmed it.
“She just married my fiancé.”
Chapter One
Nine years later—
Prince Eric Santiago lied when he told his best friend that he had a plane to catch. The truth was, his pilot wasn’t coming to pick him up for the return trip to Tesoro del Mar until the following morning, but after almost two weeks with Scott Delsey and his soon-to-be-wife, Eric needed some space. Spending so much time with the blissful couple and seeing how in love they were only made him more aware of what was missing from his own life.
When he’d accepted the invitation to visit Scott’s ranch in Texas, he’d thought his friend might want to offer him a job at DELconnex, his communications company. On more than one occasion in the past, Scott had mentioned that he could use someone with Eric’s education and experience, though they both knew Eric had no intention of leaving the Tesorian navy.
Now, of course, the situation had changed, and Eric was willing to consider any possibilities his friend presented. It turned out one of those possibilities was to stand up as the best man at Scott’s wedding.
It seemed that everywhere around him people were getting married and having babies. First it was his eldest brother, Rowan, who had been forced by tragedy and tradition to the altar. Luckily for him, he’d managed to fall in love along the way. After six years of marriage, he and Lara were happier than the day they’d exchanged their vows, even with—or maybe because of—the two active young sons who did their best to run their parents ragged.
Three years after Rowan pledged “till death do us part,” their youngest brother, Marcus, had found a woman who inspired him to do the same. Recently, he and Jewel had welcomed their first child into the world—a beautiful baby girl who looked just like her mother and already exhibited the legendary charm of her father.
Both of his brothers had lucked out, and Eric was genuinely happy for them. But the only mistress Eric had ever been committed to was the sea—and she’d tossed him aside, carelessly discarding everything he’d given her and taking away everything he was.
As he drove his rented Mercedes northeast toward San Antonio, he forced himself to acknowledge the truth he’d been avoiding for too long—he wasn’t just alone, he was lonely.
He envied what Rowan had with Lara, what Marcus had with Jewel, what Scott had with Fiona. And he wondered why he’d never met a woman who made him think in terms of marriage and forever. Okay, having spent the better part of the last twelve years on board a ship might have something to do with it. Add to that the uncertainty of never knowing if the women he’d been with were genuinely interested in him or only attracted to his title or his uniform, and it probably wasn’t surprising that he’d reached the age of thirty-six without ever having been in a long-term, committed relationship. Still, the realization wasn’t going to fill his life or keep him warm in bed at night.
The rumble of his stomach finally broke through his introspection and a neon sign announcing Shea’s Bar & Grill snagged his attention.
Despite the fact that the building was smack in the middle of nowhere, there were several vehicles—mostly dust-covered pickup trucks—in the parking lot. His empty stomach again protested his decision to leave his friend’s ranch before dinner and he flicked on his indicator to make the turn.
He parked his shiny rental between an ancient red pickup and a mud-splattered Jeep and sat for a moment, wondering if he would look as out of place in the bar as his vehicle did in the parking lot. A man who’d grown up in the public eye wouldn’t usually worry about such things, but Eric had become more sensitive to the attention—and the speculation that surrounded him—since the accident.
He pushed out of the car, slowly limped toward the entrance. The deliberate, unhurried movements helped ease the stiffness from his hip so that he was walking almost normally by the time he reached the door. His therapist had warned that he might always have the limp and the discomfort—at the time, he’d thought it was a small price to pay for being alive. When he’d had to leave the navy, he’d realized the physical scars weren’t the biggest price.
A sign inside the door invited him to seat himself. He bypassed several empty tables around the perimeter of the dance floor and made his way to the bar. As he slid onto a vacant stool, he forgot about his hip and everything else as he glimpsed a vision that was more impressive than anything he’d seen while sightseeing in Texas.
Hermoso…espectacular…perfecto.
Her hair was as dark as midnight and tumbled over her shoulders like a silky waterfall. She was wearing a deep, V-neck shirt that revealed just a hint of cleavage and was tucked into slimfitting jeans that molded to narrow hips and long legs.
His gaze skimmed upward again and locked with hers.
He felt a sharp tug of attraction deep in his belly, an almost painful yearning, and he could tell by the sudden widening and darkening of eyes the color of a clear summer sky that she was experiencing the same sensation. Instantaneous, raw and powerful.
But then she tossed her hair over her shoulder and smiled easily.
“Hey, handsome.” The slow Texas drawl made him think of lazy Sunday mornings spent lounging in bed—and wasn’t that an unexpectedly intriguing image? “What can I get for you?”
She smiled again, and suddenly he was wanting a lot more than he’d come in for, but he forced himself to respond just as casually. “A beer would be good.”
She grabbed a clean mug from the shelf behind her. “Any particular kind?”
He tore his gaze from the stunning face to glance at the labels on the taps. He noted the familiar Amstel, Heineken and Beck’s brands, but opted for one that he guessed would have a more local flavor. “Lone Star.”
She tipped the glass beneath the nozzle to catch the ambercolored liquid that flowed out. “You’re a long way from home, aren’t you?”
“Am I?”
She slid the beer across the bar to him. “Well, you don’t sound like a local, and if you were, I would have seen you before now.”
He didn’t think she was flirting with him exactly. But she seemed, if not interested, at least curious, and he couldn’t resist testing the waters.
“You don’t remember?” he asked, his tone intended to convey both disbelief and disappointment.
She made change for the ten he gave her and leaned across the bar in a way that greatly enhanced his view of her cleavage. “If I don’t remember, you obviously didn’t make much of an impression.”
He grinned at her quick response and lifted his glass to his lips as she moved down the bar to serve another customer.
He’d struck out with the sexy bartender, but it was his first time at bat after a long absence from the plate and, the way he figured it, it was only the top of the first inning. There was a lot of the game still to be played.
Eric ordered a barbecued pork sandwich with a side of spicy fries and washed it down with another draft as he watched the woman who’d eventually introduced herself as Molly Shea check on her customers at the bar. She took a moment to chat with each one as if they were all old friends, and he knew some of them probably were.
“How long have you been a bartender?” he asked her.
She poured a glass of water and squeezed a wedge of lime into it. “Forever.”
“Has it always been your ambition?”
“It’s honest work,” she said.
“I wasn’t implying otherwise,” he told her. “You just seem like a woman who could do so much more.”
“I can make all the fanciest drinks,” she said, deliberately misunderstanding him. “But we don’t have much call for them here.”
“You’re determined not to give away anything about yourself, aren’t you?”
“Bartenders don’t make confessions, they listen to them.”
“I thought that was just a stereotype.”
“I used to think so, too. But I learned quickly that a sympathetic ear and a shot of Scotch whiskey is a lot more successful at loosening tongues than a long couch and a fifty-minute clock.”
His gaze skimmed over her face. “The ears are nice,” he agreed. “But I’ll bet it has a lot more to do with your soft voice and warm smile.” And the idea of this woman on a long couch—minus the fifty-minute clock—was more than a little intriguing.
“Is that why you’re here?” she asked. “Are you looking to unburden your soul?”
“My soul isn’t burdened.”
Her only response was to raise her eyebrows.
“No more than most,” he clarified.
She smiled at that, and he felt a funny little kick in his belly. It was lust, he was certain of it. Certain that what he was feeling for this intriguing bartender couldn’t be any more than that.
Eric picked up his cup and frowned when he found it empty. He’d switched to coffee after his second draft, and he’d already had one refill, making him wonder just how long he’d been sitting at the bar.
