All the King's Men: The Beginning (12 page)

"Baby, I'll be fine. Stop worrying about me." She blew him another kiss as she hurried out of the bathroom to prevent cool air from rushing in, and he returned to his shower, which she had interrupted within a minute of him starting it. But she could interrupt all she wanted if the result was as hot as their interlude had just been. If what he'd gone through with Josie in the past week was even a fraction of what happened to a male in his
calling
, Tristan was jealous of mated males. Damn, he could get used to this nonstop sex thing.

A few minutes later, Tristan shut off the shower, dried off, and slipped into sweats and a T-shirt, then made his way to the kitchen.

"Oh my God," Josie spun for the sink just as Tristan walked around the corner.

"Baby? You o—"

She bent over and vomited into the sink…just let loose without so much as a warning.

Tristan rushed to her side and smoothed his hand over her back as she continued to throw up. "Josie? You okay? Just breathe, baby." Morning sickness. Had to be. Let the bad part about being pregnant begin.

Her body convulsed through another spasm, and then finally it was over. Tristan turned on the faucet to rinse out the sink, and he quickly grabbed a glass and filled it with water, then held it out to her as she stood and wiped her mouth with a trembling hand.

"You okay?" he said again.

She nodded, took the water, and sipped. "Yeah. I think so." She took a deep breath and glanced toward the opposite counter. "I took the lid off the egg salad, and as soon as I smelled it…" She fought back a gag.

Tristan hurriedly put the lid back on the container and shoved it back in the fridge. "Maybe roast beef will be safer." He smiled over his shoulder at her, and she nodded.

"Yes. Much safer."

She started to take the roast beef from him, but still looked green around the gills. Tristan squeezed her hand. "I can manage. Why don't you just sit down? I'll make you some tea."

With a grateful nod, she turned and took a seat at the table. "Good idea."

He filled the teakettle with water and set it on the stove. "Looks like we've hit the fun part."

"What? The part where I puke my guts out every day?" She settled in the chair, arm over her stomach. She still looked queasy.

He gave her a sympathetic smile. "I hope it won't be that bad."

She waved him off. "It's okay. If this is what I have to go through to have the miracle baby…" She smiled and patted her tummy. "Then I guess that's what I'll have to do."

"Only you would make a joke at a time like this."

"It's why you love me," she said with a wink. "My twisted sense of humor."

As the water heated, he turned his attention to putting together his sandwich. "That's only one reason why I love you," he said, and then licked mustard off his thumb.

"How many reasons are there?"

The lighthearted banter felt nice. Comfortable. Right in so many ways. He relished these quiet, easy moments between them.

"About a thousand." He grabbed a tea bag and plopped it in a cup before pouring hot water over it.

"Only a thousand?" she said, teasing him.

He set her mug in front of her with a spoon. "Give or take."

Their eyes met and held for a long moment as unspoken love filled the quiet space, and then Tristan bent down, brushed his lips over hers, and smiled against her mouth. "I love you to infinity, baby."

"Ditto," she said, combing her fingers through his hair.

He leaned in to the caress. "I'll take care of you through this."

"You don't need—"

He held up his hand. "No, Josie. Let me do my duty. As the male, it's my responsibility to tend to you while you're pregnant." He turned his face to her palm and kissed it. "If you're sick, it's my job to stay with you, ease your discomfort, and take care of you."

Her expression relaxed, and understanding filled her eyes. She knew how badly he wanted to be mated to her. Really, officially, bound-by-the-king's-law mated. He had told her so countless times. And a true mate, bound by biology and tethered soul-to-soul by a link so powerful it could kill a male if broken, would tend to his female while she was pregnant. He would hold her hair out of her face as she got sick. He would gently wipe her mouth after. He would make her tea, feed her, bathe her, wash her hair, and massage her feet. Whatever it took to keep her comfortable and as happy as possible. That was his job.

"Okay," she said with a gentle nod. "I'd love that."

He kissed her again, returned to the kitchen for his sandwich, and rejoined her at the table as she stirred sugar into her tea. "Better?" he asked as she sipped.

"I think it's passed," she said.

Seeing her sick like that had momentarily worried him before his instinct to take care of her kicked in.

"My team got invited to the king's holiday party this year. Should I cancel?"

Josie cocked her head to the side. "Why? Because I might have morning sickness? Hell no. It's been three years since we were able to attend King Bain's Christmas party. I wouldn't miss that for anything."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

Tristan chuckled. "You're such a tough little thing."

"Well, I'm mated to you. I have to be."

He looked down at his sandwich. "Technically, you're not mated—"

"Tristan." Her voice held a warning tone. "I know how I feel. And whether we're connected biologically or not, you're my mate and I'm yours."

Her getting pregnant had awakened all his old fears. What if someone else came along who mated her? Or what if he mated to another? He couldn't bear the thought of losing her simply because his DNA hadn't gotten with the program to connect him to her forever.

"Tristan, look at me," she said, her tone commanding.

He met her gaze.

"We're mates, Tristan," she said. "In my heart, I know it. Just because that whole vampire biological hocus-pocus didn't magically activate between us doesn't make us any less mates."

He took her hand and lifted it to his lips. "I know. I just want…I feel…" He closed his eyes. "I'm afraid of losing you."

"You won't lose me." Her fingers opened and caressed his cheek. "Never."

He nodded again and kissed her palm. "Never," he whispered against her skin. "You're mine." As he said it, he meant it. Josie belonged to him. And if anything happened to take her away from him, he knew it would kill him.

Chapter 8

Christmas Eve

King Bain loved watching Cara get ready for parties. She moved with the elegant grace fitting for a queen, her long fingers plucking a broach from a velvet-lined chest on her dressing table, her back straight yet relaxed.

Her kind, blue eyes met his in the mirror. "I'm hurrying," she said.

He grinned and pushed away from the wall where he'd parked moments ago, arms crossed. "I'm not rushing you. I'm admiring you." He knelt behind her and skimmed one hand around her slender waist. "There's a difference."

"I certainly hope so." She grinned coquettishly as she pinned the ruby and diamond broach in the center of the velvet bodice of her off-the-shoulder gown. "But didn't you admire me enough earlier?"

"Mmm." Bain slid his other arm around her waist and kissed the back of her shoulder. "Not nearly enough, my love. And I plan on admiring you again after the party. After I get you out of this lovely dress." In addition to the velvet bodice, the burgundy gown draped into layers of chiffon skirting and came with a matching wrap. The dark color accented Cara's olive complexion and black hair perfectly.

Cara leaned into his embrace. "You do dote on me."

He peppered kisses along the back of her neck, under her upswept hair. "It's my duty to dote."

Her fingers slid into his long hair as she tipped her head forward. "You're good at your duty."

If he didn't stop, they wouldn't make it downstairs in time to greet their guests, so he slowly pulled away and took a seat beside her dressing table so he could watch her put on the finishing touches of her makeup.

"You know, my next
calling
is due in a year or so," he said as he ran a fingertip up her arm. "Can we talk about it?"

It had been almost three decades since his second child, Colin, had been born, and he was ready for another. Like humans, vampires could use contraceptives to prevent pregnancy, and Cara had used them during his last two
calling
phases. He would prefer not to use them during his next.

Cara stiffened. "You know how hard Colin's birth was on me."

"Yes, but Miriam's wasn't." Miriam was their firstborn. She had been easy to birth, but was turning out to be hell to raise. She was so damned spirited and rebellious as of late. Even so, Bain longed for another child. It was the way of the mated male, to always yearn for young.

Cara bowed her head. "I know. I'm just worried. I don't think I can take another birth like Colin's."

For starters, morning sickness had lasted all nine months of Cara's pregnancy with Colin. And when the time came to give birth, Colin presented breech. The doctors had had to turn him inside the womb, which had been a nightmare for Cara. She had refused a Cesarean delivery. And then Colin got stubborn and wouldn't budge. Labor had lasted nearly two days, and Cara had been beyond exhausted when she finally squeezed him out.

"I want another child, Cara," Bain said as delicately as possible. He had failed with Miriam and Colin on so many levels, a point he was becoming clearer on as Miriam approached the age of official vampire adulthood. For humans, eighteen was when kids became adults. For vampires, sixty was the official age of adulthood, even though many mated before reaching that age. Miriam was forty-seven, but behaved like an adolescent human emotionally more often than not. She was so bright. So educated and cunning. And yet, she was often quarrelsome and behaved mutinously against his household rules, slipping away with her friends without permission, arguing with him over such silly trifles as what clothes she could and could not wear and when.

If he could have another child, he could prove to himself that he could be a better father than he had been to Miriam and Colin. This was essential to him.

Cara set down her lipstick with a sigh then turned a compassionate smile on him. "Okay, we can talk about it. I know this is important to you."

Relieved that she seemed open to the subject, Bain settled back in his chair.

She returned to applying her makeup and primping. "Speaking of children, Miriam is upset she doesn't get to attend tonight's party."

Bain bristled. Miriam was becoming more and more rebellious and headstrong in recent months. Like a human fifteen-year-old, she wanted to be an adult when she wasn't yet emotionally ready.

Miriam wasn't just any old random vampire. She was the princess. His enemies could use her to get to him. They could hurt her to hurt him. He had put rules in place to protect her, but she didn't understand them. She thought he was being overly protective, and in a way he was. Those rules were meant to keep her safe and even save her life, as well the lives of the entire royal family.

And tonight's party was not the place for her to lose sight of her role.

He stood and paced away. "She'll understand."

Cara turned to face him and placed her hands in her lap. "Maybe you should reconsider."

Bain frowned at her. "What?"

She nodded her head to the side as if to tell him to hear her out. "Bain, she's restless. What would be the harm?"

"The harm is that this party isn't a controlled environment." He was very careful about the males he put in front of Miriam. She was a beautiful female, and Bain wasn't stupid. Anything could happen when he had all walks of life in attendance, and Bain wouldn't risk that one of those males would form an improper relationship with his daughter.

Cara sighed impatiently. "Well, let's talk about that, Bain," she said. "Gregos's son, Arion, will be there. Arion is a worthy, respectable male, isn't he? What if he's the one meant to mate Miriam? You've been parading male after male in front of her for years, hoping that one would form a mating bond to her, but none have. Maybe Arion's the one. Wouldn't that be something?"

Bain shook his head. "And Arion's best friend is that philandering, womanizing jackass, Io. He'll be at the party, too. He's not the kind of male I want around my daughter, Cara. And she's become so rebellious lately that she probably wouldn't hesitate to run off with that Casanova just to spite me."

"Bain." Cara sighed heavily. "You can't protect her forever."

"I know I can't, but I can try."

"Then why did you buy her a car for Christmas?" Cara said, voice raised. "If you're so worried about her getting into trouble, isn't a car the worst thing you can buy her? To send her out into the world where she can get in trouble?"

"She won't be allowed to leave without an armed escort. She'll be guarded. And I'll be able to track her."

Cara shook and bowed her head. "You're going to push her further away, Bain. You know she won't want to be guarded twenty-four-seven. She's too stubborn. She has too much of you in her."

"She'll understand when she gets older."

"Will she?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Bain said. "Of course she will. I will stop at nothing to keep my children safe. There are too many people out there who would use them to hurt me. I can't let that happen."

Cara stared blankly at him for a moment then stood. "And you want to talk to me about having another child?" Her words and the critical tone of her voice stunned him. "Bain," she said, "until you realize you can't treat your children this way, threat or not, I'm not sure having another child is a good idea." She grabbed her pocketbook from the foot of the bed. "Maybe you need to think about that before we discuss your next
calling
. I'll wait for you in the hall." Sweeping her skirt away from her feet, Cara turned and left the room.

Bain stared after her, too frustrated to move. He knew what was best for his daughter, and he would do whatever it took to keep her safe. And tonight that included not allowing her to attend the party. End of discussion.