The Future King’s Love-Child (6 page)

‘I am afraid not, Your Highness,’ the senior official answered soberly. ‘The coronation plans are still in place but it makes things rather difficult.’

Sebastian had no time for someone stating the obvious. He knew what was at stake. The icon of the royal house of Karedes was the priceless Stefani diamond, the biggest of the rare pink diamonds found on the neighbouring island of Calista. The fact that the Anstan half had mysteriously disappeared was causing great mayhem in the royal household, for tradition had it no one could become King without the Stefani diamond in their coronation crown. King Zakari of Calista was already hunting for the Anstan half of the diamond, and if it was discovered he could unite both Aristo and Calista into the Kingdom of Adamas once more. This made it all the more imperative for Sebastian to solve the mystery and find the missing diamond.

‘I want the investigation to continue until every person who ever handled the coronation crown is interviewed,’ he instructed his officials. ‘And of course there is no need to remind you of how this must remain within the palace walls. I do not want a press leak about this.’

Once the council meeting was over Sebastian called Stefanos aside. ‘Two things, Stefanos, that I wish for you to see to immediately,’ he said. ‘Firstly, I would appreciate it if you would assist Demetrius in drawing up a guest list with each of
the children’s names on it and their carers. I would also like a small gift prepared for each child, appropriate for their age and gender. I will leave it in your very capable hands.’

‘Yes, Your Highness.’

‘Secondly, I would like you to make some enquiries for me,’ Sebastian said, ‘discreetly, of course.’

‘But of course, Your Highness.’

‘I want you to find out where Cassandra Kyriakis is living and if or when she was last involved with a lover,’ Sebastian said with a determined set to his jaw.

‘I will see to it immediately, Your Highness,’ Stefanos said. ‘Will that be all for now?’

Sebastian nodded as he clenched and unclenched his fingers inside his trouser pockets. ‘For now,’ he said, silently grinding his teeth.

After a quick word with Angelica, Cassie went into Sam’s bedroom and sat on the edge of his bed, looking down at his innocent little face, so blissfully peaceful in sleep.

As she gently stroked the hair back off his forehead she thought of those first harrowing weeks in prison, how she had tried to adjust to being constantly under surveillance, not to mention the sleepless nights and terror-filled days. And that fateful day three months into her
sentence when the prison doctor had called her down to the prison surgery for the results of the blood tests that had been ordered the week before. The news of her pregnancy had been an unbelievable shock. For several stunned days Cassie had been certain there must have been a mistake—a mix-up at the pathology laboratory or something. She couldn’t possibly have been pregnant. She had been on the contraceptive pill since she was seventeen. She had not missed a period and apart from some breast tenderness and grumbling nausea and tiredness she had no other symptoms that could not have easily been put down to other causes. Stress, not eating, the death of her father…that last horrendous scene when he had tried to… Cassie had skittered away from memories, trying to keep a steady head in a world that had seemed intent on spinning out of her control, determined to find some other plausible reason why her body was so out of whack.

But in the end there had been no escaping it. The news of her pregnancy and the subsequent birth of Sam had thankfully—and in Cassie’s opinion miraculously—never been leaked to the press. The prison authorities had made special dispensation for her to keep the baby with her until he was of nursery-school age, when he had been fostered out until her release.

At least Cassie had been able to get Sam back, which was not always the case with other women. She thought of the frayed photograph Angelica kept by her bedside of the dark-haired little boy, Nickolas, she had lost custody of during the height of her drug addiction. The boy’s father had disappeared, taking Angelica’s only reason for living with him. It had been four and a half years and Angelica still didn’t know if her son was dead or alive.

Cassie bent forwards and softly kissed Sam’s smooth brow. ‘I am not going to let anyone take you away from me again,’ she promised in a whisper. But the words seemed to echo faintly, as if fate had been listening on the sidelines and was already thinking of a way to step in once more.

‘Y
OUR
Royal Highness, I have that information you requested,’ Stefanos said as he brought in Sebastian’s coffee a couple of days later.

Sebastian lowered the newspaper he had been reading and gave his aide his full attention. ‘What did you find out?’

‘Cassandra Kyriakis is living at a small flat in Paros Lane with a former drug addict, a woman by the name of Angelica Mantoudakis. Apparently they met in prison but the Mantoudakis woman was released two years ago. She works at one of the local hotels as a housemaid.’

Sebastian’s brows came together. ‘What about a man?’ he asked.

Stefanos shook his head. ‘There is no man. However, there is a small child, a boy of about five or so.’

Sebastian straightened in his chair, a cold hand of unease disturbing the hairs on the back of his
neck. ‘A boy?’ he asked, frowning harder. ‘Who does he belong to?’

‘I made some further enquiries and found out that Angelica Mantoudakis gave birth five years ago to a boy called Nickolas,’ he said. ‘I wasn’t able to find out much else. The neighbours pretty much keep to themselves in that area, but one of them did say she sees Cassandra Kyriakis taking the little boy with her to the orphanage each day to the nursery school there, one assumes because the Mantoudakis woman’s hours at the hotel prevent her doing so herself.’

Sebastian hadn’t even realised he had been holding his breath until he let it out in a jagged stream of relief and something else he couldn’t quite identify. ‘Thank you, Stefanos,’ he said. ‘You did well.’

‘The council have still not come up with any clues to the whereabouts of the Stefani diamond,’ Stefanos went on. ‘There is a private investigating team working on it, as well as Prince Alex, but so far nothing has come to light.’

Sebastian felt his jaw tighten all over again. He had lain awake half the night, wondering if the diamond would ever be found in time. No matter how discreet the private investigators would be he was under no illusions as to how long it would be before someone suspected something was amiss
and rumours began to circulate. They had perhaps already begun to do so. Sebastian wanted the start of his rulership of Aristo to be as smooth as possible. He wanted to build the confidence of his people, to show them he was nothing like his autocratic father, but would listen to the various concerns brought to him from the community and act on them promptly and appropriately. He had a vision for Aristo, a vision he had nurtured from when he had first started to realise his destiny. He had been born to rule this island and he would do so with strong but considerate leadership, but unless the Stefani diamond was found, his coronation could not go ahead.

‘Keep them on to it,’ he instructed his aide. ‘And make sure they keep their heads down while they are at it.’

‘Certainly, Your Highness,’ Stefanos said, and after a pause added, ‘I have just been talking to Demetrius about the orphanage party. The director of the orphanage was delighted with the invitation as you are the first patron to have made such a magnanimous gesture.’

Sebastian waved away the compliment. ‘They are children, Stefanos,’ he said. ‘Little defenceless children with no one to look out for them. It is the very least I can do.’

‘Yes, indeed, Your Highness,’ Stefanos agreed.
‘So is the dinner with Cassandra Kyriakis going ahead for Thursday night? I will have to let the chef know.’

‘It is going ahead,’ Sebastian said, leaning back in his chair. ‘I want to take her to Kionia for a picnic.’

Stefanos lifted his brows for a nanosecond. ‘I will see to it immediately,’ he said, and left.

Cassie was hovering near the window when the long, black, sleek car pulled up in front of the flat on Thursday evening. She scooped up her purse and light wrap and made her way outside even before the driver could get to the front door to ring the doorbell.

The uniformed driver opened the passenger door for her with a blank expression, and she slipped inside, coming face to face with Sebastian, who was sitting on the plush leather seat opposite hers.

‘I can see you are in a hurry for our date,
agape
mou
,’ he observed with a benign smile. ‘How flattering.’

Cassie rolled her eyes in disdain and shifted her knees so they weren’t brushing against his. ‘That’s not the case at all,’ she said with chilly hauteur. ‘I didn’t want to draw attention to myself or to you. Can you imagine what the neighbours would make of me going off in a limousine?’

‘I take your point,’ he said, still smiling. ‘Would
you like a drink? I would offer you champagne but you would not drink it,
ne?
But there is fresh orange juice or mineral water.’

‘Orange juice would be lovely… Thank you.’

Once he had poured her a chilled glass of juice and handed it to her, Cassie settled back in her seat and tried to relax her shoulders. She took a covert look at him over the rim of her frosted glass as she took a small sip of her drink. He was wearing taupe-coloured trousers and a white open-neck shirt, the sleeves rolled up to almost his elbows giving him a handsome-without-really-trying look that was nothing short of heart-stopping. She felt her breath come to a skidding halt in her chest just looking at him. He was cleanly shaven, his curly black hair springy and damp from his recent shower. The citrus-based fragrance of his aftershave drifted towards her and she couldn’t stop the flare of her nostrils to take more of the alluring scent in. How could a man so casually dressed be so overwhelmingly masculine? she wondered. The breadth of his shoulders, the taut flatness of his abdomen and the long muscular length of his thighs were an overwhelming reminder of his potency as a full-blooded man in the prime of his life.

‘How was your day?’ he asked.

Cassie lowered her glass with an unsteady hand. ‘M-my day?’

His mouth tilted in a disarming manner that reminded her so much of Sam she felt her stomach muscles involuntarily tighten.

‘Yes, Cassie, your day,’ he said. ‘Did you work at the orphanage?’

‘Yes…’

‘How was Nickolas?’

Cassie looked at him blankly. ‘Nickolas?’

He set his glass down on the flip-top rest at his elbow. ‘Your flatmate’s son,’ he said. ‘The one you take with you to the orphanage nursery-school each day.’

Cassie licked her suddenly arid-dry lips.

‘Um…he’s…he’s…how…how did you find out…about him?’

‘I had my aide Stefanos make some discreet enquiries about who you were living with.’

Cassie felt her heart pumping so erratically she was sure he would hear it, but she forced herself to hold his penetrating coal-black gaze in any case, even though every instinct inside was screaming for herto avoid it. ‘So,’ she said with an attempt at nonchalance she was sure had fallen well short of the mark, ‘what else did you find out about me?’

He picked up his glass once more and twirled it in his hand in an indolent manner. ‘Your flatmate
is an ex-prisoner. A drug addict, apparently. Hardly the company you should be keeping if you are serious about turning your life around, now, is it?’

Her chin came up at that. ‘I hope you’re not going to hold her past against her,’ she said. ‘Angelica is one of the most genuine and loving people I have ever met. She deserves a second chance.’

‘Is she clean?’

She set her mouth. ‘Yes, she is.’

‘She would want to be, given she’s the mother of a small child,’ he commented imperiously.

Cassie listened to her deafening heartbeats reverberating through her eardrums:
kaboom,
kaboom, kaboom
…

So he assumed Sam was her flatmate’s child
, she thought with somewhat cautious relief. That was a good thing…for now. As long as she could maintain the charade with Angelica’s cooperation for the next few weeks until she left the island for good things would be fine…or so Cassie hoped.

‘Did you meet her in prison?’ he asked.

‘Yes.’

‘So the child was with her in prison?’

‘Um…’ Cassie mentally crossed her fingers at yet another one of her little white lies. ‘Yes…’

He gave her a studied look for a lengthy moment. ‘The little boy whose drawing you gave me the other day,’ he said. ‘Did he come from a criminal or violent background?’

Cassie’s hand trembled slightly as she reached for her glass of juice. ‘Not directly…’

One of Sebastian’s brows hooked upwards. ‘Meaning what exactly?’

‘His mother would never dream of being violent towards him.’

A frown appeared on his brow. ‘But I thought you said he was an orphan?’

Cassie stared at him for a heart-stopping moment. ‘Um…I…I…’ she gave a tight little swallow ‘…did I?’

He gave a single nod. ‘You did.’

‘Oh…well, I must have got him confused with another child…or something…’

‘What is his name?’ he asked.

Cassie’s heart gave another pounding thump. ‘N-name?’

‘The little boy who gave me the drawing,’ he said. ‘What is his name?’

She ran her tongue across her lips. ‘It’s… er…Sam.’

‘I am looking forward to meeting him tomorrow at the party,’ Sebastian said. ‘I have organised a magician to entertain them as well as a
gift for every child and the mandatory balloons, sweets, cakes and ices.’

‘That’s very generous of you,’ Cassie said, her heart still pounding sickeningly. She could even feel a fine trail of perspiration making its way between her shoulder blades. ‘I’m sure they will have a wonderful time and remember it for the rest of their lives.’

‘I would like to make it an annual event,’ he said. ‘And I would like to visit the orphanage as soon as it can be arranged.’

‘I am sure the director will be delighted to have you do so,’ Cassie said, even as her heart gave another gut-wrenching lurch of dread. The party at the palace was risky enough, but if Sebastian wandered around the orphanage on an official visit someone was surely going to inadvertently let the cat out of the bag over who Sam’s mother was. Cassie had already told so many fibs. It was getting harder and harder to keep each brick of untruth in place. Any minute she felt as if the wall of lies she had built would tumble down and crush her. Even the way Sebastian looked at her in that unwavering way of his made her wonder if he suspected something was amiss. At times she felt as if it were written in block letters on her forehead:
I am the
mother of your little son
. All Sebastian had to do
was keep looking at her in that piercing way of his and he would surely see it.

Just the way he was looking at her now…

‘Have you guessed where I am taking you?’ he asked after a few moments of silence.

Cassie leaned forward to look out of the window. They had moved well beyond the town and were heading to the Bay of Kounimai where she knew the Karedes family had a private holiday retreat at a place called Kionia. Sebastian had never taken her there before but in the past he had told her of the secluded beauty of the villa with its fabulous views over the rough water of the passage separating Aristo from the neighbouring island of Calista. ‘Are we going to Kionia?’ she asked as she sat back in her seat.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I thought we could both do with some privacy. I had Stefanos organise a picnic for us. It is a pleasant evening with not too much sea breeze so we can enjoy the sunset.’

‘It sounds lovely,’ Cassie said. ‘I can’t remember the last time I went on a picnic. Sam’s always asking me to—’ She suddenly stopped, her heart thudding like an out-of-sync timepiece.

Sebastian cocked his head at her. ‘Sam? You mean the little boy who drew me the picture?’

Cassie blinked at him, her brain whirling and
spinning out of control. ‘Um…he’s…Angelica’s little boy,’ she finally managed to croak out.

He gave her a quizzical look. ‘I thought his name was Nickolas,’ he said. ‘Or at least that’s what Stefanos said it was, but then he could have got it wrong.’

‘N-no, that is right…’ Cassie hastily mortared another lie into her wall of deceit. ‘Angelica’s son is called Nickolas but…but he prefers his second name…’

‘Like my sister prefers Lissa or Liss instead of Elissa,’ he said.

Cassie felt her tension gradually start to dissipate, but even so her stomach felt as if a hive of bees had taken up residence inside. She felt as if each wing were buzzing against the lining of her stomach, the threat of a thousand stings making the trail of perspiration along her backbone feel more like a river. ‘Yes…exactly like that…’

‘I told her I ran into you,’ Sebastian said. ‘She’s been in Paris studying. She came home for our father’s funeral and Kitty’s wedding, but now she’s in Australia working for a friend of Alex’s, a businessman by the name of James Black.’

‘How is she?’ Cassie asked, thinking with more than a pang or two of shame of the wild-child antics Lissa and she had got up to. It was hard to remember now who had encouraged whom, but
Cassie suspected she was the one who had been held most responsible.

‘You know Lissa,’ he said with a rueful twist to his mouth. ‘If there’s a party she not only wants to be there but she wants to be the centre of it. She wasn’t too keen about being packed off to Sydney but we all thought it best if she had some time in the real world. I just hope it irons out some of her wilfulness. She has always been a little too independent for her own good.’

Cassie looked down at her hands for a moment. ‘I am sure the experience of travelling and working abroad will be wonderful for her. When you are next speaking to her…I mean, if you think it’s appropriate to mention you have seen me, please tell her I send my regards.’

The car growled its way into the wrought iron fortress of the Karedeses’ private hideaway, making the silence inside all the more intense. Cassie felt the press of Sebastian’s watchful gaze and forced herself to bring her eyes back to his.

‘No doubt she will contact you in due course,’ he said, still with his dark, penetrating gaze trained on her face. ‘When my father found out about the postcards she sent he strictly forbade any further contact while he was alive, which I think Lissa feels guilty about now. That is probably why she hasn’t as yet contacted you.’