A Prince of a Guy (Red Hot Royals #1)(41)

“It was a long trip, and I couldn’t sleep. I’m so sorry,” she whispered again, so softly he had to lean forward to hear her. “I’m so sorry about not telling you the truth, Sean. Please forgive me. I never meant to hurt you, I just needed to escape and—”

“Shh.” His throat was tight because, dammit, he should be the one apologizing. When she let out a little shiver, he ran for a blanket.

“Talk to me,” she said softly when he covered her. “Tell me…stuff.” She slurred her words, as if she was so tired she couldn’t talk.

“Carly, you’re scaring me. I’m going to call a doctor.”

Eyes still closed, she grabbed his wrist. “No, it was a long trip, that’s all. A couple of connections got canceled. I just…need to rest a moment.”

He stared at her very, very pale face, a face he would recognize anywhere, and wondered for the thousandth time how he could have missed it. “It’s okay, it can all wait.”

“Talk to me,” she murmured again. “Please?”

Talk to her. The chance he’d wanted. But where to start?

From the beginning.

“Well, you know about my desperate nanny ad,” he said, relieved to see a ghost of a smile touch her lips, though she was careful not to move an inch otherwise.

Sinking to the floor at her side, he stroked her hair from her face. “At first, I didn’t know what to expect. I just wanted someone to take Melissa off my hands.”

She made a noise that perfectly conveyed sympathy—for Melissa.

“I know,” he said shaking his head at himself. “I was a terrible uncle. All that mattered was being able to work. But work was my life, Carly, it was all that I had, all that ever mattered.”

“It’s okay,” she whispered. “I know.”

“No, it’s not okay. I let you and Melissa think you weren’t as important as my work. My family…they were all workaholics, you see, and that’s what I learned. Work, work, work. That only success matters. But they were wrong, Carly. Very wrong.”

She was so still, and again he slid his hand down her body, the warm curves so familiar he ached. She stirred slightly, arching into his hand, wordlessly telling him how much she liked his touch.

“Melissa didn’t care about my work,” he said quietly. “She just wanted me. Me,” he said, marveling, shaking his head with wonder. “And then you came into our lives like a whirlwind….” He stared at his hand on her narrow waist. “I took one look at you, Carly, and knew. I knew what you would mean to me, and it scared me to death.”

She remained perfectly still, eyes closed.

“Everything about you scared me to death,” he admitted softly. “That’s why I didn’t let you explain, because if I did, I’d have to understand, and if I understood that, I’d have to go the rest of the way and admit the truth.” He held his breath, waiting for a sign that this was something she’d wanted to hear.

But she didn’t move.

“I fell in love with you, Carly.”

She was utterly, completely still, and so was his heart.

“It’s not some line,” he said quickly. “Believe me, I’ve never felt like this before.”

Still nothing.

And he was dying. “Carly? Are you still upset? I want to hear what you have to say, but I want you to know it doesn’t matter, none of it. I’ll feel this way about you for the rest of my life, no matter what.”

Not even a tremor.

Surging to his knees, he bent over her, needing a response, even if it was for her to laugh in his face. He got a response all right—a soft snuffle. A snore.

She’d fallen fast and deep asleep.





15




ASLEEP! Sitting on his heels, Sean had to let out a choked laugh. He’d just poured his heart out for the first time ever, telling a woman his true feelings, and she’d slept through the entire thing.

Definitely tough on the ego.

Carly was on her side, facing away from him, but he couldn’t miss how exhausted she was. It showed in every line of the body he’d missed so much.

She wasn’t well, and no matter what she said, it worried him. There were shadows under her eyes, marring her pale skin. One of her hands was tucked beneath her cheek. The other covered her belly in a protective gesture that told him she must have a stomachache. Probably the flu, the poor baby. Her breathing came deep and slow, her mouth in a stressed frown that tore at him.

He was dying to know what had brought her back. Had she missed him? Was it possible? Or had his ad brought her here? But everything would have to wait.

“It’s okay,” he whispered, leaning close to softly kiss her temple. “Sleep. Get better. Everything else can wait.”

At that, she let out a shuddering sigh, and her entire body relaxed. Then her hand, the one clutched to her belly, unfisted as she fell into deeper sleep. And out of her fingers fell a folded piece of paper.

He unfolded the torn, dog-eared piece of newsprint, and his heart caught yet again.

It was his ad.



CARLY AWOKE SLOWLY, purposely lying completely still, having gotten used to her world spinning out of control for those first few shaky moments of awareness.

Then she remembered. She wasn’t at home in her own bed, where she could reach for crackers and feel the overwhelming loneliness that life had brought in the past few weeks.