Royal Heir (Westerly Billionaire #3)(29)

“It was the only way to be heard.”

“At a hospital for sick children?” He looked uncomfortable enough with the topic that she almost felt bad for chastising him. Almost.

He rocked back onto his heels. “My father usually handles such things, but he hasn’t been feeling well.”

“Oh no. I’m so sorry. Is it serious?”

“The doctor says everything at his age is serious. Lately, though, he tires easily, and it is more difficult to get him out of bed each day.”

“Will he be there tomorrow?”

“There are too many unpredictable elements for me to want him there. If it goes well, he’ll be pleased to hear about it. If it is a repeat of my first visit, I’ll break it to him on a day when he looks able to handle the news.”

There was a vulnerability about Magnus that was unexpected when glimpsed. Rachelle took his hand in hers. “Tomorrow will go well. I’m good with children. Just follow my lead.”

He looked down at her hand around his and linked his fingers with hers. “So, you have a way with little brats?”

Although he was joking, she corrected him. “I doubt there is a brat in that place—just a lot of scared children who probably love you already and would show you if you let them see the softer side of you.”

“I don’t have a softer side.”

Rather than take him at his word, she reviewed the many things he’d said to her, then snapped her fingers when the answer came to her. “Yes, you do. You have your mother in you, and she’s always with you. I bet when your father isn’t sure how to act, he thinks of her. Tomorrow, try it and see if it changes how you see those children.”

His hand tightened on hers. “I’m glad I was wrong about you being a prostitute.”

Rachelle burst out laughing at that, and he joined in. “What am I going to do with you?”

He leaned down beside her ear and whispered a few suggestions that left her breathless and blushing. He gave her one last lingering kiss, then guided her to a washroom. “The drawing room is down that hall and to the left. I’ll make a call about the stuffed water bears and meet you there,” he said huskily before turning and leaving her.

A few minutes later, Rachelle stood before a fireplace in a turquoise-and-gold room and studied the painting of a king seated next to a queen with a young child between them. If not for the formality of their gold-embroidered attire, they might have been any family. The child, no older than three, faced forward as if taking on the world already. The king’s attention, in contrast, was on the beautiful woman at his side, who was looking down at her child, but with a smile on her face as if she’d just shared a private joke with her husband. It was a loving family, and it made Rachelle wonder what had hurt the young boy in the painting enough that he’d hardened his heart. The loss of his mother? She wished she knew, because when she looked at the painting, she saw the Magnus she was truly drawn to. Not for a night, but on a deeper level that was as unsettling as it was exciting.

“Sorry,” Eric said as he entered the room. “I had to take a call from my publicist. He didn’t believe me at first, and then I regretted telling him. I threatened to fire him if he tells the press about tomorrow. Convincing him I meant it was what took so long.”

Rachelle turned to face her brother. “You really don’t do any appearances?”

“I really don’t.”

“You may find you like them.”

“Pardon the interruption,” a male member of the house staff said from the doorway. “Prince Magnus sends his apologies, but something urgent has come up. He will meet you for breakfast at eight. He requests you both be ready to leave for the hospital directly afterward.”

Once they were alone again, Eric said, “I was looking for you earlier. Phillip said you were out for a walk with Mr. Call Me Your Highness. I don’t know what I think of that guy.”

“He’s not so bad once you get to know him.”

Eric’s eyes flew to hers. “How well do you know him?”

Rachelle’s cheeks warmed, but she held his gaze. “I met him at your premiere, just like I told you.”

“I don’t like the way he looks at you.”

Really? Because I’m quickly becoming addicted to how I feel every time he does. “Are you applying for the role of overprotective brother?”

Eric went to stand beside her and looked up at the portrait above the fireplace. “He’s hiding something. I don’t know what. I’ll feel better after tomorrow when we meet this kid he keeps talking about. If he even exists.”

“Of course he does. Why would Magnus make something like that up?”

“It got me here. And you. People have done sicker things for less.”

Who has Eric been spending time with? “Well, we’ll know tomorrow, I guess.”

Eric ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t know if I can do it.”

“You have to. You promised.”

“As if that means anything.”

Rachelle shook her head. “It does to me. And if it doesn’t to you, then you need to take a good, long look in the mirror. People can do whatever they want to us, but they only change us if we let them. Maybe you’ve known some horrible people, but you’re choosing to become like them.”