The Royal House Of Karedes Collection Books 1-12

CHAPTER ELEVEN

MARIA showered quickly and dried her hair while trying not to think about anything but the meeting with the king…

Impossible, she thought as she dropped onto the edge of the bed.

How could she be pregnant? Alex had used condoms every time they’d made love. Well, not the very first time, almost three months ago. Things had happened so quickly that night…

After, he’d said, “You have the right to know that I have no diseases,” and she, embarrassed by the conversation, had thought of telling him that she couldn’t possibly have any because she’d never been with a man until him, but it had been easier to say that she had none, either.

“I assume you’re on the pill,” he’d added.

Well, of course, she wasn’t. But it had been the safe time of her cycle so she’d just nodded instead of answering and left it at that.

Maria groaned and buried her face in her hands. She thought of all the times she’d silently wondered how her mother could have made so many devastating mistakes. Now, she knew one answer was that making mistakes when you were swept away by passion was pathetically easy.

And all the signs she’d ignored! Nausea. Wooziness. Exhaustion. Not getting her period. That should have been the most damning evidence of all, but she’d never been completely regular…

Maybe you didn’t see what you didn’t want to see. Maybe it was just that simple.

She wanted to weep. To scream. To bang her fists against the wall. That she, of all women, should have tumbled into the age-old trap…

She knotted her hands in her lap. Took deep, calming breaths. Hysteria wouldn’t change anything. Besides, there was no time for this now. The necklace. The summons from the king. Those things came first. She had responsibilities. To the queen. To herself.

She dressed quickly. Black trousers, a black cashmere sweater and, over it, a pale pink jacket. Black heels. Alex had followed his gift of the emerald silk dress with what seemed like an endless wardrobe, ordered from the pricey designer boutiques in Ellos and delivered to the mansion.

“I can’t let you buy me things like this,” she’d protested, and he’d kissed her to silence.

“I love giving you gifts, agapi mou,” he’d said, and because she’d known he meant it, because nothing had turned out as she’d anticipated and instead of only being in Alex’s bed she was also in his life, she’d accepted the clothes and wore them when they went out to dinner, to the theater, to the casino.

Now, the rack of expensive outfits in the dressing room—his dressing room—was a mocking reminder that these were not simply gifts, they were proof she was his mistress.

And mistresses did not get pregnant. They did not have babies. They did not forge real, lasting relationships that led to a joint future, especially with a man like Alex. A prince of the Royal House of Karedes…

“Stop it,” she said sharply, and blanked her mind to everything but the meeting with King Aegeus. She had worked years for this kind of professional honor.

Right now, that was all that mattered.

Weeks before, Alex had arranged for his limo to be at her disposal.

“Don’t trust me to drive, hmm?” she’d said, laughing.

“Not on these roads, glyka mou,” he’d said, and she’d admitted that was for the best. A born and bred New Yorker, she’d learned to drive but she didn’t do it often or well.

Today would most certainly not have been a day to test her skill.

The driver had apparently been told where to take her. He drove through the palace gates to a rear courtyard where an equerry greeted her and led her through a maze of corridors to a half-opened door in a gloomy alcove.

“Ms. Santos, sir.”

The king was seated at a small table, a velvet drawstring bag before him. A chair was drawn up opposite his. Maria blinked. Were these the royal vaults? She’d expected something different. Bright lights. Security cameras. Guards. Not a small, plain, ill-lit room.

“Your Majesty,” she began, but Aegeus cut her off with an imperious wave. Another wave dismissed the equerry. Aegeus pointed at the other chair.

“Ms. Santos. Sit down.”

His tone was hard, a direct contrast to his looks. She was surprised by his pallor and the throb of a vein in his forehead.

“Are you—are you all right, sir?”

Aegeus glared at her. “Are you a physician as well as my son’s mistress? Oh, don’t look so shocked, Ms. Santos. I’m not a fool. I am aware of everything that happens in my kingdom.”

“Then you are aware that I’m here as the designer of Queen Tia’s birthday gift, sir, nothing else.”

She knew she’d overstepped the boundary between commoner and king but the last thing she would let happen today was a discussion of her relationship with Alex.

To her surprise, Aegeus laughed. “I can understand Alex’s infatuation. A woman with beauty and intelligence and spirit …” His smile tilted. “What man could resist such temptation?”

Maria drew a deep breath. “Your Majesty. The crown …”

Aegeus pushed the velvet bag into the center of the table but kept his hand protectively on it.

“Normally, it is kept in a display case along with the Crown Jewels and, of course, the original Crown of Adamas.”

“Yes, sir. To tell the truth, I’m surprised that—”

“Your surprise does not interest me, Ms. Santos. I’ve arranged to meet you here so we could keep things as simple and private as possible.” He raised his wrist, pointedly looked at his watch and then at her. “Five minutes. Then your time is up.”

Maria nodded and reached for the bag. The vein in the king’s forehead seemed to leap as he lifted his hand and sat back.

She loosened the drawstring and lifted the Crown of Aristo from it.

Her breath caught. The crown was magnificent.

Brilliant white diamonds shone like star fire even in the dim light. Yes, she thought happily, yes, they’d match the ones in the necklace perfectly, but it was the fantastic center stone that dazzled the eye. The half of the pure pink Stefani diamond King Christos had bequeathed to his son, Aegeus, and to the kingdom of Aristo, dominated the crown.

“Beautiful,” Maria said softly.

Aegeus nodded. “Yes,” he said brusquely, and reached for the crown.

“Wait,” Maria said quickly, pulling it back.

He looked up. The vein in his forehead looked even darker than before. “You forget yourself, Ms. Santos.”

“I meant… Wait. Please, Your Majesty.”

“For what? You’ve seen what you came to see.”

“I want a closer look at the pink diamond, sir. To check its shade against …” Maria took a small silk bag from the leather tote she always carried when handling gems. She opened it, and the pair of pink diamonds, one of which would become the centerpiece of Tia’s necklace, tumbled onto the table. “To check it against these.”

The king hardly looked at the stones. “Either will match. The colors are the same.”

Maria shook her head. “Actually, they’re not.”

“Of course they are. And your five minutes are—”

But Maria had stopped listening. A trickle of ice water seemed to slip down her spine. She looked at the single light bulb in its overhead socket.

“Is there …?” She cleared her throat. “Is there a way to get more light in this room, sir?”

“No.”

“Surely we could take the crown into the display room?”

“Surely we could not,” Aegeus said coldly. “And I repeat, your time is—What are you doing?”

Maria’s hands were trembling but she tried to stay calm. She put the pair of pink diamonds back in their bag, put the bag in her tote and took out a small flashlight and a jeweler’s loupe. Quickly, she put the loupe to her eye and turned on the flashlight.

“Ms. Santos!” The king’s voice was sharp. “The Aristan diamond is priceless. I do not want you poking at it and picking at it and—”

“It’s a fake!” Her words seemed to explode in the confines of the small room. She looked up, horrified. “This half of the Stefani diamond. What’s supposed to be the Stefani diamond. It isn’t a diamond at all.”

The king’s already pale face went paper-white. He shot to his feet. “Give me the crown!”

“Sir. The stone is a fake. Cubic zirconium. Or something else. It’s an excellent forgery but …” God, she was shaking like a woman with a high fever! “Your Majesty. I have some tools in my workshop. I can do some tests but I am sure—”

“Give me the crown!” Aegeus roared. He snatched it from her and stuffed it into the velvet bag, but suddenly his eyes grew wide and his face lost what little color it had. A strangled sound broke from his throat; he clapped his hand to his heart, the bag fell on the table and the king tumbled back into his chair.

Maria leaped to her feet, ran to the door and flung it open. “Help!” she shouted. “Please, someone help! The king’s collapsed!”

At once, the seemingly empty corridor swarmed with people. Maria fell back against the wall. Someone scooped everything from the table—the loupe, the flashlight and the velvet bag—dumped them into her leather tote, thrust the tote at her, then grasped her arm, hurried her out of the palace and to Alex’s waiting limousine.

It wasn’t until she was back at the guesthouse that she realized the crown of Aristo had gone home with her.

What did you do when you had absconded with a royal crown?

Maria sat at her workbench, staring blindly at the crown as she tried to come to grips with all that had happened today. The wrenching realization that she was pregnant. The horrifying discovery that the half of the Stefani diamond in the Aristan crown was not a diamond at all and then, the king’s collapse.

Was Aegeus dead? Had her news killed him?

She’d phoned the palace. Useless. She had the private telephone number of the queen’s personal secretary but reached only her voice mail. Desperate for diversion, she’d filled the time running tests on the pink stone in the crown, praying all the while that her initial judgment had been wrong.

She’d done a dozen tests, everything from the silly—did the stone fog when she blew on it?—to the absolutely, completely scientific.

She’d used an electronic tool called a diamond tester. She’d brought it out last, as if by holding off she could avoid the truth. The tester had been one of the things she’d brought with her from New York; she hadn’t even been aware she had it with her until now.

The thing was a complex piece of equipment but it was simple to operate. Turn it on, touch the probe at one end of it to a stone. If the stone was a real diamond, a green light came on. If it wasn’t…

If it wasn’t, nothing happened.

Nothing had happened, half a dozen times.

Maybe the tester wasn’t working. That had been her hope.

So she’d touched the probe to every white diamond in the crown. To the diamonds in Tia’s almost-completed necklace. To the two big pink stones she’d taken to the palace.

The green light blinked on each time.

Then she’d touched it to the pink stone in the Aristan crown. Please, she’d prayed, please let the green light come on.

It didn’t.

The stone was a brilliant, beautiful fake. It would fool anybody. Anybody but an expert.

Still, maybe she was wrong. Maybe she’d missed something. Was there a test she’d forgotten? Anything was possible, she told herself, and reached for the phone.

Far across the ocean, Joaquin answered on the first ring. “Maria,” he said happily, on hearing her voice. “¿Como se va? Sela was just saying—”

“Joaquin. I need your help.”

He was not a GG—a Graduate Gemologist—as she was. The degree had cost her a small fortune; she was still carrying the debt. But his depth and breadth of knowledge was excellent, and she knew she could trust him with this devastating news. She told him what she’d discovered. Described the tests she’d run. Their conversation grew complex, touched on things like heating, magnification, trigons and dodecahedral surfaces of octahedral crystal formations and then, finally, she took a deep breath and told him she’d used a diamond tester. And the stone had failed that final test.

“You’re sure the tester is working properly?”

“I checked the battery. And it gave a green light, literally, to a couple of dozen diamonds, pink and white.”

“But not this one.”

“No,” Maria said, “not this one.”

Joaquin’s sigh drifted through the telephone. “I don’t envy you, chica. You are about to be the bearer of very bad news for someone.”

She gave a sad little laugh. “I’m afraid I already am.”

“Call me if you need me. Sela says to tell you she can do without me for a few days. We both love you, you know that.”

She smiled. “Doing without you, even for a few days, is impossible. I love you, too, Joaquin. With all my—”

“How cozy.”

Maria spun around. Alexandros stood in the doorway, arms folded, legs apart, face stony and cold.

“Alexandros! I didn’t hear you come in.”

“No. Obviously not. Don’t let me interrupt you, Maria. Not when you’re in the middle of an obviously important call.”

She said a quick “goodbye” to Joaquin and hung up the phone. Then she slid from the stool and went to her lover. He didn’t move. Didn’t smile. Didn’t react at all when she put her hand on his arm.

“Your father—”

“I know all about my father.”

“Is he—is he—”

“He’s in the hospital. He had a heart attack.” Alex’s mouth narrowed. “Thanks to you.”

“I never meant—”

“What did you say to him? Did you perhaps tell him you were sleeping with me even though you miss your lover in New York?” His mouth twisted. “No. Why would you do that when you’ve been so careful to hide that information from me?”

“Alexandros. Listen to me. I don’t have—”

“Liar!” He caught her by the shoulders, his hands rough on her tender flesh, and drew her to her toes, just as he had after their first night together. “It’s the same man you were talking to that morning three months ago.” When she said nothing, his face contorted. “Answer me, damn you! Admit it.”

“I was talking with Joaquin, yes. But—”

“Can’t you do without him for another few days?”

“Alexandros.” Her voice broke. “You’re wrong about him.”

“I was wrong about you, you mean.”

“I told you, Joaquin works for me. He’s married.”

“What would that matter to a woman like you?”

Maria felt the insult like a knife to the heart. She jerked free of his hands, her face white, eyes glittering with tears.

“I don’t deserve that,” she whispered.

Yes, he thought, she did. She deserved that and more. He had taken her to his bed. Held her in his arms as she slept. Awakened her with his kisses. He had shared his life with her these past weeks. Fool that he was, he’d come to—to care for her. To want her more than he’d ever wanted anything or anyone in his entire life.

He’d even imagined—he’d stupidly imagined he might keep her with him after her work here was over.

He turned away. Composed himself. She was just another woman. More beautiful, perhaps. More intelligent. More fun. In the end, though, she was the same as all the others. She was with him because of who he was. Because of the power he wielded.

Because he was a prince, not a man. He had to remember that.

She was his mistress, bought and paid for. She was not his lover; she was not in his bed of her own free will but because he had demanded her presence there.

He took a breath and looked at her. “What did you say to my father?” His voice was cold. “He was fine at the start of his meeting with you.”

“He wasn’t. He looked ill.”

“Answer the question. What did you do to make him collapse?”

Maria stared at Alex. He was looking at her as he had not done in weeks, as if he were an autocrat and she were his to command. His expression radiated scorn—and maybe she deserved it. She’d slept with a man who’d made it clear he wanted her sexually, not any other way.

And she’d fallen in love with him.

Wasn’t she repeating a pattern for which she’d vilified her mother—up to and including the shame of becoming pregnant?

God. Oh, God! How had she let this happen? And what would she do next? End the pregnancy? Have the baby? Raise it, alone, as her mother had raised her? Because it was only in fairy tales that the handsome prince married the beautiful commoner and lived with her happily ever after.

“I’m waiting, Maria.”

She wrapped her arms around herself. Lifted her chin. Forced herself to meet Alex’s steely gaze without flinching.

“I told him something about the Aristan crown.”

“And?”

“And, it upset him. I’m sorry for that but I was—I was shocked myself and I just blurted it out—”

“Blurted out what? I’m not in the mood for games, Maria.”

Maria swallowed dryly. Her lover was a prince of the house of Karedes. He had to know the truth.

“I told him—I told him the half of the Stefani diamond in the crown wasn’t real.”

For a long moment, nothing happened. Then Alex laughed. The sound startled her.

“You told the king that a stone that is beyond price wasn’t real?” His laughter ended as quickly as it had begun. “And he called you, what? A liar? A fool? An idiot? Or all three?”

“It isn’t real,” Maria said quietly. “It’s an excellent fake—but a fake, nevertheless.”

Alex’s face darkened. “He should have had you thrown out for spouting such nonsense!”

“Listen to me, Alex.”

“No, glyka mou, you listen to me! I don’t know what you thought to accomplish with such a lie but—”

“The stone’s counterfeit!” Maria grabbed the crown from the workbench along with a stack of papers and shoved all of it into his hands. “Here’s the crown.”

“You took it out of the palace?—”

“I didn’t plan to take it but… Never mind the details. Look at my notes. I ran endless tests. That’s why I phoned Joaquin, to see if maybe, just maybe there was something I missed. There wasn’t. The Aristan pink diamond isn’t a diamond at all!”

Alex stared at her. Then he began leafing through the papers, quickly at first and then, as he began to absorb what she’d written, more and more slowly. He stared at the crown. At the papers.

Finally, he looked up.

“I don’t understand. Who would have done this? And how? The crown’s been in the vault for years.”

Maria spread her hands. “I have no answers. I only know the diamond is a fake.”

Alex put down the papers and the crown, and ran a hand through his hair. “You’re sure? There’s no possibility of error?”

“I’m a Graduate Gemologist,” she said softly. “I’ve appraised lots and lots of diamonds. I even did some work with an insurance company that involved fraud and a diamond that would have been worth millions, had it been real.” She paused. “I phoned Joaquin because he’s knowledgeable. And completely trustworthy.”

Alex’s mouth thinned. “I’ll just bet he is.”

“Damn it, stop being a fool! I phoned him that morning in your apartment to tell him I thought I had a good shot at winning the competition because I knew how much it mattered to him and his wife. And I called him now to pick his brain. He’s not my lover. He never has been. He’s married to my best friend and he’s my friend, too. I can trust him to keep quiet about this—or am I wrong, thinking you don’t want the citizens of Aristo learning the truth about the diamond from the front pages of the world’s newspapers?”

A muscle flickered in Alex’s jaw. She was right about the need for discretion. The diamond was priceless, not only as a stone but as a symbol. No Aristan ruler could ever be crowned without it. There was also his grandfather’s pronouncement, what everyone called King Christos’s Legacy, the pledge that both halves of the Stefani diamond would have to be joined together in the crown of Adamas if ever the two kingdoms, Calista and Aristo, were to be reunited.

And then, he thought, looking at Maria, then there was Maria herself.

Maria, who had brought him the kind of joy he’d never expected to find. What he’d told himself a little while ago was a lie. She’d come to Aristo because he’d forced her to do so, yes, but that was in the past. She was here now because it was what they both wanted. He couldn’t imagine ending the day without sharing a few quiet moments with her as they stood in each other’s arms, watching the sun set over his beloved island. Couldn’t imagine opening his eyes in the morning and not finding her in his arms again.

As for Joaquin… He’d seen his Maria with him but, really, what had he seen? A man putting his arms around a woman. A kiss, but were either the embrace or the kiss those of lovers? Had she lifted her face to Joaquin as she lifted hers to him? Had she drawn Joaquin’s head down to hers? Had anything about that kiss held the heat, the power of what happened between his Maria and him?

God, he was a fool. Accusing her of things he knew, in his heart, were not true. Things she would never do. He had to tell her what she’d come to mean to him, that he didn’t want her to leave him…

“I only wish,” she said brokenly, “I just wish I’d broken the news to your father differently. Perhaps, if I had—”

“It’s all right, glyka mou.”

“No. It isn’t. I upset him. His heart—”

“His heart is undamaged. He’s at the hospital, yes, but he’s awake and alert.”

“Thank God,” she said, and then she began to weep.

“Ah, sweetheart.” Alex gathered her into his arms. “Don’t cry.”

She wept harder, her face pressed against his shoulder. He could feel her tears dampening his shirt.

“Forgive me for blaming you for what happened. Discovering the stone is fake must have been terrible.”

Maria lifted her face to his. “It was horrible. Horrible, Alexandros! I couldn’t believe it. That was why I called Joaquin—”

“I spoke before I thought,” he said gruffly, framing her face between his hands. “An old failing, I’m afraid. Ask my brothers. Or my sisters.” He smiled. “They’ll tell you the same thing. I hear something, I get upset, I react.” He clasped her chin, lifted her mouth to his and kissed her. “Will you forgive me?”

Their eyes met, his dark with anguish, hers bright with tears. Would she forgive him? How could she do anything else? She loved this man with all her heart. He had been through an awful shock about his father. She could grant him some leeway, couldn’t she?

And she carried his child.

She had to tell him. She knew she did. They had created this tiny life together. No matter what the consequences, Alexandros had the right to know. She was not her mother and he was not a clone of her father.

“Maria? Please, sweetheart, say you’ll forgive me.”

“You know I will,” she said softly, smiling through her tears.

Alex let out a long breath. “Glyka mou. We must talk. About us.”

“Yes. We do.”

“But not now.” He held her closer. “The next days are going to be hectic. I’ll have to tell my family about the Stefani diamond. We’ll have to meet with the council and decide how to handle this. And there’s my mother’s birthday …”

“Can you postpone the celebration?”

“My father has already said it must go on as scheduled.”

“But if he’s ill …”

“This is a national celebration, sweetheart. Royal responsibility to the people comes before everything else.” He frowned. “And now that I know this about the diamond, I wonder if my father isn’t concerned that his illness should not seem too important. You see, if something should happen to him, if a new king had to be crowned… That could not happen unless the real diamond were found and placed in the crown. Do you understand?”

Maria nodded. Like most little girls, she’d loved fairy tales. Now she knew, first-hand, that real kings and queens and princes and princesses did not live such easy lives.

That fairy tales didn’t always end happily, she thought, and a shudder went through her.

“What is it, agapoula mou?”

“Nothing,” she said quickly. “Just—I’m just thinking of how busy everyone will be the next few days.”

“We’ll manage. I, especially, because I’ll have you beside me.”

Alex bent to her and kissed her. Whispered soft words against her lips. Her arms crept around his neck. Now, she told herself. Never mind that there’s no time for real talking. Let him ask you to stay with him, and you can tell him about the baby—

His cell phone rang. He blanched as he grabbed it from his pocket.

“Ne?” he said brusquely.

But it wasn’t the hospital, it was Andreas. The conversation was brief. When it ended, Alex drew her against him.

“I can’t stay, sweetheart. I must meet with Sebastian and Andreas. There are many things to discuss, and now is as good a time as any to tell them about the diamond.”

She nodded. “Tell them, too, how sorry I am.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for, glyka mou.” His lips curved in a smile. “But if you feel you must show contrition for some imagined misdeed, I’ll consider letting you find creative ways to do so later on.”

She laughed and kissed him, and when he whispered something that made her blush, she kissed him again.

“Tonight,” she promised.

He gathered up the papers and the Aristan crown; he put his arm around her as they walked to the door.

“Tonight,” he said softly.

But one night became another and then another. The mystery of the diamond, the king’s illness, the birthday celebration on the horizon… Alex was caught up in the politics of the palace.

There was no time for anything else.