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Rule made a scoffing sound. “So unfortunate that there isn’t one.”

“Of course there is. The article is absurd. The International Sun is going to end up looking very bad.”

“It’s a tabloid. It’s not as though they care if they look bad.”

His father regarded him solemnly for a moment. “What you did, becoming a donor, you did in a good cause. With an honest heart.”

“I was an idiot. It was an act of rebellion against everything I am, everything we stand for as Bravo-Calabrettis.”

Patiently, his father continued, “You would never have found the wife you wanted if not for your ‘act of rebellion.’ There would be no Trevor. And that you finally arranged to meet Sydney, that you pursued her and convinced her to make a family with you, that you became a real father to your son … I find that not only admirable, but truly honorable.”

Rule wanted to grab the crystal paperweight from the corner of his father’s desk and smash it against the far wall. “You don’t understand. Sydney still doesn’t know. I still haven’t told her.”

“Then you will tell her. Right away.”

“I could lose her over this.”

“I don’t think you will. She loves you. She will stick by you.”

Rule said nothing to that. What was there to say? Evan had been for honesty with Sydney from the first. His father wouldn’t rub it in. That wasn’t Evan’s way. But the knowledge that his father had been right all along made this unpleasant discussion doubly difficult.

Evan said, “I think it’s time that you told your mother the truth.”

Rule gave him a scowl. “Wonderful.”

His father said gently, “You can’t put it off any longer. One look at that child and your mother was certain he had to be yours. She asked me what I knew. I told her that you had taken me into your confidence and gotten my agreement that I would keep your secret. I said that if she demanded it, I would tell her everything, I would break my word to you.”

Rule affected an American accent. “Gee, thanks, Dad.”

His father’s chuckle had little humor in it. “Once she saw Trevor, I couldn’t have kept her in the dark if she needed to know. She rules my

heart as she rules this land. Maybe that’s beyond your understanding.”

Rule thought of Sydney. “No. I understand. I do.”

“As it turned out, I didn’t have to break my word to you. Your mother said that I should keep your secret for you, that she preferred to respect your wishes in the matter.”

“So she only knows that Trevor is mine.”

“As I said, I never told her the truth outright. She has drawn her own conclusions and kept them to herself. It’s time that you were honest with her.”

“I have to tell Sydney first.”

“Of course you do.”

Sydney wasn’t in their apartment when Rule entered a few minutes later, the offending tabloid rolled in his hand. Lani told him that she’d gone to the palace library and would return by eleven.

It was ten forty-five.

Trevor tugged on his trouser leg. “Roo. Come. Play …”

His heart like a large ball of lead in his chest, he got down on the floor with his son, set the rolled paper to the side and helped him build a fanciful machine with a set of connectable plastic wheels and gears.

Trevor glanced up, a plastic propeller in his hand. “See, Roo. ‘Peller.” He stuck the propeller on a bright-colored stick and blew on it. Then he chortled in delight as it spun. Rule tried to laugh with him, but didn’t succeed. Trevor bent to fiddle with the wheels and cogs some more, leaving Rule to stare down longingly at his dark head. Rule wanted to grab him and hold him close and never, ever let him go, as if by clutching his son tight, he might somehow escape the impending moment of truth.

But there was no escape. He was done with this lie.

It wasn’t long before he heard brisk footsteps approaching from the foyer. And then Sydney was there, laughing, asking Lani how many pages she’d written.

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