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Six
Christian stopped on the opposite side of the fishpond from his son and drank in the sights and sounds of the energetic boy from behind a polite mask. His heart continued to drive against his ribs following the encounter with Noelle in the green drawing room. An odd lightness had invaded his head as if he wasn’t getting the proper amount of oxygen. Which was ridiculous because he was gathering huge lungsful of air laden with the scents of fresh-cut grass, newly turned earth and Noelle’s light floral perfume. He suspected her scent was affecting his equilibrium.
Marc laughed as one of the big orange koi flipped its tail and sent water splashing onto his cheek. “Mama, did you see that? The fish waved at me.”
“I saw. Why don’t we take a walk to the barn?”
“It should be about time for Bethany and Karina’s riding lesson,” Gabriel added. “Maybe you’d like to see their ponies?”
“Sure.” Marc got to his feet and went to slide his hand into Olivia’s. “Will you take me?”
She exchanged a brief, poignant look with her husband and then shook her head. “I’m afraid Prince Gabriel and I have someplace we need to be, but Prince Christian knows the stables inside and out. He can take you.”
Olivia and Gabriel said their goodbyes and headed for the palace. Marc watched them go before turning to his mother.
“Can’t I just stay here with the fish? I don’t care about ponies.”
“A second ago you were ready to visit the barn,” Noelle pointed out, the skin between her sable eyebrows puckering as she frowned. “And since when don’t you like ponies?”
“I’ll go if he doesn’t come with us.”
“That’s impolite.” Thunderclouds formed in her eyes. “Prince Christian is a very busy man. He is taking time away from his business to spend it with us.”
“Can’t he just go back to work?”
Noelle’s lips firmed into a tight line, and she cast a mortified look Christian’s way. Despite being frustrated that he was his son’s least favorite person, Christian liked that she was concerned about his feelings.
“First the stables,” Christian said, his tone shutting down further argument. “Then I’m going to take you and your mother to lunch at a really wonderful restaurant down by the river.” Neither lunch nor being seen together in a public place had been a part of their original plan for the day, but Christian was feeling a little desperate at the moment.
“I’m not hungry.” The boy had become sullen.
Christian was not going to give up. “That’s too bad because this is a new American-style restaurant that has the best hamburgers and milkshakes in Sherdana.” It didn’t occur to him that Noelle might not want her son eating the less than healthy food until he noticed she was regarding the slim gold watch on her wrist. “It’s okay if we go there, right?” he belatedly asked, giving her a winning grin.
“I wasn’t planning on taking time for lunch. I have an appointment in an hour.”
“Marc and I could go by ourselves.” He smiled at the boy. “And I could drop him off after.”
“I suppose that would work. How does that sound to you, Marc?”
The four-year-old dug the toe of his brown loafer into the ground and stared down. “I don’t feel good.”
Christian recognized a losing battle when he saw one. How was he supposed to get to know his son when the boy didn’t want to have anything to do with him? “Perhaps another time then.”
“Can we go home, Mama?”
“Of course.” Noelle ruffled her son’s dark wavy hair and mouthed an apology to Christian. “And straight into bed. That’s where sick boys belong.”
“But I was supposed to play with Dino this afternoon.”
“I’m not sure you’ll be feeling better that fast.”
Marc aimed a surly glare in Christian’s direction, obviously blaming him for the canceled play date, before taking the hand his mother put out to him.
“It was nice seeing you again, Marc.” Christian sounded more like a prince and not at all like a father.
The boy said nothing. So, Christian tried a smile, but the muscles around his mouth didn’t want to cooperate. His awkwardness around his son made him come off stilted and unfriendly. It wasn’t at all like him. Gabriel’s two girls adored Uncle Christian. He snuck them sweets and helped them play tricks on their nanny and the maids charged with caring for them. That he wasn’t developing the same rapport with his son frustrated him.
“Please say goodbye to the prince,” Noelle said.
