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“Yes. She wanted to continue her education but stay with Mikhail until he was old enough for preschool and found a way to do it by becoming the nanny and sometimes housekeeper for the Jensens.” Konstantin made no effort to stifle the pride he felt in Emma’s resourcefulness in his voice.
“Mr. Jensen was a total womanizer, but she maintained a distance from him when others did not. That marriage was not a happy one before he left.”
“That is unfortunate, but Emma would never mess around with a married man.”
“No, she would not. I think before she met you, no one would have thought she’d live with a man before marriage either.” There was subtle censure in Nikolai’s tone.
Konstantin did not take offense. “She was entirely innocent, but I ignored the treasure she was and pushed her out of my life.”
“For the sake of a marriage contract you should not have been asked to sign. If Mother had been alive, you wouldn’t have. She believed in the modern monarchy.”
“Father still has some very old-world views.”
“Yes, but he regrets the years he has lost with his grandson because of it.” Nikolai paused and then said, “I’ll sign the custody agreement, brother, and make sure Father, Dima and Nataliya do as well.”
Relief washed over Konstantin. “Thank you.”
Emma got advice from the director of Mickey’s preschool day care for a good family law attorney.
She really liked the fiftyish woman who had a solid reputation in family law. The older woman told Emma that the contract was very generous in monetary terms—which Emma had already realized—and that while she was surprised, she was happy to see that it was heavily weighted in Emma’s favor in regard to parental rights.
Again, it was as Emma had expected, but hearing there were no hidden caveats that might compromise her role in Mickey’s life was reassuring.
Though provision for Konstantin’s visitation with their son was one area that gave him more than usual access.
Emma didn’t mind. She’d agreed to the terms he’d asked for before the contract had been drawn up. She wanted him in Mickey’s life.
However, the lawyer’s last words stayed in Emma’s head.
“He’s still a prince. And you are still, as you have said, a normal person. A healthy dose of caution is in order. This isn’t a fairy tale, but your life with your son.”
The attorney’s advice stayed in the back of Emma’s mind even as she and Mickey prepared to move into Konstantin’s Santa Fe mansion.
Mickey had only a few weeks left of school, during which she was hoping her empty house would sell quickly.
She and Konstantin had yet to talk about where they planned to live in Seattle. Partly because she was avoiding being alone with him.
It wasn’t that she thought the discussion was unnecessary. In fact, it was starting to eat away at her sense of inner peace not to know where they would be living come summer.
It was just that her attraction to him was growing and Emma was finding it harder and harder to keep her hands to herself and her libido under control when she was around Konstantin.
“You want my room right next to yours?” Emma asked, her voice going high.
They’d come to Kon’s mansion for a couple of hours every day to ease the transition of moving for Mickey, but today was her and her son’s official move-in.
“You do not like the room?”
“Of course I like the room.” It was more than twice the size of her old one, but whether the house had come this way or Kon had made it happen, her room had all the bright Southwestern patterns and colors that Emma liked so much.
But everything, right down to the towels in the en suite bathroom, was high-end and luxurious. The bedding was new and had the discreet logo of a top designer. The furniture was the same.
No pieces found at a garage sale and refurbished for this mansion.
And yet the designer had managed to make the royal residence feel like a home and not just a showplace.
Emma sighed. “It’s a gorgeous room. I just don’t understand why I’m right next door to you. Won’t that cramp your style?”
“Did you just ask me that?” Kon’s tone was heavy with offense. “You know I am not seeing other women. My plan is for us to marry.”
