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And would that be such a terrible thing? a small voice in her head asked.
Mickey was an absolute gem on the trip to his father’s homeland. Of course, the fact that Kon had made sure he had plenty to entertain him and a nap en route helped loads.
Emma was instructed to simply relax and she tried, even taking her own nap, but the closer they got to their destination, the more anxious she grew.
Kon took her hand and brought it to his mouth to kiss it. He’d been a lot more publicly affectionate since the kiss in front of Mickey’s school the previous evening.
Their son knew they were dating and Kon saw no reason to pretend they were not as close as they were. Or so he said when she’d questioned him about the good-morning kiss he’d given her at breakfast.
Emma had still insisted on sleeping in her own bed the night before though.
Actually sleeping with Kon, allowing their son to find them in the same bed in the morning, would signify a level of commitment from her she was still hesitant to make.
“Is it going to be a media circus at the airport?” she asked him, drumming a tattoo with her fingers against the armrest.
Kon reached out and stilled her fingers with his hand over hers. “Relax, solnyshko. No media circus. My family will be waiting at the palace for us. Not because they do not want to meet our plane but because we can land unremarked this way.”
She nodded, like that made sense, only really? Emma had never been exposed to the public side of Kon’s life. And her own life had never had that component.
So, honestly, she had no idea.
“We will make the announcement about Mickey at the end of our first week on Mirrus. I want you to get to know my family in relative privacy before the media catch wind of our son’s existence and start asking intrusive questions.”
“It would be easier on all of you if you could announce our marriage at the same time, wouldn’t it?” she asked, trying not to feel guilty.
She had to do what was best for her and Mickey, she told herself.
“I am not interested in what is easy for me,” Kon assured her. “I am only concerned with what makes you comfortable. When you agree to marry me, it will be because that is what you want, not because it is an expedient public relations move.”
“You know I really appreciate you haven’t tried to guilt me into agreement.” She acknowledged to herself it would probably work at this point.
It wouldn’t have before. Not when they’d first reconnected, but her heart had softened and so much of the resentment she’d carried toward Kon was gone now.
“I would not.”
“Thank you. I believe you.”
“I’ve spoken to my father, but even so I cannot promise he will not attempt it,” Kon admitted with a rueful twist of his lips and no small amount of frustration. The man liked to be in control. “He’s very good at guilt trips.”
“He must be.” Prince Evengi had used them to coerce Kon into not only signing that blighted marriage contract but also breaking up with Emma to follow through on it.
“Remember, he is as susceptible to them as his sons. If he gets too pushy, just remind my father that if it were not for his insistence I follow through on that contract, you and I would have been married long ago.”
“You say that now.”
“I say it because it is true,” Kon said forcefully, like it really bothered him she still doubted on that score. “Seeing how I am with our son, can you doubt I would have moved heaven and earth to be his father from the moment I learned of his existence?”
Emma was saved answering that emotionally charged question by the captain coming over the loudspeaker of the private royal jet to instruct them on preparing for landing.
CHAPTER TEN
WHILE THERE WERE no other royals or dignitaries in evidence when Kon, Emma and Mickey disembarked from the plane, there was an entire second security detail and three imposing SUVs with a limousine slotted in between the first and third ones.
“Wow! Do we get to ride in the limo?” Mickey asked excitedly.
“Yes. It has been fitted with a child safety seat for Mikhail,” Kon told Emma before she could even ask.
“I have no doubt.” Emma was wearing one of the designer outfits Kon had bought her and Mickey was all decked out in one of his tailored suits.
