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She wanted to tell him she hated it, say how dare he name their child without her, but she didn’t hate it. She liked it. A lot. It was only that she’d missed out on so much. He was nearly six months old now... Would he remember her?
He’ll certainly remember the mother who gave him away to make her own life easier.
Solace squeezed her eyes shut, forcing away the tears and that terrible thought along with it. Because it wasn’t true. It wasn’t. She’d had to give him up. She’d had nothing to offer him, nothing at all, while Galen could give him a throne.
Abruptly, she was aware of a spicy, masculine scent, so close. He must be standing right behind her, though she hadn’t heard him move.
She didn’t want to turn around, not when there were still tears in her eyes, so she stayed where she was, resolutely turned away.
‘Solace.’ His deep voice whispered like rough velvet over her skin.
She could feel the warmth of his body and a part of her wanted to lean into it the way she had last night, surrender to him, let his strength hold her up because she felt so weak. But she couldn’t. He’d taken her child and she was still furious about that and, besides, she had a battle ahead and she had to stay strong.
No weakness was permitted.
‘Please don’t come any closer.’ She hoped her voice didn’t sound as thick as she feared it did. ‘And please...don’t touch me.’
Another silence fell and then the scent was gone.
She swallowed, biting down on the urge to call him back, to tell him yes, please touch her, because she wanted to feel his hands on her again. Pleasure was always preferable to this pain. Yet that was another weakness she couldn’t afford so she didn’t.
The sound of papers shuffling came from behind her. ‘I have ordered a car. We can be there in twenty minutes.’
Solace opened her eyes, blinking the remainder of her tears fiercely away and forcing the rest of her feelings to the side. Then, once she was feeling steadier, she turned.
Galen was back behind his desk as if he’d been there all along, his blue gaze giving nothing away.
‘Where is there?’ Solace asked, since that appeared to be the least problematic question.
‘A residence of mine on the coast.’
She went cold. ‘Not at the palace? But is it safe? He’d be much safer—’
‘He has a retinue of twenty armed guards,’ Galen interrupted mildly. ‘He is more than safe. And the palace attracts far too much attention. I do not intend for him to live in a fishbowl.’
Solace fought down her fluttering panic. Of course, Galen would keep their son safe. Of course, he would. Their child was his heir, after all.
No, not ‘their child’.Leo.
Another pang of grief hit her, but she ignored it. ‘Okay,’ she said with some reluctance, because she didn’t want to agree with him, but, unfortunately, she did. ‘That...seems like a good plan.’
There was something that looked like sympathy in Galen’s eyes, and she wanted to turn away from it, but that felt too much like giving in, so she forced herself to bear it.
‘He is safe,’ Galen said with a gentleness that was almost painful. ‘He is happy and well and growing like a weed.’
Tears threatened yet again, and again she forced them away. ‘Good,’ she said. ‘I’m...glad.’
Galen’s expression was impenetrable. ‘Would you like to go now?’
Her voice seemed to have got stuck in her throat, but she managed a weak, ‘Yes, please.’
He nodded and then strode from the room.
Solace was very tempted to sit back down in the chair since her legs felt wobbly, but she gritted her teeth and remained standing.
She was going to see him. She was going to seehim.The son she hadn’t even named. Because one minute she’d been trying to plan for the birth of a baby she’d had no idea she was even having, the next, she’d been in the ER with inexplicable stomach pain.
Except it hadn’t been so inexplicable.
