Page 63 of One Night With The Nanny

He shrugged and snorted. “That’s just the way it was. My father had far more responsibilities and took a more active role as Margrave than I have. Thank goodness for Leo because I stopped caring after my father died and Ella and I decided that I wouldn’t have any more children.”

There was so much to unpack in that, Reid’s head spun as he blinked back at Max. “You and Ella decided you wouldn’t have more children?”

Max’s lips pulled into a sheepish wince as he ducked his head. “I’m not sure if you want the gory details behind the girls’ conception, but I was relieved when we agreed there would not be another round of negotiations.”

Reid’s eyes widened and began to burn as he stared at Max. “I don’t want to know but I also need to know.”

“I guess that’s fair,” Max said, his voice growing distant as he stared over Reid’s shoulder. “We had been married close to a decade when we first agreed to meet at Grafenegg and stay until Ella had conceived.”

“So you could be sure the child was yours?” Reid verified, earning a tight nod from Max.

“We had lived apart for most of our marriage, but she was still happy in her role as archduchess and she was far more careful, then. She didn’t want to deal with doctors and appointments and insisted on going the traditional route. Thankfully, it only took two attempts for her to become pregnant with Sophia.”

“What was that like?” Reid asked, but he drew back and braced himself because he was disgusted for asking and for wanting to know.

Max’s brow furrowed as he considered. “Very brief. Her nurse said that the conditions were ‘ideal’ so I closed my eyes and pretended Ella was Eric Cantona while she watched The Mummy,” he said with a shrug.

“Is that the way most royal children are conceived?” Reid bit his lip because that sounded a little more judgmental than he’d intended.

“I really can’t speak to how other royal couples conceive, but that was what worked for us. We tried again seven years later because Ella’s doctor had suggested that we should before she turned thirty-five if we did want another child. And she wanted to be free of the obligation so we met again,” he added, raising a hand casually. “Her cycles were tracked and we met at Grafenegg as before. It did take three attempts and I believe she was watching Pirates of the Caribbean when Mia was conceived.”

“And what were you…watching?” Reid asked.

A sly grin tugged at Max’s lips. “I had a thing for Federer at the time,” he confided in a whisper.

“That’s…fascinating,” Reid said with a wince. “It’s not nearly as gory or sad as I was expecting. Why couldn’t you have any more children? I understand that there’s a higher risk of pregnancy-related complications after a woman turns thirty-five and Ella didn’t want to give birth again, but you could have tried a surrogate if you still wanted children,” he suggested, but Max shook his head.

“I wasn’t all that concerned about the succession at that point. Leo was doing well in school and his brothers appeared to be bright, charming, and decent young men as well. I was content to raise my little princesses in the countryside and then here in the U.S.,” he said and Reid made a thoughtful sound as he considered what Mia had said the night they met.

“Ella didn’t want to be a part of the girls’ lives?” he asked softly.

Max’s head hung and he shook his head. “I don’t know how Sophia figured it out, but she was four when she first asked why her mummy didn’t love her,” he said and Reid sucked in a breath, unable to imagine how much pain a child would have to be in to ask that and how much it must have hurt Max to hear it. “I thought that I could be enough but she blamed me because I couldn’t make Ella come home to us or care about her. She was happier after Mia was born and they were always very close.”

“That must have been hell for you as a parent. But I think you did really well, all things considered, and you’ve been incredible with them since we met.” It would be devastating for any child to be abandoned by their mother in such a seemingly callous and selfish way, but Max had done his best to compensate for Ella’s absence.

Max smiled as he leaned close, his neck craning so he could kiss Reid’s cheek. “Thank you. If I could go back and not marry Ella, I… Well, I can’t say I’d have come out because it just couldn’t have happened. There’s no way my father or the Foundation would have allowed that. I probably would have been committed or…punished into submission,” he said with a pained wince. “And I would have suffered a lot worse to have my girls because I love them both more than anything in this world. Even Sophia, no matter how many times she breaks my heart,” he said, his voice cracking and his eyes shimmering.

“Damn it, Max!” Reid complained raggedly. He grabbed Max’s face and kissed him hard. Hard enough to make them dizzy and to stanch the ache he’d caused in Reid’s chest. “That’s enough sharing for one night. I’m about to scream, I need to get my hands on this coat and this tux and get you naked.”

24

Max felt like a king waking up in Briarwood Terrace with Reid in his arms and the hours they had shared would count as some of the most precious of his life. They were both too shaken for any more major revelations so they had whispered and they touched, kissing and sharing inane, easy things like favorite songs and foods and their silliest wishes.

And they made love.

Max suspected that Reid would deny it, but neither were in the mood to be rough or wild. Their fingers intertwined and their legs tangled as they filled each other with slick, slow thrusts, whispering each other’s real names in the dark.

He’d cried in the hollow of Reid’s neck, incapable of expressing his joy but so profoundly grateful to have found and experienced true intimacy for the first time in his life. No one had ever looked past the title and the breeding or attempted to see and understand the man inside Max. No one had cared and for years, Max believed that there was nothing worth seeing, no one worth knowing. But Reid made him feel alive and there were times when Max felt like he might have been interesting.

This time, Max had been the last one to fall asleep and he woke up long before Reid. He had gotten up to relieve himself and had a peek in the closet. Reid had invited Max to make himself at home, unaware of how much he was revealing.

The contrast between the different halves of the closet were just as stark as Reid’s daily life and his “Wes” persona. One side was stocked with sensible plaid shirts and various shades of gray trousers. The other side: a testament to sartorial decadence. Each suit was carefully hung in a garment bag, watches and accessories neatly arranged on tidy little shelves, and his neckties were rolled and displayed in a beautiful rainbow.

Despite a lifetime in the hands of professional butlers and stylists, Max was impressed by the precision and care and was even jealous of some of Reid’s shoes and watches. He had incredible taste and spent his money well on high-quality tailoring and he was far braver than Max when it came to blending colors and patterns. He had the confidence to pull it all off, and that was what made Reid irresistible. The best tailor in Italy or Japan couldn’t replicate the swagger that came from knowing exactly who you were and what you wanted.

It was obvious from the elegant order in the closet and the cabinet under the bathroom sink that above all things, Reid desired control. Enema kits and boxes of condoms and lube packets were arranged in tight, neat rows but kept on a separate shelf from the rest of his hygiene items. The same way Reid kept his passions in check and packed neatly away so they would not interfere with the rest of his life.

Max had done the same thing and it had cost him dearly with his daughters. For Reid, it had worked because he wasn’t hiding out of real shame or fear of exposure. He was openly and proudly gay and the only thing he hid was who he chose to be gay with. If anything, Max’s night at Briarwood Terrace made it even clearer why Reid fought so hard to keep those halves of his life separate. Max respected the sanctity of Reid’s family and his privacy and planned to make that very clear.

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