Page 13 of Royal Caleva: Luis

“Yes, they were.” She kept her voice firm.

He gave her a rueful half smile. “My ancestors were not a respectable bunch. Children born out of royal wedlock are always considered part of the family, if they wish to be. Grace’s legitimacy would not be an issue for me or for the people of Caleva.”

Luis might feel he could ignore the lack of a marriage license between Grace’s biological parents—he was a king—but Eve wasn’t convinced that the people of Caleva would be as unconcerned.

He locked his eyes with Eve’s. “I broke off the relationship before she realized she was pregnant. I did not handle the ending well, and she was very angry.” His hands clenched on the chair arms. “I terminated the affair because I sensed a lack of mental stability that worried me, especially after my experience with my wife.” His gaze did not plead, but rather hoped for understanding. “Her revenge was to withhold knowledge of my child from me until now.” His voice dropped to a near whisper. “It was quite effective.”

She thought of her smart, beautiful daughter having to accept the limitations of Eve’s financial situation in the schools she attended and the few places she had been able to travel. If Grace had been raised by the king, she could have studied anywhere in the world and been to exotic locales many times over.

Maybe, though, Grace would not have been loved in the all-encompassing way that Eve loved her. Weren’t the children of royalty often raised by nannies? Could Grace’s birth mother have been worried about that?

Although, if she had been concerned about Grace not receiving a parent’s love, why would she put her baby up for adoption? Had she worried that Luis would figure out who the child was if she had kept her?

The whole scenario made Eve’s head spin. “I don’t understand why she would deprive her child of the advantages you could give her.”

Sorrow shadowed Luis’s face. “Odette is a very troubled woman.”

“Why did your ex-lover decide to tell you now?” Eve asked, suspicion making her question sharp.

“The story gets even uglier in the present,” Luis said. “Odette Fontaine is currently in prison for life in Caleva. She masterminded my nephew’s kidnapping two years ago.”

“Oh, dear God, I remember that! His ear was cut off.” Horror clawed at Eve’s gut as she recalled the tragic story. The American media had reported on the attention-grabbing details with relish: A handsome royal duke’s brilliant talent had been destroyed by the horrible mutilation his kidnappers had inflicted on him. Even at the vet clinic, everyone had talked about it.

Grace’s mother was a monster.

“Yes, Gabriel suffered terribly.” His words were filled with pain. “The victim was supposed to have been my son, but my nephew convinced the abductors that he was the prince, so they took him instead.”

For a fleeting moment, he sagged in the chair. But then his spine straightened, and she wondered if she had imagined his slump.

“That’s horrendous,” she said, but her real distress was for her child. Terrible things might happen to Grace because she was the king’s daughter. Eve suppressed a shudder.

“My only consolation is that every single person involved has been punished.” His eyes blazed with a satisfied fury that was almost frightening. “But Odette reached out from her prison cell in an attempt to torment me further.” The fury died. “She miscalculated, because this news was pure joy. I had hoped to have many children, but…” He shrugged.

Why hadn’t he married again? Women would have lined up to have him father their children. But that wasn’t a question she could ask a king.

So now he wanted her daughter, which could put Grace in danger too.

“It seems to me that this Odette would lie if she thought it would hurt you,” Eve said, choosing her words with care. “Mr. Silva mentioned that you want to have a DNA test done.”

“Mikel is being very cautious, but I believe more and more that Grace is my daughter.” He held up both hands to frame his face. “Do you not see me in her?” He pulled a cell phone from his back pocket, tapped at it, and then held it out to her, a glow of love in his eyes. “My son, Raul. They are clearly siblings.”

She took the phone, feeling the warmth of his body on it. Royal body heat.

The young man who smiled from the phone looked like a younger version of his father, but also almost like a twin brother to her Grace. His hair was brown streaked with blond, while Grace’s was a deep auburn, but the angle of the jawline, the strong cheekbones, the curve of his lips, and the shape of his face all matched her daughter’s to a stunning degree.

She wondered if Raul shared Grace’s integrity, dedication, and persistence.

Handing the phone back, she said, “People can look alike but not be related.”

“I have some proof already. Odette had her baby’s DNA stored in a databank. It has been confirmed that I am the father. Mikel has, of course, pointed out the remote possibility that Grace isn’t the same child that the DNA was taken from.” Luis sighed. “Asking for a DNA test is an awkward way to begin a relationship.”

A startling thought struck her. “If she’s proven to be your daughter, then would Grace be a princess?”

The irony almost made her laugh. All of Grace’s little girlfriends had dressed up as princesses every chance they had gotten. Grace had preferred to be a unicorn, a puppy, or a cat.

“If she wishes to be. There are various technical options involving her royal standing, all of which we can discuss later.” Luis sat forward. “I would be overjoyed to acknowledge her as my daughter, but she already has a mother. Perhaps she does not need to have a father as well.”

His words jabbed like daggers. He had more legal rights than Eve did, and she hated that. Grace was hers! Eve had changed her diapers, wiped her tears when her boyfriend dumped her, edited her essays for college and grad school, and loved her for all of Grace’s life.

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