Page 33 of His Highness's Hidden Heir

“I’m definitely the mother?” Lexi asked with a guileless blink.

She was seated in the recliner opposite his own. Aside from Ulmer, his staff traveled in the aft cabin, on the other side of the galley, where they were seated in rows like commercial flights. In here, Ulmer kept to his cubicle while Magnus had a sofa and a dining table, a big-screen television, and windows that tinted at the touch of a button.

There was also a door to a stateroom with a bed. It was midafternoon, but he couldn’t help noticing the tension in Lexi’s expression and the washed-out tone in her skin. He was frustrated by her continued resistance to marriage, but he couldn’t press her too hard, not when he kept remembering the way she’d been so limp in his arms, or how emotional she’d been while she’d been hooked up to all those wires.

“I know it’s a lame joke,” she muttered, shifting restlessly. “Everything has been so heavy and serious. Like a military operation. Is it always like this?”

“Often enough you should get used to it.”

She grimaced.

“How are you feeling? Tired?”

“Why do you ask? Do you have to be nice to me, too?” she challenged lightly.

“No.”

Her eyes widened in shock.

“I’m genuinely worried about you. As soon as we level off, I’ll show you to the bed so you can sleep.”

“It’s two o’clock in the afternoon. How long is the flight?”

“Four hours. But you’ll meet the queen when we arrive. You’ll want to feel rested. Also, I didn’t sleep on the overnight from New York, but I’m not about to leave you slumped in a chair while I stretch out on the bed.”

“Is sharing a bed another thing I don’t have any choice over?”

“It’s just a nap, Lexi. Unless you choose to make it into more.”

“I won’t,” she muttered, and turned her frown of consternation to the window.

A few minutes later, however, she accompanied him into the stateroom. She didn’t remove any clothing except her jacket and lay down on top of the bed in her maternity top and trousers.

He did the same, only removing his shoes and jacket, then his tie and belt before he draped a light blanket over her and joined her under it.

Did he want to reach for her? God, yes, but he was also content—disturbingly content—to simply close his eyes with the knowledge that she was beside him.

Where she belonged.

A discreet ping woke him. The recessed lighting in the floor came on, signaling they were coming into Isleif airspace and it was time to rise.

Lexi rolled to face him, eyelids heavy with sleep. “Do you want to feel the baby move?”

A strange zing went through him. Surprise and apprehension, but also excitement?

“Is it kicking?” He reached out.

She brushed her loose top up and slid the elastic panel of her trousers down, baring her belly, then she guided his hand on the tense ball of her abdomen. Within him, something restless eased as he finally had contact with her soft skin. Her warmth.

“I wasn’t sure how you felt about it,” she said in a small voice. “I know this isn’t what you wanted. You haven’t asked about the baby.”

“I asked the doctor about both of you. I’m still processing this. Making a baby was something I knew I was supposed to do at some point, but it was an abstra—”

He swore as something nudged his palm, striking Magnus like a punch to the heart. A choke of wonder left him.

“Bizarre, isn’t it?” He heard the smile in her voice, but he was enraptured with the swell of her belly.

“Does it hurt?” He lightly explored, searching out more proof of life.

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