Page 9 of The Prince's Secret Twins

He stood there for another moment, then sighed, sliding his warm hands down her upper arms. “Fine. I’ll leave for a few moments. But I’ll be right outside, okay?”

“Fine,” she said with a sniffle.

Chapter 4

Joran stepped out of the bedroom and looked around. Her den was still a mess, but it wasn’t as bad as it had been earlier. There were stacks of neatly folded laundry on the table and the kitchen was tidied up. The dryer gave a muffled buzz, indicating that the clothes Edin had put into the dryer were ready.

With a sigh, he opened the dryer and pulled out a load of clothes, carried them to the kitchen table and began folding them. Since these were clean, he sorted them into different stacks, tiny outfits in one and Tila’s sweatpants in another. The whole time, he wondered what had gone wrong. Tila said that she’d texted and called him, but Joran was certain that he hadn’t received any calls from her. He would have jumped at the chance to speak with her. In fact, he’d been heartbroken that she hadn’t called or responded to his messages.

Tonight had been a last resort to find out what had gone wrong. The last time he’d visited her, she’d literally leapt into his arms and they’d spent the rest of the night making love, talking, laughing, catching up, and then making love again.

Algar stepped into the house, clearly worried. “Boss, we have a problem.”

Joran looked up from his folding. “What’s up?” He was instantly alert, ready for the next threat.

“Someone just called the police about a group of men hanging around a single mother’s home.” He grimaced. “That’s us, Boss.”

Joran rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “Right!” Now what was he supposed to do? He couldn’t kidnap…?

Or could he?

He looked around. The babies were still asleep, but he had no idea how much longer they would remain so. And Tila was doing…something in the bedroom that she clearly didn’t want him witnessing. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know what was going on in there.

“We could get them over the border, Boss,” Algar assured him, looking determined and grim. “We could have all three of them back at the…your home in less than four hours.”

Joran considered the possibility for a full second. But before he could make a decision, Edin spoke up. “Four minutes before the local police arrive, Boss.”

Four minutes. That wasn’t enough time to explain what needed to happen to Tila and get his sons safely out of the house.

“We’ll come back tonight,” he decided. “We’ll organize the resources to get them safely over the border and back home.”

Edin and Algar nodded, no expression on their features other than acceptance. A moment later, they disappeared, giving Joran the privacy to speak with Tila alone.

Joran’s jaw tightened as he considered his options. He didn’t have much time. He and his men couldn’t be caught here in Uftar. The repercussions of the local authorities discovering his presence could be catastrophic. He had to leave and come back, even though every cell in his body was screaming for him to protect his family and get them to safety.

He tapped lightly on the bedroom door. When he heard her call out, he entered and walked over to where she was sitting on the bed. Kneeling down, he took her hands in his. “Tila, I have to leave, but I’ll be back. Do you understand?”

She blinked, looking so exhausted, but still beautiful. “No,” she sighed, her shoulders slumped.

“I don’t have time to explain, but I need you to trust me.”

She laughed, a brittle sound. “Right. Trust.”

Joran knew that he had less than two minutes. So instead of explaining again, he stood up and, cupping her face, gave her a quick, hard kiss. “Later!” he whispered, and then he hurried out.

Chapter 5

Tila’s lips still tingled as she held Laith over her shoulder and patted his back, trying to ease whatever was bothering him. She’d been pumping milk into that damn machine until she’d heard him cry for her. For several moments before he called, Tila had enjoyed watching the sun shimmer as it rose over the horizon. She’d been watching several police cruisers as they drove slowly through the neighborhood, obviously watching for someone. But Joran and his friends were long gone. He’d disappeared into the darkness. A part of her was proud of the fact that her former lover was so stealthy. Another part of her was confused about how he could move so quickly.

Now, the world was waking up. She saw several of her neighbors get into their cars and leave for work. A woman down the street watered her flowers. Tila looked around at her yard, noticed the mess, and sighed. She’d slept for maybe an hour over the past forty-eight and she felt like a walking zombie. So no, she wasn’t going to worry about her garden. Not today, at least.

Tila was still patting and swaying at the window as two police cars stopped at the curb in front of her home. The officers got out of their vehicles, looking around with one hand on their weapons. Two of them walked around the house while a third officer went to her front door.

That’s when Laith decided to throw up on her shoulder.

The doorbell rang and Tila sighed, wishing that she’d remembered to put a burp cloth over her shoulder. It would be really nice to answer the door without baby barf all over her tee shirt.

And this had been a clean one!

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