Page 23 of Forbidden Bastard
But if not, he’d ensure they suited, in every way.
Chapter 7
Sandi hadn’t ridden in a private jet in years; the private school girl with uber-rich friends wasn’t exactly invited to much these days.
She’d wanted to marry Reza but his small plane was nothing like this huge jet with multiple rooms inside.
Besides Reza, she never quite fit in with the entitled people she’d grown up with, but Amanda, Megan, Courtney, and Jennifer, her childhood pals, would be pea-green with envy. In Avce, Charles’s private chauffeur drove them down streets lined with olive trees, then a long paved driveway.
Once they passed glossy black gates, a green lawn stretched to the sea. A house that could be considered a palace sat right in the middle of all of this cultured beauty like a jewel.
The driver brought them to the front of the yard where staff lined up, waiting to meet them. She got out of the limo and saw a crystal chandelier near the open doors that prismed from sunshine.
At night, lit up, this house must be gorgeous.
The sun shone on her face and Charles placed his hand on her lower back to introduce her to the head maid, a dark-haired woman with her hair in a bun named Chiara, then the head butler, Bernard, balding, an upstairs maid, downstairs maid and chef.
Until now the only chef she’d had was whoever cooked at the restaurants her family had gone to, and then that had stopped and they'd prepared their meals at home.
Her mansion in need of repairs was nice but similar to her neighbors. This was beyond unique. As the staff left, she turned toward Charles and ignored how her limbs were alight like she had pins and needles all over her body. She hadn't thought she’d live anywhere… so luxurious. “Wait. This is seriously your home?”
His nose twisted and he directed them onto a path around the house.
She didn’t mind as the salt in the air meant they were heading toward the ocean.
Her skin was alive and she couldn’t wait to see the view as Charles said, “Home isn’t the right word."
"This is right out of a dream, like in some Romeo and Juliet movie. I love the balconies.”
He glanced up at the balcony they passed overhead that had the perfect full-limbed tree for climbing nearby. Charles just shrugged. “It’s a lovely bribe for my silence.”
Sandi gasped. The clear blue ocean glimmered within walking distance, and she'd bet the marble fence between the house and water had to be a hundred years old. There was a private dock for a yacht to her right but no ship waited.
Sandi's gaze went to the marble ship half-submerged in the water that acted like a wave breaker but was also low enough to walk across for a full view of the sea.
She’d never seen anything like this. Wait, he'd said something about a bribe. She asked, “Silence?”
He bumped into her side and his presence was the closest thing to grounding she'd ever had. “About my natural parentage.”
She turned and faced him. Charles's dark eyes, strong shoulders and defined chin made him outwardly sexy, but he knew that. Her heart pinged that he could be her husband as she blinked and said, “You said you were the king’s bastard…”
She wasn’t sure what to add there. It didn't matter to her, not really.
He guided her toward a patio that overlooked the ocean. “My mother was a model who wanted to be queen and settled for an earldom.”
She shook her head as they climbed a few white marble steps.
His staff had set out a coffee service for the two of them and the air had an ocean-mixed-with-dark roast smell. “See, that sounds like some historical situation that doesn’t happen in modern days. They just left you at a convent?”
He went to the table and poured two cups for them. She followed as he said, “The king said he didn’t know what happened to me." He shrugged. "I didn’t tell any of the royals about Clara.”
Keeping his private life separate must be hard if he was under constant supervision. She sat in the chair he held for her. “Because she lives in Paris?”
He scooted beside her and they both looked out to the ocean. He sipped his coffee. “Because… because when I came to Avce, I wanted the money mostly to ensure I could afford the best for Clara to retire. I do all right for a small business but she always refused a dime and told me to reinvest it in myself. I bought the apartment in Paris telling her I needed an investment so she might as well live there, but she refuses to take cash from me.”
His profile was classically handsome. Her body warmed from his nearness though he hadn't kissed her since this morning. She took another sip of her coffee. “What did she say about your actual parentage?”
He put his cup down as he turned toward her, and the full force of his personality hit her hard and fast. “That now she understood why my paperwork was always missing details and that I should claim my heritage before the law where no more nobility can come forward becomes an issue, but I think she just wanted to make sure that I was secure financially.”
