The Future King’s Love-Child by Melanie Milburne

overwhelmingly masculine? she wondered. The breadth of his shoulders, the taut flatness of his abdomen and the long muscular length of his thighs were an overwhelming reminder of his potency as a full-blooded man in the prime of his life.
    ‘How was your day?’ he asked.
    Cassie lowered her glass with an unsteady hand. ‘M-my day?’
    His mouth tilted in a disarming manner that reminded her so much of Sam she felt her stomach muscles involuntarily tighten.
    ‘Yes, Cassie, your day,’ he said. ‘Did you work at the orphanage?’
    ‘Yes…’
    ‘How was Nickolas?’
    Cassie looked at him blankly. ‘Nickolas?’
    He set his glass down on the flip-top rest at his elbow. ‘Your flatmate’s son,’ he said. ‘The one you take with you to the orphanage nursery-school each day.’
    Cassie licked her suddenly arid-dry lips.
    ‘Um…he’s…he’s…how…how did you find out…about him?’
    ‘I had my aide Stefanos make some discreet enquiries about who you were living with.’
    Cassie felt her heart pumping so erratically she was sure he would hear it, but she forced herself to hold his penetrating coal-black gaze in any case, even though every instinct inside was screaming for herto avoid it. ‘So,’ she said with an attempt at nonchalance she was sure had fallen well short of the mark, ‘what else did you find out about me?’
    He picked up his glass once more and twirled it in his hand in an indolent manner. ‘Your flatmateis an ex-prisoner. A drug addict, apparently. Hardly the company you should be keeping if you are serious about turning your life around, now, is it?’
    Her chin came up at that. ‘I hope you’re not going to hold her past against her,’ she said. ‘Angelica is one of the most genuine and loving people I have ever met. She deserves a second chance.’
    ‘Is she clean?’
    She set her mouth. ‘Yes, she is.’
    ‘She would want to be, given she’s the mother of a small child,’ he commented imperiously.
    Cassie listened to her deafening heartbeats reverberating through her eardrums: kaboom, kaboom, kaboom …
    So he assumed Sam was her flatmate’s child , she thought with somewhat cautious relief. That was a good thing…for now. As long as she could maintain the charade with Angelica’s cooperation for the next few weeks until she left the island for good things would be fine…or so Cassie hoped.
    ‘Did you meet her in prison?’ he asked.
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘So the child was with her in prison?’
    ‘Um…’ Cassie mentally crossed her fingers at yet another one of her little white lies. ‘Yes…’
    He gave her a studied look for a lengthy moment. ‘The little boy whose drawing you gave me the other day,’ he said. ‘Did he come from a criminal or violent background?’
    Cassie’s hand trembled slightly as she reached for her glass of juice. ‘Not directly…’
    One of Sebastian’s brows hooked upwards. ‘Meaning what exactly?’
    ‘His mother would never dream of being violent towards him.’
    A frown appeared on his brow. ‘But I thought you said he was an orphan?’
    Cassie stared at him for a heart-stopping moment. ‘Um…I…I…’ she gave a tight little swallow ‘…did I?’
    He gave a single nod. ‘You did.’
    ‘Oh…well, I must have got him confused with another child…or something…’
    ‘What is his name?’ he asked.
    Cassie’s heart gave another pounding thump. ‘N-name?’
    ‘The little boy who gave me the drawing,’ he said. ‘What is his name?’
    She ran her tongue across her lips. ‘It’s… er…Sam.’
    ‘I am looking forward to meeting him tomorrow at the party,’ Sebastian said. ‘I have organised a magician to entertain them as well as agift for every child and the mandatory balloons, sweets, cakes and ices.’
    ‘That’s very generous of you,’ Cassie said, her heart still pounding sickeningly. She could even feel a fine trail of perspiration making its way between her shoulder blades. ‘I’m sure they will have a