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inside of her lip to keep from blurting out something she would regret later. Sorting through her options could take more time than they appeared to have.
    Kolby wriggled restlessly, hugging his comfort blanket tighter. Needing a moment to collect her thoughts and her resolve, she scooped up her son.
    “Tony, we’ll have to put this discussion on hold.” She cradled her child closer and angled down the hall, ever aware of a certain looming prince at her back. “Keep the lights off, please.”
    Shadows playing tag on the ceiling, she lowered Kolby into the red caboose bed they’d picked out together when she moved into the apartment. She’d been trying so hard to make up for all her son had lost. As if there was some way to compensate for the loss of his father, the loss of security. Shannon pressed a kiss to his forehead, inhaling his precious baby-shampoo smell.
    When she turned back, she found Tony waiting in the doorway, determination stamped on his square jaw. Well, she could be mighty resolute too, especially when it came to her son. Shannon closed the curtains before she left the room and stepped into the narrow hall.
    She shut the door quietly behind her. “You have to know your suggestion is outrageous.”
    “The whole situation is outrageous, which calls for extraordinary measures.”
    “Hiding out with a king? That’s definitely what I would call extraordinary.” She pulled off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose.
    Before Nolan’s death she’d worn contacts, but couldn’t afford the extra expense now. How much longer until she would grow accustomed to glasses again?
    She stared at Tony, his face clear up close, everything in the distance blurred. “Do you honestly think I would want to expose myself, not to mention Kolby, to more scrutiny by going to your father’s? Why not just hide out at your place as we originally discussed?”
    God, had she just agreed to stay with him indefinitely?
    “My house is secure, up to a point. People will figure out where I live and they’ll deduce that you’re with me. There’s only one place I can think of where no one can get to us.”
    Frustration buzzed in her brain. “Seems like their telephoto lenses reach everywhere.”
    “The press still hasn’t located my father’s home after years of trying.”
    But she thought… “Doesn’t he live in Argentina?”
    He studied her silently, the wheels almost visibly turning in his broad forehead. Finally, he shook his head quickly.
    “No. We only stopped off there to reorganize after escaping San Rinaldo.” He adjusted his watch, the only nervous habit she’d ever observed in him. “My father did set up a compound there and paid a small, trusted group of individuals to make it look inhabited. Most of them also escaped San Rinaldo with us. People assumed we were there with them.”
    What extreme lengths and expense their father had gone to. But then wasn’t she willing to do anything to protect Kolby? She felt a surprise connection to the old king she’d never met. “Why are you telling me this much if it’s such a closely guarded secret?”
    He cupped her shoulder, his touch heavy and familiar, stirring . “Because it’s that important I persuade you.”
    Resisting the urge to lean into him was tougher with each stroke of his thumb against the sensitive curve of her neck. “Where does he live then?”
    “I can’t tell you that much,” he said, still touching and God, it made her mad that she didn’t pull away.
    “Yet you expect me to just pack up my child and follow you there.” She gripped his wrist and moved away his seductive touch.
    “I detect a note of skepticism in your voice.” He shoved his hands in his pockets.
    “A note? Try a whole freaking symphony, Tony.” The sense of betrayal swelled inside her again, larger and larger until it pushed bitter words out. “Why should I trust you? Especially now?”
    “Because you don’t have anyone else or they would have already been