Proof of Their Sin

“Keep breathing, Papa,” the female attendant said, urging him to replace the oxygen mask over his mouth and nose. “Your wife did all the work, you know. Catching is the easy part.”

“He did very well,” Lauren defended faithfully. “But I bet you pity your parents now, don’t you?”

“Quite a bit,” Paolo acceded ruefully. “If this is any indication, karma has arrived in a one-stone package of heartstopping payback.”

“But don’t you just love him, Paolo?” Lauren pleaded. She was too new to motherhood to hear any slights against her precious son.

“I do,” Paolo said with deep emotion, leaning forward to touch his son’s ruddy cheek. “And I love you.” He met her eyes as he said it, letting her see the depth of feeling in him, filling her with his love in a single, impactful look. “Thank you for our baby.”#p#????#e#

She blinked, touched to her core. “I love you, too.”

He smiled with satisfaction, glancing at their son again with conspiratorial good humor. “Looks like he travels well. Good thing, since we’ll be doing so much of it. But no more surprises,” he warned Lauren with a stern point of his finger. “The next one is planned, start to finish.”

“Agreed.”

Four months later they accidentally conceived on a flight to Hong Kong. Their daughter arrived three weeks early in a limousine under the Arc de Triomphe.

* * * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt from One Night Heir by Lucy Monroe

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CHAPTER ONE

FURY RIDING HIM like an angry stallion, Crown Prince Maksim of Volyarus let loose with a punch-cross-hook kickboxing combo against his cousin and sparring partner.

Demyan blocked, and the sound of flesh hitting pads mixed with his grunt of surprise. “Something the matter, your highness?”

Maks hated when his cousin, older by four years and raised as a brother with Maks in their family’s palace, referred to him by his title.

Demyan was well aware, but the older man liked pushing buttons, especially during their workout sessions. He said it made the sparring more intense.

Today would have been sufficiently punishing without the added irritation. Not that Maks warned Demyan of that. His cousin deserved what he got.

“Nothing wiping the smug look off your face won’t take care of.” Maks danced back before driving forward with another fast-paced, grueling combo.

Well-matched in stature and strength, they both kept their six-feet-four-inch frames in top physical condition.

“I thought tonight was the big night with Gillian,” Demyan said, scrambling in a way he rarely did during their sessions. “Don’t tell me you think she’s going to turn you down?”

“If I were going to ask, she’d say yes.” And a day ago that certainty had given Maks a great deal of pleasure.

Now, it just taunted him with what he couldn’t have. Namely, Gillian.

“So, what is the problem?” Demyan demanded as he went on the offensive, forcing Maks to defend against a barrage of punches and kicks.

“Her medical tests came back.”

“She’s not sick, is she?” Demyan asked, sounding sincerely concerned.

Coming from a man with a reputation for cold ruthlessness, it would have shocked anyone else.

But Maks knew how much Demyan cared about their family. And for the last eight months, the beautiful, sweet Gillian had been moving closer and closer to joining that group.#p#????#e#

“She’s perfectly fine.” If you didn’t count poorly functioning ovaries. “Now.”

“What does that mean?”

“She had appendicitis when she was sixteen.”

“That was ten years ago, what bearing does it have on her health now?”