Demanding His Billion-Dollar Heir

‘Come,’ Seb said, apparently deciding that he needn’t introduce himself in some form of alpha power play. ‘The others are already here.’

‘Others?’ Maria hissed, trying to keep her voice away from Matthieu’s keen hearing.

‘Theo and Sofia were in the area,’ he said, brushing her concern aside.

‘You called in back up?’ Maria demanded.

‘Why would I need back up?’ he replied.

* * *

Matthieu hadn’t missed the way Sebastian had specifically positioned Maria out of his reach. Divide and conquer was a worthy route to take when being introduced to the husband of your sister, he supposed. He didn’t have a sister, never had, but would like to think that he would be as ferociously protective of her as Seb appeared to be. He didn’t have to like it, but he could most definitely respect it. Furthermore, while he could respect it, it didn’t necessarily mean he would roll over and expose whatever soft belly Sebastian might be fool enough to think he had.

As he followed Maria and her brother down a corridor of terracotta Matthieu fought to shake off the tendrils of the nightmare he’d had the previous evening. The first one he’d had in years. He’d tried to dismiss it as mental foolishness, but it had sunk its claws into his heart and kept him almost silent on the way to Siena. He doubted very much it had anything to do with meeting Maria’s brother, but couldn’t shake the thought that it might have something to do with his feelings for his wife.

They rounded a corner and entered a large and surprisingly beautiful living area, bringing Matthieu back to the present. The soft cream and burnt-orange colours surprisingly soothing to a man who lived in monochrome. Instantly Matthieu eyed the presence of another man and his wife, who for a second were mid-conversation. The tall, dark-haired man Matthieu realised must have been Theo Tersi, and the woman, the Crown Princess of Iondorra.

For a second, Theo turned and cast him such a fierce look, Matthieu was impressed. Until the princess took one look at Maria and descended into squeals of pure delight and hand-wringing, which completely cut the tension in the room.

‘Maria! Look at you,’ the princess cried, rushing up from her seat and taking Maria in her arms, leaning back slightly as if not to crush the baby. ‘Can I?’ she asked, and, barely giving Maria a second to answer, her hands swept around the swell of their child. ‘Oh, you are positively blooming.’ And then she covered her hand with her mouth. ‘Oh, that’s such a trite thing to say, but you are!’

Maria laughed, the men in the room rolled their eyes, and the princess laughed again.

‘Matthieu,’ Maria said, turning to him, ‘this is Princess Sofia de Loria of—’

‘Please. No titles here. We’re family.’ The exquisite petite blonde woman turned to Matthieu and struck him with an aquamarine gaze.

Matthieu had met with more royals than he could shake a stick at and, no matter her pleas for familiarity, still bowed his head ceremoniously.

‘Your Highness.’

Sofia laughingly sighed. ‘Okay, but it’s Sofia from here on out.’ She turned to Maria. ‘Now, we’re just going to let the men do their thing and once they’ve got their chest-beating out of their system, we can eat,’ and the princess drew Maria from the room, while his wife cast worried looks at each of the three men.

For a moment, they watched the retreating forms of the two women, and then returned their attention to each other. Finally deciding to get this over with, Matthieu gestured for them to continue, to which Sebastian simply raised an eyebrow and Theo simply sighed.

‘So, Montcour—’

‘It’s perhaps a little late to be asking about my intentions,’ Matthieu cut in. He might be respectful of Sebastian’s position, but that didn’t change a lifetime of being in control and in charge.

‘And there I was, going to ask you if you wanted a drink. But that’s fine,’ Sebastian replied with an insincere shoulder shrug. ‘We can get straight to business. Your reputation, whilst discreet, is colourful.’

‘And yours, while quite shockingly public, is perhaps a little obvious,’ Matthieu shot back. Before coming here, he had most definitely done his research.

‘Obvious?’ Seb said, as if outraged.

Theo made a face to suggest that there might have been something in what Matthieu was implying.

Seb must have caught it. ‘I don’t know what you’re so smug about, TT.’

Theo simply grinned back at his friend.

‘I think we can all agree that our reputations before have little bearing on now,’ Matthieu said.

‘Absolutely not. You have married my sister!’

‘Yes.’

‘And she’s pregnant!’