“Do we have to do this here?” she asked him, wishing they did not have to do this at all. She’d come to terms with the truth that her son would never meet his father until Mickey was of an age to contact the royal family of Mirrus on his own, DNA test results in hand.
This scene, right now, was out of some kind of horror novel. Her worst nightmare.
“We will go back to my hotel.”
She shook her head. “No.” She wasn’t stupid. She knew this man had diplomatic status. She wasn’t sure if that made his hotel room his own little fiefdom while he was in Santa Fe, but she wasn’t taking any chances. “You can come to our home. In an hour. I need to finish running errands.”
“You and my son are not leaving my sight.”
“Then I guess you can follow us around as I finish the things I need to do,” she said sarcastically.
“Do not be ridiculous. We need to talk.”
“I need to deposit my check and then I need to buy groceries.”
“My staff can take care of both.”
“You think I’d trust your staff with my paycheck?” She would never let him hurt her, or more important, their son, again.
He jerked as if she’d hit him like she’d wanted to only moments before. “Why not?”
Emma did her best to give her son a natural smile. “Mickey, can you be a big boy and hold my place in line. I’m going to be right there.” She pointed to a spot about ten feet away where she planned to set Konstantin straight out of her son’s hearing.
“You’ll both be right there?” her son asked.
Emma nodded.
“Okay, Mom. I’ll stand right here.” Mickey drew himself up importantly.
Emma said nothing to Konstantin before stepping away to the spot she’d indicated, her attention never leaving her son.
“Because I don’t trust you at all,” she whispered to Konstantin fiercely while smiling reassuringly at her son. “I don’t trust you not to have the check tossed just to cause me further pain and embarrassment. I don’t trust you not to use the information on it to find my employer and have me sacked. I don’t—”
“I get the picture. You think I am some kind of monster.”
“No, just a royal rat who has hurt me before in ways I never would have expected and I’ll never make the mistake of not expecting it ever again.”
He turned and strode back to the group of men who had been with him, saying something to one of the men in the business suits. Suddenly, she was collecting Mickey and they were being led to a teller and getting her check deposited with all due haste.
“If you give a list to Sergei, he will see that your groceries are purchased.”
One of the security men stepped forward with a nod.
She sighed. “Fine, but I’ve only budgeted seventy-five dollars and if he goes over buying the more expensive brands, I’m not paying for it. And all fresh veg, meat and dairy have to be organic.” She frowned up at Sergei. “You can get those things most economically at—” Emma named one of the three stores she had to shop at to get the healthiest food for her son on the tightest budget.
“I will take care of it,” Sergei promised.
“Give me your number and I’ll send you my grocery list.” She kept it in an app on her phone.
That taken care of, she led the way out of the bank and into the Santa Fe sunshine. “What are you doing in New Mexico?”
She had never once anticipated quite literally running into a prince in the place she’d chosen to start over for its lower cost of living and family-friendly environment.
“A mining deal.” He said it like that should have been obvious.
“But—”
“You are aware that minerals are a strong natural resource in this state.” It was a statement, not a question.