Rachelle burst out laughing at that, and he joined in. “What am I going to do with you?”
He leaned down beside her ear and whispered a few suggestions that left her breathless and blushing. He gave her one last lingering kiss, then guided her to a washroom. “The drawing room is down that hall and to the left. I’ll make a call about the stuffed water bears and meet you there,” he said huskily before turning and leaving her.
A few minutes later, Rachelle stood before a fireplace in a turquoise-and-gold room and studied the painting of a king seated next to a queen with a young child between them. If not for the formality of their gold-embroidered attire, they might have been any family. The child, no older than three, faced forward as if taking on the world already. The king’s attention, in contrast, was on the beautiful woman at his side, who was looking down at her child, but with a smile on her face as if she’d just shared a private joke with her husband. It was a loving family, and it made Rachelle wonder what had hurt the young boy in the painting enough that he’d hardened his heart. The loss of his mother? She wished she knew, because when she looked at the painting, she saw the Magnus she was truly drawn to. Not for a night, but on a deeper level that was as unsettling as it was exciting.
“Sorry,” Eric said as he entered the room. “I had to take a call from my publicist. He didn’t believe me at first, and then I regretted telling him. I threatened to fire him if he tells the press about tomorrow. Convincing him I meant it was what took so long.”
Rachelle turned to face her brother. “You really don’t do any appearances?”
“I really don’t.”
“You may find you like them.”
“Pardon the interruption,” a male member of the house staff said from the doorway. “Prince Magnus sends his apologies, but something urgent has come up. He will meet you for breakfast at eight. He requests you both be ready to leave for the hospital directly afterward.”
Once they were alone again, Eric said, “I was looking for you earlier. Phillip said you were out for a walk with Mr. Call Me Your Highness. I don’t know what I think of that guy.”
“He’s not so bad once you get to know him.”
Eric’s eyes flew to hers. “How well do you know him?”
Rachelle’s cheeks warmed, but she held his gaze. “I met him at your premiere, just like I told you.”
“I don’t like the way he looks at you.”
Really? Because I’m quickly becoming addicted to how I feel every time he does. “Are you applying for the role of overprotective brother?”
Eric went to stand beside her and looked up at the portrait above the fireplace. “He’s hiding something. I don’t know what. I’ll feel better after tomorrow when we meet this kid he keeps talking about. If he even exists.”
“Of course he does. Why would Magnus make something like that up?”
“It got me here. And you. People have done sicker things for less.”
Who has Eric been spending time with? “Well, we’ll know tomorrow, I guess.”
Eric ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t know if I can do it.”
“You have to. You promised.”
“As if that means anything.”
Rachelle shook her head. “It does to me. And if it doesn’t to you, then you need to take a good, long look in the mirror. People can do whatever they want to us, but they only change us if we let them. Maybe you’ve known some horrible people, but you’re choosing to become like them.”
“You don’t know what I’ve seen.”
True. I don’t. And I can’t admit to what I know. “Okay, then, tell me, are you a good actor?”
“As a water bear?”
“No, I don’t mean in the movies you make, I mean in your heart. Mom says you wanted to be taken seriously as an actor when you first started out.”
“I did.”
“So, you’re talented?”
“I used to think so.”
“When you were your best onstage, what was it like?”
Eric sighed and walked away to look out the window as if he needed to spend a moment back in that time before he could describe it. “Like nothing else. I’d spend weeks, sometimes months, studying a character. Then practice my lines until I could say them in my sleep. When I took the stage on opening night, it was magic. For a short time, I wasn’t me. I was Hamlet, Prospero, Valjean. So I suppose you could say that me at my best is someone else.”
I hope one day you realize how untrue that is, but for now, maybe believing that can help you. “Then tomorrow, imagine the hospital is a stage, and become a character who brings joy to those children. I’ll let you in on the secret to getting children to like you—simply like them. That’s it. It’s easy. You can fool them about a lot of things, but they know who doesn’t like them. It’s like a self-preservation sixth sense.”
“That might work. Thanks.” He looked toward the door of the drawing room. “It’ll be interesting to see what the kids think of your prince.”
“I’m sure they love him,” she said in a positive tone, even though she had no idea how they saw him. She hoped his first visit hadn’t been quite as bad as he’d described it, but so far Magnus had been brutally honest about everything else. She believed that he’d brought a clown and raised his voice in frustration, yet somehow that had led him to promising one of them that he’d deliver the impossible.
Magnus had gone to a lot of trouble to fulfill one child’s wish.
That didn’t sound like a man who hated children.
But how well do I really know him? Her instincts told her he had a good heart, but she’d let the children’s reactions to him prove her right or wrong.
Yes, tomorrow will be interesting.
Chapter Ten
The next morning at the hospital, Rachelle walked into the children’s wing flanked by Magnus and Eric. Her stomach did a nervous flip. So far, the day had all the elements of a first day at school. Eric was defiantly refusing to wear his costume, stating that football players did not visit in their gear. Magnus had had his men bring the costume and was doing a poor job of concealing his disgust with Eric’s decision. The two were in a pissing contest of royal proportion. Rachelle was ready to tell them both to grow up and remember that the visit was for actual children.
“Your Royal Highness, we are so pleased to have you with us again,” the hospital administrator said—tall, thin, and stern-looking until she smiled. “I heard you have brought a stuffed animal for every child. Would you like us to distribute them, or will you be doing so?”
“We will, right, Magnus?” Rachelle asked.
The administrator’s mouth rounded in surprise before she composed herself like lightning.
Magnus smiled at the flustered woman and spoke as if Rachelle hadn’t. “Since Mr. Westerly is not encumbered by his costume, I’m sure he would like to do the honors himself.”
Eric growled.
“It’s a pleasure to have you here, Mr. Westerly. The children have talked about little else since we made the announcement this morning.” With a bow of her head, the administrator added, “Please consider accompanying Mr. Westerly, Your Royal Highness. There will be a great number of children who will be disappointed if you don’t. Tinsley in room five plans to propose to you.”
“Propose?” Magnus’s head snapped back.
“She’s three,” the administrator said with a smile. “And she believes you also have a palace at Disney. It’s where she dreams of going when she feels better.”
Magnus’s expression sobered. “Will that be soon?”
“She’s very ill, but we see miracles here every day.” The woman looked at Eric. “Your presence is surely one of those. I did not think even our prince could convince you.” As if realizing what she’d said, she quickly added, “No offense, Your Royal Highness.”
“None taken,” Magnus said. “It was not an easy feat.”
The woman turned and greeted Rachelle. “And you are?”