Her Royal Baby Read Online Free PDF

contaminate Marc. ‘You don’t wish to stay at the embassy tonight, Your Highness?’
    â€˜I’ll be fine here.’ Marc glanced at his watch. ‘If you could collect me and the boy at eleven tomorrow…? The flight is at two.’
    â€˜I’ll do that.’ With a last worried glance at Tammy, Charles disappeared back into the limo—which left Marc and Tammy standing on the red carpet together.
    A prince with his princess? Tammy looked Marc up and down, then glanced down at her worn boots and almost smiled.
    Almost. Smiling was actually a long way from what she felt like doing.
    â€˜Take me to Henry.’
    â€˜You don’t want to clean up first?’
    She glared at him then. Really glared. ‘How old did you tell me Henry was?’
    â€˜Ten months.’
    â€˜You think he’s going to judge me because of a little dirt?’
    â€˜I…no.’
    â€˜So what’s the problem?’
    The concierge was still hovering, holding the door for them to enter, but by his expression Tammy could tell that given half a hint he’d grab her and haul her away. She looked the type who’d be annoying the customers, not paying to be here.
    â€˜It’s all right,’ she told him. ‘I’m not about to mug His Royal Highness. I just want to see my nephew.’ She heaved her pack up over her shoulder and stomped through into the plush foyer, leaving Marc to follow.
    Marc stared after her for a long moment—and then shrugged and followed.
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    The suite Henry and his nanny were occupying was on the sixth floor. Marc knocked once, knocked again, and the door finally swung wide.
    Most people’s first instinct would be to glance at the view—from this position it was spectacular—but Sydney’s Opera House and the Harbour Bridge beyond held no interest for Tammy. Her eyes were all on Henry. She brushed past Marc and was in the room before he was.
    He was just like Lara!
    Lara had been the loveliest baby. Tammy’s sister had been born with a fuzz of dark curls and huge brown eyes that had seemed to take over her entire face. She’d had a smile that could light up a room.
    And here was Henry, and Henry was just the same. The only difference was that this little boy wasn’t smiling. He was seated in his cot beside the window, watching the harbour below. His eyes were wide and wary, but there was no trace of the smile his mother seemed to have been born with. As Tammy and Marc came through the door he turned to see who was entering his world, but there was no hint of expectation in his eyes.
    He looked like a child who had no one.
    The nanny had been reading, Tammy saw. A paperback had been hastily thrust aside and a daytime television programme was blaring. The little boy was wide awake but he was simply sitting in his cot. There wasn’t a toy in sight. His only distraction was the window.
    And the nanny had been watching television and reading. Dear heaven…
    Tammy dropped her pack and was across the room in seconds, gathering the little boy into her arms as if he was her own. As her face nestled into the familiar curls, as she smelled the familiar scent of baby powder and…well, just baby…it was all too much. Until this minute what Marc was telling her had been a fairy tale. But this was real. Henry was real.
    For the first time in years she burst into tears.
    The child didn’t respond. He held himself stiffly against her, his small body rigid. His expression didn’t change at all.
    Slowly Tammy pulled herself together. She was aware that the other adults were watching her without comment—the nanny, who looked about sixteen, and Marc. Their expressions were wary, as if they didn’t know where they’d go from here.
    Which was maybe just as well, as Tammy didn’t know where she was going either.
    There was a vast armchair beside her. She sank into it, perching Henry on her lap so she could look at