Stealing Kisses With a King (Kings of Carolina #3)- Sylvie Stewart Page 0,52

that case, I may as well abdicate to that woman who had eight babies at once.”

“On the contrary.” It was almost as if he were enjoying my reaction, which only made me frown again.

“You already had the parent thing down when you were crowned.”

“You don’t need to be a parent, Malcolm. You only need two things: You need to truly love the people and want what’s best for them. And you need the humility to know when to make the difficult decisions for the good of all. The rest will come.”

I inhaled deeply, letting this settle in my mind. The first part was easy. I’d always loved my nation and its people. I’d seen them in joy, in hardship, in pain, in selflessness, and there was nothing more admirable than the perseverance they demonstrated over and over. When it came down to it, I welcomed the opportunity to offer what I could to ensure their wellbeing. As long as I could also count on the wisdom and experience of others to accomplish it.

The humility, on the other hand… that had never been one of my strong suits, as my father knew only too well.

I exhaled and met his eye again. “I hope you’re right, Father.”

“I usually am.”

It was my turn to chuckle.

“I am not a caveman!” I shouted to the open sky.

“Excellent,” Alice responded, flipping a page in her notebook. “I really felt your conviction that time.”

It was all I could do not to smile at how seriously she was taking this one. I’d finally received an explanation of the “old brain” item on her list that involved understanding the fight, flight, or freeze instinct when one was faced with danger. Alice contended that these were merely carry-overs from man’s earliest years when danger came in the form of a hungry lion rather than a room full of people waiting to hear you speak. There was some merit to it, I supposed, but Alice having me stand on a hilltop near the edge of our country estate shouting, “I am not a caveman!” was going a bit overboard, if you asked me. Yet I did it regardless and was rewarded with one of her satisfied smiles.

“Now for some belly breathing,” she instructed from her spot seated on the grass beside me. Dressed in a green sweater over a collared shirt and a pair of black trousers, she was perched with her legs folded beside her and her back straight as she consulted her notes. The primness of her posture tempted me to lay her down on the grass and mess her up a little. She’d look quite fetching with her hair wild and peppered with blades of stray grass.

Yet, I resisted, knowing we only had a short time before I was expected at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new women’s shelter.

“Why do I always feel like I’m in one of those birthing classes when we do this?”

She ignored me, as I’d known she would. “In through the nose. Let your diaphragm expand.” She held a hand to her stomach and inhaled. I just watched her breasts rise like a common pervert. “Out through the mouth.” She exhaled slowly and flicked her gaze to me when she was done. “Your turn.”

I acquiesced, even though I found it a bit silly. What was wrong with regular breathing? It had kept me alive this long, hadn’t it?

We ran through the exercise a few more times until she deemed me ready to embark on this newest challenge. I didn’t have to tell her how nervous I was; I’m certain it was clear in the way I rubbed my palms over my suit trousers and tapped my foot on the floor of the BMW as Mattias drove us to the shelter twenty minutes later.

Victoria had been dispatched with some errand to the Bernards, and she’d been surprisingly without complaint or question as Alice and I had departed on yet another assignment without her. I only hoped she’d continue to cooperate until I convinced Alice to stay and found an alternate arrangement for her.

“We have some extra security meeting us there, sir, given the area,” Andrew informed me from the front passenger seat. This was his way of saying he didn’t approve of me making an appearance in the dodgy end of Dunwall’s Easternmost section.

Alice placed a reassuring hand on my knee, something she’d never have dared to do before our miraculous kiss the other day. It worked to calm the heightened pace of my heartbeat,