Theseus Discovers His Heir (The Kalliakis Crown, 2),Used

Product DescriptionTHE PRINCE'S SECRET LOVE CHILD!Shocking news has rocked the Mediterranean Principality of Agon. Prince Theseussecond in line to the throneis rumored to have fathered a secret love child.Reports surfaced the moment stunning royal biographer Joanne Brooks was hired to memorialize King Astraeus's reign. It seems she's brought more than pens and paper!Witnesses suggest that five years ago, our onetime bad boy prince traveled the world in disguise as engineer Theo Petakis and met Joanne. This reporter wants to know how Ms. Brooks will react when our commanding prince wants to claim his child and his bride!About the AuthorMichelle Smart is a Publishers Weekly bestselling author with a slighttosevere coffee addiction. A book worm since birth, Michelle can usually be found hiding behind a paperback, or if its an author she really loves, a hardback. Michelle lives in rural Northamptonshire in England with her husband and two young Smarties. When not reading or pretending to do the housework she loves nothing more than creating worlds of her own. Preferably with lots of coffee on tap. www.michellesmart.com.Excerpt. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.Joanne Brookes covered her mouth to stifle a yawn and blinked rapidly to keep her eyes open. She was quite tempted to shove the thick pile of papers aside and have a nap at the small kitchen table, but she needed to read and digest as much as she could.The floor creaked behind her and she turned to see Toby poke his head around the door of the tiny living space.'What are you doing up, you little monkey?' she asked with a smile.'I'm thirsty.''You've got water in your room.'He gave an impish grin and padded over to her, his tooshort pyjamas displaying his bare ankles. He hoisted himself up onto her lap and pressed his warm face into her neck.'Do you have to go away?'Wrapping her arms tightly around his skinny frame, Jo dropped a kiss in Toby's thick black hair. 'I wish I didn't.'There was no point in explaining the finer details of why she had to leave for the island of Agon in the morning. Toby was four years old and any kind of rationalising normally went right over his head.'Is ten days a long time?' he asked.'It is to start with, but before you know it the time will have flown by and I'll be home.' She wouldn't lie to him, and could only dress her departure up into something bearable. Her stomach had been in knots all day, knitted so tightly she hadn't been able to eat a thing.They'd only spent two nights apart since Toby's birth. Under normal circumstances she wouldn't even have considered going. It would have been a flatout no.'And just think what fun you'll have with Uncle Jonathan,' she added, injecting a huge dose of positivity into her voice.'And Aunty Cathy?''Yesand Aunty Cathy. And Lucy.'Her brother and his wife lived in the local town with their yearold daughter. Toby adored them almost as much as they adored him. Even knowing that he would be in safe, loving hands, Jo hated the thought of being apart from him for such a long time.But Giles, her boss, had been desperate. Fiona Samaras, their inhouse biographer, who was working on the commemorative biography of the King of Agon, had been struck down with acute appendicitis. Jo was only a copywriter, but that didn't mattershe was the only other person who spoke Greek in the specialist publishing house she worked for. She wasn't completely fluent, but she knew enough to translate the research papers into English and make it readable.If the biography wasn't complete by a week on Wednesday there wouldn't be time for it to be copyedited and proofread and sent to the printers, who were waiting to print five thousand English language copies and courier them to the Agon palace in time for the gala.The gala, exactly three weeks away, was to be a huge affair, celebrating fifty years of King Astraeus's reign. If they messed up the commemorative bio