Prince: Royal Romantic Suspense (Billionaires in Disguise: Maxence Book 5) Blair Babylon (ebook reader screen txt) 📖

swarmed him. They clung to him like squirrels on a tree, scampering up and down his legs as he tried to talk to the good sisters Ndaya and Disanka, until finally he gave up and played with the girls until they were so exhausted they would nap.

It was during one of these playtimes when Max was lying on the floor and the toddler girls were leaping off the couch and landing on him, that Sister Ndaya said to Dree in English, “Père Maxence is very good with the little ones, no?”

“Oh! I didn’t know you spoke English, too! Yes, I was on a mission with Catholic Charities up in Nepal with him, and the little kids there loved him, too.”

Ndaya and Disanka nodded to each other, and then Ndaya said to Dree, “When the man came and told us we would be going on a trip to see him, I had hoped that we would be seeing Père Maxence ordained as a priest. A man of Christ like Père Maxence should be a priest, not a deacon.”

“Oh?” Dree asked, her heart pulling in her chest.

“We have worked with him for years. Most men with such a great vocation would have been ordained long before this, even those who are applying to join the Society of Jesus. Jesuits have a longer path than parish priests, but the men are ordained as priests before they take their final vows to the Society of Jesus. It is not fair that they have not allowed Père Maxence to take Holy Orders.”

“He’s kind of important around here, too. I think he just had some stuff here that he had to finish up before he could take the sacrament.”

Disanka shook her head sadly. “It’s not fair. Père Moses has often talked to us that he has never seen such a godly man as Père Maxence, and he thinks it is a great error of judgment that he has not been allowed ordination yet. We all pray for it daily because Père Maxence would be a great priest. A great man, a great priest.”

The toddlers climbed up on the sofa with their chubby knees and hands and, one at a time, hurled themselves into the air, arms and legs spread like a sweet little starfish flying through space. Maxence caught each one in his strong arms before she crash-landed on his stomach, usually feet-first. Then, he set that little girl on her feet, and she sprinted back to scramble back onto the couch while Max caught the other one before she pile-drove him in the stomach with her adorable heels.

Dree liked kids, and watching Maxence play with them was just stinkin’ cute.

Dree asked the sisters, “You think he has a true calling to the priesthood?”

Ndaya widened her eyes at Dree. “Have you ever heard him speak the word of God during the Mass?”

Dree looked back at Maxence’s divine patience with the toddlers who appeared to be trying to stomp him to death. “Yeah, I have.”

“Then, you know why.”

Yeah, she did.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Prayer III

Maxence

Maxence spread his arms out from his sides and opened his heart and his soul to God.

A small spotlight cast a cone of white light upon the crucifix nailed to the wall in the dim closet. His clothes hung on the rails on the sides, forming a fluttering tunnel that led to his tiny altar that emanated scents of lavender and clean linen. The closed door behind him blocked out the rest of the world and any shuddering sounds.

The carpet was rough under his bare knees.

The dark air was cool on his naked skin.

He was as vulnerable as the day he was born, and his heart begged God or Jesus or Mary and all the saints to intercede, desperate for clarity or strength or anything else they had to offer

He delved into his soul, looking for answers.

His fate was in their hands.

His faith was in their hands.

Still, he found nothing.

Maybe that’s what they had given him.

Maybe the nothingness was God’s answer.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Taking Notes

Dree

Sometime after midnight, Dree’s phone buzzed.

The contact name was Auggie, and it read, Take notes.

Dree washed her face and applied lipstick. She was still wearing her work clothes from earlier, which meant a sexy-professional dress.

She’d finally learned her way through the palace to Maxence’s apartment.

At his door, she checked to see if anybody was in the gilded hallway and listened in case somebody was coming around a corner. When the air was quiet and still, she slipped the key from her little satchel-bag and clicked the lock.

Even though the door looked impossibly heavy, it opened to her light touch.

She stepped into the dim room.

Bright light came from the open door and hallway behind her. Her pear-shaped shadow slithered on the thick carpeting.

Small lamps no more luminous than candlelight flickered on the piano and coffee table, but they were wan stars in the darkness. A few more always danced in his bedroom.

She took a few more steps into the room.

The door behind her slammed and clicked, locking.

A force impacted between her shoulder blades, and she fell forward onto her hands and knees. A breeze flipped her skirt up to her waist, baring her thighs and ass, and the cool breeze from the window caressed her skin.

She looked back and caught a glimpse of Maxence’s strong jaw and broad shoulders lined with candlelight. He’d stripped his shirt off, and the tattoo on his forearm with Monaco’s red and white diamond shield at the base pointed down toward his wrist.

Oh, jeez. He was going to cram himself inside her. She didn’t brace herself but tried to open and relax, even though she was cringing inside.

She wasn’t even close to saying her safe word, though. For weeks, Max had been busy with events in the evenings. He’d barely had time at the office to rip her panties off and stroke her once or twice, all to frustrate her with no release. Dree wanted anything