Spotlight & Giveaway: His Majesty’s Hidden Heir by Lucy Monroe

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Lucy Monroe to HJ!

Hi Lucy and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, His Majesty’s Hidden Heir!

 
Hi! It’s so great to be back on HJ. Thanks for having me!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Prince Konstantin had to let go of the only woman who ever really mattered because of a business marriage contract he signed for the sake of his royal family and their country. Now, the contract has been nullified and he’s finally found her again. Only, he’s shocked to discover Emma has a son who looks just like him.

Emma despises what Kon did to her, but she believes her son deserves to know his dad. And the prince isn’t all bad, even if she’ll never trust him again.

Can Konstantin build a relationship with his child and woo the woman whose love he betrayed for the sake of duty?
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

She stomped back into the living room and threw the court papers at him. “No restraining order? Then what is that? A bedtime story?”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

When I started writing this book, a friend of mine learned that most of it was set in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She’d lived there herself and still craved the chiles that are grown locally. Of course, loving chile peppers myself, I had to go on the hunt for them to see if maybe they were exported. And I found a jar of them at Costco of all places. Yes, they are delicious and they make for some very yummy dishes. I always do a lot of research when I’m writing, but I hadn’t expected that research to include cooking!

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

Kon is attracted Emma because she’s so forthright and certain of what she wants to do. Emma really enjoys the prince’s sense of romance and it’s easy, later for her to mistake that for something it isn’t. Or at least they are both convinced it isn’t … because for him, love simply cannot hold sway in his life. Their sexual chemistry is through the roof, but they really enjoy each other’s company and that gives them a place to start rebuilding later. When sex is so far off the table as far as Emma is concerned, it might as well be sitting in a timeout on another continent.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

This scene was really emotional for me, but it also made me laugh a little. Emma is having a well deserved meltdown, as she realizes what her own fears have cost her son. But Kon’s reaction to her feeling guilty for *not* dating was kind of priceless too.

Emma had her own burden of guilt she was just coming face-to-face with. “I could have built a family for him. Mrs. Jensen wanted to be my friend but I wouldn’t even call her by her first name. It was Claire. I never used it. Not once. She needed a friend too.”
But Emma had been too raw with loss to make friends with her employer. Later, she’d built walls around her heart she hadn’t even realized were there.
“Because the people you had trusted with your heart crushed it.” Kon’s expression was as if light had dawned over the horizon to illuminate and turn dark, impenetrable shapes into something recognizable. “Your parents, me… We let you down so badly you didn’t trust anyone else.”
“And hurt my son in the process.” She gulped in air, trying to control the tears. “I thought I’d got it together. That I hadn’t let myself become that cynical, broken soul. But all the time I was so proud of my inner peace, I was that woman and I kept everyone who could have given Mickey a sense of security at a distance.”
“Mishka had you. He was safe. He was loved.”
“But he was worried!” She pressed her fist against Kon’s chest. “I should have dated Mr. Leeds. Mickey adores him.”
“No, he’s not the right man for you,” Kon slotted in with speed.

Readers should read this book….

Because even though you’ve got a billionaire prince with a son he’s never met, both Kon and Emma’s emotions are so relatable. It’s the kind of romance I love to read and so far, early reviews are saying readers feel the same. It’s about two people you can’t help caring about and their truly adorable son.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I’m currently working on the next book in my PNR series, Children of the Moon. DESERT MOON is set in Regency Era Egypt and it’s got archeology, shape changers and references to Ancient Egypt.

My next release is the third book in the Princess by Royal Decree miniseries, THE COST OF THEIR ROYAL FLING (Feb 22, 2022 Harlequin Presents), unless I bring out DESERT MOON first.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: Signed copy of Queen by Royal Appointment

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Although I am known for doing a lot of international travel, Santa Fe is one of the cities I’ve always wanted to visit. Because of limits on travel had to cancel my research trip there for this book. However, I plan to go when I can. Where’s someplace people might not expect you would want to visit, but you do?

 
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Excerpt from His Majesty’s Hidden Heir:

That night as she and Kon tucked Mickey in, he said, “Now there’s someone to take care of you, Mom.” He smiled up at his father with trust she was used to seeing doled out only in her direction. “You’ll always watch out for us, right, Dad?”
“Da. I promise you with all that I am.” Kon’s voice rang with the sincerity and permanence of a vow.
Hearing her son use that comfort-seeking phrase toward someone else went through Emma with a painful jolt.
It was hard to relinquish her spot as his only mainstay, but even more painful was the realization Mickey had needed to know she had backup. And she’d never given him that.
Fighting emotions she could not cope with right then, she kissed her son good-night and told him she loved him.
“Love you too, Mom. Love you, Dad.”
“I love you too, Mishka,” Kon promised as he tucked the blankets just a little tighter around him. Then he leaned down and kissed Mickey’s forehead before standing. “See you in the morning.”
“Or in the night if I have a bad dream, right?”
“Absolutely. Your mom and I are just across the hall.” He made it sound like they were sharing a room, which they were not, but it was part of that illusion they both seemed intent on building around her.
A full-on family with all the connections.
Mickey nodded sleepily and turned to his side, contentment coming off him in waves.
Emma stumbled from his room, headed for her own.
“Emma.”
She stopped at Kon’s voice, but did not turn around. “What?”
“I thought we could spend some time together.”
“Not tonight.” Her voice caught and she knew the tears she was fighting were too close to the surface.
“Emma, what is the matter? It was a good day, was it not?” Kon’s hand landed on her shoulder.
Emma shuddered, that small connection more than her starving senses could handle.
He turned her, oh, so gently, his expression perplexed. “What is it, Emma moi?”
“You used to call me that all the time. But I’m not yours anymore, Kon.”
“I think you have always been mine. And I have always been yours.” He said it like he really believed his own words.
Only they could not be true.
She laughed, the sound too close to a sob for comfort. “Your legion of lovers would say otherwise.”
“No legion and not one of them was a lover. I had sex partners and if could change that now, I would.” His brown eyes were dark with some kind of intense emotion.
Maybe he did regret sleeping with other women, though she didn’t know why he should. They hadn’t been together. There had been no promises between them, not after Kon had evicted Emma from his life.
“Do you think it matters that you didn’t give them your heart?” He’d said that like it made all the difference, but it didn’t make any difference. Not to her. “You never gave me that either.”
The only thing that made her special in his life was that she’d given birth to his son. Emma needed to remember that, or she was going to get her heart shattered all over again.
“I think the only thing that matters is what happens now. We cannot change the past, no matter how much we may wish we could.”
She had no trouble believing her Prince genuinely wished things had gone differently. He already loved Mickey and Kon had missed out on almost five years of his life.
“You would have loved being a dad from day one, even I can see that,” Emma had no problem acknowledging.
“You and Mishka are the only ones who matter.”
But Kon was wrong about that. “I should have given him more family.”
“What?” he asked, sounding genuinely shocked. “Emma, you are an amazing mom.”
“I let my own insecurities stop me from providing my son with what he needed,” she admitted with shame. “That’s not amazing. That’s cowardly.”
“No.” Kon jerked his head in a negative motion, his expression filled with denial. “If there is a woman who is less a coward, I do not know her.”
The tears fell then. Because Emma knew he was wrong. Unable to speak, she just shook her head.
Kon made a sound like his patient understanding had lost the fight with his need to act, and then he was picking her up.
She gasped her shock, but it came out choked with her tears.
His expression grim, Kon asked, “Your room, or mine?”
Even if she knew why he was asking, she couldn’t have answered. Emma was too busy having a meltdown. She never cried. Never. She meditated. She did yoga. Emma did not lose it, emotionally, but right now? She was definitely losing it.
And instead of running in the other direction like a smart man would have, Kon was throwing himself into it like he could stand between her and her own emotional pain.
“Mine, then,” he said, decisively. “It has been soundproofed. Mishka will not hear you crying.”
Emma didn’t ask why the master bedroom was soundproofed, only grateful that her son would not be woken by the sobs she didn’t seem able to stifle.
Kon carried her into his room toward a butter yellow leather sofa near the tall windows. They overlooked the gorgeous pool area the three of them had spent time in after lunch. She’d been laughing and full of a sense of freedom, not being Mickey’s only caretaker then, not the blubbering mess she was now.
Emma wouldn’t have blamed him if he dumped her on the sofa and retreated, but Kon sat down without letting her go, settling Emma in his lap.
And she let him.
His arms were steady bands around her, his solid chest right there for her to rest her head against. “Tell me what is going through your mind to upset you so much,” he insisted.
“Don’t you see?” she implored him. “I was afraid to let anyone in and because of that, Mickey didn’t have the people in his life he needed.”
“I don’t understand.” Kon’s brows drew together in a frown of confusion.
“He had no grandparents, no aunts and uncles.”
Kon’s gorgeous features were cast with guilt, showing just who he thought was at fault. Him. “But that was not your fault.”
But it wasn’t entirely his either. Emma had her own burden of guilt she was just coming face-to-face with. “I could have built a family for him. Mrs. Jensen wanted to be my friend but I wouldn’t even call her by her first name. It was Claire. I never used it. Not once. She needed a friend too.”
But Emma had been too raw with loss to make friends with her employer. Later, she’d built walls around her heart she hadn’t even realized were there.
“Because the people you had trusted with your heart crushed it.” Kon’s expression was as if light had dawned over the horizon to illuminate and turn dark, impenetrable shapes into something recognizable. “Your parents, me… We let you down so badly you didn’t trust anyone else.”
“And hurt my son in the process.” She gulped in air, trying to control the tears. “I thought I’d got it together. That I hadn’t let myself become that cynical, broken soul. But all the time I was so proud of my inner peace, I was that woman and I kept everyone who could have given Mickey a sense of security at a distance.”
“Mishka had you. He was safe. He was loved.”
“But he was worried!” She pressed her fist against Kon’s chest. “I should have dated Mr. Leeds. Mickey adores him.”
“No, he’s not the right man for you,” Kon slotted in with speed. “He’s too young for you. You have nothing in common with him.”
“He’s closer in age to me than you are.” She had no idea if she had anything in common with the preschool teacher, or not. Emma hadn’t allowed him to get close enough to find out. Even as a friend.
“Mishka has grandparents, an aunt, two uncles. We will bring them all into his life. I promise you.”
“But he should have had other people all along.”
“Stop this. Emma, your tears…no.” Kon sounded nearly panicked. “You will stop crying and worrying about the past. Mishka is a well-adjusted, happy child. Stop beating yourself up.”
She’d never heard him less than fully confident. Emma would have laughed at him instructing her to stop crying if she could have.
He was so arrogant and so very clearly out of his depth right then.
“But look how he is looking to you for reassurance now.” It shamed her to admit, but that still hurt.
“Because you have allowed it. Your love for our son has enabled you to see beyond my monumental mistakes and allow me into his life. You gave him a father and now he has both of us to give him security, but only because your generous heart made that possible.”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

The prince is in for a shocking revelation in this secret baby romance by USA TODAY bestselling author Lucy Monroe!

The mother of his child…

…and wearing his crown?

Prince Konstantin can’t forget Emma Carmichael, who vanished after a wedding contract forced him to end their relationship. A surprise meeting five years later shocks Konstantin—Emma has a son. Unmistakably his son.

Emma wants Konstantin in their son’s life—yet she’s wary. She’d had no choice but to walk away; his family hadn’t deemed her worthy of being his princess. But as their reunion stokes the flames of their passion, can she trust that this time their bond is strong enough to prove them all wrong?
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Meet the Author:

With more than 8 million copies of her books in print worldwide, award winning and USA Today bestseller Lucy Monroe has published over 75 books and had her stories translated for sale all over the world. While she writes multiple subgenres of romance, all of her books are sexy, deeply emotional and adhere to the concept that love will conquer all. A passionate devotee of romance, she adores sharing her love for the genre with her readers.
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