The Princess's Christmas Baby Read online

  ‘Always. You’ll need to tell your parents too before the announcement is made.’

  His mouth went flat and his eyes grew dark as he visibly shut down emotionally. ‘No.’

  ‘Lucas. Please. They need to know. I don’t think you quite appreciate the media interest.’

  ‘I’ve read the social media comments. I’m learning.’

  ‘So you’ll understand that your family will be bombarded by journalists. Their social media accounts will be scrutinised. They’ll be followed, hounded. Even if you don’t care what your family thinks about this child, you need to at least warn them about what’s going to happen.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Lucas. Please. It’s not fair.’ He didn’t have to say that his parents hadn’t been fair to him because she knew they hadn’t. She turned round and straddled his lap. ‘If I could erase any of what they did to you, I would. I hope this child will be the balm you need to believe that families can be a good thing.’ His lip curled. She kissed it. ‘I know you don’t want a family, Lucas, but I guess...in some shape or form we will be one.’

  And yet, despite knowing how much he didn’t want a family, she kept having this image in her head of the two of them with a baby and it looked so...perfect. So...everything.

  Impossible.

  He stilled. ‘How? How will we be a family?’

  ‘We’ll work it out.’

  He blinked. Looked at his food then lifted her from his lap and sat her down next to him. There was a strange awkward silence as he filled a glass with orange juice. Did he even want to work it out?

  Then his voice cut through her worried thoughts. ‘Who is Leandro?’

  ‘So you did hear.’ So much for this being a beautiful morning. It felt as if all the happiness she’d been feeling for the last few days was suddenly sullied.

  Lucas stared at the plate of food. ‘Maybe a little.’

  ‘Leandro is in the past.’

  ‘I want to know what happened.’ After the emotionless response about his parents, this heated reply was interesting. He was all or nothing, a roller-coaster of emotions when it came to people he cared for and blankness to those who’d hurt him. Now his eyes blazed, which meant, she realised, he cared a great deal. ‘Is he the one who blindsided you?’

  Not wanting to remember that episode of her life, she blew out a breath. ‘He was a big mistake I’d rather forget.’

  ‘But not enough that you mention him to your father.’

  She inhaled sharply. ‘You heard it all?’

  The lonely bit? The bit about her caring for him? Her heart hammered. He couldn’t... She wouldn’t... She didn’t want him to know how much she liked him, and give him ammunition to hurt her in the future.

  His eyebrows rose. ‘I caught the tail end. Paulo stopped me in the corridor and asked about laundry. Then as he left I heard you talking. I didn’t realise it was with your father. I didn’t want to interrupt. Tell me about Leandro.’

  ‘It’s all been deleted anyway. Now you have to go to work.’

  ‘Tell me, Gigi. I know every time you’re thinking about him because I can see the pain and hurt in your beautiful face. Tell me. No secrets.’

  ‘This is all a secret.’ She waved her hand around the room, finishing with her palm on his chest, wishing she could scream to the world that she’d spent ten wonderful days with Lucas.

  ‘I meant...’ He took hold of her hand. ‘No secrets between us.’

  So there was no escape, and he was right too: he’d been honest about his parents and that had helped her understand so much about him. Maybe, this way, he’d understand why Isola Verde was so important to her and why she was determined to do some good for her people.

  She sighed, wrung her hands together and began. ‘Leandro...was the ultimate life lesson. I met him in Naples at a party. He introduced himself as the son of an old aristocratic family. Good breeding, of course. I liked him. By which I thought he was hot... Oh, the craziness of youth only ever attracted by good looks and witty words. Turned out he was liar and a cheat and he played me.’

  ‘A player played you?’ Lucas’s eyebrows rose. ‘Wow, Gigi. I’m surprised.’

  ‘You and me both. Turned out he was just a social climber who hadn’t been honest about his background. We’d been dating a few months and then out of the blue he proposed. I was shocked, you know? We hadn’t been serious; it had been fun but he wasn’t special to me.’

  She thought back to Lucas’s proposal. Well, hell, they were two completely different scenarios. One empty question but with a backdrop of roses and champagne and a private plane to Paris, the other an off-the-cuff panicked question in a Seattle bedroom with takeaway pizza.

  But even though Lucas hadn’t been wanting her to say yes, his proposal had at least been made with the best intentions. She sighed. ‘When I said no, we were too young, it was too sudden, he became difficult, angry, threw things. Nothing violent towards me, but because of me.’ She shuddered at the memory. ‘This was one time I was relieved to have Maria in the next room. I had him thrown out of the hotel, told him I never wanted to see him again and thought that was the end of it, but it wasn’t.’

  ‘He threatened you? Hurt you?’ Lucas’s hands fisted.

  ‘Not physically. A few weeks later I started to receive calls, no message or voice but replays of our conversations, of our...intimate moments. You know, the things you say when you’re unguarded, when—you know, in the throes of passion.’

  ‘There was a sex tape?’ Lucas’s lip curled and his eyes darkened.

  Humiliation hummed through her. ‘I don’t know if there was a video. I don’t remember anything about a camera...ever. But there was a recording and enough to tie that voice, those...sounds to me. Pretty soon texts came thick and fast, belittling me, repeating things I’d said about my father. Then there was a request for hush money.’

  ‘Blackmail too?’ Lucas looked at her in disbelief but there wasn’t judgement, just shock.

  She nodded, her mouth drying. ‘I paid the first amount, but he wanted more. I refused. Then he said he’d sell the story to the local press, but that he wouldn’t stop there.’

  ‘Total jerk.’ Lucas shook his head. ‘Gigi, I am so sorry this happened to you. Not all men are like that.’

  ‘I know.’ She’d just allowed herself to be duped by the worst sort. ‘I don’t know if the sale was made. I managed to keep it quiet, well—between me, Maria and a big threat of Royal action and a court case. Plus, after a little digging into his background we had a few more things we could use against him. He eventually got the message that we were serious and I haven’t heard from him since.’

  Lucas stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. ‘I am so sorry, Gigi.’

  ‘Me too. I’d come so close to shaming my family, the Crown, the country. Remember, I already had a reputation as a troublemaker and party girl and Papa was at his wits’ end. I was reeling from the lucky escape I’d had by managing to keep it from him, always being on tenterhooks that Leandro would somehow get the recording to him. I didn’t know what to do; my head wasn’t clear for a while. I was broken and felt like I was going around in a daze.

  ‘Then, one day, I went for a drive around the city and passed the beautiful gardens that had been created in my mother’s memory down in the old quarter. There were children playing, people enjoying the flowers and the sunshine, smiling, laughing in a space where she would always be remembered as someone special. She’d done so much for the community and was adored by everyone, and it got me thinking that all I’d ever created was pain and embarrassment. What was my legacy? Trouble, that’s all. It hit me hard then... I didn’t want to be remembered for yet another salacious gossip story; I wanted to create something I could be proud of.’

  Lucas’s eyes lit up as he joined the dots. ‘The hospital.’

  ‘Exactly.’ She no
dded. ‘I dedicated a ton of time and energy to it and I’m damned proud of it. It was much needed and has already made a big difference to people’s lives. And while I hate that portrait in the foyer, it reminds me how far I’ve come.’

  ‘I can’t even...’ Lucas kicked his chair back and stalked across the floor. ‘Where the hell is that scumbag now?’

  ‘Long gone and I don’t care. You shouldn’t either.’

  ‘I want to punch him. I want to... Giada, I am so angry...’

  He was so passionate about defending her, so ardent in his rage for her, it made her blood pound. She caught him and put her hands to his face. ‘Lucas, you are magnificent.’

  ‘I can’t...’ He shook his head, nostrils flaring as he swayed out of her hands. ‘How could anyone treat you like that?’

  ‘Because I let him. Because...’ Her heart stung with the memory of embarrassment, self-hatred and the very sharp wake-up call that she could not be the Silly Princess any longer.

  She’d never told anyone about this before, apart from Maria, of course. But saying it out loud was freeing and meant she could place it firmly in the past behind her. She knew she could entrust it to Lucas. Seeing his reaction, she knew he was on her side. ‘I just wanted to be important to someone.’

  He stared at her, so much empathy and affection in his eyes as he pulled her into his arms, wrapping her tight.

  ‘Hell, Giada, you’re important to me,’ he whispered against her throat.

  ‘Oh, Lucas.’

  No one had ever said anything like that to her before. It was an understanding of who she’d been and how far she’d come. That she was worth something. He saw her, he heard her. He accepted her.

  It was everything.

  Something had shifted between them, something deep and profound. More, she knew it had taken him a lifetime to be able to say those words to someone. And he’d chosen her.

  Her heart stuttered as she took his kisses and his ardent, passionate words.

  And wished, with all her being, she could let herself believe him.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  GIGI SMOOTHED DOWN her dress as they stepped out of the cab in front of Seattle’s famous Polar Club Hotel—the venue for the charity ball—and asked, ‘How do I look?’

  Breathtaking. Lucas held his hand out to steady her in her silver heels. ‘You look radiant and beautiful. And if we weren’t in the middle of Seattle I’d peel your clothes off and make love to you right here.’

  ‘Tempting, although I’d freeze to death.’ She laughed. ‘Seriously, does this dress make me look pregnant?’

  She was wearing an exquisite floor-length gown in the Isola Verdian regal colours of purple and silver, with a shimmering bodice, one shoulder bare, a nipped-in waist and a full skirt. Her hair was pulled up as it was in her portrait and there were diamonds worth hundreds of thousands of dollars dangling from her ears.

  His chest hurt every time he looked at her...a good hurt, an ache he wanted to never wane, whether she was wearing jewels and finery, jeans and his old T-shirt, or absolutely nothing.

  He inhaled the icy night air that was a far cry from the temperate climate where he’d spent the last couple of weeks. But he didn’t give a damn about the weather; his sole focus on getting through this evening when he couldn’t touch her, and without betraying himself to his best friend, because... Secrets.

  They started to climb the white stone steps.

  ‘No way am I commenting because, whatever I say it will be the wrong thing.’ He leaned closer to her. ‘And, for the record, I prefer you wearing nothing apart from me.’

  ‘Lucas!’ she whispered, her cheeks burning. She let go of his hand. ‘We have to behave.’

  ‘What can I say? You’ve unleashed a beast.’ He’d grown too used to having her to himself, of stripping her naked whenever they were able to slip through the secret corridor... Decorum had slipped from his vocabulary.

  But underneath the joky facade his gut was a tight ball of stress. There were so many people buzzing around—people he worked with, people he worked for; there were bound to be questions about what his family crisis had been about and where he’d spent the last two weeks. And he wasn’t sure how he was going to answer any of them.

  Tonight was the end of the bubble they’d been living in for the last few days. Days that had been shaped by work and fun and sharing more than he’d ever shared with anyone else. Weird, really, because he’d never imagined enjoying the intimate life that smacked of family and belonging, but he had. And now reality was crashing down.

  As if she could read his mind, Gigi gave his arm a squeeze. ‘Relax, Lucas, you’re all coiled up. It’ll be fine. Dom won’t suspect a thing. Plus, you’re back in Seattle now. Work tomorrow.’ He wondered if he imagined the flicker of sadness in her eyes, but then she smiled, putting her palm to her chest as they entered the Aurora Dome room amid the loud chatter. ‘Oh, this is lovely.’

  He looked upwards. ‘Almost as impressive as your palace.’

  She followed his gaze to the huge stained-glass domed ceiling that had been lit up in festive colours, her eyes sparkling almost as much as the chandeliers and the crystal glassware on white–linen-covered tables. ‘You haven’t seen us do Royal properly, Lucas. Trust me, that is something to behold. But this is simply stunning. Oh, there’s Max Granger. At least, I think it’s him. He looks very like the man I spoke to on video calls. I need to speak to him about Papa.’

  Wishing they were still back in his house, naked, exploring each other again and again, Lucas followed her through the throng of partygoers towards the tall man loitering by the bar, and shook hands with him as Gigi introduced them.

  Max smiled at Giada. ‘I heard you visited your father today.’

  ‘I went straight to the hospital from the airport. He looks so...vulnerable.’ She nodded, her eyes darkening but her back straight and smile in place. To anyone else she would appear perfectly composed, but Lucas could see she was hiding her pain. ‘I’ve been talking to him, but it’s hard to know if he hears me.’

  ‘All the research says patients respond more positively to treatment if they hear a loved one’s voice,’ the neurosurgeon said. ‘He’s doing well. We have a scan booked first thing tomorrow morning and if all is as good as we hope it is, we can proceed with the tumour surgery as planned on the fifteenth.’

  ‘That is great news. Thank you.’ Her hand fluttered at her throat and he wondered if her veneer of calm was starting to shatter. But she held it together. ‘I’m so sorry to have interrupted your evening with work business, Mr Granger.’

  ‘Not a problem.’ Max smiled reassuringly, then his eye settled on a dark-haired woman in a long green dress walking towards them, and his attention to their conversation seemed to wane. He took a step away. ‘Enjoy the ball, Your Highness,’ he said, his voice low so no one around them could hear. ‘Make sure to save room for the dessert. London Fog cake. You’ll be blown away.’

  ‘How would he know about dessert? We haven’t even had the starters yet.’ Gigi asked once Max had walked away.

  Lucas shrugged. ‘Must have insider info.’

  ‘Who cares? It sounds amazing.’ Gigi rubbed her stomach. ‘I’m definitely having some.’

  Lucas watched her and smiled, straddling the eternally difficult question of whether he should point out to her that when she flattened the fabric of her dress over her abdomen she did indeed look a little...rounder? But a female voice came from behind, sotto voce, saving him from that particular minefield. ‘Excuse me, Princess Giada?’

  Gigi turned, frowning. ‘Yes?’

  The hospital’s new Head of PR—the dark-haired woman who Lucas thought may have distracted Max—stepped forward. ‘I’m Ayanna Franklin. I’ve been dealing with your office regarding your father’s accident.’

  ‘You’re Ayanna! Good to meet you.’ Gigi shook Ayanna’s h
and. ‘Thank you for working so hard to keep this all under wraps. I know you’ve been busy.’

  ‘Learning the ropes, to be honest. I’m new in the role but what with having VIP guests at the hospital and organising this ball I’ve hit the ground running. You have no idea how difficult it is sourcing London Fog cake for this many guests.’ Ayanna grinned. ‘I really hope you love it.’

  ‘I’m sure we will.’ Lucas nodded. ‘Sounds delicious.’

  ‘It certainly does,’ Gigi joined in. ‘Max was just talking about it.’

  ‘Max was?’ Ayanna’s eyes widened in what looked like panic.

  Lucas clarified, ‘Max Granger. Yes. Do you know him?’

  ‘Er...we’ve met. Yes.’ Ayanna’s cheeks flamed and he was left contemplating what was going on between the neurosurgeon and the PR director. Given his own secrets, he pushed it to the back of his mind. None of his business.

  Gigi replied, snapping him out of his thoughts. ‘Well, Ayanna, I can’t thank you enough for helping us at such a difficult time.’

  It astounded him that she was able to be so animated and gracious after a twelve-hour flight followed by two hours at her father’s bedside. She astounded him, full stop.

  Having finished her conversation, Gigi turned to him but something, or rather someone, caught her eye. She raised her hand in a small wave and muttered out the side of her mouth, ‘There’s Logan, our old bodyguard. AKA your new trauma surgeon. I can’t remember whether I’m supposed to know him or pretend I’ve never seen him before... I’ve got baby brain. Oh, he hasn’t seen me anyway. Maybe I’ll catch up with him later.’

  ‘How is it that I work here and yet you know more people than I do?’ Lucas laughed as he scanned the crowd, seeing nothing but a sea of faces, suits and sparkling jewels. The chatter was reaching epic volumes against the backdrop of an orchestra playing classical music. There was an excited buzz and he had no doubt the hospital charity was going to raise a lot of money tonight. ‘Gigi?’

  He waited for a response but she’d paled a little and her whole body seemed to freeze. She touched Lucas’s arm. ‘There’s Dom. Should we...?’