Royal Holiday Baby (15 page)

Kicking inside her, the baby must have felt her excitement as Tina made her secret shopping mission on the windy day. She bought a couple new bras, more panties, two long-sleeved blouses, a black cardigan and a green pullover sweater, a pair
of those vile maternity pants and a black dress that almost made her look sexy.

Glancing at her cell phone, she winced at the time and knew she would need to rush to not only arrive home before Zach, but also re-do herself.

Her arms full of shopping bags, she stepped outside the department store. A gust of wind caught her cap and whipped it away. Swearing under her breath, she chased it, but it slipped through her fingers. She watched in futility as it whipped down the street.

Shrugging, she raked her fingers through her hair and looked for a cab. No one would recognize her. It wasn't as if she was wearing a tiara. If she could only get a bloody cab. This was when staff came in handy. She waved her hand for a few moments, then decided to return to the department store for help.

“Excuse me,” she said, lifting her sunglasses to the top of her head as she spoke to the woman at the information desk. “Could you please help me get a cab?”

The woman tore her gaze from some sort of gossip magazine. “Oh, sure,” she said and stared at Tina for a long moment. She glanced down at the magazine then back at Tina.

Tina felt a terrible sinking sensation.

“You're the princess,” the woman yelled. “You're Princess Valentina and you're pregnant!”

Tina gave a smile that for her was more of a cringe. “Pleasure to meet you,” she said in a low voice. “Now could you please help me get a cab?”

“Oh, of course, your Highness,” the woman said, quickly standing. “Would you mind giving me an autograph? I've never met a real princess before.”

“A pen?” Tina asked, desperate to escape. The information clerk immediately supplied one and the magazine.

Tina couldn't bring herself to sign a copy of the rag sheet that had ratted her out. “Perhaps a piece of your establishment's stationary?”

The woman blinked. “Oh, okay,” she said and pulled out a notepad with the store's logo. “My name's Lola.”

Using the careful penmanship she'd been taught at a young age, Tina wrote Lola's name and her own signature. “There,” she said and smiled. “Now, about that cab?”

It seemed to take forever, but a cab finally appeared outside the doors of the department store. Just as Tina walked to the door, two men walked inside the store and approached her, one aiming a camera at her.

“Princess Valentina, the official word from the palace is that you're on a well-deserved sabbatical but that you will return to Chantaine soon.”

“How do you do?” she said, going into royal mode despite her casual appearance. “I wish I could talk, but I'm in a bit of a hurry. Good day,” she said and walked forward.

The two men stepped in front of her.

“Begging your pardon, Princess, but you're clearly—” The man paused, waving his hand vaguely in the direction of her belly.

Bloody hell,
she was going to be in trouble from all ends. “Yes, you're right. My official statement is—” She paused a half beat and smiled. “I've swallowed a watermelon seed and look how she's grown.”

“She,” the reporter echoed. “A girl. Who's the father? Is it Zachary Logan?”

“I must go,” she said. “Please step aside. I can tell you're a gentleman. Surely you would respect a woman who has swallowed a watermelon seed.”

The reporter smiled. “Let her go, Rick. We've got our scoop. Good luck, Princess. Don't be a stranger.”

“Not bloody likely,” she muttered under her breath as she
stepped into the cab. She wondered who was going to kill her first. Zach or her brother.

 

Zach pulled into the underground parking lot of his apartment and stepped into the elevator. Looking forward to seeing Tina, he leaned against the inner wall and cleared out a few text messages on his BlackBerry. Once he walked through his apartment door, he was leaving everything else behind.

The elevator doors whooshed open and Zach saw a commotion in the lobby. Several people rushed into the elevator.

“Glad I got out of that,” one man said.

“Me too,” the woman said, rubbing her forehead. “Did you hear what they were talking about? Something about a princess staying here.”

Zach's gut knotted.

The man shook his head. “Now that could be one royal pain in the ass for the rest of us,” he joked.

Sucking in a sharp breath of air, Zach bided his time until he could get off the elevator. What the hell had happened today? Was Tina okay? Had she escaped the melee downstairs? He glanced at his phone again and there were no messages from her.

The elevator finally arrived at his floor. Walking onto his floor, he held his breath, wondering if the press would be waiting outside his apartment door. A sliver of relief shot through him when he didn't see a soul. He moved quickly to his apartment, unlocked the door and stepped inside. He immediately locked the deadbolt behind him.

Jazz music played in the background. A second later, Tina stepped into the hallway, wearing a black dress and heels. As soon as her gaze met his, she shot him a huge smile. Her eyes sparkled.

“Surprise. Italian food will be delivered within thirty minutes.”

Distracted by how beautiful she looked, but not quite able to rid himself of the image of the crowd in the lobby. “You look great, but I'm not sure Italian is in our future. The apartment lobby's a madhouse. I don't know how it happened, but the press has found you.”

Her smile fell. “Bloody hell. I should have known that reporter wouldn't let me off so easily.”

Zach blinked. “Reporter?”

Tina smiled, but it looked more like a grimace. “I had a little surprise today when I went shopping.”

“Tell me about it,” he said, getting a bad feeling.

“Everything went fine until I decided to leave,” she said. “It was windy. My cap flew off. I had to get help getting a cab. A reporter and a camera man appeared out of nowhere, the way they always do. It all went downhill from there.”

“How much did you tell him?”

Her cell phone began to ring. Even he knew that particular ring tone. It was her brother.

“Oh, bloody hell,” she whispered. “This could ruin our dinner.”

“I
guess I should answer it,” Tina said, oozing reluctance as the phone went into its second cycle of ringing.

“Let me talk to him,” Zach said.

Tina shook her head and walked toward her purse resting on the couch. “That's not a good idea. The two of you need a proper introduction first.”

She picked up the phone and punched the send button. “Stefan, how are you?”

Zach could hear the man's voice from across the room.

“Yes, I guess the news may be out. I didn't expect you to hear so quickly,” she said.

The man's loud voice continued.

“Yes, I realize the announcement wasn't optimal, but it was going to happen sometime,” she said. “And I didn't exactly call it a pregnancy. My official explanation was that I swallowed a watermelon seed.” She met Zach's gaze and shot him a mischievous smile.

He couldn't hold back a chuckle at the image of Tina making such a statement.

She suddenly frowned. “Of course, I'm not trying to make you look like a fool.”

The distress on her face put all his protective instincts on alert. He moved closer to her and gestured for her to hand over the phone.

She shook her head and lifted her hand. “Stefan, I meant no disrespect. I was caught off guard and attempted to use humor to defuse the situation.”

Refusing to allow her brother to berate her, he put his hand over hers. “Give me the phone, sweetheart,” he said firmly.

She took a breath and surrendered the phone. Stefan was yelling. Zach counted to ten, twenty, thirty. Finally, even the crown prince decided he needed oxygen.

“Have you said enough for now?” Zach drawled.

He heard a harsh intake of breath and a muffled oath. “I was speaking to my sister,” Stefan said. “I wish to speak to my sister.”

“Not right now,” Zach said. “You've more than had your say. She's in a delicate condition and she doesn't need to have anyone yelling at her.”

“Who in hell do you think you are to keep me from my sister?” Stefan demanded.

“I'm the father of her child,” Zach said. “My job is to protect her. You're a prince. Tell your PR people to handle this. You've got better things to do.”

“I don't want her reputation besmirched,” Stefan said.

“I appreciate that,” Zach said. “I'll do everything to protect her and the baby.”

Silence followed. “You realize now that the press knows where she is, it will be more difficult than ever to protect her. How do you plan to do that? I could send over her guard….”

“Not necessary,” Zach said. “I'll be packing her up and taking her to the ranch no later than tomorrow morning, and I'll assign one of my men to watch over her when I'm not available.”

“The palace would be a much better place for her. We're equipped to deal with crowds and publicity, and there's a physician available twenty-four hours a day.”

“Tina is staying here,” Zach said firmly.

“For now,” Stefan said, and those two little words raised Zach's hackles.

He refused to rise to Stefan's dig. “I think we've covered the essentials. Feel free to call me if you need anything else.”

“I'll call my sister directly if I need to talk to her,” Stefan shot back.

“Just don't upset her. Bye now,” he said.

“Wait,” Stefan said, some of the imperious tone fading from his voice. “Is it really a girl?”

Zach smiled. “Yes, it's a girl, and she's a kicker.”

“That must be why Tina calls her Kiki,” Stefan said.

“How'd you know that?”

“From the news,” Stefan retorted, not bothering to hide his displeasure.

Zach stifled a chuckle. “I'm glad we had this little discussion. Bye,” he said and turned off the phone and handed it to Tina.

“You're technically supposed to wait until Stefan ends the conversation,” she said.

“Yeah, well, he technically shouldn't act like such a jerk to you.”

“He really is under a lot of pressure,” she said. “Most people don't know it, but my father was ill for several years. The advisers insisted we keep it secret because many people
would have considered Stefan too young.” She sighed. “This is terrible to say, but I wish he would get married.”

Zach lifted an eyebrow. “So you think marriage can solve his problems, but not yours?”

“
I
don't have his kind of problems.” She glanced at her cell phone. “The food should be here by now.”

“Like I told you, the delivery guy may need a special escort to get through that lobby.”

Her eyebrows knitted together in frustration. “Maybe if I put on a cap and—”

“No way,” he said.

“This is my last night here. I wanted it to be…special,” she said.

Something inside him squeezed tight at her admission and he rolled some solutions through his mind. “Give me the number of the restaurant. I'll see what I can do.”

It took a few calls, but Zach arranged to meet the delivery man in the underground parking garage. Taking the elevator all the way down, he adjusted his ball cap and sunglasses. He walked into the garage and spotted a vehicle with the name of the Italian restaurant and walked toward it, cash in hand.

“Thanks for meeting me down here,” Zach said.

The young man glanced around nervously. “I tried to lose them—”

Three men stepped out of the shadows, one armed with a camera and bright light. Zach held his hand up to his eyes, squinting. “What the—”

“Mr. Zachary Logan, we're with the
Worldly News.
Tell us, are you the father of Princess Valentina's baby? Are you planning to get married? Is it true that you kidnapped her from France? And there have been rumors she's having twins—”

“Twins,” Zach repeated in alarm. “Hell, no. And the rest is none of your business,” he said and headed for the elevator.

The men stepped in front of him. “Mr. Logan—”

“You need to get out of my way. This garage is exclusively for the residents of this building. Do I need to call the cops?”

“That delivery driver isn't a resident of this building,” one of the reporters said.

“He brought me Italian food. Did you bring me Italian food? No. Get out,” he said and shoved them aside as he walked into the elevator.

His temper rising with each floor he passed, he was ready to growl when he arrived on his floor and entered his apartment.

“I don't see how you stand it,” he said as he dumped the bags of food on the dining room table. “Damn bloodsuckers were waiting for me in the parking garage.”

Alarm shot across Tina's face. “What bloodsuckers?”

“The press or pretend reporters. I had to threaten them before they would let me get back on the elevator, for Pete's sake.”

Tina bit her lip. “This was what I was always afraid of. Your life is totally different from mine. I knew you would find the lack of privacy a terrible invasion. To some extent, it will never change. It's a bit worse now because I'm pregnant and unmarried and Stefan insisted on trying to keep it secret, but dealing with the press and being in the public eye will always be at least a part of my life.”

“Not if you spend most of your time at my ranch,” he said.

She gave a sad smile. “I won't hide out forever. Although it was time for me to not be the only royal making most of the public appearances, I'm not a hermit. I crave that feeling of accomplishment I get when I can be a part of helping.”

“What about the accomplishment of raising our child?”

“That will be part of raising our child. I want our child to
see the joy of helping others. She won't be able to do that if I stay locked up at the ranch.”

Frustration trickled through him like acid. Although he could understand part of what she said, the idea of her or their baby being exposed to the dirty paws of the paparazzi on a regular basis made his stomach churn.

She moved closer to him and lifted her hand to his arm. “I understand that this is difficult for you. You weren't raised in a fish bowl. Do you remember when I told you that I hadn't planned to tell you that I was pregnant? This is why.”

His gut twisted at her words. She made an important point that he didn't want to be true. She was from a different world, and her different world wasn't just going to go away. “I'll figure something out,” he said and pulled her against him. “I'm good at that. Trust me.”

 

Tina returned to the ranch and continued to gestate. She badgered Hildie until the housekeeper taught her how to cook some of Zach's favorite dishes. Zach visited every weekend, and she felt closer to him. Then he would seem to draw away from her. Tina suspected his conflicting feelings were related to his former wife and child. The knowledge made her feel helpless, but if Tina even hinted at bringing up the subject, Zach immediately shut down. Tina felt as if they weren't making any progress.

Thanksgiving passed and she became larger than she'd ever dreamed possible. Despite the fact that she grew tired more quickly, Tina organized a charity drive for local families—parents, grandparents and children. She was thrilled with the response. So often at Christmas, only children were remembered, but Tina wanted all ages to experience the happiness of Christmas even if it was only in a small way.

“You're doing too much,” Hildie said as Tina helped the
housekeeper bake Christmas cookies on a Friday afternoon while a chicken dish simmered in a large Crock-Pot.

“I told you before. I can't just sit like a hen on an egg,” Tina said.

“Humph. At least it's Friday. Maybe Zach will get you to calm down.”

“It's not like I'm running a marathon,” Tina said as she put another sheet of cookies into the oven.

Eve sighed and munched on a cookie. “This is a great break from my job.”

“You have a good job,” Hildie said. “Good salary. Good benefits.”

“If only I didn't hate it,” Eve muttered.

Hildie whipped around. “There are much worse situations you could be in, Missy. Plenty of people would love to have your job.”

“I know,” Eve said with more than a trace of guilt in her voice. “I work hard, Aunt Hildie. I just don't like it.”

Hildie sighed and patted Eve on the shoulder. “You won't have to do it forever. Maybe you can find someone who will pay you good money to take care of their horses.”

Eve smiled, unconvinced. “Yeah, and maybe I'll win the lottery next week.”

“Don't be negative,” Hildie said. “You weren't raised that way.”

A knock sounded on the front door. “I bet one of the ranch hands smelled the cookies,” Hildie said with a knowing grin. She put a few still-warm cookies on a plate and headed for the door. “I'll feed 'em and tell them to get back to work.”

Lost in thought, Tina sprinkled green sugar on the cookies. The baby was kicking and her back ached. She wondered when Zach would arrive.

In her peripheral awareness, she heard the sound of a familiar male voice. She stopped mid-sprinkle and listened
more closely. Her heart jumped. “Stefan,” she called and ran to the foyer, which was filled with a royal entourage.

Her brother in all his tall, strong handsomeness gaped at her. “Valentina,” he said. “Oh, my God. You look like you're ready to pop.”

She laughed then flung herself at him and gave him a big hug. “I've got a few more weeks. What are you doing here?”

His smile dipped. “I haven't been satisfied with our communication lately. I've been concerned that your—” He cleared his throat and frowned. “Mr. Logan has been keeping you from the palace and me.”

Tina shook her head. “Oh, no. Zach has been in Dallas lately. I've been in charge of a special Christmas sharing project and I can't deny I've been very tired at the end of the day. I told Bridget I couldn't do as many e-consultations, so I think she's felt a bit overwhelmed. You may need to hold Phillipa's feet to the fire a bit more.”

Stefan sighed and shook his head. “There's just no one who can replace you.”

She waggled her finger at him. “There you go, flattering me. You must be desperate.”

“We've truly missed you,” he said. “All of us. I insist you return. The palace physician is ready to oversee the delivery of your baby.”

She bit the inside of her lip, feeling pulled in opposing directions. Seeing her brother again made her homesick for Chantaine. “We can talk about that later. You must be exhausted from the flight. Let's get something to drink for you. Something to eat.” She turned to Hildie. “His Royal Highness, the Prince of Chantaine, this is Hildie Ferguson, CEO of domestic life at the ranch.”

“My pleasure to meet you, Ms. Ferguson,” Stefan said. “Thank you for your hospitality.”

“It's my pleasure, your highlyness. Would you care for some tea or apple cider?”

Stefan's mouth twitched at
highlyness.
Although Tina had attempted to tell Hildie the correct way to address royalty, her suggestions had seemed to fall on deaf ears. “Cider, thank you, and please call me Mr. Devereaux. We are, after all, in America, not Chantaine.”

Hildie nodded. “And you can call me Hildie. Please come into the dining room. Have a seat and make yourself at home,” she said to Stefan and the two men standing with him. “All of you.”

The men moved to the dining room. “I'll help with the cider,” Tina said as she returned to the kitchen with Hildie.

“You'll do no such thing. You sit down and visit with your brother,” Hildie said.

“Brother?” Eve echoed, peeking around the corner. “Is this the prig prince?” she whispered.

“Hush,” Hildie said.

Tina couldn't quite swallow a chuckle. “He's not all bad,” she said and returned to the dining room with a plate of cookies. “How is the road construction project going?” she asked as she sat down.