His Pregnant Princess Read Free Page B

loved? Why not Damien? He met all the requirements.
    No, he would never be Liam, but no one would be. And Liam was absolutely not an option for marriage.
    So she’d found herself agreeing to proceed. What had followed was a whirlwind of awful, staged dates so the public could get used to the idea.
    But what made it truly awful was Liam’s watchful presence over the whole thing. He stood in the shadows, watching over their dinners. Watching as Damien made a very calculated move to kiss her hand when the press was present.
    She felt as if she was being unfaithful. Which was silly in some ways because she and Liam had always known what their night together would be. They’d known it could never be permanent, or even a semipermanent relationship. Not when obligation prevented it.
    The simple fact was that she was in line to take the throne, and she was expected—more than expected—to marry royalty. Liam was not. Moreover he’d never even said he wanted to marry her. Not even vaguely.
    She remembered his divorce. She’d gone through it with him. Been a friend while he’d been dealing with the fallout of it. He’d never had kind things to say about marriage.
    Still, the Damien-Liam thing was horrible. The prospect of marrying Damien was awful. The fact that the royal family was releasing an official announcement about her engagement to Damien this morning was even worse.
    She intended to hide in her room until it blew over. So perhaps two or three years.
    At least here, in her room, she didn’t have Liam lingering about. No need for him to guard her half so closely when they weren’t away from the palace.
    She grabbed her computer tablet off her dresser and opened the case, making the hasty decision to commit the ultimate sin and look herself up on Google. She shouldn’t do that, she knew. It only turned up upsetting and unflattering comments and a million things she didn’t want to know people thought about her.
    And pictures of her with her cheeks full of shrimp.
    But she wanted to know if the story had broken yet.
    The results were instantaneous and conclusive. The news of her engagement to Count Damien Rycroft was indeed world news.
    She wanted to throw up. In fact...she was going to.
    She ran into the bathroom and got to her knees just in time. She braced herself on the toilet bowl, wondering what the press would do with a photo op like this.
    What a wreck. Of course, she couldn’t just blame the news story. She’d been feeling off for about four days. Emotional, too, but she couldn’t even blame PMS because she hadn’t started her...
    Her mind went blank for a moment, truly, as though someone had come through with an eraser. And when it started again, it was filled with shouty, terrified words that she could hardly sift through.
    She hadn’t thought of this. Which had to be denial. Because there was no other explanation for why she’d blocked out her missing period after years of regularity. A missed period that came after her first sexual experience.
    Yes, denial was the only word for that.
    There was the slight problem of how a princess who was currently hot news got ahold of a pregnancy test. She couldn’t exactly ask her bodyguard to take her to the chemist, all things considered.
    There was a sharp knock on her bedroom door. “Ella?” she called, knowing her maid was due.
    “Yes,” she called, coming in, the door closing behind her.
    Alys stood up slowly and walked out into the bedroom. “I need a favor.”

    Liam hadn’t been summoned by Alys...ever. He was usually around, but when she was at the palace he didn’t have to stay as close. So receiving a message on his phone saying that the princess was requesting his presence in her sitting room was a surprise.
    One he wasn’t sure if he relished or resented.
    Seeing her now, with her engagement to Damien hot news, when she was going on dates with the man and he had to stand by and watch, was a torture he could scarcely bear.
    But there was