THE PLANE THAT was taking them to Isle Saint Croix was bigger than the plane Alix had used before. The fact that Leila had only ever travelled on private jets was something she should have found ironically amusing, but she couldn’t drum up much of a sense of lightness now.
The press conference had passed in a blur of shouted questions and popping cameras. Leila had just about managed to lock her legs in place so they hadn’t wobbled in front of everyone.
Andres had sent someone to retrieve her most important and portable possessions from her apartment and they were in a trunk in the hold.
Alix’s staff, whom she’d seen in the suite in Paris, were all down at the back of the plane now, including Andres, and she and Alix were alone in the luxurious front. There was a sitting room, dining room and bedroom with en-suite bathroom. Stewards had offered dinner, but Leila had only been able to pick at it. Her stomach was too tied up in knots.
She thought of how Alix had responded to a question about her father at the press conference.
He’d said curtly, ‘If Alain Bastineau is so certain he is not my fiancée’s father, then let him prove it with a DNA test.’
Huskily Leila said now, ‘When they asked about my father...you didn’t need to respond like that.’
Alix looked at her. ‘Yes, I did. Any man who rejects his own child is not a man. You’re to be the Queen of Isle Saint Croix and I will not allow you to be speculated about in that way.’
Immediately Leila felt deflated. He’d only stood up for her because of concerns for his own reputation. She’d been stupid to see anything else in it, however tenuous.
‘You need to eat more—you’ve lost weight.’
Alix was looking at her intently and Leila cursed herself for having drawn his attention. She felt defensive and, worse, self-conscious.
‘Apparently it’s common to lose weight when you’re first pregnant.’
Alix’s voice was gruff. ‘We’ll arrange for you to see the royal doctor as soon as you’re settled. We need to organise your prenatal care.’
Leila was surprised at the vehemence in Alix’s voice and had to figure that all this meant so much more to him than the fact of a baby. She and the baby now represented stability for the island’s future.
She frowned then, thinking of something else. ‘How did they find out?’
Alix was grim. ‘I told you—they had that picture of us in the street and they sat on it, wanting to know more about you. Also, as I had just been crowned King again, they knew there was potentially a much bigger story in the offing. They were keeping an eye on you, Leila. We think someone went through your bins and found the home pregnancy tests you did.’
Leila instantly felt nauseous and put a hand to her mouth. She shot up out of her chair and made it to the bathroom in time to be sick. She knew it wasn’t necessarily what Alix had just said—her bouts of nausea hit her at different moments of the night and day.
To her embarrassment, when she straightened up in the small bathroom she saw Alix reflected in the mirror, looking concerned. No doubt concerned for her cargo.
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