as her brother began to insist she was due for an examination from the royal doctors. Before her plane landed in Paris, rumors in the gossip rags had exploded. She’d only been away for twenty-four hours and her voice mail box was full. She didn’t even want to look at her e-mail.
She knew her brother was going to freak out, and her security man, Rolfe, was watching her every move. Thank goodness she and her sister had worked out a plan for this very situation. An older woman, Genieve, brought fresh vegetables most every morning and brought pastry treats for the staff. She usually left from the back entrance of the house around noon. Except today. Today Genieve would stay until 4:00 p.m. and watch television with one of the favorite staff members in a room upstairs while Tina dressed in dark clothes with a dark scarf covering her head and drove the woman’s car to a small, out-of-the-way museum with beautiful gardens.
There, Tina could think about her and her baby’s future. There, she could make plans.
Tina told Rolfe she planned to take a nap and didn’t want to be disturbed. As soon as he left her hallway, she took the back stairs to the back entrance and got into the ancient vehicle and escaped.
The July heat was oppressive, but the temperature inside the small museum was cool. She noticed only a few tourists, but an abundance of caution made her keep her head covered. Glancing outside, she saw no one in the gardens and walked outside to a stone bench beside a small pond. Despite the shade from the tree, the heat forced her to pull off her scarf.
She closed her eyes, craving peace and quiet for her mind and soul. She didn’t need panic in this situation. She needed to remain calm. Since everyone else was going to be emotionally jumping out of windows.
Tina could see the headlines now. Unwed Pregnant Princess. She, the one everyone counted on to be scandal-free. She laughed softly to herself, although she still struggled with a twinge of hysteria. Was she prepared to be a single mother? It didn’t matter. That’s what she would be. She stroked her abdomen, feeling protective of the baby growing there.
Tina had always put her loyalty to her position first, but there was no doubt in her mind what was most important to her now. Her child. Her pregnancy might be unexpected, unplanned and her situation not exactly optimal, but that didn’t change the fact that Tina would make her child her priority.
That solid knowledge released a tension from inside her. She took a deep breath and gave into the temptation to build a perfect little world for her and her baby in her mind. The two of them could live here in France, near her sister. She would lead a simple life raising her child, serving as a patron for her favorite charities and making rare appearances in Chantaine.
Her sisters would pitch in and take over her assignments. That was pure fantasy, she thought. And her brother would marry a woman who would keep him out of her hair. More fantasy.
She inhaled again, lingering over the idyllic image in her mind.
Something fell beside her on the bench. A chain? She opened her eyes and glanced beside her, immediately spotting the bracelet she’d thought she’d lost.
“Been missing that?” a deep male voice that had haunted her dreams said to her.
She glanced behind her, directly into the hard blue gaze of Zachary Logan. Her heart stopped in her chest. Her breath froze in her lungs.
“The baby’s mine, isn’t it?”
Zach didn’t like her color. She’d gone past the pale stage and she looked gray. He handed her his bottle of water. “Here, you look like you need this.”
She stared at him without blinking, seemingly without breathing for another long moment. “Tina,” he said and squeezed her shoulder. “Drink some water.”
At his touch, she finally took a breath and looked away. “I didn’t think I would ever see you again,” she said. “How did you find me?”
“A combination of Keely and a private investigator. I’ve had a guy watching your sister’s house for every person who came and went. I tried calling your assistant, but she blew me off.”
She looked up at him in alarm. “Did you tell her you and I had—”
“No, but I was tempted,” he said, reining in his frustration from the last several days. “When were you going to tell me about the baby?”
Tina blinked. “I—I wasn’t,” she said with a shrug.
Shock rushed through him. “You what?” he nearly shouted.
Tina glanced around in alarm. “Please keep your voice down. I don’t want to draw attention. I came here to think.”
Zach’s stomach turned. “Are you saying you’re not keeping the baby?”
She looked at him in confusion. “What do you mean? Give the baby up for adoption—”
“No, I meant,” he said and stopped, his throat closing over his words. “I meant end the pregnancy.”
Shock widened her eyes. “Absolutely not.”
Some small something inside him eased and he took a quick breath. “That still doesn’t explain why you weren’t going to tell me.”
She gave a sigh of frustration. “It was a one-night stand. It didn’t seem fair to drag you into it.”
“It’s my child too,” he said in a deadly firm voice.
“Yes, but it’s not just about the baby,” she said and lifted her hands. “Dealing with who I am, who my family is, what’s expected of me and my family. Not many men can handle that. You don’t really even know me. It’s not as if we’re in love. Being involved with the baby and me would turn your life upside down.”
“You don’t think it already has?”
Her lips parted in surprise, as if she had truly believed he wouldn’t be interested in his own child. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I shouldn’t have rushed to the assumption that you would only view this as a burden.”
“There’s a difference between burden and responsibility,” he said.
She nodded. “That’s very true. I’m just not accustomed to dealing with men who know how to distinguish the two.”
“Maybe you’ve been hanging around the wrong men,” he said.
Her lips lifted in amusement. “Maybe so.”
“Do you know what your plans are?” he asked. “Are you going to live in your country?”
Tina looked down at her hands folded in her lap and shook her head. “My brother is going to freak out. He might have expected something like this from my younger sister, but never me. I know he’s in a difficult situation, but I just wish I could go away for a while. I need to get my head on straight about all this and doing that in Chantaine is going to be very, very difficult, if not impossible.”
“I have the perfect place if you need to think. My ranch,” he said.
She blinked at the recommendation. “Your ranch?” she echoed as if that possibility was last on her list.
“Sure,”
