Loe raamatut: «His Pregnant Royal Bride»

CHAPTER ONE

DANTE CLENCHED HIS fists as he jammed them into the pockets of his crisp white lab coat. Everything about him was controlled and ordered. Only today his schedule was off, and he was not in the mood for meeting the practitioner from America and running a simulation lab with him. And it wasn’t just for one day; he’d then have him working under him as a surgical nurse in his operating room for twelve weeks.

Twelve weeks might not seem long in the grand scheme of things, but if Dante and this nurse practitioner didn’t get along, then twelve weeks would feel like an eternity.

He remembered the last American from the United World Wide Health Association he’d worked with two years ago and that had been a nightmare. She’d been totally unorganized and needed constant guidance, which had driven him crazy.

Not all Americans are bad.

And his mood lightened as he thought of Shay and that stolen night in Oahu. She was the first woman he’d been with since Olivia had crushed his heart. Shay was one American he could get used to having around. Even now, months later, he could still feel her lips on his.

Only she was off who knew where on her latest assignment and he had to make nice with a stranger. Someone he didn’t trust, and it brought back why he was in a bad mood.

His father. Someone else he absolutely didn’t trust.

At dinner last night with his younger brother, Enzo, Dante had learned that their father, Prince Marco Affini, had once again sold off more of the family land. And he was eyeing the land their late mother had left in trust for Dante and Enzo until they married and produced an heir. At least their father couldn’t sell it off yet. Unless they married before they turned thirty-five and produced an heir within a year of that marriage. Last night Enzo had reminded Dante once again that soon Dante would be turning thirty-five in a matter of months, without a marriage in sight.

Dante was painfully aware that his villa on Lido di Venezia was in danger of being sold as well, because that had been his maternal grandfather’s home.

The villa on the sandbar, a ten-minute ferry ride from Venice proper, was part of Dante’s inheritance. It would be his as long as he married and produced an heir by the time he was thirty-five, according to the stipulations of the trust fund and the marriage contract between his parents, as his mother had been a commoner and his father of royal blood.

And his thirty-fifth birthday was approaching fast, without a wife or heir in sight.

And whose fault was that?

It was his. He knew it; he just didn’t have any desire to get married after what had happened with his ex, Olivia, and he didn’t want to have a child out of wedlock. Even if he did, that wouldn’t help him recover his inheritance, such were the archaic terms of the trust.

If he didn’t get married and have a child, he would lose his home, everything that was meant for him by his late mother, including his beloved vineyard in Tuscany.

His grandfather had worked that vineyard. It was his pride and joy. Even though the family had money, his maternal grandfather always took pride in working his land. A work ethic that Dante had picked up on. He loved saving lives and he loved the life that bloomed in his vineyard in Tuscany.

Dante loved it there.

He loved working the land himself as well and the thought of someone else owning it was too much to bear.

It kept him awake most nights and he had the legal receipts to prove that he’d tried to get around the trust his mother signed on her wedding day, but it was ironclad. His father had the upper hand, until Dante and Enzo were married.

Dante downed the shot of espresso he’d grabbed before he headed to the lecture hall where he’d welcome the new United World Wide Health Association nurses and first responders who had come from all over Italy to join the organization. Here they’d learn what they needed to know, and then they would disperse over the world, providing health care.

Dante admired them and, even though he didn’t want to be here and meet with his new associate from the United States, he knew he couldn’t take his frustrations out on them.

He took a deep breath, ran his hand through his dark hair as he glanced in a mirror briefly, cursing inwardly for not having shaved the stubble from his face, and he hated the dark circles under his eyes, but he hadn’t got much sleep last night.

Once, he’d had the chance to save all the land meant for him, but that had cost him his heart and he swore he would never fall into that trap again. He just had to get used to the fact he was going to lose it all.

He was going to let down his brother and the memory of his mother.

His father would sell it all off and Dante would have to find a new place to live in a matter of a few months. He shook his head as he tried not to think about that now. He had to be charming and affable as the head of trauma at the Ospedale San Pietro.

Bracing himself now, Dante opened the door, ready to greet the American.

“Ciao, I’m Dr. Dante Affini, Head of...”

The nurse turned, just slightly, and Dante couldn’t believe who he was looking at. His pulse raced and a rare smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. It was Shay!

She looked stunning. She was absolutely glowing, her cheeks rosy with a bloom she didn’t have before.

Her honey-blonde hair wasn’t as long as he remembered. She’d cut it, shorter in a bob, but it suited her delicate heart-shaped face. Those dark brown eyes of hers were warm and welcoming as she smiled at him, her pink lips soft and inviting. He could still feel them pressed against his. A blush rose in her round, creamy cheeks, deepening the healthy glow. Her lithe frame was fuller, but the curves suited her. “Hello, Dante.”

“Shay?” Dante whispered, and then he smiled, realizing it was her who was here to work with him. “What are you doing here? I thought...I thought Daniel Lucey was going to be running this program.”

“He was,” Shay said. “But something came up for him, so I jumped at the chance to come to Italy and take an easier job for a while.”

“An easier job? You’re never one to back away from a challenge, cara.”

A pink blush deepened on her cheeks and she tucked away an errant silky strand behind her ear. “I know, but I have no choice.” She bit her lip. “Dante, I took this job because...because I’m pregnant.”

Pregnant. Shay was having a baby?

It hit him and for a moment he wasn’t sure he’d heard her correctly. Well, that explained the glow and the newly acquired curves. And then another realization struck him...

“Is it... Is it mine?”

“Yes.” She bit her lip in a way that had driven him wild before but now filled him with a sense of trepidation.

A baby.

He had put up the walls to protect himself for a reason and he’d been a fool for letting her in back in Oahu.

It had been a moment of complete weakness on his part.

Dante scrubbed a hand over his face.

Why didn’t she tell me? Was he really the father? Olivia had led him to believe that she carried his baby, only then he’d found out she’d tricked him. She’d already been pregnant when they’d slept together. Olivia had viewed Dante as perfect daddy material for another man’s child...

He was angry. Angry at himself for thinking Shay might be different, but apparently not. He should’ve known better—a week and a one-night stand were no time to get to know someone. To trust someone.

A pink blush tinged her creamy cheeks. “I took this job so that I could tell you in person.”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” he demanded. “Why didn’t you contact me before you showed up here? As soon as you found out? It’s been months, Shay. You can understand my trepidation. My anger, surely?”

She winced. “I know. But I’ve only very recently found out myself, Dante. I’m sixteen weeks.”

“Four months in and you expect me to believe that you just found out?” Dante scoffed.

“Yes. I was working in a war-torn area. My periods have always been irregular and I put their absence down to stress and travel. I wasn’t keeping that close an eye on dates, but something told me that it had been too long. I took a test, which came out positive, but then there was no way to contact you. Communication was spotty.”

Dante saw red. “You were pregnant in a war zone?”

Her eyes narrowed. “There are lots of pregnant women in war zones.”

Dante cursed under his breath and scrubbed a hand over his face. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Sure sounded like it.” She crossed her arms and he noticed her breasts were fuller and he recalled at that moment the way his hands fit so nicely around them.

Get control of yourself.

“Fine. So you couldn’t get word to me.”

“No, I thought it would be news better delivered in person.”

“I want a paternity test,” he demanded.

Shocked and hurt, Shay glared at him. “It’s your baby, Dante. I haven’t been with anyone else.”

“You didn’t even know you were pregnant right away, so you understand my hesitancy. We used protection,” he said.

“A faulty condom. They’re not infallible.” Shay sighed. “And I don’t sleep around. I don’t sleep with strangers.”

“Wasn’t I a stranger, cara?”

She shot him daggers. “I didn’t come here to make you a father, Dante. I actually took the job because it paid well, so that I could take a longer maternity leave when I return to the States.”

“So you considered not telling me?”

“Of course not. You have the right to know about your child, Dante. What I’m saying is that I don’t expect anything from you.”

Everything was sinking in and he was having a hard time processing for a moment. He wanted to believe that she was telling him the truth, but he’d been burned before. And thanks to his father’s indiscretions the entire world seemed to know that he was a prince, poised to inherit a vast estate of land and money. Wasn’t that what had drawn Olivia to him?

Of course, if Shay was pregnant with his child, it solved all of his problems.

He had to be married and have an heir by the time he was thirty-five. There was nothing in the will that stated he had to stay married. And while Olivia had made him very wary of marriage, he had wanted to be a father for as long as he could remember. He wanted the happy family he’d never had growing up. Plus, he knew that Shay was passionate about her job. She wouldn’t want to settle down in Italy with him—hadn’t she told him that she feared staying in one place for too long? What if he could get full custody of the baby? Have the child he’d always wanted without risking his heart.

“Dante, say something. Anything,” Shay said. “I know this must be a terrible shock.”

Before he could say anything there was a knock on his door. His assistant poked her head round it. “Dr. Affini? The trainees are gathered in the lecture theatre and are waiting for you.”

Dante acknowledged the woman before he turned back to Shay. “We’ll talk later. We have a job to do.”

Shay smiled, relieved. “Yes. We have a job to do.”

He’d let her have relief for now, but this was far from over.

* * *

Shay had wanted to tell Dante that she was pregnant from the moment she’d found out. She was frustrated when she realized she’d put their child in danger, and then when he’d insinuated that, she’d felt even guiltier. She wasn’t irresponsible. Once she’d known she was expecting, she’d been flown out, leaving her free to take over this assignment from her colleague Daniel, who’d sadly just been diagnosed with stage two colon cancer. She’d dreaded telling Dante here, at work, but she respected him and he deserved to know about their child. She also wanted him to know that she didn’t expect anything.

She wasn’t looking for a marriage or even for him to be part of the child’s life if he didn’t want to be.

She knew firsthand what it was like when a man was forced into staying.

Her own father had made that painfully clear to her until the day he’d left her and her mother.

So she knew what it was like to be rejected by her father and she didn’t want that for her child. And that was why she’d been terrified of telling Dante. Terrified he’d reject her and the baby, which would make the next twelve weeks working with him miserable.

Glad to be able to focus for the moment on the job at hand, Shay took the time it took them to make their way to the lecture theatre to chat about the assignment with Dante.

“I think I’m pretty much up-to-date on what Daniel was planning to do and how he was going to implement the simulation and training program,” Shay said as she skimmed through the binder that she’d been given as she’d boarded the plane.

“So, what happened to Daniel?” Dante asked.

“Cancer,” Shay said sadly.

“That’s too bad. I wish him a speedy recovery, but I wish they had told me he wasn’t coming.” Dante rubbed his dimpled chin, and those butterflies that liked to dance around in the pit of her stomach months ago were starting up again. She’d forgotten how he affected her. He was still so handsome, the stubble on his chin suited him and she resisted the urge to tuck back the errant strand of his thick black hair.

“I thought you had been informed that Daniel was no longer coming,” she said.

“Clearly not,” he snapped.

“Dante, you’re clearly not okay with this.”

“I’m fine,” he said, and he took the binder from her, not even looking at her.

She knew he wasn’t. This was not the same man she’d spent a fairy-tale week with in Oahu. Then again, she hadn’t really been herself either. Like when she’d decided to throw caution to the wind and have a one-night stand.

“Okay, you’re fine, then. Shall we go and talk to the trainees? They are waiting.”

“Of course.” Dante didn’t even look at Shay as he opened the door on the far side of the room. It was as if he was angry that she was here.

Can you blame him?

They walked out onto the stage of the small lecture theatre. The first two rows were filled with new United World Wide Health Association recruits, men and women who would be taking a crash course in first response and trauma.

Dante’s job was to teach them trauma surgery and Shay was going to run them through a course of simulations. Based on situations she’d found herself in when she’d first started with the United World Wide Health Association.

She kind of envied all those hopeful faces, the thirty-odd new recruits. Her first days in the UWWHA working the field were some of her favorite times. Before she took this assignment she’d been going to take a field job in the Middle East to help vaccinate refugees.