The Queen's Nine-Month Scandal

As cold as ice Daniel said, ‘What was it like?’

She hated that he was glaring at her so fiercely. Shakily she admitted, ‘That night I was feeling restless. I didn’t set out to sleep with someone, but I’ll admit that the thought of the future stretching ahead of me made me feel stifled, claustrophobic. I knew no matter what happened I’d have no choice but to go forward with an arranged marriage.’

Daniel’s face hardened even more. ‘Until you became conveniently pregnant.’

Analia protested vociferously. ‘No, I would never have done that.’

‘Yet you did,’ Daniel said flatly. Was there a bleakness to his voice or was it her fanciful imagination?

‘But you used protection.’ Analia pointed out.

‘It split.’ Daniel didn’t like to be reminded of how he’d used this as an excuse to look for her. When his reasons had been much less altruistic, and much more personal. Carnal. And the worst of it, when face to face with her now, was the knowledge that she’d known who he was. Something dark compelled him to confirm it. ‘You looked at my passport before you left, didn’t you?’Unmistakable guilt flashed across that exquisite face and she looked down. ‘Yes.’

Old pain rose up inside Daniel like a spectre. ‘Perhaps that was it? I’m not good enough for a queen? The neglected son of a poor alcoholic Irishwoman and a disgraced Russian who had been cast out of his family? One who took his own life rather than deal with grief and pain?’

‘No,’ Analia denied, but felt shame lance her when she remembered thinking that Daniel, with his reputation, would be the worst possible person for her to have been seen with. But that had paled in significance in the face of the incredible pain in her heart to walk away from him.

He admitted grimly, ‘I recognised you as soon as I saw your picture. We would have met sooner or later, somewhere.’

Analia was pained. ‘I was afraid that might happen.’

Daniel felt stark and empty inside at her words—at her confirmation that she’d never wanted to see him again. ‘You would have married into your inbred German royal family and got on with your life?’

Analia felt sick. She’d dreaded being in a marriage of convenience and meeting Daniel again because it would have torn her apart. She willed him to try and understand. ‘I had no choice—my whole life has been set up for this moment. I have to have heirs and continue my line.’

Bile rose from Daniel’s belly to think of that scenario. Analia lifted her chin in an unmistakably regal gesture and it mocked Daniel when he thought of noticing it before. ‘You’re the father of this child. I haven’t been with anyone else. Only you.’

Daniel asked coolly, ‘Is it true that if you don’t name and marry the father of your child you’ll be forced to abdicate?’

Analia’s throat ached with emotion. A hard ball seemed to be lodged in her chest. A fledgling dream, deep inside her, shattered to pieces at his dispassionate delivery. ‘Yes, unless my people want to keep me on the throne by a referendum vote.’

Daniel came close to Analia and with every step his heart beat faster, the desire surged, but with iron control he pushed it down. The feeling of exposure was back and overwhelming. It took all his effort to push it down, deny it.

‘Well then, Queen Analia, I hope for your sake that your people vote to keep you on the throne because I am not about to offer my services as a husband of convenience just because of a rash mistake.’

He reached out and trailed a finger down her cheek and to her jaw, and he hated that he was trembling. To hide it he slid his hand around the back of Analia’s neck and pulled her closer, seeing her eyes widen. Desire rose up like a ravenous beast inside him and giving into a temptation stronger than he could resist, he bent his head and took her mouth in a brutal, electrifying kiss.

The urge to keep going when he felt her hands on his chest was so overwhelming that Daniel pulled back with effort, breathing harshly. He

meant nothing to this woman. He’d been a pawn. She would never have contacted him again if not for the child growing in her belly. His seed. Daniel felt so conflicted and tortured right then that he all but pushed her away from him, making her stumble a little.

He stepped back and felt like he was falling. He couldn’t stay here when his emotions were so high. He had to get away.

‘If the baby is mine then I will be back but I will not make this easy for you.’

He backed away again and Analia felt a wild surge of grief within her. Her lips burned after that angry kiss. Her skin was hot. She wanted him. She loved him. The knowledge was immediate and incinerated any doubts she might have had over the past few tumultuous weeks that it could have happened so fast.

He turned to leave and a sob rose up in her throat. ‘Wait,’ she got out painfully.

He stopped at the door but didn’t turn around. He couldn’t leave like this. She had to let him know. Her voice felt raw. ‘It wasn’t a rash mistake for me. I knew from the moment I laid eyes on you I wouldn’t regret that night. I’m glad you’re my baby’s father. That night only happened because I met you...I never believed I could have what I wanted, until I met you. I never wanted it, believing it was selfish. Walking away from you tore me apart.’

Her voice grew thick with emotion. ‘I didn’t want to walk away. I had no choice. For my whole life my wants and desires have come second to my responsibilities. The thought of being married and seeing you again...was nearly more than I could bear...when I found out I was pregnant, I was happy...and relieved. It meant I could find you...but I was scared too, that you wouldn’t care, that that night had meant nothing to you.’

Please turn around, Analia begged silently, her eyes stinging with unshed tears. But after a long weighty silence, Daniel just turned the knob on the door, opened it and left. The sob Analia had been holding back emerged. She clapped a hand to her mouth as if that could contain the pain of her heart shattering into a million pieces.

* * *

Daniel woke up with a pounding head and a dry throat. He cursed loudly into the quiet of the hotel suite. Too angry to leave Azoria yesterday, he’d booked into a plush Azorian hotel, then found a dive of a bar and had proceeded to drink himself into oblivion. Anything to try and block out the parting words of Analia and the way her voice had sounded so raw.