The Future King's Pregnant Mistress

He had just begun to kiss her more passionately when the telephone beside her bed had begun to ring. Idiotically she had answered it only to discover that the caller was one of her more difficult clients who wanted to discuss her idea for a new makeover. By the time she had got rid of the client. Marco had got dressed, smiling urbanely at her but making it clear that he was not going to take second place to her business.

The incident had shown her that he would always have it his way and she had not made the same mistake again. Or had her mistake been in tailoring her working life around him? That hadn't been just for his benefit though; she had wanted to make room in her life for him. Something deep inside her which she had only recently begun to recognise was showing her that she was the kind of woman who secretly longed to be the hub of her family, both as a wife and a mother. She didn't want to be on the other side of the world helping a client to choose the right paint shade for her new decor, leaving her partner to come home from work to an empty house and an empty bed.

When she did marry and have children, she wanted to be the one those children ran to with their small everyday triumphs and hurts. She enjoyed her work, and she was proud of the ways in which she had built up her business, but she knew that it was the pleasure of creating a happy environment for those she loved that truly motivated her rather than the excitement of a large bank balance.

Nonetheless Marco was the kind of man who enjoyed a challenge, and it had made her feel a bit better when, later, he'd admitted how much he had ached for her that night. It could not have been any more than she had ached for him she knew. Less than three months after they had first met he had asked her to move in with him. And then they'd had their first quarrel, when she had discovered that

he'd expected her to give up her business, saying imperiously that he would give her an allowance that would more than compensate her for any loss of income.

'I want to be with you.’ she told him fiercely. But I will not give up my financial independence. Marco. I don't want your money.’

So what do you want?’ he demanded, almost suspiciously.

‘You.’ she told him simply, and their quarrel was forgotten, as he was appeased by her bold request—or so she had thought. It was only later she had learned that, far from respecting her for refusing his money and his expensive gifts, he was both suspicious of her and slightly contemptuous. Perhaps if she had heeded the warning that knowledge had given her, she would not be in the situation she was now.

CHAPTER THREE

THEY had shared such wonderful months. Marco worked hard, but he believed in enjoying the good things in life as well. He had the air of someone who was used to the best of everything. But whilst sometimes she had deplored his inbuilt arrogance, and had teased him gently about it Emily admitted that shed enjoyed the new experiences to which he'd introduced her. Marco had taken her out several times a week but best of all as a lover he hadn't just fulfilled her fantasies, he had exceeded them and then taken her with him to realms of sexual discovery and delight she had never imagined existed.

Within weeks of them becoming lovers she had been so exquisitely sensually aware of him that just the touch of his hand on her arm or the look in his eyes when he'd needed her to know that he wanted her had been enough to have her answering with a look of her own that said. ‘Please take me to bed.' Not that they had always made it to a bed. Marco was a demanding and masterful lover who enjoyed leading the way and introducing her to new pleasures, sometimes taking

her quickly and erotically in venues so nearly public that she blushed guiltily afterwards when she remembered, sometimes ensuring their lovemaking lasted all night—or most of the day. And she had been an eager pupil, wanting him more as time went by rather than less, as her own sexuality and confidence grew under his expert guidance.

The first Christmas they had shared together Marco had given her a beautiful three-carat diamond, which he had told her she could have set in the ring design of her choice. Emily knew that it had surprised him when shed asked him instead to make a donation to her favourite children's charity.

Marco hadn't said anything, but on her birthday he had taken her away to a romantic hideaway and made love to her until she had cried with joy. He had then presented her with a pair of two-carat diamond ear-studs, telling her, 'I have sent a cheque of equivalent value to your charity.’

It had been then that she had realised that she had done the unforgivable and fallen in love with him!

Yes. How very foolish she had been to do that. He was back in their bed now but lying with his back to her. Outside, the gale that had begun to blow earlier last evening hurled itself against the windows as the storm increased in force.