Princess's Nine-Month Secret

‘Oh.’ She swallowed, her fragile throat working, her face pale, eyes wide. ‘All right.’ Setting her chin with a determined courage that strangely touched Rico’s hardened heart, she lifted her tunic to cover her mouth and nose.

Taking a deep breath, Rico opened the door. The wind and sand hit him full in the face, making his eyes sting and cutting off his vision. Despite the covering of his mouth and nose, the sand worked its way in, filling his mouth with grit and choking him.

Quickly Rico closed the door behind him and hunched his shoulders against the unforgiving onslaught. He gathered provisions from the back of the SUV—a tent, water, food and blankets. As swiftly as he could, his head bowed against the relentless wind and sand, he erected a tent against the partial shelter of a massive boulder. It wasn’t much, but it would help a little against the wildness of the wind and sand.

Then he battled his way back to the car which was already becoming covered in sand and grit. He wrenched open the door and reached for Halina; she grabbed onto his hand with both of hers.

With his arm around her shoulders, their heads tucked low, he led her to their shelter, pulling the flap closed behind them and taping it shut to keep out the blowing sands.

Halina fell onto the floor of the tent on her hands and knees, coughing.

‘Are you all right?’ Rico knelt next to her, one hand on her back as she shuddered and coughed.

‘Yes,’ she finally gasped out. “Although I feel as if I’ve swallowed half of the Sahara.’ She looked up blinking, her hair tangled about her sand-dusted face.

‘Here.’ He reached for one of the plastic gallon containers of water he’d arranged to have packed in the SUV. Fortunately they would not suffer through the storm, as long as they could stay safe through the worst of the wind.

Rico poured a tin cup full of water and handed it to her. ‘Slowly,’ he advised, and she nodded and took a few careful sips. He held her gaze as she drank; he’d forgotten how lovely and dark her eyes were, how thick and full her lashes. Something stirred inside him, something half-forgotten and ever-insistent.

‘Thank you,’ she murmured as she lowered the cup. Rico dabbed the corner of a cloth in the remaining water and then gently wiped the sand from her face. Halina sucked in a shocked breath, staying completely still as he swept the cloth along her forehead and cheekbones, her dark, wide gaze tracking his.

What he’d intended to be expedient and practical suddenly felt erotic and charged. Desire throbbed through him as he continued to wipe the sand away, conscious of Halina’s soft skin beneath his fingers, the pulse hammering in her throat, every hitched breath she drew.

‘Rico...’ His name was a whisper, whether plea or protest he didn’t know. He dropped the cloth, not wanting the distraction of desire at this point, as insistent as it was. He needed to focus on their future...their child.

‘You should eat,’ he said roughly. ‘You need to keep up your strength. You look as if you have wasted away to little more than skin and bone.’

‘I’ve had morning sickness. All day sickness, really.’ She smiled wanly but her eyes were dark and troubled. ‘You’re angry. Why?’

He was, but he disliked how she made this about his unruly emotion rather than her deliberate actions. ‘Eat,’ he said as he yanked out some pita bread and dried meat. ‘Then we’ll talk.’

Halina took the bread and nibbled on it, barely swallowing a mouthful. ‘What are we going to talk about?’

‘We could begin,’ Rico said, an edge entering his voice, ‘with

why you dared to attempt to hide your pregnancy from me. Going all the way to that godforsaken place to keep it from me, even.’ His eyes flashed fire and the pita bread dropped from Halina’s fingers.

‘Is that what you think...?’

‘It’s what I know.’ He picked up the bread and pushed it towards her. ‘But first, eat. There will be time enough to discuss the past...as well as our future.’

CHAPTER SIX

HALINA STARED AT Rico in disbelief, although why she should be surprised by his high-handed manner she had no idea. It was par for the course. Still, she struggled to find a suitable reply. Her mind was spinning and her stomach seethed. She was not at her best for an all-out confrontation.

‘Eat,’ Rico said again, and because she knew she needed the sustenance, she nibbled the pita once more. ‘You look terrible,’ he remarked after a moment and she let out a huff of humourless laughter.

‘Why, thank you very much.’

‘Why have you not been taking care of yourself?’

She lowered the bit of bread and eyed him with disbelief. ‘Seriously? You’re going to ask me that?’

‘What else am I supposed to ask?’

She shook her head. ‘God only knows. You blame me for everything, even being a virgin.’

‘You should have told me.’