Royal Heirs Required (The Sherdana 1)

Step by deliberate step, Olivia backed away from the maid’s furious outburst. It was then that she recognized the woman’s face. She’d been the one who’d been searching the desk the night the twins arrived.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“My sister was twice the woman you could ever hope to be.”

The woman made as if to rush at her and Olivia stumbled backward.

“Marissa was your sister?” Impossible. This woman was as plain and dull as Marissa had been beautiful and vibrant.

“My younger sister. She was beautiful and full of life. Or she was until Prince Gabriel destroyed her.”

“What do you mean?”

Olivia knew she had to keep the woman talking. Somewhere behind her was the bathroom with a solid door and a lock. She just needed to get there.

“In the months following her trip to visit him in Venice, she grew more and more depressed. She couldn’t live with the fact that he wanted nothing more to do with her.” The sister glared at Olivia as if she’d been the cause of Marissa’s heartache.

“I’m sorry your sister was upset—”

“Upset?” The woman practically spat the word. “She wasn’t upset. She was devastated. Devastated enough to try to kill herself. I was the one who found her bleeding to death. She’d slit her wrists. It was at the hospital that she found out she was pregnant. She loved her girls. They were everything to her.”

Olivia reached her hand back and found the bathroom door frame. “Bethany and Karina are wonderful.”

“He doesn’t deserve them. He doesn’t deserve to be happy. And now he won’t because y

ou can’t have children. He won’t want you anymore.” Marissa’s sister was shouting now, her voice rising in unbalanced hysteria.

Another wave of pain made Olivia double over. She backed into the bathroom and clawed at the door. Blackness pushed at the edges of her vision. By feel alone she shut the door and slid the lock into place. The door rattled as Marissa’s sister beat against it in fury and Olivia staggered back.

With her strength failing, Olivia slid to the floor and set her back against the vanity, hoping that the door would hold. Hoping that someone would come find her. Hoping that Marissa’s sister was wrong about Gabriel.

Nine

Gabriel leaned forward in the saddle and urged his stallion to greater speed. Wind lashed at his face, and he focused on the thrum of hoofbeats filling his ears to slow his racing mind. He’d gone for a ride after leaving Olivia because he needed to sort through the conflict raging in him.

Although the powerful Warmblood had stamina enough for a longer run, Gabriel slowed him to a walk after only a mile. He passed the lake where he and his brothers had swum during the hot summers of their youth and wished he could go back to those innocent times.

Accusing Olivia of lying had been unfair. She wouldn’t do that. If he’d learned anything about her, it was that she had a great deal of integrity.

What woman, when faced with the prospect of never becoming a mother, wouldn’t deny the possibility? Especially someone who adored children the way Olivia did. He’d watched her with the twins. He’d seen how his daughters had bonded with Olivia. She’d won them over with her generous, kind heart. They’d been as helpless against her sweetness as he’d been.

By now his parents would be discussing damage control. And debating how to proceed. Olivia had understood the position this news report had put him in. They would advise him against marrying a woman whose fertility was in question. But he wouldn’t make any decisions until he knew the extent of her problems.

And if she could never have children?

He would need to address the bargain he’d struck with her father. The deal with Lord Darcy was contingent on Olivia becoming Gabriel’s wife.

Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. No matter what decision he made, he would fail Sherdana.

* * *

Two hours later he entered the salon in the family section of the south wing and found everyone assembled.

His sister came forward to give him a hug. “Did you check on Olivia?”

“I went for a ride.”

His father regarded him with a frown, his opinion clear. Gabriel ignored him and went to sit beside his mother. He’d come to a preliminary decision and knew it wouldn’t meet with everyone’s approval.