The Princess and the Player

Her temper boiled over but she schooled her features and bit back the nasty phrase she’d been about to say. This man didn’t know her and he had a lot of nerve assuming he had insight into what kind of man would be good for her.

But the worse crime was that he didn’t know his own son either. That, she could correct.

“James is an amazing man. I’m shocked his own father doesn’t recognize that, but since it’s clear you don’t, despite ample opportunity to come to know your son, I’ll tell you. He has a good heart, a generous nature and most of all, he cares about me.”

Her voice rang with sincerity. Because she believed what she was saying. He’d call soon and they’d talk about the future. Everything was going to work out.

Mr. Rowling frowned. “I do so hate to disagree. But my son is a notorious womanizer with little regard for anyone’s feelings other than his own. Surely you’re aware of his indiscretions.” He swept her with a pitying once-over. “God help you if you’re not.”

Foreboding slid down her spine and raised the hair on the back of her neck.

“You mean the photographs in the tabloids?” She crossed her arms, wondering if it would actually protect her against this man’s venom. “I’m aware of them.”

James had been very upfront about his brush with scandal. Whatever his father thought he was going to accomplish by bringing up the pictures wasn’t going to work.

“Oh, no, Princess Isabella.” He shook his head with a tsk. “I’m talking about James’s illegitimate daughter.”

Bella’s skin iced over. “His...what?” she whispered.

Mr. Rowling watched her closely through narrowed eyes, and she suspected he’d finally come to the meat of the reason he’d casually dropped by.

“James has an infant daughter he fathered with his last girlfriend. Shall I assume from your reaction that he hasn’t mentioned any of this to you?”

“No,” she admitted quietly as her pulse skipped a whole lot of beats. “I wasn’t aware.”

And of course there was a reason James hadn’t told her. There had to be. Her mind scrambled to come up with one. But without James here to explain, she was only left with huge question marks and no answers.

In all that time at the farmhouse together, he’d never once thought to mention a baby he’d fathered with the girlfriend he’d stopped seeing nearly two years ago? Had she completely misread what he’d confessed to her about his feelings? None of this made any sense. Why would he talk about the implications of moving to England but not tell her he had a daughter?

It was a lie. Mr. Rowling was trying to cause problems. That was the only explanation.

Mr. Rowling eyed her and she didn’t miss the crafty glint in his gaze. Neither of his sons took after this schemer in any way and it was a testament to James that he’d ended up with such an upstanding character.

“It’s true,” he said, somehow correctly interpreting the set of her jaw. “James will confirm it and then you might ask why he’s kept it from you. It’s a consideration for a woman when choosing whom she has a relationship with, don’t you think?”

Yes, a huge consideration. That’s what he’d meant by James not being a good choice for her. Because he wasn’t trustworthy.

She shook her head against the rebellious thoughts. This was a campaign to poison her against James, plain and simple, but why, she couldn’t fathom. “He has his reasons for not telling me. Whatever they are, I can forgive him.”

Because that’s what people in a relationship did. Not that she had any practice—she’d never had one, never dreamed she’d have one that tested her in quite this way. But James was worth figuring it out.

“You realize, of course, that his daughter is illegitimate.” Mr. Rowling countered smoothly. “You’re still in line for the throne should something happen to Gabriel. Alma doesn’t cater to that sort of impropriety in its monarchy, and citizens have no patience for royal scandals. Frankly, neither do I.”

It was a veiled threat, one she understood all too well after the discussion with Gabriel and her father about business between the crown and Rowling Energy. And blast it, he wasn’t overstating the point about her position or potential to be queen one day. A princess couldn’t drag an illegitimate child through the world’s headlines.

Her head started to pound as her father’s warning played over and over on an endless loop in her mind. Gabriel wouldn’t be on her side with this one, not after what happened with Rafe and Emily and their unexpected pregnancy. Not after she’d already forced her brother to renegotiate agreements with Rowling, which would be very difficult to wade through indeed if Mr. Rowling’s threat was to be believed.