The Princess and the Player

James shook his head. “She dumped the diaper bag in my lap and told me she was too young to be tied down with a baby she hadn’t asked for. Being a mum is apparently too hard and it’s interfering with her parties.”

“Oh, James.” Her quiet gasp of sympathy tugged at something in his chest.

“I’m quite gobsmacked.” This was the conversation he’d intended to have when he went to her house in Playa Del Onda. Only to find that she’d taken off for New York. “I have a daughter I never knew existed and now she’s mine. I’m a single father.”

And he’d have to relinquish his title as the king of uncomplicating things. There was no way to spin the situation differently. No matter how much he loved Bella, she had to decide if he was worth all the extra stuff that came along with the deal.

Now the question was...would she?

* * *

James was a single father.

When she’d seen James across the lobby, she’d assumed he’d come to grovel and planned to send him packing. But then the extent of his father’s lies and manipulation had come out, changing everything. The instant James had held up his bare wrist, she’d known. He wasn’t the man his father made him out to be. The explanation she’d sought, the forgiveness she knew she could offer—it had all been right there, if only she’d stayed in Alma.

Part of the fault in all of this lay with her. She shouldn’t have been so quick to judge, so quick to believe the worst in him. So quick to whirl off and leave broken pieces of her relationship with James in her wake.

And still James had said he loved her. Those sweet words...she’d wanted to fall into his arms and say them back a hundred times. If only it were that simple.

But it wasn’t.

“That’s...a lot to take in,” Bella allowed with a small smile. Her mind reeled in a hundred directions and none of them created the type of cohesion she sought. “How old is she?”

“Around ten months. I wish I knew what that meant in terms of development. When will she start walking, for example? It’s something I should know, as a father. But I don’t.” He shut his eyes for a beat. “I’m learning as I go.”

Her heart dipped. This must be so hard. How did you learn to be a father with no warning? James would have to get there fast and probably felt ill-equipped and completely unready. “You’ll be a great father.”

He’d stepped up. Just as she would have expected. James always did the right thing.

“I’d like you to meet her. If you want to.”

“I do,” she said eagerly and then the full reality of what was happening hit her.

Dear God, was she ready to be the mate of a single father? She barely felt like an adult herself half the time. When she’d confronted her father to demand her right to see James, she’d taken huge steps to become the settled, responsible person she wanted to be.

But she wouldn’t exactly call herself mother material, not yet. Maybe in the future she could be, after she’d spent time alone with James and they’d both figured out how to be in a relationship. But they didn’t have the luxury of that time. She couldn’t decide in a few months that it was too much responsibility and whirl away, leaving a broken family in her wake. Like her own mother had.

She loved James. After everything, that was still true.

But was love enough when their relationship had so many complications, so many things going against it? Adding a child into the mix—an illegitimate one at that, which would reflect poorly on the royal family—only made it worse.

And in the spirit of figuring it out together, they had to talk about it.

“Your daughter is a...” She’d almost said a problem. “A blessing. But I’m a princess in a country very unforgiving of indiscretions. I’m still in line for the throne. You realize there’s a potential for our relationship to...go over very badly, right?”

The tabloids would have a field day, eviscerating the royal family in the press. She was supposed to be forging alliances and solidifying the new monarchy in the country of her heritage. Not constantly dodging scandals.

“Yeah.” He sighed as she gripped his hand tighter. “I know. We don’t make any sense together and you should toss me to the curb this minute. I’m a lot of trouble.”

Her heart fluttered in panic at the thought. But that’s what they were talking about. Either they’d make a go of it or they’d part ways.

“Seems like you warned me how much trouble you were once upon a time.”

Continually. He’d told her he was bad news from the start. She hadn’t believed him then and she still didn’t. James Rowling had character that couldn’t be faked. His father couldn’t see it, but Bella did. He was every inch her hero and the rest of the world would see that, too. She’d help them see it. And that decided it.