Uncovering Her Nine Month Secret

“You remembered how I liked it,” I said in surprise.

He took a sip of his own black coffee, and gave a wicked grin. “That’s how all women like it.”

“That’s not true!”

He shrugged. “It’s mostly true. Cream and sugar will calm a woman down every time.”

I glared at him. “You are such a—”

“A heartless bastard?” He paused, then tilted his head. “Do you still think I’ll be such a disaster as a father?”

He sounded wistful, even—hurt? No. Impossible. A man like Alejandro had no heart to injure. But still, guilt rose in me, making my cheeks burn. “Maybe you’re not completely evil.” I looked down at the cup. “You did get my coffee right. Even though you’re completely wrong with your stereotype about women liking cream and sugar.”

“Obviously,” he agreed. He tilted his head. “Your arms must be getting tired from holding Miguel all this time.”

“A bit,” I admitted sheepishly. “He’s starting to get too heavy to carry like this for long.”

Finishing off his coffee, he threw the empty cup in the trash and reached out. “Give him to me.”

I hesitated, then handed him over. I watched anxiously, but Alejandro was careful, holding him, even turning Miguel around so he could see the world around him. Alejandro caught my look. “How am I doing?”

“Not bad,” I said grudgingly.

“Would you care to walk?” He lifted a dark eyebrow. “Since he needed a walk so badly that you almost jumped out of a moving car. This taking babies on walks must be a serious business. Or else you had some other reason for coming here that you don’t want me to know about.”

I looked at him sharply. Did he know something? Or was he just fishing?

He gave me a bland smile.

I shrugged. “It was what you said. Pure panic at your marriage proposal.” I took a sip of coffee. “Kind of like how you reacted last year when I told you I loved you. Instant disappearance.” For a moment, we stared at each other. Then I turned away. “Yes. Let’s walk.”

The rain had eased up, and though gray skies were hovering, eager children of all ages, speaking many different languages, were now playing everywhere as we strolled past the pirate ship.

“So what is your answer?” he said casually, as if he’d been asking me out for a movie.

“About what?”

He looked at me.

“Oh.” I licked my lips. “That.”

“That.”

“Be serious.”

“I’m trying to be. But I’ve never asked any woman to marry me before. I’m starting to think I must be doing it wrong. Do I need to get down on one knee?”

“Don’t you dare.”

“Then what is it?”

I’m afraid you’d make me love you again. The cold knot near my heart, which had started to warm on the edges, returned to ice. “Come on,” I mumbled, looking at the ground. “We both know that I’m not exactly duchess material.”

“Are you trying to let me down gently?” he demanded. He stopped, leaning our baby against his hip as he looked at me. “Is there someone else? Perhaps the person who helped you flee London last year, and travel around the world?”

“It’s not like that.”

“When a man protects a woman,” he said grimly, “it is exactly like that.”

“How do you know it’s a man?”

“By looking at your face,” he said softly. “Right now.”

I looked away. My throat hurt as I took another sip of the rich, sweet coffee, watching all the mothers and fathers and smiling nannies hovering on the edge of their children’s delighted play. Some of them looked back at me. They probably imagined we were a family, too.

But we weren’t.

I would have given anything if Alejandro could have been a man I could trust with my heart. A regular guy, a hardworking, loving man, who could have been my real partner. Instead of a selfish playboy duke who didn’t know the meaning of love, and if married would plainly expect me to remain a dutiful wife imprisoned in his castle, raising our child, while he enjoyed himself elsewhere. Why shouldn’t he? If love didn’t exist, I could only imagine what he thought of fidelity.