The Heiress's Pregnancy Surprise (Heirs to an Empire 2)

She paused. “I don’t. You know, sometimes I really do have to balance which is better. No response or stepping up and controlling the narrative. I’m one hundred percent sure, though, that sometime in the next week, a photographer will get a shot and the question of your identity will be out there. To be honest, that’s a big reason why I fought against having you along at all. Our family is just getting over one scandal.”

Jacob sat back a bit and grinned. “Oh, so I’d be a scandal? Exciting.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t sound like you’d enjoy it. You’d hate it. The paparazzi are relentless.”

And she had to deal with it every day in her line of work. Fame and success came with a price, he supposed. And as much as he joked about being a scandal, he knew she was right. He wouldn’t like it. He was a private man used to being in the background and that was how he wanted it to stay.

“If push comes to shove, you can simply say I’m a family friend who happens to be in town.” He understood why she wouldn’t want to pretend he was her date. He wasn’t exactly up to Pemberton standards. There was absolutely no blue blood in his family tree at all.

“Please understand, it’s not that I’d be ashamed or anything.” Her cheeks colored again. “You’re a really good-looking guy, and...” Her voice trailed off, as if she didn’t know what to say next.

“I get it, so don’t worry. I’m your employee.”

“No, that’s not it at all!” She put down her fork with a clatter. “It’s more... It’s not about you at all. It’s the speculation I hate. My brothers were just dragged through the tabloids. I don’t want to do the same to the family or the company.” She sighed. “I’m in PR and, no matter how I spin this, I see someone digging and finding out you’re private protection and fabricating some wild story.”

He met her gaze squarely. “I always say when in doubt, go with the truth. I’m private security for the trip. And if it doesn’t come up at all, don’t worry about it. A good rule of thumb is to only explain what you must.”

She let out a sigh and her shoulders relaxed. “All right. That’s what we’ll do, then.”

“Tomorrow,” he added, “we can look at alternatives. I might not have to sit beside you, for example. I can be nearby at the restaurant where you’re doing your interview.”

“I’ve restricted most of my activities to ones that are not open to the public,” she admitted. “Thinking it would help.”

He’d made the recommendation. “I know. It does help.”

“I really don’t think anyone wants to hurt me, Jacob. This is so unnecessary.”

She looked so unhappy that he took pity on her. “Your family cares about you and wants you safe. Not everyone has that, Charlotte. Just look at it that way.”

She nodded and picked at her dinner. “I know that. Sometimes we fight like cats and dogs, but in the end, we all love each other very much.”

“All right, then. Let me clean up this mess and you can do whatever it is you need to do tonight. I see there’s a gym in the building. I’d like to work out in the morning, but it’ll be early. Just please don’t leave the building without me, all right?”

She nodded. “All right.”

CHAPTER THREE

WHEN CHARLOTTE WOKE up at five thirty, she tiptoed out of her room to see if Jacob was up. His bedroom door was open, and his bed neatly made. A quick check of the rest of the apartment told her he was at the building’s gym.

Her stomach growled.

It was ridiculous how she could even be hungry after last night’s dinner. Jacob was indeed a good cook, and the spicy-sweet stir-fry had hit the spot. Now that she’d somewhat got her body back on a schedule—even though it was much later in Paris—she was craving something entirely different, and something she got only when she was in New York. Bagels. And very possibly blintzes.

Except Jacob had told her, in no uncertain terms, that she wasn’t to leave the apartment.

This whole thing was dumb. Someone had sent her a few emails and she couldn’t go out for bagels? She didn’t have security in Paris, so why here? The deli was maybe a five-minute walk. She could be there and back before Jacob even knew she’d been gone.

She hurried into a pair of yoga pants, put on a hoodie over her pajama tank and hoped the weather wasn’t too cold. At the door, she paused again, knowing she was going against Jacob’s orders. And yet he’d already agreed to loosen things a bit during the runway shows. She set her chin and pulled a knitted hat over her head. Ten minutes. That was all she’d be gone, and then she’d be back with breakfast, and they could get on with their day.

The weather had warmed slightly from the previous day, but the wind still held a bite that cut through her hoodie and sliced into her skin. She hurried down the street feeling as if she were in a wind tunnel, then turned left and had a few moments of respite. Then, there it was. A plain, ordinary deli that looked like a thousand other delis in New York. She grinned. She loved this city. It was energetic and brash and unapologetic, with such a different feel from any other city in the world. She stepped inside the door, out of the cold, and let the warmth seep in.

Even at 6:00 a.m. the foot traffic was brisk. Half the seats were full and there was a line about six deep for takeaway bagels. When it was her turn, she ordered a half dozen with a variety of cream cheeses and a small bit of lox, just in case Jacob liked it. Then cheese blintzes, her personal favorite, because she had a sweet tooth and couldn’t resist the blueberry compote that came with them. Finally she ordered a coffee, because the walk back was surely going to be just as cold.

* * *

She was humming something rather tunelessly when she opened the door to the apartment and came face-to-face with an irate Jacob.

Busted.