Beating the System

by E V Darcy

  Roman's mouth on hers, one hand entangled in her hair, the other at the small of her back, pressing her closer to him. His body hard and strong next to her own soft and supple form, and she felt the evidence of his desire for her against her stomach as she moaned and allowed him to deepen the kiss.

  She probably looked like the cat that got the cream when she finally found her feet again and began the trek back to her hotel across the city. She wore such a self-satisfied smirk as she wandered down the streets, allowing her legs to just take her where she needed to go while she got lost in her daydreams.

  There were several involving that big desk of his, one in her hotel room—she’d be using that one again later!—and a number of them in various locations or at different events.

  But just like the real thing, her daydreaming was rudely interrupted.

  ‘Whoa! Hattie, wait up!’

  Alexi. Hattie's eyes widened and she paused in her step as her little sister's voice called out. She blinked as she came back to reality, noting she was actually in her hotel's lobby.

  Slowly, she turned and saw the dark-haired youngest member of their family hurrying towards her. What on earth was she doing here? Her sisters never came to her unless something had happened.

  Well, at least they did when they were told about it. To say Victoria had been livid when she'd found out about Hattie's being caught up in the explosion and that they'd not been told about her injuries would be an understatement. She’d been rather touched by the care her big sister had shown, not that she’d ever admit to that aloud.

  ‘Alexi. What are you doing here?’

  ‘Well, I was in the area—’

  ‘Yeah. Okay,’ she scoffed and continued on to her room. While the city of Wessex had sunshine and gorgeous beaches, it was a small sea-side city, with an older population, not the usual busy, social place for her youngest sister or her friends. Daven and Avon were more their scene.

  ‘No, I actually was,’ Alexi said as she hurried to catch up. ‘I'm with a friend and… Well, I’m looking for somewhere cheap to stay. Turns out Daddy left the deed of my place to—’

  ‘The company?’

  ‘Yours too?’ Hattie nodded.

  ‘Well, anyway, I figured while I was here, I'd check in.’ Hattie gave her the side-eye as they waited for the lift.

  ‘And?’

  Alexi sighed. ‘And I got a phone call from Victoria’—bingo!—‘who was totally freaking out.’ The lift doors opened, and they stepped inside. When the doors closed and they were left alone, Alexi continued. ‘She said something about you demanding she tell Roman Tyrrell about the stipulations of Daddy's will.’

  ‘Tell Victoria to keep her nose out. I don't need you lot running to the rescue. At least not now.’ It was a sly dig, but Alexi got the point.

  ‘Oh, grow up, Hattie!’ her sister snapped. ‘You might have been thrown to Guildford, but you got a life there! I had to watch Victoria beg Daddy over and over to bring you home and getting metaphorically slapped down each time! He ignored the three of us for months because of her constant begging. It wasn't just you who suffered when Mummy died. Also, I thought you’d moved past all that.’ Hattie opened her mouth to retort, but Alexi turned to face her, her bright blue eyes narrowed and her hands on her generous hips. ‘Now, are you pregnant?’

  ‘What?’ Hattie squeaked. How the hell did she know that? Or even begin to suspect? Her hand itched to touch her stomach, but she forced it to remain at her side by curling her fingers into her palm. ‘Don't be stupid. What makes you think that?’

  ‘Well, just over an hour ago you called our beloved big sister and demanded she spill our family secrets to the twin brother of the guy you spent a night with before he was blown— Ah, I mean, killed outside your house. So, either you’re pregnant with Roman’s niece or nephew, or…’

  Hattie goggled at her sister. How the hell was she so on the money?

  ‘And you wouldn’t pull a Victoria,’ Alexi added. ‘You’ve got means to earn your own living, but if something sprung to life, something that could perhaps stop you from doing working…’ She raised her brows in question.

  The lift pinged to a stop before she could say anything, and Hattie pushed her finger to her lips to tell her sister to shut up. The doors squeaked open and they stepped into the hallway, walking side by side as they headed to her small suite.

  ‘I know you prefer the simpler things in life, Hattie,’ Alexi said, staring at the walls as if they’d somehow personally offended her. ‘But surely you can afford somewhere a little better than this?’

  ‘It suits me for now.’ She didn’t confess she’d been planning on moving to a smaller, cheaper place just that morning.

  ‘A junior!’ Alexi gasped as Hattie opened the door and her youngest sister stepped inside, looking around despairingly. ‘Really, Hattie, can’t you enjoy the finer things for just a few weeks while you find a new place? I mean, live a little.’ She grimaced as she pulled her jacket from her shoulders.

  ‘It’s clean, it’s tidy, it’s big enough for just me.’

  Alexi’s eyes dropped to her stomach before lifting to meet Hattie’s again. ‘So, you didn’t answer my question.’

  ‘It’s his, okay.’

  ‘Which his? Twin one or twin two?’

  She wanted to say Roman, but she hated the idea of lying, especially to her baby sister who really had never done her any ill in life, but she couldn’t risk it getting out if they decided to go through with the whole sham marriage. Not even to her family. There weren’t any rules against what Victoria had done to bag herself a husband and get access to her inheritance, but there were definitely rules against what she was planning on doing. Or maybe planning. Considering would be a better word. Possibly. She really should have thought about… everything on her walk home rather than losing herself in childish daydreams!

  ‘Ugh!’ she pulled at her hair as she turned and sat on the small sofa.

  Alexi hurried to her side. ‘What’s the matter?’ she asked, voice filled with concern.

  She wanted to laugh at such a question; where did she begin? Did she start with the whole dead-twin being the real father, or did she tell her about the cover up they were planning? Or what about the fact that despite all the daydreams she’d indulged in on her way home, she still expected Roman to call her later and tell her he’d made a mistake, breaking her heart once again.

  ‘Is it the baby? Do you ned a doctor?’

  ‘No,’ Hattie shook her head. ‘It just… It wasn’t supposed to be like this,’ she confessed. ‘It wasn’t… None of this’—she waved her hand down her body—‘was supposed to happen.’

  ‘No, but these things do happen, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of,’ Alexi said quickly, trying to placate her. ‘I mean it’s the twenty-first century, Grandfather can get with the times and get over the whole out-of-wedlock thing. I’m sure he’ll happily embrace a great-grandchild. Keeps his legacy going after all. It’s not as if any of the rest of us are going to give him one soon. Well, maybe Victoria…’

  Closing her eyes as her sister rambled on, Hattie rested her elbows on her knees and began to massage her temples to release some of the stress she was beginning to feel. How did she tell Alexi she wasn’t ashamed of being pregnant out of marriage, she was very aware it wasn’t something that carried a stigma anymore—at least outside of royal circles. Nor was she worried about their grandfather throwing a fit at the news. He really didn’t have any say in her life or power over her, so she didn’t give two figs about that. But how did she tell her sister that she was being pulled apart by the man she loved and getting everything she’d always dreamt of, and telling truth and losing it all?

  ‘He’s asked me to marry him.’

  Alexi froze next to her.

  ‘Who?’ she said the word so carefully, as if the answer would be a bomb that would destroy the world.

  Both of them.

  ‘Roman.’

  ‘Shit.’ Alexi breathed,
and that made Hattie’s brows shoot up. She could have a mouth like a sailor, but her sister never swore. ‘I thought he was engaged to Fiona Martin.’

  Hattie laughed hollowly. ‘So did I. Turns out they broke up recently.’

  Alexi frowned, while also somehow raising one perfectly shaped brow. Hattie had always thought it was a look she’d wear well if she ever became a queen. She imagined her using it when someone said something stupid to her and it would be unseemly of her to respond the way she wanted.

  ‘How recently?’ she asked. Hattie sighed and leaned back in her seat, staring up at the ceiling. Okay, it was a little dingy here. She shrugged her shoulders.

  ‘I don’t know. He said not many people knew about it. But it was very recent.’

  ‘Wait, so you slept with him while he was still engaged?’ Hattie cast her eyes towards her sister, knowing how guilty that look made her. She might have been Roman’s first—did extra-marital work for those who weren’t married?—affair, but he hadn’t been engaged to Fiona at the time. She didn’t want to lie to her sister, but the guilt in her eyes must have been enough for Alexi. Her dark brows formed a disappointed V-shape, curling her mouth in disgust. She had a very expressive face, Hattie thought distractedly. Her baby sister would need to work on that if her wish to rule ever became a reality.

  ‘Really, Hattie! How could you?’

  Hattie’s eyes quickly turned back to the ceiling. A second later she heard her sister rummaging through her bag and in her peripheral vision she saw a sleek, black device being pulled from within its depths. She always found it amusing that while Alexi’s friends all sported tiny clutches or pocket sized over the shoulder bags, her sister had a giant tote at her side at all times. It was the one piece of fashion she never seemed to give way to.

  Her sister made dissatisfied humming noises as she swiped through whatever it was she was browsing. And then she settled on something. Something that made her eyes grow large and her mouth form a perfect o-shape. She glanced at Hattie, and Hattie finally had to give her sister her full attention again.

  ‘What?’ Alexi licked her lips, hesitating on what to say. ‘What?’ she asked again, exasperated. Why couldn’t people just get to the point? Alexi’s mouth opened in a grimace, but she pressed the phone’s screen before turning it around.

  There was a video playing, a girl blowing kisses to the camera before trying to wave it away.

  ‘What am I looking at?’ she asked. Alexi leaned over the phone and sighed, pressing at the sound icon on the screen.

  —with me? Daddy has said if we marry before the end of the year, he’ll pay for the whole thing. He’ll have a scotch, neat.

  That was… That was Fiona’s voice. It wasn’t clear, as if they weren’t right next to the camera, but it was unmistakably her. Hattie would recognise that high, stupidly girlish voice anywhere. She looked at the screen more closely, she couldn’t see her former classmate. The girl in the frame stuck her tongue out and told her cameraman to put it away.

  No, just a glass of water. Sparkling. Ice, lemon and cucumber.

  That was Roman! Hattie grabbed her sister’s phone and tried tilting the screen as if it somehow had the power to shift the camera and show her what was happening between the pair. When had this been taken?

  What’s up with you?

  Fi, I won’t be moving in with you and there isn’t going to be a wedding.

  The girl in the camera’s frame froze, her mouth forming a little oh as she cast her eyes to her right. The laughing cameraman quickly became silent. Hattie’s breath stopped.

  Oh, don’t start that again, Roman. We both know it’s going to happen. We discussed this at Christmas.

  No, Fi, it’s not. I’ve got someone pregnant.

  Alexi’s gasp coincided with the girl in the frame’s mouth opening wide in surprise as she stared at the camera, wide-eyed. She mouthed put it away to the screen, but the camera shook as if saying no, before slowly turning to where the girl had glanced. Hattie’s heart pounded furiously, a wild tattoo against her chest, as it moved far too slowly to bring Fiona and Roman, sitting together at a table in what looked like a garden restaurant, into the frame.

  Ha ha. You’re not as good at pranks as Jensen was.

  It’s not an April’s fool.

  April’s fool. This was today! This was lunch, the lunch appointment his secretary had reminded him he had when she’d interrupted them. He hadn’t broken up with Fiona like he said he had, he hadn’t been single when he’d proposed. He’d kissed her when he was still engaged to the woman he’d been with for fifteen years! Hattie heard the strangled sound that came from her throat.

  He’d lied to her. Used her to get his own way. Again.

  Alexi’s hand reached out to take the phone back from her sister. ‘Hattie, maybe you should stop—’ Hattie grabbed Alexi’s wrist, holding it tight before she could snatch the phone from her fingers. She was unable—refused—to look away. She had to know what Fiona had said, how she had reacted, if he’d told her ex-classmate it was her who he’d knocked up.

  Hattie swallowed at the potential fallout.

  Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. I hope it’s being dealt with.

  The camera zoomed in on Fiona as she spoke, and Hattie stared agog at how unaffected she was by Roman’s declaration. She pushed the glasses back up her nose and sat back, taking a sip of her drink.

  That was it? That was all she had to say? If she’d been in Fiona’s position, she’d have ripped him apart! Killed him there and then!

  No, it isn’t being dealt with. I’m marrying her.

  Don’t be stupid. Pay the chit off and let’s move on. Fiona waved her hand dismissively and Hattie blinked at how indifferent she was to the whole thing. Was she

  just going to accept it? Who did that? Then again, who allowed their fiancé to sleep with other women without a second thought? But on the other hand, who slept around on the man they purported to love?

  No. I am marrying her. The child is mine and I’m making it legit. They’ll be the Tyrrell heir my father is always harping on about.

  I’ll give you an heir at some point in the future, get rid of it.

  We are done, Fiona. Finished. No more. I am marrying the mother of my child and we’re going to be very happy together.

  For a moment Hattie’s heart soared at the idea of him actually being happy with her, until she remembered what she was watching.

  You can keep the ring; I plan on giving her my grandmother’s.

  My father will destroy them and you.

  Both Hattie and Alexi snorted at the comment. ‘Neville could try,’ Alexi muttered.

  Don’t be stupid, Roman. Fiona continued. Pay her off, make her deal with the matter, and I’ll pretend none of this ever happened.

  Good luck. I don’t think even your father could go against the King.

  Hattie and Alexi gasped at the same time. Hattie’s hand released her sister’s and flew to her mouth. He’d announced it was her. Fiona was going to know and—

  ‘Hattie. You knocked up Hattie! At your own brother’s funeral?

  —announce it in public. For everyone to hear.

  The cameraman swore quietly and whispered Lady Henrietta, but Hattie had closed her eyes at Alexi’s squeak of distress.

  ‘You didn’t!’ her sister whispered. Hattie swallowed. She hadn’t, but she couldn’t tell her sister that. She also couldn’t say she wouldn’t have if they hadn’t been interrupted. She wondered again how far they would have got today if his secretary hadn’t interrupted them either. Why couldn’t she resist him?

  We’re in public, Fi. Please remember that.

  Hattie wished he’d remembered that!

  You promised. All those years ago, you swore you’d never shag her again!

  ‘You slept with him before?’ Alexi stared at her as if she had no idea who Hattie was anymore. ‘When?’

  ‘I lost my virginity to him,’ she whispered as she stared at the icy maiden
on the screen, a question she’d always wondered finally answered. Fiona had known.

  Hattie had always suspected, of course, but Fiona had never outright accused her. Had Roman taken their night together as an opportunity to tell Fiona that was what a relationship with him would be like? That she had to put up with other women gracing his bed if she wanted to be with him? Fiona was beautiful, she could have any man she wanted—before they got to know her—why had she put up with it?

  That it was over and done with, out your system—

  Wait. She’d been in his system? Her face scrunched up as she tried to work out exactly what that meant. Had he wanted her when they were at Guildford? Had he felt the same way she had about him? No, that couldn’t have been the case. She’d protested until her voice was hoarse, but everyone had known how she’d felt about Roman. But maybe he’d avoided a relationship with her because she’d have told him where to shove it if he’d said he wasn’t going to be faithful. Even as starry-eyed over him as she’d been, as much as it would have hurt her young heart, she’d have never accepted that.

  Hells bells, her head began to swim, there was just too much happening at once!

  Why does she bother you so much? You don’t care about any other woman I have in my bed, and you know I’ve had plenty; why her?

  Okay, that was a good question, and one she wanted to know the answer to as well. Hattie had a feeling it would reveal something more about her previous comment of being out of his system.

  ‘Because you—’

  Hattie frowned and Alexi leaned over more as Fiona cut herself off from whatever it was she’d been about to confess. Because he what? God, she wanted to scream!

  You’ll break her heart.

  Hattie snorted at the same time as Roman did on the video. Yeah right! Like that was what concerned Fiona. Yes, he would, had even, but that wasn’t what Fiona had been about to say.

  You didn’t want me bedding her because I’ll break her heart. How magnanimous of you.

  Oh, go to hell, Roman! Fiona stood up. You’ll break her heart, the way you’ve broken mine.

  Oh, give it a rest, Fi, you’ve never loved me, just the idea of me.