His Pregnant Royal Bride

by Amy Ruttan

  “Scusami, I’m so sorry for intruding on your lunch.” Dante smiled briefly, but charmingly, at Aubrey.

  “What’re you doing here, Dante?” Shay asked.

  “I need to speak with you alone, Shay.” Then he turned to Aubrey. “If you’ll excuse us? This is important.”

  Aubrey was going to say something, because she didn’t look too thrilled at having their lunch interrupted, but Dante turned his back on her. Shay sighed—this arrogant side was not what she was used to from Dante—and slid out of the booth. Dante led her away and Aubrey looked none too happy about being left alone. Her lips were thinned and her arms tightly folded across her chest.

  Not a good sign. Dante didn’t know what kind of trouble he was in.

  “What, can’t it wait until I go back to the hospital?” she asked.

  “This.” He held out a paper. “This is a Nulla Osta. If you sign it, we can get married this afternoon.”

  “Dante! This afternoon? We have to finish our shift and I haven’t even agreed to marry you yet!” She rubbed her temple. “You’re very persistent.”

  He grinned. “I know.”

  “Maybe I should get a lawyer.”

  “Shay, I promise you, you don’t need a lawyer. This is just a form that states that there’s nothing to stop us from getting married. You sign it and we head to the courthouse to get married now. I will provide you a contract outlining the details of our marriage within five days to a lawyer of your choosing.”

  “So, I have to stay married to you for a year?”

  “Sì.”

  “This is not a real marriage, though?” And warmth flooded in her cheeks as she asked that question. It was a polite way of saying that there would be no sex between them.

  “Correct. You will have your own space at my villa.”

  “What happens after the year is up? You said I wouldn’t have to fight for custody.”

  “Sì, we will have joint custody. I will take our child when you need to work. Our child will have my name and will be taken care of. You, as our child’s mother, will be as well. Finally, our child will have dual citizenship.”

  “I don’t know...” Then she thought of the schooling her child could receive with Dante’s money and connections. The opportunities she’d never had as a bright child growing up in the lower ninth ward of New Orleans, moving around constantly. No roots. No family ties. No father.

  She bit her lip.

  Do it for your child.

  “Where do I sign?” Shay asked.

  Dante pulled out a pen, but before she could sign on the dotted line his pager went off. He pulled it out. “Incoming trauma. I knew it was too quiet this morning.”

  “We should go, then,” Shay said.

  “Sì.”

  Shay turned and saw that Aubrey was frowning, her eyes narrowed as she glared at Dante.

  “I have to go, Aubrey. There’s incoming trauma,” Shay said.

  Aubrey nodded. “Don’t worry. Go. I’ll settle up and we’ll talk later. I have a train to catch.” It was as if Aubrey knew that Shay would agree to the marriage of convenience in the end.

  Shay smiled and mouthed, “Thank you,” as she left the restaurant with Dante. Her mind was still reeling with the fact she’d decided to marry him.

  Even though she was terrified at the prospect.

  * * *

  Dante hated fires.

  He hated when people were burned. He never did like it when people were injured, but burn victims always hit a little too close to home. His best friend had been caught in a fire and had received burns to seventy percent of his body. He’d lived for a few short days in complete agony.

  And this situation was no different.

  The young man was in pain and Shay was moving quickly in the chaos of a busy trauma room. He appreciated it. She knew what to do. He didn’t have to tell her what to do. She just did it. She set up the IV with antibiotics and painkillers while Dante examined the extent of the burns.

  “Was it a house fire?” Dante asked the paramedic who brought the patient in.

  “Sì, it was.”

  Once Dante learned that, he changed his tactic. He knew that when some of the old houses caught fire, they were very enclosed and it wasn’t just the burns that could kill.

  It was the carbon monoxide poisoning in the blood. The patient’s lungs could be scorched.

  He could suffocate.

  Dante immediately listened to the patient’s chest. His breath was hoarse, labored. He tilted the patient’s head back and examined his throat, to see black.

  “We need to intubate him,” Dante said to Shay. “Get me an intubation kit.”

  She nodded and went over to the cabinets in the bay, pulling out an intubation kit. Dante tilted the patient’s head back once more and quickly intubated him. Shay bagged him once the tube was in, pumping air into the man’s lungs until they could get him up into the ICU.

  There wasn’t much he could do for the third-degree burns in the trauma bay.

  The man’s blood pressure was high and he was now intubated. They had to get him stable, and then they could take him into surgery where they would clean his burns and help prevent infection.

  “I want a CBC drawn. I need to see how much carboxyhemoglobin is in his blood.”

  Shay nodded. “I’ll do that.”

  “When he’s stable and we have his labs back, we’ll get him into the operating room.”

  Dante watched as Shay hooked the man up to the ventilator. The man was now in an induced coma, but it was good. This way he wasn’t in pain.

  Once they had the patient as stable as they could, porters came to take the patient up to the ICU. Dante and Shay removed their gloves and moved to the next bay, making their rounds through the influx of patients that had come through, but there was no one that needed immediate attention, as the burn victim had needed.

  “I’d better get to my simulation training,” Shay said. “I just got a page that they’re ready for me now that Dr. Carlo is done with them.”

  “Do you need any help with that?” Dante asked.

  “No, but maybe you could walk me out of the emergency room to my office? I still haven’t got the lay of the land yet.”

  He chuckled. “Of course.”

  Dante led the way out of the emergency room.

  “How long will the training last?” Dante asked.

  “Why?”

  “The courthouse closes at five.”

  “Oh. Right. Do we have to do it today? I signed the form. Can’t we wait? I promised I would marry you. I won’t run. I can’t.”

  She was nervous and Dante found it endearing.

  “Sì, we have to do it today because you signed the form and dated it.”

  “Okay, I’ll make sure I’m done in time. How long will it take and who will be our witnesses?”

  “It should only take a few minutes and I’ve asked Enzo, but he might be busy. Do you think your friend Aubrey will step in?”

  “No, she’s headed back to Rome, where she’s working at the moment. And my roommate is packing my belongings, since I’m apparently moving in with you tonight.”

  “That makes me very happy.” Dante grinned that charming lopsided, dimpled smile that made her weak at the knees.

  And it was true. Once she was under his roof, then he would be more at ease about this whole situation. There he could take care of her and take care of their baby.

  “Does it make you happy?” she asked.

  “It does. This will benefit us both, Shay.”

  “That’s what I can’t figure out. How does this benefit you?”

  “By having the baby in my life, that’s how it benefits me. Being a father is an honor and something I have always wanted
. My name, and passing it down, is important to me.” He didn’t know why he couldn’t tell her the real reason, why he didn’t tell her about the trust fund, other than the fact that the last time he’d told someone about it, she had used him. Shay knew he was a prince, knew that he owned the villa, but she really didn’t understand the scope of what was at stake.

  And he just didn’t trust her enough yet to tell her.

  He couldn’t tell her.

  “So, when should I come back?” Dante asked as they stood in front of the training room.

  “Two hours should suffice. The simulation is ready to go and they have to complete it in a certain time or else they don’t pass.”

  “You’re tough,” Dante teased.

  She grinned. “Working with the United World Wide Health Association isn’t an easy ticket. It’s hard work. I was put through my paces and I plan to do the same for them.”

  “I don’t doubt it. I’ll come back in two hours, then, and we’ll make it official. That way you can move freely throughout Venice. The restraining order will protect you and our baby.”

  Shay nodded and headed into the training room.

  Dante turned and walked back to the emergency room, but first he pulled out his phone and tried to call Enzo. There was no answer and it went straight to voice mail.

  “Can you meet Shay and I at the city hall at half past four? She signed the papers and we’re going to make it official.” He disconnected the call.

  His stomach twisted at the thought of Shay becoming his wife.

  Having a wife was the last thing he’d wanted, but also something he’d secretly always longed for.

  He was so close to having it all, but then a sense of dread sank in his stomach and he couldn’t help but wonder when it would all end.

  When he would lose it all.

  He’d learned very young that he couldn’t take life for granted. That happiness was fleeting. So when would all of this be snatched away from him?

  He hated the fact he was such a pessimist. He was a surgeon. He was supposed to be an optimist.

  Only he didn’t feel so optimistic at the moment.

  He was only feeling dread over what the future held.

  CHAPTER SIX

  SHAY COULDN’T FOLLOW most of the civil ceremony, but she understood when the judge pronounced them man and wife.

  “You may kiss your bride,” the officiant said in English.

  Shay’s pulse raced. She hadn’t anticipated that a kiss would be part of this marriage.

  Since she’d agreed to the marriage she kept trying to think of it as a business arrangement for the benefit of their child, but now as she held Dante’s hand, staring up into his dark brown eyes as his wife, the prospect of kissing him made her insides quiver. Her body responded with the familiar ache, because it knew what his kisses were like.

  How they enflamed her.

  Dante bent down and pressed his lips against hers briefly, but in that moment a jolt of electricity raced through her, her body recalling every kiss he’d shared with her. It lit a fire in her that had never been extinguished. This marriage of convenience was going to be hard.

  Dante stepped away quickly, pulling at his collar again as the officiant led them to where they were to sign the certificate.

  The court had standby witnesses, who signed their names after Shay and Dante had finished signing theirs.

  She accepted congratulations graciously, but there was a little voice in the back of her head reminding her that this marriage was a sham.

  That she shouldn’t be here.

  This wasn’t real.

  And it really wasn’t.

  She’d just entered into a marriage of convenience with the father of her baby.

  This is for the baby. Dante won’t leave the baby. He wants to be a father. He’s not like your father.

  As they stepped outside she took a deep breath to calm her erratic pulse.

  “Shall we celebrate?” Dante asked as they left the courthouse.

  “I’d rather have a nap,” Shay teased. “I do need to collect my things if I’m moving in with you. And your lawyer will need to start looking into extending my visa.”

  “Sì, he will, and as for collecting your things—we can do that.” Dante walked to the edge of the Grand Canal and flagged down a gondola.

  “What’re you doing?” Shay asked, bewildered.

  “Flagging down a gondola. That’s how we’ll get to your residence. Or rather your former residence.”

  “A water taxi will do.”

  “I like this way better.” He winked at her, those dark eyes of his twinkling, sending her pulse skittering.

  Damn him.

  “How do you know how to get to the United World Wide Health Association house?”

  “Because it was my childhood home,” Dante said quickly as a gondola pulled up. “Come on.”

  His childhood home?

  He took her hand and helped her down the steps into the gondola.

  “You know, we could’ve walked too. I don’t think I’ve ever used the canal entrance before.”

  Dante smiled. “I know, but this is a celebration. We’re married and the world is watching. We have to pretend that we’re a happy couple out in public. You have just snagged one of Italy’s most eligible bachelors.”

  Shay smiled ruefully as he took a seat beside her on the cushioned bench.

  The gondolier used his long pole to push away from the canal ledge out into the Grand Canal. She hadn’t done this before. Mostly she just walked where she needed to go. The United World Wide Health Association residence wasn’t far from the hospital and Shay liked to walk, but as they slowly glided down the main canal she found herself relaxing into the ride. She could see smaller canals leading off the Grand Canal, overshadowed by old buildings and smaller bridges that connected one side to the other.

  On the Grand Canal there were larger bridges, with tourists passing over them as the gondola glided underneath. She understood now why so many people loved this. Why it was popular with tourists. It was beautiful. It was calming and she was suddenly very aware that she was alone on a romantic gondola ride with Dante.

  And he was so close, she could smell his masculine aftershave, feel his strong arm around her. His hand on her shoulder, his fingers making circles through the fabric of her scrubs, making her body yearn for something more.

  You can’t have any more. And Aubrey’s warning about treading carefully went through her mind.

  “So, the United World Wide Health Association residence was your childhood home?” she asked, trying to defuse the tension she was feeling and chasing the thoughts of kissing Dante away to something a little more tedious.

  “Sì, my father sold it off a few years ago. He and my mother moved elsewhere.” There was a hint of bitterness in Dante’s voice.

  “You sound sad about it.”

  “Annoyed,” Dante said, and he ran his hand through his hair as he always seemed to do when he was distracted. “I didn’t have as much of an attachment to that home as my younger brother did. I prefer the villa where I live and the vineyard in Tuscany.”

  “I would love to see the vineyard.”

  “You told me once that you never sightsee when you’re on assignment. There is so much more to Italy than just Venice.”

  “Isn’t that blasphemy?” she teased. “You’re Venetian.”

  He smiled. “Perhaps, but I am Italian first.”

  The gondolier pulled up in front of the United World Wide Health Association house, tying up his gondola as Dante asked him to wait. Dante climbed out and helped her out of the gondola.

  “Why are you asking the gondolier to wait?” Shay asked. “I didn’t think they crossed the lagoon.”

  “No,
they don’t, but I thought it would be nice to take the gondola down the Grand Canal back to the hospital before we make our way to the ferry docks.”

  Shay didn’t respond as they walked into the rental house that had once been Dante’s childhood home. The moment they stepped over the threshold his demeanor changed. She could tell by the way his body stiffened. He jammed his hands in his pockets and kept looking straight ahead.

  Even though he’d said that he wasn’t attached to this home, it clearly brought up some painful memories for him. She knew the look, because that was the way she’d felt the day she’d walked back into her mother’s house after the floodwaters had receded. After FEMA had told her it was marked condemned and that she was allowed one last look inside before it was demolished.

  Yet it still stood. They hadn’t demolished it yet.

  It was boarded up and covered with graffiti, sitting among the wrecks and ruin of the lower ninth ward homes. People toured the area now, which ticked Shay off no end.

  It was macabre.

  Don’t think about it now.

  “I’ll just go collect my suitcase. I won’t be too long.”

  He nodded and stood by the door. She went upstairs to her room.

  She collected her few belongings and left. She was sad that she wasn’t going to be living here. She’d always lived on-site wherever the United World Wide Health Association housed her.

  This was a first, living off-site.

  It was nerve-racking.

  This is for your baby. It’s only temporary. Just a year. You were going to take a year maternity leave anyways after this twelve-week assignment.

  Still, a pang of homesickness washed over her.

  She couldn’t remember the last time she’d ever felt homesick and she wasn’t sure if she ever did feel homesick.

  This isn’t your home.

  Shay didn’t have a home. And she never had, really. She and her mother were always moving and this was no different. Only it was. Dante was offering her permanence for a year and permanence for a lifetime for their child.

  With a sigh she walked back downstairs. Dante met her halfway up the steps and took her suitcase from her.