Expecting the Prince's Baby (Harlequin RomancePrinces of Europe)

by Rebecca Winters

  “This is yours to keep. You once saved my life, and now you’re taking such good care of me, my thanks will never be enough. Now it’s time someone took care of you. Please don’t be mad at me if I tell you to go to bed. You look exhausted.” She walked to the door and opened it. If he didn’t leave, she was on the verge of begging him to stay the night.

  “Good night, Your Highness.”

  * * *

  In the weeks that followed, Vincenzo made certain his schedule was packed so tight with work he wouldn’t be tempted to spend every free moment at Abby’s apartment. Though he phoned her every morning before she went to work to know how she felt, he stayed away from her.

  The night she’d given him the album, she’d shown him the door before he was ready to leave. When he’d told her the true situation that had existed between him and Michelina, there’d been a definite shift in the universe. He didn’t regret his decision to tell her. At this point in the pregnancy, they shared an intimacy that demanded she understand what his marriage had been like so there’d be honesty between them.

  The day of the ultrasound was here. His greatest concern was the health of the baby. If something was wrong, then he’d deal with it. Vincenzo had gone back and forth in his mind on the subject of gender and finally decided he didn’t want to know. That way both sides of his family would have to go on speculating until the delivery. As for himself, he preferred to be surprised.

  He had the limousine pulled around to his private entrance. When Abby appeared in a kelly-green dress with flowing sleeves and a high waist, he lost his breath for a moment. She was finally looking pregnant and more beautiful than she knew with her silvery-gold hair upswept and caught with a comb.

  Dr. DeLuca met them in his office first and smiled. “This is the big day. Are you ready for it?”

  “It’s very exciting,” Abby answered. Though she seemed calm, Vincenzo knew she had to be nervous.

  “Will you come in to watch the ultrasound, Vincenzo?”

  “Yes!”

  Abby looked stunned. “You really want to?”

  Vincenzo caught her blue gaze. “I’ve been waiting for this from the moment we found out you were pregnant.”

  “I—I’m excited, too,” she stammered, rather breathlessly, he thought.

  “Excellent,” the doctor said. “If you’ll come this way with me. It won’t take long.”

  They followed him through another door to the ultrasound room. The doctor told Vincenzo to sit at the side of the bed while Abby lay down. His heart picked up speed to realize this moment had come. He didn’t intend to miss a second of this whole process.

  * * *

  Abby’s face had blushed when he’d said yes. He knew she’d been trying her hardest to keep her professional distance, but at this point in the pregnancy that was impossible. Having a baby was an intimate experience and she’d never been “just a surrogate” to him.

  Over the last few months she’d come to be his whole world. It was miraculous that a sonogram could see inside her gorgeous body, where his baby was growing. The body he’d once rescued from the sea. How could he have known that one day she’d carry his child? He couldn’t think about anything else.

  Michelina was the mother of his child, but right now his focus was on Abby while the doctor put special gel on her stomach. For several nights he’d had trouble sleeping while his mind thought of all the things that might be wrong with the baby.

  She shared a searching glance with Vincenzo as the doctor moved the transducer around her belly. Suddenly they both heard a heartbeat coming from the monitor. The doctor pointed to the screen. “There’s your baby. The heart sounds perfect.”

  “Oh, Vincenzo—our baby! There it is!” In the moment of truth, her guard had come down, thrilling him with her honesty. As for himself, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing and reached for her hand. She squeezed it hard. “It looks like it’s praying.”

  The doctor nodded with a smile. “Nice size, coming along beautifully. No abnormalities I can see. So far everything looks good. This test can’t detect all birth defects, but it’s a wonderful diagnostic tool and tells me the pregnancy and your baby are both on the right track.”

  Relief poured off Vincenzo in waves. He looked into her tear-filled eyes. Without conscious thought he leaned over and kissed her mouth. “You’re a wonder, Abby,” he whispered. “You’re giving me the world.”

  “I’m so thankful everything’s all right.”

  The doctor cleared his throat. “Do you two want to know the gender?”

  “That’s up to Vincenzo,” she said first.

  He’d already made up his mind. “I’d rather wait and be surprised.”

  “Very well. Here are some pictures for you to keep.” The doctor explained what Vincenzo was seeing, but he didn’t have to, because the shape of the baby was self-evident and filled him with awe. If Michelina were here, the tears would be overflowing. “The fetus is four and half inches long and developing well.”

  Vincenzo put them in his jacket pocket. “Doctor? How’s Abby?”

  He removed his glasses. “As you can see, she’s fine. No more nosebleeds?” She shook her head. “I’d say Abby is in perfect health. If she continues to do what I told her and rest a little more often after her swims, she should get through this pregnancy in great shape.”

  That was all Vincenzo wanted to hear, though it didn’t take away his guilt that she was risking her life to give him this baby. “Thank you, Dr. DeLuca.”

  After the older man left the room, Abby got up off the table to fix her dress. “Can you believe it? Our baby’s fine.”

  “I’m glad to hear you say our baby. It is our baby now, Abby. And I’m overjoyed to know you’re fine, too.” He got up from the chair. “This calls for a major celebration.” As they walked out of the hospital to the waiting limo, he said, “After work, we’re leaving for a weekend aboard the yacht. The doctor wants you to rest and swim and do whatever you like. I’ll let you decide our destination once we leave port.”

  She looked startled. “How can you get away?”

  “Very easily.”

  * * *

  Once inside the limo, she turned to him. “Vincenzo? Do you think this would be wise?”

  A dark frown broke out on his face, erasing his earlier happiness. “Obviously you don’t.”

  “When I tell my father where we’re going, he’ll tell me it’s not a good idea. Already he’s talking about our move back to the States. I can tell he’s getting nervous about you and me spending any more time together that isn’t absolutely necessary.”

  Vincenzo’s jaw hardened. “Has he spoken to my father yet about leaving?”

  “Yes. Last night.”

  That was news to Vincenzo. “How did he take it?”

  “He wanted to know the reasons and asked him about our extended family back home.”

  “Was my father upset?”

  “No. He said he’d been expecting it for some time.”

  Vincenzo grimaced. “Then he didn’t try to dissuade your father from leaving.”

  “No, and we both know why.” Her voice trembled. “You and I have shared a unique relationship for many years. The baby’s on the way and Michelina is gone. Guilio wants you to take a wife ASAP.”

  Vincenzo’s dark head reared. “Father knows my feelings on the subject. I’m not planning to get married again and am already looking into finding a full-time nanny to help me with the baby.”

  “You’re serious—”

  His mouth tightened. “Do you think I would make that up? If so, then you don’t know me at all.”

  “I don’t think Guilio has any idea you mean it. The situation is even worse than I’d feared,” she muttered.

  “What situation?”

  “You know
exactly what I’m talking about. The only reason I felt all right about becoming a surrogate was because you and Michelina were a team. But she’s not here anymore and I am.”

  He sat forward. “I still don’t understand you.”

  “Yes, you do, even if you won’t admit it.”

  “Admit what?”

  “You and I have shared a unique relationship over the years. With Michelina gone and me carrying your child, our friendship is now suspect. The fact that your father isn’t begging Dad to stay on tells me it will please him once we’ve left Arancia for good. He wants you to take Odile on the yacht, not me.”

  “You haven’t been listening to me,” he ground out.

  Her heart thudded harder, because she could feel how upset he’d become. “Vincenzo, you’re in a very rocky place right now and grabbing at what is easy and familiar because I’ve always been around. But you’re not thinking straight. For us to go on the yacht could spell disaster. That’s why I’m not going with you.”

  He said nothing while her guilt was warring with her heart, but her guilt won. “Your wife has only been gone a few months. Of course you haven’t been able to figure out your future yet. You’re in a state of limbo and will be until the baby is born.”

  “Have you finished?” came his icy question.

  “Not quite yet.” As long as she’d been this brave, she needed to get it all said. When she felt her lips, they still tingled from Vincenzo’s warm kiss. She’d felt it to the very marrow of her bones. If the doctor hadn’t been in the room, she would have kissed him back and never stopped.

  “If you recall, Michelina was the one who wanted me to live at the palace, but without her there, it will be better if I move back home with Dad until I have the baby.” It was true she and Vincenzo felt too comfortable together. To her chagrin she knew his visits and plans involving her were a distraction that kept him from doing some of his normal functions. All of it needed to stop. A change of residence was the key.

  His next comment surprised her. “I was going to suggest it after we got back from our cruise.”

  “I’m glad we’re in agreement about that. I’ll still be living on the grounds and can get room service whenever I want. Living with my father will put the kind of distance needed to ease the king’s mind.” To ease her own mind.

  Abby had been thinking of the baby as their baby. When he’d kissed her after the sonogram, it had felt so right. She couldn’t delude herself any longer. Abby was painfully in love with Vincenzo and felt as if his baby was her baby, too.

  “In that case I’ll ask some of my security people to move your things back this evening.”

  “I don’t have anything except my clothes, really.”

  They’d reached the law firm. Vincenzo opened the door for her. She stepped outside, aware that the good news from the ultrasound had been swallowed up in the tension that had plagued them since Michelina’s death.

  “I’ll see you this evening, Abby. Take care.”

  * * *

  After putting in a full day’s work, Vincenzo grabbed his phone and left for a run in the palace gym to work off his nervous energy. After a heavy workout, he returned to his suite to shower and shave. His phone rang while he was putting on a polo shirt over cargo pants. He’d asked the sentry guard to alert him when Abby got home from work.

  Moving fast, he reached the door to her suite before she did. He wanted to catch her off guard. The second she came around the corner and saw him she stopped, causing the fetching green dress to wrap around her long legs for a moment.

  “H-How long have you been waiting here?” Her voice faltered.

  “Not more than a minute. I’ll help you get packed and we’ll have a last dinner here on your terrace. In a little while some of the security men will be here to take your things over.”

  “No, Vincenzo. I—”

  “No?”

  She looked conflicted. “What I meant to say is that I’m virtually halfway through this pregnancy and everything has gone fine so far. You don’t need to wait on me hand and foot anymore!”

  “I want to. There is a difference, you know. Since you’re the only person on this planet who’s going to make my dreams come true, would you deny me the privilege of showing my gratitude?”

  “But you do it constantly.”

  He sucked in his breath. “Three-quarters of the time I’ve been out of the country or occupied with business, so that argument won’t wash. All you have to do is tell me that you don’t want my company and I’ll stay away.”

  Her eyes flashed purple sparks. “I’ve always enjoyed your company, but—”

  “But what?” he demanded.

  “We talked about it in the limo. For the time being, it’s best if you and I stay away from each other.”

  “Best for you, or for me?”

  “Best for everyone! From the beginning we knew there’d be gossip. With Michelina’s death everything has changed and I’m sure the king is wary of it. You have to know that, Vincenzo.” Damn if she wasn’t speaking truth. “My going back to live with Father will quiet a situation that’s building, but you shouldn’t be here helping.”

  “We’ve already covered that ground.”

  “And we’ll keep covering it for as long as I’m underfoot here or on the royal yacht!” she cried.

  “You do have a temper.” He smiled. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen it.”

  Her face filled with color. “I...didn’t mean to snap at you.”

  He gave an elegant shrug of his shoulders. “Instead of us standing around arguing, why don’t you open the door and we’ll get started on moving you—baggage and all—out of sight.”

  She drew closer to him. “Be reasonable.”

  “I’m offering my services to help. What’s more reasonable than that?”

  “Because it’s not your job!”

  The only person who’d ever dared talk to him like this was his father. Abby was even more alluring when she showed this side of her. “What do you think my job is? To sit on my golden throne all day long and order my subjects to fetch and carry for me?”

  “Yes!”

  But the minute she said it, he could tell she was embarrassed and he burst into laughter that filled the hallway. In another second she started laughing with him. “You’re outrageous, Vincenzo.”

  “My mother used to tell me the same thing. Come on and let me in. After a workout in my golden gym, I’m dying for a cold lemonade.”

  “The door’s open,” she said in a quiet voice. “I only lock it at night, but there’s really no need to do it, because you’ve assigned bodyguards who are as far away as my shadow.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  VINCENZO OPENED THE door and waited for Abby to pass before he entered. But when he saw the sway of her hips, he had to fight the urge to wrap her in his arms and pull her body into him.

  Never in his marriage with Michelina, let alone with the other women in his earlier years, had he known such an intense attack of desire, and without the slightest hint of provocation on Abby’s part. She’d done nothing to bring out this response in him.

  Somewhere along the way his feelings for her as a friend had turned into something entirely different. Perhaps it was the knowledge that she was leaving the palace tonight that had unleashed the carnal side of his nature. Maybe it was the reality of the baby now that he had the pictures in his possession, knowing it lived inside her body.

  Her father was a red-blooded man who’d probably warned her ages ago not to go out on the yacht with him. Vincenzo’s own father, a man with several quiet affairs in his background, had no doubt made it easy for Abby’s father to leave his service to be certain no misstep was taken.

  Vincenzo got it. He got it in spades. But the ache and longing for her had grown so acute, it act
ually frightened him.

  While she was in her bedroom, he phoned the kitchen to have some sandwiches and salad brought up to the room. “This is Signorina Loretto’s last evening in the palace. Tonight she’s moving back to Signor Loretto’s apartment on the grounds. You’ll be delivering her meals there from now on when she requests them.”

  “Very good, Your Highness.”

  Having quieted that source of gossip for the moment, Vincenzo hung up and went looking for Abby. “I ordered some sandwiches to be brought. While we’re waiting, what can I do to help?”

  She had several suitcases on the bed and had already emptied her dresser drawers. “Well...there’s not much to take. I left most of my things at Dad’s. Maybe if you would empty my CDs and DVDs from the entertainment center. I’ll clean out the things in the den myself. The men will have to bring some boxes to pack all my books and Michelina’s paintings.” She handed him an empty shoulder bag.

  She had an impressive collection of operas, from Madame Butterfly to Tosca. Her choice of movies was as varied as the different traits of her personality. He packed all but one of them and went back to the bedroom. “You enjoyed this?”

  Abby glanced at the cover. “24? I absolutely love that series. Have you seen it?”

  “Yes, and I found it riveting from beginning to end.”

  Her eyes exploded with light. “Me, too! Did you see the series about the signing of the peace accord?” He nodded. “That was my favorite. Even my father thought it was good, and that’s saying a lot considering the kind of work he’s in. He only picked apart half of the things in it that bothered him.”

  A chuckle escaped Vincenzo’s lips. “Shall we watch a few episodes of it tonight while we eat and direct traffic?”

  “That sounds wonderful.”

  “Bene.”

  “Oh—someone’s knocking.”

  “I’ll get it.”

  He opened the door and set the dinner tray on the coffee table.

  After she’d emptied the bathroom of her cosmetics, she started on the den. Abby worked fast and it didn’t take long. “There!” She came back in the living room. “It’s done. Now all your poor slaves can move everything to Dad’s.”