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Only then did Zak address her. ‘Sit down, Violet.’
She eyed the
doorway, swallowing with relief to see it was still open. ‘No. Not until you tell me what’s going on.’
‘I thought we could speak privately about your...news.’
‘You can’t say the words, can you?’
His gaze dropped again to her belly, a look slashing across his face but disappearing far too quickly for her to decipher. ‘That you’re pregnant? That you claim to be carrying my child?’
‘Claim? I thought you said I’d be too reckless to pull the wool over your eyes with such a claim?’
‘We’ll get to the details of that in a moment. First, I really wish you would sit down.’
Two things pierced her consciousness simultaneously.
The first was that the engines of the plane had started up, the stairs electronically retracting until the door shut with a soft whoosh.
The second, as icy foreboding raced down her spine, was the sight of the weekend bag that should’ve been in her hotel room sitting against an interior door of the plane.
The enormity of what was happening weakened her knees. Before she could collapse and disgrace herself, she sank into the nearest chair, which happened to be the one directly opposite him. He rose with lithe, efficient movements, secured her seat belt, then stayed put, crouched before her as if he expected her to jerk upright and sprint for the door. As she wildly wanted to do.
But already the jet was rolling forward, slowly gathering speed once it had left the hangar.
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ Her voice was nowhere as firm as she wanted it to be. Because she suspected she knew what was happening. Knew but refused to acknowledge it.
‘You’ve been demanding my attention, mia bella. So I’m giving you what you want.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
ZAK STARED DOWN at the sleeping form of the woman who claimed to be carrying his child. He wanted to be amused at the hours of silent treatment she’d punished him with following his announcement, right before she’d just as silently taken him up on his offer of the master suite to rest.
He couldn’t dredge up an ounce of humour.
He’d instructed his personal security chief to dig into every second of Violet’s movements since their night in Tanzania. Preliminary reports indicated that besides work and being in her apartment in New York, she’d done little else.
No secret lover hovered in the wings, aiding her plot to deliver this bombshell into his life. Even communication with her own mother had been kept to a minimum, fuelling his impression from what he’d spotted of the strain between the two women during Remi’s wedding reception that Violet was avoiding her own mother.
That notion had been confirmed when Margot Barringhall had, under the guise of congratulating the new royal couple, cornered Zak to demand if he knew what was up with her daughter.
If even her own mother didn’t know...
He shook his head, knowing he was avoiding the main subject that need to be addressed. His feelings towards her news.
He was going to be a father.
Simultaneous waves of ice-cold shock and a red-hot need to claim thundered through him, as had been happening ever since Violet had made the life-changing announcement.
A child.
His heir.
He didn’t regret the steps he was taking to ensure that no whiff of scandal accompanied this news. His mother’s announcement that she was stepping down from the throne with immediate effect, together with his brother’s imminent coronation, would be fodder for those who sought to take advantage of the changes going through the kingdom to further their own nefarious ends.
But kidnap? Really?
Si, he affirmed to himself. His actions were justified. As he had learned to his cost when his father had died, delaying in taking action could prove detrimental.
