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‘He has no birthright here on Niroli. I am your mistress, and he will be
illegitimate.'
‘He has the birthright I choose to give him.’
‘By recognising him and making him face the world as less than your children born within royal wedlock? By making him grow up in an environment where he will always be beneath them—in their eyes and. ultimately, in his own?’
‘He will be a member of the Niroli royal family, how can you think of denying him that? Do you really think he will thank you when he is old enough to know what he has lost?’
In the space of a few heated sentences, they had become opponents. Emily recognised.
‘It doesn't matter how much we argue about our own feelings.’ she told him. You are not yet King Marco, and I doubt that your grandfather would welcome the birth of an illegitimate child to a woman of such lowly status as me’
There was just enough edge to her voice to warn Marco that, at some stage, she had learned of his grandfather’s opinion of her.
‘The fact that I am his father automatically gives him his own status.’ Marco retaliated, and then realised his words had added to Emilys fury rather than
softened it.
‘Yes as your bastard—a royal bastard, I know. But he will still be your bastard. I won’t let him suffer that. Marco. I'm going home.’
‘Niroli is my child's home, and this is where you and he are staying. When did you find out—about the child?’ he demanded abruptly.
‘Very recently. I had no idea...' Emily looked away from Marco, remembering how shocked she had been. 'I would never have agreed to come here with you if I'd known.’
‘So how would you have informed me that I'd become a father? Via a birth notice in The Times?’
Emily flinched as she heard the savagery in his voice. ‘That wouldn't happen.' she told him quietly. It had been foolish of her to give in to her urge to comfort him because now she had created a new set of problems. Why had she told him? Because secretly she had been hoping—what? That he would sweep her up into his arms and say that he was thrilled she was expecting their child?
‘I'm sorry if I've given you a shock. I was stunned myself when I realised. But I didn't want you to think I was leaving because..’ The words because I don't love
you formed a tight knot that blocked her throat. How could she say them when she knew he didn't want her love?
‘I wanted you to know that I have a valid reason for leaving the island.’ she amended, her voice growing firmer as she underlined, a reason that matters to both of us. We already knew that one day we would have to part. The fact that I have accidentally conceived your child only makes that parting all the more essential. We both know that. I will not be your pregnant mistress. Marco.’
Emily was having his child, their child! A complex mixture of unfamiliar emotions were curling their fingers into his heart and tugging hard on it.
‘How far advanced is this pregnancy?’ he asked her brusquely.
Emily felt as though her whole body had been plunged into ice-cold water. This was what she had dreaded. An argument with him in which he would try to demand that she terminate her pregnancy—something she had absolutely no intention of doing.
‘I’m not sure.’ she admitted honestly. I think that possibly it could have happened when I had that stomach bug. I remember reading somewhere that that kind of thing can neutralise the effect of the contraceptive pill. I should have thought about that at the time, but I didnt.’
She lifted her head and told him firmly. 'You needn't worry about the consequences, though, Marco. I am fully prepared to take sole responsibility for my child.’
‘My child.’ Marco stopped her ruthlessly. ‘The child is my child. Emily.’
She looked at him uncertainly. It hadn't occurred to her that he would react like this. He sounded almost as though he felt as possessive about the baby as she did herself.
‘I don't want to discuss it any more. Marco. There's no point. I can't stay here
now.'
The morning sun was slanting across the courtyard. The coffee Maria had brought him half an hour earlier had grown cold as Marco sat deep in thought. He was not going to let Emily leave. And he was not going to allow his child to grow up anywhere other than here on Niroli. Both were unassailable and unchangeable tenets of what he felt about his role as king-in-waiting and as the father of Emily's expected baby. It wasn't any longer a matter of what he did or didn't want; it was a matter of his royal duty, to his pride, to his name and to his first-born.
