Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Emily Fielding was shaking as she stepped off the elevator into the foyer of Rafael Montoro IV's penthouse in South Beach. The Montoros had settled in Miami, Florida, decades ago, when as the royal family of Alma, they had to flee their European island homeland because of a coup. Now the dictator who'd replaced them was dead and the parliament of Alma wanted the Montoros back. With Rafe as king.
Great. Happy ending for everyone. Well, everyone except for Emily, the bartender who was pregnant with the soon-to-be-king's baby. Or at least that was what her gut told her. Her gut and three home pregnancy tests. She wasn't easy to convince.
She had debated not telling Rafe about the baby, but having grown up without knowing who her father was, she just couldn't do that to her own child. Sure, she'd had to lie to get up here to his very posh penthouse apartment, and she knew her timing sucked because Rafe had a lot of royal duties to attend to before his coronation, but she was still here.
Getting past security hadn't been that easy, but she'd made a few calls to friends and found that one of them had a connection to Rafe via a maid service. So she'd used Maria's pass to get into the gated community and her key to get into his building.
Sneaking around wasn't her style. Normally. But nothing about this situation was normal.
She was shaking as she stood on the Italian marble floor and let the air-conditioning dry the sweat at the small of her back. Luxurious and well appointed, the apartment was exactly the sort of place where she expected to find Rafe. His family might have fled Alma in the middle of the night, but they'd brought their dignity and their determination with them to the United States and this generation of Montoros had truly flourished.
Rafe was the CEO of Montoro Enterprises. He had been featured in Forbes long before the recent developments in Alma. He'd earned the wealth she saw around him, and the fact that he played as hard as he worked was something she could respect. She played hard, too.
She forced herself not to touch her stomach. Not to draw attention to the one thing that changed everything. Since she'd looked at that stick in the bathroom and realized she was going to have a baby, everything had changed.
Pretending that there was more to her visit than ensuring that her child would know who its father was would be stupid. A wealthy businessman she could have had a shot with, she thought. But not a king. Still
She'd seen photos of Alma. With its white sand beaches and castle that looked like something out of a dream, it was a beautiful place. The kind of place that she might have dreamed about as a little girl. A fairy-tale kingdom with a returning prince. Sounded perfect, right?
Except that Rafael Montoro IV was a playboy and they'd had a fling. She wrinkled her nose as she tried to come up with something else to call it, but a two-night stand didn't cover it, either. One weekend spent in each other's arms. She could lose herself in the memories if she wasn't careful.
Hell, she hadn't been careful. Which was precisely why she was here. Pregnant and determined. She walked down the hallway toward the sounds of Jay-Z playing in the distance. She paused in the doorway of his bedroom.
She'd had to charm her way upstairs, but no way could this wait another moment. Rafe needed to know before he left. She needed to tell him.
She felt queasy and swallowed hard.
There were right and wrong ways to deliver this news, and as appealing to her sense of outrage as it would be to throw up on his carpet, she was hoping for a little sophistication. Just a tiny bit.
After all, she'd seen pictures of his sister and jet-setting mother, though his mother wasn't really in the picture since her divorce from Rafe III. Still she was an elegant woman.
She cleared her throat.
She listened to Jay-Z and Kanye West singing about how there's no church in the wild. She almost laughed out loud as she watched Rafe stop packing his suitcase and start to rap along. She leaned against the doorjamb and admitted her anger was really fear. She wasn't mad at him. She just wanted him to be a different kind of guy so that she could have the fairy tale she wanted.
Not a castle and a title, but a man who loved her. A man who wanted to share his life with her and raise children by her side.
And no matter how fun Rafe was, his path lay somewhere else. He was duty-bound to become the constitutional monarch of Alma. She was determined to return to Key West and live out her life. She wasn't interested in being involved with a royal; besides, she'd read in the papers that the heirs would have to marry people with spotless reputations.
He was really getting into dancing around the room and rapping.
She applauded when he finished and he turned to look at her.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, shock apparent on his face.
His body was tense. She suspected he was a tiny bit embarrassed to be caught rapping. Nerves made her mouthy. She knew that. So she should just say she was sorry for using her friend's key to get into his penthouse.
But that wasn't her way.
"Hello to you, too, Your Majesty. Should I curtsy or something? I'm not sure of the rules."
"Neither am I," he admitted. "Juan Carlos doesn't like it when I am seen doing something
well, so American but also undignified."
"Your secret is safe with me," she said. "Who is Juan Carlos?"
"Juan Carlos Salazar II, my cousin, head of the Montoro Family Trust and advocate of decorum at all times."
"He sounds like a stuffed shirt," she said. "I doubt I'd meet with his approval."
"Emily, what are you doing here? And how did you get up here? Security is usually very hard to get past."
"I have my ways."
"And they are?" he asked.
"My charm," she said.
He shook his head. "I'm going to have to warn them about feisty redheads."
"I actually used a key that I procured from your maid service."
"You've been reduced to criminal behavior. Cu-riouser and curiouser. Why are you here? Did you decide that you wanted to give me a proper send-off?" he asked. He strode over to her, his big body moving with an economy of motion that captivated her. The same way it had when she'd first glimpsed him in the crowded Key West bar where she worked as a bartender.
He was tallwell over six feetand muscly, but he moved with grace and she could honestly watch him all day long.
"Why are you here, Red? You said goodbye was forever." Goodbye.
She'd meant it when he'd left. He was a rich guy from Miami and experience had shown her they were only in Key West for one thing. Having given it to him she'd wanted to ensure she didn't give into temptation a second time. "I did mean it."
"Help me, Red. I don't want to jump to conclusions," he said.
She chewed her lower lip. Up close she could see the flecks of green in his hazel eyes.
He was easily one of the most attractive men she'd ever seen. He'd make a killing in Hollywood with those thick eyelashes and those cheekbones. It wouldn't matter if he could act, just putting him on screen would draw the masses in.
She wished she were immune.
"I'm pregnant."
He stumbled backward and looked at her as if she'd just started speaking in tongues.
Pregnant!
He stepped back and walked over to the Bose speaker on the dresser to turn off the music. A baby. From what he knew of the tough-as-nails-bartender, he could guess she wouldn't be standing in his penthouse apartment if he wasn't the father. His first reaction was joy.
A child.
It wasn't something he'd ever thought he wanted. He hardly knew Emily so had no idea if she was here for money or something else. But knowing his child was growing inside of her stirred something primal. Something very powerful. The baby was his.
Maybe that was just because it gave him something to think about other than the recent decision that had been made for him.
He'd been dreading his trip to Alma. He was flattered that the country that had once driven his family out had come back to them and asked him to be the next king, but he had grown up here in Florida. He didn't want to be a stuffy royal.
He didn't want European paparazzi following him around and trying to catch him doing anything that would bring shame to his family. God, knew he worked and played hard.
"Rafe?"
"Yeah?"
"Did you hear what I said?" Emily asked.
He had. A baby. Lord knew his father hadn't been the best and as a result, Rafe had thought he'd never have kids. It wasn't as if either of his parents had set a great example. And he was still young, but damn if he wasn't feeling much older every day.
"Yeah, I did. Are you sure?" he asked at last.
She gave him a fiery look from those aqua-blue eyes of hers. He'd seen the passionate side of her nature, and he guessed he was about to witness her temper. "Would I be here if I wasn't?"
He held his hand up.
"Slow down, Red. I didn't mean are you sure it's mine. I meant
are you sure you're pregnant?"
"Damned straight."
"I get it. I had to take three at-home pregnancy tests and visit the doctor before I believed it myself. But trust me, Rafe. I'm positive I'm pregnant and that the baby is yours."
"This is a little surreal," he said.
"I know," she said, with just a hint of softening on in her tone. "Listen, I know you can't turn your back on your family and marry me and frankly, we only had one weekend together so I'd have to say no. But
I don't want this kid to grow up without any knowledge of you."
"Me either."
She glanced up, surprised.
To be honest, he sort of surprised himself. But he knew all the things not to do as a dad thanks to his own father. It didn't seem right for a kid of his to grow up without him. He wanted that. If he had a child, he wanted a chance to share the Montoro legacy
not the one newly sprung on him that came with a throne, but the one he'd carved out for himself in business. "Don't look shocked."
"You've kind of got a lot going on right now. And having a kid with me isn't going to go over well."
"Tough," he said. He still wasn't sure he wanted to be king of Alma. He and his siblings hadn't grown up with the attitude that they were royalty. They were regular American kids who'd never expected to go back to Alma. "I still make my own decisions."
"I know that," she said. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I've just been so crazy since I realized I was pregnant and alone. I didn't know what to do. You know my mom raised me by herself."
He closed the gap between them again and pulled her into his arms. He hadn't realized she'd been raised by a single parent. To be honest, a weekend of hot sex didn't really lend itself to sharing each other's past like that. "You're not by yourself."
She looked up at him. That little pointed nose of hers was the tiniest bit red and her lip quivered as if she were struggling to keep from crying. That's when he realized how out of character it was for Emily to be unsure. The babyhis babyhad thrown her for a loop as well.
"Thanks. I just need
I have no idea. I mean, a kid. I never expected this. But we used protection."
"I didn't the third time, remember? I was out and we."
She blushed and rested her forehead against the middle of his chest, wrapped her arms around his waist and held him. He'd thought he hated being trapped, but in Emily's arms this didn't feel constricting.
"Ugh. My mom was right."
"About what?" he asked. He looked over her head at the man in the mirror and remembered how many times he'd wanted to see some substance reflected back. Was this it? Of course it was. The baby would change things. He had no idea how or why, but he knew this moment was going to be the one that helped forge his future and the man he'd become.
"She said all it takes is a sweet-talking man and one time to get pregnant."
"I'm a sweet-talking man?" He tipped her head up with his finger under her chin.
"You can be."
"What are we going to do?" he asked at last. It was clear she'd run out of steam as soon as she entered the room. Marriage was the noble thing to do. He knew that's what Juan Carlos would suggest, but he and Emily were strangers, and tying their lives together didn't seem smart until they knew each other better.
She pushed away from him and walked over to the window. He knew the view she was afforded. This place had been hard-earned. He'd worked just as his siblings had to make Montoro Enterprises into the success it was today.
"I just wanted you to know. Beyond that I don't need anything. Someday the kid is going to ask about you"
"Someday? I'm going to be a part of this," Rafe said.
"I don't see how. You're going to be jetting off to Alma to take the throne. My life is here. The baby's life will be here."
He rubbed the back of his neck. The timing on this sucked. But he didn't blame Emily. He'd been running when he went to Key West, afraid to admit that he was in over his head. He'd just gotten word that his family was definitely interested in returning to Alma and as the oldest son he was expected to take the throne.
He was the oldest son. He was Rafael the Fourth. He should have been in command all the time. But the truth was, he was lost.
He wanted his own life. Not one that was dictated by rules and the demands of running a country. If he'd made the decision to return to Alma on his own he might feel differently but right now he felt strong-armed into it.
But somehow in Emily's arms he'd found something.
