One Night Heir by Lucy Monroe

Author:Lucy Monroe
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-05-31T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

“ALWAYS?” SHE ASKED, feeling a sense of inevitability wash over her quickly followed by that irrepressible emotion: hope.

If she was burned by it again, she wasn’t sure her heart would survive it. “We should wait until after the baby is born. To be sure.”

“No. Stop. I have told you. No more of this negative thinking.”

“I’m just trying to be realistic.”

He laughed. Like she’d said something incredibly funny. “You are one of the worst pessimists I have ever known.”

“I am not. I’m an optimist.”

“In Eeyore’s universe, maybe.”

“You like Winnie the Pooh?”

“My mother read the books to me as a child, just like your grandmother did you. I was not raised on a different planet.”

“No, I know. I just...” She wasn’t sure what she wanted to say.

Telling him she didn’t think he’d had anything that normal in his childhood wouldn’t go over well. And it wouldn’t be true, either.

“If you are an optimist, then you will believe in our future and that of our child.”

“Wow. You’re so sure of yourself.”

“I am not wrong.”

“You are arrogant.”

“Sometimes.”

A lot more often than that, but saying so would just be querulous. And she didn’t want to be argumentative. Not right now. She wanted to dive into his arms and have him tell her everything would be okay.

But she’d left those kinds of fairy tales in childhood.

The thought of approaching him for physical comfort sparked a strange sort of tension inside her as well.

Wanting a minute to regroup (as she was dangerously close to giving in), she stood and picked up the plates. “I’ll just put these in the kitchen.”

“Let me help.” He jumped to his feet, quickly gathering the other detritus of their casual meal.

“I’m pregnant, not helpless.”

“You didn’t see me taking the plates right out of your hand, did you?” His smile was teasing, his expression unexpectedly lighthearted.

“No,” she admitted grudgingly.

“There you have it. Polite, not overly protective.”

Not entirely sure she minded overly protective or that he’d avoided it altogether, she found herself smiling back.

They fell into a surprisingly easy and natural rhythm as the dishes were rinsed and put in the dishwasher. “You’re awfully domesticated for a prince.”

“So you’ve said before.”

“And you claim to have lived on your own for more than a decade.”

“I have.”

Right. “You have a housekeeper and a maid for a penthouse apartment in a posh building that comes with access to an onsite chef and laundry service.”

“So?”

She wiped down counters while he finished loading the dishwasher. “So, you’re a dab hand at rinsing dishes and you aren’t going to convince me the maid, much less the housekeeper, leaves them in the sink for you to deal with.”

“I went to university for four years here, as well as two additional to get my MBA.” He put a soap tab in the door and shut the appliance with practiced efficiency. “That is six years doing my own laundry and dishes.”

Leaning back against the counter by the sink, she asked, “You didn’t live on campus?”

“The first year, yes, and that only meant I didn’t have to do my own cooking.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.