Prince's Dirty Little Secret (A Royal Secret Baby Romance) by Riley Rollins

Author:Riley Rollins
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Dolch Press LLC
Published: 2016-05-27T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

N ikolai comes to me in my quarters the next morning. I'm sitting on my bed reading and snacking on a plate that the servants brought: blueberries, raspberries, and a special purple berry that they tell me only grows in the meadows of North Molvania. The berries are small and sour, but very addicting. I've almost polished them off when Nikolai enters. He's holding another newspaper, and I know it can't be good news.

"Look," he says angrily, flopping the paper down on the bed. On my lap, Josh coos and grabs at the paper.

The front-page story has yet another photo of us together in the hammock. The King isn't backing down. Fucker. I sigh. "Sit down," I say, patting the edge of the bed. Nikolai sits, and I run a hand along his strong forearm, roped with muscle. I love how he feels.

"Why does he care that I'm a commoner?" I say. "Isn't it normal for a prince to marry a commoner? What's the alternative? Marrying your own cousins?"

Nikolai rolls his eyes. "I'm not from that kind of family."

"Then what's the big deal?"

"Since the 1700s, the royal bloodline has been kept pure through marriage to other aristocrats' sons and daughters."

"You mean you're expected to marry a princess from another country's royal family?"

He nods. "That's right. My father… is rather old-fashioned. Next to maintaining his own power, his greatest concern is maintaining the integrity of the bloodline. He'll do anything to prevent the blood of a commoner from entering the line of succession."

"He didn't deport all the girls you used to date. I saw them all on the American news."

"I didn't get them pregnant."

I scowl. I don't want to think about Nikolai's dalliances right now.

"Anyway, that's in the past," he adds quickly.

I look at the paper. It makes me so angry that my personal business is getting smeared all over the state news services. And I know this is being picked up back in the States. Oh, god. I can hardly bear to think about what everybody in my office is saying about me.

I almost ask what the paper has written about me, but then I decide I'd rather not know. I eye Nikolai, my hand still resting on his arm. I feel close to him right now. I want him to swoop in and save the day.

"Have you figured out how to approach your mother?"

He shakes his head no, and he looks stressed. "The stakes are… high. I am closer to my mother than to my father, but surely you realize the gravity of what I will be asking her."

I nod, cradling Josh in my arms. "It would be like this little boy coming to me one day, and asking me to betray you."

Nikolai is silent, thoughtful. "I suppose it would be."

I sit there deep in thought, absent-mindedly stroking Nikolai's arm, and I don't notice at first when he starts to brush the back of his hand against Josh's forehead. When I do notice, it's such a tender moment that I feel tears welling up in my eyes.

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.