The Princess Is Pregnant!

The Princess Is Pregnant!
Laurie Paige

One steamy night wrapped in the arms of sexy rebel Jean-Paul Augustave, Earl of Silvershire, left innocent Princess Megan Penelope Penwyck longing for more passion's play–and pregnant! Now, torn between causing a royal scandal and entering into a marriage of convenience, she wished only that the seductive earl would profess his undying love.Jean-Paul wanted to take responsibility for his sultry affair with the princess. And the longer he gazed into Megan's green eyes, the deeper his feelings became. So when the royal beauty suddenly fell ill, would he finally whisper the only words that could restore her health…Princess, I love you?

“I suggest we approach marriage first and address the reasons later.”

“What are the reasons?” Princess Megan dared challenge Jean-Paul with her gaze when he cast her a direct stare.

Finally he shrugged. “The child, assuming there is one…”

She folded her hands in her lap to conceal her trembling.

“There’s the passion,” he continued. His lips curved ever so slightly into a smile that mocked them both. “I want to make love to you each time I see you. I think you feel the same.”

“It’s only lust…. I will not marry for your convenience, nor for the sake of protocol.”

“Stop being childish and accept the fate that has been preordained for us,” Jean-Paul ordered.

Before he realized what she was doing, she leapt out of his arms and was gone….

The Princess is Pregnant!

Laurie Paige

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

To the new moms: Nancy and Wendy

and the new babies: Josephine and Logan.

LAURIE PAIGE

says, “In the interest of authenticity, most writers will try anything…once.” Along with her writing adventures, Laurie has been a NASA engineer, a past president of the Romance Writers of America, a mother and a grandmother. She was twice a Romance Writers of America RITA

Award finalist for Best Traditional Romance, and has won awards from Romantic Times for Best Silhouette Special Edition and Best Silhouette. Recently resettled in Northern California, Laurie is looking forward to whatever experiences her next novel will send her on.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter One

The princess is pregnant! The princess is pregnant!

Princess Megan Penelope Penwyck felt everyone in the palace was thinking those very words as she walked up the polished marble steps and crossed the reception chamber where guards, maids, diplomats and dignitaries watched, dusted or conferred in small clusters, each intent on his or her own task and paying absolutely no heed to anyone else.

Except she knew the latter wasn’t true.

Everything that went on in the island kingdom of Penwyck, located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Britain, was noted and commented upon by the denizens of the country, by the press and by heads of state of other countries.

She recalled a saying appropriate to the moment: These are the times that try men’s souls. Women’s souls were vulnerable, too. In her own mind, she’d been tried, convicted and sentenced to the firing squad.

Don’t be melodramatic, she chided her quivering spirits. When the news did get out, as it invariably must, everyone in the kingdom would be shocked that Megan, the quiet princess, the introspective one, was expecting a child…out of wedlock.

A wry, uncertain smile curved her lips as Megan approached the door to the king’s official chambers.

Her father, King Morgan, had been pleased with her written report on the world trade conference. Her appointment with him was to discuss the results of the talks and decide the tiny island kingdom’s next course of action.

She tried to ignore the tremor that ran through every nerve in her body as she recalled the conference held in Monaco eight weeks ago. The second week of April, to be exact. It was now Monday of the second week in June.

And she was two months pregnant. Two pregnancy tests, bought and used in great secrecy on her part, had confirmed the shocking news.

She’d had no word from Jean-Paul Augustuve—Earl of Silvershire, heir to a dukedom in the neighboring island country of Drogheda and father of her child—in answer to the note she’d dispatched to him two weeks ago.

Another tremor rushed through her as she paused outside the door leading to the king’s busy public quarters. The doorman smiled and bowed her into the Royal Secretary’s office. The room was empty.

“Your Royal Highness,” a familiar voice greeted her.

Sir Selywyn Estabon, the royal secretary, entered from the king’s audience chamber and bowed graciously, his dark eyes mesmerizing, his skin pale from long hours spent inside each day. At thirty-five, six feet tall and muscular looking, Selywyn was a handsome, intriguing man, seemingly devoted to his job.

As teenagers, she and her sisters had spun endless daydreams about him and had speculated on his eligibility as a royal spouse. He’d paid absolutely no heed to their girlish flirting, thus their fantasies had withered and died a natural death as the three girls matured.

Selywyn was intensely loyal to their father and protective of the royal family. Megan knew him to be totally trustworthy with secrets of state or of the heart. All the royal offspring had confided in him over the years.

She swallowed with difficulty. She’d shared her latest secret with no one yet. “Good morning, Sir Selywyn,” she responded. “I have an appointment, I believe?” she added when the secretary made no move to usher her into the king’s presence. Her father wasn’t one to be kept waiting.