Carrying The King's Pride

Her initial shock had faded into sheer, debilitating panic as her life shifted beneath her feet once again. How could this be happening now, when this was her time to shine? Her time to begin her design career with her business thriving. She’d even hired someone last week to make it happen.

She knew how difficult it was to bring up a child on your own. She’d watched her mother attempt to do it after her father’s death and fail under the unrelenting pressure of the responsibility. She had been the one to parent her mother when her mother had lapsed into a deep depression. And yet what choice did she have? Nik was marrying someone else, he hadn’t wanted her and it was up to her to figure this out, regardless that the life of an entrepreneur was completely unsuitable for what she was about to take on.

Overriding it all, however, had been the elemental, protective instinct that had risen up inside of her. That had always been in her DNA. The need to treasure what she’d been given. The need to protect the fragility of life. Although the sheer, debilitating panic still came in waves, something she had to keep a handle on, using the coping techniques the doctor had given her after her father’s death, lest it get out of hand. Not a place she wanted to be.

She counted the twenty-dollar bills for the third time, her concentration in tatters from all the possible scenarios running through her head. The door chimed. Katharine went to intercept the customer who’d ignored the closed sign. Sofía kept counting. Her gaze rose as a funny sound escaped her partner’s mouth.

The tall, dark male standing inside the door swept both of them with an enigmatic look. “You should lock the door if you’re closed. This is New York, ladies.”

The deposit bag slipped from her fingers. Eyes trained on Nik, she knelt and picked it up. He walked toward her, bent and scooped up two loose twenty-dollar bills, then straightened to tower over her. Their eyes locked. Her heart jumped into her mouth. Nik in full-on intensity mode was ridiculously intimidating.

She swallowed hard. “Nik— I— What are you doing here?”

“We need to talk, Sofía.”

Her mouth went dry. He couldn’t know. She had just seen her doctor. Then what was he doing here when tensions were running high in his country over its aggressive neighbor? Why did he have that furious glint in his eyes?

Katharine cleared her throat. “I have plans with my sister for a drink. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She wanted to beg her not to go. Would have preferred a buffer between her and Nik until she figured out how to handle his unexpected appearance. How to tell him about the baby. Instead she nodded, a sinking feeling in her stomach. She had to get it over with now. She’d already waited too long.

She forced a smile. “See you in the morning.”

The store was vastly, terrifyingly quiet after Katharine left. Sofía set the deposit bag on the counter and looked up at Nik. “I’m so sorry about your brother. About everything that’s happened.”

He inclined his head, his abrupt nod toward the deposit bag dismissing the subject. “Finish the deposit. We’ll talk afterward.”

The heated expression on his face made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She counted the rest of the money with trembling hands and shoved it in the deposit bag. Tried to convince herself Nik was in New York on urgent business and had simply dropped in to see her.

It seemed very unlikely.

She set the deposit bag on the counter and closed the register. Nik nodded toward the bag. “We’ll drop it off, then talk.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “We can talk here.”

“No.” He picked up her purse and handed it to her. “We’ll do it at home.”

She was too tired, too frazzled to argue with him. They dropped the deposit into the slot at the bank, then Nik tucked her into the back of the Bentley and slid in beside her.

She tried to ignore how much she wanted to throw up. What he would say when she told him her news. How she was going to tell him.

Lost in her thoughts, vainly trying to devise a strategy, she frowned as the driver took an unfamiliar exit. “I thought we were going home.”

“We are. To Akathinia.”

She jackknifed into an upright position. “What?”

“I can’t be here. The fact I left the country with Idas breathing down my neck caused my advisers considerable anxiety. We’ll talk in Akathinia.”

She gaped at him. “We are not talking in Akathinia. I have a business to run. Take me home and we’ll talk there.”

His gaze turned incendiary. “You lost your chance to set the rules of the game when you elected to keep your pregnancy from me, Sofía.”

Dear God. He knew. She swallowed hard and forced herself to stay calm. “I was going to tell you. This week.”

“This week?” He yelled the words at her, his iron control snapping. “Do you have any idea what this means?”

Her insides flip-flopped. “Of course I do. Which is why I haven’t said anything yet. Because I knew you would appear just like you have now and start making decisions. And I need to understand how I feel about this first. What I want to do.”

His gaze narrowed on her. “What you want to do?”

Heat rushed to her cheeks. “I didn’t mean that. Of course I’m having this baby. It’s the logistics I’m not sure of.”

“Logistics we should have discussed days ago.”

She stared at him. So she’d been wrong in not telling him. Did he think this was any more convenient for her with her lifestyle? Any less than a disaster than it was for him?

Her chin dipped. “We can talk about this over the phone.”

He caught her jaw in his fingers, the rage burning in his eyes making her heart pound. “We aren’t talking about it on the phone. Akathinian law says this child we have conceived will succeed me to the throne. It doesn’t matter if he or she is born in or out of wedlock. Which means I cannot marry the countess. My alliance is dead, an alliance I needed to fund a potential war.” His fingers tightened around her jaw to ensure he had her attention. “It’s a huge problem, Sofía. One we need to work out now.”

Her insides twisted. She hadn’t known Akathinian law well enough to draw that conclusion. Hadn’t wanted to know.

She took a deep breath, inhaling past the tightness in her chest. For the first time she noticed how deep the lines bracketing Nik’s eyes and mouth were. How stressed he looked. This pregnancy was a disaster in the current circumstances and she had made it worse by keeping it from him.

Guilt slammed into her, swift and hard.

“Come with me,” he said flatly. “Before my actions set off a national security crisis. We’ll talk and figure this out.”

She pursed her lips. “I would need to see if Katharine can handle the shop by herself.”

“Call her.”

She fished out her mobile and dialed her partner. Katharine assured her she’d be fine for a couple of days.

“All right,” she said to Nik. “I’ll go. We talk. And then you fly me back.”

He nodded. “Efharisto.” Thank you.

It occurred to her as they boarded the plane at a small private airfield outside of the city that she was putting herself on Nik’s turf, where he yielded complete power. The power of a king. Perhaps not the wisest of decisions, she acknowledged as the tiny jet took off and left the lights of Manhattan behind. But she couldn’t add any more stress to his life. Not now.

She waited until she’d endured what was always a white-knuckle affair for her in the takeoff before curling up in one of the chairs in the seating area of the luxurious jet. Then she attacked the elephant in the room. Or aircraft, as it would be...

“I know this has huge ramifications for you, Nik, but it does for me, as well. How do we deal with the distances? How am I going to juggle a baby and the shop?”

He leveled his gaze on her. “You aren’t. You’re the future Queen of Akathinia, Sofía. Queens don’t work.”

She stared at him. Queen? That would entail her being married to him... “You can’t be serious.”