Her chin went up a notch. “No. And he doesn’t need to know. He’s…” She stopped when a knock sounded on the door. “I’ll get out of your way.” She started to haul herself up out of the chair, but because she was six months pregnant, it wasn’t a quick or elegant maneuver. “Just, give me a minute,” she groaned. “And next time you’re going to have important visitors, don’t try and lure me here.”
“I think this visitor is for you,” Gaelen said grimly, and turned expectantly towards the door.
“His Highness, Sheik Santos el Fazir, is here to see you, Your Highnesses,” the guard announced.
Talia froze. “What have you done?!” she gasped, only halfway out of the chair. She dropped back onto the chair, her mouth falling open as she stared at Santos.
The first thing she noticed was his face. It was all bruised and beaten and he was limping slightly. Her eyes moved to her brother, quickly putting two and two together.
Santos glanced impatiently towards the windows where his nemesis stood, ready to punch the ass out again if he so much as looked sideways at him.
A movement to the right caught his eye and Santos turned away from the behemoth standing by the window and saw the small…well, not so small…woman sitting in a chair. Talia!
For a long moment, his heart soared with sudden happiness. She was here and she was even more lovely than he’d remembered. Her skin glowed, her hair was thick and lustrous, and her…belly was enormous!
“What the hell?!” he demanded, stepping forward, entirely focused on her swollen belly.
Talia was still clutching the arms of the chair. She looked from her brother to Santos and back to her brother. Finally, she kept her gaze on the bigger threat. “Santos,” she whispered, trembling with shock, fighting against the need to run and hide.
“So it is true,” Gaelen’s words broke the shocked silence.
“What’s true?”
“Santos is the father.”
He wasn’t asking. Talia wanted to deny it, but she couldn’t lie. She might not have told her family who the father was, but she wouldn’t outright lie. Instead, she pressed her lips together, and slumped back in the overstuffed chair.
Gaelen sighed, looking angry and defeated. “I suspect that the two of you have a lot to discuss.”
Vaguely, Talia heard a door close, but she couldn’t look away from Santos’ face long enough to make sense of anything, other than the fact that he was standing there staring at her pregnant belly.
“You’re…!”
She covered her belly protectively… or, least, she tried. Her hands only covered a small part of her belly. She was pretty big, although not as huge as she was going to be. Harper had become a giant, walking belly by the time she’d given birth to her baby boy.
“Were you ever going to tell me?” he demanded harshly.
His words…his accusation…sparked her temper, pulling her out of the stunned silence of moments before. Talia pushed herself out of the chair, ready to tackle him. “Are you kidding me? How many texts did you ignore six months ago? How many phone calls? Don’t you dare ask me if I was ever going to tell you when you didn’t even answer the phone call to give me a chance!”
She could see that she’d made a direct hit with that comment and relented slightly. “What are you doing here?” Talia demanded. “I thought I was a spy sent to tempt you with my body.” She snorted with derision and anger. “Although, what information I was supposed to glean from our interludes was never clear.” She waddled towards him, wishing she could saunter with a sarcastic swish of her hips. Unfortunately, being six months pregnant meant there would be no swishing, sarcastic or otherwise. “Did I get you to admit all of your country’s deepest, darkest secrets? Aren’t you afraid I might lure you into my bed again and ask for your military’s battle plans? Or secret weapons cache?”
He stormed over to her, grabbing at her arms and…let his hands fall to his sides. “What was I supposed to think? I discovered that you were a member of the royal family right after an attack!”
“An attack on my country!” she snapped back. “It looked like Padar had attacked Izara! What? Had I somehow obtained the wrong information and I convinced my brother to send your missiles into our village? What sense does that even make?”
“I don’t know!” he groaned. He pulled back and started pacing, stopping every few steps to look at her belly. “Are you…?” He trailed off and tried again. “Are you okay? Is our baby okay?”
Talia’s hands moved protectively over her belly. “I’m fine. My baby is fine.”
“That’s not just your child, Talia!” he pointed out, fighting to restrain his anger. “We were both there that morning.”
Her hands fisted at her sides. “Yes. We were. But only one of us was willing to contact the other to follow up. You knew that we’d forgotten protection that morning and yet, you left me to face the consequences alone, Santos!”
He heard the words and cursed himself for being such an idiot. Abruptly, the anger drained out of him and he deflated, although he still ached to touch her, to pull her into his arms and just…feel her.
Running a hand over his face, he nodded. “You’re right,” he sighed, sinking into a nearby chair. A hundred questions swarmed him. “But…how are you feeling? Have you felt the baby kick? Is it…” he stopped and swallowed hard, registering that he was going to be a father.
“I’m fine,” she repeated. “Tired. I have trouble sleeping sometimes.” She admitted that much grudgingly. “The baby is fine as well. He kicks a lot. Maybe he’ll play soccer.”
Santos straightened, startled by the pronoun. “It’s a boy?”
Talia lowered her lashes, looking guilty for a moment. “I don’t know, actually. I’ve had several sonograms, but I told the technician that I didn’t want to know the gender.”
He looked down again, his hands itching to touch her. He watched her hands stroke the beautiful round belly. He wanted to talk to her and…hell, he needed to apologize. That was clear.
All he knew for sure was that she was gorgeous, glowing! He’d always scoffed at the term applied to pregnant women. Not that he’d seen many pregnant women in his lifetime, but the ones he’d met hadn’t actually glowed. So now, watching Talia, he wondered if it was just a happy haze that the observer applied, because in his mind, Talia was glowing.
“We will marry,” he blurted, shocking them both.
Talia’s mouth fell open and she backed up a step, almost stumbling over the chair behind her. Quickly, he reached out to steady her and…that electric shock sparked between them. He saw her lips soften.
The room seemed to vibrate with electricity. Talia was pregnant, he reminded himself. The damnable attraction that had driven him wild six months ago was powerful but…hell, he couldn’t deny that he still wanted her.
“Don’t,” she whispered.
He moved closer, his hands tightening around hers. “Don’t what?”
“Don’t kiss me.” She pulled her hands free and walked over to the table by the window, breathing in huge gulps of air. “I think you should leave.”
“I’m not leaving,” he countered, his feet braced apart as if preparing for battle.
Talia stiffened. “Fine. Then I’ll leave!” She started moving towards the door.
He laughed. “Wait, honey, I’m sorry. I know this is awkward and…”
“Don’t you dare laugh at me!” she growled, moving forward and poking his chest with her finger. “I’ve had to deal with three annoying and pissed off brothers for the past six months! I’ve dealt with the heartache of knowing you abandoned me for something I didn’t do! And I’ve gotten over you!” Betraying tears sprung to her eyes but she brushed them away with the back of her hand. “I hate you! I hate what you’ve done and what you said to me! So no! You’re not following me!”
With that, Talia swept out of the room and waddled down the hallway to the elevator. She pressed the elevator button, ignoring her brothers’ strict orders
to not leave her guards behind. But she couldn’t stand the thought of staying in that room another moment!
Pressing the button several more times, she waited impatiently for the elevator to arrive, muttering angry words about brothers and unappreciated interference!
The elevator doors opened just as Santos stepped out of the suite. She tried to dive in alone and get the doors closed, but he was too fast. Or perhaps she was too slow. Pregnancy really wasn’t conducive to sprinting.
“Face it, Talia, you’re not going anywhere without me.”
Talia turned and faced the elevator doors, lifting her chin to watch the numbers as the elevator descended. “Face it, Santos, you’re a jerk who thinks I’d betray you. You think I’m a horrible person.” She looked up at him with her eyebrows raised. “Do you honestly think I’d have anything to do with you now?”
He chuckled. “Ah, honey, we really need to talk.”
The doors opened and he put his arm protectively around her waist, leading her through the lobby.
“Stop touching me!” she hissed, trying to maintain a calm demeanor in case anyone recognized them. It wouldn’t be good if some reporter recognized either of them and snapped a picture of them fighting. All her life, she’d kept away from reporters. There had been the occasional picture in the news, especially during Orella’s funeral. But even then, she’d worn dark glasses and a hat. It wasn’t that she hid from the press as much as she hid from publicity. It could be dangerous to be recognized and she preferred her life to take place outside of the public’s interest, thank you very much!
Plus, Santos was more recognizable than she was. And even he had been publicity shy. There weren’t many pictures of him in the news. She knew that because she’d looked for him over the past several months, hungrily searching the internet for images of him, both recent and less so. Unfortunately, while other leaders stood in front of the press during important legislative releases to explain their actions, Santos relied on his press agent to deliver news.
Still, as they walked through the lobby, she wanted to get away from him so that he wasn’t touching her. But being six months pregnant meant she really couldn’t move fast enough, so she gritted her teeth. Unfortunately, despite her hurt and anger towards the man for what he’d accused her of doing so long ago, she still felt that magnetic pull. She still wanted to lean into him and feel the heat of his body. After so long without him, Talia desperately wanted to feel his arms around her. She wanted him to tell her that everything was going to be okay, that their baby was going to be okay.
Because deep down inside, in a place she refused to let her brothers see, she was terrified! Terrified of becoming a mother, of giving birth alone, of doing the right thing for her child, and so many other smaller issues.
Deep down inside, she knew that she’d failed in becoming more daring and brave like her sister. And that hurt the most.
“We need to talk,” Santos said and led her across the street so that they could walk along the river. It was a lovely day, but the winter sunshine was a bit milky and lacked warmth. Talia pulled her sweater closer, pretending that she wasn’t cold.
Santos must have felt her shiver because Talia felt his jacket settle over her shoulders. She peeked over at him through her lashes. He was in just a dress shirt, but he didn’t appear cold.
“Santos, we can’t…”
“I was scared,” he blurted, interrupting her.
She stopped walking and looked up at him. Really looked at him. He looked raw, she thought. He’d definitely changed, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. There was something more…different about him.
“You? Scared?” She scoffed.
“I couldn’t believe that what was happening between us was real. So, when I discovered that you were the sister of my enemy, I was too shocked to think properly. Everything that had happened in New York seemed to make sense for me with that news. I convinced myself that you weren’t the sweet, wonderful woman that lit up my day when I saw your smile. That you weren’t as amazing as I’d thought. And that made me feel safer.” He moved closer, taking her hands. “It also ripped my heart out.”
She held her breath, wanting so desperately to believe him. But…it had been six months! He hadn’t responded to any of her texts, he’d ignored all of her calls. “You ignored me, Santos.”
“I had to.”
She yanked her hands away. “You didn’t have to! You accused me of betraying you.”
“Yes. And I’ve been miserable every day since.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, so I’m supposed to forgive you simply because you’ve been hurt?” She snorted and started walking again. “Go away, Santos.”
“Not going to happen.”
She turned to find that he was following her. At least, she suspected that he might follow her if she could waddle faster. But with his words, she stopped to glare up at him. “Why? Because I’m pregnant?”
He stopped. One moment, Talia was trying to walk away from the jerk, and the next, he wasn’t there. His absence was so startling, she twisted around to find him, only to see him standing behind her, looking stunned.
“Santos?”
He blinked, his harsh, bruised features lightened slightly.
“What’s wrong?”
He threw back his head, laughing and running a hand through his dark hair.
“Care to share the joke?” she snapped.
“I love you,” he told her, still looking a bit stunned. “Until this moment, I hadn’t realized why I’ve been so angry over the past six months. It’s because I love you.”
She snorted and turned to walk again. “Right. You love me so much you ignored me, called me a spy, and…”
Talia stopped when his hand wrapped around her arm, spinning her back towards him. “You told me to go away.” He smiled and looked out over the water again, as if he were trying to gather his thoughts. A moment later, he looked down at her and there was wonder glowing in his eyes.
“I know that the first reason I wasn’t letting you get away from me should have been because you are pregnant, Talia. But instead, the first thing that popped into my mind was that I couldn’t let you go because I love you. And my life is a mess because I don’t get to see you every day.” He moved closer and Talia let him, only because his words were a balm to her shattered heart. “Yes, I’m thrilled that you are pregnant,” he continued, placing his hands on her belly. “But the reason I can’t go away is because you are the most important person in my life. You’re the other half of me and, being without you these past six months, I’ve only been half alive.”
He took her hands, seeming to still struggle with his new reality. “We were together for such a short time in New York, Talia. I shouldn’t feel like this. I shouldn’t need you with me. And yet, I can’t seem to function without you. I’m angry all the time, I’m not sleeping. Eating is a chore because you’re not there to share it with me, to talk with me, and tell me about your day.” He moved even closer, his taut, flat abdomen pressing against her pregnant belly. “You’re the other half of me. And,” he reached out, touching her hair. “If you will give me another chance, I vow to show you how vital you are to my life. And I will make every day of your life the most amazing adventure you could imagine!”
Talia had held her breath as he spoke, but when he leaned forward to give her a chaste kiss on the forehead, all the air gushed out of her lungs as sobs. His words were so precious, she could barely believe them.
Closing her eyes, she pulled away from him. Then looked up. “Prove it!” she whispered.
A second later, she turned and walked back to the hotel. Once there, she slipped into her room and packed her suitcase, not bothering to ring a maid for assistance.
Chapter 18
Talia grumbled at the look in her oldest brother’s eyes. “What’s he done now?” she demanded, shifting uncomfortably. Again.
Amit shrugged, but there was a playful grin on his face. “You mean after he agreed t
o the peace treaty? And after he initiated several economic efforts to increase retail opportunities along the border between our countries? Or maybe you didn’t like how he sent a delegation from his country to explore the exchange of medical research information?”
Talia shifted in her chair, irritated that Santos had done all of that in two weeks instead of months. She wanted to nurse her grudge against him for a little while longer. But every day, a fresh delivery of flowers arrived at the palace, reminding her of the man she wanted to ignore.
“Yes. Besides all that.”
“He’s here,” Amit said, leaning back in his massive leather chair and grinning like a Cheshire cat.
Talia’s whole body stiffened with those words. She looked around as if he might be hiding in a corner somewhere. “What do you mean? He’s not…here-here, is he?”
Amit laughed, shrugging his shoulders. “The man has done in two weeks what his father refused to do during his entire rule. So yeah, I invited him here to the palace. He and I have a press conference later today to announce the initiatives.”
“But…!” She tried to stand up, but she was too big and awkward. “Santos doesn’t do news conferences!”
“He will today,” Amit countered. He stood up and walked around his desk. “Oh, and he’s here for breakfast too.”
With that, Amit left the office, leaving Talia alone with those words hanging in the air like a threat.
She tried to get up out of the chair, sliding to the edge and wiggling forward. She almost had it when…strong arms lifted her to her feet, holding her until she was steady.
“Santos?” she whispered, peering over her shoulder at him.
“I’m here, love,” he said, moving to stand in front of her. “Are you hungry?” he asked.
Oh, she was starving!
He laughed, moving closer.
Talia knew she should pull back. There were still too many details to talk about. But his touch and…well, his presence here now…she’d been craving his touch for too long!
The Sheik's Scandal (The Raminar Family Book 3) Page 12