Table of Contents
THE PRINCE'S SECRET BABY
Royal House of Leone
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 FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
EPILOGUE
A PRINCE FOR CHRISTMAS
Royal House of Leone
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
Author Biography
Copyright © 2017 by Jennifer Lewis
Royal House of Leone
The Prince’s Secret Baby
By Jennifer Lewis
Royal House of Leone
The Leone family has ruled the remote and picturesque nation of Altaleone since the days of Charlemagne. When the elderly queen and her son are found dead in mysterious circumstances, the royal family is thrown into crisis.
The Prince’s Secret Baby
On the eve of releasing her long-contracted book about waiting for Mr. Right, Serena Raines can’t bear to tell people that her fiancé has dumped her. Worse yet, she succumbed to a holiday fling and now she’s pregnant—by a virtual stranger.
Who just happens to be a royal prince.
Sandro Leone is stunned to hear that Serena is pregnant and hurt when she coolly rejects his advances. She’s seen the media stories about his love life and knows he can’t be serious about her. But when it’s time to come clean about her secrets, she accepts Sandro’s offer to hide out in his remote European homeland. She soon discovers she’s jumped out of the frying pan into the fire—passion flares and family secrets and intrigue threaten their budding romance. Will she dare to risk her heart for a chance at happiness?
NB: Serena and Sandro’s first meeting takes place in the FREE short story A Prince for Christmas. It’s included at the end of this book for those who haven’t yet read it.
The Royal House of Leone Series:
The King’s Bought Bride (Darias and Emma)
A Prince for Christmas (Free short story with Sandro and Serena’s first encounter)
The Prince’s Secret Baby (Sandro and Serena)
The Princess and the Player (Lina and Amadou - coming spring 2017)
The Princess’s Scandalous Affair (Beatriz and Lorenzo - coming summer 2017)
Taming the Royal Beast (Rigo and Bella - coming fall 2017)
Join the new-release newsletter at www.jenlewis.com.
CHAPTER ONE
Don’t be impulsive. Be patient. Think about your dreams and goals and wait for your perfect Mr. Right.
The first line of her soon-to-be released book mocked Serena Raines as she marched into Central Park on a biting early February afternoon. Chin up. Get through it. You’ll survive. This was the kind of advice she’d needed lately. Dreams and goals be damned.
Was he here yet? Serena pulled her wool coat about her and raised her scarf to cover her chin. Maybe she wouldn’t even recognize him. They’d spent less than three days together, after all.
Three days that haunted her memory and tormented her nights. She’d rented a beach house to retreat from the world, and then Sandro turned up—followed by a big storm, a dangerous flood…and now a baby growing inside her. She glanced about, half afraid passers-by could read her mind and know her secrets.
It’s him.
An electric jolt of recognition struck her, and despite her worries she knew Sandro instantly. His long strides carried him toward her, hair tossing in the cold breeze and leather jacket zipped over his muscled form. His eyes locked on hers, dark and dangerous, as he covered the tarmac between them.
The icy landscape blurred, and time slowed to an agonizing crawl as she tried to figure out the best way to tell him.
Sandro, I’m pregnant.
“Hi! I’m so glad you called. I was beginning to think you were avoiding me.” He embraced her in a big bear hug that stunned her so much she didn’t lift her arms from her sides.
I was.
Silence hung awkwardly between them. She couldn’t begin to figure out how to make polite conversation with this harsh truth hanging over them.
Sandro looked a little confused. Then smiled. “How’d the book release go?”
“It got delayed. It’s out next week.” Her own voice sounded oddly distant.
“That’s great. I’m sure it will be a best seller.”
“That’s what my publisher says, but I haven’t told them my fiancé left me.” How could you call yourself an expert on relationships when you couldn’t even keep your own? She’d been licking her wounds from this breakup when Sandro burst into her life.
“Did you finally tell your family?”
She shook her head, as shame crept hotly up her spine. “Not yet.”
To her surprise, he laughed. “You’re so secretive. Seriously, you should just open up to people. You might find they like you more for it.”
She stiffened, embarrassment mingling with indignation. He had no idea what she’d gone through the past few days. “I didn’t come here for advice. I came because I have to tell you something.”
You can do it. Just say it! She could rattle on for ages—on video—about how to apply liquid eyeliner or organize your bathroom cabinet, but when it came to the hard truths she was pathetic beyond belief.
“What? You’re scaring me.” He scanned her face. “Are you ill? You look ill.”
“I’m pregnant.”
His mouth opened, then stayed open, but no witty pleasantries flew out. Even the charming and garrulous Sandro was struck dumb by her news. “By your ex?” His voice cracked a little.
Oh, dear. Of course he hoped it was by someone else. A hot tear rolled down her half-frozen cheek. “No. We hadn’t…we didn’t…not for several weeks.”
“Oh.”
“I took the test three days ago. I’ve taken five of them.” Tears blurred her vision.
Sandro stepped forward again and tried to take her in his arms. But she stiffened and pushed him away. “It’s okay. You don’t have to pretend to be happy about it.” Her voice sounded distant. “I just thought I should tell you.”
Sandro pulled a big white handkerchief from his coat pocket—folded and monogrammed—and handed it to her. “Should we go somewhere more private?”
“No,” she said too loud and too fast. She dabbed at her eyes with the handkerchief and tried to blow her nose. She must look so unattractive right now, on top of her unwelcome news. “Here is better. No one will hear us.” She arranged to meet him in a quiet part of the park, where natural foliage blocked views of the winding paths. “I don’t expect anything of you. I want to make that very clear.”
She could see his chest rise and fall even through his jacket. His handsome face was uncharacteristically grim. “Have you decided what to do about it?”
“What to—?” Realization clicked into place. Was he about to offer to pay for an abortion? It wouldn’t even take much money to make this problem disappear permanently. Except that wasn�
��t an option for her. “I’m going to keep it. My dad is a pastor and I was raised to—” Tears flooded her eyes and clogged the back of her throat. What on earth was her dad going to say when he found out his baby daughter was pregnant out of wedlock?
“I’m glad to hear it,” he said softly. “And no matter what you say, you can count on me for anything.”
“You’re very sweet, Sandro. I know this is almost as much of a shock for you as it is for me. I guess one of the condoms leaked. I never should have relied on them alone for birth control. I never did before.” She sighed and swiped at her tears. Everyone knew condoms were only ninety-nine percent effective, if that. “But can you keep it a secret?”
He pulled away from her and stared at her like she’d gone mad. “Really? What is it with you and secrets?”
“My book.” She blinked, wondering how red her nose was right now. “It’s just about to come out. I got the advance nearly two years ago, and I spent it all. The publisher is counting on the book hitting a list so it will get picked up by more stores and make money for them. It was originally supposed to be a collection of articles about my dating misadventures, but since I thought I’d found my one and only I ended up turning it into a book about finding your own Mr. Right. If it comes out that my advice on waiting for Mr. Right is a bunch of nonsense, it won’t sell, no stores will want it, and they’ll feel like I cheated them.”
His face softened, and one side of his mouth hitched slightly in a tiny smile. Which annoyed the hell out of her.
“It’s not funny! They paid me two hundred thousand dollars. They could sue me or something.”
His smile vanished. “I doubt it, but I do understand your concern.”
“And it’s not customary to tell people about a pregnancy until about three months in anyway, because it could end in a miscarriage. That happened to my older sister.”
“Oh.” He frowned and looked thoughtful. Maybe he hoped she’d have a miscarriage.
Maybe she did too.
Guilt stabbed her heart. What kind of person would have a thought like that? She really did deserve all the disaster that was raining down on her.
“Anyway, I’ve got to go, but I wanted to tell you as soon as possible.”
“I know this must have been hard for you. I appreciate your telling me.”
“It was eating me up inside,” she confessed. Being vulnerable was hard for her. She was much more comfortable presenting a carefully orchestrated façade to the world.
He frowned, thinking. “Let me take you somewhere for a bite.”
“No. I have to go. I have a meeting with my publicist at four.”
“Later, then.”
She shook her head.
“So you’re going to disappear out of my life again and not answer any of my calls or texts?”
“I’ve been busy. I promise I won’t do that again. I just didn’t want you to think that I expected anything of you.”
He lifted a brow. “Because I’m a prince and you’re an ordinary mortal?”
“Something like that.”
“Didn’t I tell you enough times that I hate being treated like royalty? I’m just a guy on the inside.”
Not really, she thought. You’re a guy who’s had everything handed to him on a silver platter—brains, looks, friends, and vast wealth. A guy with the resources to step right over any setback.
And she’d seen his picture in the paper last week with Maya Dunham, who was only twenty-one and up for an Academy Award for her heart-wrenching performance as a doomed nun. They’d had their arms around each other.
“You’re a very good person, Sandro.” She inhaled deeply. “I could tell that from our brief acquaintance, but you and I are from totally different worlds and there’s no use pretending otherwise.
He cocked his head and looked ready to argue. But his mouth stayed closed so apparently he thought better of it. “You promise to answer my calls?”
She hesitated. “I promise to answer them at a time when it’s safe to talk. For example, if you call when I’m with my publicist, then I can’t answer.”
He drew in a deep breath and sighed it out. “Understood.” She could almost hear his brain whirring with thoughts. What was he thinking? “Do you need money?”
“No.” She spat the response so fast it sounded rude. “I’m fine. I told you I don’t want that kind of help.”
“I didn’t mean to offend you. Just that if there’s any way I can make this easier for you, I—”
“Please keep it a secret, okay? That’s the only thing I need right now. In two months’ time we can get together again and figure out how to deal with the rest.” The taboo of revealing a pregnancy during the first trimester worked in her favor because by then her book would have faded from any lists and her news wouldn’t come as an embarrassing shock to her publisher.
“Okay. Can I kiss you?” He hovered close.
Alarm bells rang inside her and she shook her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I saw a picture of you with Maya Dunham in the papers. You’re dating her, aren’t you?”
“Only because you blew me off and wouldn’t return my calls. I called you every day for two weeks.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I just…I…” She couldn’t deal with getting in deeper with Sandro—a prince who could never be her real-life Mr. Right—when her heart was still bruised and broken from her fiancé dumping her. “I’m still recovering from my ex. It’s going to be a while.”
“I understand.” He raised her hand to his face and kissed her fingers softly. Damn—the touch of his lips to her skin sent shimmers of heat flooding through her stressed-out body.
One more reason why she needed to stay away from this man.
“I’ve got to go. I need to print something out before my meeting.” She tugged her scarf tighter. “I’ll stay in touch.”
He nodded. “I miss you, Serena.”
She laughed nervously. “You don’t know me well enough to miss me.”
“I miss you anyway.” His dark gaze held hers for a moment.
That man could charm the legs off a table. Her grandmother’s long-ago words rang in her ears, reminding her to keep her wits about her. “Thanks for meeting with me.” Before he could say anything else, or give her another of those blistering looks, she turned and hurried back toward Central Park West.
Back in her Upper West Side apartment later that afternoon, Serena gave her dog, Lucky, a bone, which made him wiggle his little black and white body with excitement. Then she went into her bedroom and switched on her camera. New content three times a week. That was her mantra. She’d followed it religiously since starting her blog back in college. Until lately. When she’d barely managed to pull herself together for one item per week. Since sinking her big book advance into buying her apartment, she earned most of her weekly income from YouTube videos she made and uploaded so it was time to milk the cash cow—or get ready to go hungry. And soon she’d have another mouth to feed.
Her makeup tutorials got the most views, but her viewers had come to expect her trademark life advice on working, dating and being your best you. How was she supposed to do a makeup tutorial with tears streaming down her face? But a new sponsor had sent her a big box of shiny products to review, so she’d better get down to business.
Deep breath! At least her hair looked good. And she’d done a full face of makeup already to make herself look human. Just one more layer to add. She attempted a shaky smile for the camera and moved the mic a little closer. Action!
“Hello, my lovelies”—really? Why was she still using that greeting? She was twenty-five, for goodness sake, not eighteen. “I’m about to unbox some brand-new products from one of my newest favorite companies. They’re a boutique cosmetic manufacturer based in San Diego and all of their products are—” Her voice cracked.
She was glad Sandro didn’t try to convince her to get an abortion. A lot of guys in his situation would have tried. Who knows how much child support she
’d be entitled to if she decided to go after him for it.
Lucky thing she’d rather die.
Deep breath. This is why there’s editing. She picked up the pretty turquoise box, opened it and pulled out a shiny black compact. “This highlighter is the best thing that’s happened to my makeup routine in weeks. Wait until you see what it does. It’s like bringing a spotlight with you wherever you go.” She managed a big cheesy grin as she opened the compact.
“I know you’re all wondering why I’ve been a little quiet lately.” She pulled out a small brush and applied some highlighter to her upper lids. “It’s because I have very exciting news.”
I’m expecting a baby!
Her viewers would go nuts if she told them that. Though some would be shocked since her wedding was supposedly still in the planning stages.
Except that her wedding wasn’t at any stage anymore.
“Remember the book I’ve been telling you about for months? Waiting for Mr. Right? Well the release date is finally here. it’s coming out next week and will be in bookstores everywhere.”
If they knew that Mr. Right had run off, they’d probably all die laughing. Although she hadn’t actually lied and said anything that would indicate the relationship was still on, she hadn’t told them it was over, either. She was guilty of a sin of omission, for sure.
She switched brushes and added a subtle dust of highlighter under her eyebrows.
“So I hope you’ll all go buy the book and tell me what you think.” She forced a shaky smile. “Doesn’t this highlighter look like natural sunlight? Watch what happens when I put some above my cheekbones.”
She sucked in her cheeks and dusted some on along the top with a fat brush. “It really contrasts with the contouring I did and makes my bone structure look a lot more dramatic than it really is.”
Ugh. She’d rarely even wore makeup before she’d started doing these videos. But work wasn’t always supposed to be fun and she’d turned out to be good at this. Plus she got all the stuff for free from would-be sponsors.
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