The Prince's Secret Baby

by Jennifer Lewis

  “I swear, I didn’t tell him,” Sandro protested, face pained.

  “He just guessed, right?” Serena couldn’t help but laugh. “Never mind. I suppose everyone has to know sooner or later.” She inhaled a quick breath. “Now I have yet another thing to tell my mom.”

  “I look forward to meeting your family,” said Lina. “I hope they’ll be able to come visit us here in Altaleone very soon.”

  Serena’s eyes widened. What on earth would her parents think of her marrying royalty? On the other hand, they might be less shocked by that than by the prospect of her having a baby out of wedlock. “I think they’d like that. But I’d better call my mom and catch her up on my news before anything else happens.”

  EPILOGUE

  Two days later Sandro was back at the palace, still bandaged and with one arm in a cast, but striding around one of the gilded living rooms as if nothing was wrong. “Wilhelm!” He shook his head. “He’s been with the family since I was a teenager. He can’t be more than a few years older than me.”

  “Yup,” said Darias. “And this whole time he’s been smarting over the fact that the Leones rule Altaleone and his family was driven into exile and lost all their money.

  “But they were banished in 1848 right after the coup attempt. That’s more than a hundred and fifty years ago!”

  “You’d think they’d have moved on by now, but greed has a way of making people grasp at straws.”

  “But seriously, couldn’t you have just given him that stupid code? It’s not like it means he can go get the money.”

  “What makes you think it’s money?” Sandro lifted a brow. “I wish I could tell you, but I can’t. You’re not an initiate of the Cross of Blood…yet.”

  “Tell me about it. I think I’ve lost enough blood already. Maybe Rigo can join instead.”

  “He’s coming here soon, he swears it. He’s pledged to use his legal mind to get to the bottom of this mess—as soon as his big trial is over.”

  “That’s something, I suppose. I bet it’s diamonds. Is it diamonds?” He looked at Darias.

  Who frowned at him. “No one in this family has any sense of tact. That’s how Wilhelm knew far too much about us and about the Cross of Blood. He just listened quietly when we were flapping our lips.”

  “He swears he didn’t kill dad?”

  “He insists that he didn’t kill anyone but that he’s just the edge of a much larger conspiracy that did. Unfortunately, despite Gibran’s best efforts, he won’t reveal any more details about it. Gibran thinks that he actually doesn’t know any more details. That they used him and his family grudge to further their own ends.

  Throat clearing drew their attention to the doorway. It was Gibran. “Once again, I must apologize for not being able to protect you.”

  “You couldn’t have known there’d be an avalanche,” said Darias.

  “I should have considered it as a possibility. It was deliberately set with dynamite.”

  “Wilhelm couldn’t have done it,” Emma cut in. “He was busy driving us. Someone else was involved.”

  “Yes, but unfortunately even Wilhelm himself does not seem to be privy to that information.”

  “I’ll get to the bottom of this if it kills me,” muttered Darias.

  “Don’t say that!” protested Emma.

  “You know what I mean.” He gazed at his wife tenderly. “I have far too much to live for. And thanks to Sandro and Serena drawing fire to themselves instead of me, I get to enjoy my life with you.”

  The sight of their love touched everyone in the room. And Sandro paced again. “When do I get to announce my engagement? Huh? I’m tired of waiting.”

  “You know there will be a media circus,” said Lina. “So you need to be healthy enough to withstand it.”

  “I’m perfectly fine.”

  “And you might as well wait until Maya Dunham crawls back into the woodwork. A pregnancy test proved she isn't pregnant, but she hasn't flown out of Zurich yet,” said Beatriz. “Probably too embarrassed to show her face back in the U.S. after all her fake stories about you.”

  “Why don’t you do an engagement photo shoot?” suggested Lina. “Then you can send out pictures to all the media outlets and they’ll leave you alone for a few days at least.”

  “That’s a great idea,” said Sandro. “And Serena can vlog it. Aren’t you supposed to be posting new content three times a week?”

  “Are you serious?” She’d assumed privacy issues would mean she’d have to slow down her vlogging or quit altogether.

  “Deadly serious,” said Sandro. “How else are people going to discover that the Leones are the coolest royal family in Europe?”

  Emma laughed, and Darias shook his head.

  Serena bit her lip. “My followers would love it.” She chuckled. “Especially if I showed the hair and makeup part.”

  “And we can tell them about the baby,” said Sandro.

  “It’s not three months yet,” she protested.

  “Oh, come on. Haven’t you learned to live dangerously?” He swooped in with a firm kiss on her lips.

  Her pulse quickened and her skin heated. “I suppose I’m learning every day.”

  “Practice makes perfect.” He took her hand. “Speaking of which, I need to talk to you alone.”

  Serena let Sandro lead her out of the room, across the foyer and up the stairs to her blue-and-silver bedroom.

  “What are we doing?” she asked, perplexed, as he came in and locked the door.

  “You don’t expect me to wait until marriage, do you?” Fire smoldered in his dark eyes.

  Heat flared in her core. “But you only have one working arm.”

  “Trust me, that won’t slow me down one bit.”

  She laughed. “Your determination is always impressive.” She’d fought the urge to make love to him for so long that the possibility of it happening unleashed a dangerous power surge inside her. “And I have an idea.”

  Together, using her two hands and his one good one, they unbuttoned and pulled off their clothes. The sight of Sandro’s body—all chiseled muscle lightly sprinkled with dark hair—sent her core temperature soaring. She trailed her fingers over the hard, flat expanse of his stomach, letting raw desire rise inside herself for the first time. She’s spent so long being wary, afraid of getting out of her depth. Right now she could wade right in—the water was lovely.

  “Lie down on the bed,” she whispered.

  Sandro’s eyes flashed, and he quickly moved into position. His good arm rose to caress her as she climbed over him. She leaned in to kiss him and her breasts brushed his chest, causing him to inhale sharply. “Careful, things are getting explosive,” he murmured, mischief dancing in his gaze.

  “I’m getting used to living on the edge.” She trailed a finger along the middle of his torso, between his hard pecs and down past his belly button, to where his impressive erection now jutted.

  She lowered her hips over his. For an instant a thought of the tiny baby inside her flashed into her mind. Still too small to see but looming large in their lives, their baby had brought them back together and kept them there until she came to her senses.

  “I promise to make you the happiest woman on earth, Serena.” Sandro’s husky voice tickled her ears.

  “The weird thing is, I believe you.” She glanced up, and the sincere expression on his handsome face made her heart trip. “I hope I can make you happy too.” She knew she’d try her hardest. She always tried her hardest at everything, and sometimes it worked out and sometimes it didn’t. And that didn’t stop her from getting up the next day and trying all over again. “You’re an amazing guy, Sandro.”

  “And you are a spectacular woman, Serena. I think I fell in love with you the moment we met.”

  She giggled. “When I smashed a vase over your head.”

  “Yes. And why wouldn’t you? I was invading your house in the middle of the night. I said to myself—this is my kind of woman.” His eyes sparkled wit
h mischief, and something deeper.

  Her heart swelled with love for him. Meanwhile her nipples had tightened to hard peaks and her belly tingled with sensation. She craved Sandro’s hard length inside her. “My situation is becoming dangerously unstable as well. Do warn me if I start to hurt you.”

  “Something tells me I won’t feel any pain at all,” he murmured, as she lowered herself onto his erection. Sandro’s hips bucked as she sheathed him fully, and she watched his face contort with pleasure.

  His hands rose to caress her as she moved over him, letting herself enjoy each sensation, every emotion that roamed through her. Just when she was at her lowest—her loneliest—Sandro strode into her life and turned it upside down. She should have had faith that even though things seemed like they were getting worse at every turn they were actually leading her down the path to perfect happiness.

  “I love you, Sandro,” she rasped, as unspent passion built to a crescendo inside her. She knew neither of them could last long. Desire gathered inside her like a giant storm cloud getting ready to unleash a mighty rainstorm.

  “I love you too, Serena.” A shout followed his words, and she felt him erupt inside her. Her own insides gripped him as the force of her climax flung her forward onto his chest. Together they rode out the waves of sensation that drew them closer and closer together with each moment. “I can’t wait to be your husband.”

  The words sent a shimmer of emotion through her, and she kissed him softly on the lips. “I can’t wait to be your wife and the mother of your child.” Suddenly she remembered his injured arm and chest, and sprang back, realizing that she was pressing her full weight down on top of him. “Am I hurting you?”

  “I don’t think I’m capable of feeling any pain at all right now.” A dazed smile lit up his face. “In fact I’ve never felt better.”

  She laughed. Typical Sandro to say what she wanted to hear. But strangely, now she knew him better, she also believed him. And trusted him.

  And she couldn’t wait to share her love for him with the world. “I can’t believe my mom didn’t freak out when I told her everything. And my oldest sister is already calling me Princess Serena. You’ll like her, she’s funny. My dad did say that titles meant nothing to him, and he wanted to know if you were a man of integrity. I told him you were.”

  Sandro grinned. “I take that as a great compliment, coming from you. Now you need to tell your followers. Make sure you make me sound better than that other loser.”

  “That won’t be hard.”

  “I want a book about us too.”

  She laughed. “Weirdly enough there was a message on my phone this morning from my agent. She said the publisher is thrilled with my sales and wants to see a proposal for a new book.”

  “How to catch a prince,” suggested Sandro. “Would that be a good seller?”

  “Maya Dunham would buy it,” she teased, proving that she could even joke about her now. “Or maybe a book on planning our wedding?” Suddenly she felt shy. “If you want a big wedding, that is. I quite understand if you don’t.”

  “Are you kidding me? I’m a Leone! We have a reputation to uphold. And purely out of sibling rivalry I need to one-up my big brother’s wedding of the century, so there’s that. I can’t wait to see what you come up with.”

  “I have a feeling they’ll like that idea.”

  Sandro closed his one good arm around her, drawing her closer to his chest. “I have a good feeling about spending the rest of my life with you.”

  They hadn’t even talked about where they’d live. But for some reason that didn’t matter anymore. “Me too. You would have been the man of my dreams if I’d ever dared to dream big enough.”

  “Instead you’ll have to settle for me being your Mr. Right.”

  The title of her own book—and the subject of so much private embarrassment and recrimination—now seemed hilariously perfect. “You are my Mr. Right. I almost ignored my own advice and rushed my way into marrying Mr. Wrong when all along was supposed to wait that little bit longer to find you.”

  “I have a feeling our happiness will be worth the wait.” He raised his head just enough to kiss her softly on the lips.

  Warmth trickled through her, and a happy sigh burst from her chest. “I know it will.”

  Scratching and whining at the door reminded Serena that she’d forgotten all about Lucky. She eased herself off Sandro and opened the door just enough to let him in. Lucky took a running jump up onto the bed, where he ran right on top of Sandro—injuries be damned—and licked his face.

  “Don’t worry, Lucky,” said Sandro. “You’ll always be our first child.”

  Serena laughed. “We need to include him in the wedding.”

  “Perhaps he can be the ring bearer?”

  “I love it!” She climbed back on the bed and ruffled his fur. “He was there at the beginning, and he is a core member of our family.”

  “Our family,” said Sandro with a sigh. “I like the sound of that.”

  Serena smiled and kissed him softly on the lips. “Me too.”

  THE END

  Look for additional books in 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.

  Royal House of Leone

  A PRINCE FOR CHRISTMAS

  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.

  A Prince for Christmas

  Lifestyle guru Serena Raines can’t face her family at Christmas after her engagement falls apart. She goes into hiding at a rented beach house, unaware that a big storm is heading her way.

  European royal Sandro Leone refuses to let his friends spend Christmas alone, so he borrows a house for them to share—winter storm be damned—and finds a strange and lovely woman already there.

  Serena is embarrassed to be alone and unloved at Christmas and fights her attraction to the warm and charming playboy prince. Things get worse when the storm prevents his friends from arriving and leaves them stranded—and in danger—together.

  Read more stories about the royal Leones in upcoming books in the series. Visit www.jenlewis.com for more details and to join the new release mailing list.

  CHAPTER ONE

  A scraping sound woke Serena from a deep sleep, and she sat up in total darkness, heart pounding. “Who’s there?”

  She hoped like heck that the answer was no one.

  She’d rented this big beach house to get away from everyone and lick her wounds in private. Suddenly, being all alone in the middle of nowhere didn’t seem like such a brilliant idea. Groping around, she realized she’d fallen asleep on the living room sofa and dropped her ereader on the floor.

  Boom. Boom-boom.

  Someone was banging on the door. Terror streaked along her veins.

  No one knew she was here. There weren’t even any neighbors that she’d noticed. The remote property was surrounded by dunes and woods.

  A serial killer?

  Pulse racing, Serena sprang off the sofa and fumbled for her phone on the nearby coffee table. Hiding the glow of the screen with her hand, she dialed 911 and crept into a corner while listening for the ring.

  Just outside the room, she heard the front door creak open.

  Her blood froze. The call wasn’t connecting. Why? She fought the urge to wail in desperation. She had no bars be
cause the cell service here on the Georgia sea islands absolutely sucked.

  I’m all alone in the dark, miles from civilization, with a home invader. She’d thought it bad that her heart was broken and she’d have to be alone for Christmas. Now, to top it off, she was going to die.

  Not if I can help it.

  Her eyes had adjusted to the semi-darkness enough for her to see an orchid nearby in a tall vase. She tipped the orchid out—it was fake—and gripped the vase in her hand like a club. Staying low she scuttled across the carpet to hide beside the arched entrance to the foyer. She rose up, praying her knees wouldn’t creak, and gingerly lifted the heavy vase high over her head. She could hear footfalls on the carpet. If he came this way…

  A big shoe landed right in front of her, and she brought the vase down on his head with every ounce of force she could muster.

  “What the—?” The man crumpled to the floor as chunks of ceramic scattered. Quick as a flash he was on his feet again, big hands gripping her upper arms.

  She screamed and beat him with her fists. “Get your hands off me! I’ll call the police.” Her useless phone had fallen to the floor.

  “Who are you?” he asked coolly, deep voice rough.

  “None of your damn business. Get out of my house this instant!” Adrenaline surged through her and she struggled to free herself, but his hands were too strong.

  “Your house? This house belongs to my friend Zadir.”

  Zadir Al Kilanjar. That was the owner’s name on the short lease she’d signed. She stopped struggling. Maybe this man wasn’t a crazed killer. “I rented it from him for two weeks.”

  “I saw a light upstairs. That’s why I knocked. Zadir told me it was empty and that I could have the place over Christmas.”

  “Clearly he was wrong. I’m here, and I have a signed lease. You need to leave.” Her terror was starting to subside into irritation at being scared out of her wits in the middle of the night. And embarrassment at the realization that she might have overreacted.