The Royal Pregnancy Test (Mills & Boon Modern) (The Christmas Princess Swap, Book 1)

by Heidi Rice

  ‘We shouldn’t have done that,’ she managed on a raw gasp.

  I’m not the woman you think I am.

  ‘But we did.’ He ran his tongue over his lips. Could he still taste her? Because she could taste him.

  She brushed her hand through her hair and became aware that the elaborate chignon the stylist had insisted on that morning had escaped its moorings.

  ‘We should...’ She attempted to repair the damage herself, frantically repinning the unruly locks as she spoke. ‘We should return to the reception, before anyone notices we’re gone, and gets suspicious.’

  ‘Everyone will have noticed by now,’ he said, the wry twist of his lips impossibly hot. ‘And I hate to tell you this, but I think the speculation about our relationship is a horse that bolted out of the paddock yesterday evening.’ He glanced down pointedly at the evidence of his arousal. ‘And is now doing a victory lap in my pants.’

  The rush of heat and adrenaline racing through her body made it hard for her to concentrate. And a smile at the outrageous comment lifted her lips before she could stop it.

  He huffed out a strained laugh. ‘I’m glad you find my discomfort so amusing.’

  ‘I don’t, I just...’ She tried to regulate her breathing, the flirtatious comment making her aware of the danger again. This was not funny, at all. He wanted to get her into compromising positions. Why had she let him? ‘It’s just, it’s complicated...’

  So so complicated and getting more complicated by the second.

  Having Leo want her wasn’t exciting. Or wonderful. Or cool. That was her sixteen-year-old self talking. It was a disaster.

  Giving in to this...this explosive chemistry...would be wrong. Both ethically and emotionally and every which way in between. She wasn’t the woman he thought she was, but even if she were, the kind of marriage he was suggesting was a cold, clinical abomination of the term.

  Nobody should be prepared to marry for the sake of securing a political union between two countries, or to provide an heir. It was nuts. And she was here to make him realise that, while her sister discovered the same while getting a life in New York. She was not here to obsess about his lips, or his chin dimple, or his delicious smile, or that magnificent...

  Look away from his pants!

  He was watching her again in that inscrutable and unbearably hot way he had, the twist of his lips more than amusement now. There was heat there too, and calculation. As if he knew exactly what her body craved and was figuring out the best way to use it against her.

  Her pulse spiked.

  She finished pinning up her hair as best she could and rubbed her finger across her lips hoping that her lipstick wasn’t too smeared.

  ‘Why don’t I go back in first, then you can follow when...?’ She glanced at the prominent ridge again that hadn’t softened at all.

  ‘You can follow when you’re ready.’ She made a beeline for the study door.

  But as she passed him, he caught her wrist and drew her to a halt.

  ‘Not so fast.’ His thumb pressed into her pulse point, which went haywire as he tugged her round to face him. ‘I want this marriage to happen. I think it will be hugely...’ he paused, his eyes darkening with arousal ‘...beneficial for us both. And I’m not averse to persuading you how beneficial by whatever means necessary.’

  It was a warning, plain and simple. She needed to be careful. To keep her hormones and everything else in check, or she might well end up doing something reckless and unforgivable... And Jade would be the one to pay the price.

  Leo was a dangerous man. Arrogant, entitled, super goal-orientated and unbelievably hot. He’d already proved what a devastating effect he could have on her libido, and her best intentions, not to mention her self-control. He was a man who got what he set his sights on... And she was now in the firing line.

  She dragged her hand free of his grip, rubbed her wrist where his touch had burned. ‘Point taken,’ she said, as haughtily as she could while her insides were giddy with a disturbing combo of nerves and guilt and...anticipation. ‘But don’t worry, I won’t ask you to kiss me again.’

  She headed for the door, ignoring the ripple of sensation that travelled up her spine from his mocking laugh. She had been warned, and she had to do everything in her power now to resist Leo, not just physically, but emotionally too.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  ‘WAIT, LEO, THERE’S a little girl over there we missed.’

  Leo glanced round as Jade touched his arm, to see a small child in the thousand-strong crowd who had turned out to greet them at the opening of the Christmas market in Severene’s old town. The little girl was huddled behind her mother’s skirts, clutching a bunch of wilting hothouse flowers.

  ‘You go ahead,’ he murmured, surprised again by the Queen’s innate ability to spot spectators who didn’t push themselves forward—even if they were only two feet tall. It was a particularly impressive feat given how much the crowds had swelled in the last four days—ever since Jade’s fierce defence of his freezing footman had been broadcast over the local media.

  ‘She’s your subject, Leo,’ she said as she grasped his hand. ‘Why don’t we go and talk to her together?’

  It wasn’t the first time she’d suggested such a thing. She seemed to be on a mission to break down the barriers he had always had around his interactions with Severene’s population. He suspected it originated in the conversation they’d had in the sledge on her arrival, right before Freezing Footman Gate. She was testing him to see if he would buckle.

  He should have found her behaviour infuriating. The request to familiarise himself with his subjects went against every tenet of his monarchy. He simply was not a people pleaser—unlike Jade—and he was not required to be. The monarchy in Severene did not rely on a sovereign grant, so there had never been any need to schmooze the public. All that was required of the royal family was that they be visible.

  He also suspected this was a distraction technique. An attempt to ignore the heat that had only grown between them since she had arrived in Severene.

  The more he attempted to command her attention, the more she managed to deflect or frustrate him. And it was starting to drive him more than a little insane.

  Had any woman ever been so damn evasive when he was attempting to pursue her? Especially when he knew the passion between them was entirely mutual. She might be managing to resist his attempts to seduce her, but she couldn’t hide the shivers of response every time he settled his hand on her back, or kissed her knuckles in public. The only problem was he had a sneaking suspicion those PDAs were tying his libido in knots, more than hers.

  ‘To hell with it,’ he murmured under his breath. ‘Let’s get this over with, then.’

  He could see his capitulation had surprised her—the truth was he’d surprised himself. He would never normally single out individuals the way she was so adept at doing. And he found conversing with children particularly problematic, especially shy children. He didn’t mean to be intimidating, but somehow he was. During these past four days, though, he’d watched Jade build an easy rapport with the people of Severene—his people. So really, how hard could it be?

  ‘Are you sure?’ she said, and he had to stifle a smile.

  However awkward this was going to be, it would be worth it to have finally wrong-footed her for the first time in four days.

  ‘Absolutely,’ he replied, with a fervour he didn’t really feel, but was more than prepared to fake.

  She nodded. But then to his surprise, she smiled. An artless smile, devoid of her usual wariness. What he saw in her expression stole his breath in a way that made no sense. Because her green eyes were shadowed with something that looked very much like approval... And he didn’t require anyone’s approval.

  They reached the line of people pressing against the ropes, and his breathing became uneven, something tugging at his memory
that he knew he needed to resist.

  The little girl pressed closer to her mother’s side as they approached. But Jade squatted down on her haunches—not easy in the pencil skirt and heeled boots she had worn for the walkabout—so that she could converse with the child eye to eye.

  ‘Hello, are those for me?’ she asked, indicating the wilting flowers.

  The small child nodded, her thumb now stuck resolutely in her mouth—was she trying to suck off her thumbnail?

  ‘They’re beautiful,’ Jade said, the genuine warmth in her voice doing even stranger things to Leo’s breathing, especially as he watched the child’s eyes brighten.

  The little girl thrust the bunch out.

  ‘Thank you, so much,’ Jade said, accepting the offering as if she’d been given a crate full of priceless jewels. How did she do that? How did she sound as if she cared when this had to be the fifth bunch of flowers she had been offered already today—and these were easily the most bedraggled?

  ‘I’d love to know your name, so I can thank you properly,’ she said, lowering her voice, ensuring that the child knew she had all her attention.

  He found his own anticipation mounting, the pressure in his chest increasing, as the child considered the request and then popped her thumb out of her mouth.

  ‘Ella,’ she whispered, before stuffing her thumb back.

  Jade laughed, the joyous delight in the sound making the pulse of anticipation in his chest turn to something sharp and unbidden. He tensed, shocked by his undisciplined, instinctive response.

  What was wrong with him? Why was his reaction to Jade still so volatile?

  ‘Ella? What a beautiful name,’ Jade said. ‘Thank you so much for these, I will treasure them.’

  As she rose back to her feet, the child’s mother curtsied. ‘Thank you so much, Your Majesty. Ella picked them herself this morning—she was desperate to meet you after seeing you on the television. I know this means a lot to her,’ the woman said, the moisture in her eyes making Leo feel uncomfortable.

  How many of these walkabouts had he done in the past, without connecting with anyone? He’d always been taught to maintain a formal distance. But Jade’s approach seemed so effortless, so enchanting, so...

  He frowned.

  He was supposed to be the one in control of this seduction. Not her. He had planned to exploit their physical desire for one another, nothing more.

  But from that first day, when Jade had rescued Klaus the palace footman from frostbite—hell, that first night, when he had placed his jacket over her shoulders and seen her eyes go a little misty—he was becoming captivated by every unpredictable move. And all the qualities in her he was discovering.

  ‘It means a lot to me too,’ Jade said graciously to the mother. ‘You have a lovely child.’

  The uncomfortable sensation spread under Leo’s ribs. Warmth yes, admiration yes, but more than that, a disturbing feeling of connection.

  And a question that he had begun to ask himself rose to the surface again.

  Why did he want to marry this woman? Because the reasons that had been so simple before he had seen her again at the Winter Ball didn’t seem so simple any more.

  All the reasons why their union would be a good one—politically and economically for both their monarchies—still applied. In fact they had been exponentially enhanced by her visit. But beneath the expediencies was the yearning—for something that went beyond those reasons. And that disturbed him.

  No woman had ever fascinated and excited him the way she did. And he knew his desire to see her each morning at their breakfast table for their schedule briefings, and his reluctance to bid her goodnight at the entrance to her suite of rooms after their evening meal, weren’t just to do with his campaign to get her to agree to the marriage.

  ‘Leo, say hello,’ Jade prompted, sliding her hand into his.

  The mother beamed—it had been duly noted in the press on several occasions already how romantic the people found Jade’s use of the nickname. But as he heard a barrage of camera clicks, he recoiled at the thought that their observers might have seen more in his expression than he wanted them to see. More than he wanted to feel.

  He bowed to the child’s mother.

  Do the job and then you can leave.

  ‘A pleasure, madame,’ he said to the mother, who curtsied and then blushed. But as he prepared to leave, the niceties handled, Jade tightened her grip on his hand.

  ‘Didn’t you forget someone?’ she said. She slanted her gaze to the little girl. ‘I’m sure Ella would like to say hello to you too, Leo.’

  There were more clicks, and flashes and the whir of cameras—and for a hideous moment he hesitated, trapped in the glare of the spotlight. A spotlight he had become accustomed to over the years, but had always been careful to keep at a distance.

  He stood frozen, the memory that had prickled at his consciousness exploding in his mind’s eye.

  The brutal winter wind, the sombre wail of a trumpet dirge, his father’s hand gripping his hard enough to hurt, the pain in his throat as he struggled to swallow the tears.

  ‘Your mother is dead, Leonardo. Now stop simpering. It is your job as a prince to maintain your dignity at all times.’

  ‘Leo, is everything okay?’ Jade’s gentle voice dragged him free of the prison of memory.

  Everyone was staring at him. The child, her mother, Jade and the press, many of whom were still firing off their shots.

  ‘Yes, yes, of course,’ he said, wanting it to be so, humiliated beyond belief.

  Where the hell had that come from? And why? His mother’s death had been a lifetime ago. So long ago he hardly even remembered her.

  ‘Are you sad?’ He heard a small voice and looked down to see the child staring up at him with patient, perceptive eyes. And for one weird moment, it was almost as if she could see into his soul. Or rather the soul of that little boy, who had been cast adrift in a sea of other people’s tears, looking for the one face who could rescue him—only to discover she was lost for ever.

  ‘Not any more,’ he said, his voice rough with emotions he didn’t want to feel—fear, panic, loneliness—but didn’t seem able to stop.

  The child nodded, with a gravity beyond her years, then she smiled, a sweet, innocent, inquisitive smile devoid of judgement.

  ‘Do you love Queen Jade like me?’ she asked, adoration shining in her eyes.

  I hope not.

  The answer sprang from nowhere, rattling him almost as much as the cruel slap of memory.

  ‘Ella, you mustn’t ask questions like that,’ her mother interrupted. ‘It isn’t polite.’

  ‘Have a good Christmas,’ he murmured to the child, and her mother, then, grasping Jade’s hand, he led her to the waiting carriage, cutting the walkabout short.

  He had to escape... The crowd. The press. The scrutiny. The messy emotions he didn’t want to feel. The need he did not want to acknowledge. And the miserable memory of that day, which he thought he’d buried a lifetime ago—along with his mother.

  ‘Leo, what’s wrong? What happened back there?’ Juno asked, staring at the King of Severene’s rigid features as the limousine drove off towards the palace.

  ‘Nothing.’ He glanced her way, then stared back out of the window, the muscle in his jaw clenched so tight it was twitching.

  This was not nothing. Even though he had the outward appearance of control, this was Leo freaking out.

  ‘The walkabout wasn’t finished,’ she said. Since when did Leo not stick rigidly to the schedule?

  ‘It was getting cold,’ he said, by way of explanation for the sudden change of plans.

  But he didn’t meet her gaze, and she knew he was lying. Something had seriously spooked him.

  And that was her MO, not his.

  Or it had been four days ago, until she’d begun to find her n
iche as the fake Queen of Monrova.

  Maybe she would never be as good as Jade at this stuff. But she’d found—much to her astonishment—that she wasn’t completely horrendous at it either. As they’d been ferried around a series of events and engagements in the last four days, she had discovered she enjoyed meeting the citizens of Severene. Of course, it didn’t hurt that they were all so eager to meet her. That had thrown her at first, because she knew she wasn’t the person they thought they were meeting. But she’d dealt with the guilt by deciding she was Jade’s stand-in, doing a job that Jade couldn’t do because she was busy discovering herself in New York.

  Perhaps it was dishonest, but it wasn’t hurting anyone. Especially if she did a decent enough job. And the numerous formal engagements had also been a brilliant way to keep her desire for Leo at bay.

  So she’d thrown herself into the events, and made a real effort to win over the people she met, so as not to disgrace her sister—while at the same time keeping Severene’s King and his delusions about a marriage of convenience between them at arm’s length.

  The only problem was that as she threw herself into her charm offensive her biggest ally, and supporter, had been the very man she was trying not to fall for, in any way, shape or form.

  In fact, she never would have been able to pull off being the Pretend Jade effectively if not for Leo. His encouragement over the last few days had been invaluable.

  Trying not to let his approval mean too much had been something of an emotional minefield. Every time he looked at her with that fierce purpose in his dark gaze. Every time he touched and kissed her in public and her panties melted. Every time his lips lifted in that inscrutable smile, or something she’d done turned his deep blue eyes to a rich turquoise, she risked falling a little bit harder.

  The only way to ensure Leo’s attention—and her reaction to it—didn’t derail her completely had been to remember three important truths. First Leo had an agenda, second, Leo thought she was a real queen, and finally, Leo’s loyalty wasn’t to her—or Jade—it was to the kingdom of Severene and his role as its monarch.