The Best Of February 2016. Catherine Mann

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СКАЧАТЬ the crowd was... “Is Ginny pregnant?”

      Another man might have been cowed, embarrassed or even unprepared. Ginny knew Dom had rehearsed every possible scenario of this moment into the wee hours of the morning with someone from his staff.

      So she wasn’t surprised when he smiled and said, “Yes.”

      The swish and whir of cameras filled the room. Several people called, “Ginny, look here.”

      But she kept her eyes trained on Dominic because that’s what her two hours of training the night before had been about. That and choosing something to wear. After a doctor had seen her and pronounced her well, a clothier had arrived with swatches and catalogs. Sally from the protocol office had wanted her in a raspberry-colored suit. The king had thought she’d look more dignified in a white suit. But she’d reminded them that she’d fainted because she was pregnant and had gotten too hot. Her choice for the press conference had been a simple green dress with thin straps and a pale green cardigan—which she could remove, she reminded the king—if she got too hot.

      The king had scowled, but Dominic had suddenly said, “I think she’s right.”

      All eyes had turned to him. He’d shrugged. “You’re not the ones who had to watch her fall. I barely caught her. I don’t think we want to risk having that happen again.”

      Nope. If there was one thing Ginny knew, it was that she did not want to faint again. Seeing ten pictures of herself crumpling to a coffee-shop floor in the newspapers that morning had been enough to cure her of ever wanting to faint in public again.

      But Dominic standing up for her choice had caused her breath to quietly catch. Her simple pregnancy might impact an entire kingdom—and maybe someday even the world—but this was her baby. And Dom’s.

      When he stood up for her, he caught her gaze, and in that second a wave of feeling had almost made her dizzy. They’d created a child and were getting married—temporarily. He’d warned her not to spin fantasies of permanency with him, and she wasn’t, but with a baby on the way and so many people telling them what to do, she didn’t see how they could get through the next few months without forming a team.

      Which made it a terrible, terrible thing that she’d compared him to her father. Because no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t stop doing it. Not because she genuinely believed Dom was like her dad, but because she was so afraid. Living with her dad had been a nightmare. Only a fool would deliberately enter that kind of situation again.

      So he couldn’t be like her dad. He couldn’t. Yet something about this situation, and Dom, set off warning signals that would not let her relax.

      Watching Dominic speak now, she waited for his signal for her to join him at the podium. He fielded a question or two about how they met, then, just as they’d practiced, he turned to her with a smile and said, “Why don’t we have Ginny join us to help answer some questions?”

      In her high-heeled white sandals that perfectly offset the pretty green dress, she carefully walked to the podium. He slid his arm around her waist, bringing her closer to the microphones. Questions filled the air.

      “Have you found a dress?”

      “Are you having morning sickness?”

      She heard the questions, but looking up at Dominic, all she saw were those onyx eyes filled with expectation. Could she stand up for him? Would she stand up for him? Would she protect his reputation as the future king the way he’d stood up for her the night before? Was she willing to fully commit to the charade?

      Just as she couldn’t quite get herself to trust him, the question in his eyes told her he didn’t entirely trust her, either.

      Which made them even.

      If there was one thing she’d learned about partnerships, it was that they ran best when the partners really were even. Oddly, this deal would work not because they trusted each other, but because they didn’t.

      “Are you a real live Cinderella?”

      That question made her laugh and brought her out of her reverie. She faced the sea of press crowded into the small room.

      “Yes. I do feel like Cinderella. No, I haven’t even chosen a designer to make my dress. So I’ll need all four weeks before the wedding just to find something to wear.” When the reporters laughed, she smiled. “And no morning sickness.”

      She paused long enough to give Dominic her best fake loving smile, deferring to him, the way she’d been taught to the night before. When their gazes met, she could see he was pleased with how she handled herself. She recognized that his happy expression was part of their act, but he’d looked at her exactly that way the night they’d gone clubbing. The night they’d created their baby.

      Her heart kicked against her ribs. A flash of memories flooded her brain. Kissing in the limo. Laughing at stupid things. Not a care in the world. And for one foolish second, she wished they could be those two people again. Two people just having fun. Not making a commitment—

      She quickly looked away. Things like that, staring into his fathomless eyes, longing for a chance just to enjoy each other, would get her into trouble.

      She faced the reporters. “So I won’t faint again.” She winced. “That is if I listen to Dom and actually eat breakfast and lunch.”

      A quiet chuckle went up from the group as they scribbled in notebooks.

      The questions started again.

      “What about your job?”

      “Will you miss working?”

      “What was it like growing up with an alcoholic dad?”

      “Did you spin daydreams as a little girl that you’d someday marry a prince?”

      The room suddenly got hot. She hadn’t expected her dad’s life to escape scrutiny. She simply hadn’t expected it to come up so soon.

      She pushed her hair off her face, buying time, hoping to cool her forehead a bit before sweat began to bead on it. “I love my job.” She answered the first and second questions together since they were easy, as she dreadfully scrambled in her head to think of how to answer the third. “If it were possible to be a princess and be a guidance counselor, I’d do both. As it is, my duty lies with Xaviera and our baby.” She laughed. “My mom reminded me that even if my baby wasn’t a future king, he’d still take up all my time and shift my priorities.”

      Before she could deal with question three, two other reporters raised their hands and called out, “So you’ve spoken to your mom and have her blessing?” and “Where is your mom?”

      “My mom is finishing out her semester,” she said, then suddenly wished her mom didn’t have to work. Being alone in a strange country, in a white-hot spotlight with a guy she’d liked a lot was making her crazy. She had to remember he wasn’t fun-loving Dom. He was Prince Dominic. And this marriage wasn’t real. Hell, this whole situation was barely real.

      “She has a few more weeks of school, but she’ll be here for the wedding.”

      “I’m still waiting for an answer about your childhood with an alcoholic father.”

      The СКАЧАТЬ