The last thing she wanted to do was tell Raoul the news, but since her plans were all going to be cancelled right away, she couldn’t wait. She parked her car at the back of the palace and entered through the servant’s door, stopping at the kitchen first. It was nearly eight and she hadn’t eaten since noon; she’d been so out of sorts after seeing the doctor that she’d driven down to the ocean and sat on the beach, watching the waves break on the shore. She’d needed time to think.

In reality, she should probably be panicking. She and Raoul weren’t together. She’d thrown a monkey wrench into the operations of the monarchy and was about to turn it upside down again. The crown prince was about to have an illegitimate baby. Even if she didn’t reveal the identity of the father, there would probably be speculation.

She should be panicking, but she wasn’t. Because deep down she was happy. Oddly, she kept telling herself she shouldn’t be. She was single, her relationship with the father was in tatters, and all her plans were changing. But she was. Come what may, she was happy that she was going to have a child. Be a mother.

The kitchen staff was still bustling around, but Señora Ortiz took one look at her, grinned, and fixed a plate. The chicken and salad was delicious and exactly what she needed. She turned down dessert, thought of the bottle of vitamins she now had in her purse. Even the way she ate was about to change.

“Is the family still at dinner?” she asked.

“They’re just finishing dessert.”

Nerves bubbled around in her stomach. She had to simply get it over with, didn’t she?

She gave Señora Ortiz an unexpected peck on the cheek. “Thank you for dinner.”

“Of course. You come to my kitchen anytime.”

Stephani went upstairs then, toward the dining room. Raoul and Diego were still seated at the table, chatting, when she stepped to the doorway. Her heart tumbled a little. Her feelings for Raoul hadn’t changed. There was no question he’d disappointed her, but that was added pain. It had done nothing to stop how much she loved him. Now she was going to tell him they were going to have a child together, all the while knowing they would be raising him or her apart.

“Raoul? May I speak to you for a minute?”

He looked up and his face immediately fell into an expression of concern. “Of course. Are you all right?”

She tried a smile, but nerves seemed to be getting the better of her. “I’m fine, but if we could talk in the library, that would be great.”

Raoul looked at Diego, who also wore an expression of alarm. Did she really look so bad?

“I’ll catch up with you later, Diego,” Raoul said, rising from the table.

She led the way down the hall to the library, which was just about as neutral a territory as could be found in the palace. When he was inside, she shut the door behind them.

He was at her side immediately. “What is it? Are you okay? You look scared to death.”

She nodded. “I am, a bit. But I’m okay, I promise.”

“I know you saw Dr. Sanchez today. If you’re sick . . .”

The fear on his face was real, and it made her feel better—and worse—that he truly did care.

She took his hand and led him to a plush settee. Once they were seated, she dropped his hand and clasped hers together on her knees.

“I did see Dr. Sanchez.” She lifted her gaze, her chest constricting as she forced out the words. “I’m not sick, Raoul. I’m pregnant.”

All the color drained out of his face.

“That was my reaction, too,” she said dryly. “Dr. Sanchez thought I was going to faint.”

“Pregnant? But we were careful.”

“Not careful enough, it seems. There’s been no one else, Raoul.”

The blood rushed back into his face. “Of course not. I mean, not that you couldn’t . . . Oh my God. I can’t speak. I can’t think right now.”

“Take your time,” she suggested softly. “I spent the afternoon sitting on the beach, working up the nerve to come here tonight.”

“A baby.” He let out a huge breath. “Did you have a feeling? Ask for the test?” He frowned. “Miss your period?”

She shook her head. “He did a test for my checkup. Routine, apparently. I can’t go to Tanzania now. My shots aren’t up-to-date and it’s too risky to go without and not safe for me to have a few of them while expecting.”

“I’m sorry,” he offered, surprising her.

“You are?”

“I know that you were looking forward to it. It wasn’t planned under the best circumstances, but it was going to be a new adventure for you.”

“Well, it looks like I have an adventure of a different sort coming in the future.”

They sat in silence for a bit, then Raoul nudged forward. “You know, Steph, I keep thinking about the things you said when we talked. About me avoiding making a decision about us. I was a coward, and I know it. It’s not like me to run away from my problems. I make decisions. It’s what I do.”

“I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”

“You deserve someone who’s going to be decisive. Someone who is going to follow through. Now we’re going to have a baby together, and it’s not the time to be ambivalent about anything. It’s a responsibility we’ll bear together.”

Unease rippled through her veins. “What are you saying, Raoul?”

“I’m saying I think we should get married.”

She nearly fell off the settee. What once would have filled her with joy now filled her with a mix of sadness and frustration. For years she’d daydreamed about Raoul popping the question, but there’d been no question here, just a statement, and only because she was carrying his baby.

It was wrong, all wrong.

“No,” she heard herself say.

“We can do it quietly; no one will think it terribly odd if my second marriage is a smaller, private affair.”

“No,” she repeated. “Raoul, did you hear me?”

“And if you’re only a few weeks along, the sooner the better. Even if there’s speculation, we can simply say we’d planned it for a while but didn’t want to overshadow Rose and Diego’s big day.”

He stood now, started pacing. “But first we’ll have to tell father. And Diego. You can move into my suite.”

She stood, too. “Stop talking. Just stop.”

He halted. “What?”

“Raoul, I said no. I will not marry you.”

He laughed. “Of course you will. I know things have been screwed up, but we both need to let our pride go. It’s the right thing.”

She clenched her teeth to keep from crying. “Raoul, for a smart guy, you can really be very stupid. I don’t want to do the right thing, don’t you see? I want . . . I want . . .”

He stepped forward so that they were face to face. “What do you want? Because I’m really trying here. My God, Stephani. I’m willing to make you a queen.”

The tears she’d held back started to choke her. “You’re a bastard,” she cried out, unable to keep her cool any longer. “Willing to make me a queen? Did you just say that? Why are you not the man I thought you were? Why aren’t you the man who—”

She stopped. The words sat on her tongue, so thick she was choking on them. Raoul’s brows had pulled together, his cheeks red with . . . anger? Was he angry at her?

“The man who what?” he bit out.

“The man Ceci loved!”

She turned away then, ashamed. She had never truly coveted what Ceci had. Or if she had, she hadn’t ever wanted to take it away from Ceci to have for herself. It wasn’t like that. But what she’d wanted was to have him look at her the way he’d looked at Ceci once upon a time. She didn’t want to be a replacement. She wanted to be loved for herself.

“What do you mean?” he asked, his voice dangerously low.

She took a breath. Turned back around.

“You said you weren’t ready. I accepted that. And I don’t know all the details about your relationship with my cousin, but from what I saw, you always treated her with respect, and love, and affection. Tonight you offered me your kingdom but you didn’t offer yourself, Raoul. That’s not respectful, loving, or affectionate. I’m not a replacement for her. I’m my own person, and I deserve to have someone love me the way you loved her. You didn’t even ask. You just informed me we’d be married, that the wedding would be some slapped-together private affair, and the sooner we did it, the sooner we could make the world think that this baby was conceived after the wedding.”

Her voice shook but she was determined. “In all the years I’ve been here, Raoul, until tonight you have never made me feel cheap. But I do. I’m a problem to be solved, and I’m telling you right now, I won’t have it. I’ll have all of you or nothing. I can’t spend my life trying to live up to what she was to you.”

She lowered her shoulders, surprised at herself for delivering such a speech, glad she’d done it, terrified of the result.

He ran his hand through his hair. “You don’t know what you’re asking!”

“I know exactly what I’m asking. And you being so freaked out gives me my answer. So here’s my counter offer.” Her stomach turned and she willed the nausea away. “I’m going to inform Diego about the change of plans. I’m going to work with Sofia to bring in the new assistant. Then I’m going to take some time off and enjoy my pregnancy.”

“That’s not an offer. That’s a statement.”

“It’s as much of an offer as you made to me, Raoul. And just about as emotional.”

He spun away. “Dammit, Stephani.” He put his hand on the back of a chair, clenching it tightly. “You want all of me. I don’t have all of me to give. Not anymore.”

Her throat tightened. “I know that now. I do, Raoul. That’s what I’m saying. You told me the truth about your feelings and I’ve accepted it. So let me tell Diego about the change of plans. And everything else we’ll do one day at a time.”

She put a hand to her stomach, seriously afraid she was going to throw up now, needing to get out and get some fresh air. When Raoul didn’t answer, she turned on her heel and left the library, then headed to the back of the castle where her car was parked.

Marco was there, closing up the garage for the night. He took one look at her and came over, his dark eyes concerned.

“Stephani. Are you all right?”

She shook her head. “Yes and no. I need a moment.”

“Do you need me to drive you home?”

She shook her head once more. “No, I . . .”

The sickness became overwhelming and she rushed to a hedge and threw up.

Marco was there by her side, holding out a handkerchief. “Wipe your mouth. It’ll help get the taste out.”

She took the square of fabric and did what he said. His big hand was on her back, anchoring her as she gulped in big breaths.

When she was better, she stood up straight. “I’m so sorry.”

He watched her carefully. “Ceci wasn’t often sick with the babies, but if she got worked up . . .” He leaned down a bit to look straight into her face. “I’m guessing you’re in the same situation.”

“That’s a pretty big leap, Marco.”

“I have sisters. Four of them.” He smiled a little. “I’m sorry, Stephani. It’s complicated, isn’t it?”

She nodded. “Incredibly. He’ll ‘do the right thing’ by me, but he doesn’t love me, Marco. And I don’t think I can marry someone who doesn’t love me. Or who will always love someone else better.”

He gestured with a hand, motioning toward the garage. “Come with me for a moment. I want to tell you a story.”

He led her inside and to a desk area. She’d never been inside Marco’s personal “office,” and it was plain but comfortable with a desk, computer, filing cabinet, and not much else. She sat in a sturdy chair and he grabbed a rolling stool and perched on it.

“I was driving the night of the accident,” he said softly, regret hanging on his words. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wondered what I might have done differently. If I’d taken a different route, or gone slower, left a few minutes later . . . Ceci would still be here. Mariana, too. And the children . . . they were so scared. It was the worst night of my life, but it’s nothing compared to the pain Raoul felt.

“I know you saw him after. We all watched him go from shock to grief to . . . well, months of going through the motions. He made a big show of having a stiff upper lip. Not that he fooled anyone, but did you ever see him cry?”

Stephani shook her head. Not once. She’d known he was holding it all inside, but he’d never broken down in front of her.

“I did,” Marco said, his voice hoarse. “When he came to the hospital, and she was gone, and I was alive. And he hugged me and cried, Stephani. Sobbed like a baby on my shoulder and said he didn’t want to live if he had to live without her.”

The pain in her heart was real, and stabbed at her like knives. “I know he loved her, Marco. I can’t compete with that.”

He shook his head. “See, that’s where I think you might be wrong.” She opened her mouth to protest, but he held up a hand. “Hear me out. The thing is, I’ve known Raoul for a long time. Longer than you, actually, and when he falls in love, he goes all in. Then he lost her in the blink of an eye. No chance to say goodbye, no nothing. Just a phone call saying his world had collapsed. Tell me, how eager would you be to love like that again, knowing how it feels to lose that one person who was everything?”

She sat silently, unsure of what to say.

“Stephani, I watched the two of you in France. What you have is real, but he’s scared to let himself care too much. It’s not that he can’t. Or that he doesn’t. It’s that he won’t let himself. I’m not saying you should marry him for the baby. But I guess I’m saying, don’t give up.”

“I can’t hold on to an impossible dream forever, Marco.”

“Then maybe just take a breath and let things unfold over the next few weeks or months. He’ll figure it out.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

He smiled. “My eldest sister runs a design business right here in Marazur. She’s stubborn and also brilliant. Having a partner to run the administration would be perfect, and I have leverage.”

She laughed then. This really was home, both the Navarro family and the people who worked here. “Thank you, Marco. I needed the chat to get out of my own head a bit.”

He stood up and held out his hand, helping her rise. “You’re welcome. I care about both of you, you know. I think you would make him very happy, and you’d make a wonderful queen, too.”

He walked her to her car and she made the drive home in the dark, thinking about what Marco had said. Maybe Raoul really did love her. Maybe it wasn’t that he wasn’t ready, but that he was afraid to lose again.

But until he could admit it, she was no further ahead than before.