Why the hell did I agree to dance with him?

He pulls me into his arms, and I swear I’m going to melt. He lifts my hand into his and begins to lead me around the dance floor.

I start to count, trying to pay attention to my feet and what I’m supposed to be doing with them, but after the second time I step on his foot, I close my eyes.

His arm wraps a little more tightly around me, his body pressed tightly to mine—so close to me now that I can smell him. And I think I might die. Whatever is going on with my hormones right now is making my sense of smell so heightened I can almost taste him.

If we weren’t in a crowded room full of people, I’d probably have my dress hiked around my waist and his pants around his ankles already. I’ve read about how pregnancy hormones can make a woman horny as fuck, but I had no idea what that meant until right this second.

“You’re stunning.” He whispers into my ear, sending a shiver across my skin.

I don’t say anything—I just keep my eyes closed and try to remember not to think too much. I’m sure I look like an ass—between being barely more than a terrible dancer and the goddamned throbbing I’m feeling between my legs, it’s all I can do to not run out of here screaming. But I don’t want this moment to end—and I know it’s going to be over all too quickly. And considering Leo is, you know, Prince Leopold, I’m sure there are at least a hundred women here tonight who want to dance with him. It’ll look a little too obvious if I’m the one hogging his attention.

If I’m going to do this, it’s going to have to be now. I know he says we can slip away, but I have a feeling that’s easier said than done. And he’ll have Karina to go back to—judging by what I’ve seen of her demeanor, it wouldn’t surprise me if she’s already in early labor.

“You didn’t call.” He whispers into my ear again.

The electrical wave that flows through me makes my eyes fly open. I tilt my head so that he can hear me. “You didn’t call me, either.”

“I thought…” He lets out a short breath that makes the hairs on my skin stand on end. “I thought I should allow you to be the one to initiate contact. I’ve already hurt you too much.”

The pang in my chest at his words makes my eyes close again for a moment. My voice is hoarse, almost a whisper. “Do you love her?”

The sound that comes from his throat is something between a laugh and a choked sob. “I have loved one woman in my life, Eleanor Parker. I can’t imagine I’ll ever love anyone that way again.”

Tears flood my eyes at his words, but I blink them back. I want to pull him to me—kiss him, hold him. Tell him I never stopped loving him and I never will. But I don’t—I can’t. Not with all these people around. Not with her here—even if the child she’s carrying isn’t his, he’s clearly taken responsibility for both of them. He made the choice to do that—the choice I wanted him to make.

And I remember now that that’s why I came here tonight. Not to dance with him—not to hear him tell me he loves me. Just to ask him the question.

I gulp down the emotions that are a little too close to the surface and I tip my head up to his again so that he can hear me. “Did you do the right thing, Leo?”

He drops his hand slightly and presses it to the small of my back as he dips his head to speak into my ear again. “It’s too complicated to explain right now.”

“That’s not an answer, Leo.”

“It’s the only one I can give.”

“If it had been me—?”

He dips his head and his lips brush across my neck for a moment. He spins us around in an obvious attempt to cover up what he’s just done. He inhales deeply, almost breathing me in. “If it had been you, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” He pauses for a moment. “We also would not be dancing right now, as you would have been my date tonight. So perhaps we should be thankful for that much.”

I close my eyes for a moment. “Leo, I have to tell you something.”

“And you shall.” He pauses for a long moment. “You’ve met someone.”

“I…what?”

“That’s what you need to tell me. And I don’t blame you, Elle. How could I? I’m sure what you’ve seen in the news has been like rubbing salt into your wounds.” He tips his head down, almost whispering. “I give you my blessing.”

“You…what?” My breaths quicken and I pull away from him slightly to look into his eyes. “Leo—”

He interrupts with a shake of his head, pulling me back into a close embrace. “I don’t need to hear it, Elle. As much as I hate to say it aloud, I know I can’t have you. I’ve made my choice and I’ll live with it. And I can hardly deny you happiness. I wouldn’t want to. You’re more deserving of happiness than anyone I’ve ever known.”

I pull back again to make eye contact. “Leo, you have this all wrong. I only came here tonight to…” To what? To find out if he’s the man I hope he is—so that I can break my own heart? So that I can see he’s happy with the woman he chose over me? To know that if things had happened even slightly differently, I would have been the one he had chosen?

The realization of how stupid this is—how dumb I’m behaving by being here at all—washes over me in a wave. I’d love to blame this on my pregnancy, but I know this is just me. I haven’t changed at all—I’m still punishing myself for my mistakes. I had wanted to believe I was somehow doing this tonight to be able to tell my child that his or her father is a good man, but I realize now that my actions have nothing at all do with my child’s future. It has everything to do with me wanting to torture myself.

I try to pull out of his arms as the music ends. I only catch a glimpse of the pain in his eyes—it’s probably a mirror of my own.

I can barely hold back my tears and my voice is choked with whatever it is I’m feeling—sadness that we’re really over. Anger that I did this to myself. Agony that my child is never going to know this man. “I shouldn’t have come here, Leo.” My voice falls to a whisper. “I’m sorry.”

He shakes his head. “Elle…”

I finally pull away from him. I spot the doors on the other side of the room and I know I need to get out of here—I have to hold myself together until I can get to the other side of those huge double doors. I can cry all the way home—hell, I can cry for the rest of my life. I just can’t put him through this. He obviously has more than enough to deal with right now without having me burden him with even more.

I’m not halfway across the room, though, before I notice the murmurs rippling through the crowd. I stop, looking around—I’m halfway sure that people noticed me and Leo dancing and that’s what everyone is talking about. But no one is looking at me—everyone’s attention is focused on a different corner of the room.

I stop and turn to try to see what everyone is looking at. I feel a hand on my elbow a few moments later.

“Come with me.” Leo’s mother pulls at my arm and guides me through the room. She tilts her head toward me, her voice low. “I’m sorry to have to ask you to do this, but under the circumstances, I have no choice.”

My brow furrows with confusion, but I follow her lead and walk with her across the huge room, weaving in and out of the dancing couples and through the many tables still crowded with people.

We walk through a door on the other side of the ballroom and I can see we’re in some sort of storage closet. We walk around a shelving unit into the back of the room and I see Karina sitting on the floor. Sweat covers her brow and her face is pinched up for a moment.

My mouth opens. “You’re in labor…” Duh, Elle.

“I apologize for interrupting your evening, Elle. This is why I had Lady Karina seated at my table—I could see that something has not been right with her since yesterday.” She lets out a sigh. “Under the circumstances, we have little choice here. Would you be willing to…check her? See if there’s some way we might move her to a less conspicuous location?”

“I…I only did the one rotation through obstetrics in medical school. I’m hardly qualified—”

The queen interrupts. “You are a physician. You’re more qualified than anyone else in this room, Elle.”

I nod and walk over to the woman, kneeling beside her. I try to ignore the fear I can feel twisting in my gut, thinking about how this baby has to be at least a few months premature—there’s no way she can have it here safely. “When did your contractions start?”

But it’s too late for her to answer. Her teeth are gritted and she lets out a long moan. I pull her hand into mine to wait through the contraction before I ask her again. She squeezes my hand so hard I’m pretty sure she might have broken a few bones.

I look up at Penelope. “This baby is coming now. You should get Leo.”

She nods and walks out of the room.

I turn back to Karina, waiting for her contraction to end. They’re long—too long. And considering she was having one when I first walked in, they’re pretty close together, too.

“How long, Karina?” I ask as soon as her contraction ends.

She shakes her head—her eyes are wild. “Yesterday?”

Fuck.

I nod and give her hand a gentle squeeze. “Has your water broken?” As long as that’s still okay, I think I should be able to get her out of here. It would be the safest thing for her and her baby to get her to the hospital, especially if this kid is coming as early as it seems to be.

She nods. “Right before I left my room. I thought… I thought I still had a long way to go. First babies are supposed to take a long time.” Her face screws up in pain again and her hand clenches mine.

My mind is racing. Her contractions aren’t even a minute apart. I’m almost afraid to have her lift her dress to check, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a head down there.

I look around me—there isn’t much here, but I see some tablecloths and napkins folded up on the shelf near me. I pull several of each down with my free hand and set them next to her. It’s just going to have to do, at least until help can arrive.

I wait until her contraction ends and I lower my head so that I’m looking directly into her eyes. I do remember that you have to be direct with a laboring woman—tell her exactly what you want her to do and that whatever you say to her can’t be during a contraction. Considering how close together hers are, I know I don’t have much time. “Karina, I need you to lift your dress. I need to see how close the baby is—to see if we can get you somewhere else before this baby is born. Okay?”

She nods and I help her hike her dress up.

I pull off her underwear—I see she’s shoved a towel inside of them to catch the leaking amniotic fluid. What the fuck was she thinking? That she could make it through this stupid dinner?

She pulls my hand into hers again and squeezes it hard as another contraction overtakes her. We wait through it and when it’s done, I spread out one of the tablecloths, helping her lift her legs so I can get it underneath her.

I barely have to glance down there—and when I do I know there’s no way we’re going anywhere. There’s definitely a head between her legs—and it’s not just the top of it I can see—the entire head has already come out, covered with dark hair. And from what I can tell, the baby is full-size.

At least there’s no reason to panic about a premature birth. And I’m not going to let myself think about what a full-term baby means. Not yet.

“Okay, Karina, this baby is coming right now. We’re not going to be able to move. The next time you feel a contraction, I need you to push—as hard as you can, okay? We can’t mess around with this—your baby needs to come out now.”

I’m also trying not to think about all the things that can go wrong. I don’t even want to think about what’s going to happen if this kid’s shoulders get stuck or something, especially with how large it seems to be.

I pull my hand away from hers and within a few seconds, she’s in the middle of another contraction and I’m trying to guide her baby the rest of the way out.

Between her pushing and me guiding his shoulders, the baby slides out a moment later and begins howling immediately.

I wipe off his face with one of the napkins and wrap him up in the other tablecloth, handing him to his mother without really looking at him at all. I rip one of the other napkins into strips and tie two of them tightly around the umbilical cord before I scrub my hands with the remaining napkin.

“That was…amazing.”

I hadn’t noticed that Leo and his mother were standing behind me—and I have no idea how much of the birth they’ve seen.

Karina is sobbing, looking down at her son.

I clean up what I can and finally sit down next to her. I let out a long breath—I’m pretty sure I was holding it for the entire birth—and turn to Karina to check on the baby. I fold back the cloth away from the baby’s face to check his breathing.

My mouth falls open for a moment, but I snap it closed before I look up at Leo.

Leo’s gaze is darting between me and Karina—I don’t think he’s seen the baby she’s been claiming is his son yet. But it’s pretty clear that what Penelope was trying to tell me earlier tonight is true.

This baby is huge—definitely not premature. And I know there’s no way this child can be Leo’s.