Royal Holiday Baby Read Online Free PDF

looked away. “I didn’t think I would ever see you again,” she said. “How did you find me?”
    â€œA combination of Keely and a private investigator. I’ve had a guy watching your sister’s house for every person who came and went. I tried calling your assistant, but she blew me off.”
    She looked up at him in alarm. “Did you tell her you and I had—”
    â€œNo, but I was tempted,” he said, reining in his frustration from the last several days. “When were you going to tell me about the baby?”
    Tina blinked. “I—I wasn’t,” she said with a shrug.
    Shock rushed through him. “You what?” he nearly shouted.
    Tina glanced around in alarm. “Please keep your voice down. I don’t want to draw attention. I came here to think.”
    Zach’s stomach turned. “Are you saying you’re not keeping the baby?”
    She looked at him in confusion. “What do you mean? Give the baby up for adoption—”
    â€œNo, I meant,” he said and stopped, his throat closing over his words. “I meant end the pregnancy.”
    Shock widened her eyes. “Absolutely not.”
    Some small something inside him eased and he took a quick breath. “That still doesn’t explain why you weren’t going to tell me.”
    She gave a sigh of frustration. “It was a one-night stand. It didn’t seem fair to drag you into it.”
    â€œIt’s my child too,” he said in a deadly firm voice.
    â€œYes, but it’s not just about the baby,” she said and lifted her hands. “Dealing with who I am, who my family is, what’s expected of me and my family. Not many men can handle that. You don’t really even know me. It’s not as if we’re in love. Being involved with the baby and me would turn your life upside down.”
    â€œYou don’t think it already has?”
    Her lips parted in surprise, as if she had truly believed he wouldn’t be interested in his own child. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I shouldn’t have rushed to the assumption that you would only view this as a burden.”
    â€œThere’s a difference between burden and responsibility,” he said.
    She nodded. “That’s very true. I’m just not accustomed to dealing with men who know how to distinguish the two.”
    â€œMaybe you’ve been hanging around the wrong men,” he said.
    Her lips lifted in amusement. “Maybe so.”
    â€œDo you know what your plans are?” he asked. “Are you going to live in your country?”
    Tina looked down at her hands folded in her lap and shook her head. “My brother is going to freak out. He might have expected something like this from my younger sister, but never me. I know he’s in a difficult situation, but I just wish I could go away for a while. I need to get my head on straight about all this and doing that in Chantaine is going to be very, very difficult, if not impossible.”
    â€œI have the perfect place if you need to think. My ranch,” he said.
    She blinked at the recommendation. “Your ranch?” she echoed as if that possibility was last on her list.
    â€œSure,” he said with a shrug. “It’s no palace, but most people who visit like it. It’s quiet. You would be able to think. Plus,” he said, “it would give you an opportunity to get to know the father of your child better.”
    She met his gaze and a glimmer of the night they’d shared seemed to pass through her eyes. Licking her lips, she glanced away. Zach felt a surprising bolt of sexual awareness stab at him. Where the hell had that come from?
    â€œWhat do you say?” he asked.
    â€œI don’t know,” she said. “I hadn’t even considered this until this moment. I can’t make an instant decision.”
    â€œWhy not?” he asked. “You have a passport.