The Prince's Scandalous Baby Read Online Free PDF

saw bedrooms and yet more lounges. They saw guest quarters, and attached secondary kitchens and living rooms. They saw a few of what Juliette was pretty sure were libraries. And, with every floor, the view just got better and better.
     
    Finally, they were up at the top of the house. Here, there was only one bedroom tucked beneath the rafters, looking out onto the sea and the sky with more of the beautiful antique windows that Juliette had so admired down on the first level.
     
    And there was something decidedly different about this room. Juliette’s tired brain had to stare at everything for a moment before she could put her finger on what exactly it was.
     
    Then she realized. There was no construction going on here. There was no sense whatsoever that there was any disruption to daily life at all. Whoever had lived here had left all their things where they were while the renovations took place, including a huge, extravagant antique bed.
     
    She wandered over to the bed. It was covered by a silk canopy that moved in the breeze that was let in by a small open window. She could feel the same breeze lifting wisps of hair from her face.
     
    Then her attention was drawn to the walls. They were different from the walls she’d seen downstairs. At first she thought there might be more frescoes, but a closer look told her that wasn’t the case. She was trying to make out what it was, exactly, when the lights came on. It wasn’t too bright, but the change still drew her attention to Nico. He was grinning like a little boy with his hand on the switch.
     
    “What have you found there?” he asked her.
     
    She directed her gaze back to what was hanging on the walls. “It’s a map,” she said. “And an old one by the looks of it. They hadn’t quite figured out America existed yet…”
     
    Nico wandered over, investigating for himself. “To be fair,” he said, “There are a lot of people here who still haven’t quite figured out America exists yet…”
     
    Juliette laughed, and heard the sound of it bounce off of the attic walls. It wasn’t a giggle anymore—she’d long felt her head clear of alcohol and fill with Nico.
     
    She scanned the room, and saw that they were everywhere: map after map after map. She looked for the telltale signs of reprinting, but couldn’t see any.
     
    “They’re originals,” she said, under her breath. She didn’t mean for Nico to hear her, but he did.
     
    “If they can afford to live in this house, I imagine they can afford to buy a bunch of old maps.”
     
    Juliette laughed again, this time half in shock, until she looked at him and saw that he was clearly joking. “You don’t like them?” she asked, one eyebrow raised.
     
    He shook his head. “No,” he said, “that’s not what I meant. I love them, actually. They remind me that there’s a whole world out there.”
     
    He paused and looked at one map that was close to the bed. It looked to be a little more modern than the others. At least, it featured all of the continents, even if some of them weren’t really accurate.
     
    “Do you find you need much reminding?”
     
    She said it playfully, but he didn’t seem to take it that way. He looked sad, almost. Sad enough to pull Juliette to his side, where she found herself putting her arm around him.
     
    “You know,” he said, “I admire you. You drop everything and head to Italy at no notice, just because your boss says he wants you to. That’s a brave thing.”
     
    Juliette’s brows furrowed. “Not really. What is there to be afraid of?”
     
    He shot a playful glance at her. “Well, I’ve heard Italian men can be something you have to watch out for…”
     
    Again, Juliette’s laugh bounced off of the ceiling.
     
    “But really,” Nico continued. “You think it’s nothing, because it’s nothing to you. But for someone who’s never been outside of his own country, it not nothing.”
     
    Juliette didn’t know how to respond to that. It made