Pregnant with a Royal Baby!(11)

He said, "Right." Then nodded at Marco. "Open her water."

The solicitous shop owner did as he was told. He handed the opened  bottle to Dominic, who held it out to her. She took a few sips.

Dominic sighed, grateful she was coming back but so scared internally  that he shook from it. His heart had about leaped out of his chest when  he saw her falling. "You should probably have a bite or two of the  cookie. I told you to eat lunch."

She smiled. "Wasn't hungry."

Antonella brought over the cookie. "You eat."

Ginny sat up a bit and took the cookie from Antonella's hands.

"Maybe we should get you to a chair?"

She laughed. "I feel safer down here. No cameras. No one can see me through the windows."

He felt it, too. Behind the tables and chairs between them and the doorway, he felt totally protected from the press.                       
       
           



       

She ate a few bites of her cookie, drank the entire bottle of water and held out her hand to him. "We can stand now."

"We're going to have to go back to the car though a crowd of reporters  and photographers who just saw you faint. If you thought their questions  were bad before this-" he caught her gaze "-now they are going to be  horrific. A tidal wave of jumbled words and noisy cameras. Are you up  for this?"

"I'm fine."

"Right. As soon as we get home, I'm having you checked out by the doctor."

"I would expect nothing less from a man accustomed to bossing people around."

His fear for her wouldn't recede and she didn't seem to be taking any of this seriously. "Stop joking. You fainted."

"On a hot day, after not eating." She smiled suddenly, pushed herself to her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. "I'm fine."

The unexpected kiss went through him like a warm spring breeze. He told  himself not to make too much of it, but how could he not when color was  returning to her cheeks and she was smiling, really smiling, for the  first time since their argument that morning.

Wanting to get her home, Dominic said, "Let's go."

But before they could walk to the door, Marco hugged her and then  Antonella hugged her. Dominic finally noticed the few stragglers sitting  at the café tables, necks craned to see what was going on. One or two  whispered, but in general, they'd given them privacy.

Leading her to the door, he addressed them, "Thank you all for your consideration."

People nodded and smiled and a few said, "You're welcome." Then they reached the door. The lock clicked as Antonella sprang it.

He said, "Ready?"

Ginny nodded.

He opened the door to the whir of cameras and shouts of questions. "How are you?"

"Why did you faint?"

"What's your last name?"

"Are you pregnant?"

Dominic's steps faltered.

But Ginny slid her sunglasses on her face and smiled at them. "I didn't  eat lunch." She turned to Dominic and entwined her arm with his. "Dom  told me to eat lunch but-" She held out a leg. "Look at these jeans.  They are to die for and I wanted them to fit." She smiled again.  "American girls, right? We love our jeans and we want them to look  perfect."

Then she turned them in the direction of his Mercedes. His bodyguards created a path for them to walk.

He opened the door for her.

She slid inside. Before Dom could close the door, she gave a final wave  to the press. "I'm fine," she called out to them. "And, I swear, I will  eat before we come out again."

Walking around the hood of his car, he heard the rumble of laughter. He  peeked up to see the smiles of approval on the faces of those in the  crowd. And why not? She was beautiful, approachable, likable.

But he also saw a few reporters frowning in his direction. He saw the ones on their cell phones talking feverishly.

He slid into the car. "You know your pregnancy's out now, right?"

"Yup." She caught his gaze. "Looks like we won't need a second date."

"You're saying yes?"

She nodded.

He took her hand and lifted it to his lips. "Thank you."

"Oh, don't thank me. I have a feeling we're in for one hell of a ride."





CHAPTER FOUR

THEY SCHEDULED A press conference for nine o'clock the next morning in  the press room of the palace. The king announced his son's marriage to  Virginia Jones of Texas in the United States, a former guidance  counselor. Then he gave the podium to Dominic.

As Ginny expected, the resounding cry that rose from 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."