He turned and walked out of the apartment, on his way to his office, but Molly stopped him. "Aren't you going to kiss your bride goodbye?"
Dom slid a questioning glance to Ginny. Her eyebrows raised and her mouth formed the cute little wince she always gave when she had no defense. Obviously, she hadn't told her friends their marriage would be a fake. That was good news and bad news. The good news was if her friends believed this marriage would be real, there was no chance either of them would slip up and say the wrong thing. Unfortunately, that meant there was no rest from the charade for him and Ginny.
He walked over and put his hands on her shoulders. For two seconds, he debated kissing her cheek, but knew that would never work. So he pressed his lips to hers lightly and pulled back quickly, then he turned and walked out to the door.
"I'll be busy all day. You ladies enjoy yourselves."
Then he left. But the look on Ginny's face when he'd pulled away from their kiss followed him out the door. She hadn't minded the quick kiss. She was back to being on board with the charade. Back to fake kisses and no intimate conversations. They'd barely seen each other in two weeks. His doing. And she wasn't pouting. She didn't throw hissy fits the way he distantly remembered his mom doing to manipulate his dad.
He shook his head, wondering where that memory had come from. His mom hadn't been a manipulator. His dad had been brutally in love with her. So in love that the king had been putty in her hands. And so in love that when she got sick and died, the king's world had come to a crashing halt.
Not that he had to worry about that with Ginny. He was much stronger than his dad had been. He could always do what needed to be done. Always resist when he needed to.
With her guests in the palace and a charade to perpetuate, he phoned the kitchen staff and made arrangements for a formal dinner in their apartment, then had his assistant phone Ginny and tell her he was honoring her and her guests that evening with a formal dinner.
* * *
Hanging up the phone, Ginny pressed her hand to her stomach. After two weeks of him virtually ignoring her-except when they were in public-he was back to being nice again. She would have breathed a sigh of relief but Molly was two feet away and Jessica wasn't that much farther, standing with the fiftysomething female dressmaker who was measuring her for her bridesmaid's gown.
"So you chose a dress without even consulting us?" Molly groused good-naturedly.
"Yes." Ginny winced. "Sorry, but fabric had to be ordered."
Jessica said, "Oh! Special fabric!"
"It's just a nice silk."
"Listen to her," Molly teased, nudging her shoulder. "A week away from the wedding and she's already acting like a princess."
"I am not!"
Jessica stepped away from the woman who had measured her for her dress. "It's not a bad thing. I imagine that adjusting to being the most important woman in a country isn't easy."
"The most important woman in a country? Not hardly."
Molly fell to a club chair. "Well, Dom's mother is dead and he has no sisters. His dad doesn't date and his brother is some kind of jet-setter. You are the only girl permanently in the mix."
She hadn't thought of that, but when she did, her stomach fluttered oddly. It meant something that they'd brought her into the family. True, she was pregnant with the heir to the throne, but there were so many ways they could have handled this other than marriage. On some level, she'd passed enough tests that they'd brought her in.
"If that makes you queasy," Jessica said, "then you'd better toughen up."
"I'm not queasy."
Molly said, "Well, something's up. You let Dom believe we don't know about your situation. Almost as if you don't trust what he'd say if he knew you'd confided in your friends."
"That's true, Gin," Jessica agreed, slipping on her blue jeans and pretty peach T-shirt that showed off her Texas-girl tan. "If you don't grow a pair with this guy pretty soon, he's going to walk all over you."
"What if I think I have a better way to handle the next two years?"
Jessica cautiously said, "Better?"
"Yeah." She turned away, puttering around with picking up pins and tape measures, and putting them in the dressmaker's tote.
Taking the cue that Ginny wanted her to leave, the dressmaker grabbed her tote and said, "Thanks. I'll have dresses for you to try on tomorrow."
When she closed the suite door behind her, Molly gasped. "Tomorrow?"
She shrugged. "That's how it goes here in the palace." She walked to the table by the window and busied herself with straightening stationery and pens. "I say I want something, somebody comes up and measures, and the next day it's at my door."
Shrewd, Jessica narrowed her eyes. "You never told us your better plan for how to handle your situation."
Ginny looked up into the faces of her two trusted friends and decided it wasn't out of line to want a second opinion. "Okay. Here's the deal. You know how my dad sort of ruined my ability to trust?"
Molly nodded. Jessica crossed her arms on her chest.
"Well, I've been thinking that if Dom and I hadn't accidentally gotten pregnant, I probably never would have trusted anyone enough to have had a child."
Jessica said, "True. So I hope you're not about to tell us you want to make your marriage real with Prince Gorgeous. The very fact that you can't trust makes that just plain stupid."
"Not really. Because I don't want a permanent husband. But I do want this marriage."
Molly tilted her head. "What does that mean?"
"Well, we're stuck together for at least two years and he is gorgeous. Not only would I like the whole mother experience with my baby's father, but I just don't see why we can't sleep together and maybe be a real husband and wife for a while."
"How about because that's not what he wants."
"I'll still divorce him two years after the baby's born and gone through the initiation ceremony. That's the deal. But it's the very fact that I know we're getting divorced that makes me comfortable enough to, you know-"
"Want to have sex?"
"It's more than that. When he's comfortable with me, we have fun. I think we could make very good parents. I think being a husband and wife for real for two years could pave the way for us to have a good relationship after we're divorced and I think all that is nothing but good for our child."
Molly mulled that over and suddenly said, "Actually, that makes sense."
Jessica turned on her. "How can you say that? She's going to get hurt."
Molly shrugged. "Or not. The situation is weird, Jessica. And not everybody's lucky enough to attract men like mosquitoes."
Jessica nodded at Ginny. "She could if she wanted to."
"That's the point. She doesn't want to. But she's going to marry this guy and have his baby. Why shouldn't she have two years of being a real princess before she has to let it all go?"
"That's like saying you should eat a whole cake before you start a diet."
Ginny laughed. "You mean, you don't?"
Jessica groaned.
"Look, I am never, ever, ever going to be married. The mistrust my dad instilled in me will never go away. But I am getting married. To Dominic. For a bit over two years. Not forever. So it'll be like playing house."
Jessica sighed. "Playing house?"
"Yes. Just another facet of the charade. Because I know it's fake, I'm not going to get hurt. But I also want to experience something I never would have if we hadn't gotten pregnant and decided to marry for the baby."
"I hope you know what you're doing."
Ginny sucked in a breath. "I think I do, but even if I don't, it's only two years. Once it's over, it's over. I will have no choice but to go back to normal. Especially with a baby to raise with him." Satisfied with her conclusion, she changed the subject. "Did you bring something to wear tonight, or do I need to call the clothier?"
"Clothier?"
"He's this guy, Joshua, who if you need something you call him, and he'll call a store or designer and have it in the room within hours."
Molly gaped at her. "So you can get us gowns for tonight?"
"If you need them. It's all about not embarrassing Dominic in front of his father."
Jessica shook her head. "I think you're enjoying this too much."
"Actually, this is the part I don't enjoy. The part I won't miss at all. There are lots of things about being a princess like the press and having a father-in-law who can have you deported that make this life hard. Not something I'd want to do forever."