Pregnant with a Royal Baby!(31)

The anger in Dom's blood went from blue to white hot. "You made decisions."

"You were at war. And duty comes before family."                       
       
           



       

Dominic bounced from his chair and punched his father in the mouth so hard the king flew into the wall behind him.

Fifty military men and ten bodyguards drew their weapons.

His dad burst out laughing. He waved his hands at the military and bodyguards. "Stand down."

But nobody dropped his weapon.

Not giving a damn about the sixty-plus guns trained on him Domini roared, "You think this is funny!"

"No. I think it's about time."

He grabbed his father's collar and yanked him off the floor.

"Dominic, you're the one who's always said duty comes before family."

"So you kept my baby from me!"

"I was showing you that what you were doing with your life was wrong.  What you thought you wanted didn't work." He calmly held Dom's gaze even  as Dom tightened his hold on his collar. "I'd tried hundreds of things  over the years to get you to see that you couldn't live the life you had  all planned out. I thought Ginny would break you. When she couldn't and  the sheikh took our port and then Ginny went into labor, I saw a golden  opportunity."

Dominic cursed and squeezed his eyes shut.

"I loved my wife, your mother. And I was neglectful of my duties but I  never dropped them the way you were so sure I had. All those months, we  were in private negotiations, trying to avoid a confrontation with the  pirates, trying to keep from going to war. Because of your mother's  death, they did get a few extra weeks. But in the end, I didn't attack  until I knew it was the right thing to do. Loving somebody didn't make  me weak. Your mother's love made me strong. And you're a fool if you  think you can do this alone."

"So you took my baby from me, made Ginny go through labor and childbirth alone."

"For years I'd been talking to you and for years you've ignored me,  treating me like somebody who only deserved respect because I had a  title. I had to do something drastic or know you would ruin your life."

He released his dad as if he were poison he didn't want to touch.

"Maybe the lesson I learned, Father-Your Majesty-is that I no longer want to be connected to you."

His dad very calmly said, "Go after, Ginny. Bring the baby home."

"And then what? Let you torture him the way you tortured me and Alex?"

"When you see the lesson in this, you're going to apologize. Not just for hitting me but for not trusting me."

Dom sincerely doubted it.





CHAPTER FOURTEEN

GINNY'S CONDO HAD long ago been sold. And because her mom had decided to  move to Xaviera for the two years Ginny would live there, her mom's  house had also been sold. But the new owners hadn't taken possession  yet, so that was the sanctuary Ginny targeted. Unfortunately, when her  bodyguard unlocked the front door, they found two women and a man,  packing her living room lamps.

"Excuse me, this house has sold."

Ginny patted her baby's back. "I know. It was my mom's. It doesn't close for a few weeks. Until then I can use it."

"Your mom hired us to sell the furniture."

"Well, I'm sure by next week I'll have my own house and you can do that. Until then, the house is mine."

The tall woman looked ready to argue, but when she looked at Ginny with her twelve bodyguards and very tiny baby, she sighed.

"Fine." Disgruntled, the two women and one angry man headed for the back door, clipboards in hand.

Ginny turned to Artemus, the leader of her detail. "I don't even know if there's food in the house."

"I have credit cards. I'm authorized to get you anything you want."

"Really? I ran away with the next heir to the throne and they're feeding me?"

"Yes, ma'am."

She glanced around at the small house that wouldn't sleep herself and  twelve bodyguards. Plus, she didn't have a crib. And she was beginning  to feel bad about taking the baby from Xaviera before Dom even saw him.

Worse, she missed Dom.

She wondered if her rash decision hadn't been caused by postpartum  depression, but reminded herself that her husband hadn't wanted to see  his child. He'd never loved her, didn't want to. And he planned on  bringing their child up to be just like him. She couldn't let that  happen.

Still, that didn't mean this was going to be easy.

"This is a mess."

Artemus agreed. "Yes, ma'am."

Just as her mother said, she hadn't really thought this through. But she  had to forget about everything except setting up a household. She'd  worry about Dom, what she would say to him, how she'd keep her baby safe  from his ridiculous rule, when she had the house set up with beds and  food.                       
       
           



       

"I guess I should feed the baby and get on the phone to find a crib."

Artemus nodded. "And I'll send two guys out for groceries."

She took the baby into her mother's small bedroom, breast-fed him and  then made a bed for him out of a drawer from her mother's dresser. With  the baby secure, she went online and ordered a crib to be express  delivered the next day, along with linens, baby clothes, diapers and  some sweatpants and T-shirts for herself. Then she started exploring the  real estate sites, looking for a house. The baby woke up twice and she  fed him once, changed him the other time. Artemus came in and offered  her food, but she refused it. She couldn't eat until she got at least  something in her life settled.

* * *

Dom showered on his father's private jet. Taking the plane had been  another way he'd vented his anger, but though he was bone tired he  couldn't sleep in the luxurious bed.

Even after a few hours for his dad's duplicity to sink in, Dom still  wanted to punch him. He couldn't believe his father had treated Ginny so  cruelly, but unexpectedly realized he'd been treating Ginny cruelly all  along.

And what would he have done while she was in labor? Coached her? Helped  her? Or held himself back because he didn't want to give her false hope?  He'd have ruined that moment for Ginny every bit as much as his father  had ruined it. Maybe more because she'd see him there, but feel the  distance between them, the tangible reminder that he didn't want her in  his life.

Which was a lie.

He did want her in his life. The feeling of fury that thundered through  him when he realized what his father had done hadn't just shocked him.  It had been so pure, so total that Dominic hadn't had a chance to  mitigate it. In that moment of blazing-hot anger that resulted from  white-hot pain, he knew what it was like to miss out on something so  important he couldn't even describe it.

His father was right. Dom never would have felt this if his dad hadn't  orchestrated it. He'd have covered, hidden, pretended, postured-whatever  it took to fool himself into believing he was fine.

But faced with the raw truth of having those moments snatched away from him-he felt it all. The pain. The loss.

And he knew that pain, that loss, that horrible empty feeling truly was the result of the life he'd built.

He also knew that if he wanted Ginny back, all he had to say was that  his bastard father had kept him from seeing the baby's birth, from being  with her, and he'd be free in her eyes. She loved him. She'd believe  him. She'd take him back with open arms.

He fell to the corner of the big, big bed in the outrageous jet that he could use because he would someday be a king.

The only problem was his dad was right. Even if he'd known his baby was  being born, he wouldn't have rushed to Ginny's side. He might have seen  the final few minutes of the baby's birth. But even then he would have  raced back to the war room.

But what his father had done hadn't just opened his eyes. It had changed  him. And he didn't want Ginny to take him back on something that wasn't  quite a lie, but was a way to get out of being honest.

He had to be honest with her. He wouldn't even hint that she should come  home-that he intended to love her-if he didn't know for sure he  wouldn't hurt her again.

And that he couldn't promise.

* * *

After hours of combing through real estate sites, Ginny heard Artemus  enter her room again. Staring at the computer screen, she said, "How big  of a house should I get? I mean, should there be rooms for all of you  or does the crown pay for separate quarters for you?"

"We pay for separate quarters."

Hearing Dom's voice, she spun around on her seat. His chin and cheeks  bore dark shadows, evidence that he hadn't shaved in days. His eyes  looked pale and hollow from lack of sleep-even though he'd just had a  ten-hour flight, which was perfect for catching up on sleep. But the  killer was that he wore jeans and a T-shirt.

The desire to tease him almost outweighed the desire to jump into his  arms and weep. Except this was the man who didn't love her. Who hadn't  thought enough of her to come out of a bunker when apparently he could  have. Who hadn't been with her for the birth of their child.