to see him again. She could never risk him discovering her true identity. It was far better that he
believed he’d had a one-night stand with a lowly domestic assistant called Rina—and for her to
forget she had ever met him.
CHAPTER FIVE
IN THEdays following the royal ball Kitty did her best to banish Nikos from her mind—but
failed hopelessly. Every time she closed her eyes she saw his face, and at night she dreamed she
was in his arms, their bodies intimately entwined.
Sexual frustration was a new and unwelcome experience, but soon another reason kept her
awake until the early hours. Her period was late— and she had always been as regular as
clockwork. As the days passed with no sign that would put her mind at rest she acknowledged
that it was no good trying to ignore her fears. But buying a pregnancy-test kit was no simple task
for a member of the ruling family of Aristo. She was one of the lesser-known royals, but she
couldn’t just waltz into a chemist and brazenly buy a kit.
Eventually she drove into the centre of Ellos, Aristo’s thriving capital city, and, hiding behind
large sunglasses and an oversized sunhat, bought a kit from a busy outlet before swiftly leaving
the shop, terrified that someone had recognised her. The test result was horribly predictable, and
at the same time utterly shocking, and two weeks after the royal ball she stood in her bathroom
and stared numbly at the blue line that had appeared on the pregnancy kit, wondering if the
churning sensation in her stomach was caused by fear, or whether it was the first physical
indication that she was expecting Nikos’s baby. How could it be possible? she thought
despairingly. Nikos had used protection. She felt as though she were caught in a nightmare from
which there was no escape, and she wanted to bury her head under the duvet and wait for
morning to come. But this wasn’t a bad dream, this was real, and she had to face the fact that she
was an unmarried, pregnant princess.
She was still in a state of shocked disbelief when Sebastian found her in the library later that
morning. ‘Ah, there you are, Kitty.’ He stared at her closely. ‘Are you okay? You’ve been#p#分页标题#e#
looking pale for the past few days and Mama is concerned about you.’
‘I’m fine,’ Kitty said quickly. She swung away from Sebastian’s sharp glance but not before
he’d glimpsed the sheen of tears in her eyes.
‘Hey, Kitty-Kat, what’s the matter?’
‘Nothing.’ Her brother’s gentle concern and his use of her childhood nickname tore at Kitty’s
frayed emotions, and she dropped her head in her hands, great sobs racking her as the dam
holding back her fears burst.
‘ Kitty! What the hell is it?’ Sebastian’s voice was harsh with anxiety as he walked round the desk and put his arm around her shoulders. ‘Come on, you can tell me. Whatever it is it can’t be that
bad,’ he coaxed softly. ‘And you know I’ll always help you.’
Sebastian had always been her protector, but even he couldn’t sort out this problem. There was
no way of lessening the impact of her announcement so she said starkly, ‘I’m pregnant.’
For a few seconds the silent library seemed to echo with Sebastian’s shock before he exploded
into speech. ‘ What? What do you mean?’ he demanded, staring at her as if she had suddenly
grown another head. ‘I don’t understand.’
For some reason his stunned incomprehension caused the truth to finally sink into Kitty’s brain
and she took a deep, shuddering breath. ‘It’s quite simple. I’m going to have a baby.’
Once again Sebastian was rendered speechless, but finally he straightened up, his jaw rigid as he
asked with deadly softness, ‘Whose baby?’
Nikos’s arrogantly handsome face filtered into Kitty’s mind. ‘I can’t tell you that,’ she
whispered miserably.
‘Don’t be ridiculous—’ Sebastian broke off and frowned. ‘Are you saying you don’t know? That
the father could be one of several partners? Theos , Kitty, do you have a whole secret life that I know nothing about?’
‘ No…of course not,’ she cried, more tears falling at the flare of disappointment in Sebastian’s eyes. ‘I know who the baby’s father is—it could only be one person,’ she said thickly. ‘But it
was an accident, a mistake and he…he won’t be pleased. I’ve decided not to tell him.’
‘I don’t give a damn if he’s pleased or not,’ Sebastian growled, swinging away from her and