at her, his eyebrows raised in an expression of haughty arrogance. ‘I’m intrigued, Your
Highness. What are you intending to do? I’d like to make it crystal clear, by the way, that no
child of mine will be born illegitimately,’ he added harshly when she stared at him in numb
silence. ‘And I should point out that Sebastian looked mightily relieved when I assured him of
my intention to marry you as soon as it can be arranged. He has enough problems at the moment
without worrying about you.’
‘He doesn’t need to worry about me. I can take care of myself,’ Kitty muttered stubbornly,
knowing in her heart that Sebastian’s concern was not simply for her, but for the damaging effect
her unplanned pregnancy might have on the monarchy. The situation was unprecedented. The
people of Aristo were ardent royalists, but they would be dismayed to hear that a member of the
royal family was pregnant and unmarried, and, as Nikos had said, this was a difficult enough
time for Sebastian, the would-be-King who was waiting to be crowned.
But marry Nikos? Marry a man who was furious with her for lying to him, and who was staring
at her with scathing contempt, as if she were the lowest life-form on the planet? It wasn’t just
ridiculous, it was utter madness and she absolutely would not agree to it. Since she was a little
girl she had clung to the belief that she would one day fall in love and be loved in return, and she could not bear to see the fairy tale turn to ashes before her eyes. ‘How can we marry?’ she asked
huskily. ‘We don’t love each other.’
Nikos spared her a derisive glance. ‘What is love other than an illusion found in books and
films?’ he said sardonically. ‘Too often people mistake lust for love, but it’s not an error I’m ever likely to make. I am suggesting a marriage of convenience purely for the sake of our child.
‘I have never known the identity of my father,’ he revealed harshly. ‘My mother would never
tell me his name, but I have always wondered if I look like him or if we share similar traits.’ He
stared down at Kitty, his eyes suddenly blazing. ‘I won’t allow my child to suffer the trauma of
not knowing his bloodline.’
Kitty was startled by the raw emotion in his voice, and even more shocked by the realisation that
he was deadly serious. ‘Nikos, let’s be sensible about this,’ she said desperately. ‘I’m only three
weeks pregnant and it would be madness to rush into marriage, and…and then find that it had
been needless.’ Her voice faltered when she imagined losing her baby. Already she had formed
an emotional bond with the tiny new life that she and Nikos had unwittingly created, but she had
to be prosaic. There was no history of miscarriages in her family but no one could foretell the
future.
‘There are plenty of other options open to us,’ she went on when his jaw tightened. ‘If you really
want to play a part in the baby’s life we could come to an arrangement about access and so on.
You could visit the palace regularly…’ She could feel his dark eyes boring into her and faltered.
‘What I’m trying to say is that there is no need for either of us to make rash decisions. I’m not a
poorly paid waitress, I have financial security and a supportive family here on Aristo, and I will
manage to bring up this child perfectly well on my own.’
Nikos’s blood had frozen at the word access, and it hit him suddenly that if he wasn’t careful
things could go very wrong. From the sound of it Kitty was determined to bring up their child on
her own, but he was equally determined to be part of his baby’s life. He was going to be a proper
father, not some semi-stranger who visited the palace occasionally according to the rules of his
visitation rights. Kitty had stated that she did not need him, and she certainly had the means to
bring up a child without his help. Somehow he was going to have to convince her that he was
indispensable—and he was prepared to use emotional blackmail to persuade her to marry him.
‘So, are you going to tell your mother, while she is unwell and still grief-stricken by the death of the king, that you refuse to marry the father of your baby—and that you don’t care that your
actions will bring shame on the royal family?’ he asked Kitty harshly. ‘Sebastian is speaking to
the queen now. He was anxious that she should learn of your pregnancy from him, rather than
overhear the gossip among the servants which is inevitable after the scene in the drawing room.’
His dark eyes bored into Kitty remorselessly when she gave a cry of distress. ‘We can only hope