“Round one is over,” Macee said.
“It has only just begun.” Francesca replied.
The two of them linked arms and went off to find Liane. Macee was very glad that both her sisters were going to stay in the palace until the situation was resolved. The queen was not going to like having all three LeBlanc sisters under one roof, but Prince Louis was determined to protect Liane if for no other reason than it pleased his wife.
Macee was relieved that he was doing so, as he was the only one who would stand up to the queen and Liane was going to need all the help she could get. Having only Macee in her corner was not going to be enough. Nevertheless the queen was not the only one to worry about. Bridgette was going to flip a switch when she found out that Liane was carrying her grandchild. That was another issue they had to overcome and they were certainly not looking forward to it.
Chapter 7
Liane woke to considerable noise in her chambers. This was her second morning waking up in the palace and everything still felt so unreal to her. One minute, she thought she would be spending her entire pregnancy away from her sisters and the next, she was a guest at the palace. She could hear the maids saying, “She is sleeping, please return later”. Liane frowned and got out of bed. Suddenly the door flew open and to her surprise, Jean Pierre strode in. Her eyes widened as her hand dropped to her belly protectively.
“What are you doing here?” she asked him as she sat on the bed.
“What am I doing here?” Jean Pierre shouted. He scratched the back of his head and started pacing up and down. He was angry. “You are pregnant and did not think to tell me?”
“Well, how was I going to get in touch with you?”
“Seriously Liane, is that even an excuse right now?”
Jean Pierre had received a call from Prince Louis summoning him back to the palace to be there for Liane. He was completely taken by surprise when his cousin shouted at him at his need to take responsibility. He could not believe that she had kept the matter a secret from him.
“I am sorry but this situation has been very hard for me to deal with. It still is,” Liane said, as her voice trailed off. She knew that she should have told him but she really expected the worst. He was a known womaniser. Even the time they spent together was brief and he had left the country immediately after. There was no way that he was going to want a child right now.
“You made it hard for yourself.”
“And how did I do that? It wasn’t as if I intended to get pregnant.”
“No, but you chose to keep it a secret from everyone. You should have told the truth from the beginning.”
“Will you stop shouting at me? That is not going to accomplish anything.”
Jean Pierre took a deep breath. “Now, you know my mother is going to be worse,” he said calmly.
“I am not going to take any nonsense from your mother. She was the one who outted my pregnancy to the world. She also leaked filthy rumours about Macee,” Liane said. She had not forgotten what Bridgette did.
“Do you have proof?” Jean Pierre demanded. He had been out of Monaco for the past few months and was unaware of what was going on. And while he would be one of the first to admit that his mother often behaved selfishly, he couldn’t believe that she would stoop to that behaviour.
“Yes, the Crown has been presented with proof and she admitted to it in front of everyone.”
Jean Pierre sat down on the sofa in Liane's chambers. Why would she do such a thing? Shaking his head, he knew that was not the main issue at hand. Liane was pregnant with his child and this was the first he’d heard of it. He had not seen her since the night of the party at the country club and he couldn’t help but think how much lovelier she looked.
He was not prepared to face his cousin after what he had done. At the same time, he did not regret sleeping with Liane. He had not stopped thinking about her since that night. In fact, she was the reason he left so quickly as he couldn’t bear the thought of her marrying the Crown Prince. Seeing her now, he was reminded as to how much she annoyed him as well. She was quite feisty. She seemed calm and soft on the surface but when it came to him, she was not. Every time they were together, they argued about something.
Liane looked at Jean Pierre with a frown. She couldn’t stand that the person she detested the most was the father of her baby and what was worse was that she still found him incredibly attractive. She got up to leave the room.
“Where are you going?” Jean Pierre called after her.
“I need to eat,” she said. Jean Pierre followed her out of the bedroom. He still needed to speak with her. Liane sat at the table and waited for her food.