The Royal & The Runaway Bride (Dynasties: The Connellys Book 7) Read online

  “Yes, yes, I slept with her. But I used protection. If she’s pregnant, it’s not by me. I swear it!”

  “You’re absolutely certain about that? Because her lawyer claims that she—”

  “I don’t give a blazing fig what anyone claims! I did the responsible thing. I didn’t leave her with a baby. If she actually has a child, then it’s someone else’s!” Phillip was uncomfortably aware of Alex watching him, her face twisted with emotions he couldn’t read.

  What she might be thinking of him he didn’t dare imagine. It wasn’t as if he made a habit of bedding strange women. And he certainly had never been irresponsible where children were concerned.

  Alex stepped forward. “Listen, this is none of my business. I think I’d better leave you two to sort things out.” Her voice was soft, breathless and rushed, as if she couldn’t wait to get out of the room. “I’ll be out in the stable, Phillip, if you need me.”

  “It’s not the way it looks,” he assured her grimly.

  She nodded but said nothing more. Her eyes slid away from his when he tried to reassure her with a pleading glance.

  “I tried to tell you she shouldn’t be here,” Barnaby murmured, not unkindly, as soon as Alex had closed the door behind her.

  “It’s all right. We’ll work things out. In the meantime, let’s just ignore this preposterous accusation.” He moved to the window and stared out thoughtfully over the rich expanse of his gardens. “Hopefully, Ms. Terro will realize she doesn’t have the means to prove her claim.”

  Barnaby sighed. “It’s not that easy. If you don’t fight her charge, you’ll make things more difficult for yourself in the long run.”

  Phillip turned to glare at him. “Why the hell is that? I’m innocent of any wrongdoing except taking part in a physical act between two consenting adults. Last time I heard, that wasn’t illegal.”

  Barnaby Jacobs fixed him with his sternest, most paternal expression. His heavy gray eyebrows lowered over eyes that had seen everything. He was, in fact, old enough to be Phillip’s father, and sometimes he thought of the younger man as he would have had he had a son. “What I meant was, if you don’t fight the suit, it’s as if you’re admitting your guilt.”

  “That’s ridiculous!” Phillip threw up his hands and paced away from then back toward the windows. “Be straight with me. Do you think this is some sort of confidence game to get money out of me? Or—” he rounded on Barnaby so sharply the other man fell back a step “—is this young woman in some sort of trouble and she’s so desperate for help she’s been forced to lie to get it? If she’s in serious difficulties, I’m perfectly willing to give her a hand.”

  Barnaby sighed and rested a calming hand on Phillip’s shoulder. “You’re too generous, dear friend. Giving her money now could well lock you into paying her off until this child turns twenty-one, or even longer. This is serious. This is something that could follow you for the rest of your life.”

  Phillip felt his gut tighten up inside. Of all the times for something like this to happen. He was just getting to know Alex. Just beginning to think there might be a special connection between them that should be nurtured. What would she think of him now?

  “All right, so I take a blood test, right? Or a DNA test. When there’s no match between myself and the child, that will solve the problem.”

  “And, what if it comes out positive?” Barnaby was studying Phillip in a way Phillip didn’t like.

  “You think I’m lying?”

  Their eyes met—the older man studying the other, judging him. “No, of course I don’t believe you’d lie, but I don’t want to take any chances, either. Let’s hold off on the DNA and see if I can get her attorney to back off. Maybe if I threaten a countersuit, or just use the DNA test as a threat.” He shoved the papers back into his leather attaché. “I’ll be in touch as soon as I know anything. In the meantime—” he glanced meaningfully toward the door through which Alex had disappeared “—you might consider toning down your social life, at least for a while.”

  “Don’t lecture me, Barnaby,” Phillip warned. “I’m not spreading my seed around with abandon. Aside from that, Alex isn’t the kind of woman who’d take advantage of a man. She’s as straight as they come.” But a twinge of doubt made him wince just a little. Clearly, something had been bothering her.

  “I hope you’re right. You’re a mighty tempting target. The kind of money that runs in your family can make even a good woman think twice about using her charms in clever ways.”

  Phillip made no comment. It wasn’t as if the same thought hadn’t crossed his own mind. But it was one that he hoped with all his heart had no basis in reality.

  Alex had stopped outside the library door and listened, just for a moment. One of the male voices inside mentioned a blood test, the other refused. She assumed that was Phillip—and that wasn’t a good sign. She walked as fast as she could to the stables after leaving Phillip to continue consulting with his lawyer.

  She had felt awkward and embarrassed, hearing them discuss another woman’s intimacies with the man to whom she’d given her body and probably a good deal more. Her heart ached as she’d listened to them. She couldn’t tell what Phillip was thinking or feeling, except that he’d looked very angry. Angry and dangerous.

  He wasn’t a man to be crossed, she was sure of that much. He was powerful and knew how to protect himself. Beneath his anger at the accusations of his former lover, she’d sensed a ruthlessness she’d never have guessed was there.

  No, she didn’t like thinking about crossing Phillip Kinrowan. Apparently, Angelica Terro had done just that, and he’d left her. Now he was trying to dismiss not only her but the existence of a baby that might well be his.

  Was he telling the truth about their being together just two nights? Despite his denials, might Angelica’s baby be his? Maybe the affair lasted longer than he’d admitted. Maybe it was finding out Angelica was pregnant that had sent him running. It wouldn’t be the first time imminent parenthood had panicked a man.

  But Alex felt strongly about parents being responsible for their children. Deadbeat dads were the dregs of society as far as she was concerned. It made the situation far worse if Phillip, as wealthy as he was, refused to support his own child. But, she reminded herself as she stroked Eros’s coal-black mane, so far there was no solid proof that the woman’s claims were true.

  She felt sickened at another unexpected thought.

  What if she and Phillip had made a baby while they were making love? What if despite their being careful…No, she wouldn’t even consider that possibility! But what if, a voice inside her head asked insistently. What if, either last weekend or in the future she accidentally became pregnant? Would his reaction be as violent as it had been today? Obviously the man wasn’t interested in any woman who sought to tie him down to marriage.

  So why had she been contemplating lingering in Altaria? Her motive for remaining here was no longer to escape from Robert. Her shoulder was nearly mended. She was perfectly capable of traveling anywhere in the world she wished. Why did she want to stay with Phillip if there was no future for them?

  Her temples throbbed from the effort to think, and her neck ached with tension.

  Because, she told herself, you’ve done the worst possible thing. You’ve fallen for the man you duped.

  It didn’t matter that it had started out as an innocent prank, a private parlor trick at a party, a fantasy that had run away with her. After suffering through the deceptions of a wife who had used him and a former lover who seemed to be trying to do the same thing, what would his reaction be when she told him that she was a wealthy socialite not the lowly horse trainer she’d pretended to be?

  Alex shuddered at the thought. Her hand stroked the horse’s neck one more time, then she heard footsteps behind her. Before she could turn, Phillip’s voice came to her.

  “Sorry you had to wait so long, Alex. What was it you wanted to tell me?”

  Eight

  Alex s
pun around to face Phillip. His expression was strained, and his features seemed to have a hard edge to them that made her uneasy. “I thought I might find you out here.” He reached for her hand.

  Involuntarily she cringed. How could she want to be with him, yet at the same time be afraid of him? She might have tricked him, even lied to him, but she had never intended to hurt him. Besides, if what she heard was true, he was guilty of so much worse. Abandoning a child and its mother was not something she, at least, could take lightly.

  “Is something wrong, Alex?”

  She stared at him as if he were a stranger. “I’d say so.” Her throat felt tight and aflame with emotions she barely kept in check. “You have an affair with a woman, leave her pregnant, then try to evade your responsibility as a father.” Hot tears flooded her eyes. Her hands trembled at her sides. “That’s as wrong as life gets.”

  He scowled, his eyes revealing nothing. “Is that what you think of me?”

  “No, I mean…well, yes. That’s what I heard in there.”

  “Alex, I—” He seemed about to say more, but then decided better of it. The muscles in his throat and jaw tightened to ridges. She could almost read his thoughts. Pure male stubbornness won out over reason. “What I do with my personal life is none of your business.”

  His cruel words broke in a frigid wave over her, bringing her up short. He was right. She had no claim on him. All they’d shared was a handful of nights. They barely knew each other. He, certainly far less than he imagined, thanks to her charade. A horse trainer! How had she ever managed to pull that one off?

  Alex shook her head sadly. “I suppose you feel you don’t love the woman, and therefore you needn’t love her child. But it’s your child, too, Phillip.”

  “No, it isn’t.” His eyes burned darkly as he lunged toward her, but she darted away from him. “Alex, will you just listen to me for one moment?”

  “If the baby isn’t yours, why don’t you prove it? Why not take a blood test and—”

  His groan cut her off. “Stop it, Alex. I didn’t do anything wrong, certainly nothing to hurt you!” He reached for her again.

  She backed away, shivering at the thought of his touch. The same touch that had given her so much pleasure only hours before.

  “I might be her at another time,” she whispered shakily. “That’s what I kept thinking as I heard you deny your paternity. What if I became pregnant, Phillip? What then? Would you run just as fast? Would you leave me to raise our baby, and—”

  Tears flowed down her cheeks. She didn’t know what was the matter with her. She never got this emotional about anything. Even Robert’s betrayal hadn’t hurt this badly. Then, she’d managed to hide the pain inside. This was different. This struck deep at the heart of her womanhood. A man might desert her, but to deny their child his protection would be past pardoning.

  “You’re not listening to me, Alex. I told you I’m not the father, dammit. And as far as the DNA test—” He didn’t know why he couldn’t just explain that it was he who wanted the test, and his lawyer who had advised against it. For some reason, he balked at having to defend himself to Alex. They had been as close as a man and woman could be. She should know him by now!

  It hurt that she could be so wrong about him. To accuse him of insensitivity at least and neglect of his own child at the very worst, well, that meant she didn’t trust him. She had weighed his word against that of a stranger, and had decided to accept the stranger’s. How was that fair? It didn’t matter what little bit she heard, she should have believed in him. That is, if she was the woman she pretended to be.

  “What’s brought this on, Alex?” he snapped at her. “Be honest. It has nothing to do with Angelica’s claims, does it? You’re thinking of yourself. It isn’t the fear of having a child that bothers you, it’s disappointment that your plans for me won’t work.”

  She stared at him in shock. “My plans?”

  He could see right through her now. “You’ve been trying to tell me something important for days. Circling around it, never quite coming to the point. Now I know what that something is.”

  “You do?” She stared up at him, her eyes huge and moist and pleading. But he wouldn’t let her off the hook just yet.

  “Did you stage that fall from Eros?” he demanded. “Was pretending to injure your shoulder part of the act, or were you just unlucky enough to fall the wrong way and really hurt yourself?”

  She stared at him in disbelief. “Stage the fall?” she whispered, her voice hoarse with rage.

  “A simple horse trainer from an ordinary middle-class family.” He sneered. “Did you decide that wasn’t the life for you anymore?”

  She drew the tip of her tongue across her lower lip, looking as if she were holding her breath. But she said nothing to deny his accusations.

  He didn’t care. He’d had it up to here with women. He should have stopped there, should have just walked away from her then. But now that he was letting out years of frustrations with the opposite sex, he couldn’t seem to separate her from all the others.

  “Was I to be your ticket to the rich life?” he bellowed. “If you could trap me into marrying you, just like my ex-wife did, you’d never have to work another day. When did you first target me, Alex? Was it at the royal ball? Or before that?”

  She shot a look at him that was as full of fury as he felt. Swerving away from him, she dashed for the stable door. But he was faster. “Let me go!” she shrieked, tears coursing down her cheeks as his fingers closed around her arm. “I wasn’t trying to trap you into marriage or anything else! Why would I do that when I’d just run away from one wedding?”

  “So you say,” he growled.

  Her free hand sped in a vicious arc toward the side of his face, but he intercepted the slap by grabbing her wrist. “I’m glad Angelica filed that suit,” he said, “even though her claim is a lie. If she hadn’t, I might not have seen through you until it was too late, Alex. It was going to be a damn sight harder to walk away from you as long as I believed you were who you said you were. Now—” a tight smile curled his lips “—now, walking way from you will be easy.”

  He released her abruptly, whipped around and stalked off across the yard, leaving Alex shaken, her face smudged with tears and dust. She felt as if she’d been beaten to within a breath of her existence, although he’d only restrained her for his own safety. Every nerve in her body felt raw. Her eyes burned and her head throbbed violently.

  The worst part of it was, Phillip had gotten the nature of her deception all wrong. He still thought she was who she’d said she was, but she was after his money. She had trapped herself, and now she couldn’t win.

  If she told him she couldn’t care less about his money because she had plenty of her own, he would never speak to her again because she’d lied to him. On the other hand, if she clung to her little hoax and continued to play the role of horse trainer, he would still believe she was the same sort of woman he’d run from all of his life. Women had always wanted something from him. His mother, his wife, this Angelica and all the others in between.

  Alex sat down on the ground, her back pressed up against the rough cedar planks of Eros’s stall. She dropped her face into her hands, the happiness of blissful days sailing across the blue Mediterranean no more than a memory. Just like Phillip.

  He stormed through the villa, straight into his library, the room he’d always found the most relaxing. As soon as the door slammed behind him, Phillip threw himself down on the leather chaise and glared at the ceiling. Why did he even bother with women? Why did he ever dare to hope that one might be any different from the others who had hounded him all of his life?

  But this time, it was serious. This time he had nearly let go of his heart. Alex had seemed so fresh and genuine. She had appeared to be selfless and loving. How wrong he’d been. How tragically wrong.

  Trying to put her out of his mind, he turned to the other fiasco in his life. Angelica Terro. He wouldn’t have remembered her l
ast name if it hadn’t been for the legal document Barnaby had brought to him. He only vaguely remembered any details of that fateful weekend. He’d been at an all-time low following the divorce hearing. He’d just needed someone to hold. There was nothing more to it than that.

  But whether or not he remembered anything at all about those forty-eight hours, if he had inadvertently fathered a child, he would take that responsibility seriously. It had never crossed his mind to evade his duty. It stung all the more brutally to hear Alex accuse him of not caring, of not doing the right thing.

  But he’d promised Barnaby time to feel out the situation, and Phillip would give him that. Then he’d have to make some decisions that might not be easy ones. As it was, he’d already made one of the most difficult of his life. He must stop seeing Alex. He would arrange for her to return to the palace or the States or to go wherever she wished, but she would no longer be welcome at his home or in his bed.

  With a supreme effort he shoved himself up off the chaise and poured himself a brandy. Half an hour later, he had notified Cook and his houseman that he would be leaving Altaria for an unspecified number of days. He took everything he’d need with him down to the private dock at the foot of the hill and loaded it onto the smaller of his two yachts, then set sail for wherever the wind took him. By the time he returned, he hoped Alex would be gone.

  Alex spent four long days wandering between the villa and the stables, wondering when or if Phillip would ever come back. She had decided after the first day of his absence that she had no choice but to tell him the truth. Things couldn’t get any worse, could they?

  The second day, she rode Eros in the ring, on the level. No jumps. She talked to the horse, stroked and brushed him, fed him chunks of fresh carrot. That night she wrote about her day’s activities in a small leather-bound blank book she’d bought in town. But her imagination took off and soon she was inventing characters and horses that existed only in her mind, and an exciting story began to take shape on paper.