The Irresistible Royal Read online

  ‘I didn’t plan on falling pregnant. Pregnancy is an irrevocably life-altering state and I hadn’t planned to have a child for years—and then only when I was in a stable relationship.’ Every word rang with sincerity but Marco felt his lips twist with cynicism because he knew she didn’t carry his child. ‘You have the right to know about the baby, but I don’t expect you to take any responsibility for it. I know firsthand it’s better to have a loving, single parent than one who resents your existence.’

  Her words were so vehement it would be easy to be convinced of her sincerity, but he’d tired of her game and her three minutes were up.

  ‘If you were expecting my child, I would take full responsibility. As there’s no way this child can be mine, I suggest you find the father or you’re on your own. I have no intention of taking responsibility for another man’s child.’

  Chloe’s head jerked forward at the same time her jaw went slack. Then her outraged indignation scorched the air between them. ‘I would never pretend another man’s child was yours. As I know damned well this baby wasn’t a result of an immaculate conception, there is no doubt that you are the father, Marco.’

  ‘You’re wasting your time, Chloe.’ He paused and trained his gaze on her face as he released the bombshell. ‘I had a vasectomy four years ago.’

  Chapter Eight

  The car drove up the long driveway. It came to a smooth stop under the portcullis of the home that’d been in the Salvatore family for the last couple of generations.

  ‘Thanks for picking me up, Pedro,’ Chloe told the man who’d been both family friend and employee for most of her life.

  ‘You’re welcome, Chloe. It’s good to have you home.’

  ‘It’s good to be home.’ She had to stop herself from misting up. Napa Valley would always be home. There was nowhere else she’d ever feel as comfortable and secure. This was where she belonged—in a community who worked on the land and harvested grapes, and surrounded by people who knew the value in a hard, honest day’s work. The people around her weren’t into show or social competition. They weren’t into riches or titles. Life here was real.

  ‘You look so exhausted after your flight,’ Pedro said. ‘Go in and I’ll see to your suitcases.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  Luis Salvatore emerged from the grand entrance to welcome her back. The second she saw him, Chloe was out of the car and found the energy to run into his outstretched arms, even though she was utterly exhausted.

  ‘Oh, honey, I’ve missed you.’ He caught her in his embrace and wrapped his arms around her. ‘I’m sorry I had to ask Pedro to collect you instead of coming for you myself.’

  ‘That’s okay. I know you had a meeting.’ She searched his face. ‘You look well. Are you well?’

  ‘Fit as a buffalo,’ he said with macho reassurance. ‘The cardiologist is very happy with me.’

  When he would’ve let her go, Chloe remained where she was, clinging to him and so grateful this man was her father. Not feeling remotely like an adult woman, she craved the days when she’d sat securely on his lap and he’d run his hand over her hair, calming all her fears and assuring her all would be well. What she wouldn’t give to be able to go back to those relatively trouble-free days.

  ‘Chloe?’

  Digging deep for the strength to face him, she pulled away and gave him a smile. She wasn’t a child anymore. ‘I’ve missed you, too.’

  ‘Chloe.’ Pedro’s wife, Maria, bustled out. ‘Welcome home.’

  Chloe was wrapped up in a hearty hug from the stout woman who declared, ‘You’ve lost weight. They haven’t been feeding you properly in England.’

  She forced a laugh. ‘Hasn’t Dad told you? I’ve discovered I suffer from motion sickness with air travel—and I’ve had a stomach bug—but I’ve definitely missed your cooking, Maria. Nothing else compares.’

  ‘Ah, you’re a good girl,’ Maria said, pinching her cheek as though she was still a girl. ‘You go into the front room with your father and I’ll bring you a coffee and some of my freshly baked churros.’

  Normally, Chloe loved the cinnamon-sugar dusted fried treats that Maria dipped in chocolate. At the moment, her stomach was so sensitive, the thought of eating anything made her nauseous. ‘Maybe later, Maria. I’m sorry but I’m still a little bit queasy from the flight.’

  The housekeeper looked concerned. ‘A coffee?’

  Especially not a coffee. ‘No thanks. I’ve got a bottle of water with me, that’ll do for now.’

  Pedro came in with the suitcase and made his way up the staircase.

  ‘Okay.’ Maria sounded unconvinced. ‘I’ll go and unpack for you and leave you and your father to catch up.’ She followed Pedro up the stairs.

  Chloe was aware of her father’s watchful regard as they walked through to the front sitting room and sat down.

  ‘Something’s wrong,’ he said as soon as she was comfortable.

  ‘Yes.’ There was no point in putting it off. ‘We need to talk.’

  Luis took a deep breath and looked as though he braced himself.

  ‘Lidia told me something while I was in England that you need to know.’

  ‘I think I know what you’re about to say,’ he said as she searched for the words.

  ‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘You can’t know. I don’t even know how to tell you.’

  He sent her a faint smile. ‘Perhaps I should’ve been the one to tell you. It was something you deserved to know and I almost told you before you got on that plane. But I wasn’t sure how to tell you and I didn’t want what I had to say to upset any reconciliation you might’ve had with Lidia.’

  Her eyes widened. ‘You know?’ The gravity of his expression and his tone suggested he was about to raise the issue of her paternity. Surely there was no other bombshell that could be dropped onto her at this point?

  ‘Lidia told you I’m not your biological father?’ The question was flat.

  Chloe reeled as the whole room tilted. In need of solid reality, she grabbed hold of her father’s arm as she looked at him in shock. ‘I can’t believe you know already. I thought I was going to have to break it to you because Lidia thinks you don’t know.’

  He cursed. ‘I should’ve known she wouldn’t be able to keep her mouth shut and that she’d throw it at you somehow to try to damage our relationship. Is that what happened, Chloe?’

  ‘If it was her aim, she was wasting her time. She’d never succeed.’

  ‘As far as I’m concerned, you’re my daughter,’ he said fiercely. ‘I’m sorry I’ve never told you the truth. I hope you can forgive me.’

  She moved closer on the couch and wrapped her arms around him. ‘Dad.’ The word held a wealth of emotion and meaning and her vision blurred through her tears. ‘You’re my father. You’re the only father I want.’

  He pulled her tighter into the hug and she felt the love vibrating through his chest as he battled to hold back his sobs. They stayed like that for a time until she pulled away to fish a handkerchief out of her pocket and wipe her nose.

  ‘How long have you known?’ she asked.

  Luis wiped at his eyes with the back of his hands. ‘Right from the start.’

  ‘I don’t understand. You married Lidia. She was sure you hadn’t guessed she was pregnant before she met you.’

  He gave her a slight smile. ‘Lidia thought she was so clever deceiving me and claiming you were mine. The truth is, I was diagnosed with testicular cancer when I was eighteen.’

  Chloe gasped. ‘I had no idea. Why haven’t you ever mentioned it?’

  ‘I don’t even think about it now.’

  ‘But surely that’s too young to have that type of cancer?’

  ‘Unfortunately, it happens. It’s been diagnosed in some who are fifteen years of age,’ he explained. ‘It was a long time ago and I’m well out of the woods now in regard to the cancer returning.’ He smiled apologetically. ‘It’s not something I ever talk about. Lidia had no idea either. I had surgery and
then chemo and radiotherapy. The treatment was successful in leaving me cancer free, but it also left me infertile.’

  She couldn’t help but draw a parallel between her dad and Marco. Neither of them could father a child, but Marco had made a conscious decision about fatherhood. While she couldn’t fathom it, his declaration had made her feel all sorts of fool. No wonder he’d looked at her with such contempt when he assumed she was still part of Lidia’s scheme to extort money from him.

  ‘I’d always wanted children,’ Luis said.

  ‘But you knew I couldn’t possibly be your daughter,’ she confirmed with wonder, and more than a little relief.

  He nodded. ‘Lidia’s claim was the answer to a prayer, because it gave me the opportunity to be a father.’ He took her hands in his and squeezed them. ‘Even though I had to marry Lidia to claim you, and after our first couple of dates I couldn’t stand the woman, I’ve never regretted my decision for a second. I fell in love with you as my baby daughter the second you were born.’

  ‘I couldn’t wish for a better father,’ she said between sniffles.

  ‘How did Lidia come to tell you the truth?’

  ‘It’s complicated.’

  ‘You’ve lost so much weight. I knew you weren’t really happy when we spoke on the phone, but I didn’t want to probe. I thought you’d come home earlier if things weren’t working out.’

  She hoped her dad’s heart was strong enough to cope with all the shocking events she’d faced on her trip away, because he was her best friend as well as her father, and she needed to unburden herself. ‘I hardly know where to start.’

  ‘Start at the beginning.’

  The beginning... Day one and meeting Marco. Oh Geez.

  ‘Chloe.’ He pulled his upper body further away and sent her a serious look. ‘You know I love you. I’ll always love you no matter what. You can tell me anything.’

  Without identifying Marco, she found herself outlining all that’d happened—from the video footage to the embarrassment of having gone to his office to tell him she was expecting his child when it was obvious now that the test results had been wrong and she couldn’t possibly be pregnant.

  ‘I know his opinion of me shouldn’t matter, Dad, but it feels so awful to know that I went there believing the results of the stupid test and by doing so it confirmed what he thought of me—that I’m a liar and a schemer like Lidia.’

  Luis held her close as she cried against his shoulder. ‘Forget about him, Chloe, and be thankful the test was wrong. He sounds like a cold, detached bastard. If he can’t tell the difference between you and your mother, he’s an idiot.’

  ‘He wasn’t cold at all to start with,’ Chloe said with a frown.

  ‘You’re defending him after he deserted you?’

  ‘I can’t blame him for the way he reacted, Dad. Lidia convinced him I was part of her scheme to trap him into marriage, and he didn’t know me well enough to believe otherwise. Besides, he’s extremely wealthy and I’m sure he expects women to try to latch onto him for his money and his—’ She bit back the word title, not wanting to identify Marco. Her shrug conveyed far more nonchalance than she felt. ‘I guess we’re all a product of our experiences, right?’

  ‘I think you need to adopt your tougher legal persona in your personal life, Chloe. There’s this huge disparity in you—the girl who wants to see the innocent in people unless they’re proven guilty, and the tough lawyer who goes for the jugular in the courtroom. Sometimes it’s hard to reconcile the two sides of you.’

  ‘But in a courtroom, Dad, when I go for the jugular, I know the person I’m targeting is guilty as hell. In this scenario, the guy I was with was actually a victim of Lidia’s as much as I was.’

  ‘It’s all behind you now. You’re home safely and Lidia can’t threaten you anymore.’ He planted a kiss against her forehead. ‘One thing you should think of, now you know—and it won’t affect our relationship in any way—is whether you’d like to meet your biological father.’

  Chloe frowned. ‘I wouldn’t even know where to start looking for him if I did. Lidia said he was an Irish barman. I have no idea whether he was working in the States or elsewhere, and I don’t even think she knows his name.’ She shook her head. ‘Lidia said she didn’t tell him about me and I can’t imagine appearing in the guy’s life and causing God knows what sort of upheaval for him and the family he may have by now. I think it’d be better to leave things as they are. I’m happy.’

  ‘Well, think on it. I know there were a few forms I had to fill out when you were growing up about what sorts of illnesses we had in the family. It might be important to you when you’re a parent to have an idea of your genetic health history.’

  ‘I hadn’t thought of it from that angle.’

  ‘It’s up to you, but as I said, nothing will affect my love for you.’

  ‘I love you, Dad. I’m so lucky Lidia chose you. It’s probably the only decent thing she’s ever done for me—apart from leave.’

  Slipping her shoes off, she tucked her legs up under her on the couch and let the familiar security of her home seep into her to chase away the harrowing experiences she’d had in England. Trying to put everything about Marco out of her head, she started talking to her father about the touristy things she’d done on her holiday before she’d fallen ill to the virulent bug.

  Lying in bed that night, she thought of Marco. When she’d walked from his office, his face had been set in stone as surely as if he’d been one of the presidents carved into Mount Rushmore. In his eyes there’d been condemnation decreeing he’d judged her and found her guilty. She repeated her father’s words like a mantra until sleep finally claimed her.

  Forget about him, Chloe... If he can’t tell the difference between you and Lidia, he’s an idiot.

  The following night, and every following night, she repeated the words.

  A couple of weeks later, she was so consumed by the court case it was slightly easier to banish Marco from her thoughts. Slightly easier but not completely possible.

  Another three weeks on and, despite the court proceedings, Marco took centre stage in her mind again. Even as she walked the floorboards in the courtroom, ruthlessly and relentlessly questioned company executives she called to the witness stand—even as she played unrepentantly to the jury—she couldn’t banish him from her mind. With every word she said and every movement she made, Marco loomed in her consciousness because she knew she had to face him at least one more time.

  Chapter Nine

  ‘There’s one other item of business we need to discuss that’s not on the agenda, Prince Marco,’ the bank’s vice-president announced at the senior staff meeting late on a Wednesday afternoon.

  Marco regarded the petite redheaded woman who sat at his right and the fine hairs at the nape of his neck tingled. He knew Sarah Kennedy very well, and every line of her posture told him he wasn’t about to like whatever it was she had to tell him. ‘Go on.’

  ‘The American retail chain, Wycosta, that’s borrowed millions of US dollars from us for expansion into Europe, could be in financial trouble.’

  His forehead tightened as he looked from the head of the long table in the bank’s boardroom and sought out the bank’s chief economist. ‘That corporation was thoroughly investigated before the loan went through. I remember sitting through the presentation and being told it was the largest, most innovative and one of the most profitable companies in the world. What’s changed?’

  ‘A court case,’ Sarah said as the economist looked blank. ‘It’s breaking news. I’ve been informed by my assistant that a decision has been handed down. It’s making international news because Wycosta has been ordered to pay a record amount in damages for breaching equal employment opportunity laws.’

  Aware of the pulse ticking in his cheek, Marco forced his jaw to relax. In a way, it was good to have a difficult situation to deal with to keep his mind focused on business. ‘Why am I only hearing about this court case now?’

 
; ‘With all respect, you’ve just returned from your trip to South Korea, Your Highness,’ the chief economist told him. ‘And when we were first alerted to the possible difficulties, you were having meetings in China and Hong Kong.’

  Marco glowered at him. ‘You know full well I should be kept abreast of anything major like this that could affect our bottom line.’ Madre de Dio. He’d hardly slept for the last couple of months he’d pushed himself so hard. He might’ve been overseas but he was still available for such important matters.

  ‘To be perfectly honest with you, we didn’t believe the case stood a chance,’ Sarah put in quickly. ‘It was a class action and our analysts advised that it was put together somewhat haphazardly by a legal team with very little experience in this area, and a miniscule budget.’

  ‘Something of a David versus Goliath case,’ a member from the legal team put in.

  Marco turned slowly toward the lawyer and allowed his voice to reflect his scorn. ‘If that was the case, why didn’t you all sit up and take notice? As I recall, David won.’

  The lawyer’s larynx worked up and down.

  ‘The compensation to be paid may cripple the store and, if it doesn’t send the company completely into bankruptcy, it’s certainly going to affect their repayments,’ Sarah summarised.

  ‘The American shoppers aren’t going to like supporting a store that’s been found to have breached so many equal opportunity laws.’ A guy from marketing and PR stated the obvious. ‘It won’t be well received in Europe either.’

  ‘Have we heard from Wycosta directly?’ Marco demanded.

  ‘Not yet.’

  ‘Then let’s not second-guess them. We sit and wait for their number crunchers to evaluate their position and inform us,’ he told the meeting. It didn’t sound good. Even if Wycosta didn’t go bankrupt due to the compensation payouts, their bottom line in trading would be affected if American consumers decided to boycott the chain.

  Sarah’s phone beeped and her eyes scanned the screen quickly. ‘The story’s about to loop through the CNN news bulletin again. Do you want to watch, Prince Marco?’