Royal Affair by Laurie Paige Read Free Book Online

a sleepy baby wrapped in pink. “Isn’t she adorable?”
    Ivy saw the nurse had given Everett one of the “good” babies, one who smiled and cooed at the slightest encouragement. In for some tests, she was due to go home with her parents on Monday.
    â€œYeah,” he said, staring at the child with an uncertain expression.
    Nancy grinned at Ivy, then showed him how tohold the baby on his lap so she could look into his face. “Smile at her,” she ordered.
    Everett did. The baby gave a big, drooly smile back. He looked amusingly surprised at the response. His shoulders relaxed and his smile became real.
    â€œSee? She likes you,” Nancy said, beaming. She checked the schedule, then prepared bottles for Ivy’s and Everett’s two, then one for a third baby, whom she brought into the comforting room, as they called it.
    Together the three rocked and fed the infants. The only sound was the whisper of the filtered air from the overhead vents and the sucking noises of three little rosebud mouths. Ivy sighed contentedly.
    As soon as Everett’s little girl was finished, he rose from the chair. “I’ve got to go.”
    â€œPut the baby in her crib in the other room,” Nancy directed. “Thanks for coming by. That was a big help.”
    He followed directions, then hastily left.
    â€œWhat is it about teeny little babies that frightens grown men out of their wits?” she demanded.
    The two women laughed. Ivy wondered how Max would be with children. Would he be at ease with them? Would he hold their child? Talk and play silly games to socialize him or her?
    A playboy prince interested in home and hearth? She wished.
    Pain sliced right through her middle, cutting her heart in two. How could she have been so stupid?
    Â 
    â€œIvy! How could you have been so careless?” Katie demanded, her eyebrows rising in shock behind her glasses. She hooked a lock of thick, sun-kissed hair behind her ear.
    â€œI know,” Ivy said, admitting to the madness of the moment. “I don’t understand it myself.”
    The two women were sitting on Ivy’s patio, eating chicken-salad-stuffed tomatoes. Katie was on a diet—she’d already lost over thirty pounds—and Ivy didn’t want to ruin her efforts. They idly watched golfers tee off at the fifteenth hole while joggers loped along the trail next to the creek.
    â€œAre you thinking of abortion?”
    Ivy shook her head adamantly. “I want the baby, although I do wonder if I’m being selfish in having it and not providing a father.”
    â€œDo you think, if he knew, he would want marriage?”
    Ivy shook her head again.
    â€œIt’s his child, too,” Katie reminded her, a ring of indignation in the words. “Men should take responsibility for their families.”
    To her horror, tears flooded Ivy’s eyes.
    â€œOh, honey, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.” Katie patted her arm and looked concerned. “Tell the father. He should know.”
    â€œHe might not want to know,” Ivy admitted grimly. “Why would a globe-trotting prince, soon to be king, care about the result of a one-night stand?”
    â€œPrince, king, playboy, whatever, he’s the father,” Katie said firmly. “If you can’t bring yourself to contact him, I certainly have no qualms about it.”
    â€œOh, no, please don’t! Not yet,” Ivy added in a calmer tone. “I have a doctor’s appointment next week. Just to be sure. Then I’ll…maybe I’ll call him.”
    Hi, Max, it’s your one-night stand. Guess what?
    Maybe he wouldn’t even remember her.
    Hello, Max. It’s Ivy.
    Ivy who?
    The dreadful scenarios played out in her mind like snippets from a horror movie. “I have to think about it,” she now said to her sister. “When I’m sure.”
    â€œWhatever you want to do about the baby, I’m behind you a