Royal Affair by Laurie Paige Read Free Book Online Page B

sake.
    Then it would be spring. The baby would be due in April, along with the tulips and daffodils. She would name the baby after a flower. Or the month. April, that was a pretty name. Perhaps Katherine for her sister.
    April Katherine? Katherine April?
    Arriving at the path, she continued to think about the baby as she started a slow warm-up run. It occurred to her that she was assuming the child was a girl.
    She sighed and stopped to do some light stretches at the half-mile marker. Girls are easier to raise, she decided as she touched her fingers to her toes.
    On the other hand, boys didn’t get pregnant.
    If her son got a girl pregnant, she would throttle him, then escort him and the girl to the minister. No child of hers would disavow a child….
    Please, she ordered her wildly roaming mind, oneproblem at a time. Let’s get this baby here before we start worrying about grandchildren.
    â€œWatch out!”
    She glanced up in time to see a golf ball come whizzing right at her. She ducked and it went flying over her head to plunk against a tree, then roll down the path and stop against her shoe.
    Two men rushed down the slope from the golf course. “I’m terribly sorry,” one of them called. “I sliced, and the ball hit a tree, then came flying your way.”
    â€œThat’s okay. No harm done,” Ivy assured the two older men, who were panting from their run. She picked up the ball and tossed it across the narrow creek to them. “Have a good game.”
    â€œThanks,” the men said in unison and trudged up the hill to the fairway.
    Ivy stretched her arms over her head, reaching for the sky. She started when she spied two other men standing at the bend in the trail ahead, observing her intently.
    A shiver danced along her scalp and down her spine. The two men were the same height. They had identical lean, muscular builds. One’s hair was lighter, though, with sun streaks running through the brown. The other’s was as black as midnight. The dappled sunlight cast diamond dust over it as the leaves shifted above his head. His dark gaze never strayed from her face.
    She gasped. Blinked. Gasped again.
    Thankfully the world started to rapidly go dark. She grabbed the post supporting the chin-up bar, then felt her right knee sink into the soft mulch of the path. Forcing her eyes open, she saw she was going down like a ship with a slow leak.
    â€œShe’s fainting,” a man’s voice said close by.
    Well, duh, she thought, pressing one hand against the ground to stop the downward spiral.
    â€œI’ve got her,” another said.
    She was lifted into strong arms as if she weighed no more than a sack of sugar.
    â€œCan you hear me?” the man holding her asked.
    She opened her eyes and focused with difficulty. “Put me down. I can walk,” she said coolly, furiously.
    â€œShe’s glad to see me,” Max said to his companion, ironic amusement overlaying his deep baritone.
    â€œI can tell,” his friend replied.
    Ivy closed her eyes, hoping when she opened them that none of this would be happening….

Four
    â€œT hat’s a steep hill,” Ivy heard the other man say. “Let’s make a packsaddle to carry her up. Her apartment is the one on this end of the nearest building.”
    Ivy opened her eyes and struggled to be free. “I’m fine. I can walk.”
    Max let her feet slip to the ground, but he kept her in a protective embrace. “The hospital is closer.”
    â€œGood idea,” his friend said.
    â€œIt isn’t a good idea,” Ivy informed them. She groaned and put a hand to her head as dizziness attacked her, belying her words.
    â€œLet’s go,” Max said. “I’ll carry you if I have to,” he warned when she balked. He turned back to the path, his arm around her waist.
    â€œI don’t need to see a doctor. And I don’t need you,” she said, desperate to get away from