His Pregnant Princess Read Online Free Page A

entirely up to me, but to those around me. To you. That is my life as a princess. I am a human and a commodity. And then...you share in this. The baby is yours, too, and I feel you must be involved in making decisions.”
    “Go on,” he said, bracing himself on her dresser, his knuckles white as he gripped the dark wood corner, his fingers tracing the ornate scrollwork. She could happily stop talking now and simply watch his hands caress things all day.
    But that wasn’t an option.
    “There are three options that I can see. I quickly seduce Damien and hope that he doesn’t pay attention during prenatal visits regarding dating.” The very idea made her queasy, but she had to voice it because it was a possibility. “The second option is that I tell him and count on my position to keep him with me. That I tell him the wedding must be moved forward as I’m pregnant and I do not desire my child to be the subject of malicious gossip. Or to be born a bastard.”
    “He would raise my child?” Liam asked slowly.
    “In that scenario, yes, he would. You could never claim him. You could never...” Her throat tightened and she could barely force out the next words. “You could never hold him.”
    “And the third option?”
    “We tell the truth.”
    “And?”
    “And I will be the first in the Bowen family to wed a commoner.”
    “Is there a chance it will bump you from succession?”
    She bit the inside of her cheek. “Yes. I’ve done just a bit of research on the subject, and there is that chance. If my spouse is deemed a liability or the marriage a danger to the traditions or good standing of Brynland, then yes.”
    “That is not possible.”
    “Afraid it is.”
    “I mean we cannot allow it to happen,” he said, teeth gritted.
    “Can we not? When the alternative is for me to marry another man and for our child to never know that...to never know his real father?”
    “I do not see another way, Alys. If I so much as try to claim our child and it goes wrong, and you end up losing your position...”
    “Then my cousin steps in. It’s not so bad.”
    “Your cousin Duncan is a weed.”
    “Perhaps. But...but...he is more than capable. It isn’t as though he would...wreck anything. He’s as strong a contender as I am”
    “He isn’t you.”
    Pain lashed at her and she found she couldn’t speak again. She wanted Liam—it was that simple. She didn’t want to marry Damien, no matter how sensible it might be. No matter that it would protect the throne and ensure the line went on as it should with no scandal attached to it.
    She wanted. Desperately and deeply. It was the thing that had gotten them into this in the first place and she had no idea what would get them out.
    “We will make no decision,” she said, her voice soft. “Just...not for a couple of days.” “It seems that time is of the essence.”
    “Perhaps,” she bit out, “but I’ll be damned if I allow emotions and a tight timeline to force me into making decisions that will direct the rest of my life. Fine for you, Liam. You aren’t the one who would have to marry—”
    And suddenly he exploded into motion, pacing the room, his muscles tight, speaking of barely leashed violence. “Fine for me?” he asked, his voice rough. “Because I am only deciding whether or not I will ever hold my son or daughter, or if I will spend my life protecting the man who is raising her as his own while never allowed to touch a hair on her head. Yes, that is fine for me, Alys. Just fine.”
    “That isn’t what I meant. But you can go on and choose someone else. Have children with someone else that you want and I will...”
    “But I won’t.”
    “Why?”
    “I had never planned on marrying again. I don’t see why I would change those plans.”
    A weight hit her hard in the stomach. That was something she’d never considered. That he might mourn the loss of the child in his life, but not of her.
    That he would want fatherhood without marriage. Although in