Behind the Palace Walls (14 page)

Her dark eyes were full of emotion. The anger and hatred he expected. But the fear?

Why should she fear him?

“I did not steal anything, Paige. What I did was acquire a failing company. And my attraction to you was not a lie.”

She put a hand to her head, massaging her right temple. “Fine, you didn’t steal anything and you really were attracted to me. I believe you. Now will you please go?”

He frowned as he watched her. “You need to sit down.”

“I will once you’ve left.”

“I’m not leaving just yet. Come, sit on the couch.”

Her eyes were wide. “It’s a way of life for you, isn’t it? You just show up, snap your fingers and expect people to do your bidding. Well, I have news for you, mister—this is my home and no one jumps to your tune here. If you don’t get out, I’m calling the police.”

“If you sit down, I’ll go.” Her threat to call the police meant nothing to him, but clearly his presence agitated her. He’d done what he came to do. His body hummed with frustrated desire, but he tamped it down and ignored it. There was no reason to stay any longer than he already had. There was nothing for him here. Nothing for either of them.

“Fine,” she said, coming around the counter and shuffling into the living room. She sank onto the couch, sighing almost wearily.

“You need a doctor,” Alexei said, frowning. She still looked green and she was shaking.

“No, I’m fine.” She bit her lip as she looked away. “I had the flu recently and I’m still recovering.”

“Very well,” he said. “Then I will leave you now. I left the coat on the chair in your foyer. Do what you wish with it, but do not send it back to me.”

The phone on the counter began to ring, but Paige ignored it. Her head was tilted back, her eyes closed. She had a hand over her abdomen, and her skin was pale. He didn’t want to go when she seemed sick, but she did not want him here.

He turned and strode down the small hallway. The answering machine kicked on. Paige’s breathy voice asked the caller to leave a message. Did the woman have any idea she sounded like a phone sex advertisement?

The instant a cheery voice began to speak, Paige made a sound he’d never heard before. A sound of sheer panic. He could hear her lever herself up off the couch.

But she wasn’t quite fast enough.

“This is Dr. Fitzgerald’s office calling to confirm Paige Barnes’s first ultrasound appointment for tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. You’ll need to bring—”

Paige felt light-headed as she finished the call and put the receiver down. When the phone started ringing, she’d just been too tired to get up and answer it. All she wanted was for Alexei to go. She hadn’t thought of her OB-GYN’s office calling to remind her about an appointment she’d only made yesterday afternoon. Did they really think she could forget it in so short a time?

She looked up, knowing what she would see and afraid at the same time.

Alexei had come back down the hall. No, he had loomed back down the hall and now stood hulking nearby. His ice-gray eyes gleamed, his brows drawing down, his nostrils flaring as he stared at her.

“Why do you need an ultrasound, Paige?” He sounded cool, deadly, and a shiver dripped down her spine.

She thought about lying. But she couldn’t think of a single reason anyone got an ultrasound other than pregnancy. She knew there had to be other reasons, but they escaped her.

She thrust her chin higher. Time to brazen it out. “Why do women usually get ultrasounds, Prince Voronov?”

What did it matter if she told him? He’d been cold enough to stage an elaborate seduction for the possibility of information that could benefit his precious company—and to hell with other people’s lives and feelings—so why would he care about one tiny baby?

His eyes narrowed and she knew he was remembering, scrolling through the events of that night like it was a film he could view frame by frame. “You cannot be pregnant.”

Oh, the arrogant bastard! “Why not? Because it wasn’t part of the plan?” She tossed her head. “I assure you I can. But don’t worry, I don’t expect anything from you.”

He didn’t say anything for a full minute. Then he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her close, his face twisting in rage. And something else?

“You’re lying. You cannot be pregnant with my child. We used protection.”

Paige stared at him defiantly. “Of course I can’t, because the great Prince Alexei Voronov has declared it impossible. So let me go and get the hell out of my house. We don’t need you.”

A wave of nausea hit her like a rogue wave storming the shore. She tried not to show it, tried so hard to be fierce and strong so he would just go away. But if the expression on his face was any indication, it didn’t work.

“Paige, what’s wrong? Tell me what’s wrong.”

She tried to jerk away, but it was like trying to escape iron manacles. “I’m pregnant, damn you, and if you don’t let me go right this instant I’ll throw up on your nice suit!”

He released her and she turned to dash for the bathroom, barely reaching the toilet in time. She could hear him behind her. She wanted to shut the door, shut him out, but she didn’t have the strength.

Her hair lifted away and she realized he was holding her ponytail, keeping it out of the way while she retched. She was thankful for the gesture, and scared at the same time. Because it made her remember the Alexei who’d taken her for a troika ride, the haunted man who’d told her about his family lying in the crypt with such sadness in his eyes. The kind Alexei. The one she could have loved if he were real and not a careful construct.

But wasn’t part of that construct really him?

Stop.

She just wanted him to leave her and never come back again. Seeing him hurt. It made her think of every moment they’d ever spent together, of that incredible few hours in his bed when she’d felt so alive and so feminine. He’d been her first real lover, and everything about it had been magical and beautiful.

But it had all been a lie. He’d ruined Chad, ruined Emma’s happiness in the process, and she hated him for it. How could she ever let herself think of him with anything but contempt?

Because he was the father of her child and she felt a connection to him through the child they shared. A deep, mysterious connection that would forever be between them.

Dear God, why him of all people?

When she finished throwing up, when he helped her up and swooped her into his arms and carried her to the couch, she had no idea what would happen next. She expected nothing, yet she had to admit that she was relieved he’d come and relieved she’d told him the truth. She’d done the right thing. Mama would be proud of her for that, at least.

Emma was likely to never speak to her again, however. Since Paige had learned she was pregnant yesterday, she’d been dreading telling her sister. She’d certainly never intended to reveal who the father was, but she was afraid that choice had now been taken away.

“You need a doctor,” Alexei said, whipping his phone from his pocket.

She was too tired to fight him. “This is normal, Alexei. Pregnant women get sick. Not all of them, but apparently I’m one. Lucky me,” she finished on a whisper.

His eyes were hard, his expression determined. “You will need a doctor for the flight.”

Alarm bells sounded in her head. “What flight? I’m not going anywhere. I have work to do, Emma’s coming home in a couple of hours and we’re watching a movie together on television tonight.”

His handsome face was an impersonal mask. “I am leaving for St. Petersburg in two days. You are coming with me.”

Paige tried to get up, but her stomach roiled in response. “I’m not going anywhere with you! My life is here.”

“Not any longer. If this baby is truly mine, then your life is with me.”

CHAPTER NINE

THE VORONOV PALACE was exactly as she’d last seen it, except that it was perhaps more beautiful now that spring had arrived. She’d never thought to see this place again. She’d certainly never thought to return as the new mistress of the manor. She glanced again at the three-carat rock on her right ring finger—Russians wore their rings on the opposite finger—and her insides squeezed tight.

She was married. To a prince.

And everything about this marriage was broken and wrong.

Paige let Alexei help her from the helicopter, then snatched her hand away as soon as she could do so. He showed no emotion at the defiant gesture. He’d been as cold as stone since the moment he’d informed her that she was coming to Russia with him.

She’d threatened to call the police, threatened to scream bloody murder, threatened him with any number of impotent gestures that he’d shrugged off as if they were nothing more than annoyances.

Which they had been. The all-powerful Prince Voronov could and would do whatever he wanted to do. Including ordering her life as if he had a right to do so. She’d been determined to resist, but he’d undercut all her protests with a single promise.

He’d promised to take care of Emma’s future. Her tuition would be paid in full, and he’d buy her an apartment of her own—or the house they were living in if she wanted it. Emma would never have to worry for money again.

Paige had trembled at the choice, but she’d known what she was going to do from the moment he said it. She told herself that she hadn’t refused because she was afraid of what the alternative would be. If Alexei could be gracious when he got his way, she imagined he would be formidable when he did not. She had only to think of what had happened to Chad and Russell Tech to know it was true.

So long as she lived, she would never forget Emma’s face when her sister returned home that evening and saw Alexei in their house. She hadn’t known who he was, but when he’d introduced himself, she’d recoiled as if he were evil incarnate.

And when Paige explained that she was pregnant, and the baby was Alexei’s, she’d thought her sister would never get over the shock of betrayal. Emma began to cry, begging Paige to tell her it was a joke, that it couldn’t be true, that she would never have done something so stupid and so wrong as to sleep with Chad’s nemesis.

Paige had tried to explain, but Emma refused to listen. And then she’d run to her room and slammed the door. Paige had turned to Alexei, her eyes blurring with tears, and asked him if he was satisfied.

He’d been like a marble statue, cold and unfeeling. She’d wanted to claw his eyes out, to make him feel something. He’d merely watched her with those rain-cold gray eyes, awaiting her answer.

The next two days had been a whirlwind. Alexei had arranged for her to have an ultrasound that afternoon. He’d sat in the exam room stony-faced and silent. Until the technician began the process. Then he’d leaned in close, watching the monitor as if he were searching for the secret to eternal youth or something equally as precious.

Paige hadn’t known she could get so emotional over the sight of a little tiny sac that contained nothing that resembled a baby in the least. But she had. She’d been flooded with wonder, protectiveness and overwhelming love. She’d been too scared to glance at Alexei, so she’d focused resolutely on the screen as the technician made a series of clicks on the computer. Her eyes had filled with tears. She should be here with a man who loved her, holding his hand while they saw their baby for the first time instead of with a cold stranger who disliked her.

“You’re six weeks and three days exactly,” the technician had finally said.

Alexei’s sharp intake of breath was audible. And then he’d asked if she was sure. The technician had gone on to explain that pregnancies were dated from the date of the last menstrual cycle rather than the date of conception, and that yes, Paige was exactly six weeks and three days—which meant the date of conception was right around the time they’d been together.

Paige had wanted to die of embarrassment. He’d sounded as if he weren’t certain he was the father and needed confirmation, which she imagined had caused the technician to explain as she had. Paige had felt as if he’d come right out and said she was a slut who slept around and that she was trying to fob off someone else’s child as his.

What should have been a beautiful moment was ruined by his cold-blooded arrogance. Yet when she’d gotten up from the table, he’d reached out to steady her. And then he’d kept his hand on her back the entire way out to the car. His touch burned her like a brand and, in spite of her wish it was not so, her body reacted to him. Hot need softened her inner core, made her long to turn and bury her head against his chest.

She had not done so, of course. How could she want love and comfort from the man who’d stolen those things from her in the first place? Her life had been just fine, if a little boring, before he came along. And now he’d taken her sister and her home away. Her life would never be the same. But for the sake of her child, she would endure.

When they entered the palace, the same man who’d greeted them on that night a few weeks ago was waiting. He and Alexei exchanged a few words, and then he bowed and left. Alexei turned to her.

“Vasily is preparing a room for you. If you wish to wait in the drawing room, he will come for you when it is finished.”

Paige locked her hands in front of her body. She was surprised they weren’t sharing a room, but also somewhat relieved. How could she share a bed with him, knowing that her body craved his? The entire time she’d been standing next to him at the government office in St. Petersburg where they’d married, her body had been humming with electricity, and her mind had thrown images of the night they’d shared into her head.