Pregnant!: Prince and Future...Dad? / Expecting! / Millionaire Cop & Mum-To-Be

Hauk allowed one dip of his big golden head. ‘‘Yes. I am indeed a fortunate man.’’

Finn let his mouth twist into a wry grin. ‘‘Let me take this, er, rare opportunity to congratulate you.’’

‘‘Thank you.’’

The warrior stared forward. Finn did the same. The car cut through the windless misty night.

At the palace, Hauk made himself scarce once he’d escorted Finn to the king’s private audience room.

Osrik was waiting for him, resplendent, even at four in the morning, in a fine gray pinstripe designer suit with a red tie. Medwyn stood nearby.

‘‘Prince Danelaw,’’ said the king. ‘‘Welcome.’’ His stern expression belied the word of greeting.

‘‘Your Majesty.’’ Finn saluted.

‘‘You surprise us,’’ said the king. ‘‘Back so abruptly. Without forewarning. And without my daughter.’’

‘‘Yes, Your Majesty,’’ said Finn, because he felt some sort of response was called for, though, in fact, he had nothing at all to say.

‘‘What news do you have for us?’’

‘‘Sire, none at all. It was time I came home, that’s all. Once full daylight comes, I’ll go on to Balmarran. I want to check on my sister, assure myself that she hasn’t yet managed to drive my poor grandfather mad.’’

The king, wearing an expression that was far from benign, studied Finn for several endless seconds. At last he said, ‘‘My daughter. Has she agreed to marry you, then?’’

‘‘No, my lord. She hasn’t. She’s said no repeatedly. I’ve become quite certain that no is what she means.’’

‘‘She won’t agree to marry you—ever?’’

‘‘That’s right, sire.’’

‘‘You’re sure of this?’’

‘‘I am.’’

The king frowned. ‘‘Are you telling me, then, that the Freyasdahl signs have been proven wrong in her case?’’

‘‘No, Your Majesty. Your daughter carries my child.’’

‘‘And she won’t marry you. She refuses. You’re certain of this?’’

‘‘I am.’’

The king heaved a deep sigh. ‘‘Then it’s as I told you from the first. You will have to take her.’’ The king paused, waiting for Finn to agree with him. Finn didn’t. The king looked at him darkly and went on. ‘‘It will be more difficult now that she’s back in America. You should have listened to me, Finn. She’d be at Balmarran now.’’

‘‘It doesn’t matter.’’

The king’s frowned deepened. ‘‘Doesn’t matter? What’s this? Of course it matters.’’

‘‘I don’t intend to take her.’’

The king stood very still. ‘‘What did you say?’’ His deep voice vibrated with barely leashed fury.

‘‘I said, sire, that she’s chosen not to marry me. She wants to stay in America and raise the child on her own. I think she’ll make a fine mother. Your wife, the queen, will make certain she has everything she needs. Liv—and my child—will thrive.’’

A rumble of rage rose from the king’s throat. ‘‘You would make of your own child a fitz.’’

Finn kept his face resolutely expressionless. ‘‘It’s America. The child will suffer little stigma there. And I refuse to claim a wife against her will.’’

There was a moment of echoing silence. The king looked at him as if he had lost his mind. And maybe he had.

Then the king commanded, ‘‘You will go for her. You will take her. You will keep her until she’s wed you and the child is born.’’

‘‘I am sorry, Your Majesty. But no. I will not.’’

Liv’s phone rang in the deepest part of the night.

She bolted upright in bed and cried out, ‘‘Finn!’’ before she came fully awake and remembered he was gone and she was getting over him.

She grabbed the receiver on the third ring and barked into it, ‘‘What?’’

A crackle of static, then Brit’s voice. ‘‘Don’t tell me I woke you.’’

‘‘It’s two in the morning here, did you know that?’’

‘‘Well, yes. I admit, I did. But I’ve been… developing my sources around here.’’

Liv wasn’t getting it. ‘‘Your sources?’’

‘‘All right, I’ll be crass. My spies. I have spies of my own now. Believe me, around here I need them—and Elli’s here.’’

‘‘With you?’’

‘‘Uh-huh. I’ll put her on in a minute.’’

‘‘Okay. Good—spies? You have spies?’’

‘‘You got it.’’

‘‘So, you have news for me, is that it? From these spies of yours?’’

‘‘Yes. And Elli confirms it.’’

‘‘Confirms what?’’

‘‘That father’s had Finn Danelaw thrown into Tarngalla.’’

Tarngalla. Liv couldn’t believe it. ‘‘You’re not serious.’’

‘‘Oh, but I am.’’

Liv recalled her first sight of the stone fortress about ten miles north of Lysgard, on a treeless stretch of land. The edifice itself had looked impenetrable, its forbidding aspect made more so by the high electrified fence surrounding it, coils of cruel barbed wire on top.

Finn had been with her that day. ‘‘Watch your step,’’ he’d warned. ‘‘Do murder and get caught, perpetrate a dastardly crime against the state—and Tarngalla awaits. Parents of naughty children have invoked its specter for centuries now. ‘Keep up like that, young man, and it’s Tarngalla for you…’’’

Liv was suddenly wide-awake. ‘‘Father threw Finn in prison?’’

‘‘Isn’t that what I just said?’’

‘‘But why?’’

‘‘We don’t know yet.’’

‘‘We?’’

‘‘Me. Elli—we’re trying to find out.’’

‘‘Did you ask Father?’’

‘‘It was only early this morning that it happened, from what we’ve been able to piece together. Dad has been unavailable since then.’’

‘‘I’ll bet,’’ Liv muttered.

Brit said, ‘‘Elli and I got together on it. We decided we ought to let you in on the situation.’’

‘‘I can’t believe it. Finn in prison. Are you sure?’’

‘‘I heard it from more than one source before I tried to get in to see Dad. Elli heard about it from Hauk—she’ll explain that in a minute. Anyway, she and I have been talking. We figured you’d be interested—given the reports that you two are in love, engaged and getting married any minute.’’

‘‘Don’t believe everything you read in The World Tattler.’’

‘‘But he was there, right? Staying with Mom, hanging around with you on a daily basis?’’

‘‘Yes.’’

‘‘And I—’’ Brit cut herself off. ‘‘Okay, okay…’’ Her voice had grown slightly fainter, as if she’d stopped speaking into the mouthpiece. She must be talking to Elli. Then she spoke into the receiver again. ‘‘Hold on.’’

‘‘Liv?’’ Suddenly it was Elli’s voice in her ear. ‘‘Are you okay? Brit says…there’s a baby.’’

Liv’s throat felt tight. Maybe it was the pregnancy. She’d be a walking waterworks if she didn’t watch herself. ‘‘I’m fine. And yes, I’m pregnant. Barely.’’

‘‘Oh, Livvy…’’ It was all there in Elli’s voice. Joy. Anxiousness. Just a hint of envy—after all, Elli was supposed to be the first one to get pregnant.

‘‘Ell?’’

‘‘Um?

‘‘How are you?’’

‘‘Wonderful. Truly. The happiest woman alive.’’ Even over the phone, her joy in her new life with Hauk came across.

‘‘I’m glad for you.’’

‘‘Thank you—and about Finn.’’ Elli’s voice was all business again. ‘‘Let me tell you what I know. Hauk was sent to meet him at the airport with orders to escort him to Father’s private chambers. Evidently it didn’t go well. Hauk was summoned again, along with two guards that time, to take Finn to Tarngalla.’’

‘‘But why?’’

‘‘Livvy, we don’t know. Not for certain.’’

‘‘What do you know?’’

‘‘That Finn displeased the king. Greatly. And I think…’’ The sentence trailed off in the middle.

Liv prompted, ‘‘What? Tell me.’’

‘‘Well, it has to be about you. Hauk met Finn at the plane. Why would father summon him like that, at three in the morning, if not to grill him about you and the baby and you two getting married? Which reminds me…’’ Elli hesitated, delicately.

Liv made a growling sound. ‘‘Oh, go ahead. Ask me.’’

‘‘Are you marrying him?’’

‘‘No.’’

‘‘But why not?’’

‘‘Ell, you are such a complete romantic. He lives there. I live here. Until he found out I was pregnant, we both knew we’d never see each other again. He’s not ready for marriage. I’m not ready for marriage. We did a stupid thing and now there’s a baby on the way and a baby on the way is not reason enough for two people with nothing in common who would otherwise have just walked away from each other to decide they have to spend their lives together. Enough said?’’

‘‘Do you love him?’’

Liv cast her gaze ceilingward. ‘‘I knew you’d ask that.’’

‘‘Love changes everything.’’

‘‘I’m sure, for you, it has.’’

‘‘You haven’t answered my question. Do you love him?’’

Did she? And did love even matter in this case? She shook her head. ‘‘It’s not the issue.’’

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