Corrupted by the Prince (A is for Alpha Book 5) (12 page)

His mother swore in Greek, then said she would call Denes, the royal publicist. With a frustrated shake of her head, she turned and strode down the corridor.

“Let me straighten this out, Eva.”

“Straighten what out? A baby? How exactly do you straighten that out?”

“Eva, you must—”

“I don’t need to do anything.” She looked suddenly ill. Turning, she ran into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.

He heard her getting sick a moment later and his own stomach twisted with nausea in response.

Damn it all. What the hell was going on?

Eva splashed cold water on her face and stared at her reflection in the mirror.

What was she doing? How had she ever convinced herself this was going to work?

She made a decision and then left the bathroom.

Kostas stood near the window, speaking quietly into his phone. When he saw her, he ended the call and pocketed his cell.

“Eva—”

“I’m leaving Mykorini within the next few hours. I’m going home to the Hamptons, and I’ll live with my family. I’ll raise this baby myself.”

He went rigid, the color draining from his face. “The hell you will.”

“Don’t you dare swear at me.”

“Saina means nothing to me. She never did. When I met her at a club two months ago I had no idea who she was, no idea that she was engaged to Petros. The ink on the agreement for their union was still wet, the contract only a day old when she seduced me.”

Her heart quickened at his confession. “Maybe I shouldn’t, but I believe you.”

Relief flared in his eyes.

“But it doesn’t change anything.” Numbly, she went on. “I’m still leaving. You won’t fight me for custody. You can’t afford any more of a scandal. Go marry Saina. She’s a citizen of Mykorini, was already positioned to be the queen at one point, and will bear you as many children as you wish.” She gave a humorless laugh that ended on a sob. “And she’s already got one on the way.”

“Your child is my heir. He will not be raised as a bastard.”

Rage flared in her and she clenched her teeth, taking a moment to calm herself. “That term is about an antiquated as your chauvinistic behavior.”

He didn’t deny it, just took a ragged breath. “You can’t leave.”

“I can. I will. I am. I have my family’s support and the financial means to take care of a child on my own.” She began packing things into her suitcase. “I’m setting you free, Kostas. If anyone asks, I’ll deny you are the father. Go on with your life and forget us.”

“Forget you?” He moved with the speed of a panther, crossing the room and catching her arm. “I love you, Evelynn.”

Her heart shattered. She could no longer pretend that she didn’t love him, not after last night. This was what she’d been wanting to hear, and he knew it. His words were a calculated move meant to keep her in Mykorini, but they wouldn’t work. It was too late.

She blinked back the tears and gave a small shake of her head. “No. You don’t.” Taking a deep breath, she knew she had to say more to dissuade him from trying to stop her. “In any case, I don’t love you. I wouldn’t have been happy here on Mykorini, and I was going to tell you that tomorrow before your Coronation.”

It was a lie. A complete, bold-faced lie. But apparently, she did it well enough that he believed her. He stumbled back, stricken.

Feeling even more ill, and only blaming part of it on her pregnancy, Eva turned her back on him and went to finish packing.

Eva checked into a small hotel under a fake name. She knew it was a long shot—hoping that no one would recognize her—but she wanted to at least try.

There were no flights off the island until morning, and the last boat had left an hour ago.

She sat on the bed, her stomach grumbling with hunger, and knew she had to venture outside eventually. She needed to eat, and there was no room service in the quaint hotel.

After tucking her trademark red hair up into a hat and slipping on oversized sunglasses, she stepped outside to find dinner.

Most people ignored her as she walked around the town. She found a small restaurant tucked away at the end of the street and went inside to order something to go.

It was not very busy, with just a handful of people eating. She waited at a table, trying to be as inconspicuous to the other diners as possible. Although she didn’t speak Greek, she managed to pick up enough of a conversation to understand one table was discussing Kostas’s coronation tomorrow.

There was no resentment or doubt in their faces as they spoke. These people seemed excited. It only backed up her instinct that the people of Mykorini truly did like their new king.

Her gut twisted and a lump formed in her throat. She didn’t want to leave him, but really, what choice did she have?

She didn’t want to be the other woman carrying Kostas’s child. She wouldn’t face that kind of humiliation for a man who didn’t love her. She had too much respect for herself, and for her baby.

Eva shifted in her seat and turned to stare out the window, trying not to listen to their conversation any further. She didn’t want to have doubts about her future and her decision to leave.

After her food was brought to her and she’d paid, she slipped from the restaurant and made her way back to the hotel. A couple, young and clearly in love, kissed outside a nearby building.

Feeling like a voyeur, she tried to avert her gaze as she approached. But when the couple stopped kissing and the woman murmured, “
S’Agapo
,” Eva froze.

She only briefly hesitated before approaching them. “Excuse me, do you speak English?”

The woman glanced her way, her expression curious. “Yes.”

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but what did you just say to him?”

The couple exchanged an amused glance and then turned back to Eva.

“I told him I loved him.”

They were the same words Kostas had said to her last night when he’d made love to her. She stood frozen, trying to wrap her head around the new idea that was forming. He’d confessed his love last night, when there’d been no reason to lie. It had been before everything had gone terribly wrong this morning.

He loved her.

Oh God, he really loved her. And she’d just been about to make the biggest mistake of her life.

“You look familiar,” the girl began. “Aren’t you—?”

“Thank you,” she choked out and started running back to the hotel.

As she approached the building, she spotted the Royal Convoy along the street out front.

Her heart lurched into her throat and hope flared inside.

Kostas stepped out of the front door of the hotel, shoulders slouched, brows drawn together, and his face a mask of unease.

“Kostas,” she called out.

His gaze swung her way and his hard expression melted in blatant relief. He rushed to her and pulled her into his arms.

“I thought you’d left,” he rasped.

“No, I just went to get food. How did you find me?”

He pulled away enough to touch her cheek and stare down at her. “I called every hotel and asked if a redheaded American had checked in. There were two places that said yes, and this hotel is the second I’ve been to.”

Tears filled her eyes and she gave a watery laugh. “Can we talk?”

“Of course. I’ll have your suitcase retrieved and we can talk in the car.”

He guided her to the back of the Bentley and climbed in beside her. Even though guards stood watch outside, with the tinted windows and the driver out retrieving her suitcase, they were alone.

Kostas gripped her hand. “First, let me say it again. I love you, Eva.”

Her chest swelled with the joy that filled her. “I know. Or I mean, I believe you now.”

His gaze searched hers. “You do?”

“I do. And I love you too, Kostas. I really do,” she said in a rush. “Everything I said earlier was a lie. I was being stupid.”

“Oh God.” His mouth closed over hers, parting her lips and plundering her mouth in a desperate, reverent kiss.

When he lifted his head, she sighed.

Eva opened her eyes and met his gaze. “And it doesn’t matter about Saina. We can be supportive—”

“The baby is not mine.”

“W-what?” The breath locked in her chest as she searched his gaze.

“I had one of the royal investigators immediately dig up everything they could about her. She was dating a man before she became engaged to Petros. They found him and interviewed him.” Kostas’s jaw flexed. “Her meeting me that night was no accident.”

“I don’t understand.”

“She was already pregnant with her lover’s child when the engagement between Petros and Saina was agreed upon. She knew the wedding wouldn’t be soon enough to pass off the child as Petros’s and he rebuked her seduction attempt—insisting they wait until after the wedding.

So she seduced me with the hope that she could say it was mine.” He gave a harsh laugh. “She was determined to become royal, and didn’t care which brother she married.”

Shocked at the level of deceit the woman had gone to, Eva could only shake her head.

“The paper is already printing an apology and Saina’s lover has gone to the media with the truth.”

“Kostas…”

“I love you. Stay and marry me,
glykia mou
. I know you don’t care for Mykorini, but maybe you will learn to—”

“I love Mykorini and I love you.” She kissed him again. “Nothing would make me happier than staying here and being your wife.”

He shuddered with emotion. With relief. “And my queen.”

“And your queen.”

And then his lips were on hers, and she couldn’t think about whether she would be a good queen, a good wife, or even a good mother.

All that mattered was the love they had for each other. It would see them through the rest.

~One year later~

Kostas lifted his crying daughter from the crib and kissed her cheek.

“Are you hungry, little Kalli? Let us find your mother.”

Entranced by the tiny, perfect face of his child, he could only marvel at how much love he had for Kalliope and Evelynn.

He found Eva in their bedroom, putting on earrings in preparation for a diplomatic dinner tonight. She was staring at a picture of the two of them at his coronation last year.

“I hope I fit in that dress again someday,” she murmured, turning to take their daughter from him.

“Give it time. And I will love you no matter your size. And so will the people of Mykorini.” He kissed her and murmured honestly, “You will always be my beautiful queen.”

“And you will always be my handsome king.” She smiled. “An amazing king to his people.”

He gave a murmur of appreciation. “Thank you. I am becoming more accustomed to my position.”

“You were born for it. You’re an incredible king, husband, and father.” She kissed him again over the top of their daughter’s head. “I’m so glad I let myself be corrupted by you in the Hamptons.”

He laughed. “Ah, but who corrupted whom?”

She joined him in laughter as she moved to a plush chair where she would breastfeed Kalliope.

“I rather think I saved you, Kostas,” she teased.

But he was completely serious as he murmured, “Yes. I rather think you did,
glykia mou
.”

And he couldn’t have been more grateful.

~The End~

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Discover more in the A is for Alpha series. Indulge your fantasies with these steamy, contemporary romances about sexy, billionaire alpha males, and the women who capture their hearts. Readers can enjoy the series in any order.

• The Billionaire’s Baby Bargain

• Beauty and the Sheikh

• Taught by the Tycoon

• Taken by the Pirate Billionaire

Shelli is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author who read her first romance novel when she snatched it off her mother’s bookshelf at the age of eleven. One taste and she was forever hooked. It wasn’t until many years later that she decided to pursue writing stories of her own. By then she acknowledged the voices in her head didn’t make her crazy, they made her a writer.

Shelli is a true pluviophile (lover of rain) and currently lives in the Pacific Northwest where she writes various genres of romance. She’s a compulsive volunteer, and has been known to spontaneously burst into song.
www.shellistevens.com