‘Still she lies,’ James said, because someone must have spoken to the media. ‘Well, your brother omitted to mention that you were pregnant when he had his hands around my throat. I’m assuming that he knew then.’
Leila closed her eyes. ‘Yes, he tracked me down a few weeks ago and I told him that I was with child and that I didn’t know what to do...’
‘And yet, you didn’t think to ring me. Instead you sent him to beat me up.’
There was a long stretch of silence before Leila spoke. ‘It’s complicated, James,’ Leila said instead. ‘Zayn is very protective towards me.’
‘Actually, it’s not complicated at all,’ James interrupted. ‘We had sex, and now we’re having a baby...’ It was starting to dawn on him that this was real. ‘You had no right, no right at all, to keep this news from me. Was I ever going to find out?’
‘I tried to call you.’
‘Liar.’
‘I did,’ Leila said. ‘That number you gave me was wrong.’
‘No, it wasn’t.’
‘It was,’ Leila said. ‘I tried many times to call you.’
‘Try it now,’ James challenged.
He stood and so, too, did Leila and she took the number from a drawer and walked over to a walnut desk. James watched as she dialled the number and closed his eyes in brief frustration as she had omitted to dial for an outside line.
‘Are you kidding me, Leila?’
‘Kidding?’ Leila frowned.
‘You really don’t know how to get an outside line?’ He saw her blink and then frown in confusion.
‘I just press three and ask for my meals to be sent to me.’
She went back and sat at the table. ‘I know you think I was trying to trap you but I truly was not. In many ways it has been good not being able to speak with you because I’ve been able to work through things myself and I’ve given it a lot of thought. I am angry with my brother about the fight, and anyway, I don’t want to rely on him or anyone. I am going to raise my baby alone.’
‘Our baby,’ James corrected, and Leila felt her throat constrict when she heard the snap of possession in his voice.
‘I don’t need your help in this, James.’
‘It’s not about what you need. It’s about what the baby needs,’ James said. ‘Though I’d suggest that you do need some help. I’ve heard on the grapevine that your credit card has been stopped. I guess Mommy and Daddy are not very amused with their daughter’s behaviour.’
‘I don’t think that they will ever speak with me again,’ Leila said, ‘so I doubt I will find out.’
James looked at her and felt a bit bad then—his parents were trouble enough but Leila was dealing with a king and queen. ‘I’m sure they’ll come around.’
He took a breath; a sense of disquiet was growing as the ramifications of that thought hit home. Yes, her parents would surely come around and what then?
What happened then to the princess and her baby?
What happened to his child?
‘How did your parents take the news?’ Leila asked.
‘I’m not here to talk about our families,’ James said. ‘I’m here to sort things out between us.’
‘There is no us,’ Leila said.
‘Who’s your OB?’ James asked, and she frowned. ‘Your physician? You have seen someone other than the hotel doctor?’
‘No.’
‘You haven’t had an ultrasound?’ James checked, and she simply stared back at him. ‘It might be twins!’
‘There are a lot of twins in my family.’
The day just got better and better!
‘So, Leila, what are you going to do for money now that your parents have cut you off?’ James asked, and glanced around the room. He’d seen in the bedroom when he’d stood from the chair that her once-empty wardrobe was now bulging and there was a lot of evidence of her extravagance here too—she must have fifty bottles of perfume laid out on the table and the diamonds sparkling from her ears hadn’t been there that night.
Her make-up was amazing though—her lips were in a neutral shade much more subtly seductive than that terrible red lipstick she had worn, and the touch of mascara she wore now accentuated the gold of her eyes.
‘What I do for money is not your concern.’
‘Actually, it is,’ came James’s sarcastic response, ‘because given the news you’re no doubt entitled to half of mine...’
‘James,’ Leila interrupted. ‘I know there are laws here, that you will feel obligated, but I told you, I have already decided to go it alone. Anyway, I don’t want someone so promiscuous or reckless as a father...’