The Playboy Prince's Baby - Ana Sparks Page 0,54

my research, that Francisco had probably brought that upon himself.

What I didn’t know was how Javier himself was going to react to me. Or my sudden presence in his house.

I heard the smile in his voice when he answered. “I’ve already sent for breakfast for you, from the main kitchen. It’s my experience that my brother does not keep much useful food in this one. I think you’ll be more pleased with what our larger kitchen can offer.”

I turned back toward him, an answering smile on my face. Because food.

“Are they also sending the strongest green tea they can manage? Because if I’m going to eat—and I’m not going to turn you down on that offer—then I also need tea.”

He took out his phone and made a call. “Please send the strongest green tea you have, as well,” he said, his voice all command. “Yes, we’re ready now.”

As he hung up, he raised an eyebrow at me. “Will that do?”

Evidently, I thought, the charm was a family trait.

“So you’re a feeder too, eh?” I asked, moving to sit at the kitchen table, which looked like it had seen very little use.

“A feeder?” he asked, sliding into the chair across from me.

Oh. Maybe that was an American thing. Or maybe the word didn’t translate.

“Someone who enjoys feeding other people,” I clarified. “Your brother ordered food for me, too, the first day we met. Did he tell you that?”

His face changed from charming to serious so quickly that I almost missed the transition, and when he spoke again, the warmth was gone from his voice. “He’s told me very little about your relationship. In fact, I didn’t even know your name until you arrived yesterday.”

“Well, thanks for letting me in, all the same,” I responded. “Why did you?”

That won me a ghost of the smile he’d been wearing earlier. “I wanted to meet the woman my brother claims he wants to settle down with.”

My heart jumped into my mouth, and then abruptly descended into my stomach at that news. Settle down? I mean yeah, we’d talked about the baby and about telling my parents and everything, but…

We’d never gone beyond that. We’d certainly never talked about what it might mean for our future together. Something about Francisco having said that to his brother made the whole thing suddenly more solid. More real.

And something on my face must have told Javier exactly what I was thinking, because he tipped his head slightly and the smile grew.

“You didn’t know?” he asked. “That my brother wanted to settle down? Or you didn’t know that he wanted to settle down with you?”

I tipped my head back at him, trying to get a read on what answer he expected there… and then I saw something flash through his eyes. It wasn’t aggression, though his words were blunt. It was something deeper than that. Suspicion. Mistrust.

“You don’t believe I love him back,” I said, suddenly understanding. “You believe I’m just in it for the position. Because he’s royalty.”

He just stared at me for a long moment, not answering me, like he was searching his brain for what he wanted to say. And I saw that flicker again. Concern. Love for his brother.

Protectiveness.

“I don’t know if I believe either one of you,” he finally said.

I reached out and grabbed his wrist lightly. “Well, you can believe this,” I told him firmly. “We didn’t mean to find each other, and it was an accident that we did. But I don’t think either of us doubted what it was once that happened.

“I mean enough to your brother that he falsified a passport to come to me when he thought something was wrong. And he means enough to me that I dropped everything, borrowed all the money I could, and flew all the way here when I thought I wasn’t going to get to see him again. I don’t know how he feels about having a future with me, and I don’t know what it will take to convince you. But you can take one thing for a certainty: I love Francisco, and nothing you say or do is going to change that. And if that’s what you wanted to hear, then I’ll repeat it as often as you need me to.”

Look. I’m not usually so dramatic. But something about Javier—something about the way he’d said that he didn’t trust either one of us—made me immediately defensive.

And if nothing else, I guessed this was my chance to lay it all out on