Read Online Scandal With a Prince by Nicole Burnham - Free Book Online Page A

Anna’s father and they haven’t breathed a word to a soul.”   Megan leaned forward, studying him across the table.   “You’re telling me that you never got my messages?”
    “Never.”  
    “I see.”   How could she phrase this without sounding jealous or catty?   “I hate to point out the obvious, but you had another woman in your life by that time.   Not only were you planning a wedding and dealing with intense press coverage, you were in the midst of your military training.   Would you honestly have paid attention if you received a message from me during that period?   Plus, it was ten years ago.   Remembering a phone message from way back then would be—”
    “Megan, I would have paid attention.   I would have remembered.”   His gaze bored into hers.   “I would have called.”  
    She wanted to doubt him.   Wanted to believe that her life would have been exactly the same had he actually been told of her attempts to contact him—after all, she and Anna were happy and healthy, and she’d landed a dream job in a dream city—but the steadfast look in Stefano’s eyes told her he thought otherwise.   If he’d received her messages, he believed everything would have been different.   Everything.  
    Then his gaze dropped to her mouth.   A shiver ran through her at the flash of desire that crossed his face before he stifled it.  
    He was quiet for a moment, then said, “You gave up trying.”
    She took a quick sip of her orange juice to gather her thoughts, then nodded.   “When you didn’t return my calls, I went online to see if there might be another way to contact you.   That’s how I learned of your engagement to Ariana Bassi.   I was so busy with classes and morning sickness I hadn’t even realized you’d gotten engaged.   Once I read the news, I assumed that was the reason you hadn’t returned my calls.   I thought it best at that point not to upset your life.”  
    Or her own.   While Stefano’s engagement hadn’t been news in the United States, it was the talk of Europe.   Photos splashed over the Internet showed Stefano racing across the palace courtyard, barefoot and bare-chested, to see Ariana the day after he’d returned from Venezuela.   They’d become engaged soon afterward.   Royal-watchers were mad for Stefano and his aristocratic bride-to-be, a Sarcaccian dressage rider with Olympic ambitions.   The media speculated on everything from how long they’d been seeing each other to the most minute details of the planned wedding at Sarcaccia’s grand cathedral, a ceremony scheduled to take place two months after Megan’s due date.  
    If the media caught even a whisper of the fact that the royal groom had a secret two-month-old child, it would derail four lives:   Megan’s, Stefano’s, Ariana’s, and Anna’s.   Paparazzi would’ve been camped outside Megan’s small, off-campus apartment in Minnesota within hours, hoping to cash in on the scandal.   Once she’d shut down her computer and absorbed what she’d seen, she knew she wouldn’t call again.  
    “Ah.”   Stefano looked stricken, as if he hadn’t considered his engagement to be a factor.   But how could he not?
    “Stefano, think back to what was happening in your life then.   If anyone had learned about Anna, it would’ve been a disaster.”
    Stefano scowled, but not before turning toward the window to hide his expression from the rest of the restaurant.   “I wish you’d have persisted.   Or tried to find another way to reach me.   I would have wanted to know.”  
    Could he not see reason?   “Stefano—”  
    “It’s all right.   I understand why you didn’t.”   He kept his gaze on the street, watching as the balladeer packed his guitar now that the morning bakery crowd had thinned.   “You were likely right to keep the information to yourself after making so many attempts.   The scandal would have been swift and certain.   No child should start life under