‘Oh, my goodness.’ Lola Garcia was right behind him. ‘Enrique, get a nurse.’
‘I’m okay.’ Phoebe had momentarily fainted, but she’d also recovered quickly. Her skin was regaining a hint of colour and her eyes were focused on Octavio, as if trying to work out if he was really there or not.
‘It’s you.’
‘I’m sorry, Your Majesty,’ Lola murmured with concern. ‘She’s obviously still not with it.’
‘She seems with it enough to me,’ he responded, his brain not able to put two and two together and get four, even when the number was flashing in front of him in neon.
Phoebe was pregnant.
But not too far along. Her belly was only noticeably rounded because she was so naturally slim. And only because he knew her body inch by inch and would have noticed even the smallest of differences.
‘I’m okay,’ Phoebe repeated, pushing away a little now, trying to stand. He watched as she sat up first, then went to bend her knees, but it was evident that she was still too woozy. Besides, Lola wasn’t having a bar of it.
‘You’ll have to be checked out and signed off by a doctor. It’s a workplace health and safety issue, you see.’
‘I only fainted. It’s nothing,’ Phoebe said, not daring to look at Octavio.
‘Yes, well, we can’t be too careful, particularly not in your condition.’
Phoebe’s face scrunched up, and Octavio realised she’d been holding on to some kind of fool’s hope that he hadn’t realised she was pregnant.
‘Director Garcia is right,’ Octavio said, his voice so darkly menacing he didn’t recognise it. ‘A pregnant woman cannot be too careful.’
Phoebe’s eyes jerked to his and he saw the panic in their depths and he was glad. Almost as glad as he was livid. Phoebe James had seriously crossed a line and he was going to make sure she knew it.
CHAPTER FIVE
PHOEBEWASREELING. Her mind was spinning and it wouldn’t stop. On top of the shock of seeing Octavio for the first time in six weeks, and knowing he hadseen her, was the news the doctor had delivered after her fainting episode.
In an exercise in ‘above and beyond’ care, they’d done an ultrasound to check on her pregnancy. Phoebe hadn’t had one yet, and she was close enough to twelve weeks for it to be time. She’d been grateful when they’d suggested it—one less thing for her to take care of.
But as the room filled with a cacophony of beats, and the doctor had turned to her, beaming, he’d said, ‘Well, well, aren’t you clever? It’s twins!’ Phoebe had almost fainted again.
Twins.
Twins.
She’d just been getting her head around the fact that she was going to be a single mother toonebaby—a task she knew from experience to be one of the hardest in the world. But a single mother totwochildren? She felt hot and cold.
So when she emerged from theclínicaa little while later and saw Octavio’s driver waiting for her, she wanted to refuse to go anywhere with him. But even though she was in shock, she knew there was no chance Octavio would let this matter drop. In a total fog, she slid into the back seat of the car, her mind racing as the sleek limousine slipped through the streets of the city.She didn’t notice the beauty of the place, the beaches she loved, the Mediterranean buildings all rendered in shades of orange and cream, the paved paths and laundry strung from window to window. She noticed nothing,nada.
Her whole body was in a state of suspended animation.
‘There’s paparazzi waiting,’ the driver said with a tone of apology as the car slowed.
Phoebe looked around, belatedly realising they were not at the townhouse she’d expected to be taken to, but rather approaching Octavio’s palace. Her breath hitched in her throat at the sight of this place, which was so utterly beautiful it almost hurt.
The ornate wrought iron gates with their gold spikes and large coat of arms swung inwards. On either side of their car, several guards stood in military uniform, their large guns displayed proudly at their front. Gravel crunched beneath the tyres as the car rolled forward, towards the front of the palace, where a large golden fountain was spurting water. There were several archways in the façade of the palace, and they drove through one to the right of the impressive main entrance, into a courtyard that had another fountain, more guards and a lot of perfectly maintained greenery in pots.
A quick glance showed all the things Phoebe might have expected—pale stone walls, columns, domed roofs, arched windows, small balconies, abundant flowers growing in pots. It was just as exquisite inside the palace walls as outside. The car drew to a stop by a set of six shallow steps that led to a double set of extra tall doors. When the driver opened her door, she found it took a moment for her legs to cooperate, but she forced herself to step out of the vehicle, even when her palms were sweaty.
‘This way, ma’am.’
The driver gestured for her to precede him, and as she walked up the stairs, one hand on the cool metal railing, the doorsswung inwards, held that way by two maids in old-fashioned uniforms.
‘Thank you.’ She smiled tightly, her heart rabbiting in her chest.
