Billionaire's Runaway Princess (12 page)

She rolled over onto her side and stroked her belly absently. It hadn’t been her plan to actually rest, but boredom and perhaps remaining soreness initiated another round of sleep. That was how she’d spent most of the past four days, and at least it usually offered a reprieve from the monotony of her days.

***

Ian’s hand on her shoulder woke her some time later. By then, the white light of morning had become the darkness of early evening. For a moment, the drastic change in light disoriented her. “What time is it?”

“Later than usual.” Ian pulled one of the white brocade-upholstered armchairs over to the bed and sat down. “I got held up at work.”

He laid a Styrofoam takeout container onto a towel stretched over the quilt. The delicious smell made Lizzy’s stomach growl. She added one more victory to her mental tally sheet. Sleep had given her the clarity she so desperately needed, and she know now that if she was going to survive bedrest with her sanity intact, changes needed to be made.

But it wasn’t as simple making demands. Ian had opened his home to her and spent a lot of money finding someone to care for her. That meant she owed him, and while she didn’t like owing anyone, she never mistreated someone who’d done her a favor. Which meant trusting him to make the decision with her even though it went against all of her instincts.

“Look, Ian...”

“Wait. First, you have to see what’s on the menu tonight. I think you’ll get a kick out of it.” He tugged open the container and revealed a steaming helping of fried fish and chips. “I won’t tell you how to eat, but if you don’t use the malt vinegar, you’ll cheapen the entire experience.”

“Fish and chips is an experience?” she asked as she turned a packet of the vinegar in her fingers.

“Everything is an experience if you do it right.” He opened his container and caught a fat chip between his fingers. “And don’t they say you should eat the way the locals do when traveling?”

“I guess.” Lizzy held the packet in her hands for a moment as she thought of the best way to broach the subject in her mind without offending Ian. The words came from her mouth in a rush before she could stop them. “I don’t think Peyton is working out.”

Ian ripped a corner from his piece of fish and held it between his fingers. He watched Lizzy for a few moments as if rolling her words in his mind, but there was no hint of surprise in his face. Peyton must have already spoken to him.

“Okay,” he said.

“She hasn’t done anything wrong.” Lizzy opened the vinegar packet and sprinkled it over the fish and fries…er, chips. “I just...I’ve been on my own since I was seventeen. I don’t need someone hovering over me all day. Especially not a stranger. I know you paid her, and I can pay you back if canceling her contract means you’re out some cash.”

“You don’t have to pay me back for anything. That’s my niece or nephew in there.” Ian pointed to her belly, but didn’t touch it. He never touched Lizzy without asking. “And you don’t have to explain why it’s not working. If you don’t like her, she doesn’t have to be here.”

Lizzy smiled as relief washed over. She ripped off a small piece of fish and nibbled at one of the crispy edges. It tasted better than she expected, almost as good as her mother’s recipe, which she’d never been able to replicate.

“On one condition,” Ian said.

Lizzy raised an eyebrow, her mouthful of fried fish making any other method of communication impossible.

“I’ll tell Peyton to stay home. No more strangers if you let me help you more.”

The fish went cold in her mouth as she scolded herself for celebrating too soon. Trading the daily battles with Peyton for more of the same with Ian wasn’t what she’d had in mind. Ian was nice enough to her, always polite, but Lizzy didn’t know Ian as an opponent.

“I don’t know, Ian. I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Or a nurse as long as you stay in bed. That’s not what I’m suggesting. You’re carrying my brother’s child. That basically makes us family.” The warm light of the room made the tears in Ian’s hazel eyes glisten. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t have much of that left.”

Lizzy shook her head. Her father had chosen the path of least resistance through life—the one that didn’t include a wife and a baby to feed—shortly after her birth. If she passed him on the street she wouldn’t recognize him. He was that much of a stranger to her. Her mother was all she’d had until overwork and cancer had stolen her from Lizzy.

“I’m not asking for us to be best friends tomorrow,” Ian said. “I’m just asking to get to know you better.”

Ian’s words ran through her mind in a loop. They rang true. He was her baby’s uncle and only family besides her. She wasn’t ready for annual Christmas dinners in Scotland, but knowing Ian couldn’t hurt. “What about your job?”

“I can take some time off, and anything my staff can’t handle they can call me for.”

Lizzy nodded and tried to convince herself that everything would be all right. “Okay, we can try it your way.”

A wide grin spread across Ian’s lips that made him look like a giddy school boy despite the hair on his cheeks and above his lip. It was infectious, spreading to Lizzy’s lips as she tried her first vinegar-sprinkled chip, discovering it gave the fries a pleasant zip without the syrupy sweetness of ketchup. “Not bad. You know back home they say the food in Scotland is weird.”

“What do they know?” Ian waved a hand to dismiss the proverbial strangers and plucked another chip from his nearly empty tray.

“Enough to give travel advice.”

“Yeah well, it’s easy advice to follow when your host can’t cook.”

“Ah, so you’re not just taking me on a culinary tour of Scotland.”

“Just a tour of takeaway restaurants between here and my office.” Ian put his tray back in the bag and tented his fingers. “But if you want a tour of Scotland, I’d be happy to arrange it. I can even help you set up shop here. Give the little one some roots.”

Lizzy hesitated as her mind searched for a way to refuse Ian without offending him. She settled on the truth. “I can’t stay here, Ian. I don’t mind getting to know you, or having you in the baby’s life, but I have a life in New York. I’m taking too much time away from it as it is.”

Of course, life in New York was all work all the time. For Lizzy, life was show openings at any of the dozens of galleries dotting Manhattan and Brooklyn. It was days spent putting together portfolios to pass to her boss, knowing she would steal the credit with the client later. It was late-night dinners of whatever happened to be in her fridge that would fill her stomach until she grabbed a mega-sized coffee and bagel on her way back into the office.

She didn’t love the job or her erratic schedule, but it was part of her and had been for so long she didn’t know any other way. It was all over now. That life had been fine for her as a single woman, but it wouldn’t be once the baby was born.

Disappointment pushed the boyish grin from Ian’s face, but there was no sign of offense as if he’d expected her answer despite hoping for a different outcome.

“I understand,” he said. “I won’t bring it up again.”

Ian stayed true to his word. He didn’t bring it up again that night. In fact, he didn’t say much of anything while she finished her dinner. He switched the television to light sitcom. Lizzy found herself grateful each time his laughter pierced the silence of the room. Things didn’t seem so bad when he laughed. Lizzy watched him as the show continued.

“I just realized something,” she said.  “You’re exactly like your brother.”

“How so?”

“Oh you know, the mannerisms. Your laugh. The way you can’t resist being a nice guy even when you have no real reason to. Just like him. It must run in the family.”

“Gerard was known for being a fun guy, but I can’t remember anyone telling me he was a nice guy. He was never deliberately cruel, but he could be…careless with others’ emotions.” Ian shook his head. “I’m glad he showed you a different side. No. Gerard wasn’t...I mean, he....” Ian looked away as tears seemed to be on the verge of spilling from his eyes again.

The grief was still fresh for him, though he covered it so well that Lizzy had forgotten he’d just lost his brother. Lizzy had said her angry goodbyes to Gerard months ago when she still knew him as Ian. While the grief had seemed fresh the day she’d gone to Ian’s office, she reminded herself that she’d never really expected to see him again. Life wasn’t a fairytale. Even if she’d hoped for a reunion, she didn’t expect one. Now she didn’t know how to feel. How could she mourn a man she hadn’t known?

She reached for Ian’s hand to comfort him. He looked at her, his hazel eyes watery and rimmed in red. For the longest time he just stared at her in silence, now and then sniffling quietly.

His voice was hoarse when he finally spoke. “I should let you get some rest.” He’d left the room before she could think of anything to say.

Lizzy pressed her head back into the soft pillow and closed her eyes. The idea of a new family, a new start, appealed to her, but her inability to navigate a simple dinner conversation without hurting Ian’s feelings just proved that she wasn’t ready for that level of closeness. It would be better for both of them when she went back to New York. When they could both put their memories to rest.

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Undercover Billionaire Boss

Faith and the Billionaire’s Baby

Two Heirs For The Billionaire

Seducing His Professor

Hollywood Happily Ever After

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Mia Caldwell has been fantasizing about stories of “Happily-Ever-After” since she was a little girl, and now that’s she’s all grown up her “Happily-Ever-After” stories have taken a steamier turn! After graduating from college Mia still wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to do with her life. Bored with her day job as an Administrative Assistant for a non-profit, she started writing stories on the side and sharing them with her friends. They gave her the push she needed to share them with you! She lives in New York with two rascally cats named Link and Zelda, eats too much chocolate and Chinese take-out, and goes on way too many blind dates. She’s still waiting for Mr. Right, but in the meantime she’ll keep dreaming up the perfect man!
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