“What a jerk.”
Maggie nodded and looked at her friend. “I love him.”
Victoria gave her a sad smile. “I figured that out. Unfortunately he didn’t.”
“I don’t want him to know. Then he’d only pity me. It’s better that he doesn’t understand me. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.” More tears filled her eyes. “I just don’t know how to get through this.”
“One second at a time. You keep breathing, keep putting one foot in front of the other.”
“I want to go home. I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow. I want to make sure it’s okay for me to fly with the baby and all, and then I’m gone.”
“I’ll miss you,” Victoria said.
“You’re leaving soon, too, aren’t you? Come to Aspen. It’s beautiful and there are lots of rich, powerful men hanging around the slopes.”
“I’m done with rich, powerful men but I will come visit you. I want to be there when the baby is born.”
“I’d like that.” Otherwise Maggie would be alone. She knew Jon would offer to be with her, but that would be too weird.
At least he could be talked out of it. Qadir would not. He would storm into the delivery room and demand to be a part of things. She started to cry again.
“I wish I didn’t love him,” she said. “I didn’t want it to be like this. I didn’t want to be one of those women crushed by a man.”
“You’re not.”
“Look at me.”
“You’ll get over this and be stronger for it.”
Maggie didn’t believe her. “Why couldn’t he love me?”
“Men like him don’t fall in love,” Victoria told her. “They take what’s offered and move on. They don’t have to give their hearts. It’s never required of them.”
Maggie wanted to disagree and say Qadir wasn’t like that, only he was. After all, he’d been the one to come up with the idea of them pretending to be involved. He was also willing to marry her even though he didn’t love her.
“I want a man who loves me passionately,” she whispered. “I want to matter more than anything.”
“Not me,” Victoria told her. “Love is messy.”
Right now messy looked pretty good.
“Tell me the pain will get better,” she said.
“You know it will. You’re going to heal and move on. One day you’ll look back on all this and be grateful you got away when you did.”
Maggie hoped her friend was right, but she had her doubts.
The doctor’s office was in a modern building next to a hospital. Maggie showed up a few minutes early for her appointment to fill out paperwork.
Victoria had found the female doctor by asking around at the palace and then had even phoned to make the appointment. Maggie was going to miss her when she left.
After checking in for her appointment, she took the clipboard over to one of the comfortable seats and began filling in the information. She hesitated at the line that asked for her home address, then wrote in that of the palace.
In a few days that wouldn’t be true anymore. She already had her ticket home to Aspen. Once there, she would find an apartment to rent until she got her house back, then start looking for a job. She would have to put away as much money as possible before the baby came.
She answered all the health questions. She had no symptoms of anything unusual and so far, no problems with her pregnancy. Still, a part of her hoped to be told she couldn’t fly for a few more weeks. Which was just dumb. What did she think? That more time would make Qadir realize he was madly in love with her? Like that was ever going to happen.
With the paperwork completed and turned in, she flipped through a magazine before she was called in to the exam room.
Dr. Galloway was a friendly woman in her late forties. They discussed her due date, prenatal vitamins and Maggie’s new dietary needs.
“While everyone wants to eat for two,” Dr. Galloway told her, “you’re currently eating for yourself and something the size of a rice grain. It’s better for you and the baby if you can keep your weight down. The more you put on now, the more you’ll have to take off later.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Maggie said, knowing lately she was too sad to eat. She would have to force herself to stay healthy for the sake of the baby. “Is it all right for me to fly?”
“Sure. There aren’t any problems in the first few months.”
“Thanks.” Maggie tried not to sound disappointed. It appeared there was nothing keeping her in El Deharia.
The doctor smiled at her. “It’s a little early, so I can’t promise, but would you like to try to hear the baby’s heartbeat?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“We’ll get set up in a-”
There was a commotion in the hall, the sound of footsteps followed by a woman saying, “You can’t go in there. Sir, you can’t.”
“I am Prince Qadir. I may go where I like.”
“Sir, there are
“Then tell me where she is.”
Dr. Galloway rose. “What on earth is that?”
Maggie sat up. “Um, he’s with me.”
The doctor stared at her. “He’s the-”
“No. Not the father. Just someone I know. He’s…” She shrugged, not sure how to explain about Qadir’s imperious proposal and impossible assumptions.
“You can let him in,” Maggie said. “It’s okay.”
Dr. Galloway left to get Qadir while Maggie tried to figure out what he was doing at the doctor’s office. How had he even known about her appointment? Then she remembered the date book on her desk. Had he looked there?
She knew better than to be happy about the invasion. Qadir was here for his own reasons, but they were unlikely to be overly thrilling to her.
The door to the exam room flew open and he stalked inside. “You did not tell me about your appointment.”
“I know.”
“I wish to be informed of these things.”
“Why?”
“Because it is not right for you to keep this information from me.”
She sat up on the examining table and did her best to look dignified while dressed in a thin cloth gown that tied in the back.
“This isn’t your child,” she reminded him, refusing to get lost in his dark eyes or remember how good his mouth felt against hers. “You have nothing to do with my pregnancy.”
“I want to marry you and be a father to your child. That makes me involved.”
“I didn’t accept your proposal. Weren’t you listening?”
“You weren’t saying anything I wanted to hear.” He reached for her hand. “Maggie, why are you being difficult?”
She snatched her fingers away before he could touch them. “This isn’t difficult, Qadir, it’s real. I’m not willing to be a convenience in your life. I want more.”
The door opened and a young woman wheeled in a monitor. She paused. “Should I come back?”
“Yes,” Qadir said impatiently.
“No,” Maggie told her as she scowled at him. “I want her to stay. I might be able to hear the baby’s
