‘No, of course I’m not! I’m trying to work out what’s in your head, and failing miserably.’ She groaned. ‘This is all going hideously, hideously wrong.’
‘It’s not very nice from this side of the fence either.’
‘No? Well, you try being pregnant and completely on your own.’ She glared at him. ‘Not only does my baby’s father doubt every single word I say, my family have disowned me.’
He remembered what she’d said about being an exprincess. ‘What do you mean, they’ve disowned you?’
‘My mother saw the papers this morning. So that’s how I found out the press knew. She rang me when I was in the shower. And as from this morning I’m no longer part of the Contarini royal family,’ she said dryly.
‘I suppose that solves one of your problems, then. If you’re no longer Princess Melinda, they can’t make you rule Contarini.’
She stared at him. ‘Are you suggesting I did this deliberately?’
Had she? Right now, he really didn’t know. He didn’t have a clue what was going on in her head. ‘I remember a certain night when you talked me out of using a condom.’
Melinda flinched. ‘Apart from the fact I’m almost certainly more than a couple of weeks pregnant…If you can believe that of me, then I suggest you leave. Right now. Because I’d rather bring up our child on my own than be with someone who has such a low opinion of me.’
Memories of his family flashed before his eyes. How his older brother had planned to marry his childhood sweetheart. The way his parents had talked about having grandchildren, reliving their memories of their own children with such happiness. The nursery furniture his brother and father were going to build together. His own role in the family as best man and godfather and uncle.
All gone, because his brother had died before the wedding could take place.
And now Melinda was putting a barrier between him and their child. He’d lost his new family before it had even begun.
‘I can’t deal with this,’ Dragan said, and walked out. Before the bitterness in his throat choked him.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
MELINDA spent the next few days as if she were in a trance. As she’d expected, the headlines were screaming about the royal vet being kicked out of the monarchy. But that would die down soon enough—at least now she had one less problem to deal with.
The only saving grace of that particular mess had been the call from her younger sister. ‘Lini? It’s me. I’ve just seen the papers and I could murder our mother! I’ve told her that, whatever happens, I still love you and you will always be my sister. And I’ve also told Mamma exactly what I think of her behaviour.’ Serena’s tone was caustic. ‘She wanted to know if you’d taught me the swear words I used.’
‘Oh, no.’
Serena laughed. ‘I told her that I’d been the one to teach them to Raffi, actually, and she went off to get the smelling salts, muttering about how disgraceful my generation is. She’s going to be in for a shock when Papà hands over to me, because I’m dragging Contarini into the twenty-first century, whether it likes it or not.’ She paused. ‘Well, I’m looking forward to being an auntie. And to meeting your Dragan properly.’
Melinda swallowed hard. ‘You’ve seen the papers. I don’t think he is my Dragan any more.’
‘Don’t be silly. Of course he is. I remember everything that you told me while you were over here. It’s obvious that you love him and he loves you.’
‘It’s not as simple as that.’
‘Everything’s simple,’ Serena said crisply. ‘People just think too hard and then they complicate things. He loves you and you love him. You’re expecting his baby. The only thing that was standing in your way was the monarchy. And now that hurdle’s gone, there’s no reason for you not to be together.’
‘He walked out on me, Rena.’
‘So you had a fight. Patch it up. Don’t be too proud about it,’ Serena counselled softly. ‘Go and see him. Tell him how you really feel about him.’
‘Maybe.’
‘Stop messing about and just do it.’
‘Hey, you’re not queen yet. You can’t order me around,’ Melinda said, trying to keep it light.
‘I can try.’ Serena’s voice grew serious. ‘Lini, I meant what I said. Just forget what Mamma said. It’s not true. You’ll always be my sister. And I’ll always be there for you—just as you’ve always been there for me. If it wasn’t for you, I’d never be able to do this job, because you’re the one who’s shown me I can do anything if I try. Look at you—you left home at eighteen and went to study in a foreign country. And veterinary science is hard enough in Italian, let alone in a different language. So you showed me how to reach for the stars—how something might seem impossible but I could do it if I tried hard enough.’
‘I really am going to cry now.’
‘Don’t. Call Dragan and tell him you love him. And when you get the first picture from the scan, if you don’t send me a copy right away I’ll have you chucked in the palace dungeons.’
‘Noted, Your Highness,’ Melinda said.
Serena just laughed. ‘Don’t think I don’t mean it. Look, I have to go, cara. But you call me if you need me, OK?’
‘I will. And thank you, Rena. I thought…’ Melinda choked back the words.
‘You think too much. Now go and do as your sovereign-to-be orders.’
But Dragan wasn’t answering his phone. Melinda assumed that he was out somewhere with Bramble. But the longer she left it, the harder it was to make the call, until she didn’t make it at all.
Work kept her busy the next day.
And then she had a callout to the caravan park. There had been a dogfight, and one of the animals had been badly bitten. ‘I know I should’ve told them to bring the dog down here,’ Rachel said, ‘but the girl was hysterical.’
‘OK. I can always bring the dog back myself, if need be,’ Melinda said.
But when she pulled in to the caravan park, she recognised one of the other cars in the car park. Dragan’s. Rachel could have warned her that a doctor had been called out, too.
Well, Penhally wasn’t that big a place. She’d have to face him some time. May as well be now. She lifted her chin, straightened her spine and went over to where he was treating a teenage boy whose arm was bloodstained. Next to him, a girl was on her knees beside an elderly Yorkshire terrier lying on a picnic blanket, stroking its head and crying her eyes out.
Dragan looked at her, unsmiling.
She might not want to talk to him on a personal level, but she’d show him she could be professional. ‘Dr Lovak,’ she said, giving him a cool nod of acknowledgement.
‘Ms Fortescue,’ he responded.
‘I’m Melinda, the vet,’ she said to the girl. ‘You’re Colleen, who rang about your dog?’
The girl nodded. ‘My mum’s going to kill me,’ she quavered.
‘What happened?’
‘I was taking Bruiser for a walk. Except I wasn’t looking after him properly.’ She flushed. ‘I was talking to Micky.’
Micky being the boy with the bloody arm. Clearly a holiday romance, Melinda thought with a pang. One that the poor girl would remember for all the wrong reasons.
Without