Harlequin Presents: Once Upon A Temptation June 2020--Box Set 2 of 2

of the way and then discovering a different and an entirely more frightening possibility dawning on her when her period was two weeks late. Could Rafiq have lied to her about being infertile? Well, he hadn’t been decent enough to mention that he was engaged, had he? By that stage, Izzy was willing to believe any evil of Rafiq. He had left her two thousand pounds in that envelope for cooking two meals for him and presumably, whether he was prepared to admit the offensive fact or not, for being a willing bed partner. He had treated her exactly like a hooker, thrusting cash at her as she departed, and her blood still boiled over that truth. But she didn’t understand either how she could possibly have conceived while she was taking the pill; she hadn’t missed one…had she?
The ice queen of a doctor at the student health centre soon disabused her of that conviction with the reminder that she had been on a course of antibiotics for a mild infection only a couple of weeks earlier and that it was stated quite clearly on the leaflet that came with the pills that antibiotics could interfere with birth-control medication and that in that situation extra precautions should be taken.
‘Yes…but who reads those leaflets?’ Izzy had mumbled while the lady doctor looked at her as though she was an idiot when she already felt like one.
It was too late but, devastated by the confirmation that, yes, she was indeed pregnant, Izzy read that stupid leaflet on the bus on the way home and learned that even that episode of sickness she had had that night after leaving Rafiq would have lessened the effectiveness of her birth-control pills. It seemed to her that every piece of happenstance bad luck she could have had had all visited her on one day but she blamed Rafiq most of all for that lie about infertility, for parting from her without even giving her his surname or any means of contacting him. Of course, an engaged man wouldn’t want any comeback from his one-night stand, would he? she thought nastily. And why should he get to walk away from her pregnancy when she couldn’t?
There was another side of the coin to Izzy’s feelings about her pregnancy. She adored babies, had always hoped that there would be children in her future but…?
At that precise moment in her life, a pregnancy was nothing short of a disaster, she acknowledged unhappily. She needed to be able to complete her education with a teaching qualification to earn a decent living and how was a baby going to factor into that? And what about the costs involved in raising a child? Everyone knew that babies, sweet and wondrous as they were, cost a fortune to bring up!
The more Izzy thought about what Rafiq had done to her, the angrier she became, because he had walked away afterwards, deliberately ensuring that she had no chance of identifying him or contacting him for support or anything else.
She accepted that a sneakier approach to her dilemma was required. Determined to identify Rafiq, Izzy called in at the rental agency that managed the penthouse apartment she cleaned and got into a cosy chat with the receptionist. In tones of wonder, she described the absolutely gorgeous guy with his bodyguards whom she had supposedly seen when leaving the building.
‘That must’ve been the Prince…’ The receptionist sighed, hanging on her every word. ‘I never saw him, of course. People that important don’t make their own bookings but when his staff contacted us on his behalf, I looked him up on the website because I was curious…a prince, you know, and he is very, very good-looking, isn’t he? I wish I’d seen him in the flesh.’
‘The Prince?’ Izzy repeated chokily. ‘Like a real prince?’
‘Heir to the Zenarian throne. It’s all on their website,’ her companion told her abstractedly. ‘He’s something special.’
Izzy was gobsmacked. A prince? A freakin’ prince? And now she understood the bodyguards, the air of imperious expectation, the cash, the reluctance to tell her anything about himself, which she had only registered afterwards, when it was far too late to see that attitude as suspicious. She raced home purely to look up the website that had been mentioned and, true enough, there Rafiq was in a photo along with his uncle, the Regent, the heir to the blasted throne of the whole country! Even worse, there was a very small reference to a rumour that the heir could be getting married again soon.
Breathing heavily, Izzy paced the room, relieved that once again her twin was back in London with their parents, attending job interviews. Sooner or later she would have to come clean about her problems but, right now, Maya had more than enough on her plate and Izzy was determined not to lean on her sister as well. It was a wonder, she thought guiltily, that Maya hadn’t already drowned with the sheer weight of them all clinging to her, constantly looking to her for advice and support.
No, on this occasion, Izzy would deal with her own issues and act like an adult. Not like the time she had been bullied at school. Not like the time Maya had rescued her from drowning in a winter river and almost drowned herself. Not like the time Izzy had broken her leg and Maya had sat up all night in hospital with her. No, just for once, Izzy would handle herself.
She would fly to Zenara using the money Rafiq had given her to cover the cost of the flight. She had to tell him that she was pregnant before he got married. That was only fair to him and the woman he was planning to marry. It would be mean to withhold such information until a later date. In any case, the child she carried was his baby as well, and, while he had a responsibility towards his fiancée, he also had a responsibility towards Izzy and