Royal Holiday Baby by Leanne Banks Page B

back to Zach. “What are you gonna do?”
    Zach sighed, moving the cooked burgers onto the buns. “She’s staying at the ranch. That’s a first step.”
    â€œFirst?” Daniel said. “Sounds like you two skipped a few along the way. You gonna marry her?”
    â€œI’m working on it,” he said. “She’s not from Texas.”
    â€œWhere’s she from?” Daniel asked.
    â€œChantaine.”
    â€œWhere the hell is that?”
    â€œIt’s a small principality in the Mediterranean,” he said and decided to drop the rest of the bomb. “Tina’s a princess.”
    Daniel gawked at him then swore. “A princess?” His brother shook his head and looked in Tina’s direction, giving a hearty laugh. “Thank God.”
    Zach frowned. “What do you mean thank God?”
    Daniel’s face turned serious. “I mean you’ve been stuck in a rut since Jenny and the baby…” He lifted his hand when Zach opened his mouth. “You asked, so let me finish. You had every right to mourn. Every right. But you’ve become a crabby hermit. I have a feeling this woman is going to turn your world upside down.”
    Zach took a long look at Tina and felt his gut twist and turn. She laughed and the sound felt like honey sliding through him. When he’d arrived home last night to a full house of overnight visitors, he’d been damn sure that he and Tina would never be compatible. His privacy and solitude were too important to him.
    Her energy and determination, her heart, however, did something to him. She inspired him to want to help too. To maybe do something he didn’t usually do, such as flip burgers for the multitudes so they could donate what they could to help the Gordons.
    On top of that, his physical attraction to her hadn’t waned one bit. In fact, it had gotten worse. Tonight, he’d seen other men smiling and flirting with her and he suddenly found himself making a fist or clenching his jaw. One of his men had asked if he could take her out to dinner because he hadn’t known she belonged to Zach.
    The truth was she didn’t belong to Zach and that bothered the hell out of him.
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    Hours later, after a couple of Zach’s workers hustled out the last guests, Zach watched Tina sink onto a bench and walked toward her. Handing her a cold bottle of water, he noticed the signs of weariness and felt a twist of concern. “You pushed a little too hard and too long tonight, didn’t you?”
    She accepted the bottle of water and took a long swallow. “Not really. I think it was just that last hour when the newsthat I was a princess seemed to run through the crowd like wildfire.” She shook her head. “I really didn’t want the focus taken off of the Gordons’ plight.”
    Zach couldn’t resist a low chuckle. “You can’t really blame them. We don’t get a lot of royalty around here. That’s why I made the announcement that the party was over and sent a few of my men to help people move along.”
    She shot him a sheepish look. “I guess I couldn’t stay incognito forever.”
    He sat down beside her. “No. The paparazzi have been trying to get past my gate since you first got here. Folks around here are usually busy enough that they don’t pay a lot of attention to the gossip rags, but finding out you were here tonight, everyone was curious. The good news is they’ll eventually calm down.”
    â€œHow do you know they will?” she asked.
    â€œAfter the initial fascination wears off, they’ll be a lot more interested in what kind of person you are instead of whether you have a title or not.”
    â€œIf I stay,” she said in a soft voice.
    His gut twisted at her words. “Yeah. How do you like it so far?”
    He saw several different emotions cross her face. “I’m still finding my way. As much as I needed