Caitlin Crews [Crews - His Two Royal Secrets (One Night With Consequences)

From heiress in the shadows

...to his pregnant princess!

For one passionate night, in a strangers arms, Pia had felt beautiful and free...free of being the lonely, overlooked heiress to her familys millions. Then Pia learns shes carrying the Crown Prince of Atilias twins! Ruthless Ares is determined to claim his secret heirs, but he wontcantpromise Pia more. And Pias true royal secret? Shes falling inescapably in love with her dark-hearted prince...

Discover this seductive royal romancewith a pregnancy twist!

Ares turned and the doctor bowed low. Congratulations, Your Highness, the man said. You are indeed the father.

Pia couldnt seem to look away from Aress face. That arrested expression. Something cold and bleak in his gaze.

It made her heart flip over, then sink.

But the doctor wasnt finished. Because of course he wasnt finished. Pia braced herself.

They are both male, the doctor said.

There was a short, electric pause.

Both? Ares asked, his voice a slap.

Neither the doctor nor Ares so much as glanced at Pia, and still she felt as exposed and vulnerable as if shed been stripped naked and pinned to the wall.

Both? Ares asked again.

And the words Pia knew were coming sounded to her like bullets when they came, as inevitable as theyd been when shed heard them for the first time.

Yes, Your Highness. The doctor bowed lower. It is my great honor to inform you that you have been blessed with twins.

One Night With Consequences

When one night...leads to pregnancy!

When succumbing to a night of unbridled desire, its impossible to think past the morning after!

But with the sheets barely settled, that little blue line appears on the pregnancy test, and it doesnt take long to realize that one night of white-hot passion has turned into a lifetime of consequences!

Only one question remains:

How do you tell a man youve just met that youre about to share more than just his bed?

Find out in:

Carrying the Sheikhs Baby by Heidi Rice
The Venetian One-Night Baby by Melanie Milburne
Heiresss Pregnancy Scandal by Julia James
Innocents Nine-Month Scandal by Dani Collins
The Italians Twin Consequences by Caitlin Crews
Greeks Baby of Redemption by Kate Hewitt

Look for more One Night With Consequences stories coming soon!

Caitlin Crews

His Two Royal Secrets

USA TODAY bestselling and RITA Awardnominated author Caitlin Crews loves writing romance. She teaches her favorite romance novels in creative-writing classes at places like UCLA Extensions prestigious Writers Program, where she finally gets to utilize the MA and PhD in English literature she received from the University of York in England. She currently lives in the Pacific Northwest with her very own hero and too many pets. Visit her at caitlincrews.com.

Books by Caitlin Crews

Harlequin Presents

Undone by the Billionaire Duke

Conveniently Wed!

Imprisoned by the Greeks Ring

My Bought Virgin Wife

One Night With Consequences

A Baby to Bind His Bride

Bound to the Desert King

Sheikhs Secret Love-Child

Stolen Brides

The Brides Baby of Shame

The Combe Family Scandals

The Italians Twin Consequences

Untamed Billionaires Innocent Bride

Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

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For Flo, my favorite twin.

Contents

T HE ONLY THING that matters is the line, Crown Prince Aress dark and intimidating father told him when he was little more than five.

At that age, Ares had no idea what his father meant. He didnt know what line his father was referring to or what bearing it could possibly have on him anyway. At five, Ares had been primarily concerned with how many hours a day he could spend roaring about the palace grounds, out of sight of his nanny, who was forever trying to make him act like a gentleman.

But he had learned, already and painfully, never to question his father.

The king was always right. If the king was wrong, you were mistaken.

By the time he was ten, Prince Ares knew exactly what line his father was referring to, and was already sick to death of hearing about his own blood.

It was only blood. No one cared if he skinned his knee, but it was clearly very important that he listen to lectures about the purpose of that blood. Its dignity. Its import.

When it was still the same blood that welled up in any scrape Ares might get while doing things he shouldnt around the palace. Things his old nanny liked to tell him were responsible for her gray hair.

You do not matter, his father would rant during Aress scheduled appointments with him. You are merely a link in a noble chain, nothing more!

The king was forever flinging brandy and various decanters this way and that in his private compartments as he worked his temper into a lather. Ares did not enjoy these appointments, not that anyone had asked him.

And Ares had been schooled repeatedly not to move when his father raged. To sit straight, keep his eyes averted, and refrain from any fidgeting or reacting. At ten, he found this to be a kind of torture.

He likes a moving target, child, his mother would tell him, her voice cracking as she sat with him, her hands cool against his face and her eyes kind. You must work on keeping your posture perfect, and never betray your emotions by so much as a flick of an eyelash.

What would happen if I threw something at the wall?

The queens smile was always so sad. Dont do that, Ares. Please.

Ares came to think of it as something of a game. He pretended to be a statue, like the ones that would be made of him someday to grace the Kings Gallery that had stood in the Grand Hall of the Northern Palace sinceor so the story wentthe islands that made up the kingdom of Atilia rose up from the sea. Marble and gold, with a fancy plaque listing his accomplishments.

Our line has held the crown of Atilia for centuries, his father would thunder, while Ares would think, I am stone. And now it rests entirely in your hands. You, a weakling, who I can hardly credit sprung from my own loins.

Stone straight through, Ares would tell himself, his eyes on the windows and the sea outside.

By the time Ares was a teenager, he had perfected the art of sitting deathly still in his fathers presence. Perfected it and also complicated it, because he was an adolescent and more certain by the day that he had not one drop of the old kings blood in himbecause he hated him too much to be related to him.

You must never, ever say such things out loud, his mother told him, her voice as exhausted as her gaze was serious. You must never give anyone in your fathers court leave to doubt your parentage, Ares. Promise me.

He had promised, of course. Ares would have promised his mother anything.

Still, sometimes the crown prince was not in a mood to play statues. Sometimes he preferred to stare back at his father with as much insolence as he could muster, wordlessly daring the increasingly old and stooped king to throw something at him. Instead of at the stone walls of the palace, as he usually did.

You are nothing but a disappointment to me, the king thundered at every appointmentwhich, thankfully, occurred only a handful of times a year now that Ares was dispatched to boarding schools all over Europe. Why should I be cursed with such a weak and insolent heir?