The American Heir: A Jet City Billionaire Romance

  "The baby doesn't move often—"

  And then, just on cue, the baby kicked as fiercely as it ever had. I gasped. But the look of wonder on Riggins' father's face as it he felt it move was something I'd never forget.

  He squeezed my belly as if hugging the baby, leaned down, and cooed to it softly. "There, there, my little duke. Nice to meet you."

  "We don't know it's a boy." I rubbed my baby bump.

  He straightened. "You're carrying low. Just like Riggins' mum did. It's a boy, all right."

  Outside the tower, a car door slammed, the sound magnified in the still night air.

  "There's a way back to my hiding room that avoids all the cameras." Riggins' dad nodded toward the staircase. "But I need you two to cover for me while I escape. If I'm caught, I'll make up some story about being a long-lost relative of yours." He winked again, still almost amused by the adventure.

  I thought that given a chance, I might have liked him. He had Riggins' charisma.

  "Good plan." I nodded and turned to Riggins. "Call the security control room and tell them everything's okay and under control. That you couldn't sleep and decided to explore the tower. I'll go downstairs and talk to the security guys that are already here and send them away. If I hurry, I can meet them at the entrance."

  I turned and dashed into the stairwell without waiting for a response. My feet were on the stairs. Down, down, the spirals, taking them as fast as I could.

  "It's all right!" I called out to security. "We're fine."

  I rounded another corner. The steps were farther apart here and worn completely smooth. I misjudged and caught the edge of a step with the toe of my slipper. My foot slipped. My balance was already off. The sudden surge of forward momentum propelled me before I could catch myself with the wall.

  I floundered, trying to get my balance. Where was the wall? Where was the damn wall?

  I tumbled forward. My scream pierced the air. Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around my belly, trying to shield my baby. I hit the cold stones arms and belly first. "Riggins!"

  My head hit something. I felt dizzy and disoriented. Unable to right myself, I tumbled. And tumbled, screaming.

  Someone else was screaming and calling my name. There were footsteps on the stairs behind me. I tumbled end over end, bouncing off the walls. Banging my head again and again as I kept my arms wrapped around my baby. Banging my body.

  My thoughts were jumbled. I was too surprised and shocked to feel pain as I kept falling and falling. My vision narrowed to a small tunnel. My ears rang, drowning out the commotion around me.

  I hit the floor at the bottom headfirst. The tunnel grew narrower. The ringing louder. I could barely breathe. Riggins. I wanted Riggins. I tried to form his name.

  There was a beam of light. Someone was standing over me.

  "I'll take care of her. Go!"

  Riggins. Thank goodness. Riggins.

  "Run, man, run! Hide," he said. "It's what she would have wanted." His voice was firm and desperate.

  Suddenly there were arms around me. I was chilled and shaking. Trying to scream his name and barely managing to make a feeble whisper. "Riggins."

  "I'm here, Haley. I'm here. Hang on. Help's coming. Just hang on."

  Hang on? To what? Why?

  He gently brushed the hair out of my eyes. In the narrow tunnel of my vision I saw his fingers. They were sticky with blood. Why was he bleeding?

  "I love you." He sounded desperate for me to know. "You'll be all right. Don't let go of the baby. Just don't let go."

  "I won't," I whispered, wondering, What baby?

  The tunnel narrowed to a pinpoint. My world went dark.

  Riggins

  I cradled Haley in my arms, trying not to move her as my father disappeared into the dark.

  I waved my flashlight around. "Here!" I yelled as the security guard came into the tower.

  "Help!" I yelled at him. "Call 999! She needs a doctor."

  The guard flipped on the light. He paled when he saw the duchess lying fragile and motionless in my arms, blood dripping down her head, a pool of her blood beside us.

  "She fell down the stairs. She hit her head badly." I stroked her hair and whispered to her.

  It seemed to take forever for medics to arrive. When they did, they took one look at Haley and ordered a medical evacuation helicopter to take her to London.

  I walked next to the stretcher, holding her limp hand on the way past the castle to the copter.

  "What's going on?" Sid stood on the driveway, being restrained by a policeman. "That's my sister. Let me by. Hale? Haley! Riggins?"

  The entire staff was outside on the steps and spilling into the circular drive, watching the helicopter as it waited on the open lawn.

  Gibson put his hand on Sid's shoulder. Bird and his son were there. Bird was staring at Sid, looking like he was seeing a ghost.

  I didn't have time to stop. I was going in the copter with Haley. "She fell, Sid. She's hurt. We're taking her to a hospital in London. I'll text you the address. Get a car to drive you and meet me there."

  Bird stepped forward. "No need, sir. We'll drive her. My son and I will take her." He shot Sid a look of what could only be described as fatherly concern.

  Haley

  It was all just impressions. The sensation of flying. Light shining through closed lids. Voices, some of them talking to me. Imploring me. Begging me.

  I didn't want to open my eyes. I didn't want to see or hear or talk. The pain was too great.

  There was something they were afraid of. There was something I was afraid of. But I couldn't remember what. I didn't want to. I wasn't strong enough. I couldn't.

  Something bad had happened. Something terrible. I couldn't feel my body. I felt separate and distinct from it. I wanted to sleep, just sleep.

  Riggins

  I stood in the fanatically bright lights of the hospital waiting room and prayed through the long hours while we waited. Prayed like I never had before until Haley's neurosurgeon appeared and called me back to talk to me. Dr. Brace was reportedly the best neurosurgeon in London. I had to trust that was true.

  "Is my wife awake? Can I see her?" I walked briskly to keep up with her.

  The doctor was kind and friendly, reassuringly arrogant about her skill. "The duchess is sedated, sir. But considering the severity of her fall, the duchess is in good condition. Despite the trauma and the fear of internal skull fractures, the CT scan showed no major surgical lesion."

  I barely understood more than her confident tone. I gathered a lack of surgical lesion was a good thing. Why couldn't doctors speak English? Especially here, where the language was born?

  "The baby?" My heart pounded wildly. Suddenly I desperately wanted the little interloper. If the baby died, I'd never forgive myself for not wanting my child from the beginning. And Haley would be heartbroken.

  "I'll explain more in private." The doctor took me to her office.

  I was vaguely aware of pictures of her family. Prints of birds and gardens on the wall that were probably meant to be calming. The usual medical posters. Many of them detailing all kinds of neurological traumas, which were not as reassuring.

  "Your wife has had quite the bang to her head," the doctor said, pulling up the CT scan. "There's a hairline fracture. Here." She pointed. "If we can get the swelling down, it should heal without surgical intervention. She was lucky, very lucky."

  I imagined Dr. Brace thinking and adding, Not to have cracked her head wide open.

  I shuddered at the imagery that crossed my mind. I had expected to find Haley broken and cracked. Seeing her head lying in a pool of blood was bad enough. I should have breathed a sigh of relief, but there was more. I could feel it.

  "We have her on an IV and medications to relieve the swelling in her brain."

  "Swelling in her brain?" I took a deep breath.

  "I'm afraid so. As these things go, it's mild. But it is causing her to remain in a comatose state."

  I must have
paled. I felt very cold.

  The doctor gave me a reassuring smile. "I believe the medications should correct it. But brains are tricky creatures and impossible to predict. But, again, the swelling isn't severe.

  "She's sedated to reduce the pain of her broken arm and the other trauma from her fall. And prevent her moving around if she regains consciousness suddenly. The head of her bed is elevated to aid fluid drainage from the brain.

  "The good news is that despite what you perceived as a large blood loss, she didn't present with either hypoxia or hypotension…"

  She kept talking, giving me medical terms. I asked questions that I hoped made some sort of sense. I was operating purely on autopilot.

  "We set her broken arm."

  I nodded. "She was trying to protect the baby as she fell." I had explained how she'd tripped.

  The doctor nodded. "She's bruised and has a few cracked ribs. But no other internal damage that we can see."

  I hated to ask the next question. "Will she have any long-term damage?"

  The doctor gave me a kindly look. "Time will tell."

  "When will she wake up?" This was the question we'd been dancing around.

  "When she's ready." Dr. Brace patted my hand efficiently.

  "The baby?" I took a deep breath. "It's alive, but is it—"

  "The baby's beautiful," the doctor said. "Absolutely perfect and healthy. Moving and kicking. It's in no danger. We did an ultrasound. I recorded it if you'd like to see it before I take you to your wife?"

  I nodded.

  "We know the sex," she said as she brought up the ultrasound on a computer. "Would you like to know what you're having?"

  I hesitated only a second. Would it make a difference if I knew? Would it change my mind about anything?

  I nodded. "Yes, thank you. I'd like to know."

  Haley

  I saw nothing but the images my mind created. Dreams or visions; I wasn't sure what they were. I couldn't move. Or maybe I just didn't move. It was hard to tell.

  I was wrapped beneath heated blankets, but at times I was chilled to the bone. Weary and wanting to give up. Lights shone through my eyelids. There was beeping and the sounds of machines. That was as close as I got to consciousness before I retreated into the darkness.

  The images that swirled through my mind were dark. A handsome man, an older version of someone important, but I couldn't remember who. Pain. A stone staircase. A ghost, a ghost, a ghost. A castle. The end of something. Something chasing me. Someone dead. Someone else I didn't want to lose.

  Something I urgently had to hide. It was too late.

  I wanted my mom. I called out for her, but my lips didn't move. I screamed for her, but no sound came out. Then I remembered, I was grown and she was dead. And I was all alone.

  Sid! Where was Sid? Who was taking care of her?

  Sometimes I thought I heard her voice, all grown up and trying to coax me back. And then she faded away.

  I was all alone again. Everything was up to me. I had an overwhelming fear of loss.

  Someone was holding my hand, squeezing it, kissing it with warm lips. Pressing my hand to wet cheeks. Calling my name. Calling me back. Telling me he loved me. Begging me to come back to him.

  I didn't want to come back. I wanted to stay where it was safe and I didn't hurt.

  I felt a tiny fluttering as soft as a butterfly in my abdomen. A happy, effervescent feeling, like bubbles in champagne tickling your nose. But this was in my body. Not in my stomach. In my womb. I was still growing a life. Everything was going to be all right. I hoped. All I really knew was that this bubbly little thing needed me. I had to come back for it.

  I remembered who I needed. And, more importantly, wanted. I had to fight the darkness. I had to come back. I wanted to come back. His name formed on my lips.

  Riggins. Riggins. "Riggins."

  I was shouting, screaming for him. Despite all my effort, the words came out a bare whisper, just wisps of words amid the electronic beeps in the room. My eyelids felt heavy as I struggled against the weight keeping them down. At last, my eyes fluttered open.

  "Haley?" Miraculously, he was there, sitting next to my bed with worry and wonder on his face.

  I hadn't dreamed him.

  A look of relief crossed his face. Tears stood in his eyes as he smiled through them at me. "You're back."

  I nodded, squinting against the light in the room. I'd been in darkness for what seemed like forever. Still holding my hand like he'd never let go, he reached up and dimmed the light by my bed.

  "You called me back. I had to come." My throat was dry and scratchy. It was hard to speak. My left arm didn't move, but the right one seemed to work. The rest of my body was sore and bruised.

  The baby! I pulled my hand free from his and felt for the baby bump, hoping I hadn't imagined those bubbles.

  Still there.

  Riggins covered my hand with his over my bump. A small kick from inside brought tears to my eyes.

  "It's been active while you were sleeping," Riggins said softly. "You scared the shit out of me, duchess. You've been out three days."

  I relaxed, but only somewhat, and smiled, shakily, almost afraid to ask. "The baby? Is it—"

  "Perfect. Waiting for you to come to." He squeezed my hand. "It hasn't been sleeping. Much, anyway." He paused. "You fell down the stairs. Do you remember what happened?"

  I frowned, trying hard to remember something. Most of it was a blank. "I remember tripping. And falling." I paused. "And then…nothing. Until now."

  He nodded. "That's not surprising. You banged your head pretty badly at the bottom of the stone stairs in the Ghost Tower. It was a miracle you didn't crack your skull."

  "Thank goodness for hard heads," I said, but it really wasn't funny.

  He smiled softly. "You broke your left arm. You wrapped it around your abdomen as you fell. You were trying to protect the baby." He paused again like he was trying to compose himself. "Thankfully, that's the extent of your main injuries. Otherwise, you're just bruised and banged up. Your doctor says the break in the arm is a pretty simple break and should heal without any lasting effects. You'll soon be back to normal."

  Memories were coming back in snatches. There was something…something else that was worrying me…

  My thoughts were clearing slowly. "Your father?"

  Riggins squeezed my hand. "Still dead. As far as anyone but us knows."

  He leaned close until we were eye to eye. "I had to make a deal with the devil, but I'm still the duke." He kissed me lightly. "Want to know a secret?"

  "More secrets?" I raised an eyebrow.

  He grinned. "I know the sex of our baby."

  "What?"

  He nodded. "They did an ultrasound while you were out. I got to see all ten fingers and ten toes."

  "No fair." I paused, waiting for him to fill in the blank. "Are you going to tell me what we're having?"

  He shook his head. "Not on your life. We're going to throw that grand gender-reveal party. You'll find out then. Along with everyone else."

  I tried to judge from his face. But he was inscrutable. "But I'm the mother—"

  He nodded. "Yes, true. But I'm the duke. And fair is fair. You want a girl to inherit the dukedom. Then I think it's high time a father got to tell the mother what they're having.

  "I want to surprise you with the grandest gender-reveal party ever. And see the look on your face when you find out boy or girl." His Adam's apple bobbed. "It's an incentive. Something to keep you going. Something to shoot for. Get well and get out of here. Come home. Okay?"

  What could I say? Although it was frustrating, it was also sweet and touching. I smiled back at him and nodded.

  "Sid's here at the hospital. She'll kill me if I don't call her immediately. She'll want to see you. She has something to tell you and someone she wants you to meet. And I'm sure the doctors will want their turn."

  He leaned his forehead against mine. "But first, I have to tell you how ardently I
love and admire you."

  "Ardently, do you?" I teased, and relaxed against my pillow.

  "Desperately. Tragically. Ceaselessly." He took a deep breath and squeezed my hand. "I was a fool not to realize it sooner."

  I squeezed his hand in return.

  "I can't imagine life without you. Or the baby. Almost losing it…" His voice broke. "Tell me we can raise this baby together, Haley. I'll do anything—"

  I put a finger to his lips. "Yes, duke. Of course we'll raise this little lord or lady together. I've been waiting for you to realize the only way we'll ever be happy is together."

  Riggins texted Sid, but I didn't get to see her until my doctor examined me and proclaimed my recovery "Brilliant!"

  "Just for a minute," Dr. Brace warned. "We can't have her tiring you out. You need your rest." She motioned to the nurse who was assisting.

  A minute later, Sid poked her head in the room. "Finally, you're awake, lazy bones!"

  "Lazy bones?" I propped myself up on my pillows.

  "What else do you call someone who's been in bed for days?" She grinned.

  "Are you going to lurk in that doorway forever?" I shook my head. I was tiring. "I thought I taught you better."

  She laughed and came over to me, bending down to hug me. "I'm so glad you're back. You gave us a scare! We’ve all been terribly worried about you." She looked suddenly hesitant, but her eyes burned with excitement. "I hope you don't mind. I brought someone with me. He's in the hall, waiting for a signal that he can come in."

  "Don't tell me you've met some handsome Brit and eloped while I've been out," I teased, knowing full well whom she wanted me to meet. I relaxed against my pillow.

  She just grinned.

  "I'm fading fast." I grinned. "I want to meet him too. Call him before I fall asleep on you both."

  She jumped up and went to the door, motioning to someone in the hall. A tall, blond young man stepped inside. I recognized him immediately from his pictures as Bird's son Will. She took his arm and brought him to my bedside.

  "Hale, meet my brother Will." She beamed.

  I smiled back. But it sounded so odd to hear her say "my" brother. She had a brother. And I didn't. I felt that pang of jealousy again.