White Roses Never Return

Synopsis

The moment the pregnancy test revealed two lines, Charles Rivers pushed open the door. He was dressed in a perfectly pressed suit, and on his cuff was a family crest I had never seen before. A woman stood just behind him, draped in a white couture gown with an emerald bracelet gleaming at her wrist, her smile as polished and composed as any magazine cover. Charles set a set of keys on the dining table. "Sophia," he said, "I'm heading back to take over the Rivers Group. And next Wednesday, I'll be getting engaged to Miss Wynn." The pregnancy test slipped out of my hand and clattered onto the floor. The woman looked down at it, and her smile only grew wider. "So Miss Rhine is expecting." A flicker of something crossed Charles's face before he quickly stepped in front of her. "Vivian, I'll take care of this." Then he turned to me, and when he spoke again, his voice had gone soft. "Sophia, I've bought you a beachfront villa. You can stay there and have the baby in peace, and once the child is born, I'll make sure you both want for nothing. "I can give you everything except being my wife." I looked him straight in the eye. "And what if I could give you a title too?" For a moment, Charles went still. Then he let out a quiet sigh. "Don't be difficult. You're just a girl I happened to meet in a small town." But he had forgotten something. Three years ago, the heir to the House of Rhine had disappeared, and the global media had turned the world upside down looking for her. And I was that very princess they had spent three years hunting for, Sophia Rhine.