The Not So Secret Baby Read online

  Izzy was intrigued. She had never heard of Inis Daire before Sinyn crossed her path. The only principality she had heard of was Monaco. “So your ancestors quit the mainland and came here?” What would this island have been like back then?

  “They were hard years, miss. Many died. Those who survived were strong and resilient and refused to give in. The prince’s kin kept the people alive on sheer guts and determination.”

  It was a world so unlike her own. This was no tropical haven of beaches and heat. This was a place of thin, twisting roads, lush green fields, and people who waved at you without knowing who you were. The houses were predominately stone. Presumably hewn out from the grey, rocky mountains that ringed the island.

  “What are those trees over there?” They were like nothing she had seen in Cairns. They stood full, proud, and majestic.

  “They’re oak trees.”

  Izzy remembered Sinyn telling her what Inis Daire meant. “It’s just beautiful.”

  “You have the glow about you.” He smiled at her.

  “Er—”

  “Oh, don’t be shy. We know all about the baby. There are no secrets on Inis Daire.”

  “Huh?” Sinyn told them?

  “Old Katie foretold the next Donnelly bride would come across the sea with a babe inside.” Seamus winked at her. “Besides, that’s why the Donnelly men get married.”

  “By knocking up women?” Marry? Me? I don’t think so.

  “Aye, they like women.”

  “Yeah but it’s not a reason to marry. And who’s Old Katie?” She sounded like the interfering sort.

  “She knows everything and is never wrong.”

  Great. An old duck who was the local witch.

  Seamus smiled at Izzy. “The Donnelly’s have been happy and productive doing it the same way for three hundred years. Nothing changes much here.”

  * * * *

  Izzy’s breath caught when she saw Sinyn. He was waiting in the driveway as they pulled up from the twenty minute drive. As he walked towards her, tall and proud with his long blonde hair tied at his nape, she thought he did indeed look like the lord of the manor.

  And what a manor—or maybe castle? The home was enormous. Huge pieces of grey rock interlocked to create a solid fortress which looked like it had weathered many a fierce storm. There had to be at least twenty, maybe thirty, rooms. “Imagine cleaning that,” she murmured to herself.

  Sinyn opened the car door and held out his hand. “Hello, sweetheart.”

  On hearing the beautiful Irish lilt of Sinyn’s voice, her knees shook and she staggered towards him. When he caught her up in his arms and held her close, Izzy thought back again to the tropical night when she first met him. She looked up into his eyes. The gentle warmth made her blink. “I—er, I’m just tired. It was a long trip?” Lordy, you’re beautiful.

  “You’re home now.”

  Okay. I have to set him straight on what I want and believe. Izzy had no plans to be seduced by the charm of the man and his home. “I’m here for a reason. I plan to go back home to Australia. This is not my home, Sinyn.” Though standing as she was in his arms made her feel safer than she had in years.

  “It will be.” Sinyn picked her up in his arms and carried her toward the house.

  That was unexpected. She slapped at his chest. “Put me down.”

  “I don’t want to,” Sinyn’s reply was simple.

  It was only when she heard the applause did she realize twenty or so people were scattered around them, all smiling as they watched. As Sinyn carried her over the threshold, everyone clapped again.

  “You’re going to give yourself a hernia.” Izzy was no featherweight. Injuring a prince that everyone appeared to love indicated she wouldn’t be loved much for it. But Sinyn ignored Izzy’s protests and carried her up the staircase and down a hall until he stopped for a moment and kicked open the door of a bedroom that appeared to be every imaginable shade of blue. Once inside he placed her feet on the thickly woven carpet and started to strip her clothes off. “Hang on! We’re supposed to be talking.”

  Sinyn chuckled, stopping momentarily to shut the door. “I was going to have a sedate chat with you downstairs over tea but the urge to see you naked overwhelmed me.” His hands went back to her blouse and made short work of her buttons. “Besides, you’re a woman, you can multi-task.”

  “Sinyn!” Izzy slapped at his hands but it did no good. He clearly had practice stripping women. He was fast and efficient. She was naked before she had time to think.

  He placed his hand on her bare belly. ”Ours.”

  The look in his possessive eyes made her shiver. Oh boy, I’m in trouble here. Izzy tried to back away from him. Naked she was vulnerable to his touch and her own crazy hormones. “Look, prince, while I’m pleased you want to acknowledge the baby—” She jumped when his hand slid down to her pussy. “Don’t do that.” Izzy was surprised at how breathless her words sounded.

  “Why? Because you like it yet you want to deny yourself pleasure ‘cause you think we should be sensible and discuss the baby?” Sinyn stepped back from her. “Aye, we’ll discuss the baby.” He started stripping off his own clothes. “But first I have this overwhelming need to be inside you once more.” He threw his shirt to the floor.

  “I—er, it was a long flight and um—” Izzy faltered as his trousers fell to his ankles and his dick stood firm and hard. She gulped. Oh, I remember you. “People will wonder what we’re doing.”

  “Let ‘em.” He came to stand before her. “Besides they all know about the baby.”

  “Word gets ‘round. Besides, they expect it of a Donnelly man.” Sinyn stepped in so his body touched hers. “Hello, sweetheart.”

  Hot cock pushed against her stomach. She loved the feel of it touching her skin. Her gaze lifted to his. “I can’t think when you’re naked.” Izzy had planned to be calm, rational, and practical on her reunion with him. She stepped backwards, her legs hitting the bed. “Sinyn—”

  “Shush, sweetheart.” He pushed her back onto the bed, his body covering hers.

  When his mouth descended on her nipple, Izzy laced her fingers through his hair and cried out at the sucking sensation. “Sinyn—”

  “Fuck first, talk later.” He parted her legs and entered her cunt without further ado.

  The first thrust shook Izzy to the core. She had been expecting it, but not. She had been wet since she saw him, yet never did Izzy imagine they would be naked so fast let alone ever be with him again.

  “Oh Sinyn—” There was no point fighting it. Rationality had flown out the door the minute she met him in Cairns. Good girls did not fuck strangers. Good girls did not get pregnant on one-night stands.

  Her hips lifted to accommodate the length of him as he pushed further inside. The fierce pressure and heat overwhelmed her. Izzy wrapped her arms and legs around his body and gave into the heat of the man.

  “That’s it, sweetheart. Give in to what you feel.” Sinyn’s mouth met hers and they kissed with a hungry passion.

  Chapter Four

  “So,” Sinyn began as lifted his mouth from her clit, his face wet with her juices, and looked at Izzy. She was breathless and flushed from coming over and over. Her thighs were sticky with his cum and her skin red from his mouth and teeth. Maybe it was boasting to say he was good at sex. But I am. Sinyn knew what women liked and he made very sure any lover he took enjoyed as much pleasure as possible.

  Sinyn covered her body with his and rolled them onto their sides. He didn’t need the longevity of a long acquaintanceship to know this was the woman for him. Sexually? They were explosive together. The baby? A bonus. The rest? It would come. Would the people of Inis Daire think him mad for rushing in? No, those on the island followed the beliefs of their ancestors who first settled there. Life was about taking chances and following gut instinct. He smiled down at Izzy’s pink face and kiss-swollen lips. She is beautiful. She is mine. It would be fun to find out more about his bride-to-be. Old Katie was right.
His future had been in Cairns.

  “I’m thinking we marry next week.” He reached out and traced one fingertip around her nipple.

  Izzy jerked upright. “Marry? Next week? Are you out of your mind?”

  “No.” Sinyn had never felt so confident in his words.

  “Marriage is a serious commitment.” She pushed his hand away and sat up, leaning against the bed head.

  “I know.” He was thirty-eight years old. He could have married many times over, but no woman until Izzy had appealed to him.

  “Do you marry everyone you knock up?”

  Sinyn sat up beside Izzy and took her hand. “There is a legend on Inis Daire when it comes to the Donnelly men. The woman we marry is the one that carries our child.”

  Izzy raised her eyebrows at this. “Well that’s kinda inconvenient if you knock up several women.”

  “I never have. I’ve been waiting for you. I was told as a lad that the woman I would take as a wife would come from across the sea.” He leaned over and tweaked her nose. “And here you are.”

  ****

  “Considering you live on a small island, it’s not a great a stretch of the imagination that you would marry someone out of town.” The whole marriage thing had Izzy freaked out. Yes, the sex was amazing, but marriage based on having sex twice didn’t indicate happily ever after to her.

  “Old Katie is never wrong.”

  “Who is this Old Katie chick?” And why the hell is she making pronouncements that concern me?

  Sinyn laughed. “She’s an ancient Inis Daire seer who predicts the future,” Sinyn explained. “I’d like you to meet her on your travels around the island.”

  That suggested a longevity Izzy hadn’t considered. She had thought this would be a chat about upbringing, schools, and access rights. “I’m not staying that long.” She started to get up. She needed to shower. Her thighs were sticky with the semen that seeped down from her cunt. And I need some clothes on. So does he. Naked was good but also bad. Looking at his lean, muscular body was making her think all sorts of things she shouldn’t. While she wanted to blame it on the raging change in her hormones, at heart Izzy knew it was all about lust.

  Sinyn stopped any movement by placing one long leg over her thighs. “Yes you are.”

  “You can’t keep me here.”

  “Ah, a challenge.” He caught her into his arms and held close.

  Being held close by Sinyn was something Izzy knew she could get very used to. And that’s why she fought against it. She wasn’t there for a relationship. I’m here for…hmmm…what the hell am I here for? Surely I could have done this all via email?

  “Let me go.” She slapped at his arm.

  “Why?”

  “I’m confused.”

  “Why, sweetheart?” Sinyn turned her in his arms so she faced the head board.

  “What are you doing?” Suddenly she was on her knees with Sinyn close at her back, dick prodding her ass as he nudged her legs apart with his knee. Izzy turned her head to look at him.

  “I remembered how much you liked my hair on your skin as I took your from behind.” He pulled the leather thong from his hair.

  Izzy gulped. “So you’re doing me a favor?

  Sinyn smiled. “Oh yeah.” He slid one hand between her ass cheeks and fisted his dick with the other. “I want your stay in my home to be full and exciting.”

  Izzy grabbed the wood of the headboard as once more his dick slid inside her cunt. She shoved her ass back in acceptance. There was no point saying she didn’t want this way. It would be a lie.

  “We will need to talk.”

  The bed head banged into the wall as Sinyn banged into her. It was no gentle fuck. It was meant to shake Izzy up and question what she wanted and needed.

  “Agreed.”

  The wood smashed into the wall several more times.

  His body slammed into hers over and over. It was hard and exciting and certainly ‘full’ as he wanted it to be.

  She looked at the chipped paint on the wall as the wood struck it time and time again. “That’s going to leave a mark.”

  “Oh, I’m marking you mine for life, sweetheart.” Sinyn’s mouth descended on her neck and bit her skin gently in a sucking love bite.

  Izzy placed one hand on her clit and rubbed. There was no point fighting this. She wanted to come. Later, when they weren’t naked, she’d be rational. “Faster.”

  “I thought you wanted to talk?”

  “I want to feel you shooting up inside me.” There was something so primal about a man letting go inside a woman.

  Sinyn groaned. “Aye, that’ll happen. Brace yourself, sweetheart.” Sinyn ramped up the pace of his thrusts. The sound of wood continuously hitting the wall would leave few illusions for anyone passing by.

  As he jerked and came inside her, Izzy stiffened as her own orgasm hit. She yelled loud and long and pushed back against Sinyn.

  “That’ll make ‘em jealous,” mused Sinyn.

  Chapter Five

  The knowing looks as they came back downstairs made Izzy blush and feel awkward. “Why are they all looking so happy?” She asked sotto voiced as people she had never seen before, who were possible the household staff, smiled at her.

  “I told you. They all know about the baby and that we will marry.”

  Izzy stiffened. “You told everyone?” It was his home and right to do so, but she had hoped to keep it quiet until they had worked out what they needed to.

  “No. Old Katie predicted it. When it comes to babies on Inis Daire there are no secrets.” Sinyn chuckled at her look of bewilderment. “You can fight it all you like but what is meant to be will be.”

  Old Doris Day philosophy didn’t appeal to Izzy. “I will be going home to Australia.”

  “Of course you can visit. I love Cairns.”

  Izzy stopped in her tracks and poked a finger into Sinyn’s chest. “Of course I can visit? You’re not a feudal war lord whose word is to be obeyed by one and all, and I’m no one’s possession.”

  Sinyn caught her hand in his. “Sexually I have you. We both feel the power we have over each other when it comes to that. As for your heart? I will have that in time.”

  Izzy pulled her hand away. Sinyn was the most gorgeous man she had ever seen and touched, but this was all too much for her. “This is madness. I came to tell you about the baby to do the right thing and make plans. I didn’t want my child growing up without a father like I did.”

  Sinyn’s eyes softened on her. “Poor little Izzy. I will take care of you and provide all the love you have missed.”

  “Love?” Where the hell am I? It‘s like I’ve entered another dimension. She wasn’t against falling in love, but in her mind, Izzy knew it didn’t happen that fast. “We had a one-night stand.”

  “It was excellent. I often thought about it after I left Cairns. Memories of you made my dick hard for weeks.”

  Izzy opened and closed her mouth several times as she thought about what to say. Visions of Sinyn’s hard dick and what she could do with it swamped her mind. “Um, well, yeah but the thing is it’s not a basis for a marriage.”

  “On Inis Daire it is.”

  “What about the baby?”

  Sinyn’s hand went to her stomach. “I’m thrilled.”

  “You’re very odd.” Sinyn barely knew her and yet he was planning their life together.

  “He smiled. “You’ll get used to us. Now, come and meet the staff and the family.”

  * * * *

  Anthony Donnelly shook the woman’s hand and smiled even though inside he wanted to strangle her, then his cousin. “Pleased to meet you. We never thought Sinyn would marry.” He had been counting on it. That Sinyn at thirty-eight had finally found a wife was irritating. Anthony hoped Sinyn would just screw around as he was accustomed to and not find a wife. And a baby? Anthony knew then he had no hope of inheriting Inis Daire. It always went to the eldest Donnelly son. That was Sinyn. They were the last two Donnelly’s standing. B
oth their parents had long since died. It was a boating accident on the lake that had taken them from Inis Daire. After that it was only the two men who were left. Neither liked the other yet they were tied by blood.

  It was Inis Daire law that if a Donnelly son reached the age of forty-five without an heir then it went to the next in line, which was Anthony. His wife Sharon had not yet produced a child. She hated kids. She had married Anthony for his money. He knew that and it was irrelevant to him. She was a body to impregnate and he made every attempt to get a child in her he could. When they married she was supposed to have been pregnant even though Old Katie declared it impossible. He soon found out the seer was right. He looked over the Australian woman. She wasn’t to his taste with her buxom body and average looks. But, she is a threat and I need her gone.

  ****

  The look in Sinyn’s cousin’s eyes made Izzy step back. He was not greeting her. He was assessing her in the way a predator looks at his victim. She took another step back and ran into the solid warmth of Sinyn. The strong, male hand that curled around her waist made her feel safe.