Page 15 of The Royally Broke Billionaire
“I’m not sick,” she assured them, before seeking her husband’s eyes as she revealed, “I’m pregnant.”
The glee-filled expression that immediately arose on Sebastian’s face quickly morphed into one of sad guilt as his eyes darted to Liam before returning to Tess. The color slowly drained out of his tan complexion, leaving him with a sickly gray pallor.
Turning to her brothers, Tess saw that they were experiencing similar transformations. Both of them looked thrilled, until they looked at each other, then Liam, and finally her. The happy smiles slid off their faces when they fully grasped what this meant.
Knowing them well and anticipating their next moves, Tess reacted quickly, physically blocking both of her brothers as they lunged at her husband.
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The king remained motionless, as if he felt he deserved whatever physical punishment Tess’s brothers decided to dole out to him. He was deathly pale and Tess feared that he might be going into shock.
“Stop it! You’re both acting like children.” She sneered at her overbearing brothers.
For as strong and intimidating as they both were, her older brothers reared back from Tess’s accusation as if she had just slapped them. Softening slightly, she added, “This is a family matter.”
As soon as their eyes lit up, she realized her mistake and amended her words. “This is animmediatefamily matter.”
When they once more looked like they were gearing up to jump in, she made her meaning abundantly clear by adding tersely, “Meaning for my husband and I to handle… not you.”
Even Tess had to admit that her powerful siblings looked handsome and dashing, despite the fact that they were pouting over her reprimand and openly glaring in Sebastian’s direction.
Each of their wives jumped into action to console her husband, as if Tess’s strong reaction had been out of line. She watched as Millie placed her palm on Trevor’s shoulder and Ellie took Trey’s hand within her own. Tess was glad that her brothers had both found someone to comfort and love them, but she wanted them to understand that Sebastian was just as important to her emotional wellbeing as their wives obviously were to them.
As if sensing her need for him, the king stopped behaving like a frighteningly pale statue and moved closer to her side. She put her arm around him and leaned into him as he bent down to kiss her sweetly on the cheek.
Whispering near her ear, her husband said, “You’ve already made me the luckiest man on earth by marrying me, and now you are blessing me with our child.”
Tess smiled up at him, thrilled that he was happy. It was tempting to point out that he already had a child, but that seemed mean-spirited, since they were all acutely aware of Liam’s existence.
“We’re going to be pregnant together!” Mo practically squealed the words. The high-pitched tone was very out of character for her, so all eyes darted in her direction.
Tess nodded and grinned, trying to outwardly exhibit a grand level of delight that she couldn’t quite muster inside. Despite her soft feelings for both Liam and his mother, the baby’s arrival was putting a definite damper on her enthusiasm about her own pregnancy.
“Congratulations!” Piper jumped into the conversation for the first time. Ignoring the fact that Tess’s brothers whirled around to glare at her as if she was a disgusting worm in an otherwise perfect apple, she added, “The castle is going to be full of babies!”
The loud voice from midway down the stairs surprised them all. “Whose babies?”
Sebastian was the first to regain his wits as they all stared up at Cole Daniels. “That really isn’t any of your business,” he informed him coolly. Continuing to glare up at the man, he asked, “Why are you coming down the staircase from the private royal residence?”
“Must have gotten turned around,” the slick billionaire smiled as he said the words. That grin slowly turned into a smirk as he sauntered the rest of the way down the steps and caught sight of Tess’s brothers.
“Donovan.” He gave Trey a terse nod. Turning to Trevor, he sneered, “Junior Donovan.”
Millie tightened her grip on her husband’s shoulder as if she feared he might try to strangle the arrogant man. Trevor stayed rooted to his spot, but the muscles in his jaw moved as if he was grinding his teeth together.
It was Trey who responded to the newcomer. “Daniels.” He nodded once, continuing the man’s last-name-only greeting precedent.
“You two have nothing better to do than come babysit your kid-sister?” Cole gave them a toothy smile as if he wasn’t trying to instigate a fight.
Taking the bait, Trevor said, “We’re invited guests at the palace. How much are you paying them to put up with you?”
Tess was tempted to point out that she hadn’t invited her brothers, but she didn’t want to escalate the friction between the obvious rivals.
Cole tipped his head back and chuckled as if Trevor was incredibly amusing before saying, “Don’t worry. I can easily afford it.”
Looking over the group, he asked the Donovan brothers, “Did you leave your new best friend, Selena Chase, at home so she can steal more deals right out from under your noses?”
Tess was surprised the man knew about her brothers’ long-term competitiveness and recent, tentative friendship with the lovely billionairess. They must all travel in the same wealthy circles. Grinning to herself, she realized that there probably weren’t too many billionaire social networks––they were all too busy making money to spend time on frivolous things like friendships.
