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because she was genuine.
    The cameras whirred again.
    She whispered, “What do we do? Do we wave?”
    “We ignore them.”
    She peeked up at him. “Really?”
    He laughed, took her hand and led her to the café door. “Yes. We know they are there. But we also know they are always there, even if, for us, they have no purpose. Unlike an actor or actress, we don’t need them to enhance our visibility. We tolerate them. Thus, we ignore them.”
    “Got it.”
    He held the door open for her. The press rushed up behind them, but his bodyguards closed the door on them. Two things happened simultaneously. The press opened the door and crammed in behind the bodyguards, their cameras whirring. And Marco, café owner, greeted them.
    “Prince Dominic!” He bowed. “It’s an honor.”
    “Can I have my usual, Marco? And—” Oh, dear God. First complication. He could not order coffee for a pregnant woman. He faced Ginny. “What would you like, Ginny?”
    As soon as he said her name, the reporters began shouting, “Ginny! Ginny! Look here, Ginny!”
    She slid off her sunglasses. Doing as he’d told her, she ignored the press. “How about some water? It’s hot.”
    The press laughed. “Did you not know our weather was hot?”
    “Where are you from?”
    “How old are you?”
    “How did you meet?”
    “How long have you been dating?”
    Dominic also ignored them. “Just water? What about that cookie?”
    Marco said, “I have a cookie that will make you happy to be alive.”
    Ginny laughed. “That’d be great.”
    “You sound American.”
    He saw Ginny waver. The questions directed at her were hard for her to ignore. And the press began closing in on them. Even with his two bodyguards standing six inches away, the reporters and photographers bent around them, shouted questions and took pictures as Marco made Dom’s coffee, retrieved a bottle of water and wrapped a cookie in a napkin.
    Dom took their items and turned to say, “Let’s go out to the deck by the dock,” but, as he turned, he saw her sway. Before he could blink, she began to crumble.
    He dropped his coffee, the water and the cookie to the counter and just barely caught her before she hit the floor.
    The cameras whirred. A gasp went up from the crowd. Dominic’s bodyguards turned to help him as Marco came out from behind the counter, broom in hand.
    “Get out of here!” He waved the broom at the paparazzi. “Get out, you brood of vipers!” He glanced behind the counter. “Antonella. I chase them out. You lock the door!”
    Down on one knee, holding Ginny, Dominic cast Marco a grateful look as the coffeehouse owner and Dom’s bodyguards shooed the press out of his shop and Antonella locked the door behind them.
    Ginny’s eyes slowly blinked open. “It’s so hot.”
    He sort of smiled. She was so fragile and so beautiful, and holding her again took him back to their night of dancing in LA and making love in her condo. A million feelings trembled through him. Brilliant memories. A sense of peace that had intermixed with their fun. The wonderful, almost-overwhelming sensation of being able to be himself because she was so comfortable being herself.
    “You’re adding to the heat by wearing jeans.”
    “Trying to look normal.”
    Her skin was clammy. Her eyes listless and dull. His happy, beautiful one-night stand memories dropped like a rock, as his heart squeezed with fear. “We need to get you to the hospital.”
    “You’re sending a pregnant woman to the hospital for fainting? You haven’t been around pregnant women much have you?”
    “That’s all this is?”
    She drew in a breath and suddenly looked stronger. “Heat. Pregnancy. Nerves. Take your pick.”
    He said, “Right.” Then nodded at Marco. “Open her water.”
    The solicitous shop owner did as he was told. He handed the opened bottle to Dominic, who held it out to her. She took a few sips.
    Dominic sighed, grateful she was coming back but so scared internally that he shook