She curled her toes with delight. There was nothing better than stealing time for just the two of them. She’d never known such fulfilment and happiness.
‘So...’ He leaned back to look into her eyes. ‘Has my bringing you here caused any problem for what you had planned?’
She shook her head. ‘My plan was vague but portable.’ Her heart pounded and to her amazement tears formed, bathing her eyeballs in hot acid that spilled before she could speak any more.
Alek’s eyes widened. ‘Hester?’
She nodded quickly. ‘I’m fine.’ All the emotion clogged her throat so she could only whisper. ‘I’m better than fine. You know...’
He still frowned but a small smile curved his mouth and his hold on her tightened. The contact strengthened her. She trusted him completely—knew she could expose herself, reveal her greatest vulnerability—because he always caught her. He always listened. He cared.
‘I’m pregnant,’ she blurted.
He stared, frozen for eternity before his expression exploded with intensity. ‘Say it again.’
‘We’re having a baby.’
Because this was them, together, and their little unit of two was going to become three.
A huge rush of air hissed from his lungs and she felt the impact as relief and joy and incredulity radiated from him.
‘It’s been hideous keeping it from you these last couple of days.’ She lifted her hands to frame his beloved face. ‘But I wanted to save it just long enough to tell you today.’ She rose on tiptoe and pressed her tear-stained mouth to his.
They’d decided to delay trying for a little while after their wedding so they could discover and delight in each other and solidify the intense connection they’d forged so quickly. But a few months ago they’d discarded any contraception. And now? Now her joy was so fierce, it burgeoned, encompassing him too.
‘Not going to lie—I’m terrified. But I can’t wait, Hester.’
He pressed her to him and she felt his strong muscles shaking.
‘We can still make love? Is it safe—?’
‘There’ll only be danger if we don’t!’ She laughed and growled at the same time. ‘I need to have my way with you, my King.’
‘Well, you are my Queen and I will always bow before you.’ He didn’t just bow, he dropped to his knees, his hands firm on her hips as he gazed up the length of her still-slim body. ‘I can’t wait to meet our child, Hester.’
‘Neither can I.’ She dropped to her knees too—desperate to feel again the pleasure that was only theirs.
With him she was free and utterly unafraid to reveal everything—her body, her soul, her secrets—all the things that scared her, all the things that delighted her. He didn’t just accept them, he embraced them, and he shared his own so together they were stronger still.
‘Alek...’ she breathed, enraptured by the fantasy world into which he’d cast her.
‘I’m here, Hester.’
And he was.
Because beneath it all—the crowns, the diamonds, the palaces and castles...everything—their love was real.
* * *