They left the hospital once darkness fell, a limousine carrying them through streets that were lined with well-wishers, all the way to the palace.
“You must be exhausted,” Raffa said gently, when they were alone, their son sleeping in a basket at the foot of the bed.
“You’d think so, but I’m strangely wide awake.”
“I thought you were supposed to sleep when he sleeps,” Raffa teased.
“So did I.”
“Lie down,” Raffa commanded.
And though she was tempted to tease him, to tease him for his bossiness, she would always love him for that ability to take charge.
“If you say so, your highness,” she said, batting her lashes.
There was the rustle of a sheet, the movement of the bed, and then he was back beside her. And he began to read from the pages of the fairy tale book Chloe had read, many long nights ago, when her future in Ras el Kida had been so much less certain.
He began to read her the story of the Beast, but now, the tale of ‘forever love’ took on a whole new meaning.
As she fell asleep, her exhaustion too strong in the end to fight, he stopped reading. “I will take you to the ruins of the Beast,” he said quietly, a hand resting on her forehead. “And I will show you that love is everlasting.”
“I already know that to be the case.”
And as sleep claimed the new mother, carrying her away to another realm, she knew that she was right. Their love was as inherent to the land of Ras el Kida as the desert or the palace. She was a part of this great land, of its myths and its people, of its lineage and its destiny, and there was nowhere else on earth she’d rather be.
THE END
A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
Thank you so much for reading THE SHEIKH’S BABY BARGAIN, Book 1 in The Evermore Series! I hope you loved Raffa and Chloe’s story as much as I loved writing it. Please don’t forget to leave a review if you have the opportunity – reviews really do make the book-publishing world go ‘round. (That, and love, and I DO love my readers!).
Now, if you’re curious about Chloe’s half-brother Apollo and the reporter who sold his family’s secrets to the gutter press (or did she?!), I’m very glad to hear it, because the sexy, brooding, billionaire Apollo Heranedes will have his very own story COMING SOON! Book two in THE EVERMORE SERIES is THE GREEK’S VIRGIN CAPTIVE and it’s bursting with glamour, heat, seduction and angst… I know you’re going to love it! (Book Three, Elizabeth’s story, CLAIMING HIS SECRET BABY will be out in August.)
Don’t forget, I also have a newsletter you can sign up to for updates on new books (and general, infrequent ramblings, including chocolate mug-cake recipes – you have been warned!), and I love to hang out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, where you can find me as @ClarewritesLove (because I do!).
Now, please enjoy a short excerpt from THE GREEK’S VIRGIN CAPTIVE…
Love, Clare. X
THE GREEK’S VIRGIN CAPTIVE
CLARE CONNELLY
© All rights reserved
PROLOGUE
THE GUSHING OF HER pulse was so loud that Eleanor could barely concentrate on proceedings. Of course, she’d known he would be here. Apollo Heranedes was the brother of the Sheikha, and this was the halitham for the much-wanted heir to Ras el Kida.
She’d known he’d be here and she’d accepted this assignment regardless.
Regardless?
In spite of more like.
She kept her head dipped forward, but her eyes lifted up from beneath thick, black lashes. She could pick him out of the crowd easily – and not just because they’d spent six blissful weeks together. Not just because they’d sat up late talking about anything and everything, laughing, sharing food and secrets as though their lives depended on it.
Her stomach rolled and she tamped down on the visceral emotional response.