She placed her hand over her heart, which thudded in her chest. ‘All I wanted was a choice.’
His gaze dropped to the wedding ring that sat on her finger; he cocked his head, the question on his face obvious.
‘It’s what I wanted for you too. What I asked your father for. Achanceto offer myself.’
Love filled her, brimming inside. She hoped that what she would say next was enough. It was like standing at the top of a mountain, a steep, snowy slope laid out before her. The thrilling race of her heart in the moments before she pushed off and let herself fly, trusting it would be the perfect run.
‘I’ve spent a lifetime believing that no one truly loved me and yet here I am, standing before you, offering myself to you. Lise Betencourt, woman and Queen.’
Rafe shut his eyes and dropped his head. His shoulders rose and fell before he seemed to gather himself and look at her once more, with a heated gaze piercing into the soul of her.
‘In that time we spent together, Lise, when you whispered to me your hopes and dreams for your future, I recognised the incredible woman that youare. Now all that I want is a chance to prove myself worthy of you.’
That was when she truly saw it, blazing in his eyes. Naked longing. A softness, she realised now, that was reserved only for her. It was like looking in a mirror, because what she saw in Rafe reflected deep inside herself. A need that would never be sated.
Her perfect match. Her other half. Stepping towards her with his heart as open as her own.
‘Rafe, you were always worthy of me.’
Those words were like a balm to his soul. What a fool he’d been, thinking love wasn’t for him. He’d been halfway there before he’d realised how much Lise meant to him, then wondered how the journey had started. He’d hurt her when the simple wordsI love youwould have given Lise immunity from her fears that others played upon. Her insecurity all caused by him, because he’d been afraid to tell her the extent of feelings he’d refused to acknowledge, in case she rejected him. After all that, self-protection still hadn’t saved him. It had only hurt Lise more and that was his deepest regret. The one that almost cleaved him in two and left his heart bruised and bleeding.
‘I’ll gratefully accept your love as the priceless gift it is, then try to return it a thousandfold. I’ve done a terrible job of showing you how I feel. I should have protected you and all I did was to hurt you more.’
‘We’re both good at hurting each other. Do you think we’ll be as good at loving each other?’
‘I don’t accept failure willingly, Lise. I do everything I can to avoid it. In this, Iwon’tfail because loving you is easy.’
‘You were all I ever wanted. All I still want,’ she said. ‘Despite our rocky beginning I find I’m still a romantic who believes in happy endings.’
He laughed, the first moment of happiness in these blighted few days. ‘I want to hold you now, to prove this is real.’
They fell into each other. Rafe reaching his arms round her, drawing her to his body. She nestled against his strong chest as a voice inside whispered,She’s mine,she’s home.But Lise deserved more.
‘Sadly our engagement lacked any romance. It’s not like I’d planned.’
‘You had a plan?’ She pulled back a little, eyebrows raised. ‘If I were an ordinary woman, how would you have proposed?’
He pressed his lips to her hair, inhaled the scent of her. Wildflowers, a reminder of spring. Rebirth and renewal.
‘The same way as if you were Princess or Queen. Because the royal and the woman are one and the same. I would have brought you here. Into the mountains. To my real home.’
She shook her head. ‘My father would never have agreed.’
He couldn’t help the wicked smile that broke free. He dropped his mouth to her ear, so that his breath would caress her throat. ‘I could have plucked you from the palace gardens in my helicopter.’
His hand stroked up and down her spine. ‘I’d have stolen you from them.’
‘A jailbreak.’ She shivered. He didn’t believe it was from the cold. ‘Sounds thrilling.’
‘Then I’d get on my knees.’ He dropped to the floor in front of her. Took her hands in his. Her fingers were warm against his own, ‘And say... Lise, you are my heart, my soul...’
Lise smiled and he was struck silent for a second. He could bask in that look of joy for ever.
‘My beginning, my end,’ she said.
‘You know.’ He kissed the ring on her finger, such a precious symbol of all that lay ahead for them. ‘The daisy and the rose. These flowers have a meaning. True love. Love at first sight. What a fool I was not to realise, when I married you.’
‘I only discovered the secrets of the ring today. And I began to hope. To find the courage to fight for what I wanted.’ Tears welled in her eyes then, dripping to her cheeks. Her sadness had felled him. At least these were tears of happiness.