And to hell with duty, with convention, with royal protocols and acceptable behaviour. Which had to be the hottest, coolest, sexiest, most exciting thing she’d ever heard of in her life. And it wasn’t even scary any more, because she would be doing it with him.
She swung her leg over, ready to climb down, but he grabbed her around the waist.
‘Just let me go down first, so I can break your fall?’
He was trying to make it sound like a question, not an order, despite the strain on his face.
A part of her wanted to climb down alone, to prove she could, but the flicker of fear in his eyes told her there was one commitment she’d have to accept from now on. That Theo Caras was going to protect her from harm, always.
She shrugged. ‘I guess I can live with that,’ she said.
He climbed down ahead of her, cocooning her in his strength before jumping the final few feet onto the snow. And when she slipped on the rope and tumbled on top of him, he caught her as she knew he would.
EPILOGUE
Two and a half years later
‘Didyouknow, Freya, my daughter was so excited when she heard her uncle Theo was coming to Parádeisos for a whole week she couldn’t sleep last night.’
Freya grinned at Poppy Caras, who she already considered to be a sister, as they lay together on the pool loungers, enjoying the afternoon sun while their men took care of Gemma. ‘He was pretty excited to be coming here to see her, too.’
Freya returned her gaze to the man in question, who was standing beside his brother on the other side of the pool, looking tanned and handsome, his wet swimming trunks clinging to his muscular butt—his arms full of his niece, who was busy chatting a mile a minute… Freya’s heart swelled. She was pretty sure the toddler hadn’t drawn a full breath since they’d both arrived that morning on the yacht.
‘The ironic thing is,’ she mused, ‘no one is more surprised he’s a natural with children than Theo himself. He’s terrific with my brothers, too,’ she added. ‘Apparently, Jacques asked his advice about girls when the boys were home during spring break. I wish I’d been a fly on the wall forthatconversation.’ She chuckled, remembering Theo’s bemused expression when he’d relayed the information to her, then refused to go into specifics because it was ‘confidential guy talk’.
She and Poppy laughed. But then Poppy sighed.
‘Xander thought fatherhood would be an impossibly steep learning curve too, even though he’d spent his whole life being a father figure to his own brother. I’m not sure the trauma of what their father did to them will ever be completely gone.’ Her expression became pensive—the sunlight on the clear blue water made the moisture in her eyes sparkle. ‘But I know he’s so glad Theo found you. He’s been able to stop worrying about him and that’s huge.’
Freya blinked, touched by the vote of confidence from one of her favourite people. ‘He didn’t just find me, he kidnapped me!’
Poppy laughed. ‘True. The Caras boys are nothing if not proactive. Xander kidnapped me, too!’
Freya laughed. ‘I guess Xander knew a good thing when he saw it… Just like Theo.’
‘Yes, let’s not sell ourselves short,’ Poppy added vigorously. ‘It takes a strong woman to domesticate a Caras!’
‘Precisely.’ Freya lifted a hand, for Poppy to high-five it.
‘So, you haven’t said—what’s going on with you two?’ Poppy asked, the sudden change from amused to nonchalant belied by the splash of colour appearing on her cheeks. ‘Any news about making your relationship more…’ she cleared her throat as if searching for the correct word, the colour blooming ‘…official?’
‘Are you asking if Theo’s popped the question yet?’ Freya replied, then laughed at Poppy’s pained expression.
‘Well, yes! You’re just so perfect for each other. And Xander and I would love to host your wedding, here. However you want to do it. We know you’ve both said in the past you weren’t interested in marriage after your awful father’s manipulations, but…’ She stumbled over the words, still looking pained.
‘Relax, Poppy,’ Freya laughed, stupidly happy with the woman who she hoped would be her sister-in-law officially, soon. ‘I’m planning to pop the question myself.’ Because shesuspected if she didn’t, Theo would freak out when he heard her news. News that she had been sitting on for two whole days.
She pressed her palm to her stomach, the heat of the Mediterranean sun warming the skin.
‘Oh. My. God!’ Poppy bolted upright. ‘You’re not…?’
‘Shhh…’ Freya sat up, too. Good grief, when had she become so transparent?
She glanced at the two men across the pool terrace, but all their attention was still taken up with Gemma’s never-ending chatter. ‘I only took the test two days ago. I haven’t told Theo yet…’ she whispered.
‘Why not?’ Poppy whispered back. ‘He’ll be overjoyed.’
Her heart bobbled. Oh, God, she hoped so. ‘I guess… I guess I panicked. We haven’t planned this properly.’
