He could see Sarah's hand quiver and knew that she was furious. He pulled her to him before she shifted and reduced Kayleigh to a pile of ash.Although that's not a bad idea. More than one way to handle the bitch.
"Let the guards escort her out. You don't need the stress."
"Aww, aren't you the proper gentleman," Kayleigh cooed. "I wonder what your father would say about you knocking up a chick out of wedlock."
"I don't much give a shit what he would say." Luke let go of Sarah long enough to pull the door open. "Guards!"
Kayleigh sashayed her way past them. "No need for the theatrics. I'm going." She smiled at Sarah. "But I'll be seeing you again."
"Get out of the castle, Kayleigh. I don't know what promises my father made to you, or what rights you think you have around here, but they ended when he died.”
“Just because he died doesn’t mean that his promises died. We had a deal, and I intend to see it through. My father won’t put up with this.”
“I never had any intentions of marrying you, and I never will. Do not let me catch you or your father back here again. Do you understand?"
She rolled her eyes and strolled out like she didn't have a care in the world. Luke turned Sarah to face him. "Forget her. She's a jealous, desperate woman who made a deal that I wasn't even aware of."
Sarah kissed him. "I know. It just caught me off guard to find her on your bed."
Two guards poked their heads in the open door. "You called, your Highness."
"Make sure that Lady Kayleigh finds her way out of the castle, permanently. And I don't know who allowed her into my chambers, but spread that word so as not to let it happen again."
"Yes, Sir." They left the room and closed the door behind them.
"Now, where were we?" He gave Sarah a hug. "Oh, right. Something about you and my bed."
"Not exactly," she giggled, "but close enough."
He showed her around his chambers, and she stared in delight at the large bathtub. "This is big enough to be a pool."
"Any time you want to go swimming, help yourself." He kissed the side of her neck. "Clothing optional."
"You are a sweet talker, aren't you?"
"Seriously. What's mine is yours. As Queen, you'll get whatever you want."
She laid her head against his shoulder. "I have everything I want with you right here."
Sarah walked over to the window and looked out. "The view is almost as good as the one at the beach that day I had to sneak out."
"Almost as good?" Luke stood and hugged her from behind, his hands resting on their daughter. "I've always thought it was a perfect view of the ocean."
"Almost because we were so happy before your father sent the search party after you. It was just the two of us on each visit. Not Sarah the baker or Luke the prince. Or king. Just us. I want to recapture that happiness."
"And we will. Now we don't have to hide anything, and we can be married."
"But can we be as carefree as we were?"
He stood silent as they gazed down at the gorgeous scene before them. "We just have to make sure that we have time to be just us. It'll take work to get there, but once we are, I think we'll find a new level of happiness that we haven't even dreamt about yet."
"Good."
When they finally stepped away from the window, Sarah stared longingly at the bed. "I would love a nap."
Luke made a grand gesture. "Help yourself. I want to go check on Larisa and see if she's found out anything, and I want to make sure that Kayleigh actually left. I have a feeling that she's a slippery one, and my guards may not want to get stern with a woman."
Sarah's eyes glinted. "I'll go search for her."
