He shook his head. ‘Only one, and she proved to be the case to end all cases. She evaded all and every attempt to track her down. We’re going to have to rewrite the book about runaway royals after this.’
‘You found me,’ she said.
‘You didn’t make it easy.’
She laughed and smiled up at him, ‘I’ll take that as a compliment. But I’m so glad it was you who found me.’ But where did that leave them? Where did they go from here?
‘So, what happens now?’ she asked, licking her lips. ‘I owe you for what you’ve rescued me from, and you bought me, so do you own me? What do you expect me to do?’
He shook his head. ‘Nothing. I don’t own you. You’re a free agent. I bought you your freedom, not your life, and certainly not your servitude. And after what I did, you owe me nothing. Accept your freedom as my apology. You now have all the freedom you always wanted.’
She nodded. Freedom. It sounded good. It sounded like exactly what she’d been seeking.
Except…
On a deeper level it was also disappointing. She paused, searching for the right words, knowing this moment was make or break. ‘What if I don’t want to be a free agent?’
‘What?’
The Princess licked her lips. ‘What if I’d prefer to spend my life with someone else?’
The growl rumbled deep and dark from the back of his throat. ‘You’re still thinking about Mateo or Luke or whoever else there was?’
She smiled. ‘I’m touched you remember their names.’
He shook his head. ‘Look, I don’t care who it is. I don’t want to know. You’re free to be with whomever you like.’
‘Except I don’t know if it’s possible. I don’t know if this person feels the same way.’ She tilted her head. ‘Would you agree to take me on, for better, for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health?’
‘Wait. What? Are you proposing to me?’
She swallowed. ‘I told you once before that my dream was to marry the man that I loved. Are you the man I’m going to marry? Are you going to make my dream come true?’
‘You don’t marry someone because of a dream.’
‘No. You marry someone because you love them, and you want to spend the rest of your life with them.’
It took Theo but a moment for her words to register. He understood now why he had such a visceral reaction when the Count had pawed the Princess at the banquet. He understood what had been staring him in the face ever since he’d taken her to his bed on Lord Howe Island. He understood what had been building ever since she’d tumbled into his arms from her bedroom window and what had driven him crazy every time she was close. Every time she was near.
He’d fallen in love with someone he should never have fallen in love with.
He’d fallen in love with Isabella, but now he could finally admit it.
He pulled Isabella from her seat and into his arms. ‘Princess,’ he said, his mouth hovering over hers, ‘Isabella, I love you so much.’ Their lips met, and Theo felt something powerful crack open inside him, the stone walls that had surrounded his heart since he’d lost Sophia, and now his heart was open. Open to welcome Isabella.
But kisses were not enough. He needed to show her just how much he loved her. Needed to finish off what they had only just started at. He swept up her legs and carried her to the bedroom, closing the door behind him with his foot.
He laid her on the bed so tenderly, like she was made of porcelain, fragile and delicate. He knew she was far from that; she had an inner strength that belied her age and upbringing. She was clever and resourceful. Bold and beautiful. But to him, in this moment, she was the most precious creature in the world.
Looking back, Isabella couldn’t quite remember the order of things, who shed their clothes first, whether it had been her to tug off his shirt and pants or whether she’d been too busy in the tangle of arms and limbs and seeking hands tearing her own clothes off. But then they’d both been naked and it was magical. Skin against skin. Lips and hot mouths against skin. Senses overloading. Need spiralling, until Isabella was spiralling with it, losing her mind, losing control.
When he entered her in one long thrust, this time he met no resistance, she felt no shock of pain. Instead, she welcomed him into her depths knowing that this man was the one she’d been waiting for her entire life. Knowing that he was the one. The only one.
He built momentum with each thrust, building the desperation, the madness consuming her, until with one final thrust he sent her over the edge, and she was flying, literally and figuratively into the sky.
He followed, juddering into her, rolling her climax into crested waves of paradise.
Afterwards they lay together panting, their shared breath fanning across the heated skin of their bodies. It was bliss to share this time together while their bodies hummed down from their peaks, a magical time that had been denied them last time.
