Her smile faltered when she looked down at herself. “Maybe I shouldn’t,” Elizabeth said, nibbling her bottom lip even as she shot the pond a wistful look.
“And why is that?” Robert asked, stepping up behind her so that he could undo her buttons.
“Because I’m fat,” Elizabeth muttered pathetically.
“You’re not fat,” he said, chuckling as he leaned forward and pressed a kiss against the back of her neck, “you’re beautiful.”
Elizabeth sighed heavily as she held onto the front of her dress so that it wouldn’t drop to the ground. “And you’re a terrible liar,” she grumbled, but she did let him help her out of her dress, stockings, and slippers.
Wearing only her shift, Elizabeth carefully walked to the edge of the pond and dipped a single toe in the calm water. If she hadn’t been carrying their baby, he would have probably picked her up and thrown her in just so that he could vex her. God, he loved annoying his wife.
But she was pregnant, so he had to be good. With that in mind, Robert walked over to her and scooped her up in his arms before she could put up much of a fight. To his utter shock, she didn’t argue. Instead, Elizabeth sighed with pleasure as she wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head against his shoulder as he carried her into the water.
Once he was chest-deep, Robert pulled her closer and simply enjoyed having her in his arms. As he carried her through the water, he felt her shiver in his arms. Smiling, he looked down to tease her, but instead, he felt his smile slip as he lost himself in her baby blue eyes.
She was so damn beautiful, so kind, and sweet. She made him so damn happy. He couldn’t imagine going a single day without seeing her, holding her, kissing her or showing her just how much he loved her. Every day he did everything in his power to show her how much he loved her, but he’d foolishly never told her how he felt because he was terrified that she wouldn’t feel the same way.
He’d been so damn foolish.
It would hurt like hell if she didn’t return his feelings, but he didn’t give a damn. He loved her more than anything and he wanted to tell her. He wanted to-
“I love you, Robert,” Elizabeth whispered as she pulled herself up just enough so that she could brush her trembling lips against his.
For a moment, he was too stunned to react.
She loved him.
Of course, she did, Robert realized, smiling smugly as he brushed his lips against hers. That was the only reason to explain why she hadn’t killed him in his sleep by now and why she put up with all of his bullshit. It also explained why she’d agreed to his truce, agreed to leave everything behind and move with him to a new country where neither one of them had ever been before. It was so obvious now. She truly did love him, adored him, really, but she would never love him as much as he loved her, Robert realized, still grinning because he was more than fine with that.
“I love you more, minx,” Robert said against her lips.
“Probably,” Elizabeth easily agreed as she wrapped her arms around his neck and moved to deepen their kiss.
“Probably?” he demanded in mock outrage as he pulled away from her so that he could glare down at her.
“Definitely,” she said with an innocent expression as she leaned up to kiss him again, but before her lips could touch his, he turned his head away.
With a heavy sigh, he carefully placed her on her feet. He rubbed his hands down his face as he said, “Run.”
“W-What?” Elizabeth asked, sounding confused and more than a little excited.
He dropped his hands down by his sides, careful not to splash his wife in the face. “You have to the count of ten to run before I hunt you down and make you admit that you love me more.”
“You can’t be serious,” Elizabeth said, biting back a smile even as she started to inch away from him.
“One.”
“Robert-”
“Two.”
“Wait, let’s talk about this. I was just-”
“Three.”
“But-”
“Four.”
