Page 36 of Royal Surrogate 2

I cut him off with a nod. “You did. But I forgive you. I’ve seen how much you’ve changed, Caspar. I’ve seen how much we mean to you…” I rub my belly. “I’m not going to lie. I wasn’t sure you could. I wasn’t sure it was possible.” Another tear streaks down my cheek.

“I didn’t mean to push you. I didn’t want?—”

“No,” I interrupt. “No, you didn’t do anything wrong.” I look up at him through the haze of my tears, and this time the smile I give him is genuine. I laugh through my sobs. “I’m happy, Caspar. Really, truly happy. I know what I want now. You’ve proved enough to me. Shown me the man you really are. And I’m ready to…to choose…” I swallow, trying to find the right words.

They come to me in a flash.

“I love you,” I say.

His breath catches. He tells me he loves me daily, but I haven’t said anything since that day on the bench—and he’s never pushed me. He’s given me the time, the space, and now I’m finally ready to give him this final piece of me, the piece I’ve been holding back out of fear.

I don’t want to be afraid of this anymore.

I’m ready to forgive him—fully and completely. To listen to my heart and allow myself to trust him, to forget the man he was in the past and put my faith in the man before me now—my husband, in every sense of the word.

“I love you,” I say again, my smile spreading. “So much.”

His grin is bigger and brighter than I’ve ever seen it. He draws me toward him, kissing me deeply, and I marvel at how my body responds to him, how every piece of me seems to recognize what he is to me—and what we are together.

It’s his turn to laugh as he pulls away, though I can still see tears in his eyes. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to hear those words.”

“Well, I have some idea…”

He laughs again. “If it weren’t for Andrew’s stupid coronation, I’d whisk you away somewhere romantic and spend the next few weeks ravishing you.”

“Well, you can always ravish me before and after the coronation, right?”

“Oh, believe me, I intend to,” he says, dipping his face to mine. “And a whole lot more, too.”

CHAPTER 28

Caspar

It’s only a few short weeks later that we’re at the palace, formally greeting my cousin before his coronation.

“Congratulations, Cousin,” I say with a shallow bow. “Or should I say, ‘Your Grace’?”

Andrew laughs. “Not for a few more days.”

His wife Victoria takes Renae’s hand. “Are you sure you should be here? You look like you’re ready to pop!”

Renae smiles, dipping into as best of a curtsy as she can given her size. “The doctor said it should be fine. I’m not due for another few weeks.” She tries to bend a little more, even though I told her it wouldn’t be necessary to show any deference to my cousins until after the coronation.

“Oh, please don’t!” Victoria slides her arm around my wife, guiding her to the stairs. “Come, let me show you to your suite.”

The two women disappear into the halls of the palace, leaving me alone with Prince Andrew.

He claps me on the shoulder. “I suppose congratulations are in order for you. I hear you’re having a son.”

“I am, indeed,” I say, beaming. I can’t seem to help myself from smiling whenever someone brings up the fact that I’m about to have a child. It’s still hard to believe that he’s almost here.

“I’ll give you a few weeks to get your household in order, then,” Andrew says, chuckling. “Those first few weeks as a father are…something.”

“I’m not sure what you mean,” I say, following beside him as we walk deeper into the palace.

“Hasn’t Benedict spoken with you?” Andrew glances at me. “We’d only briefly talked about it, of course, but I was sure he would have?—”

“You made it!” My cousin Leopold, the second oldest of my cousins appears in a nearby doorway, clapping me on the shoulder. “The ladies have gone off on their own, then?”

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