Page 56 of Princess Bride Swap

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

LYONWASRUNNINGon little sleep and too much anger. He had thought he would calm down by the time he arrived at Cristhian Sterling’s estate from simple exhaustion if nothing else, but every minute of knowing Beau had run away, withouttalkingto him, poked his temper higher.

When Cristhian’s staff and then Cristhian himself had tried to bar Lyon from Beau, it had been the last straw. Whatever last dredges of propriety and concern for his image had gone up in smoke.

I will see my wife.

And he had been prepared to fight whoever might try to stop him. But once Cristhian had left, it had only taken moving past the sleepy man trying to tell him that he wasn’t welcome.

Who gave a damn aboutwelcome?

He had heard quiet voices and followed them down a hallway. He had charged into the room but came to a halting stop. He saw Beau right away. She sat on a cozy-looking couch, dressed in fuzzy pajamas. Her hair was pulled back. But it wasn’t the gorgeous, perfect sight of her that stopped him dead.

She was holding the smallest infant he’d ever seen. For a moment the sight took him so off guard, he had no words. He could onlystare.

After a few moments like that, she stood. “You cannot simply barge into people’s houses this late at night,” she said to him, haughty and royal. She moved over to Cristhian and handed the baby off.

Then she turned to him, chin up, eyes flashing.

“And yet here I am,” he returned, wanting her and wanting toshakeher in equal measure. He pointed a finger at her. “Andyouare going to listen to me.”

“You’ll be careful where you point that finger,” Zia said, stepping in between his finger and Beau.

He surveyed the sister he’d been meant to marry. She had once even worn his ring. It felt like a different lifetime ago, all that. Like he’d been a different person then. He supposed he had been.

And now she stood here, holding her own child, with her husband watching with wary eyes, and a child in his own arms.

“Ah, my former fiancée.” Lyon gave a short, sarcastic bow. “So good to see you again now that we are in-laws.”

Her eyes narrowed. “For now.”

Over his dead body.

But he didn’t care about Zia. He cared about hiswife. Who stood in this dim room with anger and hurt flashing in her eyes, and noshame. When sheshouldfeel shame because she hadrun away.

“Perhaps we should give them their privacy,” Cristhian murmured to his wife.

But Zia was staring at Lyon with daggers in her eyes. “Over my dead body.”

“I don’t care who stays or goes,” Lyon muttered, moving around Zia so that Beau was in front of him instead. Nothing mattered except this woman. So he stopped engaging with the two other people in the room, and focused on why he was here.

On what needed to be said.

“You should not have run away, Beaugonia.” He supposed there were better ways to say that, better ways to start this. He supposed any of the speeches he’d practiced on the flight here might have gone over better.

But it was all he could think. He loved this woman, had somehow realized all the ridiculous things holding him back on account of his childhood because of her, and she hadrun.

“You should return to Divio at once,” she replied. “You are making a scene and it is nearly morning. If you are not careful, you will miss your dinner.”

“To hell with the dinner!” He shouted it. Really shouted it. He could not remember the last time he’d actually allowed himself toshout.

It felt too damn good.Slippery slope.And maybe it was. To allow himself to feel. To allow himself to run with emotion and make a mistake because of it. Maybe he was ruining everything.

But if he ruined it and she came back to him, it would all be worth it.

She blinked at him. Finally,finallycompletely taken aback. It lit something inside of him. One of those dangerous fires he wasn’t supposed to indulge.

But what did it matter here? It was only him and her.

---