Page 50 of A Royal Arrangement
“Another joke, Your Majesty? I’m starting to think I don’t know you at all.”
“I’ve always got a few surprises up my sleeve.” His tone came out gravelly, and Colin didn’t even recognize himself. Rosalie had slowly been bringing out a different side of him than he’d ever seen. And he was beginning to think he liked it.
He kneeled on the dirt path and plucked a ripe blackberry off a bush, extending it to her. Colin had expected Rosalie to grab it from his hand and pop it into her mouth. What he hadn’t expected was for her to step forward, lean down, and take the berry directly from his fingers with her mouth. The whole encounter happened in slow motion in his mind.
Her heart-shaped lips brushed against his fingers, making his whole body buzz. They lingered against his skin as she took a bite out of the berry. Rosalie finally pulled back, standing to her full height and licking a trickle of blackberry juice from her lips. He couldn’t help but watch, warmth flooding his body at the attraction he felt toward her.
His attraction to Isabella had grown slow and steady as they’d gotten to know one another. It had happened at a pace that he’d been comfortable with. But this attractionto Rosalie had hit him full force the moment he saw her. He’d thought it was just her bridal moment—everyone looks beautiful on their wedding day—but then those initial feelings of attraction never quite went away. Colin always noticed her beauty, and something in him was starting to not want to ignore those feelings anymore.
“Your Majesty?” A knock sounded at his bedroom door.
He glanced at the watch on his nightstand to find it was after one in the morning. Colin pulled on a robe and hurried to the door, opening it to find Hector.
The butler was a little out of breath as he leaned against the doorframe for support. “I’m sorry to disturb you at this hour, but I thought you would like to know that Her Royal Majesty is under the weather.”
Colin’s heart rate picked up. “Rosalie’s sick? What’s wrong? Has she seen the palace doctor?” The questions flew out of his mouth so quickly he wasn’t even sure they came out as coherent sentences.
“The palace doctor has already visited her. Even though it’s uncommon to contract in the summer, he believes it’s the flu. She’ll be feeling pretty ill for the next week or so, but she should be better soon.”
He exhaled the breath he had been holding.She’s going to be okay.
“I want to see her.”
Hector nodded. “She’s back in her room, resting now. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind a quick visit.”
That was all he needed to hear. He clasped Hector’s arm as he walked past and thanked him before taking a few steps to arrive at Rosalie’s door. After knocking, he heard a quiet moan from the other side. Taking that as an invitation, he slowly opened the door, peeking his head in.
Rosalie lay on her bed, tucked completely under the covers. Her hair was haphazardly thrown up into a messy bun, and her skin looked pale. The room smelled like sickness, so he made a mental note to have flowers delivered to her tomorrow morning.
“It’s Colin. Is it okay if I come in?”
She nodded, but her eyes remained pinched shut.
He hurried to the other side of her bed as fast as his legs would take him. Colin settled himself on top of the comforter, scooting closer to her.
When he was beside her, Rosalie leaned her head onto his shoulder, nuzzling into him and resting her hand on his chest. Her hair was damp with sweat against his cheek, but he didn’t care. All that mattered was that she was comfortable and felt better soon.
He wrapped his arm around her, holding her against him. Though he hated to admit it, their bodies fit together perfectly. He wasn’t sure anything had ever felt this right since he’d lost Isabella.
“I’m right here, sunshine,” Colin whispered as he brushed a loose strand of damp hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear. “You’re gonna be okay.” He lightly ran his fingers up and down her arm.
He felt a whisper of her lips on his neck, in a kiss so featherlight he wasn’t sure if he was imagining it. His body buzzed with awareness.
Colin stayed beside Rosalie until her breathing slowed and he knew she was asleep. He could have stayed the whole night holding her. Weirder than that…he wanted to. He wanted to be the one taking care of her. He wanted to be the one to ensure nothing bad happened to Rosalie. But he knew she would be embarrassed if she woke up the next morning in his arms in her vulnerable, sick state. She may not even remember what happened tonight.
The last thing he wanted to do was make her uncomfortable, but he couldn’t convince himself to leave her room. He wanted to be near in case Rosalie needed anything throughout the night.
Colin rose slowly from the mattress, careful to not jostle her, and moved to her couch. He lay back on it, his legs from the knees down hanging over the armrest, and draped a blanket over himself. This wouldn’t be a comfortable, REM-sleep kind of night, but he was quickly learning that he would do just about anything for Rosalie...and that thought didn’t terrify him like he’d imagined it would.
After fluffing up the couch pillow as much as he could, he laid his head down and attempted to go back to sleep. Throughout the night, he startled awake at every small sound. Every snore. Every jostle of the bed sheets. Every whimper. Every little thing had him on high alert, wishing he could take this sickness away and bear it for her.
When exhaustion finally overtook him, Colin knew he was reaching a point of no return. If he allowed their relationship to continue progressing in this direction, he mightvery well do the one thing he’d told himself he would never do again…he might fall in love with his wife.
Chapter Sixteen
Rosalie
Rosalie opened her eyes and immediately pinched them shut again, trying to stop the pounding in her head from the bright light flooding her room. Her head felt fuzzy, like it had been hit by a Mack truck going full speed.
