Page 43 of Baby Daddy Protector

“No. He just kicked really, really hard.” She shrugged. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt your ‘I’m leaving’ speech.”

“My what?” I scrunched my nose.

“I feared this might happen, what with your friend showing up from the SEALs and then this whole mess with Silvester. You want to go back to your team now. I get that. And if that’s what you really want, I’ll let you go.” Her voice caught on those last words and my chest squeezed tighter. “I never want to keep you from doing what you want to do. I love you too much.”

For a moment, time seemed to slow around me as her words penetrated the adrenaline still pumping through my system. She was willing to let me go. Because she loved me.

My battered heart leapt for joy. She loved me. Years of grief and recriminations and false beliefs fell away. I’d lived most of my life with lingering anger toward my parents for leaving me alone when I needed them most, toward my father for putting us all into such a dangerous position in the first place. But now I forgave them, letting the past go to make way for the future. A future I hoped to build for our son with Es by my side.

“I’m not going anywhere, princess,” I said, kissing her forehead.

“You’re not?” She looked up at me, frowning.

“Nope.” I hugged her tight. “I plan to stick around Prylea for as long as you’ll have me.”

“What about your SEAL team?” She reached up to trace her fingers along my jawline, her hazel eyes filled with wonder. “I thought that was your home, your family.”

I gave in and kissed her lightly on the lips. “Not anymore, princess. You’re my home now. You and our son. The only place I want to be is with you, forever.”

“Oh,” she said, twining her arms around my neck and kissing me sweetly. I pulled her tighter against me to deepen the kiss but stopped short at the sound of applause coming from the direction of the kitchen. We both slowly turned to discover that the reporters had found us and were hovering in the doorway, cameras aimed in our direction.

“Can we get a statement from you, Princess Esme?” one of the reporters called.

Es drew in a breath before clearing her throat and smiling prettily for the cameras. She’d been abducted and held hostage for hours, her hair mussed and her face tear-streaked, yet she managed to look like the queen she was despite it all. I had never felt more proud of anyone in my life.

“Yes. I am fine, thanks to my heroic husband and his friend and all of the palace’s wonderful security guards. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to go home and take a nice, hot bath then relax with my husband, whom I love very, very much.”

More cheers went up as I kissed my wife soundly.

“Any statement from you, Mr. Raybourn?” the female journalist asked.

“Only that I support the princess’s decision wholeheartedly. And that I too love her very, very much. We’ll see you all again on coronation day.”

With that, I stood with Es in my arms and carried her out the door and into our new future, together.

THIRTY-ONE

One month later…

Istood in the narthex of the great cathedral of Prylea, pacing back and forth as I communicated to the security teams on my Bluetooth. Technically, I was stepping away from my role as head of palace security to focus on my new role as royal consort to the queen mother of the country. Still, old habits die hard. My old commander always used to say that you could take a man out of the SEALs, but you couldn’t take the SEAL out of the man. In my case, that was certainly true.

“Is everyone in position?” I said quietly, not wanting to cause a stir among the full house of guests there to witness Esme’s coronation. We’d postponed things until after Silvester’s trial, which had been pushed through the Prylean court system with surprising speed—especially given the holiday season. Still, with a new year starting and a new king on the way, the people of the country were eager for a fresh start.

Before stepping down from my post, I had carefully screened a new crop of guards and put into place a stringent training program that rivaled what I’d gone through in the Navy. If I wasn’t guarding Es myself, I damned sure wanted the best security force the world could offer. Under my eagle eye, that’s exactly what I got.

From my vantage point at the end of the aisle, I could see Es near the front of the church, looking gorgeous in her white beaded dress and sumptuous red velvet robes all trimmed in ermine. She was stunning. She was smart and beautiful, and I still pinched myself every day to make sure all of this was real and that she was really mine. That she loved me as much as I loved her. The design of her dress cleverly accentuated her ever-increasing baby bump, though her face shone with good health and the glow of impending motherhood.

We’d had no more complications with the pregnancy and with Silvester behind bars, convicted of both treason and terrorism, we no longer had to fear any more plots from him or his cohorts. We’d caught the mole in the security department too. Still, I was suspicious by nature and didn’t plan to allow myself to rest when it came to the safety of my wife and child.

“Dude,” Deacon called from inside the church area, where he and his family were sitting a few pews up. They’d flown in for the coronation ceremony and were currently guests at the palace. I’d invited my other SEAL team buddies, but unfortunately, they couldn’t make it due to another mission. I sometimes missed the camaraderie of my SEAL days, but I never missed not knowing where I was going to be from one day to the next. I was infinitely happy to be by Es’s side, and that was exactly where I intended to stay.

Deacon waved a hand over the front of himself then pointed at my suit before giving me a thumbs-up. I laughed and returned the gesture. Deacon’s little daughters waved at me, too, each sucking their thumbs while clutching one of the blankets Es had knitted for them in their other hand.

The archbishop came out and gave me a nod and I whispered into my Bluetooth headset, “Ready.”

Moments later, the full orchestra seated in the balcony above broke into a triumphant march and Es began her slow walk down the aisle. I was mesmerized. One day soon, she’d be walking toward me for our grand public wedding ceremony, but first she was walking toward her destiny as queen mother of Prylea. As it should be. I stepped back as she moved closer toward the altar, her smile radiant beneath all the pomp and circumstance and tradition and fanfare.

She glanced over at me and mouthed the words, “I love you.”

---