by L. Nicole
“Thought?” I prompt when he stops talking.
“Thought I would hate,” he finishes.
“But you don’t?” I ask, hope starting to bloom inside of me. “Does that mean my decision won’t cause repercussions between our countries?
“I don’t believe so, but I can’t be sure,” he says after silently studying me for a few minutes.
“I’m sorry, I’m not sure what you mean?”
“I think before anything can be resolutely decided, I have someone I want to introduce you to.”
“I…okay,” I murmur. I figure he wants me to meet with his father, the King. I have to admit, I figured this would happen, but I was really hoping that it wouldn’t.
“Can you sit here for a moment? I’ll be right back.”
“Uh…okay,” I respond, feeling completely out of my depth and since I’ve grown up around men like my father… that’s saying something.
When the Prince leaves the room, my nerves ramp up yet again. I walk over to one of the windows to look at the water. I take a deep breath and release it slowly. I can get through this. I have to. I put my hand on my stomach, smiling as I feel this flush of warmth. I’m going to be fine. We’re going to be fine. I have more to worry about than just me. I’m going to make a good life for my son or daughter.
Even if I have to do it on my own.
In my heart, I don’t think I will. Eddie said he loves me. I know I have hurt him, but I can’t believe that he won’t forgive me. Regardless, I know he will love his child.
I hear the door open and turn, hoping this will all be over soon. I want to get back, so I can try and find Eddie.
“Prince…” I gasp as my gaze lands on the man who just walked into the room.
“Hey, Ree.”
“Eddie,” I whisper, wondering what in the hell is going on here…
19
Eddie
God, she looks good. She’s even better than I remembered. She’s gained a little weight and if anything, it’s added to her perfection. She’s let her hair grow too, the dark locks are like a crown upon her head. She’s wearing a light green, silk pants suit and I’m sure she’s supposed to look very professional and regal. To me it just makes her look like she’s ready to be fucked. Then again, anything Margarita could wear would do that for me.
“Eddie, what are you doing here?”
“I told you I wouldn’t let you marry anyone else, Ree. You’re mine.”
“I…You…”
“You look good, Princess.”
“Are you telling me that you tracked Prince Archibald down and then sought him out, all so you could try and stop the wedding?” she asks, her eyes going wide as the show continues to show on her face.
“Something like that. I did warn you that I wouldn’t let you go.”
“Eddie…I don’t…” she breaks off, her hands waving in the air in a helpless shrug. “I don’t know what to say to you right now.”
“Archie says you came to tell him you weren’t going through with the wedding,” I respond instead, studying her face.
“Archie? Are you on a first name basis with the Prince?”
“Have been for a while. Did you come here to call the wedding off, Ree?”
“I…I don’t understand any of this,” she mutters.
“Answer the question, sweetheart. Did you come here to call the wedding off?”
“Eddie—”
“Answer me,” I order, and I can tell my tone annoys her, but I’ve got so much moving through my brain right now, I can’t help it. It’s been a month since I’ve laid eyes on Ree. A month since she walked out and left me alone.
I drank for a week, but then I picked my miserable ass up and decided that no matter what Ree thought she wanted, it wasn’t going to happen that way. She’s mine, she’s been mine since the moment I first laid eyes on her.
“Yes,” she says, finally and I walk over to her.
By this time, Ree’s standing by her chair and the closer I get, the better I feel. Finally, after a month of hell, I feel complete again.
“I’ve missed you, Princess,” I murmur, my and moving along the side of her neck so that I can tilt her head so that she’s looking up at me.
“Eddie, I don’t understand any of this.”
“I’ll explain it soon. First, I have to know. Why were you calling the wedding off?”
“Eddie…”
“Why, baby?”
“Because I love you. I left because I didn’t have a choice. My father would have done his best to destroy you if I hadn’t, but…”
“But?”
“But I love you. I always planned on coming back to you, Eddie. I promise.”
“Fuck, Ree,” I groan, her admission, unmanning me. I lean down, our lips barely an inch apart. “I have to kiss you, Princess.”
“You didn’t call me, I…I thought you hated me.”
“You didn’t call me, either Ree,” I remind her.
“I thought you hated me,” she says again.
“You were wrong. Give me those lips, beautiful.”
Ree closes the small distance between us, kissing me and the minute I taste her, my world is right again. God, I’ve missed her so much it hurts.
The kiss deepens, and I swallow down Ree’s hum of approval as my hand slides under her shirt, so that I can feel the heated skin of her stomach under my touch. Before I can move up and squeeze her breast—like I’ve been dreaming of doing. Archie clears his throat. Ree’s body immediately tenses.
“You two seem to have made up,” Archie laughs, his normally austere presence relaxing into the man that I know.
“You could say that, I laugh moving my hand out from under Ree’s shirt and leaning down one last time to kiss her on the top of her head, before turning to face Archie. “Your timing sucks, by the way.”
Archie shrugs.
“Prince—”
“Please call me, Archie. We are going to be family after all, Margarita.”
“Archie…family… I don’t…” Ree looks between us and I sigh. I hadn’t wanted Archie to say anything yet. I needed time, but I should have known he would. He loves taking over every situation.
“Let me introduce you to my brother,” Archie says. “Prince Edward.”
“Your brother,” Ree gasps, turning around to look at me. “Prince…”
“Ree,” I rumble, rubbing the back of my neck, because I know she’s probably going to be pissed off.
“You’re Prince Archie’s brother?” she huffs, and I let out a big breath.
“I was going to tell you…”
“I cried so hard when I left you. I was tearing myself up inside the two weeks we were together, and you let me! Why didn’t you tell me!” she demands and I was right.
She’s definitely angry.
“Because, I needed you to choose me, Ree. It’s that simple.”
Now that I tell her that, I realize it sounds lame, but it doesn’t make it any less true.
“I needed to know that you wouldn’t regret not picking my brother and one day being a queen. I needed to know that you wanted me as I normally am, plain Eddie Andrews, no other titles.”
“I…you were testing me?”
“Maybe. But surely you of all people can understand that,” I defend.
“You should have told me.”
“We can fight about this later, baby. I swear, I’ll make it all up to you. Right now, can I just hold you and relish the fact that you’re back in my arms?”
She stares at me and for a second I’m afraid she’s going to say no, and maybe even walk away. It’s not that I could blame her, but I’m not letting her go.
“I’d like to point out that because he is my brother, the fallout of our broken marriage won’t happen. Well, that is if you marry Edward instead. I realize that you’ll be getting boring, definitely less good-looking brother, but—”
“Archie, cut the shit. Can you let me talk to Ree alone?”
“
He doesn’t need to. He’s right we have to get married. There’s no other choice,” Ree responds, turning to look at me.
“There’s not?” I ask, surprised.
“No. But I haven’t forgiven you,” she qualifies.
“Ree—”
“And you’ll have to work at it for a while to get me to forgive you, Eddie.”
“I can do that, Princess.”
“Maybe even for the whole first year of our marriage,” she mumbles, still staring at me.
“I haven’t asked you to marry me yet,” I remind her with a grin.
“No, but you will,” she says, confident.
“You’re sure?”
“Oh yeah. You see, I know you Eddie, even if I didn’t realize who you were. Although, I feel kind of foolish, because it should have sent off warning bells that you always knew all the gossip about me and that I was even a princess,” she complains.
“I’ve always been fascinated in you, Ree. Even before we met, if I’m honest.”
“I can attest to that. He used to stare at your picture if you may a rare public appearance,” Archie adds in helpfully.
The jerk.
“I know, he practically foamed at the mouth the first time we met,” Ree says, smiling, close to laughing.
“Keep that up Princess, and you’ll get a spanking instead of a marriage proposal.
“No, you’re going to ask me to marry you.”
“You seem completely positive of that.”
“Oh I am. You don’t want your daughter to be born out of wedlock,” she announces, shocking the hell out of me.
“My…you’re pregnant?”
“I am and if you don’t marry me, it will probably cause war between our countries,” she says calmly.
“We can’t have that,” I tell her, taking her in my arms and lifting her up so that our lips are even, then I kiss her. So much happiness is inside of me that it’s almost as if I can’t breathe.
“I’m going to be an uncle!” Archie announces, as if that’s the best news he’s ever heard. Ree and I break apart and look at each other, smiling.
“Archie, get lost,” we say, almost in unison.
“Oh God, now it will be like having two Eddie’s around here,” Archie grumbles. I’m a prince you know. You’re not supposed to order me around,” he continues to mutter, but he does it leaving so I ignore him.
“I love you so fucking much, Ree.”
“I love you too, Eddie,” she says softly. Then, I kiss her again. I’m going to spend the rest of my life kissing her and I can’t wait.
Epilogue
Margarita
“There’s my girls,” Eddie says softly as he walks into our bedroom. I’m lying on her bed, propped up against the headboard, nursing our daughter.
Sarah Elizabeth is just a month old and there’s never been a more perfect human being. She’s sweet, mild tempered and she’s got a smile that lights up a room. She’s perfect—just like the rest of my life since Eddie and I got married.
Eddie and I got married in lavish, but tasteful wedding two weeks after I discovered who he was. My father barely spoke to me, but he was fine with how it worked out. All he was worried about was bonding the two countries together. He’s not bothered to come see his granddaughter, and that should bother me. In another life, it might have. But, since Eddie has come into my life, it doesn’t even phase me. Eddie gives both me and Sarah all the love we will ever need. My father might have been horrible at being a daddy, but Eddie dotes on Sarah and that’s all that matters.
“She woke up hungry,” I murmur, my finger brushing over our daughter’s forehead.
“Who could blame her. I’d be famished all the time if my dinner was delivered like that.”
“You’re so bad,” I laugh. “Everything okay at the club?”
Eddie apparently owns the bar where we first met. That explained how he could get the key to the office so easily, I suppose. Eddie was full of surprises, but they were all good, so I can’t complain. He also owns several hotels here on the island and a few other places besides that. His brother, Prince Archie, said that Eddie refused to accept help from his father at all. He wanted to make it on his own and did completely. Unfortunately for Eddie, his father and mine are somewhat similar—even if I think Eddie’s is better. He’s at least in love with his granddaughter.
“Yeah, I just needed to clear up some issues with our alcohol distributor. It was nothing major, I just hated leaving my girls,” he says, moving around behind me. I slide down just enough to make room for him and he wraps his arms around me, holding me as I hold our baby. His head bends down, so his chin is resting on my neck and his finger brushes one of our daughter’s dark curls.
“You always say that,” I murmur.
“And it’s always true. I love you, Ree. I don’t know what I’d do without you in my life,” he says. His voice is quiet, and he turns slightly to place a kiss in the hollow of my neck.
“I feel the same way, Eddie, more than I can seem to explain to you.”
“It’s okay, Princess. You’ll figure out how. After all,” he adds with a shrug. “We have the rest of our lives together.”
“That we do,” I agree, smiling. “That we do.”
The End
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Also by L. Nicole
Bad Boy Billionaires
The Billionaire’s Christmas Bride
The Billionaire’s Purchased Wife
Her Dirty Billionaires
Happy Endings
(Fairytale Series)
Stroke of Midnight
Shipwrecked
His Plain Jane
Beauty and the Boss
Dirty Prince
It’s Getting Hot In Here
Steamy
Free Standing Romances
The Mountain Man’s Reward