Cross Me
Page 26
“There’s more. Something happened. She’s awake.” His voice was gentle, his tone one he usually reserved for delivering delicate, but unwanted news.
It took a moment for Norris’s words to sink in. When they did, my eyes flashed to him. I’d heard him wrong. “She?”
“It’s a miracle,” he said softly. His eyes drifted from mine to an old photo on the mantle next to me. The picture was of a family that didn’t exist anymore—one that might never have existed as far as I knew. In it, my father was smiling, his arm hooked around a mother I didn’t remember. Three dark-haired children clustered at their feet, laughing, innocent to what the future held.
The air left my lungs as though I’d been knocked off my feet. I couldn’t remember how to breathe. It wasn’t possible. I’d been told it wasn’t possible. I’d believed it wasn’t possible. And a miracle? Miracles were in short supply. “What are you saying?”
I didn’t need Norris to answer. I didn’t need my old friend to repeat himself. Norris responded anyway. “She’s awake.”
* * *
Unwanted family portraits lined the wood-paneled corridor, which narrowed, then narrowed again until it reached a single door. I took each step dreading the next. I hadn’t been here in years. There hadn’t been a point.
No one greeted me when I’d arrived. It wasn’t a surprise. Only a skeleton staff of people my father had deemed his most loyal—his most discreet—had remained over the years. I paused, my hand on the knob, and glanced over my shoulder. Georgia and Norris remained at the other end of the corridor. For a second, I recalled the last time I’d come here. I’d left and gone to Georgia. I’d whipped her back until it was raw. Darkness had taken hold of me that day, when I faced what I’d done, the monster I’d become. Standing here now, I knew I’d never freed myself from it. It was always waiting, one door away, ready to consume me and everything I loved.
I chose to walk away from this, and instead to the light that Clara offered. Now she was here. I had no choice but to face the darkness once again. I opened the door and stepped inside.
The monitors were off, no longer necessary after the impossible had happened. Clara didn’t look towards me, her eyes were on the bed.
“It’s a miracle,” the nurse, whose name I’d long ago forgotten, said as she met me at the door.
I didn’t tell her I’d stopped believing in miracles. After all, I did believe in Clara, and Clara was here. Had she led her out of darkness like she’d done for me?
“You didn’t tell us anyone was coming,” the nurse added under her breath. I didn’t miss the edge of accusation there.
My gaze stayed on my wife, who was sitting, trying to process the family secret I’d guarded with my own life.
“We weren’t informed your wife knew about—” the nurse continued before I cut her off.
“I don’t have any secrets from Clara.”
Not anymore.
The love story continues…
A shocking revelation and an unexpected miracle bring darkness to the Royal family’s doorstep in Claim Me, the second volume in the Royal World.
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The creak of the door alerted the nurse to Alexander’s presence, but I’d felt him coming long before that. I’d known he would come. An hour ago, I’d felt a prickle along my skin. Moments ago, goosebumps had broken out on my arms. Before the door opened, a shiver ran up my neck. My body responded to him like air surging before an approaching storm.
But today Alexander wasn’t the reckoning.
I was.
I didn’t turn. It wasn’t that I couldn’t face him, but rather that I refused to look at him. Instead, my eyes stayed on hers, briefly closing when I heard him speak.
“I don’t have any secrets from my wife.”
I would have laughed if I’d had it in me. Another lie. It was getting harder to decide which I hated more, the lies or the secrets, although it didn’t seem like there was much difference between the two.
She glanced up, drinking in Alexander’s words before her eyes darted back to me. Now she was piecing it together. I hadn’t explained who I was. It felt wrong, somehow, to be the one to tell her. She had missed so much of Alexander’s life. How was I supposed to tell her that I was his wife? That we had a child together? That I was expecting another? There were years of information to relay, and I had started my relationship with her by keeping secrets.
Maybe my husband and I weren’t so different after all.
There hadn’t been much time to tell her anything before Alexander arrived, anyway. First, the nurse panicked and checked all her vitals. I remained off to the side, largely unnoticed. Then the doctor had arrived. I was only alone with her for a few minutes. She had only asked one question.
“Where is my family?”
I’d told her he was on his way. I had known he would find me. It was one way he never let me down. After that, the uncomfortable silence set in. I’d offered her my name and told her I was a friend.
When Alexander clarified who I really was, she continued to stare at me.
“Wife?” Her voice was still weak, feeble from years of silence, but the tremble of pain in that one word had nothing to do with it. I couldn’t bring myself to meet her eyes and look into their shadowed, blank depths.
I only nodded. I couldn’t do this. He had kept this from me for a reason. Later, I would make him explain why. Now? I didn’t want to be here. I had no place in this family reunion. She was as much a stranger to me as I was to her. Alexander had seen to that.
Rising to my feet, I forced a small smile. “Excuse me.”
I moved quickly, refusing to allow myself time to reconsider. I needed to get away from her. I needed to be away from him. I needed to be able to think.
Alexander reached for me as I passed, but I skirted away, shaking my head. Even now, my body fought against me, tempting me toward him like a bee to honey. He’d thrown on jeans and a t-shirt that hugged his powerful body, stubble peppered his jawline, and his black hair was a chaotic mess. Apart from the clothing, this was the man I would have woken up to if I had stayed in bed. We would have made love. I could almost feel the scratch of his stubble on my thighs. I’d come here instead, lured into the darkness of his past and the mistakes we couldn’t seem to escape. It’s what kept me from going to him now—even a bee could drown in honey.
“Clara,” he said in a hollow voice, his blue eyes flashing with regret. He didn’t speak again as I reached the door. He didn’t try to stop me.
We both knew it wouldn’t matter. There was nothing he could say. I thought he’d given me all of him — body, heart, soul. I was wrong.
Claim Me is available now!
Obsession is only the beginning…
A glance, a kiss, and nothing would be the same…
A prince with a tragic past and dangerous secrets. An American woman who bows to no man. Their love story shocks the world and threatens to destroy the Royal family from within.
Enter the seductive world of royalty in Command Me, the first volume in the bestselling Royals Saga, and discover why millions of readers all over the world have fallen in love with Alexander of Cambridge.
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To learn more about the Royals Saga, please visit:
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Thank you!
When I said goodbye to the Royals three years, it felt like turning my back on friends. But that’s the thing about true friends, they won’t
let you do that! I spent the last two years working on something completely different, which you’ll learn about soon, but during that time Alexander and Clara kept popping back into my head. At first, it was silly things. I’d see something and think “X would have something to say about that!” Then it was big things. And then one day, they started whispering a story to me.
I know that sounds crazy! A famous writer calls that “the spooky art.” I resisted for a while. I tried to remind them that I’d given them their happily ever after, but X and Clara are too real for that. Their love story was never easy, but in a changing world, I knew they’d be fighting for each other!
One question I’m being asked about Wild King is when it starts. The new Sovereign series picks up a few weeks after Complete Me and focuses on Alexander and Clara. It can be read without having read The Royals Saga.
Both series are part of a new book world I’m calling The Royals Collection. The Royals Collection also includes the Harlequin Red Hot Read: Two Week Turnaround. Standalone books and novellas will be added in the future.
Now I have a favor to ask you. Can you please leave a review for Wild King on the retail channels of your choice and/or BookBub? Your reviews will help new readers discover the book.
Thank you for reading. I hope I helped you escape for a few hours. Without you, I couldn’t do this!
G
Acknowledgments
There are so many people who made this book a reality. First of all to every reader who’s asked for more Royals at signings, over emails, online, thank you for loving these characters as much as I do! This book is for you!
To Louise Fury, thank you for standing by me through the last few years as I’ve navigated new waters. I couldn’t ask for a better business partner. A big shout out to Victoria Capello and the team at The Bent Agency for all their hard work. Thank you to my foreign agents for helping bring my words to readers all over the world!
This book wouldn’t be here without the support, encouragement and friendship of Audrey Carlan. Thank you for helping me trust the journey even when the road got dark. Brighter days are ahead for us, my friend.
There are a lot of people who have helped lift me up over the course of writing this book and the last few years. I’m not going to get them all but I want to say a special thanks to Jeananna Goodall, Jessica Laws, Selina Washington, Camille Newman, Kimberly Newman, Christina Brame, Shana Gray, and Trish L. McHugh. Thank you to Elsi Gabrielsen for giving me the stars!
To my author friends—there are too many of you to name—a thanks. Some of you are about to see your first movies come to the screen, others of you are just getting started. You are ALL an inspiration to me with your words and your stories. I am so blessed to know you and learn from you. Thank you
It takes a village to write a book and to keep me sane, thank you to my family and friends for understanding when I miss a call because “I’m in London.” But a village needs leaders and mine wouldn’t function at all without Elise Lee. You are my best friend, my business partner, my sister. I see more wild adventures ahead!
Thank you to my editor Tamara Mataya for gleefully converting Alexander’s chapters to British English. You are the best.
To the kids, thank you for sharing your mother with her other family—and for learning how to load the dishwasher.
And to Josh, thank you for always reading, for always taking Clara’s side, for always being there. In other words, for always.
About the Author
Geneva Lee is the New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling author of eighteen novels. Her bestselling Royals Saga has sold nearly two million copies worldwide. She is the co-owner of Away With Words, a destination bookstore in Poulsbo, Washington where she lives with her family. When she isn’t traveling, she can usually be found writing, reading, or buying another pair of shoes.
Learn more about Geneva Lee at:
www.GenevaLee.com