My breath is shallow. My head is spinning. I claw at my veil, pulling it out of my hair and tossing it to the side, trying to get enough oxygen to fill my lungs.
He’s leaving. I’m not marrying him. How… Why…
I turn to look at the Duke of Blythe, my eyes wide. His stubble has grown to a beard, as if he hasn’t shaved in a week. Instinctively, I run my fingers through the coarse hair, earning a soft groan of contentment from the Duke.
“What…” I inhale sharply. “Why are you here? What’s going on?”
“Count Gregory tried to gloat,” he says, placing a hand to my stomach. “He called me last night and told me about the baby. Said you’d agreed to marry him to save your reputation.” Heath’s hand sweeps up my body to cup my face, warm and strong and safe. “Ada, I’m so sorry. Your visit made sense. I’m sorry I didn’t let you speak. I should have listened. I thought…” His eyebrows draw together. “I thought you were choosing him. That he could provide things I never could. That your future would be better if you married the Count.”
I shake my head. “No.” It’s all I can manage to say. My voice is hoarse.
“I’ve been working on bringing him down for years,” Heath says, his brows arching. He closes his eyes, letting out a long breath. “He funded the research for an experimental drug that killed my brother. It was supposed to be a miracle drug that cured addiction. They told us early clinical trials had been successful. That it was safe.” Heath scoffs, tears filling his eyes. “My brother’s heart stopped after the very first dose.”
“Heath,” I whisper. “I had no idea.”
“No one did. It was covered up, and I was never able to prove it. Just another dead junkie, you know? But I knew it was him. He’s a major investor in almost every pharmaceutical company on the continent.”
My eyes widen. “It’s not just philanthropy and medical research.”
Heath shakes his head. “It’s why he’s so well-connected to research institutions and universities.” His lips pinch. “He killed my brother. Just months later, my parents died. They couldn’t handle the shame and heartbreak, and I think it just broke them. He took everything from me, and I couldn’t even prove it.” The Duke’s eyes grow hard. “I’ll never forgive him. I couldn’t prove what he did, but I knew if I dug deep enough, I’d find something. And I did. Fraud and embezzlement on a massive scale. He’s been stealing money from almost every institution and company he’s involved with.”
My heart thuds. I was moments away from marrying that man. I thought I was doing right by my family, but what kind of future would I have had with him?
Running my fingers up to the Duke’s shoulders, I shake my head. It feels so good to touch him. To be here with him. To feel safe for the first time in weeks. And the way he’s looking at me, it makes me think that maybe there’s hope. For me. For us. “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier? Why not explain it when I came to see you?”
His thumb sweeps over my cheek, catching a stray tear. “Because I told myself your family and your future would be safer if you were tied to him. I’d drop the investigation. Let him walk.”
“Heath…you’d do that? How could you think I was better off with a man like that?”
He closes his eyes, letting out a long breath. “What could I offer you? How could I help Kiera’s university applications? I dropped the investigation and resigned myself to never avenging my brother.” The Duke leans his head to mine, closing his eyes. “I’m sorry, Ada. I should never have let you walk out. I should have wrapped my arms around you and begged you to marry me right then. I should have told you how I feel about you.”
“And how’s that?” I manage to croak.
He pulls back, cupping my face. His eyes, so green, so vivid, so completely full of emotion, shine for me. “Like you’re the reason I’m still alive. Like you’re the only good thing that has ever happened to me.”
“You don’t even know me,” I whisper, knowing it’s a lie. From the moment I saw him across the room, we understood each other. Our connection is more than physical. It’s deep, and true, and eternal.
“I know you deserve better than this marriage. I know you’re carrying my child. I know I could never live with myself if you took any other man’s name but my own.”
“What if I want to keep my own name?” I whisper, letting my lips slide into a smile.
“Fine,” Heath says, grinning. “Just as long as you’re mine.”
And with that, Heath crushes his lips to mine. He kisses me in front of my family. In front of the priest and the scandalized staff of the Gregory household. In front of the whole world.
I wrap my arms around his neck and let my heart sing.
This. This is where I want to be. This is where the world feels right.
In the Duke’s arms. By his side. Promised to no one else but him.
Epilogue
Heath
Ada invites me back to the Belcourt Estate, her family graciously echoing the invitation. As we arrive, a soft sprinkling of snow starts to fall.
Ada glances at me from the passenger seat of my car, reaching over to slide her hand over my thigh. “This isn’t what I expected for Christmas this year.”
I grin. “Me neither.”
I park the car, pausing as I watch the rest of her family filter inside. Ada smiles shyly. And I can’t resist. I have to kiss her. I tangle my fingers into those black locks and take her lips in mine. She tastes like heaven and hope and everything good in the world.
Right there, in the car, after breaking up her wedding and leading the police to the Count’s residence, I vow to never let her go.
It doesn’t matter that we barely know each other. It doesn’t matter that we’ve started a relationship with furtive kisses and stolen passions.
I feel more alive than I have in years. It feels like my brother and parents are smiling down on me, watching me mend the wounds that were inflicted upon me years before. Ada is the healing balm. With soft lips and moans that slip through our kiss, she holds me tight and stitches me back together.
When we pull apart, Ada stares at the Count’s engagement ring on her left hand. Tugging the simple gold band free, she shakes her head. “Wearing that thing felt wrong from the beginning.”
“I should have given you one the day you came to see me,” I say, my voice a low rasp. “When you played my mother’s piano. I should have dropped to my knees and begged you to marry me.”
Patting my chest, I find the little black velvet box containing my mother’s old ring. Before she died, she made me promise to give it to someone. She told me not to let bitterness and anger cloud the rest of my life. She told me to fall in love, and to fall hard.
For the first time, I feel like I’ve fulfilled that vow.
I pull out the box, flipping it open and lifting my eyes to Ada. “I know I’m an idiot for letting you walk away from me. I know I’ve ignored you and kept the truth of my investigation from you. I know you have every right to refuse me, but I’m not afraid to beg. Ada Belcourt, meeting you was like being struck by lightning. You’ve lit up my entire world, and it’s only in the past four weeks that I’ve realized how dark life is without you.”
She stares at the glittering stone, flicking her eyes up to mine. “This is not how I expected tonight to go at all.”
A thin blanket of snow is already covering the vehicle, shielding us from prying eyes. It feels warm and secure in here, like we’re alone in the world. I gulp, tugging the ring free from its velvet box.
“Marry me, Ada.” My hand is shaking. Breath short. Eyes moist.
Everything I have, Ada holds in the palm of her hand. She has my heart, my future, my child. If she refuses me, I know I’ll never recover.
With a thick gulp, Ada nods. “Okay.”
I smile so hard it hurts my cheeks. My chest feels like it’s cracked open. Okay means yes. Okay means she’s mine, now and forever.
As I slip the ring on her finger, she lets out a hiccup and
a laugh, shaking her head. “It fits.”
“Meant to be.” My eyes shine with unshed tears as I smile at my future bride. We were destined to find each other. From the moment I first saw her, she was meant to be my wife.
Sliding her hand over my cheek, Ada lets out a sigh. “Merry Christmas, Your Grace.” She grins at the title. “Heath,” she corrects.
“Merry Christmas,” I answer, leaning into her touch. Words stick to my throat, but I want to tell her. I need to tell her. I’m sick of hiding in my mansion, away from the stares and the whispers and the emotions. I’m sick of living my life in fear, focused only on revenge.
Ada has shown me another side of life.
“I love you,” I whisper, placing my palm on her thigh. “I never believed in love at first sight until I saw you. And when I heard you play that piano at the Farcliff Castle, I knew my life would never be the same. You’ve reached into my chest and pulled my heart free of the thorns caging it in. You’ve awoken feelings inside me that I didn’t know were possible.” I take a deep breath, closing my eyes as her fingers stroke my cheek. “And you’re carrying my child. I thought”—I pause, forcing my eyes open—“that I’d never have an heir. I thought my family would die with me. But…”
My voice drifts off, and I slide my hand from her thigh to her abdomen.
With one hand still cupping my face, Ada places a palm over my hand on her stomach, intertwining my fingers with mine. “You want the baby?” she whispers, hope blooming over her face.
“Want it?” I laugh. “Ada, I’m desperate for it. Desperate for you. Did you hear me? I love you. Completely. I never want to let you go. I never want to watch you walk away from me again.”
“Technically, you walked away from me.” She grins, squeezing my hand. Then, biting her lip, she blinks two tears free from her eyes. “I think I might love you, too.”
Our story is messy. It’s backwards. It’s fast and tangled and not at all what I would have expected. But in Ada’s eyes I see the truth, even if her words are hesitant.
She loves me. She loves me. The mother of my child, my future wife, the woman who dragged me out of the bitterness of my own past—she loves me. Me! How did I ever deserve this? How could I have gained not only a wife, but a child, too?
Leaning over to lay a kiss on my lips, Ada smiles. “Come on,” she says. “We do presents on Christmas Eve at my house. I’m sure my mother will have rustled something up for you, too.”
“You’re my gift this year,” I say, letting a smile stretch over my lips. My heart thumps hard, reminding me that I’m alive. That I have a future with Ada. That I have a child on the way, and I’ll do everything in my power to provide for my baby. Our baby.
I spend Christmas with the Belcourts, then marry Ada a week later. We spend every single day together, walking through snow-covered fields and admiring the crisp, blue skies that seem even bluer in the cold weather. I kiss her often, telling her I love her multiple times a day. How could I not? I never thought I’d feel this way. I never thought I’d have this.
A wife. A family.
Happiness.
I don’t stay stuck at the Blythe Estate anymore. I go to every concert that Ada puts on. We go to the theatre and the ballet. We go see movies. We become fixtures in the tabloids, which makes Ada laugh.
“They don’t need to explain my relation to the royal family anymore.” She giggles, pointing to the newspaper. She looks cute with her cheeks tinged pink from the cold weather and her eyes shining bright. I kiss the tip of her nose.
As our child grows inside her, so too does my love for her bloom. If I thought this was just a passing attraction, I’m proven wrong every single day. Whenever I wake up with my wife’s arm slung across my chest, or I get to kiss her soft lips and feel her swelling belly under my palm, I know this is real. It’s deep. It’s everlasting.
Our son is born the first week of September, exactly forty weeks after that fateful Christmas ball, on a particularly warm autumn day. Ada is gorgeous and strong and I fall in love with her all over again. The past nine months have shown me what it means to live.
We name him Paul, after my brother. He’s perfect.
The case against Count Gregory is strong, and he’s sentenced to sixty years in prison on multiple counts of fraud and embezzlement. His crimes turn out to be so egregious that the judge uses him as an example, giving a damning speech at the sentencing hearing. It makes waves around the world, with his sneering face plastered on the front page of every major newspaper.
Truth be told, Gregory’s conviction has little impact on the pharmaceutical companies and research institutions that developed harmful drugs with him, but I decide his punishment is a good enough start. Fighting against unsafe drugs will be my crusade, and I’ll fight it gladly—as long as Ada is by my side.
After all, if not for Gregory I might not have had the courage to shed my fears and pursue love. Pursue Ada. I would have let her slip through my fingers and I’d have stayed tucked away in my own estate, cursing the world.
Our next Christmas is spent at the Belcourt Estate. Kiera ends up attending Farcliff University, studying medicine. Maggie’s foot heals, and she continues dancing. Their parents accept me with open arms, and I finally feel like I have a family again.
With a four-month-old baby in her arms, Ada sits next to the big Christmas tree in the Belcourt living room, looking like a goddess. She picks up a small envelope and hands it to me, smiling. “Merry Christmas, my love.”
I tilt my head, staring at her curiously.
She smiles, nodding for me to open the envelope as she bounces baby Paul in one arm. Is it wrong that I think she looks hot right now?
Tearing my eyes away from my wife, I open the envelope and pull out an invoice. Frowning, I read it, recognizing my parents’ piano-making business letterhead. “What’s this?”
“I made inquiries,” Ada says, smiling. “All the craftsmen who worked for your parents missed making Blythe pianos. They all agreed to come back, and one of them even knew an old client who wanted a new instrument.” She nods to the invoice. “That’s the first order for the second generation of Blythe pianos.”
My throat grows tight. Eyes mist. I can’t even see Ada clearly now, only a vague form of her rocking our child in her arms. “You… Is this real? They want to come back?”
“Everyone read the news, Heath,” she says softly, coming to sit beside me. “They all wanted to stand by you. They know you respect the business, and the only reason you shut it down was to pursue the investigation against Gregory. But that’s over now.” She nudges her shoulder against mine. “We can move on. Together.”
Wiping my eyes with the heels of my palms, I shake my head. “Ada…” Emotion chokes me. When my vision clears, I see her smiling at me, and my heart erupts.
“I love you,” I say, kissing her. “So much.”
“Okay, okay!” Kiera shouts from across the room. “Get a room or hand out another Christmas present to someone else. I don’t want to watch a make-out session.”
Giggling, Ada pulls away. I throw my arm over her shoulders, letting out a deep breath. In this room, with Ada, our son, and my new family, I know I have everything I’ll ever need.
Ada leans her head on my shoulder, and I kiss her temple.
My love. My Ada. Forever.
Thanks for reading!
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Psst… Keep reading for a preview of Charlie and Elle’s story, Bad Prince.
Bad Prince
Royally Unexpected: Book 1
1
Elle
The rhythmic squeaking of my housemate’s bedsprings gets louder as the sound of her first moan floats through the wall. I stuff my earplugs in deeper, hoping they’ll help block out the noise—even though I already know they won’t. Dahlia’s headboard taps against our shared wall. It starts gently, barely grazing the thin sepa
ration between our bedrooms.
And then it gets louder, and louder, and louder…
… until the wall actually shakes.
Another moan sounds out and a man says something barely audible. I assume it’s something filthy. Dahlia, my best and weirdest friend, likes it dirty.
Why do I know this?
Because I hear everything in this rundown, mouse-infested house of ours.
Everything.
Groaning, I turn to my side, stuffing my pillow over my head to try to muffle the noise. I check the time on my phone. It’s already past midnight, and I have to be up in four hours for crew practice. I’m going to be out on the water, rowing my little heart out as I train for the biggest regatta of my life, with less than four hours’ sleep.
Sunday is—or rather, was— my day off, as usual, and Monday practices are notoriously tough after a rest day. Coach Bernard doesn’t tolerate lateness, sleepiness, or excuses like my roommate is a sex maniac.
The banging on the wall continues, and my blood pressure rises. Every knock on the wall cranks my nerves tighter.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Moan.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Moan.
Dahlia goes to Farcliff University, too, but she’s far from athletic—well, not in the traditional sense of the word. She runs her own athletics department from the comfort of her own bed.
No, Dahlia doesn’t need to wake up at four o’clock in the morning, or practice twice a day, six days a week. She doesn’t need to manage her protein intake down to the gram, or make sure her performance is stellar every single day just to keep her scholarship.
Yours for Christmas: An Accidental Pregnancy Romance (Royally Unexpected) Page 11