Page 10 of Scandal Queen

“Asleep. She’s been asleep for hours.”

He pulled back a bit, that new frown, which he wore on his face like a new piece of furniture, deepened. “Leia.”

“The doctor’s visiting in the morning. She’s fine. I would never have left the hospital otherwise, no matter how much I hate the press and the attention.”

Sighing slightly, he dropped his forehead until it rested against mine. For a long moment we stood there, carved together. Harsh words and regret washing away, bringing a new dawn where only darkness had been.

His kiss when it finally found my lips burned with hunger. The fire he’d woken in me only weeks ago sparked and flamed, so hot that I winced.

“Sorry.” He pulled away. “I probably shouldn’t just turn up and think I can apologise and everything will go back to normal.”

I pulled him tighter. “Will you shut up?”

Three

“She asked for you as soon as she woke.” I handed him the coffee I’d made using the small welcome pack Jeannie had left when she’d cleaned the place up. Handing the future king a coffee in what should have been a moment of emotional turmoil seemed almost laughable. The pressure of having the world watching me. Knowing about me. It faded into insignificance as I watched him lean back against the Formica worktop in the orange and brown kitchen of the cottage. He made seventies garish colour schemes look good.

I wanted to kiss him.

Feel him; skin on skin.

I also wanted to talk, to be normal, just us.

What was normal for us? A few dates, a handful of weeks, and now here we stood in a Cornish kitchen with the press hounding our every move.

“She said she could hear you, that she’d dreamt of you.”

He studied me carefully, blowing on the steam rising from the mug. “When you made me leave, it was simply the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Every step I took down that corridor, it felt wrong. I kept stopping, ready to turn around, but you were so very angry. I knew you didn’t want to see me again, not right at that moment.” His gaze stormed. “I don’t blame you either, Leia.”

I shook my head and concentrated on staring at my own coffee. I clattered the tea spoon against the china while I tried to think of the right way to say what I needed to.

“The moment she said your name, I realised I’d been fighting something that had happened without me even knowing it. For the last six years, it’s just been Daisy and me. But it’s not just us anymore. It felt too quick, that just a few dates shouldn’t mean forever.”

I peered up to assess his reaction.

“The other day, Nana said something that I didn’t really take note of at the time.”

“What did she say?” His question rumbled low and melodic. That wave of desire he pulled from me with just the slightest touch or word, crested to life.

I dragged in a deep breath trying to force myself to keep talking. “She said I wasn’t like other people. That I’m not built to have dates and fall in and out of love. I’m not wired that way, it’s all or nothing.” He opened his mouth to speak, but I held up my hand. “And she’s right. When I look at how I’ve always been with Daisy; that almost fanatical desperation I’ve always had that she should be just mine. How I don’t try to make friends with people… and the way I feel for you.”

He nodded and placed his cup on the counter. Reaching for me, he picked up my hand and held it palm upwards, his finger sliding across my skin. “Leia. Everyone important knows I’m here: my parents, the palace. This isn’t a secret anymore. I was foolish to pretend that it could be.”

I stared at the place our hands met. His olive skin, holding my own pale palm.

“I can give you privacy. We can live and never tell anyone what we do; behind closed doors is our own private kingdom. But I will never love you in secret again. The risk of losing you is too great.”

“A private kingdom?” The warmth of my smile lifted my heart.

“Yes.”

“What happens in a private kingdom?”

His dark head dipped, and he pressed his lips to my hand. “You, me, Daisy. We get to love and be ourselves.”

“And what happens when the press doesn’t accept me; the people won’t accept me?”

His gaze lifted and searched mine. “I don’t for one moment think that will be the case.” He shrugged. “But I don’t care. My entire life has been shaped by who I am, what I will be. Surely now, Leia, I get to find some joy for myself?”