Captured and Crowned (15 page)

“Extremely so.” He extended his hand to her, when he longed to sweep her into his arms and storm out of here.

Her luminous gaze flicked from his palm to his face. The slender column of her throat worked. Then to his relief the hesitation in her eyes slowly ebbed away.

“Very well. I'll go with you.”

Slowly, hesitantly, she placed her hand in his. And for the first time in hours he was able to breathe.

 

“Are you happy,
agapi mou
?”

She was miserable, moody, weepy. Heartsick from wanting him. From longing for the love he'd denied her.

“It's been trying, with the paparazzi watching my every move,” she said instead, still desperately clinging to what remained of her pride.

“The world waits to see what you will create. You are an up-and-coming high fashion designer,” he said. “You will dazzle the world.”

Exactly what she'd dreamed of doing for years. Yet now that the possibility of success loomed on her horizon she'd lost the passion to pour her heart and soul into her art.

All because she'd been swept up in the turmoil that
surrounded this demanding man. Because the weeks since leaving Angyra had been utter hell. Because the royal heir was nestled in her womb, and that sealed her fate.

“What is troubling you,
agapi mou
?” he asked, grasping her hand and entwining their fingers.

The strong, steady pulse of him vibrated into her, drawing her into him, muddling her senses. She took a breath, then another, yet still felt as if her world was about to spin out of control.

Tell him! Spit it out and end this torture!

“You,” she said. “I don't know whether to be happy to see you again, or to dread the outcome of this visit.”

Silence throbbed between them as she waited for him to say something correct. Something that would put an end to this turmoil, this hoping that he'd come for her.

He huffed out a rough sigh. “We are our own worst enemies. Always at odds. Hesitant to trust.”

Her throat was thick with tears and her eyes burned. Sitting beside him, holding his hand and feeling that strong sensual pull ribbon around her, was tearing her apart inside.

“When you sent me away, you hurt me more than I ever thought possible,” she admitted, and felt him go deathly still beside her. “But I never stopped loving you. I couldn't even when I tried. And now that I'm…I'm…”

“Shh,” he soothed, pulling her into his arms, where she'd ached to be for so long. “I'm a bastard for putting you through this emotional hell when all you asked for was my heart. Do you know why I couldn't give that to you,
agapi mou
?”

She shook her head on a choked sob, afraid to guess why.

“Because I didn't know what love was. Because I'd forgotten the wisdom passed down to me from a wise old man.”

“The King?” she guessed.

“No. Someone far wiser than my austere father,” he said.
“When I was six years old I saw our old gardener on the cliff path with his wife, walking hand in hand. I'd never seen a man and woman do that before, and I asked him why they did it. He told me that he'd given his heart to her when he was a young man and that their love had never dimmed for one day.”

“How beautiful,” she said, blinking back the sting of tears, envious of the old couple and yet deeply touched that such love existed.

The oddest smile curved Kristo's sensuous mouth. “I never saw my parents touch each other, though it is obvious my mother did her duty and gave my father three sons. But there was no tenderness between them. No passion.” His hand tightened on hers. Warm. Strong. “No holding hands.”

She thought back to her own childhood and sighed. “There was no hand-holding between my father and stepmother either, though there were many bouts of raised voices and arguments.”

She'd hated the turmoil. Hated the constant upheaval in their lives that had kept her and her sister cowering.

He cleared his throat and stroked her thumb with his. “I vowed then that if I ever married it would be to a woman who'd captured my heart. When I first met you on the beach I was instantly attracted to you. I wanted you more than I'd ever wanted a woman, and those stolen kisses and caresses only left me wanting you more,” he said.

“Until you discovered who I was,” she said, her voice small.

“Exactly. I hated my brother for being the man to have won you. I hated you for allowing me such liberties.”

Heat burned her cheeks, but a new warmth stirred in her at his admission. If only it hadn't been lust that drew them together…

She gave a shuddering sigh. “I hated myself for betraying
Gregor, but I, too, was powerless to walk away from you. But you know that already.”

And it had made no difference to how he felt about her. She'd always be the woman who had betrayed the Crown Prince.

“It is time we move forward with our lives,” he said, and she felt her breath seize, fearing the farewell that was sure to come.

She couldn't let him voice that final goodbye—not before she told him about their love-child. “We can't—”

“You will let me finish,” he said, and pressed two fingers against her lips. But it was the fierce look in his eyes that silenced her.

“I have done many things wrong with you,” he said. “But this time it will be done right. I love you,
agapi mou
.”

She blinked, stunned to hear the words she'd feared he'd never voice.

Was she dreaming? “You do?”

He gathered her close and kissed her so tenderly that tears spilled down her cheeks. “Will you forgive me for being an arrogant fool? Will you marry me? Will you be the woman I give my heart to, who'll walk in the garden with me hand in hand when we are both old?”

“Yes.” She lifted her face to his, gazing into dark eyes that showed the depth of his love, that proved to her this was not a dream.

This was real. And this was right.

“Yes,” she said, this time from her heart. “I'll love you now, when we are old, with my last breath and through eternity.”

“To the airport,” he told his driver, his voice gruff with emotion. “To Angyra and our future.”

She took his right hand and placed it over her still-flat stomach. “To our baby.”

His dark eyes flickered with surprise. With joy. “You're pregnant?”

“Yes,” she said. “I tried to tell you earlier, but you kept interrupting me.”

He flashed her a smile that was deliciously wicked. “Which is what I am going to do again, now that you have made me the happiest man on earth.”

Then he pulled her close to his heart, as if she were his most valued treasure, and kissed her deeply, leaving no doubt that their love would last a lifetime and beyond.