Princess in Love (32 page)

“Mine, too.”

In the distance, the bells chimed in the cathedral tower. Rose closed her eyes, again
relishing the sound.

“You have a daughter,” Leopold said. “Will you tell me about her?”

Naturally, Rose was delighted to talk about her beautiful Marie and how she was so
confident and smart for her age. Leopold listened intently with genuine interest and
fascination.

She then asked about the hospital and his other charitable endeavors, and he described
a number of worthy causes that inspired him. She was inspired as well, and offered
to help in any way she could.

Next they chatted about how the world had changed for the better since the war, and
Leopold told her that his mother had recently remarried. She was now Lady Bosworth,
wife of a kindhearted viscount who shared her love of flowers and country living.

Before Rose realized it, more than an hour had passed. She glanced with some concern
at the horses. “They are probably getting thirsty,” she mentioned, though she didn’t
want to leave just yet. She wanted to continue the conversation.

“Shall we walk them to the creek?” Leopold suggested.

“An excellent idea.” Rose stood and picked up her bonnet, which she tied quickly under
her chin.

They untethered the two animals, led them into the woods, and began the gradual descent
down the east side of the ridge.

It was shady and cool beneath the shelter of the tall pines, and Rose was highly attuned
to the sound of their footsteps, and the tap of the horses’ hooves upon the packed
ground as they walked.

“It’s so peaceful here,” she said on a wistful sigh as she looked up at the sky.

“It’s like heaven,” he replied. “Not a day goes by that I don’t appreciate the peace
of our country and the simple fact that I am here on this earth, alive and well enough
to enjoy the beauty of it.” He slanted a look at her. “Forgive me, Rose. I shouldn’t
have said that.”

“Why not?” she asked. “I feel the same way.”

He squinted into a sun-dappled clearing along the side of the path. “Yes, but you
lost your husband recently. That was insensitive of me.”

“Not at all,” she assured him. “It’s important that we embrace life and never take
it for granted. Joseph believed that, and he made the most of the time he had after
Waterloo. He often said that what happened to him was a blessing because it taught
him to appreciate life so much more.”

Leopold was quiet for a moment. “What happened in the end?” he asked. “I often think
of those days in Waterloo and the decision I forced upon you.”

“You didn’t force us,” she said. “We agreed with you.”

“I held a gun to the doctor’s head,” he reminded her with a half chuckle. “It wasn’t
my finest moment, I assure you.”

She couldn’t help but laugh along with him. “I must disagree with you there, Leopold.
What you did was very fine indeed. And if you are wondering about Joseph’s leg, it
healed remarkably well. He walked with a limp that was barely noticeable, and he only
required a cane in the last year, when it began to ache more than usual on rainy days.
He lived a full and healthy life, and we had you to thank for that. It was something
else entirely that claimed him in the end. A severe fever. It happened quickly.”

They reached the creek and led the horses for a drink.

Leopold turned to her. “Are you home to stay now, Rose, or will you return to Austria?”

“Oh, I am most definitely home to stay,” she replied. “Did you not know that?”

He shook his head. “I thought perhaps Emperor Francis might not wish to part with
his grandchild.”

She stroked Zeus’s shoulder. “I am sure things would be different if I’d had a son,
but my daughter has no claim to the throne. That will go to Ferdinand. Francis has
always been sympathetic to my attachment to Petersbourg. He wanted me to be happy.
He let me go with his blessing.”

The horses finished drinking, so they led them back to the path.

“Then I am very glad you are home,” Leopold said, pausing before they mounted to ride
the rest of the way.

“I am glad, too,” she replied. “I never said this to anyone before, but I always felt
rather displaced in Austria.”

“I felt displaced, too,” he softly said, “even though I was here the entire time.”

They faced each other in the cool shade of the forest, and all at once, an unsettling
wave of emotion washed over Rose. She felt exuberant and excited as she admired Leopold’s
arresting blue eyes and handsome face, yet melancholy at the same time, for she wasn’t
sure if it was too late for this mad love they had once shared. So much had happened
to tear them apart, and she knew very well that no one could ever turn back the hands
of time. She was no longer the young, inexperienced virgin she had once been. She
was a widow now, with a young daughter …

Leopold squinted in a blinding shaft of sunlight that broke through the treetops and
illuminated his face. He was still the most handsome man she had ever known. That
would never change.

“I’ve missed you,” he said, gazing at her with intense affection and an obvious vulnerability
that curled around her heart like a sweet caress.

“I missed you, too,” she replied. “It hurts sometimes when I think of how we lost
touch, and how I never knew what was happening in your life. There is still so much
I want to ask you.”

“Ask me now,” he said.

She glanced down at her feet and smiled. “I fear that if I start heading down that
path, Leopold, we could be here all night, for I would like to know every detail of
every moment of your life since we parted in the stable yard that last day in Waterloo.”

He nodded as if he felt the same way. They turned and started walking again.

“You never married,” she mentioned in a casual tone.

“No, though I considered it a few times. My mother has certainly done her part to
wrangle me into matrimony, but I could never go ahead with it, despite everyone’s
best efforts.”

“Why not?”

The horses plodded along behind them, their heads bobbing as they walked.

“Because I could never love anyone but you, Rose, and I am quite sure my heart will
be yours until the end of time.”

Another deep wave of emotion rolled over her and she stopped abruptly, for they were
the sweetest words she’d ever heard in her life.

Oh God … how she loved this man.

Leopold stopped, too, and faced her.

“I always told you that I’d never give you up,” he said. “That I’d wait forever, and
it has felt like forever since I let you go. But now you’re here before me, and all
I want to do is hold you in my arms. I don’t know how I’ve managed not to.”

“Then hold me,” she breathlessly replied. “
Please,
for I’ve waited a long time as well.”

He needed no further encouragement. He stepped forward and pulled her into his loving
embrace. The forest all around them seemed to explode into a stunning rainbow of color.

His touch was pure heaven. Rose wrapped her arms around his shoulders and clung tightly
to his strength. She couldn’t seem to get enough of him. How long she had waited for
this. Everything felt right and no longer displaced. She was where she was meant to
be—with the man who had always possessed her heart.

He drew back and took her face in his hands, searching the depths of her eyes with
joyful disbelief. “Is this really happening?” he asked. “Is it possible you could
be mine? Am I dreaming?”

She shook her head and laughed through a flood of happy tears. “It’s real,” she replied,
“and yes, I am yours, Leopold. I was always yours, despite everything, and I am still
waiting for you to kiss me.”

In the very next instant, his lips covered hers with exquisite, unrestrained passion,
and the world shifted beneath her feet. His mouth was moist and hot and the taste
of him pleasured her to the very depths of her soul.

Running her fingers through his hair, Rose sighed with enchantment and clung to his
shoulders. Soon he was sweeping her off her feet and into his arms like a groom on
a wedding night. He carried her into the woods.

Kissing her along the way, while stepping over ferns and pushing through the underbrush,
he finally reached a small, private clearing surrounded by sycamores.

There, with the sun raining down upon them, he dropped to his knees and set her down
in the grass. Rose held her arms out to him, inviting him closer, and he covered her
body with his own.

“Tell me it won’t end this time,” he whispered huskily in her ear while he stroked
her body with roving, desperate hands.

“I promise it won’t,” she replied. “I am yours forever. Nothing will ever come between
us again. I won’t let it.”

Not even Napoleon’s army could separate them now, for she had waited too long for
this. Leopold Hunt was the man she loved more than life itself, and she would not
lose him again.

“Marry me,” he said, “with or without the king’s permission. I don’t care who approves,
nor will I ever again make the mistake of placing duty above my love for you. I will
steal you away if I have to.”

Overcome with happiness, her body on fire, Rose kissed him deeply. “Oh, Leopold. Freedom
was a luxury I rarely ever dreamed of. Perhaps I should have rebelled when I had the
chance, but I, too, chose duty over love, and I am so sorry.”

“No,” he said, leaning back. “There shall be no regrets. Though it was painful, I
believe everything was meant to be exactly as it was. You have a beautiful daughter
now, and I found my dignity again. I reclaimed my honor.”

She laid her open palm on his cheek and smiled. “Yes, you did. I knew it the moment
you sent word to me in Brussels, when I learned you saved Joseph’s life, and I vow
that I will never doubt you again.”

He brushed his lips over hers. “Let us move forward now, Rose, for it is the only
direction I wish to go.”

“It is a fine direction,” she replied with a smile. “And I don’t care who approves,
either. Yes, I will marry you. All that matters is that we are together.”

His expression turned serious. “Yes, but I will still seek your brother’s blessing.”

Feeling cheeky all of a sudden, Rose flipped him over to straddle his hips and pin
him down. “I am quite sure he will give it to you, Leopold. All you have to do is
ask.”

“How can you be so sure?” he asked, his eyes narrowing with curiosity.

“Because I already asked him, and he said yes.”

Leopold regarded her with both admiration and desire. “When?”

“Yesterday,” she explained, “when I returned from the hospital, because I knew I had
to have you. Nothing was going to stop me this time.”

“You were that confident?”

“Yes, because you promised me you would wait forever, and you did. Now, there will
be no more waiting.”

He sat up and kissed her deeply while hugging her body close.

“I love you, Rose,” he whispered, “more than anything in this world.”

“And I love you, too,” she replied, “until forever and beyond.”

The horses nickered to each other on the path, and a tiny sparrow fluttered out of
the sycamores and soared high up to the sky as they held each other tightly.

This time, they would never let go. This time, it would be just as it was meant to
be.

Epilogue

Cavanaugh Manor
Summer 1821

“Congratulations, my lord. You have a son.”

Leopold stood quickly from the chair in the corridor and barely managed to thank the
doctor as he brushed past him, for it had not been an easy task over the past two
hours, listening to his wife’s screams during the delivery. The butler had suggested
he wait in the library where he would be spared the discomfort, but he needed to remain
close by. If Rose had to endure it, then so would he.

But it was over now, and she was well.

He burst into the room and stopped just inside the door to behold his beautiful wife
sitting up against the pillows with her flaxen hair loose and wild about her shoulders.
There was a noticeable pallor to her complexion, but a sparkle in her eyes. She flashed
him a brilliant smile and a rush of awe flowed through him.

In her arms she held their first child—a tiny person he could barely comprehend as
he stared at the small white bundle.

“You can come closer,” she said with a light chuckle. “Come and see your son.”

Slowly, he moved to the side of the bed and let his gaze fall upon the babe’s face.
He was quiet and content … so very tiny. His little fingers were flexing.

“Isn’t he beautiful?” Rose said.

“He’s a miracle,” Leopold replied. “
You
are a miracle. This
life
is a miracle.”

Carefully, trying not to disturb the sense of peace that seemed so very precious at
this moment, Leopold climbed onto the bed beside Rose. She snuggled closer to rest
her head on his shoulder.

“I am so happy,” she said.

“I’ve been happy since the moment you returned to me,” he replied, “but I had no idea
this was before us. I never imagined it could be better than it already was. How is
this much joy possible?”

“You’ve earned it, my darling.”

He shook his head in disbelief. “If that is so, I am very grateful, for I cannot help
but look back at the despair I suffered at the loss of you.” He paused. “When I left
you in Waterloo that day, it was the first time I ever accepted defeat, but now that
we are here, I believe that was how it was meant to be, and this was worth waiting
for. I was not worthy of you in those early days. I needed to be taught a lesson.”

“What lesson?” she asked, looking up at him with those wise and luminous blue eyes.

He gently touched her cheek. “I needed to learn how to temper my ambition. My selfish
greed for you. You—and Joseph—showed me how to live for something other than myself.
It was a gift I cannot put a value upon. And now you have given me a son. A son!”

The precious newborn reached out a small hand. Leopold put his finger into that miniature
palm and felt a momentous surge of love and happiness envelop him when all five little
fingers curled around his one big one.