Page 41 of My Fugitive Prince

“Oh, Valentin…” Estelle thrust her fingers into his hair as he began to suckle at her nipples, an intense longing filling her. If they had been laughing and lighthearted moments before, now she wanted nothing more than for him to claim her as his trulywedded wife.

She sensed Valentin shared her mounting urgency for his hands had begun to tremble as he caressed her, and dipped his tongue into her navel to make her buck beneath him. Yet he didn’t stop there, but shifted lower, burying his face between her thighs and cupping her bottom to lift her to his mouth, Estelle crying out in surprise.

She threw back her head, her hands gripping his shouldersas his tongue pressed deep inside her to taste her, tease her, until she cried out again, but this time in sheer ecstasy. Only then did he rise above her and blanket her with his body to thrust himself into her, the driving movement of his hips making her moan in sweet delirium.

Distantly she heard him groan, too, Valentin’s flesh throbbing at the very heart of her while Estelle clung to himwith all her might, her arms and legs wrapped around him.

He found her mouth, his lips tasting of wine and her sex…their kiss so impassioned, so intimate that she felt wholly possessed by him.

Body and soul.

“I love you, Estelle…my wife, my heart,” came his fierce whisper moments later as he shifted onto his side and drew her with him, his arms wrapped tightly around her.

She snuggled evencloser and pressed a fervent kiss to his chest, his heartbeat thrumming against her lips. “I love you, Valentin, my sweet prince. Forever and always.”

***

Late August, 1822

Porthleven, Cornwall

“Mama, will I marry a prince someday?”

Corie glanced in surprise at Paloma, who stared as if enchanted with Valentin and Estelle as they greeted well-wishers at the garden reception she andDonovan were hosting for them at their manor house. She drew her beautiful daughter closer to whisper in her ear, “I pray you’ll marry the man of your dreams, whoever he might be.”

“Just like you did with Papa?”

Paloma’s dark brown eyes filled with sweet innocence, Corie felt a tug at her heart as she nodded. “Just like Lindsay and your Aunt Marguerite and Aunt Linette—”

“And now Aunt Estelle.She looks so happy, Mama. Prince Valentin, too.”

“Yes, they’re very happy…but you know you can call him uncle now.”

“Yes, but I like prince so much better. May I have a piece of lemon cake?”

Corie smiled her assent, inwardly relieved that Paloma’s unexpected musings about whom she might marry had jumped to her favorite dessert. She gave Corie a hug, and then ran across the lawn in a flurryof yellow silk to the tables laden with good things to eat, while a masculine chuckle behind Corie made her spin around.

As always, her heart skipped a beat at how handsome her strapping husband looked, Donovan’s midnight eyes full of teasing.

“Only eleven years old and already dreaming of her prince. What are we to do, my darling wife?”

Corie sighed softly, shaking her head as she took hisoutstretched hand, Donovan drawing her close to stand beside him. Together they surveyed the happy scene of all of their family and many neighbors from the village gathered together after witnessing the blessing of Valentin and Estelle’s marriage at the parish church.

Her dearest friend, Lindsay, and her husband, Jared, visiting in a congenial cluster with Estelle and Valentin, who stood armin arm, and Linette and Adam.

Marguerite sitting beneath a shady tree and holding baby Flora while she and Walker watched their son, Dwight, running and playing with the twins, Draydon and Dahlia, and Lindsay’s children Justin and Cecelia, the air filled with squeals of laughter. A trio of nannies tending to three-year-old Adele and Penelope, who was ensconced in a pram along with Lindsay’s littleMary, so Corie and Donovan could focus upon their guests.

Each child such a precious blessing…and now the news that both Linette and Estelle were expecting babies only capping what had been a glorious reunion for them.

And presiding over it all in a comfortable chair, Papa Joseph, as the children loved to call their grandfather, his quiet delight at their antics warming Corie’s heart.

“It’sjust as I imagined it would be.”

Corie glanced up at Donovan, who had a knowing look on his face that made her elbow him playfully. “Ah, so now you’re not only a matchmaker, but a clairvoyant, too?”

“Perhaps. But I think you knew as well as I that Estelle and Valentin were destined for each other. It just took some time—”

“And prayer. Lots of prayer.”

“Most definitely,” Donovan murmured, drawingCorie closer. “And a pledge made years ago that inspired every one of your sisters not to marry anyone less…”

“Than the man of her dreams,” Corie finished for him, her heart overflowing with love as she lifted her face to his tender kiss.

*****