Page 62 of Back to Claim His Crown
So seductive. So true. For her too. But she couldn’t help another smile as she swept her fingers down his sternum. ‘I just thought you were hot.’
He narrowed his gaze and moved a little harder, deeper, faster. ‘The bare chest?’
‘You know I can’t see past it,’ she sighed.
He chuckled. ‘That was my back-up plan in case you weren’t willing to listen to me when I got to Piri-nu.’
‘That and the caramel apple tart.’ She laughed but she spread her palm over his old ice-skating scar and felt the strong thud of his heart. It grounded her in the searing heat between them. ‘It’s not just the chest,’ she whispered.
‘I know,’ he whispered back. ‘You love me.’
‘I do.’
‘Best thing ever. I’m sorry I pushed you away. Sorry I didn’t know how to accept it. That I was too scared to answer honestly at the time.’ He cupped her face. ‘But I’m getting better at it. I love you too.’
He was brave and strong, loyal and honourable andhers. She’d never felt as happy as she did in that moment.
‘Take me home, Lucian.’
Her body shook as he unleashed his absolute force on her.
‘Yes!’
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Three hundred and sixty-four days later
LUCIANWASLATEto dinner.
Zara toyed with the cutlery. Silly nervous. Her brain refused to get off one track. Tomorrow would be a year to the day that he’d found her on Piri-nu and brought her back home to his palace in Monrayne. A year in which he’d promised he wouldn’t propose to her. He hadn’t said hewouldpropose on this day of course, just that he wouldn’t proposebefore. Which meant that he might not propose at all. Of course, there’d been nothing stopping her from asking him in all this time, except she’d thought that as he thought she needed time, perhapshereally needed time... To be certain that was. Because she already was. She had been from the start.
‘Sorry.’ He shot her an apologetic smile as he finally walked in. ‘Back-to-back meetings. Both ran over.’
‘It’s okay.’
He’d been oddly preoccupied the last couple of weeks. He probably hadn’t even remembered what date it was.
His coronation had occurred seven months after his return and two months before Anders was found at the bottom of a cliff in South America. Apparently he’d accidentally lost control of his motorcycle on a corner, but Lucian had suspicions that he’d crossed swords with career criminals and been chased down. It had been a sad end to an unhappy life. Garth had been fined and retired quietly into the countryside, his time in the palace now consigned to the history books.
But Lucian’s reign had simply strengthened from its astonishing start, while Zara’s residence in the palace had been accepted with a surprising lack of side-eye. Lucian had offered a short explanation that she was a friend, staying indefinitely. It hadn’t taken the media, citizens and rest of the world that long to work out that she was a ‘special’ friend, given she accompanied him on every evening outing he attended. And any trips he took abroad. That she also went with him on his weekends away and on his summer retreat into the hills...
Toherastonishment, it seemed theyapprovedof her. They liked her honesty, her moments of awkwardness, her appreciation. And they loved the wayhesmiled when he was with her. That he’d stopped her from marrying someone else had been spun into a feted romance—as if it were a fairy-tale.
It wasn’t. It was so much better than that. It was funnier, lovelier, hotter. He’d given her a life of luxury, taken her to amazing places she’d never imagined getting to see and introduced her to wonderful people. He’d also supported her as she undertook part-time study in the management and conservation of historic buildings—the part of her previous life that she’d actually loved. Plus she’d kept working on the palace correspondence—they worked on it together now. And with Zara’s help he’d opened other parts of the palace to the public. But she liked being here with him in the older, private palace wing best. Working alongside him in the library. Dining with him here in their room. Being held by him in their bed.
‘You’re not hungry?’ Lucian noticed her pushing the food around the plate.
She shrugged and jerked her chin towards his plate. ‘You’ve not done much better.’
He smiled ruefully and pushed back his chair, stepping round to kiss her. Thoroughly.
‘Do you know we’ve made love in every room in the palace, yet not in here,’ he muttered. ‘How has that happened?’
‘We’ve always been distracted by caramel apple tart,’ she murmured.
‘Ah. Yes, that’s very sweet, but not as sweet as you.’ He released her with a groan. ‘But we can’t tonight because I’ve still got a million reports to wade through. I’m sorry.’
‘And I have reports of my own to write,’ she said, though it was going to be a struggle to concentrate. ‘I’ll do it in bed.’
