Shea bit her lip to keep from smiling as Bryan rose and pulled her to her feet with him, shooting Xander a disgruntled look because of his backhanded compliment. “You were the only mother we ever knew, Moira. Blood or not, you were there for every one of us just like a real mother. We could never hate you.” He moved forward to pull the distraught woman into his arms.
Tears streamed down Shea’s face as she let go of Bryan so he could embrace Moira, happy that her new husband finally knew the truth and that it really didn’t matter to him that Queen Stephanie hadn’t been his natural mother. The radiant look of happiness on the older woman’s face as her son held her in a ferocious hug made Shea’s heart squeeze inside her chest. Bryan was so forgiving, so compassionate. Granted, she didn’t know her new husband’s complete history with this woman who was his natural mother, but she knew enough. Moira had obviously taken the place of “mother” for all of the Demande siblings. She’d always loved every one of them like her sons.
Xander stepped up to hug Moira when Bryan finally let her go, Chris waiting right behind him for his turn. Turning toward their father for a moment, Chris asked curiously, “Why did you never marry? Once a respectable time had passed after Mother’s death, why didn’t you wed Moira if you loved her?”
Prince Francis frowned. “I asked. She refused,” he grumbled. “In fact, I’ve asked many times. I love her. That’s why I always refused to remarry. I made one woman and myself miserable in a loveless marriage. I didn’t want another.”
Moira let go of Xander and hugged Chris before replying, “It’s simply not done. Your father was a king and I was a servant in his household, a commoner.” She shook her head slowly. “It would have been a scandal.”
Bryan smirked. “It wouldn’t have been the first Demande scandal. We have a colorful history. Besides, it’s never been necessary for Demande brides to be from any particular status. All royal brides are commoners.”
Reanna shot Bryan an annoyed look, and Shea moved forward and elbowed him, but gently because of his injuries. She and Reanna were from America where nobody was considered a commoner, and it rankled to be referred to that way.
“What?” Bryan looked down at Shea.
“We are not commoners,” she told him haughtily. “Americans believe in equality for everyone.”
Reanna nodded fiercely in agreement as she addressed the older couple, “You should have married. The people of Rubare Collina love people in love. I don’t think there would have been much of a scandal.”
Moira answered nervously, “I didn’t want to risk it. We’d kept our secret for so many years, and it had been hard enough to arrange for Stephanie to claim Bryan as her own child. Both of us had to go away for months. When we returned with Bryan and he was accepted as a full Demande, I was content.”
“I’ve never given a damn about my title,” Bryan said stubbornly. “I’m not heir to the throne, and the status means nothing to me.”
“It meant something to me,” Moira said sternly. “You are a prince of Rubare Collina and you deserve to take your place with your brothers. I didn’t want you to feel…different,” she confessed.
“I don’t,” Bryan said nonchalantly. “Even if Xander, Chris and I shared no common blood, we’d still be brothers.”
“Brothers first,” Chris said firmly.
Xander nodded. “Brothers first.”
“Brothers first,” Bryan finished. He paused before adding thoughtfully. “Father isn’t a king anymore.” He looked at his mother and then his father. “Maybe you should ask her again. Perhaps she’d accept a lowly prince,” he joked, but his eyes were intense.
Shea’s heart fluttered as she looked at Prince Francis and the look of longing in his eyes. Obviously, the former king wanted Moira as his wife, and Shea was pretty certain that Moira wanted to be with him. She held her breath, hoping their story would have a happy ending.
“I can’t,” Moira groaned.
Every voice in the room spoke in unison. “You can.”
Bryan’s father moved forward and took Moira’s hand gently, his eyes sparkling with hope. It was the first time that Shea had seen him look anything other than tired and worn out.
“Give me time to convince her. I don’t plan to let her refuse,” he boomed, leading a Moira who was still shaking her head out of the room.
“Do you think he’ll talk her into marriage?” Shea asked Bryan quietly.
He looked down at her with a mischievous grin. “I have no doubt. Demande men can be very stubborn when they want something bad enough. Her arguments are no longer valid. The people of Rubare Collina would embrace her as my father’s wife. We do love a good love story.” He clasped her hand and brought it to his mouth, kissing her palm gently.
Shea looked up at Bryan, her eyes sparkling with tears and love for her new husband. “You look exhausted,” she told him with a frown, noticing the fatigue on his face. He had to be in pain, but he wasn’t complaining.
“Then take me to bed, wife,” he whispered in a sinful, husky voice.
Shea did just that, she and Bryan bidding everyone goodnight before she took him by the hand and determinedly pulled him out of the great hall before she stopped short. “I don’t know where we’re sleeping,” she muttered irritably, realizing she’d married a man who hadn’t even revealed his address to her. Come to think of it, she didn’t even have his phone number. When she admitted as much to Bryan, he laughed.
“We’re going home,” Bryan declared as he pulled her out the door and summoned a car. “I want you in my own bed from this day forward.”
Shea winced as he grasped his injured ribs when he got into the car behind her. “You’re hurting,” she whispered huskily as he snuggled her close to him.
“It’s nothing,” Bryan remarked calmly. “A temporary nuisance.”
It was more than that, and Shea knew it. “I need to get you into bed and you aren’t getting out until you’re healed.”
The car pulled away from the curb and the back seat of the car became very dimly lit and very intimate. Bryan speared a hand through her hair, knocking all of the pins from her hair and causing it to cascade to her shoulders in disarray. He leaned down and put his mouth gently against her ear. “As long as you’re with me, love,” he purred hoarsely against her skin.
Shea almost moaned as his hot breath wafted across her ear. “No funny stuff, Your Highness,” she teased. “You’re in no condition to get physical right now.”
“There are ways for me to give you pleasure without injuring myself, princess,” Bryan answered seductively.
Shea startled at the endearment that really wasn’t just a term of affection. She really was a princess now. Princess Shea of Rubare Collina. It was going to take her a while to get used to that. “Bryan, we can’t — ”
“We will,” he answered arrogantly. “I have to be close to you, Shea. I need to please you. I have to hear you moan my name as you find your pleasure.” His voice was becoming persuasive and demanding at the same time. His grip tightened on her hair. “Don’t you know I’ve waited years for you, for this?”
“You didn’t know we’d even see each other again,” she whispered against the hot skin of his neck, rational thought beginning to leave her brain.
“Ah, but I hoped. Maybe I never admitted it even to myself, but after you I knew there would never be anyone else for me. I existed. I breathed. But part of me died when I couldn’t find you when I returned to America. Never leave me again, Shea. I don’t think I’d survive it a second time,” he rasped in the darkness, his voice vibrating with vulnerability.
Shea’s entire body began to tremble, her heart knowing exactly how he felt. She’d had Hayden to keep her occupied, but in some hidden area of her heart, she’d never stopped longing for Bryan. “Never. I’m your wife. You’re stuck with me,” she told him gently, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I’ve never wanted anyone else but you,” she added softly.
“Tell me again that you love me,” Bry
an demanded, his lips nuzzling softly at the hair at her temple.
“Bossy,” she teased, stroking his nape.
“Tell me,” he cajoled, trailing hot kisses down her neck.
“I love you,” she gasped, her core starting to pulsate with the need to get closer to him.
“I’ve loved you for years, and I will love you with my dying breath,” Bryan told her huskily, right before his lips claimed her mouth.
He kissed her deeply, sensually, his mouth consuming hers as though they might never kiss again. Shea felt his want, his need, his all-consuming love for her, and it set every cell in her body on fire. She kissed him back, trying to put her emotions into the embrace, so he’d understand what she couldn’t put into words.
Bryan finally broke off the kiss and rested his forehead gently against her shoulder. “My sweet Shea. How did I manage to live without you for so long?” His voice was hoarse with emotion. “I regret — ”
Shea covered his lips gently with her fingers. “No regrets,” she told him firmly, knowing he was sorry that he hadn’t been there for her before and after Hayden was born. They couldn’t change the past, but they could make their future together. “I have my Prince Charming now. That’s all that matters.” She smiled into the darkness.
“I’m sorry to inform you that I’m no Prince Charming, Your Highness.” Bryan’s voice was heavy with mischief. “I’m thinking more about debauchery than chivalry.”
Shea laughed softly as she gently rested her head against his shoulder. Truth was, she loved him exactly the way he was.
The car slid slowly to a stop. “We’re home.”
