by Jessica Hart
She’d done a full circuit and was back where she’d started. Corran was still sitting on the sofa, watching her with an unreadable expression.
‘You’d feel trapped and resentful, and that’s no way to start a marriage,’ she told him. ‘You’ve already been through that once, and I’m not going to do that to you again.’
‘Finished?’ said Corran, getting to his feet in his turn.
Lotty’s eyes flickered around the room as she tried to work out if that was a trick question or not.
‘Yes,’ she said, but doubtfully.
‘Good, so perhaps I can have my say now?’
‘All right,’ she said with a wary look.
Corran took a deep breath. ‘I know you don’t need me, Lotty,’ he said. ‘Why do you think it’s taken me so long to come and find you? Look at you,’ he went on, gesturing at the diamonds around her neck, the tiara in her hair. ‘You’re a princess! You live in a palace! You’ve got everything you could ever want. What can a man like me possibly give you that you don’t already have?
‘You don’t need me, Lotty,’ he said again, ‘but I need you. I need you desperately. I thought that all I needed was Loch Mhoraigh. I thought if I could be where I belonged, I’d be fine, but I’ve learnt that belonging is about people as much as about place. You taught me that,’ he told her. ‘You made me realise that Loch Mhoraigh is just a place, and that I’ll belong anywhere as long as I’m with you.’
‘But the baby…?’ she managed.
‘The baby gave me the courage to come and tell you myself,’ said Corran. ‘I’d been sitting there at Loch Mhoraigh, missing you, wishing I’d told you how much I loved you before you left. Furious with myself for not asking you to stay while I had the chance.’
He took hold of the ends of her stole and used it to draw Lotty towards him, very slowly. ‘Whenever I went into the shop, Betty McPherson would tell me how she’d been reading about you in the magazines and it sounded as if you were having a wonderful time, going to parties and doing all the things you never did at Loch Mhoraigh. I thought you were happy,’ he said.
Lotty shook her head slowly. ‘I wasn’t happy.’
‘Then Betty showed me the picture where they were speculating about you being pregnant, and you looked sad. You didn’t look the way you looked at Loch Mhoraigh, and then I thought, what if she isn’t happy? What if it’s not too late to tell her that I love her? What if she really is having my baby, and needs me now even a fraction of the way I need her? I knew how hard it would be for you. I couldn’t bear the thought of you dealing with your grandmother and the press and everyone else all on your own when I ought to be with you. I was furious with myself for not being with you, and furious with you for not telling me.
‘And so I came,’ he said simply. ‘I didn’t stop to think about what I would say when I got here. I heard about the party tonight and I knew you’d be there. I’ve got mates who work as bodyguards so I know how these things work—and, by the way, your security team isn’t quite as tight as it ought to be! There’s no way I should have been able to get to you.
‘But I did, and there you were, standing in the middle of the floor, and you looked so beautiful, like the princess you are, but you were you too…’
Corran broke off, looking ruefully down into Lotty’s face. ‘Sorry, I’m not explaining this very well, am I? It was just…when I looked into your eyes, I didn’t see Princess Charlotte. I saw Lotty—the Lotty I’ve missed so desperately since you left. The Lotty I belong with.’
‘Oh, Corran…’ Lotty’s mouth trembled and Corran let go of the stole to take her hands instead.
‘Everything I told your grandmother—and all those people who were listening, agog—is true. I’m not in love with Princess Charlotte, but I am in love with you. Please tell me you’ve missed me too, Lotty. Tell me you need me and love me, even if it’s just a little bit.’
‘Oh, Corran, of course I do!’ Her voice broke. ‘Of course I love you!’
Lotty’s tears spilled over as he pulled her hard against him and his arms closed around her at last. She buried her face into his throat and wept while he held her and murmured endearments into her hair. ‘I’m just so happy and I’ve been so lonely without you,’ she sobbed.
‘You don’t sound very happy,’ said Corran and she gave a watery laugh and lifted her face at that.
‘I am,’ she promised, winding her arms around his neck. ‘I am.’
They kissed, almost tentatively at first as if they could hardly believe that they were really there, touching at last. It felt so good to be kissing Corran again, to be holding him tight. Lotty pressed against his lean, hard body and would have wept again at the pleasure and the piercing relief of it if she had had the breath to spare, but the sweetness of the kiss was spinning her round and round until she was dizzy and dazed with happiness.
‘Are you sure?’ she mumbled between kisses as they broke for breath. ‘I don’t want to get married just because it’s the right thing to do.’
Corran was backing her over to the sofa, easing her down onto the cushions without once taking his warm lips from her throat. ‘It’s up to you,’ he said as he kissed his way along her jaw. ‘If you’re determined to ruin your reputation as the perfect princess, we’ll live in sin and you can thumb your nose at the press. As long as we’re together, I don’t mind.’
He rested his hand on her stomach and lifted his head to smile down at her. ‘But I think we might as well get married, don’t you? I’ll make sure our children know that they have a wild and wicked princess for a mother and you can pretend to be unconventional!’
Lotty laughed, but made a face. ‘I think I’ve done enough pretending,’ she said. ‘Have you forgiven me yet?’
‘I will if you’ll come back to Loch Mhoraigh with me.’
‘Oh, I’d love to do that,’ sighed Lotty.
Corran sat up, pulling her with him. ‘Why do I get a feeling there’s a but coming up? Do you need to stay in Montluce?’
‘No. From tomorrow, Caro will be Montluce’s princess, and I can step back. I wasn’t thinking about my duties here,’ Lotty told him. Drawing a deep breath, she tried to sit back, but Corran kept both arms firmly around her. ‘Montluce isn’t the problem; I am,’ she said. ‘The truth is that I’m not the right kind of wife for you, Corran. You do need someone useful, and I’m not.’
‘I disagree,’ said Corran, smoothing her hair back from her face. ‘You may not be the best cook in the world, but you’ve got very useful social skills. If it wasn’t for you dragging me to that ceilidh and charming everyone there, I would still be cut off from the village. As it is, I’ve been inundated with casseroles and cakes from Betty McPherson and everyone else in the village who feels sorry for me for being stupid enough to let you go. And you impressed Dick Rowland enough for him to invest in the estate. That’s much more useful than being able to drive a tractor or help with the lambing.’
Lotty sat up a little straighter. ‘I suppose that’s true. And we know I can clean and paint.’
‘No more hard labour for you until after the baby is born,’ he said firmly. ‘You can just concentrate on making me happy. That’s where you’re really useful.’
‘Oh, well, if I must,’ she said, smiling, and winding her arms around his neck as he kissed her again.
Some time later, she heaved a blissful sigh and rested her head against Corran’s shoulder. ‘I’m Caro’s bridesmaid, so we’ll have to stay until after the wedding tomorrow, but then we can go home. I can’t wait!’ Smiling, she pulled off her tiara and let it dangle from her fingers. ‘I won’t be a princess any more.’
‘You’ll always be a princess,’ said Corran, taking the tiara and putting it back on her head. ‘But you’ll always be Lotty too, and you’ll be a wife, and you’ll be a mother. You’ll be yourself.’
‘No more pretending,’ she realised.
‘No more pretence,’ he agreed. ‘For either of us. We’ll be true to ourselves and tru
e to each other, and we’ll love each other and we’ll be together. What more do we need?’
Twining her fingers with his, Lotty leant in for another long, sweet kiss and thought about going home with him. She thought about the big grey house waiting for her by the water, about the hills and the cool, clean air.
And she thought about Corran, about the man he was and the life they would share, and the child they would love.
‘Nothing,’ she said.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-0938-1
THE SECRET PRINCESS
First North American Publication 2011
Copyright © 2011 by Jessica Hart
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Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
