* * *
Cressida moved past her sisters and went through the terrace doors, needing to be alone before she let herself completely fall to pieces. She heard the commotion behind her but refused to look back, asking a guard to escort her to her suite. She heard footsteps thundering up the stairs behind them but ignored them, hoping her guard would do his job. Apparently the Zayyari guards only served one ruler, she thought wryly as Khal came striding in the door, slightly out of breath from his sprint.
Khal was silent for a long moment. ‘You won’t contest it...or you are relieved that it is a possibility?’
‘I think if either of us is relieved, it’s you. I am hardly the golden bride with political influence that you hoped for. I am steeped in scandal, for goodness’ sake. I can hardly make a speech without stuttering.’ She shook her head wildly. ‘I’m not my sister, Khal. I have tried to measure up as her replacement but I simply can’t. Maybe this is best for both of us, to end this now before we go any deeper.’
‘How much deeper can we get?’ he said, exasperated. ‘I know that this marriage did not start out in the most conventional way. I may have chosen your sister first out of convenience, Cressida, but I did not even know that you existed at that time.’
‘So if you knew about me, if you could go back and make the choice again, you’d choose me? The awkward, nerdy, antisocial anti-Princess?’ she said in complete disbelief.
‘I cannot promise that I would have chosen you, given my decision to enter into a loveless marriage. All I cared about was that my bride met criteria.’ He moved closer. ‘But I would never change you, now that I know the real you. Now that we have begun to share our lives.’
Cressida felt her breath catch in her throat at his words. Surely he didn’t mean that he didn’t want the annulment? Suddenly she wasn’t quite sure exactly who was arguing for or against their marriage any more.
He ran a hand across his jaw, shaking his head. ‘What I am offering you now is a real life time machine. A chance to change your future if you want it. Your sister has already offered you a teaching position. If you tell me that you want our marriage annulled, I will honour your request. My conscience would not allow me to hide this from you, much as I may have wanted to.’
‘You considered not telling me?’
‘God, yes. Why on earth would I want to give you a failsafe chance to walk away from this marriage? Away from me?’
‘I just presumed...your plans to have the perfect Sheikha have all gone up in smoke. I’m a walking scandal. Why on earth would you stay weighed down by the burden of me?’
He paused for a moment, the air between them frozen in time. Her heartbeat seemed uncomfortably loud in the silent room and she wondered if he could hear it.
‘Yes, you may be a walking scandal. And your family may be utterly insane, and your personality may be better suited to the position of librarian rather than Sheikha...but I promise you, after we have grown closer these past weeks, that you are the woman I would choose over and over again.’
She forgot to breathe, hardly believing what she had just heard. As she watched, he moved closer, coming down on one knee in front of her.
‘Cressida... If you truly want to end this marriage, I promise that I will not force you to stay. I have spent so long trying to control everyone and everything around me. Trying to find some sort of peace within myself.’ He took her hand, his eyes never leaving hers. ‘But I cannot promise that I won’t spend every day finding new ways to beg you to come back to me for the rest of my life.’
‘Why would you do that?’ she breathed.
‘Because, while I may have been too afraid to realise my feelings for you before, I know them now. I will not give up on fighting to win your heart. I was afraid to let you all the way in, for fear I would need you too much. It seems laughable now, really, trying to resist my own destiny.’
‘You said you don’t believe in fate or soulmates.’ She felt her insides shake at the look in his eyes, at the sensation that the ground might fall away from under her at any moment.
‘Is it not more than coincidence that in a club full of people, in a city with a population twice the size of my entire kingdom...that you would choose me?’
He took a deep breath. ‘I realised something today. From the moment I held you in my arms on that dance floor the first night we met, I felt peace. That was what I was running from. I had been so used to feeling at war within myself that feeling your warmth calming me was terrifying. It was as though you took a grip of the darkness in my soul and forced me out into the light again. If that is not love, I don’t know what is.’
‘I don’t know what to say,’ Cressida breathed, feeling her hands tremble as he raised one to his lips.
‘Say that you will stay by my side. Not just as my Sheikha and my wife, but as my true partner in life. My love.’
It was the romantic proposal she had never received, she realised. She pressed her lips together to stop them from trembling.
‘Nothing would make me happier than to stay by your side.’ She lowered herself to her knees in front of him, placing one hand on his cheek. ‘But I need to be true to myself as well as to my love for you.’
He frowned but she continued quickly, ‘I cannot just be a silent figure in a pretty dress by your side. I want to use my skills to help people, to do good in the world.’
A slow smile lit up the darkness in his eyes. ‘I will support you in whatever you wish to do with that wonderful brain of yours. You may count on me to stand silently by your side and look pretty in the process.’
She felt the last shred of resistance melt away as she leaned in and pressed her lips to his. He responded by pulling her deep into the circle of his arms, surrounding her with his strength. She felt it in his kiss, the raw power of his love for her. She had not known that this was the missing piece of her heart until he had come into her life and showed her what it meant to be supported and loved for who she was. That she was enough. For Cressida, there could be no greater gift.
EPILOGUE
Six months later...
THE PARISIAN HOTEL ballroom was full to bursting with members of royalty and celebrities alike. Everyone had joined to celebrate the wedding of the year with the most scandalous royal family of the decade. Cressida watched as her sister walked onto the dance floor, accompanied by her handsome new husband for their first dance. ‘Olivia looks so happy,’ she murmured.
‘Roman was never much of a dancer; it appears he has taken lessons.’ Khal laughed.
‘I will never understand the relationship you two have.’ Cressida raised one brow.
‘Nor would I expect you to.’ He smiled. ‘We are both as complicated as each other, but underneath we will always be friends. Brothers now, I suppose.’
‘A strange family set-up, if ever I knew one.’ She laughed huskily in her throat, gasping as she felt Khal lean in and lay a kiss on the nape of her neck.
‘The party is practically over now; surely we can slip away unnoticed?’ he murmured playfully, his teeth nipping the side of her ear.
‘I am not going anywhere alone with you, Your Highness, not after how little sleep I got last night with you sharing my bed once more.’
Khal had been away for a week while he launched the grand tourism season in the now thriving city of Valar. She had been forced to return early from a trip to South America with the literacy foundation and remain on bed rest at the palace for reasons that they could not yet disclose to the public.
‘I hope I did not truly exhaust you?’ Genuine concern filled his features as he turned her to look at him. ‘You know the doctor said that you needed to rest as much as possible for a couple of weeks.’
Cressida found herself laying one hand across the gentle swell of her stomach in an unconscious show of maternal protection. ‘The intense sickness has seemed to ease now that we have got through t
he first few months. I heard the first trimester is the most difficult.’
Khal nodded, a tight smile crossing his features. His change of heart regarding a family of their own had come as an enormous surprise to Cressida. She had fully intended to respect Khal’s wishes to remain without natural heirs, despite knowing that deep down she longed to become a mother some day. But as he had relaxed into the ease of their relationship, she had noticed he tended to worry less and less about things he could not control.
It was not effortless for him. He was a natural protector, after all. It seemed his urge to protect those he loved also included a wish to have children of his own. She had been only too happy to fulfil her wifely duties in that regard, rejoicing when she had fallen pregnant almost immediately. She had not told either of her sisters yet, especially knowing that Olivia’s wedding was so close. She did not want to detract from the day.
But as she watched the newlywed couple slow dance together, she thought she could see a similar glow in her sister’s cheeks as Roman’s hand slid covertly to her stomach for the briefest of moments. Her eyes met Olivia’s across the crowded ballroom, her sister’s answering smile telling her all that she needed to know.
* * *
‘Are you nervous?’ Cressida asked a while later as she lay cradled in her husband’s arms in the master bedroom of their hotel suite. ‘For the baby, I mean.’
Khal moved his powerful body behind her, holding her tight to his chest as he drew lazy circles on her abdomen with one finger. ‘Of course I’m nervous. But I think most people are, even if they have not been through a loss. My biggest concern is fighting the urge to place you on permanent bed rest and lock you away for the next six months.’
‘Six months in bed?’ Cressida pretended to seriously consider that scenario. ‘Would you be there too?’
‘These hormones have turned you into a sex-crazed hellion,’ he scolded, flipping on top of her. ‘We have already made love twice today and you still have energy.’
Cressida felt a moment of complete happiness wash over her, looking up into the eyes of the man who loved her. It was almost overwhelming.
‘What is it?’ Khal asked, a furrow forming in his brow as Cressida’s eyes welled up with unshed tears.
‘I just realised... I have spent my whole life wanting more and feeling like I would never deserve it. And now here I am with everything that I will ever want or need right here in this bed. I never have to feel alone again.’
‘Never,’ Khal murmured against her lips, drawing her into his embrace. ‘As long as you want me I am yours.’
* * *
If you enjoyed Claiming His Replacement Queen, you’re sure to love the first book in the Monteverre Marriages duet, One Night with the Forbidden Princess, out now!
And why not explore these other stories by Amanda Cinelli?
Resisting the Sicilian Playboy
The Secret to Marrying Marchesi
Available now!
Keep reading for an excerpt from Reunited by the Greek’s Vows by Andie Brock.
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Reunited by the Greek’s Vows
by Andie Brock
CHAPTER ONE
KATE FROZE, THE bottle of champagne foaming in her hand. Oh, please no! Not him—not here! She screwed up her eyes, praying that when she opened them again he would have miraculously vanished. But, no. He was still there, and the shock of his presence was ringing in her ears, blotting out everyone else in the room.
Watching as if in slow motion horror, Kate saw him lean back to address the overly attentive waitress. Broodingly handsome, all sculpted features and olive skin, his broad shoulders and towering height were carried with that familiar, athletic grace. Nikos Nikoladis. Her first love. Her ex-fiancé. The man who had broken her heart.
‘Hey, honey, careful with that champagne.’ A diner at Kate’s table reached out to steady her hand. ‘If you knew what it cost you might treat it with a bit more respect.’
As the other men snickered in agreement Kate forced herself to apologise, holding a rictus grin that threatened to break her jaw as she refilled their glasses. She didn’t know exactly what it cost, but she did know it was a vastly over-inflated price, designed to feed their self-importance rather than please their palates. The enormous egos and choking testosterone of the herd of fat-cat businessmen here tonight made it hard to breathe.
But that was why she was here. Why she had signed up to this agency specialising in corporate hospitality. Why she had wriggled into a short black skirt that barely covered her butt and the horrible faux leather waistcoat now pulling tight across her bust. Because if there was the slightest chance that she might be able to persuade one of these arrogant jerks to invest in her ailing family business then she was going to take it. And if that meant she had to play waitress at this godawful event, flirt a little with these people, massage their massive egos, then so be it. As long as they knew that was the only thing she’d be massaging.
Because desperate times called for desperate measures. And, boy, was Kate desperate. And that had been even before the mortifying reappearance of her ex-fiancé.
Lowering her head, she let a curtain of blonde hair fall across her face, then took another peek in his direction, refusing to acknowledge the quickening of her heart. Engrossed in conversation with the CEO of a major corporation on his left, Nikos didn’t appear to have spotted her. That, at least, was some consolation. And he wasn’t seated at one of her designated tables in this vast hotel dining room, for which she was supremely grateful.
With a bit of luck she might be able keep her back to him and avoid being seen. Her new hairstyle would help her—the tumbling blonde curls were very different from the sleek mane of chestnut hair belonging to the Kate he had once known.
Refusing to panic, Kate squashed down her instinct to turn tail and run. Much as she wanted to tell the agency what they could do with their sleazy job, its degrading outfit and its horrible, predatory guests, the fact was that even if trying to persuade one of them to invest in Kandy Kate was a ludicrously naïve idea, this was still well-paid work with the potential for healthy tips and she needed the money.
There were over three hundred diners here tonight, and at least thirty waitresses. As long as she kept her wits about her she should be able to avoid Nikos. She would avoid him. Because coming face to face with him when she was dressed like a backstreet hooker was one humiliation she could firmly do without.
What was he
even doing here? She shot him another surreptitious glance from beneath heavy lashes. She would never have put Nikos down as the sort of man who would attend this type of do—even if it was a charity event. But then she would never have thought he was the kind of guy to rip her life apart the way he had. To be capable of such abject cruelty. She had no idea who Nikos really was at all.
What she did know was that she had totally lost her heart to this man. To the gorgeous Greek Adonis who had waited on her table that warm summer’s evening in Crete three long years ago. The handsome, charming, captivating stranger who had walked along the beach with her, taking her hand, kissing her under the stars, turning her upside down and inside out there and then with a crazy sort of love that she’d thought only existed in stories.
That summer had been the most wonderful time of her life. And the hurt that had followed more excruciating than she would ever have imagined possible.
So why was she surprised that he would frequent this sort of event? He was certainly wealthy enough. In fact, he could probably buy out most of these guys and scarcely make a dent in his multi-billion-dollar fortune.
Kate had watched his meteoric rise to enormous wealth from afar. The carefree, laid-back guy she’d fallen in love with, who hadn’t had two cents to rub together when she’d met him, had become a billionaire businessman almost overnight. In the blink of a red-rimmed eye.
Whereas, of course, her fortunes had done the reverse. Her family’s well-established confectionery business, Kandy Kate, had been crippled by a series of bad decisions since her father had died. But Kate was absolutely determined that was going to change. She was going to save Kandy Kate if it was the last thing she did. Because it was her father’s legacy, named in her honour. It had meant everything to him. And for that reason it meant everything to her.
Claiming His Replacement Queen Page 16
