Page 40 of Princess Bride Swap

“Neither do I.” He wanted to kiss her then. He wanted the sweet comfort of her body next to his. Under his. “I apologize as well. I should not have resorted to threats. Fights have no place here.”

She didn’t say anything to that, just sat next to him. He could have stayed right in this moment forever, but even this unknown gentleness felt like the kind of thinking that pulled a man down and under. Perhaps more so than straight desire. Desire was fleeting.

But caring about her... What kind of slippery slope would that be? So he very lightly brushed his mouth against her temple.

“Good night, Beau,” he said, then moved over to his side of the bed.

“Good night, Lyon,” she returned, moving over to hers.

Just as it should be. Just as it would be.

CHAPTER TWELVE

BEAUHADSLEPTwell enough. She’d woken up the following morning in the middle of the bed, and like happened so often, Lyon was already up and gone. She lay there for a moment, not sure what to do with this strange tide of grief inside of her.

What was there to grieve? They had made amends. They would return to the castle today on the same page. Respectable, stable royals who respected one another, but didn’t so much as have one lustful thought.

On a groan, she rolled out of bed and got dressed. When she shuffled out to the kitchen he was already dressed for the day and had made and cleaned up breakfast. Only a covered plate remained on the table, no doubt for her.

Because he was full of small gestures that no one had ever really given her, and she did not know how to reconcile this with a man who’d threaten to lock her away—when he didn’t even know her full secret.

But he greeted her with a smile and “good morning.” When she sat down to eat, he told her about some bird he’d watched fly around outside the window and surprised her with the idea that it was a good omen.

“You have never once struck me as the superstitious sort.”

“Well, I only accept good superstitious.”

It made her laugh. And she tried to hold on to that humor, that story as they drove back to the palace. The drive down was not quite as anxiety-inducing as the drive up, but she still didn’t enjoy it.

They returned to the castle, a flurry of staff, a sit-down meal with Lyon’s mother. Two days away without staff should not have had time to feel like normal, but suddenly all these people and space feltoverwhelming.

But she knew her role. She smiled through dinner, ignored the countess’s backhanded commentary about theirvacation. She set out to be exactly the princess she had promised Lyon she would be.

Back then, she’d been doing it for Zia. Funny how it felt...different now. Like she was doing it forhim.

When they retired to their rooms for bed, all the tension she’d felt from the night before seeped back into the silences between them. He wasn’t angry, and she wasn’t angry, but there was this gulf of not knowing how to be between them.

She wanted to reach out to him. Even if just for a hug. It could be something platonic. Just the feeling they...they...

But he took a gentle sidestep. “I think we should...wait.”

“Wait?”

“It is possible you are already pregnant. We should wait to see if that is so.”

Every time he saidpregnant, she had a strange pang deep in her chest. The idea of already growing a child filled her with...a twist of so many different emotions. There was a deep yearning she really hadn’t known was there until Zia had become pregnant. Then she’d started corresponding with Lyon about taking Zia’s place and he’d made it clear he needed heirs.

She’d started to think of what it meant to be a mother. To care for someone else and show them love in the way her parents never had. She wanted that.

The idea oflovewas also causing strange pangs these days, because when she looked at Lyon, even not wanting towaitto see if it was so, she wanted to give him what he wanted. She wanted to find a way to make him happy.

So she hoped she was pregnant. For him just as much as for herself. But she’d also read enough books to know that not everyone got pregnant right away. Though Zia had with Cristhian, so maybe...

But what if she wasn’t? They still needed heirs.

And he stood there, distance between them, hands behind his back. Stiff and uncomfortable but set in this decision he’d made. All on his own.

“And if I’m not?”

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