I shrug, because I don’t care. “I guess you’d better get comfortable with a royal scandal, then,” I say. “Because you can either be okay with it or disown me. It’s really your choice.”
“Isabella Kensington, if your father were alive to see –“
“Don’t,” I say, holding my hand up. Anger surges through my veins. “Don’t you dare tell me my father would be appalled, because that’s not true. He’d want me to be happy. Don’t you want me to be happy? Isn’t there some part of you that wants me to fall in love? I see the way you look at Leo sometimes. I know that as cynical as you’ve become, there’s part of you that still believes in love. I know that you love him. And it’s not fair for you to not want that for me.”
The words pour out of me, more words than I thought I was keeping inside, and I take a deep breath the minute I stop.
My mother looks at me for a long time, standing still, her hands clasped in front of her. “I loved your father,” she says. “Madly. Passionately. And when he died, I thought it would destroy me. And I do see the way you look at Albie. It reminds me of what I had with your father, and that frightens me. I…”
Her voice trails off, and she blinks, standing still, like she’s afraid to move. She’s become so practiced at restraint and decorum that it makes me sad for her.
“I thought you wanted me to be miserable,” I say.
“Belle,” she says. “Of course I want you to be happy.”
“I’m not afraid,” I say. “I love him.”
She sighs heavily. “I know,” she says. “I do know that.”
“Can you be happy for me?”
“I love you,” she says. "And I can."
It’s not perfect, but it’s enough.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
Albie
"It's official," I whisper, her hand in mine as we waltz around the dance floor in the ballroom in sync with the music from the orchestra. "Now we're related."
Belle glares at me. "Stop saying that."
I affect an exasperated sigh. "I hate when my wife tells me what to do."
"You have to stop calling me that," she says, trying to sound disapproving, but I know she's not. The corners of her mouth turn up. "The marriage was annulled, remember?"
As if I could forget. The royal lawyers went ballistic over our drunken Vegas marriage, immediately initiating the annulment, since we'd both admitted publicly that we were intoxicated.
So we're no longer married.
And now our parents are.
"Maybe I'm a little disappointed that you're no longer my wife," I whisper in her ear. She moves against me with the music, her body suddenly much too close for a waltz, less than appropriate for our parents' wedding. Especially a royal wedding.
It would be a lot more inappropriate to have a huge hard on while dancing with Belle at the wedding reception.
Belle just laughs. "I'm sure you'll find a way to manage," she says.
"I can think of a way you might help me manage," I say, my hand sliding up the middle of her back.
Belle moves away from me in tune with the music. "Nice try," she says laughing, as I pull her back. "At our parents' wedding?"
"If I recall correctly, the first time I made you come was at our parents' engagement party," I whisper into her ear. "You should be glad I didn't make you wear a vibrator tonight."
"You can't make me do anything," Belle says, laughing.
"I'll bet I can make you come," I whisper, pulling her close to me again. "Let's get out of here."
"Everyone will notice," she whispers.
"We've been on national interviews," I say. "And all over the internet. I'm pretty sure that everyone already knows we’re together.”
“You’re wicked,” she says, a smile on her lips.
“No, luv,” I say, pulling her close against me as the music shifts to a slower song. “Wicked would be if I told you what exactly I was thinking of doing to you right now.”
Alex comes into view beside us, slow-dancing with Max. “Get a room, you two,” she whispers.
“That’s what I’m trying to convince her to do, but she won’t listen,” I say.
Belle slaps me playfully on the arm. “It’s a breach of etiquette to leave,” she insists.
“There is no end to the number of etiquette rules we’ve broken, luv,” I say, laughing. “I’m with you. Alex is openly slow-dancing with her bodyguard. I think etiquette has gone out the window.”
“This family practically deserves a reality show,” she says.
“A Royal Scandal,” I suggest. “Happily Ever After with the Royal Family.”