Oh, yes, if there was a Beast of Iseo, he was worthy of the title.
It was unsafe for everyone to move them from the Rock in the night, but they’d established there were no spinal injuries and they’d splinted Sienna’s wrist, and now she lay on a stretcher in a tent, Rafe by her side, stroking her hair.
Deep in the night, the wind dropping as the storm dissipated, she woke up to the touch of him, and she stirred.
‘You’re here,’ she murmured.
‘Where else would I be?’
‘But those rocks … You’re crazy. You came through those rocks?’
‘I came to find you. Do you think rocks were going to stop me?’
‘I don’t know. But I never expected anyone to come so late on such a night. I guess I should thank you for that. I suppose you told them that the future heirs of Montvelatte were at stake.’
He lifted up her good hand and pressed his lips to it. ‘No. I told them that the jewel in Montvelatte’s crown was at stake, and if they didn’t find you, I would personally feed them to the Beast of Iseo, one by one.’
‘You told them that?’
‘My exact words.’
‘But why?’
‘Because I realized after you’d left that there are more important things than avoiding love. And then I heard you were missing, and that your helicopter had gone down, and I was afraid I’d never get the chance to tell you.’
‘Tell me what?’
‘That I love you, Sienna.’ He smiled down at her and felt his heart expand tenfold with the joy he saw reciprocated, even in a face shadowed in the low lamplight. ‘And I am sorry for all the pain I caused you, all the assumptions I made, all the decisions I made without even considering you.’
‘You’re sorry for all of them?’
‘I know,’ he admitted, ‘there were plenty of them. I’m sorry it took me so long to realize. Sorry I made you feel like you were trapped. Looking back, it should have been obvious to me. Even back after that one night in Paris, I was annoyed that events in Montvelatte had intervened, that I would not see you again.’
‘You were? I thought it was these babies of ours you were after—your potential heirs.’
He smiled and nodded. ‘They were an excuse, and a good one. But even back then I knew I wanted more of what you had to offer. I’m so sorry it’s taken me so long to wake up, so sorry you had to go through all this.’
‘It wasn’t so bad. I kind of enjoyed being behind the joystick again.’
‘I heard. The pilot said you’d saved his life. And I got to thinking, Montvelatte needs a helicopter pilot.’
‘You don’t even have a helicopter.’
‘No, but if my refinancing plan works, we could have. And I’ll need someone to fill the position. If you’re not too busy to fly me around, that is.’
She smiled. ‘I think I accept.’
‘That’s good. And I have one other favour, that I really have no right to ask.’
‘What is it?’
‘I’d like to celebrate my love for you by asking you to share my life for ever. Will you marry me, Sienna, and become my wife?’
She blinked up at him. ‘You’re actually asking me?’
‘I’m asking you. Pleading with you if it comes to that. And if you don’t want to get married, I’ll even settle for that, so long as you promise to live in sin with me forever.’
‘But then your children will be bastards, forever.’
‘I don’t care,’ he said. ‘It never did me any harm. So long as I can have you.’
And then he kissed her, and she knew forever would never be long enough.
EPILOGUE
SUNLIGHT poured through ancient stained glass windows, showering the congregation in puddles of fractured light. Organ music filled the cathedral, and the scent of fresh orange blossom filled the air as the tiny page boy and girl marched their slow march down the aisle.
Sienna waited at the head of the aisle, watching the procession, wondering how it would look if instead of waiting serenely until last, she skipped past her attendants and claimed her husband.
Not the way royals were supposed to behave in front of their own, but then she was only new at the job, and she still had a lot to learn.
Her soon to be sister-in-law, Marietta, gave her a final smile and squeeze of the hand, before she too set off down towards the altar. Where Prince Raphael of Montvelatte, her Rafe, stood waiting for her, tall, dark and utterly devastating.
She felt a flutter deep down inside her, touched one satin-gloved hand to her stomach, and knew with a woman’s instinct that it was more than mere butterflies. She smiled. The day could not become more wonderful.