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But Adrienne didn’t seem concerned. She hugged him and kissed his cheek and he allowed it, all shyness fled.
Lani appeared about half an hour into the visit, ushered in by the thin woman. After a brief introduction, she took Trevor with her back to their rooms.
The rest of them went in to dinner, where they were joined by two of Rule’s brothers—Maximilian, the heir apparent, who’d come up from his villa to meet Rule’s bride, and Alexander, the one who’d been a prisoner in Afghanistan.
Sydney liked Maximilian from the first. He was almost as handsome as Rule and he seemed to her to be a kind man, and very charismatic. He had sad eyes, though. She remembered what Rule had told her, about Max losing his wife in a water-skiing accident, and wondered if he was still grieving the loss.
It was difficult to like Alex. He was darkly handsome like the rest of the family, but more powerfully built and very quiet. He seemed … angry. Or perhaps sunk in some deep depression. Sydney supposed his attitude wasn’t all that surprising. She imagined that being kept prisoner by terrorists would give anyone a bad attitude. But she could easily see why he and Princess Lili didn’t get along. Sydney doubted that Alex got along with anyone.
Rule’s other brother, Alex’s twin, Damien, was something of a jet-setter. He was off on a friend’s yacht. Two of his sisters, the youngest and second-youngest, Rory and Genevra, were away at school. Alice and Rhiannon were at an event in Luxembourg. And the oldest sister, Arabella, had gone to Paris. When they were home from school, Rory and Genevra still lived at the palace. The three older sisters had their own villas.
Dinner was several courses. The food was delicious. There was wine. Excellent French wine. As she’d done since she first suspected she might be pregnant, Sydney took care to drink very little of it.
Later, back in their own apartment, she and Rule celebrated her move to Montedoro by making love—twice. Once, while standing up against the tall, beautifully carved bedroom doors. Very well hung, those doors, she’d teased, as he was moving so deliciously inside her. Those doors didn’t rattle once no matter how enthusiastic they became.
Eventually, they got into bed, where they made love the second time. It was after that second time, when she lay tucked close against him, that she told him, “Your mother says there’s a large library here at the palace. A lot of books on Montedoran history. She also says the palace librarian can answer just about any question I might have about your country.”
He stroked her arm in an idle, thoroughly distracting way. “Going to become a Montedoran scholar, are you?”
“I need to catch up, to understand how things work here, so I can begin to consider the kind of work I want to do, to discover where and how I can be most useful to my new country.”
“So ambitious.” He said it admiringly as he caressed her breast.
“You know I lose IQ points when you do that …”
He covered her breast with his warm hand. “I love your breasts.”
“Good. You’ll be seeing a lot of them as the years go by.”
He caught her nipple between his fingers and squeezed. She sighed. He said, in a gentle, careful voice, “I believe they are fuller than they used to be.”
It was the perfect opportunity to tell him that there was a reason her breasts were bigger: she was having his baby. But instead, she elbowed him in the ribs. “Oh. You like them because they’re bigger.”
He nuzzled her hair. “Are they bigger?”
She got up on one elbow, where she could see his eyes. “Yes.” She knew then. She could see it in his face, in the breathless way he looked at her. He knew already. She gave him a teasing smile. “My breasts are bigger. It’s a miracle.”
He asked, almost shyly, “Sydney … is it possible that you …?”
She smiled even wider. “That I what, Rule?”
“Don’t tease me. Please.” His eyes had gone dark as the middle of the night. It was a soft, yearning sort of darkness. He really, really wanted to know.
And her heart just … expanded. It felt suddenly twice as big as a moment before, as if it were pushing at her ribs, trying to make more room inside her chest. “I think so,” she whispered. “I think we’re going to have a baby.”
He held her gaze, steadily, surely. “You think?”
“All the signs are there. The same ones I had with Trev. And my period is almost three weeks late. I haven’t taken the home test I bought yet, though.”
He touched her chin, brushed his thumb across her lips. “When will you take it?”
She smiled against his touch. “How about tomorrow morning?”
“Sydney …”
“What?”
“That’s all. Just Sydney. Sydney, Sydney, Sydney …” He took her shoulders and pulled her close so he could kiss her. A long kiss, so tender. So thorough. So right.
