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She had caused this media storm. This was all her fault. She might even have destroyed the monarchy of the man she loved beyond reason, beyond...
But just as her panic threatened to outpace the breakfast she’d barely eaten an hour ago, as the advisors had briefed them on how to handle the news that Jade had appeared in Monrova that morning two days ahead of schedule, Leo’s grip on her hand tightened and his arm wrapped around her shoulders.
Leaning close, he whispered in her ear, ‘Breathe, Juno. It’s okay.’
She glanced up at him and whispered back, ‘Are you sure? Isn’t this the disaster you wanted to avoid?’
But he didn’t look angry or concerned, instead a grin split his features that made the warm glow in her heart intensify. ‘Please don’t remind me what a boring idiot I used to be.’
She smiled back at him.
While this love was still so new and scary, the thought of the baby growing inside her newer and scarier still, somehow she knew, with that look of bone-deep approval on his face, she could conquer anything. Not just her fears, but also her flaws.
They were all still there, of course, but somehow they’d lost their power to define her in the last two days. While she and Leo had talked and laughed, and made love, and he had reassured her constantly that, whatever happened next, he had her back.
She’d been alone for so long, it felt strange knowing that she wasn’t any more. She knew it would take her a while to fully accept it. But all he demanded of her, because he was as astute as he was wonderful, was that she concentrate on believing him.
‘Are you sure you don’t want me to handle this alone?’ he murmured as the palace press officer announced them and attempted to silence the crowd of over-eager journalists. ‘I don’t want you overtaxed,’ he added.
She shook her head. ‘I got us into this fix, I think it’s up to me to help get us out of it, don’t you?’
He pressed his forehead to hers, in a gesture so full of love and affection her heart expanded in her chest. The room went quiet, the world’s press holding their breath. ‘We got into this fix together, Juno. Don’t ever forget that. And it’s a fix I will be grateful for, for the rest of my life.’
He kissed her softly, and she kissed him back, not caring as the barrage of camera flashes and shouted questions went off again.
Her skin had heated to what she thought was probably an impressive shade of scarlet as Leo turned to the assembled crowd and—having waited for everyone to finally quieten down again—addressed them.
‘I have a statement to make on behalf of myself...’ he sent Juno a smile so full of love she was surprised she didn’t start floating ‘...and the woman I very
much hope will become my Queen. Eventually. But first of all I should introduce her to you properly. Her name is Princess Juno Alice Monroyale, and I love her unconditionally.’
The room erupted again, the inevitable questions being fired at them both. Juno felt her heart swell to impossible proportions as the press officer attempted to outline the arranged explanation that had been agreed with Jade and her advisors that morning—that Juno and her sister had swapped before the Winter Ball to give Jade a break from her royal duties, Leo had been in on the ruse, but then he and Juno had fallen hopelessly in love.
As the questions followed, Leo answered most of them, but when he deferred to her, his hand in hers and his presence beside her made her aware that, no matter what she said, or how she said it, he wouldn’t stop loving her, or supporting her.
It was a heady feeling. And one she intended to spend the rest of her life getting used to.
After ten minutes, the time limit Leo had insisted on, the press officer brought the conference to a close. And then a screen behind the stage lit up with Jade’s press conference in Monrova, which had been timed to coincide with theirs.
That was their cue to leave.
Leo ushered her backstage, then led her through the crowd of advisors—ignoring every one of their attempts to waylay them—and into his private study.
He slammed the door, leaving them alone together, then gathered her into his arms.
‘Thank God that’s over with,’ he said, his mouth lowering to hers. ‘Now I plan to spend the rest of the day ravishing you.’
A delighted giggle escaped before she could stop it, but as his mouth lowered to hers she stifled the yearning and pressed her palms to his chest. Something that had been bugging her since her phone call with Jade that morning niggled at her again.
‘Leo, wait. I’m worried. I think something’s going on with Jade.’
He lifted his head, his lips twisting into the tantalising grin she had become totally addicted to.
‘Uh-huh.’ He nuzzled the spot under her ear that he knew would drive her wild. ‘You mean apart from the fact...’ his lips travelled down, trailing fire in their wake to land on her collarbone ‘...that she’s been playing hooky for three weeks in New York...’ Juno gasped as his hand drifted under her blouse to tantalise the place on her back he now owned unconditionally while his lips kept wreaking havoc on her pulse point ‘...while the man she was supposed to be marrying has fallen in love with her incorrigible twin.’ His roving hand slid down the back of her jeans.
The laugh at his behaviour choked off in her throat, but the niggling guilt refused to go away.
‘No... There’s something else...’ Juno’s breathing became staggered as she tried to keep her mind and her hormones on track under Leo’s relentless onslaught. ‘When we talked this morning, she seemed...sad. And she didn’t tell me why she came back from New York two days early.’ It was the reason why they had been forced to arrange a press conference so suddenly. The cat—or rather the Queen—had suddenly been out of the bag. ‘I’m worried about her,’ Juno admitted. ‘I hope I didn’t screw things up for her with this swap—when everything turned out so brilliantly for us.’
