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He knew and didn’t care. Nic tightened his hold, letting his heat seep into her until there was no more resistance. And then he kissed her, long and slow and deep, while in the back of his mind he acknowledged that this would be their final goodbye. By the time he broke away they were both gasping for breath.
Brooke spoke first. “You were right.”
“About?” He nuzzled her cheek, feathering provocative kisses along her skin. His teeth grazed her earlobe, making her shudder.
“Starting something that had no future.” Her pain and grief tore at him.
“I didn’t want there to be regrets between us.”
“I don’t regret it.”
“But you can’t help thinking if we’d never been together that leaving would be easier.” His arms tightened. “And you might be right. But for the rest of my life I will cherish every second we’ve spent together.” And now he had to be strong enough to let her go. Only knowing that their child would connect them together forever gave him the courage to set her free. “There’s no getting you out of my system,” he said. “Or my heart.”
“I love you.” She kissed him one last time. “Now let me go.”
Twelve
“You let her go?” Gabriel Alessandro, crown prince of Sherdana, was furious. “What the hell is the matter with you?”
From her seat behind the ornate writing desk, Olivia watched her husband storm around the living room of their suite, her expression a mask of sadness and resignation.
“Why are you yelling at me?” Nic demanded, pointing at Gabriel’s princess. “She’s the one who arranged to have a car take her to the airport.”
It was shortly before lunch and Brooke’s flight had departed Carone International over two hours prior. By now she would be over the Atlantic Ocean on her way to New York’s JFK airport and her connecting flight to San Francisco.
“It’s not my wife’s fault that she was leaving in the first place. You were supposed to stop her before she ever got into the car.” Gabriel raked his fingers through his hair in a gesture of acute frustration. “Do you realize what you’ve done?”
“I did what the country required of me.”
Silence greeted his declaration, but Nic refused to feel bad that he’d at long last addressed the elephant in the room. He’d let Brooke get away because Gabriel hadn’t acted in the country’s best interest when he’d married Olivia.
“For the first time in your life,” Gabriel shouted back. “How the hell do you think I felt having to carry the burden of responsibility for both you and Christian all these years? Maybe I would have enjoyed being an irresponsible playboy or playing at an impossible dream like building a rocket ship.”
“Playing at—”
“Enough.” Olivia’s sharp tone sliced through the testosterone thickening the air and silenced both men. “Tossing accusations back and forth is not solving our immediate issue.”
Gabriel was the first to back down. He turned to his wife and the love that glowed in his gaze made Nic’s heart hurt.
“She’s right.” Gabriel’s attention returned to his brother. “I know you were doing amazing things in California and I wish you were still there doing them. I really don’t begrudge you any time you’ve spent chasing your dream.”
Nic was seeing a different side of his brother. Never before had Gabriel spoken so eloquently about what he was feeling. The crown prince could speak passionately about issues relating to the country and he had a fine reputation for diplomacy, but he’d always been a closed book with regard to anything of a personal nature.
“I’ve lost my nerve.” Since Gabriel felt comfortable sharing, Nic decided it was only fair to give a little in return. “Since the accident, I am afraid to even think about what went wrong with Griffin. Five years of my life went into designing the fuel delivery system that caused the rocket to blow up. I killed someone. There’s no coming back from that for me.” Nic’s voice was thick with regret as he finished, “It’s part of the reason I let Brooke go. Her life is in California and there’s no place for me there anymore. I belong here where I can make a difference.”
