Page 90 of A Queen's Match

Hélène just stared at him, saying nothing.

“I’m sorry, I’m doing this all wrong.” Eddy hurriedly fell to one knee, willing her to know how serious he was. It was a strange sensation, kneeling: he’d never done it before anyone, not even Grandmother. But in this moment, as he begged Hélène to spend the rest of her life with him, it felt utterly right.

“Marry me, Hélène,” he breathed.

She stepped closer and pulled him to his feet, her eyes smoky and soft with emotion. “Eddy. You know we can’t.”

“Why not?” he demanded. “Just because we’re royal, we have to be bound by laws and precedence?”

“In this instance, yes!”

He frowned. “Then we’ll elope—”

“I love you too much to pretend that I’m ashamed ofyou!”

Eddy inhaled sharply. He loved Hélène, more than he’d ever imagined that he could love another person, but he hadn’t said it aloud. He had no experience with grand declarations of love. Funny, that he could be willing to scale mountains or stay above deck on a ship in a storm, yet the prospect of telling this woman he loved her was terrifying.

He was secretly glad that she’d been the first to say it.

“Oh, Hélène. Surely you know that I love you too.”

Eddy opened his arms, and she stepped into them, where she belonged.

He hadn’t known that this was what he was looking for—or more accurately, he hadn’t been looking at all. Yet now that he’d found it, he knew there was no letting it go.

It wouldn’t be easy, but then, nothing worth having came for free. He could either marry some nameless princess picked out by his grandmother, and regret the loss of Hélène for the rest of his days; or he could fight for her with every fiber of his being. Even if it cost him everything.

He would give up his title for her, if it came down to that.

“You still haven’t given me a real answer,” he murmured. “Will you marry me?”

“Of course I will,” she replied.

Eddy felt almost lightheaded with joy.This is it,he thought,the moment that the rest of my life begins.

“Miss, you really must go,”a voice was saying.

“I beg your pardon, but I really must not.” Hélène’s voice was clipped, tense. “Now if you’ll please let me return to my prayers?Notre père, qui es aux cieux, que ton nom soit sanctifié…”

Eddy smiled to himself. Hélène must have seen, because she broke off abruptly.

“He is awake! Doctor, look!”

Eddy forced his eyes open, glanced around the room. Why was he at Sandringham?

“Your Royal Highness.” A doctor he didn’t recognize stepped forward. “May I—”

“No. Please leave me and mademoiselle in peace.”

It was unmistakably a command. The doctor hesitated, then bowed and left the room.

Eddy looked up at the woman he loved. Her face was suffused with tenderness and concern and a hesitant, tentative hope. “Hélène…” He hated how raspy his voice sounded. “Do you remember the day I asked you to marry me?”

“The first or second time?”

She was joking; that had to be a good sign. “I don’t remember there being a second time,” he managed to say. “The second time was implied.”

Hélène reached for his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Her voice grew serious. “Of course I remember. Now no more talking. Just rest.”