Page 39 of A Touch of Charm (Miracles on Harley Street #3)

“W here are we going?” Thea asked.

“We must face our fears, Miss Thea,” Mary said as she put her small hand into Thea’s.

Thea furrowed her brows. This was what she’d told Mary the night the highwaymen took them. And then the prince.

Mary led her through the corridor and into one of the bedrooms of Anna’s house.

“Whose room is this?” Thea asked, surveying the large bed chamber with a door connecting to another. It seemed like a room big enough for the masters of this grand house, but it looked as though it were made up for guests. The covers on the sizeable four-post bed were turned down; a fire crackled in the elegant hearth, with a brass clock and small dancing balls that caught the light from the crystal chandelier over her head.

“This way.” Mary led Thea to the white-framed double glass doors and onto a balcony.

The cool night air should have made breathing easy for Thea, but the sight before her cut her breath off. Andre was in all his evening finery: a small table set for two, a candelabra, chilled wine, and napkins folded as tiny hats on the fine china. Even though it was dark, the polished silver and the candles added a sparkle to the balcony scene, but nothing compared to the mesmerizing smile Andre cast her.

“Good evening, Princess Thea,” he said as he bowed and reached for her hand. She complied, and he placed a tender and lingering kiss on her knuckles that sent a jolt through her body.

And he didn’t let go of her hand.

“What are we doing on the balcony in the middle of the night?” Thea asked, unable to fathom the romantic scene that unfolded before her.

“Don’t worry if a branch out there frightens you; we’ll track it down and prove that it’s nothing more than twigs and leaves,” Mary said with a wink.

Then Andre nodded at her, and she pivoted like when she’d received praise.

Once Mary had left and closed the double-glazed doors, Thea stepped closer to Andre, still holding her hand.

She shivered.

“Are you cold, my love?” he rasped.

Thea shook her head. It wasn’t the crisp night air that made her shiver but the realization that she’d found the place where she belonged—or with whom. As long as she was with Andre, it mattered little where she was.

“I ordered a little dinner for us,” Andre said when he reached around Thea, and she stepped slightly out of his embrace. Not too far, for he felt so wonderfully strong, solid, and warm that she’d gladly remain there forever.

“There’s something you once said you’d missed.”

Thea couldn’t think of what she’d said when her stomach lurched as she held Andre’s gaze. His deep-brown eyes sparkled like their own universes, and the reflections from the room behind her, the lights from the chandelier and the crystal chandeliers sparkling in his eyes, were just too beautiful for her to form coherent thoughts.

Thea sank onto one of the two chairs and looked at the lovingly arranged plate.

“Where did you get this from?”

Andre took the seat across from her.

“Anna’s cook is from Bra?ov.” He reached for the spoon to his right but then waited.

His elevated upbringing truly shone through, especially when his manners were as impeccable as his looks. He wasn’t the doctor in charge of dinner but the gentleman treating her like a princess. And even though Thea had run away from this life, she was glad for the pieces Andre brought back to her. She had a different perspective on her life with him by her side—especially in her heart.

“Thank you for this,” Thea said, loading her spoon with the soft yellow corn and then a generous dollop of cream.

“This isn’t the same cheese,” she observed, patting her mouth with a napkin.

“I know. The closest to the creamy cheeses we are used to is Devonshire Cream. It’s not too bad once you get used to it.” Andre joined her and ate the food that had been a pillar of comfort from her childhood.

“It’s different but better with you.” Thea cast him a smile and he froze.

“That’s what I wanted to ask you again, alone.” He used his napkin, placed it on the table, and then rose. But before Thea could join him, he knelt beside her.

“If I didn’t compromise you, and Alex hadn’t come… would you still wish to remain in London?”

What a silly series of hypothetical scenarios!

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to force you into a life you do not want.” He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing visibly as he looked up at her.

Thea reached for his hand. “Where does this come from? I thought the engagement was—”

Andre shook his head. “The engagement is chiseled in stone, Thea. I will never leave your side unless you want me to.”

“Never!” Thea cupped his face with both of her hands. “Don’t ever say such a thing.”

“If you would like to wait to see if you are with child, I won’t pressure you.”

“Andre!”

“Please hear me out. In a few weeks, you’d know. And if you want to erase all of this, I will not stand in your way.” His voice sounded unsteady, but his gaze was firm.

It was too dark to tell if his eyes had gotten redder, but more tears seemed to be welling up, sparkling even more in the dim light on the balcony.

“Is this because of something Alex said?”

“Yes.”

Thea inhaled. Sometimes, she wished she could still pull her brother’s hair, as she had done when she was three years old, and make him scream.

“Not like that,” Andre said. “He said that he’d speak to your father on my behalf because he and Stan gave their blessings in his stead.”

“So?”

“So, if you’d rather forget about the Habsburg bastard from Florence sullying your line, I just wanted to ask you again if you’d like me to step away.”

“And go where?”

“Out of your life.”

“Like you did with your family?”

He nodded.

“No! Don’t you see they’ve been searching for you all these years? And I want you in my life! If a baby is inside me, it should only ever be yours.”

“But everyone knows I’m a bastard now, and you’re this precious, beautiful, intelligent, and oh… Thea, my princess!” He mumbled the last words because she’d pulled his face closer and pressed her lips onto his.

“I only fear one thing,” she said to his mouth.

“What?”

“That a few weeks is too long a wait.”

He jerked his head back and gave her a shocked look.

“If there might be a baby, why not make it a certainty.”

*

Andre’s body was instantly hard, but it was his heart that remained soft.

“Not like this,” he said, placing a chaste kiss on Thea’s lips. “Not a bastard.”

She blinked as though she’d understood.

“When?” Her question was but a whisper.

“Thea, you deserve the wedding of a princess, not a small ceremony.”

Andre looked at Thea, his chest tightening at the sight of her. The delicate flush on her cheeks, the way her lips parted as though she had words she wasn’t quite ready to say—it was all too much and yet exactly what he needed. He reached for her hand and intertwined his fingers with hers, the simple touch grounding him, bringing a calm he hadn’t felt in years.

“Thea,” he murmured, his voice soft but weighted with a thousand unspoken promises. She met his gaze, and the world seemed to fall away. No grand ballroom, no watchful eyes, only her—the woman who had unraveled every broken part of him and pieced him back together.

Her brow furrowed slightly, a question lingering in her eyes, a quiet vulnerability she rarely allowed anyone to see. He responded the only way he could, his hands lifting to gently cradle her face as though she held the very essence of his being. “You make me whole,” he whispered, his voice steady and honest. “I didn’t think I’d find my family again. Or myself. But then you came into my life, and everything shifted.”

Thea blinked, her expression softening into something unreadable yet breathtakingly beautiful. He leaned in then, brushing his lips against hers in a kiss that was tender, heartfelt, but filled with all the love that had swelled and swelled until it could no longer remain contained. It wasn’t a kiss to stake a claim or make a vow. It was a kiss meant to say thank you .

Thank you for saving me, for showing me what life could truly be.

When they broke apart, Thea rested her forehead against his, her breath mingling with his. For a moment, neither of them spoke, as though even the air around them was holding its breath, unwilling to shatter the perfection of this tiny, infinite universe they had created between them.

“You’ve given me everything I didn’t know I needed,” Andre said finally, his voice almost trembling under the weight of his emotions. His heart was full, so full he wondered how it could possibly contain it all. “Because of you, I found not just my family, but myself. And I swear I’ll spend the rest of my life doing everything I can to give that back to you.”

Her lips curved into a smile that sent warmth coursing through him, thawing even the deepest, coldest corners of his once-lonely heart. “Andre,” she whispered softly, her hand brushing his cheek. No other words followed, but she didn’t need them. Everything they had been through, every unspoken truth, was in her eyes.

Andre kissed her hand then, reverently as though she were sacred, and drew her closer. The music swelled downstairs, but nothing could muffle the joy in their hearts as they moved through the dance, their own rhythm took over, unhurried and timeless. For the first time in his life, Andre wasn’t looking ahead or behind. He was there, present, with her.

Thea’s head rested lightly on his chest, and Andre closed his eyes, feeling her heartbeat against his. It was steady, sure—just like his love for her. For the first time, he didn’t feel the ache of something missing. His family was there with him. Thea was there, with him.

And for the first time, he felt whole.