Page 31 of Prince She Shouldn’t Crave (Royal House of Halrovia #2)

Seeing Lena again was like a knock to the head.

She stood before him, a vision in a silky dress of the softest pink, like the first hint of sunrise.

A picture of such perfection that his words had failed.

He’d forgotten the effect she had on him.

His tongue was tied. She was inside him, had burrowed in deep into his marrow and taken up residence.

One look at her in the flesh, rather than the distant and painful memories from the glorious and devastating time together, entrenched Gabe’s view.

There was no letting her go. He couldn’t.

Every official function before Cilla’s wedding, he’d known a part of him was missing.

Seeing Priscilla, Caspar, Ana and Aston had solidified something he’d resolved weeks before with his press release.

Marrying a princess because it was expected of him, not marrying for love, was something he could never do.

His feelings for Lena would always come first. Even if she refused him today, he’d love her.

Which was why he needed to make it up to her with everything he had.

Because his life would be meaningless without her.

Lena’s eyes widened as she gripped the door jamb till her fingertips paled.

‘How did you find me?’

He’d always known where she’d gone. In the time since she’d left Halrovia he’d been driven to ensure she and her family had a home and weren’t out on the streets.

That there was food on the table, and she wasn’t being forced into a situation she didn’t want, like marrying.

His discreet enquiries had satisfied him that she was okay, giving him time to plan.

‘Finding you was the easy part. As for the rest…’

None of that had been easy, but anything was simpler than the days since she’d walked out of Halrovia’s palace.

Being flayed alive would have been easier than that.

Yet for now he had some more pressing matters to deal with.

As he stood on her stoop, some doors in the hall of her apartment building had opened.

Gabriel accepted that a royal postillion landau carriage parking in the street below would cause a stir, but a few people had begun to peer out at them both.

Whilst he could have a conversation with Lena in the hall if that was what she wanted, he preferred a little privacy, where he could try to say the things he needed to get her back in his arms and in his life again.

To let her know how much he loved her.

‘May I come inside?’ he asked.

‘You’re on your way to your sister’s wedding.’

‘And yet here I am, finding I can’t go any further.’

‘What if you’re late?’

‘I’ll be forgiven.’

By his sisters at least. His parents might never overcome the theatrics, but he didn’t care.

He’d said enough after his world had imploded the day Lena had left.

He liked to believe that his mother and father were taking the time to think about those harsh truths, though he was satisfied to continue communicating with them, private secretary to private secretary, until he had a suitable apology.

It was easier, now he’d bought a home away from the palace.

The purchase contracts only just settled. Soon he’d be moving.

He hoped to bring Lena home with him.

A few people began pointing phones at Lena’s doorway to film what was happening. Whilst he spent his life under constant scrutiny, he wanted to ease Lena into her moment in the spotlight. If he could convince her of the truth of his feelings, today was going to be a big day.

Lena seemed to catch herself, seeing all her neighbours peering at them. The phones pointed their way. She stood back.

‘Come inside. Quickly. I don’t want to be the story here.’

He stepped over the threshold, and she shut the door gently behind her then turned.

In the shock of seeing her again he hadn’t noticed how tired she looked.

A little like himself. She hid it well under make-up, but it still wasn’t enough.

And there was something else he noticed about her too.

The way she wrung her hands in front of her.

Bit into her lip. The look on her face, troubled.

He’d done that to her. Failed to realise how tender and soft her heart was.

How much his rejection would hurt because of what her father had done to her.

In the beginning he’d kidded himself that their secrecy was for her.

To protect Lena from the bright lights of media attention when nothing was certain.

But that had never been the truth. His deepest confession was that keeping her hidden was entirely selfish.

He’d been trying to come to terms with so many things.

Managing the media, sure, but his own feelings.

He hadn’t understood those at all, when they were now clear and bright like a beacon.

He’d been in love with her before he’d even realised, because she saw Gabriel Montroy.

A man who wasn’t proud or proper or any of those things. He simply was .

‘Why are you here?’ she asked him. ‘I don’t want to be responsible for holding up your sister’s wedding to my future king.’

‘As far as I’m concerned, the whole world can wait. Nothing’s more important than this, than you , Lena.’

A wash of colour flooded her cheeks. ‘That’s not true.’

‘And there lies my greatest mistake.’

Gabe would never stop regretting how uncertain he’d made her.

Causing this doubt. Together, he’d not only found someone who saw him, but he’d seen her too.

A woman who’d blossomed when given attention.

Someone strong. Who could take over the world if she wanted to, because she’d completely taken over his.

Every day, every waking thought. All his dreams.

‘I have so much to apologise for,’ he said.

‘Most of all I want to apologise for making you believe that you hadn’t become the most important person in my life.

That I was in some way embarrassed, and wanted you hidden, when all I should have done was show the world what I saw. How incredible you are .’

‘But your parents—’

‘Need to learn that you were never a whim. I’ve had strong words with them, my mother in particular, about the things she said. But that’s for another day. What I came to tell you was that you’re the woman who unlocked my heart. The woman I would give up everything for.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I have my sister’s wedding to attend, but I find I don’t want to go.’ Lena’s eyes widened. Huge pools of blue. A colour he’d missed, craving it over the last few months without her. ‘Not without you by my side.’

Lena wished there were something she could hold on to.

Anything. She wanted to fall over on the spot.

Even though she might have hoped and dreamed, Gabriel stood in a place she’d never believed she’d see him.

Her lounge room. On his sister’s wedding day.

And if she believed her ears, he wanted her to join him as his guest.

Impossible.

‘Your parents would never accept me.’

‘I don’t care about them.’

‘You should.’

He frowned, looking confused. But then, he wouldn’t understand. He’d been accepted wherever he went.

‘They’re steeped in tradition, which has locked them in the past. But I’ve told them that until they’ve reflected on their behaviour and suitably apologised, there’s going to be a distance between us. Though I have little doubt that if they truly came to know you, then they’d love you. As I do.’

‘You what?’ A sensation burst inside, like a thousand birds taking flight at dawn, singing a joyous song.

He moved forward, towards her. His face beaming like sunshine lighting up the room.

‘I love you. I could never marry for duty, because it would eat away at me. I’d come to hate everything and everyone if I was forced to give up on the one person who showed me myself.

Who made me better every day. Who brought colour into a world that had been grey.

I’d give up everything for you, my place in succession, because you have my heart and no one else will do. ’

She froze. Her brain simply couldn’t compute what he’d said.

‘I—wait. You can’t. Give up being King ?’

‘If the only way I can have you is to give up my right to the throne, then that’s what I’ll do. I’ll always choose you.’

‘But you’d be an amazing king. What are you talking about? I don’t understand.’

The corner of Gabriel’s mouth kicked up in a half-smile. It looked entertained, but also sad.

‘You would have understood, had I been the man I should have been. Treated you the right way. Fought my parents for you. But I wanted more time to sift through my feelings because they were so unfamiliar. I should have told them that, told you. Stood up for you, for what you meant to me. It’s my greatest regret that I didn’t.

I treated you like your father did, when you’re a woman who deserves to shine, not be hidden away.

You are not my guilty secret. You’re nobody’s. ’

All her life, she’d been told to stay in the shadows.

Not to talk about her father, to say she didn’t know, to protect him.

To protect her mother. Now Gabe was here.

Acknowledging what she’d once craved and dreamed of.

Being recognised, being truly seen. Yet in all her dreams, she’d never dreamed of anything like this.

‘If I haven’t been clear, let me make it plain…

’ Gabe said, walking towards her. Standing closer.

So tall and solid. A man who could take her breath away.

Who might even help her shoulder some burdens, as she’d helped him.

‘I love you, Lena. There’s no one else in the world I want.

You already rule my heart. One day, I want you to rule my country by my side. You impressed me that much.’