Page 99 of Reign

“And he painted the whole time. He did over a hundred works. The rest of them are all stored in the archives.” Beatrice fought to keep a straight face. “This was the only one they could hang in the palace, because the others are…not suitable for public consumption.”

“They’re terrible?”

“They’re nudes.” She pursed her lips but failed to hide her smile. “Queen Tatiana posed for all of them.”

Teddy barked out a laugh. “For the record, if you start to feel the urge to paint, I’m happy to model—but only if you burn every last painting.”

“Deal,” Beatrice managed. Then she glanced back at the turkey painting, and her laughter died.

“What I was trying to say is that King Benjamin’s accidentchangedhim. I’m worried that mine changed me, too,” she confessed.

Teddy studied her for a moment, his eyes so impossibly blue, full of concern and sorrow. “Bee, of course it changed you. How could it not?”

“But I don’twantit to have changed me!”

“Why not? Change isn’t something to be afraid of.” He hesitated, then added, “I, for one, think that the accident made you braver.”

“But I’m afraid of so many things,” Beatrice protested.

“Being brave doesn’t mean you aren’t afraid. It means you refuse to let your fears guide your actions.”

Beatrice wondered if he was right. In her old life she’d followed the dictates of protocol to a T, and now she was seeking votes on a congressional bill, chasing down senators on their ranches.

“I love you.” She hadn’t consciously decided to say it; the words seemed to float from somewhere deep in her chest.

Teddy pulled her close. “Oh, Bee. You must know that I love you, too.”

Their kiss began soft, tender, and sweet. Beatrice laced her hands behind Teddy’s head, playing with the threads of his wheat-gold hair, her entire body melting into the kiss without a thought. She made a sound deep in her throat and tightened her grip on him, until after a moment, Teddy broke away.

He closed his eyes and tipped his forehead against hers. “I love you so much, Bee,” he said roughly. “When I heard about the accident, it was one of the scariest moments of my life.”

At first his words didn’t sink in. When they did, Beatrice went very still. “What do you mean, when you heard about the accident?”

Her security team had done an extensive, and very discreet, investigation into the car crash. They had wanted to make certain it wasn’t an assassination attempt. When Beatrice saw the folder on her desk, she’d skimmed the first few paragraphs: …poor road conditions, variable lighting…Driver worked an overnight shift the night before and was likely exhausted; he should have clocked out…. no evidence of foul play…

Somehow, Beatrice had never considered the implications of the fact that Teddy wasn’t in the car with her.

“Teddy. Where were you when the accident happened?”

He must have heard the distress in her voice, because his expression clouded. “At the airport. You were headed there, too,” he added softly.

“Why weren’t we in the same car?” she asked, and frowned. “And where were we going? I wouldn’t have left the League of Kings before the farewell breakfast.”

Teddy hesitated. Beatrice found herself holding her breath, her pulse beating too fast. The air felt heavy with her sudden premonition that they were on the cusp of something big, something that might break them.

“I was on my way to Nantucket. We had argued that night,” he admitted reluctantly.

“About what?”

“It’s not important. All that matters is that you’re okay—”

“Tell me,” she commanded.

He winced. “We were struggling to figure out what my role would be in our marriage. I…the thing is, I didn’t have much to do while you were at the League of Kings conference.”

“How did our fight end?” she whispered.

“We were going to work it out! We had just decided to take a little bit of space.”