Vows to Save His Crown by Kate Hewitt

Author:Kate Hewitt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2020-04-13T12:16:34+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

RACHEL GAZED AT her reflection anxiously as the flurry of nerves in her stomach threatened to make their way up her throat. In just fifteen minutes she was going to enter the palace ballroom on Mateo’s arm, and be presented to all Kallyrian society as his bride-to-be.

Their wedding was in less than forty-eight hours, a fact that kept bouncing off Rachel’s brain, refusing to penetrate. In forty-eight hours they would be married, and then crowned King and Queen in a joint ceremony.

A fact which would have filled her with excitement last night, when she and Mateo had worked together on the list of potential cabinet ministers, and then he’d kissed her.

Oh, how he’d kissed her. Rachel had never been kissed like that in her life, and she’d been in a ferment of desire since, longing to be kissed again—and more. So much more. To feel his hands on her, his mouth possessing her, his gloriously hard body beneath her...

But since he’d rather unceremoniously pushed her off his lap, Mateo had avoided her like the proverbial plague. At least, it felt that way. Rachel told herself he had to be busy, but she knew it was more than that, after the way he’d ended their kiss and turned his back, quite literally, to her.

She had no idea what had made him back off so abruptly, but the fact that he had filled her with both disappointment and fear. Was she a clumsy kisser? Heaven knew, it was perfectly possible. It wasn’t as if she’d had loads of experience. Or maybe he’d gone off her for some reason—when he’d touched her? She knew she was a little overweight. Maybe Mateo now knew it too.

The thought made her stomach clench as she frowned at her reflection, all her old insecurities, the ones she’d fought so hard to master, rising up in her again. Whatever it was, he’d ended the kiss and then avoided her ever since, so she hadn’t seen him from that moment to this. At least, she hoped she’d see him in this moment—they were meant to enter the ball together, after all, in just a few minutes.

Taking a deep breath, Rachel ran her hands down the sides of her gown, a fairy-tale dress if there ever was one. Made of bronze silk, it was strapless with a nipped-in waist and a delightfully full skirt that shimmered every time she moved. The dress was complemented with a parure from the Kallyrian crown jewels—a tiara made of topaz and diamonds, with a matching necklace, bracelet, and teardrop diamond earrings. She truly was Cinderella; the only question was when and if midnight would strike.

A knock sounded on the door of her bedroom, and, with her heart fluttering along with her nerves, Rachel croaked, ‘Come in.’

The door opened and Mateo stood there, looking devastatingly handsome in white tie and tails. They were the perfect foil for his olive skin and black hair, his eyes an impossibly bright blue-green in his tanned face.

‘Well?’ Rachel asked shakily as she straightened her shoulders.

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