Harlequin Presents June 2018 Box Set 2 of 2 by Michelle Smart Jane Porter Susan Stephens & Miranda Lee

Author:Michelle Smart, Jane Porter, Susan Stephens & Miranda Lee
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781488084072
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises Limited
Published: 2018-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

EPILOGUE

TALAL’S CORONATION WAS nearly ten years to the day of their wedding at Kasbah Jolie.

It was early July and impossibly hot. The Gila palace was air-conditioned but with so many guests crowded into the reception room, the air conditioner couldn’t quite do its job.

Poppy was miserable in her gold gown and heels. Not because the kaftan was tight; if anything it was made of the lightest, softest silk imaginable, but she was very pregnant, nine months pregnant, and her ankles were swelling and she was desperate to be off her feet.

Thank goodness she knew what to expect. This was her fourth pregnancy and she always felt irritable at this stage, ready for the bump to be gone and the baby to be in her arms. She was always anxious as the due date grew closer, worried about any number of things that could go wrong. Fortunately, the first three deliveries went without a hitch and all three were really good children, and very excited about the new one, because finally the three boys would have a baby sister.

Poppy struggled to not fidget as Dal accepted his new crown, and the duties it entailed.

But it was hard to stand perfectly still with the odd contractions. They were false contractions, she was sure. She’d had them with the last two pregnancies and she knew now not to be alarmed.

She pressed her elbow to her side, pressing against the tension that wrapped her abdomen.

She must be overly hot and overly tired because that one felt like the real thing.

And then her water broke and Poppy’s head jerked up. Dal was suddenly looking at her and she didn’t remember speaking, or making a sound, but suddenly he was there, at her side, his arm around her.

“What’s happening?”

“My water just broke,” she whispered, aware that all two hundred plus people in the reception room were watching. “But it’s too early. She’s not due for another couple of weeks.”

“Apparently, no one told her that,” he said, smiling warmly into her eyes.

Poppy’s heart turned over. Ten years of marriage and he still made her melt. “I’m sorry we’re disrupting the ceremony.”

“I’m not. I can’t wait to meet her. You know how much I’ve wanted a daughter.”

Another contraction hit and Poppy gasped and squeezed his arm. “It seems she’s in a rush to meet you, too!”

“I’m not surprised. If she’s anything like her mother, she’s going to be fierce and loyal and impossibly loving.” He wrapped his arm around her waist, supporting her. “I love you, Queen Poppy, completely and madly, you know.”

“What has happened to my safe, predictable Englishman?”

“Gone, I’m afraid.”

She gripped his arm as another contraction hit.

“And so are we,” he added, swinging her into his arms. “Because I don’t trust our little princess not to make an appearance here and now.”

* * * * *

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