His Royal Prize (15 page)

She put her hand to her mouth, afraid to believe what she was seeing.

“He’s downstairs,” Bebe said.

“Who is?”

“Geoff. He told me he wants to see you. Will you let him up?”

“I don’t know. What should I do?”

Bebe hugged her close and then stood up. “Listen to the man. You fell in love with him, so he must be something special.”

Bebe left and a few minutes later the doorbell rang. She put Godiva down and walked over to answer it. Geoff stood in the doorway, looking as if he hadn’t slept a wink all night.

“Can I come in?”

She nodded and stepped back.

“Did you see the paper?” he asked.

“Yes. But that doesn’t change anything.”

“I love you, Amelia. That changes everything.”

She wanted to believe him but her heart was still vulnerable after yesterday, and she was afraid to trust him. “As long as we are together the paps are going to be parked downstairs. They are going to keep on waiting to see what we do next. To try to find some story—because to the world, we don’t make sense.”

“You make sense to me,” he said.

“It’s not enough.”

Geoff started to sweat. He knew that writing his feelings on a sign for the world to see was one thing, telling Amelia how he felt was another thing entirely. He
wasn’t sure he wanted her to know that he was vulnerable where she was concerned. That she was the weakness he’d hoped to keep the world from seeing.

He hadn’t realized he could love someone the way he loved Amelia. And that scared him.

“I care about you.”

The words came out in a rush and weren’t at all rehearsed. He was a man who always knew what to say and when to say it, but now, faced with losing the one woman he didn’t want to let go of, he couldn’t string together a decent sentence.

“I know you do, but that’s not enough.”

Geoff shook his head. “You are bold and brash and you live your life by your own standards. And…I love you.”

“What?”

“You heard me. And I’m not walking out of your door this morning to leave you alone. We are going to spend the rest of our lives together.”

“Do you mean that, Geoff?”

“Yes,” he said. He walked across the room and pulled her into his arms. “I’m not about to let you go, Amelia Munroe. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

She hugged him close. Not saying a word as he held her, he rocked them back and forth. He knew he had a lot of things to get sorted but he was determined to keep Amelia Munroe and make her his wife.

They spent the next month planning their wedding. Geoff attended every public event that she did and was always at her side, touching her and kissing her. And without their releasing a statement or saying a word to
the media, the stories started to change. Soon they were called the most romantic couple of the year.

Amelia’s mother designed her wedding dress and the invitations were sent out. Bebe was to be the maid of honor and Geoff decided to ask Paul to be his best man. He knew that Caro and Paul were a serious item.

Geoff, Steven and Henry all received a telegram two days before Geoff’s wedding that Malcolm had died.

Geoff didn’t know how the other men felt, but he had a moment of sadness that he’d never had the chance to really get to know Malcolm.

Steven was declared the winner of the competition that Malcolm had laid for his three heirs. And Geoff and Henry were both given the option of staying on as the CEOs of their business units, something they both accepted.

The morning of the wedding dawned clear and sunny, and Geoff woke his bride by making love to her. Eight hours later she was still glowing as she walked down the aisle toward him.

Choppers flew over the country estate where they were being married and a famous photographer took pictures of them, but Geoff and Amelia both knew that they wouldn’t need pictures to remember this moment or this day.

As they shared their first dance together, Amelia looked up at Geoff and reminded him of the promises he’d made to her.

“I would never break a promise to you, Amelia,” he said. “I love you too much.”