Risking the Crown (The Crown 2)

“Thank you.” Kenley tilted her head. “I prefer more lemon.”

Liddy’s eyes widened. “I’ll bring some from the galley.” She sashayed out of view.

“And I thought you were uncomfortable in this role.” I eyed her.

She shrugged. “I am. But Liddy doesn’t have to know that. And I want that lemon.” I thought I saw a smirk on the corner of her lips.

We were far over the Atlantic now. In eight hours, we’d be on the ground and I’d be only miles from my daughter. The file Johannes had given me this morning was on the coffee table. I hadn’t let it out of my sight.

I unbuckled my seatbelt.

“What is it?” Kenley asked.

“Come with me. I want to show you something.” I took her hand, leading her to the bedroom at the rear of the jet. I closed the door and locked it. I placed the file on the bed.

“Is something wrong?”

“No. But I wanted to show this to you in private.” I flipped open the cover and reached for the photo on top.

“This is her?” Kenley pinched the corner of the picture, studying my daughter’s face.

“It is.”

“She’s beautiful.” She bit her lip. “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, Nic.”

“I guess you could do both.”

I’d had the same reaction when I saw her. It was the first and only glimpse I’d had of her. Sophia had been cautious not to end up on social media. Johannes didn’t tell me how he obtained the photo, only that he vouched for it.

She took my breath away. Her tiny button nose and angelic dark curls. Her eyelashes were long and black. There was no mistaking her for a Sauvage.

I’d never paid attention to babies before. I didn’t live in a world of parenthood. There weren’t children in the palace other than the annual Christmas party or when Damon opened the grounds for the children of Freychon at the spring picnic.

My friends didn’t have kids, and if I ever saw myself as a father one day it was way down the road. But now with this snapshot of a life I had created, that had changed. I was certain this was the most beautiful baby in the world. My baby.

“How are you feeling about meeting her?” Kenley returned the picture to the file.

“Nervous. Exited.” I sat on the bed. “Like I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing.”

“I can’t imagine what you’re going through. What it would be like to discover you had a child.” She shook her head.

I pulled her waist toward me and kissed her stomach through her shirt. I held her there, inhaling her.

“Sophia is going to regret cutting me out of my daughter’s life.”

Kenley ran her fingers through my hair. “She shouldn’t have done it. There is no excuse for keeping you two apart, but listen to what she has to say, Nic.”

I unfastened a button, pressing my lips to her navel.

“Why should I? She stole my baby.”

I reached for the next button. I flicked it out of my way.

Kenley’s hands moved to my jaw. I looked in her eyes.

“Maybe she didn’t feel safe after the problems with the press. She was shoved. It would scare any woman who was pregnant.”

I pulled the silk away from her skin and shrugged the shirt from her arms. I kissed her stomach. For an instant I wondered what it would be like if Kenley was the woman carrying my child. I smoothed my palms around her waist, exploring her skin. What if my baby was inside her?