Royal Surrender - chapter twenty
It did not surprise Cajetan at all that Noe first charmed the Queen, then the King, until the usually judgmental palace was vivid with support for the prince’s unexpected choice of bride.
Just as it did not surprise him at all that her next conquest was the kingdom.
Noe was funny and self-deprecating. She never seemed to take her elevation into royalty for granted and made her occasional missteps in protocol relatable.
“Oh dear,” she said the time she’d accidentally stood in the wrong place, sending the courtiers into a dither. “Breeding always tells, doesn’t it?”
And she’d laughed at herself.
The world was in raptures.
If anything, her common beginnings endeared her all the more to their subjects. She was able to talk to anyone, in any language, and could hold space for whatever they brought to her. She was empathetic and kind.
“I could not approve more wholeheartedly,” his mother told him in the greenhouse that fall. “Your father and I are delighted.”
And Cajetan could admit that his mother’s support—and his sovereign’s blessing—meant the world to him.
He married her the following summer in the Grand Cathedral of Enrosadira, with all attendant pomp and circumstance. Their ceremony was ancient and mysterious and was watched by most of the planet.
Everyone tuned in to see a regular girl in a grand white dress, beaming with joy as she walked down the aisle to marry her prince.
Somehow, Cajetan had managed to make his dream come true. He worked, every day, to make certain he deserved it. That he gave her what she wanted, too, since she exceeded his greatest hopes so regularly.
And what his beautiful wife wanted above all else was a family. So he dedicated himself to working on that. Immediately.
Ten months after their wedding, Noe gave birth to the first of their children. A beautiful girl who would one day inherit Cajetan’s throne. But they weren’t done.
“How many would you like?” he asked her, holding their first to his chest in the middle of a long night.
She looked exhausted and exhilarated, his beautiful Noe. “I’ll know when there’s enough commotion.”
That day came when they welcomed their fifth perfect, beloved child into the palace. Then they doted on each and every one of them.
“Is this commotion enough?” he would ask in the middle of toddler meltdowns and, later, adolescent outrage.
“This is family,” she would say, and melt into him.
First his princess. Then the mother of his children and heirs. Then, in time, his queen.
Noe only grew more perfect for him, and for the kingdom, in every way.
And as the years went by, they would sneak away to the Diamond Club in London as often as they could. Because it was the only place they could be what they had always been with each other.
A man and a woman, as simple as that.
In love, free and unfettered, one hot night at a time.
Were you captivated by A Royal Surrender? Then don't miss other novels by Caitlin Crews like Dangerous Liaisons: Desire. Available Now!