The Prince’s Royal Love-Child by Trish Morey

Epilogue

Sunlight poured through ancient stained glass windows, showering the congregation in puddles of fractured light. Organ music filled the cathedral, and the scent of fresh orange blossom filled the air as the tiny page boy and girl marched their slow march down the aisle.

Sienna waited at the head of the aisle, watching the procession, wondering how it would look if instead of waiting serenely until last, she skipped past her attendants and claimed her husband.

Not the way royals were supposed to behave in front of their own, but then she was only new at the job, and she still had a lot to learn.

Her soon to be sister-in-law, Marietta, gave her a final smile and squeeze of the hand, before she too set off down towards the altar. Where Prince Raphael of Montvelatte, her Rafe, stood waiting for her, tall, dark and utterly devastating.

She felt a flutter deep down inside her, touched one satin- gloved hand to her stomach, and knew with a woman’s instinct that it was more than mere butterflies. She smiled. The day could not become more wonderful.

Or so she thought. Until minutes later, when she joined Rafe at the altar and changed her mind. There, with the eyes of the world watching, together they exchanged their vows, and she could not believe that anything would ever come close to that feeling.

‘I love you,’ he murmured, as he drew her to him for the bridal kiss that would seal their agreement and their future together. And, as he drew her deeper into the kiss, to the delight of the entire congregation, she knew it to be true, and that the Beast of Iseo had finally been tamed.