A THEO POV

Theo wondered how his sister and goddamn brother-in-law thought he would manage sitting across from Adelaide throughout this entire wedding meal without going insane.

She'd walked into the parlor at Rosecrest Manor—regal and beautiful—and time suspended itself.

Time stopped, but love had remained.

Because if the past year had taught Theo anything, it was that love wasn't something that followed the laws of man. And at that moment, Theo wasn't going to follow the laws of the ton either. He'd be damned if he wasn't going to kiss her. It hadn't mattered if there was a room full of people watching.

And now he had to sit, staring at her, for the entirety of this ridiculous meal.

Theo was actually quite pleased about the meal, seeing as though it meant that Emilia and Will had finally married. It was over two years too late, but perhaps that made it all the more significant.

But as Theo watched Addie take graceful bites of her custard dessert, licking along the edges of her ripened lips, he could care less about the formal affair. He reckoned he wasn't the only one wishing it to end either, not with the way Will kept shifting in his chair.

Theo preferred not to think about that, however. He didn't want to venture into the thoughts of Will Graham as he looked at Theo's sister with longing. Though that fool of a man deserved to wait. He'd made Emilia wait too long for this day. It only proved the goodness in Emilia's heart that they'd been able to come to this point.

Yes, Will deserved his uncomfortableness. But what had Theo done to deserve such blissful torture?

Refocusing his attention on Addie, he admired her poise. She took a deep breath, drawing Theo's attention to the flesh that rose above her bodice. Lord help him, but Addie had grown considerably more endowed in the time since he'd last seen her. Theo didn't think he had groaned aloud, but the princess flicked her blue eyes upward, catching his own with a mocking smile on her face. How was it that she knew how to tease him in any situation?

It had been too many months since he'd seen her face. And this distance between them right now—all two meters of it—was much too far. It felt like a waste of such an opportunity. To be in her presence without touching her was an awful penance that Theo had served over and over again. He couldn't wait for his sentencing to be over and to start living as Addie's husband.

Emilia and Will had played a cruel trick by seating Addie and Theo so far away from each other. If they were sitting side by side, everything would be considerably more manageable. For God's sake, Theo simply wanted his hands on their child. What if the babe were kicking right now, and Theo couldn't feel it because this wretched dining room table was in his way?

When the whole ordeal ended, Emilia disappeared from the room. She left a desperate-looking Will behind, staring at the door she had gone through.

"Just go," Theo said to Trotten, feeling thoroughly exasperated. "Put me out of my misery from having to watch what you're thinking. Christ, after hiding treasonous secrets for two years, you'd think you'd be able to mask your thoughts better."

"I'm done pretending about anything, Theo." A pleased grin began to spread across Will's face as he took two strides toward the door. Then he stopped, swiveling toward Theo again.

"I love your sister," he said, his expression and voice suddenly solemn. "I don't know if I've ever spoken it so plainly to you before. I don't just want her or even need her, Kingfield. I love her."

"I know, Will," Theo said, equally earnest in his words."Otherwise, I would never have let you get close to her again. Now go."

Will disappeared, and Theo took that as a license to disappear as well. He would always worry about Emilia in some way, but he knew he didn't need to. Not with her own brilliant mind and the protective arms of her new husband.

Addie was in the middle of a conversation with Weston. Theo wasn't sure what the conversation was about, but he hoped it wasn't necessary.

Because it was about to be over.

Approaching Adelaide from behind, Theo brushed vividly blonde, escaping curls over her shoulder, and stepped in close. She responded immediately, her body leaning into his touch while simultaneously vibrating with awareness.

"Weston," Theo murmured. "May I borrow my future bride?"

"Certainly," Andrew said in his soft voice, a knowing look in his eyes. "As long as Her Highness permits."

"She permits," Addie all but breathed, and Theo quickly led her from the crowded room. Even her hand in his way giving him life again. He brushed past Farrington on the way out, who promptly gave him an overly broad, conspicuous smirk.

Theo did not care.

They walked in silence to the room they'd stayed in the last time they were here—when Addie had run from the palace in fear of being arrested or killed or worse.

A lot had changed since then. Thankfully, a lot had changed.

The drapes were pushed open, revealing a sun-filled room with rose-colored pillows on nearly every surface. It was a garden within a home, and Addie was the perfect maiden to occupy it. The light blush on her cheeks matched so well.

"How are you faring?" Theo was quick to say as he guided her to sit on the bed. "Have you been well? Is the babe—"

"Theo." Addie silenced him with a single finger over his lips, and he couldn't help but kiss it. "We are both fine," she said.

She dropped her hand to smooth it over the swell of their child and smiled up at him.

"Fine is not nearly the answer I was looking for, Adelaide," Theo grumbled, covering her hand with his own so he could feel the babe's presence, too. "You have not written. I have had no word from you at all. You owe me more than fine."

"Ernest has had his eye on every move I make, darling," Addie said, urging his focus back up to her eyes so he could see the sincerity she was looking down at him with. "But you need not worry. We are well."

"Thank God," Theo moaned before reaching up to seize Addie's face in his hands, bringing her precious smile down so he could kiss her and kiss her well.

"I've missed you," he murmured against her lips. They felt better than he had remembered. They were soft and warm, moving across his with a hunger that he eagerly reciprocated.

Fire engulfed him as he kissed her, his tongue brushing against hers, causing sparks of desire to course through him, and he willed himself some restraint.

Theo loved everything about Adelaide's mouth, from the wiseness of her words to the feeling of her caresses.

But there were other parts of Addie that Theo liked as well. Running his hands down from around her face, his fingers grasped the sleeves of her gown, wanting to push them down. Surprisingly, however, she pulled back. Addie's lips slid away from Theo's, and he instantly frowned.

"What is it?"

She bit her lip. "I am...not the same as I was before, Theo."

Theo smirked, his eyes wandering the length of her. "I know, princess."

Her lips drew upward in a faint mirror of his cheeky smile. But there was still something holding her back. With a light laugh, Addie said, "I am positively swollen."

The words made Theo break out in a hearty chuckle as his hands moved to cup her overflowing bodice, appreciating everything swollen about her.

"Do you see me complaining, darling?"

"But Theo, I am—"

"No buts, Addie. You are as beautiful as ever. Do you even know what you do to me?" He released her with one hand, using it to instead wrap around her waist, drawing her into him. She stepped between his legs, close enough to feel Theo's hardened length against her thigh. There was no denying the way desire throbbed within him. Addie's gasp expelled into the air between them.

Theo dipped his finger into her bodice, rubbing it against her hardened nipple. With a groan, he said, "And all I want is to make you come undone in my arms. I do not think I've ever wanted it more."

He waited until Addie breathed an ardent, "Yes, Theo," before he completely pulled down her bodice. Her nipples puckered as they were exposed to the room's chilled air, and Theo wasted no time sucking one into his mouth, flicking his tongue against it.

Addie murmured his name again, and Theo wasn't sure the last time that he'd heard a sound so sweet. She was the perfect height to where he could reach everything he wanted as he sat here with her in front of him.

Theo reached down to slide his hand beneath her skirts as he moved his mouth to place kisses all about her flushed skin. Trailing his fingers upward, he finally found the slit in her drawers and dipped his caress inside.

With a soft groan, Addie's hands flew up to clutch his shoulders. Theo had kept one arm around her, steadying her. She was anchored to him.

"Oh God," she breathed as Theo explored her wetness with his fingers, brushing it back and forth in a way that caused Addie's grip to tighten. Her pleasure was his pleasure. Her responsiveness to his touch elicited the strongest reactions within him. Just when Theo thought she might release, he caught her nipple in his mouth again and plunged two fingers into her depths.

Addie quaked in his arms as he continued his thrusts, and Theo urged her closer to him, straddling her onto his lap. The damn skirts became a tangle, but Theo wasn't about to stop, his fingers sliding through and hitting every nerve ending he could find. He looked at her face, wanting to see how he was making her feel. And Lord, was he rewarded.

Her head thrown back in pleasure, Addie's eyes fluttered closed as she formed the shape of his name on her lips. Theo had never seen anything as ravishing as her at that moment. He pressed his mouth to the curve of her neck, savoring the vibrations that rippled from her throat as she finally came with a cry.

Sensing her sudden weakness, Theo carefully lifted Addie from his lap and deposited her on the bed. With her rumpled skirts, misplaced bodice, and heavy, drunken eyes, Addie looked properly ravished. Though Theo wasn't done with her yet.

He licked his fingers, savoring her flavor for the first time, and watched Addie's eyes widen. Hell no, he wasn't done with her.

Theo carefully began untying his cravat, his eyes never leaving the woman on the bed.

"Do you know what it does to my heart to see you swollen with my child?" he questioned in a low voice, slowing beginning to pull the white tie from around his neck. "No, you are not the same as you were, but I wouldn't want it any other way, Addie. You are gifting me what no other woman can."

She caressed her belly with an absentminded hand as she peered up at him, her head tilting.

"He shall be just like his father. Amazing."

"I think," Theo said, unbuttoning his coat and his waistcoat, "she's going to be a queen like her mother."

Surprisingly, Addie didn't argue with him. She merely grinned a mischievous grin.

"I am so happy for Will and Emilia," she murmured, glancing out the window at the chapel on the grounds below.

Theo agreed but said, "Let us not talk of my sister while I am disposing of my clothes. Unless perhaps I should stop?" He lifted a brow.

Addie shook her head. "I never want you to stop, Theo." Then she mouthed, "I love you."

His lips couldn't help but twitch upward. "I love you, too. How long do I get you?" he asked softly.

"Forever," Addie said in a quiet voice, glancing up at him from beneath her lashes. She smiled.

Theo couldn't help but smile, too. "That isn't what I meant, darling."

With a resigned sigh, Addie said, "I must return the day after tomorrow."

Theo had been expecting it, but it hurt all the same.

"Then there is no time to waste, is there?" he said and began to strip off his coat. Addie's gaze watched him, suddenly alert.

"I will never waste a moment with you ever again, Theo Shepard," she whispered. "Never again."

And for the next two days—nay, for the rest of the days of their life—they made sure that not even a spare moment was misspent.