The Pirate Prince (49 page)

But he did not slay Clemente. He was Lazar di Fiore, and he did not kill in front of women.

Panting, the sword in both hands, he held the tip of the blade to Clemente’s throat.

“Arrest him,” he growled as his men drew near. “He will hang at dawn. And I want those Austrians held for questioning, too,” he added, shooting the princess’s men a dark look.

As Sully and Bickerson grabbed the still-dazed Clemente by the arms and clapped him into manacles, Lazar turned away and paused for a second to collect his thoughts, raking a hand through his hair, for he could not remember ever having felt such rage in his life.

When he turned again, Allegra was staring at him, but when he looked at her, she quickly put her head down and began walking toward the door to the convent.

He had tried to get himself shot to save her.

Hugging her waist, Allegra marched woodenly toward the door, concentrating on one foot in front of the other for now, promising herself she could break down for good when she reached her drafty little chamber. She could not face Lazar and his cool indifference after such a nerve-racking experience, let alone his anger at her for not having told him about her pregnancy. She didn’t dare hope that the things he’d said to Domenic were anything more than tricks meant to shake the viscount’s concentration, but the news about the baby had taken him by surprise.

“Excuse me,” she murmured to a body blocking her path.

Head down, she saw black boots. An ornately jewelled sword sheath. She breathed the smell of him she knew so well.

“Please—later,” she choked out, staring down stricken at the ground. “I can explain—”

“Allegra,” he said softly.

She closed her eyes, for she could not bear to look into his sea-black eyes just now. The fool could have been killed. Two warm, callused fingertips touched her under the chin. She jerked her face away.

“Don’t touch me, please,” she said, putting her head down again.

“Look at me, honey,” he said ever so gently.

Oh, she had never been able to resist him. Slowly she lifted her tear-filled gaze.

The king was staring down at her with a stark, stormy expression she could not fathom. He towered over her, looking haunted and lost. He said nothing.

Still staring at her, heedless of his men and the nuns who had come out at the commotion, oblivious to the worried officials now joining the crowd, Lazar sank down onto his knees in front of her and took her hand.

He pulled her knuckles against his cheek, held her hand to his face.

She stared down at his bent head without comprehension, then she felt him tremble.

“Take me back,” he whispered. “Please, please, take me back. Allegra, you are my wife. You know you are. My life means nothing without you.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

He truly did not know if he was forgiven. Lazar dared, slowly, fearfully, to raise his gaze to hers. She gazed at him, the lantern light on her face. The fear and the wariness in her once-trusting honey-brown eyes was torment to him.

She bit her lip for a moment, then she squared her shoulders.

“It hurts too much,” she answered at last. “I am not your wife, and I can’t play these games anymore. Find yourself another mistress.”

He didn’t think he could hurt worse, but her calm, forced words did the trick. He squeezed his eyes shut.

“That’s not what I mean.” He opened his eyes again and stared up at her. “Allegra, I love you. I want you to be my wife. Marry me.”

She stared at him in shock, then tilted her head back and stared at the starry sky. She looked back down at him at last. “Lazar, they are all staring,” she murmured. “Get up. You are the king.”

“I am your husband,” he said with quiet savagery, “and an utter fool.”

She lifted her gaze away from his pleading stare, looking very weary.

He tugged on her hand, staring helplessly up at her.

“I love you,” he insisted again. “God, Allegra. Say something.”

She paused for a moment, gathering herself. “Lazar, it’s been a difficult night. There is no need to do anything rash. Come now. Let’s go inside.”

He stared at her. It was not what he’d been hoping to hear.

She didn’t want him. All his strength fled, but he knew it was only what he deserved for his cowardice. Dumbly he nodded. He had hurt her and disappointed her beyond repair. Now he had no choice but to play the game by her rules.

She straightened up to her full petite height and waited for him. He stood and followed her. They went into the convent and to her chamber. He ached to see the way she held her chin high, though everyone they passed now knew she was pregnant with his child.

His child.

Miracle upon miracle, he thought dazedly. She had to forgive him. They could be a family at last. That was all he’d ever truly wanted.

While he gave a few final orders to some of his men, Allegra went into the chamber.

When he followed her in and locked the door behind him, he found her standing at the open window, staring out at the night. He could read her fear in the very line of her back and in the way she kept her slender arms wrapped tightly around her. He knew that this particular fear had nothing to do with Domenic Clemente. It went deep, and he had done it to her himself.

More chastened than he’d ever been in his life, he waited, head down, hands in pockets, until she turned around to deal with him at last.

Alone, they stared at each other by the light of two candles. She stood at the other end of the room, watching him, her arms still folded self-protectively across her bosom. She looked small and vulnerable and defiant. He was suddenly so unbearably unhappy he went and sat on the bed, as if unable to hold his own weight.

She had to take him back. She had to.

“Well?” she said coolly.

He couldn’t stop staring at her.

You are magnificent, he thought. But he put his head down, barely knowing how to begin.

“You have every reason to hate me,” he said in a leaden voice. “I wanted you trust, and you gave it to me. I wanted your love, and you gave it to me. You believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. You gave me back everything I once lost, and in return I, ah…” He faltered, furrowing his brow as he stared down at his hands. “I pushed you away.”

“Got rid of me,” she corrected him coldly.

“But I swear to you, it wasn’t because I stopped loving you. I never stopped.”

The room was silent. He drew a shaky breath.

“You see, I believed I was cursed,” he said. How foolish it sounded now. “I thought if I kept you in my life, you would be killed like my family and Vicar. I thought by pushing you away from me, I could save you.”

She gave him her most scathing look of skepticism.

He heaved a sigh. “I know. That’s why I never told you. I knew you’d say it was absurd, but to me, it was real. Tonight when I came to D’Orofio Pass, I realized…I realized that even though I may be a king, God never went to the trouble of cursing me. I think He’s got better things to do. Like looking after babies growing in their mothers’ wombs.”

He looked up at last with tears in his eyes.

“Is it really true? Am I going to be a father?”

She looked as though she was ready to break down, but instead she turned away swiftly. “Don’t worry. I shall not plague you. Aunt Isabelle and Uncle Marc will help me—”

He stood up quickly. “No!”

“No?”

Lord, he was botching this.

“I mean—Please be my wife, Allegra. I love you so much it hurts,” he whispered. “I’ll do anything to have you back. If you could just give me one more chance. Don’t make our baby grow up with no father. It’s not a safe world out there. He needs someone to protect him, and so do you. Please, Allegra. Please let that someone be me.”

“Lazar.” She stood fixed in place, put her head down, pulled her arms tighter around herself.

He searched the floor, unable to think what he would do if she said no.

“I am so, so very sorry,” he said in a raw, hoarse whisper. “Can you ever forgive me? I swear to you I was only trying to do the right thing and be unselfish for once. Don’t you believe me, Allegra?”

“I believe you,” she said barely audibly.

“Will you take me back?”

There was a long silence. He shut his eyes, unable to watch. At last he forced himself to face her, whatever her answer might be. He opened his eyes and raised his head.

Collecting herself, Allegra met his gaze from across the room.

“Impossible man,” she said, then bit her lower lip as her soft brown eyes filled with tears. “After all we’ve been through, how can you even ask? When I said I’ll love you forever, Lazar, I meant it.”

“You’ll give me another chance?” he breathed, motionless.

“Sweetheart,” she whispered, “a hundred chances, if you need them.”

He crossed the room to her before she could move. He pulled her against his chest, vowing never to let her go again.

“Do you really want me back?” Allegra asked so wistfully it wrenched his heart. “You said so many awful things. You said you didn’t want me. You called me a—”

“Please, I can’t bear it,” he whispered, his heart cleaved in two. “I was trying to drive you away before any harm befell you.”

“I wouldn’t have cared if it had, so long as I could be with you.”

He rested his face against her hair and stayed there, so miserable with what he’d done to her that he hadn’t the heart to say one more word, hating himself for the doubt in her soft, sweet voice.

“Do you still love me, Lazar?”

“God, yes. Just give me the chance to show you how much. I will never fail you again.” He could barely see for the tears in his eyes. Lazar tilted her face upward, her chin between his fingers and thumb. “Look at me, Allegra. Do I look like a man who can possibly survive without you?”

Staring into his eyes for a moment, she somberly shook her head.

He nodded knowingly, then pulled her close again. She hid her face, nestling against him.

“It feels so good to hold you,” she whispered. “I missed you so much. I never thought you’d come back to me.”

He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and held her tight, laying his head atop hers.

After a few moments, Allegra tilted her head back, gazing up into his face, assessing the man she saw, he supposed.

He awaited her judgment.

She shook her head for a moment, scolding, tender. Then she slid her hand slowly up his chest, cupped her fingers around the back of his neck, and drew him down to kiss her.

He felt life returning with the first, chaste caress of their lips.

“Lazar?” she whispered.

“Yes,
chérie
?”

“Love me.”

“I do,” he whispered. “More than anything in this world.”

She opened her mouth, running her tongue lightly over his lips, then parting them. Instantly he was on fire. He gathered her closer and claimed her with a drowning kiss. She caressed him everywhere. Her hands were all over him, stroking him, bringing him back to his senses. He plundered her mouth with his kiss, dragging her to the bed, never letting her go, but he was astonished when she pressed him back upon the bed, kissing him like a starved woman.

“I love you so much, Allegra.”

“Will we be married, truly?” she whispered, panting, pulling off his shirt.

“Tomorrow,” he vowed.

“And Ascencion?”

“We will rule together, my wife, side by side. You are what this island needs. You are what I need.”

“And our child?”

“Prince of all the land,” he whispered, caressing her belly lovingly.

He felt her smile against his mouth. “No, Your Majesty. Princess, I think.”

“Is that so?”

“I’m not sure, but I have a feeling,” she said softly.

“
Wonderful
,” he told her. “Miracle.”

He closed his eyes and gave in to her touch, feeling as though he’d died and gone to heaven. All his pain fled, burning in her white-hot fire.

“Get rid of these, for God’s sake,” he muttered, tearing at her nun’s habit.

She let out a rich, breathy laugh and lifted the dreary robes off over her head in one graceful motion. In a moment, she knelt over him, naked, straddling him. Her touch left him dazed; just to be with her was a magical experience, dizzying as a drug. She bent down over him and kissed his lips, her taut nipples brushing his bare chest.