The Royals Collection. Rebecca Winters

ten years ago.”

      “You could at least try to look him up.”

      He rubbed his thumb around the rim of his glass. “What if I do, and I don’t like what I find?”

      She wondered why he would think a thing like that. He should at least try to find him.

      Geoffrey swallowed the last of his drink and looked at his watch. “It’s nearly midnight. I should turn in. And so should you, young lady.”

      She smiled. He hadn’t called her that in years. “Yes, sir.”

      As he walked past her to his quarters behind the kitchen he patted her shoulder. She was struck by how his capable hands were beginning to look wrinkled and bony.

      She looked down and realized she hadn’t taken a single sip of her tea, and now it had gone cold.

      The king had been out of the public eye for such a long period of time that Sam was genuinely stunned when he saw him the following afternoon. Though he knew the king was in ill health, never had he expected him to look so pale and fragile. Practically swimming in too-large flannel pajamas and a bulky robe—that Sam was sure had probably fit him at one time—the king looked painfully thin and small. A mere shell of the larger-than-life figure he used to be. And it was obvious that the months of sitting at his side had visibly taken their toll on Anne’s mother. The queen looked utterly exhausted and beaten down. Her features, once bright and youthful, now looked drawn and tired, as though she had aged a decade in only months.

      But the grief they suffered did nothing to dampen their joy when Sam announced his intention to marry Anne and asked them for her hand. Though the king may have been physically fragile, when it came to his mental faculties, he was clearly all there. “I had hoped you would do the right thing, Sam,” the king told him. “For my grandchild’s sake.”

      “Of course you’ll want to have the wedding soon,” the queen told Anne. “Before you’re really showing.”

      For a moment Sam felt slighted, since they had agreed to tell her parents together, then he glanced over at Anne, saw her stunned expression, and realized that she hadn’t said a word.

      So much for the news being too much for the king’s heart to take, Sam thought wryly. His children obviously underestimated him.

      “I’m going to kill Louisa!” Anne growled, looking as though she would do just that. “Or was it Chris who snitched?”

      Sam folded his arms across his chest and casually covered his mouth to hide a grin. So this was the feisty side of Anne he had heard so much about. He kind of liked it.

      “No one said a word,” the queen assured her. “They didn’t have to. I know my daughter.”

      “And though I may be an invalid,” the king added, shooting a meaningful look Sam’s way, “I stay well-informed as to what goes on in my castle.”

      Things like Sam sneaking out of his daughter’s bedroom in the wee hours of the morning.

      The king chuckled weakly. “Don’t look so chastened. I was a young man once, too, you know.” He looked over at his wife and smiled. “And there was a time when I did my fair share of sneaking around.”

      The queen reached over and took his hand and they shared a smile. It was clear that despite all they had been through, or maybe because of it, they were still deeply in love. Sam hoped that someday it would be like that for him and Anne.

      “Why didn’t you say anything?” Anne asked, looking genuinely distressed.

      “Sweetheart,” her mother said. “You’ve always been one to take your time and work things through. I assumed that when you were ready for us to know, you would tell us. And if you needed my guidance, you would have asked for it.”

      “You’re not upset?” Anne asked, looking a bit like a naughty child who feared a sound lashing for misbehaving.

      “Are you happy?” the king asked her.

      She looked over at Sam and smiled. “I am. Very happy.”

      “Then what do I have to be upset about?”

      “Well, the baby—”

      “Is a blessing,” the queen said.

      Their casual attitude toward the situation surprised Sam, but then, after all they had been through, and knowing the king was living on borrowed time, what point would there be to make a huge fuss and create hard feelings?

      Sam had always respected the king, but never so much as he did now. And despite what his father believed about them thinking differently, they seemed to be exceptionally well grounded in reality.

      “I assume that you intend to live here, at the castle,” the king said.

      Anne glanced nervously his way. Where they would live hadn’t yet come up, but Sam knew what was expected. “Of course, Your Highness.”

      “And of course you will work for the royal family.”

      Sam nodded. “I would be honored.”

      “Have you thought about what colors you would like for your wedding?” the queen asked Anne.

      “Yellow, I think,” Anne said, and she and her mother drifted off to discuss wedding plans while Sam spoke to the king about his future position in the monarchy. He assured Sam that his talents would not be wasted, nor would they go unrewarded. Sam’s inheritance guaranteed him a financially sound future, so salary wasn’t an issue, but he was happy to know they valued his service. And relieved that under the circumstances, this entire situation was running as smoothly as a well-oiled machine.

      So well that, were he not such a positive thinker, he might be waiting for the other shoe to fall.

      The following Friday, with only the royal family, Sam’s parents and a few close friends in attendance, Sam and Anne were wed in a small, private ceremony in the garden on the palace grounds. The weather couldn’t have been more ideal. Sunny and clear with a temperature in the low seventies.

      Louisa was the matron of honor and Sam’s older brother, Adam, flew in from England to be his best man. A musician and composer, Adam couldn’t have been less interested in politics, yet the artist in him understood Sam’s lifelong passion, and his desire to follow in their father’s footsteps.

      “You’re sure you want to do this?” he asked Sam just before the ceremony was about to begin. “If you’re doing this to salvage the princess’s reputation—”

      “I’m doing this because my child deserves to have parents who are married.”

      “A one-night fling does not make for a lasting relationship, Sam. You barely know her. If the royal family is forcing you into this—”

      “This is my choice, and mine alone.”

      Adam shook his head, as though Sam were a lost cause. Then he grinned and said, “My baby brother, a duke. Who would have thought?”

      Sam appreciated his brother’s concern, that after all these years Adam was still looking out for him. But Sam had already put the political chapter of his life behind him. He’d spent the last two days cleaning out his office at work since, as of that morning, he had been given the official title of duke and by law could no longer serve in government. His secretary, Grace, had tearfully said goodbye, telling him what an exceptional boss he’d been and how she would miss him. She said she was proud of him.

      “I know I haven’t been the most efficient secretary and I appreciate your patience with me.”

      Of course he felt guilty as hell for all the times he’d gotten frustrated and snapped at her or regarded her impatiently.

      After he and Anne returned from their honeymoon Sam would take up his new position with the monarchy. He couldn’t say he was thrilled by the prospect, but he was trying to keep an open mind and a positive attitude. At least