The crowd cheered as one, an enormous noise that bounced around them. Chloe held their baby closer, dropping her gaze to the little one, her whole soul absorbing that magical moment.
“They already love him,” she said in awe, as the crowd began to chant:
“Amyr! Amyr! Amyr!” Prince, prince, prince!
“He will be their king,” Raffa said softly. “And they know that.”
“One day,” Chloe nodded gently. “But for now, he’s just a boy. Just a baby.” Her eyes met her husband’s. “He’s our baby.”
“And Amit’s,” he said drily. “His brother is already organizing all the activities they will do together.”
She smiled, her heart as full of love for Amit as it ever would be for her own child.
“Then they will both be very happy,” she murmured, her smile almost breaking her cheeks.
“Well, my Sheikha, shall we take him home?”
They left the hospital once darkness fell, a limousine carrying them through streets that were lined with well-wishers, all the way to the palace.
“You must be exhausted,” Raffa said gently, when they were alone, their son sleeping in a basket at the foot of the bed.
“You’d think so, but I’m strangely wide awake.”
“I thought you were supposed to sleep when he sleeps,” Raffa teased.
“So did I.”
“Lie down,” Raffa commanded.
And though she was tempted to tease him, to tease him for his bossiness, she would always love him for that ability to take charge.
“If you say so, your highness,” she said, batting her lashes.
There was the rustle of a sheet, the movement of the bed, and then he was back beside her. And he began to read from the pages of the fairy tale book Chloe had read, many long nights ago, when her future in Ras el Kida had been so much less certain.
He began to read her the story of the Beast, but now, the tale of ‘forever love’ took on a whole new meaning.
As she fell asleep, her exhaustion too strong in the end to fight, he stopped reading. “I will take you to the ruins of the Beast,” he said quietly, a hand resting on her forehead. “And I will show you that love is everlasting.”
“I already know that to be the case.”
And as sleep claimed the new mother, carrying her away to another realm, she knew that she was right. Their love was as inherent to the land of Ras el Kida as the desert or the palace. She was a part of this great land, of its myths and its people, of its lineage and its destiny, and there was nowhere else on earth she’d rather be.
THE END
I hope you enjoyed Chloe and Raf’s story. Please feel free to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads, and don’t forget IT STARTED WITH A LIE is coming soon!
Books By Clare Connelly
SINGLE TITLES
Regret Me Not - Montebellos 1
Just This One Summer - Montebellos 2
Loving the Enemy - Montebellos 3
Nothing Lasts Forever - Montebellos 4
It Started with a Lie - Montebellos 5
Her Guardian’s Christmas Seduction
Stolen by the Desert King
In the Hands of the Sheikh
His Nine Month Seduction
The Sheikh’s Contract Bride
Seduced by the Vengeful Tycoon
The Sheikh’s Stolen Bride
The Sheikh’s Secret Baby
The Sheikh’s Million Dollar Bride
The Tycoon’s Virgin Mistress
The Sheikh’s Virgin Hostage
Bartered to the Sheikh
The Sheikh’s Arranged Marriage
Marrying for his Royal Heir
The Greek’s Marriage Revenge
The Velasco Love Child
The Sultan’s Virgin Bride
Bound to the Sheikh
The Medici Mistress
His Loving Deception
The Sheikh’s Convenient Mistress
The Princess’s Forbidden Lover
Marrying her Enemy
Rakanti’s Indecent Proposition
Seducing the Spaniard
The Italian’s Innocent Bride
The Greek Tycoon’s Forbidden Affair
The Terms of their Affair
A Second Chance at Love
The Sheikh’s Christmas Mistress
At the Sheikh’s Command
The Billionaire’s Christmas Revenge
Raising the Soldier’s Son
Warming the Sheikh’s Bed
The Tycoon’s Christmas Captive
The Brazilian’s Forgotten Lover
Betrayed by the CEO
The Billionaire’s Ruthless Revenge
The Italian Billionaire’s Betrayal
The Sultan’s Reluctant Princess
Love in the Fast Lane
Bought by the Sheikh
The Tycoon’s Summer Seduction
All She Wants for Christmas
One Night with the Sheikh
A Bed of Broken Promises
Tempted by the Billionaire
The Sheikh’s Christmas Wish
To the Highest Bidder
The Tycoon’s Secret Baby
Bedding His Innocent Mistress
The Sheikh’s Baby Bargain
The Greek’s Virgin Captive
The Sheikh’s Inherited Bride
Claiming His Secret Baby
Blackmailed by the Spaniard
Her Surprise Baby Christmas
HARLEQUIN TITLES
Bought for the Billionaire’s Revenge
Innocent in the Billionaire’s Bed
Off Limits
Her Wedding Night Surrender
Burn Me Once
Bound by the Billionaire’s Vows
The Season to Sin
His Innocent Seduction
Bound by their Christmas Baby
Her Guilty Secret
Shock Heir for the King
The Greek’s Billion-Dollar Baby
Spaniard’s Baby of Revenge
The Bride Behind the Billion-Dollar Veil
Cross my Hart (Notorious Harts Bk 1)
Burn my Hart (Notorious Harts Bk 2)
Harden my Hart - coming soon
Hired by the Impossible Greek
The Secret Kept from the King
Redemption of the Untamed Italian
Their Impossible Desert Match
COMPENDIUMS
Casacelli Brides
Mediterranean Tycoons
Desert Rulers
Billionaire Bad Boys
Too Hot to Handle
Desert Kings
Happily Ever After
The Darling Buds of May Café
Royal Weddings
The Evermore Series