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‘Everyone wondered where you got to last night,’ he said, swinging around to face her

Was he angry, or was he concerned about her? She couldn’t tell His eyes were ravaged with exhaustion, and his body looked unbearably tense

‘I stayed at the ball until alht’

‘I knohen you left,’ he said ‘And you left without a word to your host’ He angled his chin, his black eyes firing questions at her

‘My fiancé,’ she corrected hie last night in front of hundreds of witnesses

‘You should have stayed We have a lot to talk through’

‘Like?’ she pro the belt on her robe until it started to cut into her hand

Like how he felt about fathering a child, Xavier thought, when there was no possibility of hi skills in the ti a mother,’ he said ‘Are you ready for it? You’re

very young’

‘But I feel as if I’ve been preparing for this all my life Surely youa fa as I can remember’

‘But not for that family like this, surely?’

‘If your heirthe island, then, yes, I do have doubts,’ she admitted

‘For the child,’ he said, nodding agreement ‘So you can only hope I’ll feel differently once the child is born?’

‘Maybe you never will,’ she said, her eyes searching his ‘Or, maybe you’re worried that you won’t be able to feel any different when you’re a father’