How to Turn a Frog into a Prince - Bree Wolf Page 0,115

it’s only human to be afraid. It often stands in our way, but it also helps us see the truth, does it not? After all, if we’re afraid to lose someone, then we know that that person is very dear to us.” Again, she pushed herself up onto her toes and placed a gentle kiss upon his lips. “I do love you. Never doubt that.”

Nathanial nodded, grateful that they could both be strong and weak, complementing one another in the most fortunate way. “Thank you for testing me,” he told her then, now seeing everything that had happened through different eyes. “I suppose I owe Lord Ashhaven an apology.”

Charlaine chuckled. “Quite frankly, it was his idea. He told me he was annoyed with the way we continued to dance around one another—as he called it—so he decided to solve the problem for us.”

Nathanial scoffed. “He could’ve said something.” Instead of forcing them through such an emotional turmoil.

“Would you have believed him?” Charlaine asked, a devilish glimmer in her dark eyes.

Nathanial could not deny that she had a point. “Still, I cannot bring myself to regret that I punched him in the face. I might have been wrong, but I don’t regret it.”

“You might have been wrong?” Again, her brows rose in that daring way of hers.

Without thought, his hands tightened on her. “You’re mine,” was all Nathanial said before his lips claimed hers once again.

Still, somehow it was not enough. Not nearly enough. His blood hummed in his veins, a deep need for her settling into his bones as though his body could no longer survive without her by his side.

Perhaps not even a lifetime would do.

But it was a start.

Gasping for breath, Charlaine looked up at him. “I wish we could simply lock the door.” She glanced over his shoulder at the item in question.

Nathanial chuckled, pleased by every word that proved her longing for him matched his own for her. “That eager?”

“You have no idea.” A deep sigh left her lips as she snuggled closer. “I’ve been wanting to kiss you for weeks.”

Nathanial almost groaned at the thought. “As have I.” If only he had known! If only they had not wasted all this time! “I kept reliving the moment at the lake, wishing…wanting…” His gaze drifted to her lips, longing to continue what they had begun. His head lowered and—

“I need to talk to Pierce!” All but jerking out of his arms, Charlaine strode toward the door.

“What?” Thunderstruck, Nathanial stared after her.

Stopping with her hand on the handle, she smiled back at him. “About a special license.” Her hand jerked the door open. “I’m not waiting a day longer than I have to to marry you.” Then she rushed down the corridor toward Pierce’s study.

A deep smile snuck onto Nathanial’s face as he stood there, his feet rooted to the spot as his heart danced in his chest. Never would he have thought such happiness was possible.

Only this morning, doubt and fear had dominated his life. And now…

“See?” A little voice peeped up a moment before Daphne’s head came lurking around the door frame. “I told you that you were her prince.”

Taken aback, Nathanial laughed. “That you did.”

“Did she kiss you?” Susan inquired, her head appearing on the opposite side of the frame.

Nathanial felt his cheeks flush red. “She did,” he confessed nonetheless. Then he frowned. “How long have you been outside the door?”

While Susan’s gaze dropped to the ground, Daphne simply grinned at him. “Can we be flower girls?” she asked, getting right back to the most important things in life. “After all, we helped, didn’t we? If we hadn’t,” she squeezed her eyes shut in concentration, “meddled—as Papa calls it—Charlaine might have kissed a different frog.”

Nathanial chuckled, wondering if his skin had turned green. “You meddled?” he asked as Daphne’s words sank in. “How did you—?” He stopped, then shook his head. “You know what? I don’t even want to know.” Smiling at the girls, he stepped toward them. “Of course, you can be flower girls. We’d be honored.”

Cheering loudly, Daphne and Susan danced up and down the corridor, alternately hugging each other and twirling in artful circles.

Nathanial watched them with a deep smile on his face and utter contentedness in his heart.

Indeed, he had been a frog, bitter and jaded, a glower upon his face, his eyes only seeing betrayal and disappointment around every corner.

And then Charlaine had come into his life, and her warmth and her kindness, her honesty and her loyalty, her