Confessions of a Royal Bridegroom(166)

His armed opponent. It would appear that Griffin Steele had more than earned his deadly reputation.


Justine heard a half-moan, half-growl behind her, and whipped around. She’d forgotten about the other man, who had hauled himself up onto his knees. But Griffin was already crossing the room. He grabbed the man by the hair and clunked his head against the wall. Like his master, the man’s eyes rolled in his head as he slumped back down to the floor.

Griffin peered down to inspect the blood seeping through the rough fabric of the man’s coat. Then he cast her a wry glance. “Well, Mrs. Steele, you finally got to shoot someone after all.”





CHAPTER Twenty-Six



Griffin’s dry tone nudged Justine from her stunned condition.

“Despite what you might think, shooting a man has not been a long-held ambition of mine,” she said as she hurried to the cradle.

She slid her hands under the crying baby and brought him up to her shoulder, patting and soothing him with inarticulate murmurs. Stephen buried his little head into her neck and Justine, her heart still pounding in a thunderous rhythm, took comfort from his warm, solid weight.

“Still,” Griffin said as he joined her, “it will be an interesting story to tell our grandchildren, don’t you agree?”

Justine couldn’t begin to think how to reply to that unexpected statement. All she could do was stare at him, confused and dreadfully, anxiously hopeful.

When Griffin reached out and cradled her cheek, his hard mouth lifted into a smile both tender and wry. “My silly darling, what were you thinking to run away from me like that?”

She struggled to force words from her tight throat. “I thought it was the only way to keep the baby safe. Besides, I was sure you’d never want anything to do with me again, after such a betrayal on my part. I left you with such an awful mess to clean up.”

He bent his knees, meeting her eye to eye. The warmth and intimacy in his gaze stalled the breath in her lungs.

“Mine was the betrayal,” he said gently. “You were acting to save a child’s life. And I promise I will never do that to you again, Justine. I will never abandon you when you need me. You have my word.”

She blinked back the sting of tears. “Really?”

He nodded, but then adopted a severe expression. “But you’re never to run off like that again. You’re always to come to me if you have a problem or need help. Is that clear?”

She grimaced as she jostled the snuffling baby higher on her shoulder. Stephen’s tears had thankfully subsided, and he was rubbing his messy face on her shoulder as he nestled closer. “I wanted to come to you,” she said earnestly. “It practically killed me that I couldn’t. But after what your mother told me, I didn’t think I had a choice.”

Something shifted in his expression. He straightened up, looking rather grim. “Yes, I am sorry about that. You should have been able to trust me instead of having to accept help from a stranger.”

“Well, not quite a stranger. She is your mother, after all.”

A hint of a smile lightened his stern countenance. “Don’t remind me. But regardless of that inconvenient detail, from now on I promise to do whatever my wife tells me to do.”

She couldn’t hold back a rusty laugh. “Yes, I can just imagine,” she said, trying to speak lightly. But her heart tripped a few beats at the idea that Griffin might truly be starting to feel as serious about their marriage as she did.

“And you, little fellow,” Griffin murmured, stroking the back of the baby’s skull, “you are certainly a great deal of worry and bother. Whatever will we do with you now?”