Royal Line by Carrie Ryan (online e book reading txt) 📕

Then he kissed my forehead and looked up at Kannon. “I’ll kill you if you hurt her.”

“We know where to hide the bodies,” Wilder said.

“And I’m good at driving a getaway car,” Breck added.

“Really? This is what you’re going to talk about over our announcement?” I asked, exasperated.

“They’re your brothers; it’s what I expected,” Kannon said. Then my brothers hugged me and congratulated Kannon while giving him a dirty look.

Yes, an engagement would have to come soon, but not tonight. Tonight I was with my family and Kannon, and the baby growing in my womb.

I had never known if I was ready to be a mother, and now I would only have a few more months to figure it out.

But in the end, I had Kannon, and I was so excited to see what would happen.

I’d found my happiness, and not just with Kannon, not just in the future of our child.

But in who I could be and who I could rely on.

I was the Princess of Alden, the love of Kannon’s life. I was London Waterford. And I was happy.

Epilogue Sparrow

Always a commoner. Never a Princess.

Just how I like it.

For a while, I honestly hadn’t thought the two lovebirds in front of me would be able to get their shit together.

As I watched Kannon and London waltz across the ballroom, I couldn’t help but get the warm fuzzies. Not that I was particularly one for warm fuzzy feelings, but if anyone deserved that kind of love, it was Kannon. And London. True to her word, she had made him grovel. Which I was all about. She was good for him and kept him on his toes.

The best thing about their union was that it meant that Kannon Security was going international. Kannon wanted to open offices in Alden, and eventually, Paris. Which meant more staff. It also meant I was required to train said staff, meaning more travel for me.

I didn’t hate that one bit. Some thought that perhaps Kannon would become lead security for the royal family, and that might occur later, but for now, it was all about compromise and finding what worked for the two of them. London was moving to Los Angeles where we were based. LA could serve just as well as a launching point for photography assignments as Alden could, and I was thrilled to have her close. We’d get to hang out more, and I’d have estrogen in my life again. And since Rian was often in LA for work, I’d get some quality girl time. Not quite as much hanging out with the boys at the weekly poker game. I hadn’t realized until we’d been hanging out recently that I’d desperately missed girl time.

I glanced around the ballroom, looking for Rian to say goodnight. The ceremony had been the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, held in the gardens surrounded by flowers and overlooking the ocean. And the reception was the kind of fun you read about in magazines. Champagne flowed, and they had one of the hottest DJs from the Ibiza circuits do their reception. Not that Kannon had any idea who he was, but he’d been a present from Rian, who refused to have bad, boring music at the reception.

However, my feet were killing me. And though the doctor had cleared me for duty, I still had to take it easy. My side was healing well, but every now and then, if I overdid it or stood too long, I got fatigued.

When I found Rian, she was surrounded by a group of people, each and every one of them enthralled by the actress. And honestly, it was difficult not to be. With her deep brown skin and her brilliant white smile, her coiling curls that flowed and bounced down her back, full lips, wide almond-shaped eyes, and the kind of cheekbones most people paid their plastic surgeons for, she was stunning. But she was also warm and open and gregarious.

I also noticed how Roman, London’s oldest brother and the King of Alden, stared at her. He was doing it surreptitiously too. He would steal a quick glance, frown at her, and then turn back to his conversation. But every time she laughed, he’d look in her direction and scowl.

What the hell was going on there? I knew Rian and London had been friends for a while, so maybe the two had a history I wasn’t aware of. I’d met Roman and one of her other brothers, Wilder. Wilder was stern and glowered even more than Roman did, but I liked them both. The other one, Breck, I hadn’t seen yet. I’d come in just in time for the rehearsal, and he’d had an assignment away from the party. So I’d probably see him at the family brunch in the morning. All of London’s brothers were that sort of aristocratic drop-dead gorgeous type. You could tell they were brothers with their sharp jawlines and patrician noses. And also their eyes, the set of them, with those thick lashes. They were brothers, all right.

When it looked like Rian would be busy for a while, I shot a quick text to her and London, knowing full well that London wouldn’t check her messages for a while.

Sparrow: You guys look amazing. My side hurts. I’m going to crash. I’ll see you in the morning for the brunch.

I gave Olly a wave as he twirled some brunette across the dance floor. He winked in return with a smile. He was having a blast. Good for him. Kannon had been relying on both of us a lot with things changing so much. Olly needed time off just as much as I did.

As I left the ballroom, I gave some smiles and nods and waves to people I’d met during my stay. I hoped my tight smile said I’d had a great time and not, “Dear God, if you talk to me, I’m so tired I might bite your head off.”

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