“To let the baby be adopted.”
She shrugged and said, “We’ll start the interviews soon. But let’s just live our lives one day at a time.” He offered his arm to lead her out and reached for the door while she said, “Let me finish this conversation with Francesca so no one thinks this was more than business.”
“Done.”
The palace needed to see that Anna was the future queen and her word carried weight.
This was also why he let her negotiate with him beside her today. Anna glanced at him while he opened the door and then he placed his arm on her back to guide her inside.
Once they were back, Anna handed the paper to Francesca, who read all the notes as Anna said, “Francesca, thank you for waiting.”
Francesca met his gaze and asked, “So what did accounting say?”
Anna coughed and projected her voice. “Your numbers are fifty percent too high. However, my husband wants this to end today. So I am being generous and offering seventy-five percent of your asking prices for all of these.”
Again Francesca glanced at him and said, “I deserve what I want, Leo.”
“His Highness,” Anna corrected her. “My husband is not on a first name basis with you, anymore.”
He pressed his hand on his wife’s as he said, “Francesca, my princess here usually gets what she wants.”
Francesca slumped in her seat. “Yes. I realize that about her.”
Anna’s eyebrow raised and she asked, “So seventy-five percent?”
“Eighty-five percent,” Francesca countered.
Anne’s gaze narrowed, and she firmly said, “I’ll go no higher than eighty.”
Francesca nodded fast. “Agreed.”
And just like that, Anna was happy. Her skin had a slight pinkish tone and he knew that color of hers intimately now.
Anna stood and motioned toward the buffet set up behind Francesca. He followed his wife as she said, “Good. Wait and I’ll have the lawyers write this up in contract form. Please help yourself to lunch while the paper pushers take care of the details.”
He stepped toward the door, but Francesca called out, “Anna.”
“Her Highness,” he corrected again. Anna adhered to tradition even more than him and he’d ensure no one disrespected her, for the rest of his life.
Anna placed her hand on his chest, which was covered in his wool jacket and full princely gear designed for him, and smiled at him. “It’s okay, Leo.”
His name from her lips sent a thrill through him—how had he gotten so lucky?
He’d married a wonderful woman. A true lady despite her humble birth.
Francesca rose and spoke to Anna. “How did you… pull yourself up so high, when the rest of us never get those breaks?”
Anna folded the paper and handed it to him to hold as she said, “I… I just try to do my jobs and be a good person. I hope your pregnancy is easy and you get everything you want, Francesca.”
Francesca snorted as she said, “I wanted your life.”
Anna lifted her chin. “Well, besides that. I’m not moving over.”
He wouldn’t let her. A life without Anna wasn’t a life. He hugged his wife’s waist. “Anna is my princess, for the rest of her life.”
Then he walked beside her and opened the door for them.
The second they stepped out, she took his hand and they returned to his office, the nearest place they could be alone.
Pierre kept his gaze respectfully lowered when he passed them by.
Back when he’d worked with Anna as his secretary, he’d never closed the door. Now he locked the door so that nobody would intrude.
She stayed next to him and they kissed the second they were alone.
Finally he had everything he wanted. Right here, in his arms.
