“Congratulations, Sir Knight. That’s quite an accomplishment for your first day in my country.”
“I’ve had the best day, ever,” he said around a yawn.
“Your best day ever is shortly going to end in a bath and bed,” Hannah said.
“A bath? Do I have to? But it’s vacation!”
Jamie’s voice held such an aggrieved tone, Alex felt compelled to lean forward and confide, “As far as women are concerned, there’s never a vacation from bathing.”
“No kidding.”
To Hannah he said, “I just wanted to see you for a moment. But you have your hands full for the night.”
“I do, yes. But as soon as Jamie goes to sleep, I thought I’d sit out on our patio, with the glass door open so I can hear him if he needs me, and relax in the fresh sea breeze with a good book.
Alex saw a twinkle in Hannah’s eyes and felt his pulse quicken in response. Although privacy fencing surrounded the individual pools and patios each suite enjoyed, access could be gained through a gate that opened to the public gardens—if the gate was left unlocked.
He reached for her hand, and brought it to his lips. “That sounds like an excellent way to end the day.”
* * * *
Philip had chosen Chez Rochelle for several reasons. The food tasted excellent, the ambiance was intimate without being pushy, and centrally located, it was easy for Kate to get to.
Her ability to arrive—and therefore depart—on her own was the compromise he’d had to make in order to have dinner with her.
Philip could never remember having to work so hard just to spend time with a woman before. But then, he couldn’t remember ever wanting one more.
He got to his feet as he saw her approach, being led by the maitre d’. He recognized her caution. He could see it in her eyes. Probably half due to the fact that he’d chosen a private booth at the back of the restaurant, and half because she didn’t trust him yet.
“Kate.” He couldn’t stop himself from picking up both her hands, and bringing them to his lips. At his gesture she seemed to soften.
“Well, I’m here.”
And he sensed in those three words just how much of an effort it had been for her to come. Fortunately, he had a healthy ego, and enough insight, to understand her reluctance truly had nothing to do with him.
“I’m so pleased that you are.” To the maitre d’, he said, “Thank you, Julien. We’ll have the wine now.”
He seated her across from him so that she would feel she had her space, then resumed his own seat.
“I never thought. Is it…uncomfortable for you, to be out in public like this? Having dinner with someone? I’m thinking about your being a prince, and the paparazzi and all.”
“No,” he waited while the sommelier arrived at their table and displayed the label. When he nodded, the man made great ceremony of opening the bottle, pouring a small portion into his glass. Looking at Kate, Philip winked. She rolled her eyes, and his grin escaped. Then he schooled his features as he sipped the wine, appeared to consider it for a moment, then nodded to the server who had almost been holding his breath. After filling both glasses the man set the bottle carefully on the table, bowed low, and left.
Philip met Kate’s eyes, and raised both eyebrows. When she giggled quietly, slipping her hand over her mouth, he laughed in response. Amazing that the one thing that usually annoyed him—the fawning servitude of others—should serve him so well now by breaking the ice and putting her at ease.
“To answer your question, no. The people of Boisdemer are used to seeing my siblings and me out and about. Mother didn’t like it, but Father always encouraged us to get out and know our people, and our country.”
“Why didn’t your mother like it?”
Philip hesitated for a moment. Usually, he kept certain matters to himself. But something about being with Kate seemed right. He knew, even just having met her, that she would keep whatever he confided to herself.
“My mother had a different view of royalty. She believed a royal should hold themselves apart, and above. That attitude ran deeply in her. We had a nanny full-time, and a daily audience with Mother, preceding the evening meal.”
“My father held himself off from us, too,” Catharine said. “Not because of any sense of being better. In his case, well, it felt as if he just couldn’t be bothered with us. I’d just turned twelve when he died, and I think I would have suffered more with his passing, if he’d been different. The only one of us who ever got a rise out of him, one way or the other, was my next oldest brother. He and Dad got along like kerosene and fire. When Daddy died, he blamed himself and left home. Anyway, my point is, sometimes there’s a reason for the hard things we go through.”
Philip couldn’t resist reaching across the table, and taking one of her hands in his. He could see by the sudden widening of her eyes she hadn’t expected the move. After a moment, as he continued to gently stroke his thumb over her knuckles, she relaxed.
“That gives us one more thing in common, Kate.”
“We shouldn’t have anything in common. I’m an unwed mother from Canada and you’re a prince.”
“You’re too compassionate a woman to hold the circumstances of my birth against me. And too smart not to see how very much we do have that connects us.”
“I know. It scares me. This whole situation does. I trusted myself once, and while I could never regret having Jamie, the rest of it left me terrified of making the same mistake again.”
“Then for tonight,” Philip said softly as he signaled the waiter, “why don’t we simply have dinner and enjoy each other’s company?”
“And tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow—if you want there to be one for us—we’ll talk of more serious things.”
Chapter 8
It was too good an offer to pass up.
Catharine felt her heart racing, as she took the first step in a direction she’d been too afraid to go. Until now. The prospect of opening herself up to a man, even a little, was terrifying. But God help her, she wanted to take whatever Philip wanted to give her. She knew his offer of kindness and friendship would, before long, be joined by an offer of sex. She’d take it all, simply because…because…she didn’t want to think too deeply about the why of it right now. No longer a naïve sixteen-year-old girl, she didn’t believe in knights in shining armor or happy-ever-after when it came to men. So she wouldn’t be seduced by dreams of a forever love, or fall for any declarations of undying devotion. She had grown-up, and damn it she had grown-up needs, needs that she’d rarely acknowledged and even more rarely taken care of herself under the blankets in the dark of night.
“Have you decided what you’d like?”
She saw the glee in his eyes, and realized one characteristic of his personality right away. Philip liked to tease. He’d looked up from his menu and obviously caught her expression, knowing that her mind had wandered. He had great powers of perception, and even greater people-skills. It wouldn’t do to let him have the upper hand all the time. She could see the teasing in his eyes, and decided to act as if he’d only been referring to dinner. “This menu is in French.”
“It is? Mon Dieu, you are right. How could such a thing happen?”
Before she could respond the waiter appeared at their table, bowed to Philip, and then turned to her, one eyebrow raised in expectation. Watching for Philip’s reaction, she turned her attention back to the menu.
“Je souhaite commencer par le soupe de poisson, et aussi les Fromages Grille. Puis, L’escalope de Veau aux Truffes, s’il vous plait.”
“Bien, mademoiselle.” He then turned to Philip, who looked a little shell-shocked. “Votre Altesse Royale?”
Catharine felt her grin grow huge. Philip recovered himself enough to order the same appetizers she had – the fish soup and plate of grilled cheese – but instead of the veal, he ordered the beef.
“You speak French. I heard that Canada purported to be a bilingual country, but I thought it was an exaggeration
.”
“It is. I happened to enjoy learning and speaking French when I attended high school. So when I became a stay-at-home mom with Jamie, I began reading French books and watching French-language television. I’m not totally bilingual, but I can get by.”
“You teased me when I sought to tease you. Well done. Not many have managed that.”
“Maybe because you’re surrounded too much by those who bow too low, Your Royal Highness.”
His laughter sounded free and easy. It occurred to Catharine that he couldn’t be the epitome of a spoiled prince if he could laugh so easily at himself.
“Why medicine?” Catharine asked as the waiter brought their soup.
“It’s just what I always wanted to do. It was the first thing I thought about, when it came time to turn my mind to a career. Father didn’t care, as long as I did something I enjoyed. I experienced no parental pressure or anything like that, and no trauma in my childhood that aimed me toward a life of attending to children, either. I thought about teaching, which my older sister Sophie went into—that is until she received the promotion to administrator at the orphanage—but education wasn’t what I wanted. Too many days spent in one place doing the same thing over and over again, I think. What about you? Why have you decided to be a nurse?”
“No great calling, either, really. I excelled in sciences in school, and when I looked around at what I could pursue, in a practical sense, nursing came out on top. I’ve already completed my secondary school education through correspondence. I only need four semesters of college to become a registered practical nurse. I’m getting a combination grant and loan from the government to pay for that. The difference in salary between what I’ll make as a nurse, and what I’m making now as a waitress is triple. And I like kids. I’ll probably only have Jamie. I can’t see myself getting married at this point and having any more children. This is a way to have them in my life, even after he grows up.”
She thought she saw a flash of something in Philip’s eyes. But it disappeared so quickly, she decided it had been a trick of the lighting. When she tilted her head to the side, he just smiled at her.
The soup had been delicious, with a slight infusion of saffron that made her taste buds sit up and take notice. Wait staff whisked away their empty soup bowls, and set small plates with the grilled pieces of cheese and toast points before them.
“There is one important matter I would like to address, before we go any further.”
His serious tone instantly put Catharine on guard. “Yes?”
“I really need to know your position on dancing.”
“Usually on my feet, on a dance floor.”
“Yes, see? You are even a wise man, just as I am. We do have much in common.”
“That’s wise guy,” she corrected. And she knew that he was right, on both counts. Which meant, she mused, the little turn she’d decided to take might not be as simple as she wanted it to be.
* * * *
Hannah checked the time on her watch. Just after nine. Jamie had been asleep for nearly an hour. He’d had an active day, and she didn’t expect him to awaken till morning. She didn’t know how long Catharine would be out. She hoped she hadn’t mistaken the message she thought she and Alex had exchanged earlier.
After bathing Jamie, she’d showered again herself, and put on a simple cotton nightgown—and nothing else. The padded lounge chairs on the patio felt comfortable, and Hannah relaxed, her feet up on a stool. She tried to get into the book she’d chosen, but wasn’t having much success.
She found it pretty hard to get interested in a fictional romance while having a real one of her own.
Well, not a romance exactly, but—
She turned her head to the left because a sound had alerted her, and smiled up at Alex.
“How long have you been standing there?”
“Not long. You make a picture, Hannah, your eyes wide and unfocused, that soft smile on your face.”
“So do you, looking dark and dangerous in the shadows.” Perhaps, she mentally amended, this affair held elements of romance, after all. The look in his eyes told her he liked, very much, being considered dark and dangerous.
“The young man is in his bed?”
“Sound asleep, yes.”
“Any idea what time his mother will be back?”
“No.”
He came to her slowly, and the closer he drew the taller he seemed. So easy, dressed in only a thin nightie, sitting in the low chair, to feel temporarily overwhelmed. Dominated.
“Then we likely don’t have much time. I wonder, Hannah, are you the adventurous sort?”
It was the kind of question that made a woman’s stomach clench and her heart race. In that moment, she fully understood that she really didn’t know this man at all, and her sense of vulnerability rose up, a solid and tangible presence. Despite that, or maybe because of it, she felt free to answer him in a way she’d never answered anyone before.
“Today, for the first time in my life, I fucked a man I’d known for barely twenty-four hours. What does that tell you?”
“It tells me you’re adventurous. At least for me.”
As she watched, he slowly moved the stool out of the way, grabbed a cushion from the chair beside her, and tossed it on the ground. Then he got down on his knees in front of her. His hands on her legs caused a shiver to race up her spine, and her nipples to tighten. His hands slowly pushed up her nightgown until she sat, exposed to him.
“Come forward.”
The sound of his husky whisper inflamed her. The heat of arousal in his eyes intrigued her. She felt a little outside of herself as she obeyed him.
“Do you know, there are things I have heard about all my life? Things that men and women do with and to each other that have always been only intellectual concepts. And it occurs to me, Hannah, that the same may be true for you. And that we could have a number of firsts together, you and I. If you dared to be adventurous enough to do as I ask. Adventurous enough to make demands of your own. You can say yes to satisfy intellectual curiosity. Or you can say yes, just for the hell of it.”
Hannah gasped as Alex gently lifted first her right leg, then her left, and hooked her knees over the arms of the chair, leaving her spread wide and open to him.
“Did your husband ever do this to you?”
His words vibrated against the inside of her thighs as he began to kiss and lick them, moving closer to her pussy, his intention clear.
“No.” She whimpered because he nipped her skin lightly, high on her right leg. His breath flowed over her delicate folds and she became aware of her own wetness.
“Good. I’m very glad I will be the first man to taste you like this.”
“Oh God.”
The first caress of his tongue against her slit dissolved all her muscles. His hands gripped firmly on her hips, holding her still, and his wide shoulders prevented her from even trying to close her legs. Not that she wanted to. Slowly, gently, he began to lap and kiss her. She felt his tongue and then his lips explore her labia, and discover her clit. She knew that tiny piece of flesh swelled from the attention. Then he drew it into his mouth.
She held one hand against her mouth to help stifle the little cry of shock as she nearly came. The other hand she anchored firmly in his hair to prevent him from moving away, not that he gave any sign of wanting to.
Never had anything thrilled her so. She’d never been so instantly horny, so bone-meltingly pliant as she was right now. He seemed somehow able to keep her perched right on the very verge of rapture, as his tongue lapped and teased, swirled and dipped. She began to sob, little breath-catchy gasps of pleasure. She moved her hips, pressing her pussy more closely against his mouth. He laughed, and that felt delicious. Volts of electric current began to sizzle across her wet skin, crackling through her body to her toes. Her nipples went rock hard, and she didn’t know how much more she could take.
Then he stabbed his tongue into her pussy and her body ignited into the
fiercest orgasm she’d ever had. On and on it went until she couldn’t think, couldn’t move. She could only feel, and then she could only collapse.
Distantly she heard the rasp of a zipper, the rustle of fabric. “I obtained some more condoms,” he whispered as he moved closer, wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her limp and nearly destroyed body toward to his. She groaned when he impaled her. Her already sensitive clit felt as if it wanted to hide when the hair surrounding his cock brushed it. But then, like any coquette, the damn thing decided it liked being nestled in his groin. Wrapping her arms around him, she could feel every hot, hard inch of him, slowly moving in and out. He nuzzled her neck.
“You tasted very good to me, Hannah. Let me share that with you.”
It was the most provocative thing she’d ever been offered. But she accepted, kissing him full on the mouth, tasting herself on his lips, and that taste shot her over the edge of oblivion once more. Even covered with the latex, she could feel the answering ejaculation from his cock. For a long moment she could do nothing but try to breathe, her arms still holding him close. He leaned fully against her, but she didn’t mind his weight. Finally, she asked, “How many more?”
She thought she might have to clarify, but after a moment, he replied, “Dozens.”
“Dozens? My God, Alex, we’re going to kill each other.”
“That, my dear, is entirely possible.”
Chapter 9
Dancing felt almost like making love.
The heavy beat of the music, as Melissa Ethridge belted out about being the only one, had always only been a good song to dance to. Never before had it put Philip in mind of hot, greedy sex. Of course he realized the reason for that could lay with the woman he held tightly against his chest.
He’d expected her to protest when he’d pulled her body flush with his as the music started. Instead, she’d wrapped her arms around his neck and looked him dead in the eye.
She kept him off balance, but he didn’t mind that.
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