by Jenny Frame
Holly stopped at a large booth in the corner of the room and took her seat beside two women, who looked nervous.
Bea smiled proudly to her friends. “Lali? Greta? I would like you to meet my new friend, Rex.”
Lali and Greta looked up at George with astonishment. “Good evening, ladies. I’m delighted to meet you. Bea has told me so much about you both.”
Lali was the first to take George’s outstretched hand and unconsciously bowed her head.
Bea whispered, “Lali, no bowing.”
“Oh, sorry…I’m pleased to meet Your Maj—Rex.”
George smiled and turned to Greta. “You must be Greta.” Greta managed to shake hands without a bow but still stumbled over her greeting to the Queen. “May I introduce my friend Cammy?”
Cammy shook hands with Greta first. “Pleased to meet you.”
When she turned to Lali, her eyes seemed to sparkle, and she lifted Lali’s hand and kissed it politely. “And I’m very pleased to meet you, lassie. Miss Elliot certainly has some bonnie friends.”
George rolled her eyes and Bea softly giggled. Cammy always put on her best Scottish brogue when she met someone she found attractive.
Lali laughed, clearly knowing she was being chatted up. “Thank you, but you’re a flatterer, I think, Cammy.”
When George sat down, she took Bea’s hand again, and neither of them made comment on it. After some initially stiff conversation, George managed to put Bea’s friends at ease, and Cammy was trying to be as charming as possible.
George and Bea were left alone when Cammy went to the bar to buy some more drinks for the group, and Lali and Greta visited the ladies’.
“How are you enjoying being anonymous, Rex?” Bea asked.
George took the opportunity to sit closer to her and put her arm along the back of the couch seat. “It’s truly wonderful. Nobody cares that I’m here. I’m just one of the crowd. I can’t tell you how much I’m enjoying spending it with you.”
George tenderly stroked her thumb across the back of Bea’s hand, and she felt full of emotions for her love. She didn’t know for certain, but she was sure Bea could feel it too. It felt like they were the only two people in the whole pub. George didn’t even notice where her protection officers were, and usually she was only too well aware of their presence.
“I care that you’re here. You could never be one of the crowd to me, Georgie.”
They got closer, and George thought this time she would get to kiss her, this time she would feel the lips that were so close to hers, but they were interrupted by the voices and laughter of their friends returning. George sighed and Bea moved away from her.
Cammy held a tray of drinks and began to hand them out. She left Lali’s to the the end and handed over her drink with a wink. “Here you go, lassie.”
“I do have a name, you know,” Lali said in an annoyed tone of voice.
Cammy turned around and said, “Aye, bonnie lassie.”
George shook her head and chuckled at her friend’s attempt to charm Lali. Cammy’s manner didn’t seem to be working as well as it usually did.
The group become ever louder, joking and laughing. George was starting to feel much more relaxed. She became braver with her touches, and Bea was reciprocating.
After a while, the girls headed off to the ladies’ room, leaving Cammy and George alone together.
“How are we enjoying our night, Rex?”
“We love our night, Captain. Bea is being so open with me—she let me hold her hand.” Cammy laughed out loud at her. “Why are you laughing?”
“Be bolder. Take the bull by the horns. You’re both relaxed—enjoy each other. I don’t think she would mind.”
“You seem to be making slow progress with Lali. Losing your touch, Captain?” George teased.
“Never, she’s just making me work harder, and I can work hard, believe me. She is the bonniest lassie I think I’ve ever seen.”
George sipped from her water glass. She enjoyed the warm glow of feeling a little drunk, but she wanted to be entirely present for the rest of the evening, wherever it took her. When she heard Bea’s voice next to her, she looked up at and felt like a bolt hit her. There was never going to be any going back for her. For her heart and her body, there would be Bea and no other.
Be bold. She pulled Bea down onto her lap.
Bea squealed in surprise and put her arms around George’s neck. “What are you up to, Rex?”
“I just thought you needed somewhere to sit, and I’m always happy to oblige a lady,” George said with a cheeky smile.
Bea licked her lips seductively and wiggled her bottom around in George’s lap. “I keep trying to tell you, I’m not a lady,” she whispered.
George groaned, and then her eyes went wide in surprise. The usual throbbing she would feel around Bea when she was aroused had an altogether different effect when wearing the strap-on. She saw the recognition in Bea’s eyes. Oh God, what is she going to think? “Bea, please forgive me, I’m—”
Bea put her finger over George’s lips. “It’s okay. Don’t be embarrassed. I was teasing you.” She slipped back into the seat beside her, giving George the chance to calm down.
George took some deep breaths and thought, This is torture, I need you, Bea.
*
Bea had to admit, she couldn’t remember ever having so much fun before. George was attentive and caring, and made her feel like she was the centre of her attention. At the moment Bea was giggling and laughing like a schoolgirl. Cammy was trying to charm Lali up onto the floor to dance, but she wasn’t having any of it. She’d already been up to dance with Holly and Greta.
Bea tried to encourage her friend for poor Cammy’s sake. “Lali, go on, you know you like to dance, and the captain here is willing.”
“Very willing and able, Ma’am.” Cammy saluted Lali and the whole table laughed.
Lali tried and failed to keep her smile hidden. “Well, I don’t see you up dancing, Beatrice Elliot.”
Bea smiled at her friend and grabbed George by the hand. “Come on, Rex, let’s show them how it’s done.”
George looked panicked all of a sudden. “Ah…I don’t dance.”
“You must do. Surely you learned dancing at that fancy school of yours.”
“Yes. Ballroom and Scottish country dancing. That’s all a Queen needs to know. This type though…”
Bea pulled George up and towards the dance floor. “We’ll muddle through. I want to dance with you, Georgie.”
George seemed delighted with that, and so scooped her into her arms. Bea giggled as George tried to waltz to the fast pop song that was playing.
“I’m glad I can keep you amused, Miss Elliot.” George smiled down at her.
“You are funny. Everyone thinks of you as being this thoroughly modern person because you’re a woman, and openly gay, but they don’t know you. You really are the most traditional person I know. You like bagpipe and band music, making model ships is your idea of a fun night in, and you like mushy old romantic films. I think you were born in the wrong era.”
George reached out and cupped her cheek. “Nobody knows that because they don’t see me the way you do. You know me, Bea.”
Just as they stood still, looking deeply into each other’s eyes, the music changed to a slow love song, and they began to sway together. Bea simply couldn’t hold back her overwhelming feelings for George anymore. It didn’t feel like they were in the bar. It felt like they were dancing on air, somewhere private, somewhere only they knew. Her resistance was gone. She didn’t try to stop the Queen’s lips as they descended on hers, and she softly and lovingly kissed her.
Chapter Twenty-one
The evening wound to a close, and George and Bea were driven back to the hotel by the Queen’s protection officers. Cammy had escorted Lali and the girls home. Since leaving the pub, an uneasy awkwardness had set in between them. In the pub with the drink flowing and a jubilant atmosphere, it was easy for George to get los
t in her feelings for Bea, but when they walked out the door into the cold of the night, everything didn’t seem so simple as it had outside.
They rode the lift in silence, despite the fact that George had a million different things to say buzzing around in her head. They walked in silence towards their rooms, and finally George broke the awkwardness by saying, “Would you come in and help me take off this…?” George pointed to the Intelliflesh pieces on her face.
“Of course I will,” Bea said.
George was so happy the evening wouldn’t be over yet. She was dreading the dark loneliness of going to bed alone.
All the protection officers took their positions outside the lift and along the corridor, with Lang and a younger officer outside the Queen’s door. She nodded to them as she walked past, and neither officer raised an eyebrow at the sight of Bea entering her room with her at this time of night.
“Okay, Georgie, if you’d sit at the dressing table, I’ll get this off for you. Holls left some things to help.”
George nodded and sat. Bea methodically took off the little pieces of prosthetic that had given the Queen’s face a rougher, squarer appearance. She could sense that Bea was trying to build some distance between them, after the closeness of their kiss.
“There we go, I just need to clean the make-up off and you’ll be all done.” Bea held George’s face in her hands while she tenderly wiped the make-up off, and George had to force herself not to pull her love down for a kiss and assuage the ache in her heart.
She searched her brain for something to break the silence. “Your friends are very nice.”
Bea smiled. “Thank you, they’ve been great friends to me. They were so excited to meet you. They were never part of my republican group at university.”
“I think Cammy took a shine to Lali,” George said.
“Yes, she always has been the most beautiful one of the group. But Lali isn’t easily impressed—she’s only had one girlfriend the whole time I’ve known her. She has great respect for herself.”
George felt she had to do something to bridge the gap that had opened up between them tonight, or the moment might never come again. She looked up and met Bea’s eyes. “Not the most beautiful one of the group, in my opinion. “
Bea looked at her with a mixture of longing and fear, and George prayed that the love she was sure they shared would overcome the fear that Bea clearly felt.
“I think that you’re done—Rex is all gone. I’m sure you can deal with the other parts yourself.” Bea turned and walked towards the door.
George’s stomach dropped like a stone. She’s running away. She caught up quickly and put her hand on the door so Bea couldn’t open it. “Please, stay.”
Bea let out a sigh and said, “Let me go, Georgie.”
George turned her round and held her by the shoulders. “No, not until I tell you what’s in my heart.”
“Please, don’t,” Bea begged.
“You told me this was my night to be, and do, what I wanted, without any thoughts of my throne or my crown. You kissed me tonight and I knew I couldn’t hold it in any longer.” George put her fist on her chest and said desperately, “The unspoken truth between us is that I love you, I love you so much it’s tearing me apart inside. You’re all I think about, when I’m lying in bed at night, when I wake in the morning, and when I’m going about my duties. Sometimes when I’m meeting people or doing some event, I turn to smile at you, or to ask you if you liked a particular thing, expecting you to be at my side, and I’m surprised when you’re not. I do that because that’s where you should be. You work hard for those who are in pain, those less fortunate, and above all, you care deeply about people and their suffering. You were made to be my Queen Consort.”
“This is not a fairy tale, Georgie! The handsome prince does not marry the poor village girl, who protested outside the castle walls, and live happily ever after. This is real life, and the handsome prince marries a suitable princess who has the correct breeding and will toe the line,” Bea said furiously.
George was desperate and was willing to beg if that’s what it took. She held Bea’s face and said, “I can make the fairy tale come true, if you’ll just let me.”
Tears streamed down Bea’s face. “You can’t give me that.”
“Look at me and tell me what’s in your heart. Tell me you love me, I know you do.”
Bea rested her forehead against hers, and George could feel the desperate pain she was feeling. “Let me go, please. Please, Georgie.”
George felt the anger inside threaten to engulf her. She growled and forced herself to move to the side. Bea grabbed for the door handle and ran out, crying.
*
Bea had lain on her bed crying since returning from the Queen’s room. She was angry, angry at herself, angry at George, angry at fate, for choosing as her one true love someone who was utterly unattainable. “Why, Georgie? Why did it have to be you?” Bea asked the empty room.
Her heart answered the question simply. It could be no other…
She got up and went to the bathroom to wash the tears from her face. As she looked in the mirror at her red, puffy eyes, she thought about how much George must be hurting, and with nobody to talk to about it.
I told her this was her night to be true to herself, and I couldn’t even give her the truth. What will I do, Abby?
“I owe her the truth at the very least.”
Having tidied up, Bea walked back along the corridor towards the Queen’s room. She couldn’t meet Inspector Lang’s eye as she said, “Could you ask if I could speak to Her Majesty, Inspector?”
“If you wait here, I’ll find out, Miss Elliot. Captain Cameron hasn’t long left, so she should still be awake.”
When he went in to speak to the Queen, Bea imagined all the officers lining the corridor looking at her, judging her, she knew how loyal all those who served George were to her.
After a few minutes Lang opened the door and said, “Come in, Miss Elliot. Her Majesty will be with you shortly.”
She waited in the large living room area of the suite until the bedroom doors opened and George walked out, still wearing the jeans she had on earlier, but now wearing a white sleeveless T-shirt on top. Bea inhaled sharply. Her physique was truly breathtaking.
But her face was stony and unemotional, and it hurt Bea to know she was the cause of that. “Georgie…I want to explain—”
“You’ve made your position very clear, Miss Elliot. You can be sure there will be no repeat of what happened earlier, and you need not worry.”
Bea’s heart sank at the formal use of her name. She closed her eyes in despair, knowing that she’d destroyed what they had together.
When she opened her eyes again and saw the same stoic mask on the Queen’s face, she nodded her head in acceptance, and the tears tumbled down her cheeks.
George’s jaw visibly tightened. She was obviously trying hard to hold her emotions together.
Bea hugged herself tightly, hoping to gain the strength to say what she needed to say. “I understand, Your Majesty, I just didn’t want to leave without telling you the truth. You were right earlier when you said I promised you a night to be true to yourself. I just want you to know that no matter how impossible it is, and no matter where our lives take us, I want you to be sure that I loved you, that I do love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone in my life. I thought being your friend would be enough, but I just fell deeper and deeper.”
She held her hand to her mouth in an effort to calm her wracking sobs. George reached out towards her, but Bea continued as she knew she had to get the truth out.
“It scares me so much to know that I’ll never be able to be with you, that I’ll see you everywhere I turn for the rest of my life with someone who will never love you half as much as I do. I’m sorry I hurt you, Georgie. I just wanted you to know that.” There was silence between them for a few seconds, and then Bea turned and walked to the door.
“Bea?” George shouted.
She stopped and turned to look back at her and found George standing beside her, a look of pain in her eyes.
George cradled Bea’s face and said huskily, “I need you. I need you like the air that I breathe.” George acted on instinct. She pulled Bea to her forcfully, and their lips crashed together in a hungry fashion. She lifted Bea off her feet and Bea wrapped her legs around George’s waist.
The feeling of having Bea in her arms was overwhelming to George. She’d never felt a need and desire as strongly as she felt the need to be with this woman. After the initial burst of hungry passion, George rested her forehead on Bea’s as they both gasped for air. She took Bea’s hand and placed it against her own chest. “Feel what you do to my heart. Please stay with me.”
She started to worry when Bea didn’t reply, and said, “Forget everything and let us just be Georgie and Bea. Just us. Please.”
Bea reached up and tenderly cupped George’s cheek. “Make love to me, Georgie.”
George grasped her hand and kissed it reverently and with a sense of such relief that her love wasn’t leaving her.
Barely seconds later a realization dawned upon her: she was about to make love to the most treasured woman in her life, and she had absolutely no experience.
Perhaps recognizing her fear, Bea took her hand and led her towards the bedroom. Bea shut the door and pulled George to her, so their lips were almost touching. “Don’t think about anything—just kiss me, touch me, love me.”
George kissed her with renewed passion and felt herself throb. She was suddenly embarrassed, as she hadn’t removed her strap-on. “I’m sorry, I didn’t have time to—”
Bea placed a finger over George’s lips and said, “Shh. Don’t be sorry. I like it.” She smiled and stroked her hand over the bulge in the Queen’s jeans.
“Oh God…” George groaned.
Bea smiled seductively and pulled off George’s T-shirt. She ran her hands up and down George’s chest, feeling the strong musculature of her chest and stomach. “I need you,” she whispered into George’s neck, giving kisses and licks as she went.