by Jenny Frame
She’d been going for about an hour, and although it wasn’t an exceptionally hot day, the activity made her hot enough to dispense with her jumper and strip down to her black sleeveless T-shirt.
Another ten minutes went by when she heard Cammy behind her.
“Your Majesty?”
Not turning round, George shouted back, “What is it, Cammy? Can you not see I’m busy?”
Her three dogs suddenly jumped up, wagged their tails, and started barking excitedly.
“I have something for you, Ma’am.”
George sighed and sank her axe into the tree stump she’d been chopping on. “What is it?” She turned slowly and found Cammy standing with Bea. “Bea?”
She curtsied and said, “Your Majesty.”
George couldn’t believe it and simply stood looking into the eyes of the woman she adored. Cammy took that as her cue to slowly slip away.
“You came. Does that mean…?” George was almost too scared to ask.
Bea smiled and nodded. “I want you to give me my fairy tale, Georgie.”
George ran forward and lifted Bea in the air, covering her face with kisses. “I will give you everything, my darling. I love you so much.”
Bea held on tight and brought her lips close to her lover’s. “I love you, Georgie. I’m so sorry it took me so long to come to you.”
Their lips came together with a strong passion, and the relief George felt took over. She kissed Bea ferociously. When they broke apart, George said, “Oh God, I thought…well, I thought you’d never come.”
Bea stroked George’s hair tenderly. “I couldn’t not come, Georgie. There’s no one in the world for me but you.”
George put her down slowly. “I was so miserable without you.”
“You won’t be lonely again, I promise. I’ll always be by your side and I’m ready for whatever comes next.”
George’s dogs, who had been waiting their turn patiently, barked at their master. “Oh, looks like there are three furry chaps just as happy to see you.”
“And I’m just as happy to see them.” Bea dropped to her knees and beckoned them to her. “Come on. Hello, Baxter and Shadow. Kisses?” Each gave her a slobbery kiss on the face. “Where’s my big boy, Rexie?” The Labrador nearly knocked Bea over, he was so happy to see her.
“Rex, careful,” George warned.
“He’s fine. I missed him too.”
Georgie’s heart swelled as it always did when she saw Bea with her dogs. “You were made for me, my darling.” George beamed at her.
“I think so. How about you, me, and these three big boys go up to the castle and snuggle for the afternoon? Get reacquainted.”
“Snuggle?” George asked with a raised eyebrow.
“You mean you’ve never snuggled? Well, I’d better teach you quickly. Come on.”
They walked hand in hand back up to the house.
*
They lay in George’s bed, simply holding each other, talking, and sharing kisses, while three happy dogs lay at the foot of the bed.
George’s larger frame was spooned to Bea’s back, while she enjoyed the soft strokes and caresses that she was getting. “I just can’t believe you’re here with me, and I don’t have to hide what I feel for you,” George said.
Bea pulled George’s hand from her hip and held it between her breasts. “This is perfect.”
George rose up on her elbow and looked down at the expanse of bare neck and shoulder before her and said, “Yes. I love snuggling, my darling.” She blew on the exposed skin and felt Bea shiver. Encouraged, she brought her lips into play and brushed them from Bea’s hairline down to her shoulder. When she heard Bea moan, she became bolder, kissing and nibbling her way down her neck. It felt like heaven to touch Bea again, and her own heavy beat of arousal was growing with every touch. “You taste so good.”
“Hmm…your lips feel so good, Your Majesty.”
Then the emotion of the situation came out of nowhere and hit her in the gut. Bea was here with her, loving her, but all her fears were still bubbling under the surface. Would Bea leave her again? Once she realized what a restrictive, difficult life she was choosing, she might leave, and George knew that would destroy her.
Her sudden stillness alerted Bea that something wasn’t right. She looked over her shoulder. “What’s wrong, Georgie?”
“I…” George tried to form her words carefully, but she just couldn’t say what she was thinking. I’m scared.
Bea took George’s hand from between her breasts and kissed it reverently. “I’m not going anywhere unless you want me to go. You’re stuck with me, I promise. I swear to you, I’m ready for everything being in your life means. That’s why it took me so long to come here to you. I had to be sure.”
George was taken aback. Bea seemed able to read her so easily, it was scary. She pulled Bea into her body even more tightly and rested her head in the crook of her neck. “I never want you to leave. I don’t know how you understand me like you do, but you do, and I can’t live without everything you bring to my life.”
“Then we’re both happy, because I can’t live without you. I realized that when you left for Scotland.”
George kissed her neck softly. “I missed you so much since we’ve been apart. I thought about you all the time. All through the day, whatever I was doing, you were never off my mind, and at night when I was alone…”
Bea’s breathing hitched, and she reached her hand back to grasp at George’s hair. “Tell me what you thought about at night, when you were alone.”
That one sentence changed the emotional atmosphere to one charged with a desperate need to reconnect. “I thought about how soft your skin feels,” George whispered breathily into Bea’s ear.
Bea lifted George’s hand and placed it on her stomach, and George groaned when she realized what her lover wanted. She began to gently stroke Bea’s stomach just under the hem of her T-shirt. “It feels soft and warm, and it responds to my touch.”
“Tell me what else,” Bea said huskily.
George let her fingers wander up towards Bea’s chest. “I lay in bed thinking about how your breasts felt in my hands.” That was one of the things she loved most about Bea, how soft she was everywhere. Her own hands were rough and callused in places because of constant handling of riding tack and ropes when sailing, but not Bea. Her lover was everything she was not.
George grew in confidence and clasped a lace-covered breast. “How your nipples hardened in my hand when I gently squeezed.”
This time they both moaned, and George felt Bea push her perfectly rounded backside into her groin.
“Uh-huh, feels good,” Bea moaned.
George felt the overwhelming urge to thrust into her, but fought hard to keep control and give Bea what she wanted. She lightly trailed her fingers down to the waist of Bea’s jeans and hovered over the button. “I tried to remember touching you lower.”
Bea’s breathing got heavier, and she pushed George’s fingers onto the button. “I need you to touch me. I’ve missed you so much.”
George immediately popped the button, pushed her hand down into Bea’s underwear, and cupped her sex. “I thought about how wet you were for me.”
She slipped one finger into the wetness she knew she would find and softly stroked around her clit.
Bea put her hand behind her and onto George’s hip, encouraging her to thrust, and she did. They were gradually losing themselves to each other and to their passion.
“Please, Georgie…I need…What then?”
She teased Bea’s opening with her finger, pushing in a little and pulling back out. “I thought about how it feels to be inside you. It feels like nothing matters but being inside you.” This time George pushed two fingers deep inside and groaned at the velvety warmth that she found there, while her thumb started to stroke Bea’s clit.
Bea reached out in desperation and clutched at George’s sleeveless T-shirt, pulling her closer. “Yes…harder.”
George gave her what she wanted. “And all I wanted to do was thrust inside you, fuck you till we came.” Bea’s moans were getting louder to match the pace of her hips, and George could feel her orgasm was close. “But as much as I wanted that, I used every inch of my self control to slow down and make it last as long as I could.” To match her words, she slowed her thrusting to a stop and slipped her fingers nearly all the way out.
Bea cried out in frustration, “I was so close, please?”
George smiled against the back of her lover’s neck. Knowing that she could have this effect on Bea was giving her much-needed confidence. She hoped that she could always be enough for her. “I only want to savour the feeling, my darling, and make sure you know how much I love you.”
Bea turned and looked up at her then, her eyes full of want and need and the beginning of tears about to fall. “I know you love me, because no one has ever looked at me the way you do, touched me the way you have. You are what I’ve been waiting for all my life.”
There were no more words. George slipped back inside her and built up her thrusts slowly, until Bea arched her back and shouted out her release.
When George saw the raw emotion in Bea’s tears tumbling down her cheeks, her fear dissipated and she trusted that her lover was here to stay.
She slowly pulled out and gathered Bea in her arms. “Shh, don’t cry, darling. I love you.”
Bea wiped away her tears quickly and snuggled into George’s chest. “I’m sorry, I’ve never done that before. Cried, I mean.”
She reached up to George and cupped her face. “Every time I think I couldn’t feel more, I do.”
Their lips came together, not with the passionate hunger of their earlier kisses, but as an act of sealing their trust and love in each other. George knew she wasn’t alone anymore. She had someone who would argue, talk back to her, and not constantly defer to her, but most of all, Bea would love her. Of that she was certain.
Bea pulled back from their soft kiss and reached for the buttons of George’s jeans and said with a cheeky smile on her face, “Now, Georgie, I’m going to show you what you’ve been missing all those lonely nights apart.”
George groaned as Bea started to kiss her stomach while she tried to pull the jeans from her body. She reached down and stroked Bea’s blond head. “God, I’ve missed you.”
Just as Bea was about to pull down her Jockey shorts, there was a knock at her door. “Georgie? Leave that young lady alone.”
“Go away, Theo,” George shouted with frustration.
“No such luck. Granny sent me to interrupt you and tell you she’s had the staff make up a room for Beatrice.”
George growled and slammed her head back against the pillow, while Bea giggled against her stomach.
“Trust Granny.” George fastened her jeans back up, realizing relief for her was a long way off. “I thought you could stay here with me.”
Bea crawled up her body and lay by her side. “I suppose it wouldn’t look right. The staff and everything.”
“Hmm, I’m supposed to be the bloody Queen and I can’t even have some private time with my girlfriend,” George grumbled.
“Aww, poor baby.” Bea gave her a quick peck on the nose.
“Granny also told me to remind you it’s time to dress for dinner,” said Theo’s voice through the door.
“Fine, you’ve done your duty, Theo, you can go now,” George shouted.
“Not a chance. I’m under orders to escort Miss Elliot to her room.”
Bea got up and tried to quickly make herself presentable.
George, now thoroughly annoyed, got up and pulled Bea back into her arms. “I could send him to the Tower.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll take up where we left off soon, and you’ll have my undivided attention.”
“Promise?”
Bea gave her one last long kiss. “Promise. After what you just made me feel, you deserve plenty of one-on-one attention. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
They walked to the door hand in hand and opened the door. Theo was standing waiting, looking highly amused. He held his arm out for Bea.
“I’ll get you back, Theodore,” George warned.
Theo snorted. “Let me escort you from my sister’s den of iniquity, My Lady.”
Bea laughed and took his arm. “Thank you for rescuing me, Your Royal Highness.”
George watched them go off together, whispering and laughing, with a huge smile on her face. She couldn’t have hoped to find a more perfect partner to add to the royal family.
Now I need to work out how we go forward from here.
Chapter Twenty-eight
George stood outside Bea’s door and adjusted the collar and cuffs of her highly starched shirt, making sure she looked as smart as possible. As much as this was a private family dinner, and not a formal occasion, a certain manner of dress was still expected for all the family members, and with it being Bea’s first dinner with the family, George wanted to make a special effort.
She knocked, and Bea opened the door.
“Good evening, Your Majesty,” she said with a curtsy.
“Good evening, my darling Bea. You look absolutely beautiful as always.” George lifted her hand and kissed it gently.
Bea looked down at her short-sleeved silver dress and said, “I hope this is all right. I know you said it was informal, but I wanted to look nice to have dinner with your family.”
“Of course it’s all right, more than all right. You are effortlessly stunning, my darling.” George leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips, then offered her arm.
As they walked off, Bea said, “Who is going to be here, Georgie?”
“Mama, Granny, Theo, Aunt Grace and Uncle Bran, and Vicki and Max. Nothing to worry about.”
“What about Julian? Is he here?”
“Oh no. Granny, Aunt Grace, and Uncle Bran have made it clear he’s not welcome this year. I doubt he will be again. The only other family you’ll see later on are my second cousins, Dicky the Duke of Clarence, and Harry, Duke of Gloucester. They come up a week before the end of the holiday, so they can attend the Ghillies Ball. My ladies-in-waiting come up for that as well, but you’ve met my Mistress of the Robes, Lady Olivia.”
“Oh yes, she was nice. What’s the Ghillies Ball?” Bea asked.
“It’s not some stuffy formal ball—we do Scottish country dancing. We invite all the staff, and local townsfolk, as a thank you for having us and looking after us. It’s great fun, and it’ll be even better that you’ll be there.” George stopped still and turned to face her Bea. “I never thought—will you be able to stay into September? Or do you need to go back to work?”
Bea smiled. “Yes, I can stay as long as you like. I took a leave of absence from Timmy’s. Going to work was impossible with the media following me, and Timmy’s are delighted with all the publicity, believe me. I will need to pop back and see Mum and Dad though. I’ve never been away that long from them.”
George waited until a footman bowed and passed them, allowing them privacy. “We should invite your parents up for a short break, and then you wouldn’t have to leave. We’ll have to address certain future family matters while you’re here, so it would make sense if they came up. Don’t you think?” George said hopefully.
Bea leaned up and gave her a kiss, then said with a smile. “I hope so, Your Majesty.”
*
When they got to the dining room, two pages stationed there bowed and opened the doors for them. Bea saw all the family sitting at the table chatting amongst themselves, and then George’s Uncle Bran spotted them and shouted, “Her Majesty the Queen.”
The whole family rose as one, either curtsied or bowed, and stood behind their dining chairs.
Oh my goodness, this is an informal family dinner? But then Bea saw the smiles they had on their faces because George was proudly escorting her new girlfriend. It clearly showed they were a loving family, even if they acted a little differently.
George led her to a seat between Theo and Queen Adrianna. She was a bit confused about whether she should curtsy or not, so she gave a quick bob as she approached.
“Do sit down, everyone,” George told her family, as she pulled out the chair for Bea. Bea looked up in confusion towards George, unsure of what to do, and without causing any fuss, George told her, “Please sit down, Bea.”
With some relief, she sat and realized if she was going to be with the Queen, she was going to need to have some lessons in royal etiquette.
She watched George go around and kiss her mother, who sat at the one end of the table as hostess, her grandmother, and Aunt Grace, before taking her own seat at the head of the table.
The pages came round and filled the champagne flutes. The Queen lifted her glass and stood up. Again, all the family went to stand but she waved them back down.
“Please sit, I only wish to say a few words to you all, before we enjoy this meal together. This year has been a difficult one for our family. Losing King Edward was a huge shock to us all, but we got through it by supporting each other as a family. I know he would be very proud of us all, for carrying on in our duty to the people, and even though we miss him every day, his legacy carries on. I’m so glad that you are all here. Times when we all can get together as a family are rare, so it makes me ever more grateful when they do happen.”
George turned and looked at Bea. “I’d also like us to extend a welcome to Beatrice. I can’t tell you how much it means to me, that you came to spend the summer holidays with me, and I hope you will be spending a great deal more time with us in the future.” Bea’s cheeks felt hot as all the family smiled at her. “So I ask you to raise a glass to new beginnings.”
When everyone stood to toast, George winked and smiled at her.
I love her so much, Bea thought.
When everyone was re-seated, Queen Adrianna said, “Can we expect some sort of announcement in the near future?”