My eyebrow arched. “You’re coming back?”
He shrugged. “I guess I have to if I want to see my family on Christmas.”
“You never come home for Christmas,” I pointed out.
“That’s been my mistake,” he replied. “Looks like I missed a lot.”
“Well. We’re not going anywhere,” I said, hugging him tight.
“I guess not, considering the whole family is practically royalty now.”
“Guess that means you could probably qualify to date a countess if you wanted.”
His eyes drifted to where Audra stood. “She is pretty remarkable,” he admitted. “Strong. Loyal to a fault. No nonsense. Intelligent.”
“Keeps you on your toes?” I surmised.
“Yeah. I never thought I wanted that. But the challenge of it is kind of exciting.”
“Just be careful,” I said. “She’s been hurt. Badly.”
“I know,” he nodded. “She told me.”
My eyes widened. My super stoic new bestie told him about Cillian. “Really?”
He shrugged. “I kind of gave her no choice. It was after the Jubilee, when you suddenly changed your mind about staying in Aldayne and Auggie agreed to become king. I knew there was more to the story. I didn’t let up till she filled me in. She understands family. And what it means to protect it.”
I nodded.
“So, I know about the Byrnes. You sure you can handle it, Pea?”
“Of course,” I said as I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I have a protective big brother that would never let any of them hurt me.”
He tipped his head forward to rest his forehead on mine. “Damn right.”
Of course, his promise was limited. There were appearances to keep, which was why I couldn’t turn down Cillian’s request for a dance a mere fifteen minutes before I could escape.
Like at the Jubilee, his hold was decisive as he took me into his arms once we stepped onto the dance floor. “You made a beautiful bride,” he complimented, though I suspected it was completely insincere.
“Thank you,” I offered stiffly, trying to hold him at arm’s length.
“Did you get my present?”
I glared at him. “I did.”
He held me closer. “And?”
“And nothing.”
He scoffed. “You can’t bullshit a bullshitter, Pea.”
“Don’t call me that,” I hissed under my breath.
“Why not?” he asked softly, bending his head to whisper in my ear. “Isn’t that what Christopher called you?”
I glared daggers at him. “As a matter of fact, no. He never called me by my first name at all.”
“Must have made sex awkward,” he mused.
I tried to pull away, but he held me fast. “Dance isn’t over, Princess. And everyone’s watching. If you run away from me, I might have to tell them why.”
“I don’t know what you’ve been told, but Christopher Tyler is a liar and a grifter and an opportunistic douchebag. You’d be wise not to take his word for anything.”
“I don’t plan to,” he said. “That’s what DNA tests are for.”
“You should know,” I quipped as casually as I could.
He laughed. “You think you know that story?”
“I know enough,” I retorted. “He was your best friend, and you slept with the girl you set him up with.”
“Such moral indignation from a woman who is getting married just weeks before her water breaks.”
“I would never do what you did.”
His eyebrow arched. “No?”
My eyes met his. “No.”
He molded my body against him, pushing my pregnant tummy into his rigid torso. “I guess we’ll see come Halloween, won’t we?” he said in a low, seductive voice. But it was the predatory look in his eye that made my skin crawl.
I pushed him away. Fuck the social protocol. “Pull that handsy shit on your step-mom,” I gritted. “It won’t work with me.”
“Famous last words,” he called out after me as I stalked away from the dancefloor, just in time for Audra to collect Auggie and me for yet another wardrobe change.
I was visibly shaken as we ascended one of the staircases to a private room to change. “Did he upset you?” Auggie asked.
“Just the usual,” I shrugged. “Dealing with the Byrnes is like dealing with storms when you live in Tornado Alley. Can’t get away from it until you get away from it.”
Audra left us alone and he closed the door behind us. “I’m sorry,” he offered.
I shook my head. “It’s nobody’s fault, Auggie. It just is.”
He walked over to unzip my dress. His hands were warm against exposed skin. I shivered a little, thinking of the night ahead once we were finally alone with no schedule to keep.
We both quickly changed before the heat between us got the better of us. We still had a departure to make. I slipped into a white lace high-low lace dress that hugged my tummy just the way my new husband liked it. He changed into casual clothes as well, then took my hand and led me back down the spectacular staircase where those closest to the family had gathered to see us off. They all cheered as we made our appearance, but it was Cillian’s eyes on me I could feel as we descended the stairs.
When we stepped outside, some die-hard fans had lingered long into the night, waiting to wish us well as we got ready to depart. The staff was prepared for this happy little barricade and began rolling out service trays to start giving away pieces of wedding cake contained in small, shiny gift boxes adorned with a rose from the wedding. These historic wedding favors kept everyone suitably distracted at a safe distance as we drove away. The air was brisk with the top down, but it was necessary to bid our people goodbye as we headed off to parts unknown. People cheered and rang their bells as we passed by, and we met them all with smiles and waves. Finally, we reached the main road that law enforcement had all but cleared. Auggie put up the top and cranked up the heat. “Get some sleep, wife,” he advised with that twinkle in his eyes. “You’ll need your rest for the night ahead.”
“There’s more?” I asked.
“There’s forever,” he promised as he took my hand in his, to kiss the rings that bound me to him until death us do part.
I laid my head against the back of the seat and let my husband take us wherever he willed.
If I were with him, it would be the perfect night.
Chapter Eight
Thanks to the magnitude of the day, I was asleep before we hit the highway. It felt like I blinked and suddenly the car was slowing to a stop near a marina that read Castlegate Harbour. I easily put the pieces together. “We’re going to Mercy Island.”
He chuckled. “Smart girl. No wonder I married you.”
I giggled as one of the attendants rushed to greet us. It was just after ten o’clock, so the marina was blissfully devoid of any crowds. After the day we had, that was a sheer slice of heaven.
“Your Grace,” the attendant said with an appropriate bow, which my new title demanded.
“Thank you, Tad,” I said, reading his nametag. I turned to Auggie, who gave the keys to another attendant before rounding the car to join me. He took my hand and led me to a huge yacht docked nearby.
“This reminds me of New York,” I told him as we boarded.
Again, he chuckled. “I hope this night ends a little differently.”
I thought back to that night when I had been so nauseated with morning sickness. Had it only been six months? “It feels like forever ago,” I murmured as we took an elevator up to the main deck facing Mercy Island to the east. It was still a bit away, nothing but a speck in the inky black darkness of night.
He pulled me close. “To me, it feels like a minute. Forever was how long it took to find you.” He bent for a kiss, which quickly caught fire. I melted against him.
“I’ve been waiting all day for that.”
He caressed my face. “Was it all a chore?”
I thought back to my
wedding day, one that will literally go down in history. “No,” I admitted. “I just never thought my wedding day would be so…,” I struggled to find the word. “Much.”
“You deserve all that and more, my love. My queen,” he added before he bent for another kiss.
“Not yet,” I reminded.
“You were a queen the minute we met,” he corrected. “I’m just filling out the paperwork.”
I laughed as we stepped out onto the main deck. It was decorated with string lights, soft music, roses on the table and two flutes of sparkling fluid. I took a sniff. It was ginger ale. “My favorite,” I grinned.
He lifted his glass for a toast. “Only a few more weeks and you can have the finest bubbly in the world.”
“Not as long as I’m breastfeeding,” I corrected.
“One drink is fine, at least two hours before a feeding.”
My eyebrow arched. “You’ve done some homework, I see.”
He sat on one of the comfy purple cushions, pulling me down onto his lap. “As much as I’d love to take credit, I knew that before we met.”
“Eloise,” I said softly.
He took my glass and put it on the table next to his own before he pulled me into his arms. “We’re not going to talk about her. Or them.”
I nodded. I didn’t want a waste one minute of joy thinking about the Byrnes, particularly Cillian. Instead, “What was your favorite part of the day?”
“It hasn’t happened yet,” he said with that knowing smirk, before bending for another kiss.
Though it was chilly from the sea air, things quickly heated up between us as we were able to indulge in shameless necking right there on the deck. Staff was minimal, thankfully. I wished we could just ditch them altogether, but I wasn’t sure that was even an option anymore. I thought about our time at the farmhouse in Georgia, when it was just him and me. What an unexpected paradise that had been.
It would have been nice not to worry who might see when his large hand slid up the silky skin of my leg up under my dress. “Auggie,” I gasped as I pulled him closer.
“I want you so much,” he growled against my skin. “It’s been torture without you.”
“Same,” I assured before I kissed him hard. I couldn’t wait to become his wife in every sense of the word. “How long till we get to the island?”
“Thirty minutes at least,” he said, nuzzling my neck.
I groaned. It was going to be the longest half-hour in recorded history. If hadn’t been a respectable duchess, I would have ravaged him right there on that deck. “I wish you were still the Duke of Mayhem,” I giggled. Stories of his debauchery were legendary.
“He wasn’t good enough for you, Princess,” he grinned. “But if you want to be a little naughty, maybe he can come out to play.”
A thrill shot through me. “Auggie,” I said again, before pulling him back down for another kiss.
We made out like teens on the way to the prom all the way to Mercy. Finally, the shadowy island came into view, with a lighthouse on the northern tip of the island guiding our way. He led me to the railing. “Castlegate is relatively new, build by the early 1800s. Fothain was the original castle build by King Seamus in the 12th Century. Greystone was for the Quinn family. Fothain was for Aldayne, to protect it from any Viking invasion following the coup. It stood for centuries, mostly a military instillation, until a great fire burned it down in the late 1700s. King Whitley ordered a new castle be built, but this time as a family vacation home. Construction began in just shy of 1800, but he died before it was finished.”
“That’s so sad,” I murmured.
“Some say he’s still here, keeping watch. Protecting Aldayne.”
I grabbed his hand. “I suppose he is,” I said, glancing up at him.
The weight of his new responsibilities straightened his spine. “That’s not the reason it’s my favorite, though,” he informed me.
“No?”
He shook his head, staring wistfully at Mercy Island.
“Are you going to tell me what is?”
“No,” he decided as we approached the dock. “I’m going to show you.”
When we docked, we were met by more royal staff. “Everything is in order, Your Grace,” he said with a bow.
“Excellent,” Auggie replied. “Enjoy your vacation. We will see you back in a week.”
“Very good, sir,” he replied with another bow. “Congratulations, ma’am,” he bowed to me.
“Thank you, Edward,” I replied with a nod.
We watched the twelve or so staff from Castlegate board the yacht we had just disembarked. I waited until they were safely pulled away from the shore and out of earshot before I turned back to Auggie. “Vacation?”
He nodded and grabbed my hand, pulling me towards the medieval gatehouse, remnants left over from Fothain, or so he explained.
“Wait,” I said, putting us back on subject. “Did you just send the entire staff to Aldayne?”
He turned to face me, taking both hands in his. “King Whitley created Castlegate as an oasis where the Quinns could get away from everything. Where we could be ourselves without someone looking over our shoulder.”
I had a hard time processing this. It had been the first time we had been alone, really, truly alone since Georgia. “So, there’s no staff?”
He laughed and pulled me closer. “There’s just you, me and Mercy Island. And ol King Whitley, but from what I hear he keeps himself mostly to the lighthouse these days.”
I threw my arms around him. “Oh, Auggie! It’s perfect!” We literally had our choice of where to spend our honeymoon, anywhere on the planet. He had chosen the one place where all we had to focus on was each other. “How did you know that was what I wanted?”
He cuddled me close. “I always know, Pea.” He bent for a soft, brief kiss before we got in an electric cart to take us the remaining three-mile winding path to Castlegate. As soon as we reached the steps to the imposing castle, he swept me into his arms and carried me the rest of the way over the threshold and into the entrance hall, which was decorated in the regal colors of gold, black and purple, with tapestries and portraits to welcome us into the castle.
To my great surprise, he didn’t set me on my feet. He kept moving forward, through the inner hall and towards the back of the great castle to a private courtyard, which was alive with blazing torches and so many flowers and garlands it felt like a fairy tale.
Which, of course, it was.
I turned back to my husband. “It’s perfect.”
He caressed my cheek. “Not yet. Come,” he said, leading me to a table that was topped with yet another cake, this one in a much more manageable two tiers, iced bright white and covered in black Charlemonde roses.
“Auggie,” I protested, thinking about the heavy fruit cake from the reception. “I can’t eat another bite.”
“Really?” he said as he picked up a knife to cut through the decadent cake. When he lifted the piece away, I saw the blood red color. It was red velvet, just like I had wanted.
“Auggie,” was all I could say. He literally brought every single dream I ever had to life.
He grinned as he fed me a bite of the rich cake, his eyes focused on my mouth as I savored the treat. My knees wobbled beneath me as I thought of the night ahead, particularly when I fed him a bite and he used those magical lips and tongue to tease why lay ahead for the evening.
“It’s delicious,” I told him.
“Yet, it’s not the sweetest thing I’ve ever eaten,” he grinned as he licked his fingers clean. He likewise cleaned my fingers the same way before his mouth lowered to kiss away any icing that lingered around my mouth.
I wrapped my arms around him, pushing my body into his. “Which way to the bedroom?” I asked in a husky, trembling voice.
“Which one?” he wanted to know.
“Any,” I said. “All.”
He grinned wider. “Now you’re getting it.”
He pulled me through the
arched gateway made of carved wood that separated the courtyard from the rest of the grounds that seemed to go on forever in the inky dark recesses. I couldn’t really see where I was going, so I clutched his hand and trusted where he led.
We approached a gazebo which had been draped in flowing tulle and wrapped in garlands and lights. Inside was a bed, covered in purple and black satin.
He lifted me up and carried me inside, laying me gently on top of the sumptuous coverings.
I needed little encouragement as I pulled him down to me. I had waited all day for this moment, and here we were, indulging in it right out in the open, with nobody to see.
Well, nobody but old King Whitley.
I cared about none of it the minute I felt my husband’s beard tickling my neck as he savored my skin with kiss after kiss. The October air was crisp but my whole body was on fire as his fingers blazed a trail down my quivering body.
“My wife,” he murmured as his hand disappeared under the hem of my dress.
“My husband,” I affirmed as I slid my own fingers down the sinewy muscles of his back, to dance over the succulent curve of his ass. He groaned as he kissed his way down my body. He slid my underwear easily off my body before he dove in between my thighs. I cried out as he worked his magic.
“Scream louder,” he encouraged, before teasing and toying with me to ensure I obeyed his command. It was so completely liberating I didn’t argue a bit as he began to strip me slowly, until I was naked and bare beneath him.
Not to be outdone, I made quick work of his clothes as well.
The night air whispered along our skin, leaving goosebumps in their wake. His large hand splayed across my enormous belly. “You’ve gotten bigger,” he grinned. “My love in full bloom.”
I cupped his crotch. “Ditto.”
He chuckled as he pushed me onto my back with another blazing kiss that tasted of a heady mixture of red velvet cake and me.
To return the favor, I pushed him onto his back and slid my tongue along his body, until I reached the undeniable evidence of his desire, so rock hard and full my insides clenched tight in anticipation. When my mouth descended over him like a glove, it was his turn to cry out into the night.
The Duke Takes a Bride (The Rocking Royal Trilogy Book 2) Page 8