“I will,” she promises. “No matter what.”
Chapter 10
Della
“Prime Minister Davies and…company, may I introduce you to my wife, Della Sinclair, Crown Princess of the Isle of Man,” Colin says as he lifts me from his desk and sets me on my feet. It feels weird to hear my name with a title, but I suppose he’s doing it to remind them of who they’re dealing with.
I put my hand in his, lacing our fingers together, and give everyone in the room a smile.
“His wife?” the woman beside the prime minister sputters. “I thought…my apologies, Your Highness. I was under the impression that some tart had taken up residence in the baroness’s castle.”
Colin tenses beside me. “I can’t imagine who would fill your head with misinformation.”
Her lips thin, then she briskly crosses the room and curtsies to us. Colin bows his head in response while I stand there. I have no idea if I’m supposed to curtsy back or fist-bump her.
Okay, so even I know I shouldn’t fist-bump her.
“We have not been formally introduced. I am Margaret Fletcher, undersecretary of the Privy Council. Please accept my apology. Princess, it is a pleasure to meet you.”
“Thank you.”
Her mouth twitches. “American?”
“Afraid so.” I make a weird popping sound with my mouth. At least I didn’t start humming “America the Beautiful.”
“Hmm,” is all she says before turning her attention back to Colin. “It’s a pleasure to witness firsthand a Sinclair actually spending time with a spouse that is theirs. Perhaps we will get an heir or two out of this, after all.”
An heir or two? I look at Colin questioningly. Why wouldn’t Aiden and Pierce be his heirs?
“We are sorely in need of female children in the Sinclair family,” she says and I want to sink into the floor. “Although, the twins are really the ones responsible for bearing the future queen.”
“While the Honorable Fletcher is within her rights to apologize, I will not,” the prime ministers snaps. “You have shown your true colors by choosing to remain in exile over duty.”
“I won’t apologize for that,” Colin says quietly, but there is no mistaking that he means business. “Parliament has chosen the Crown’s consort for years and nearly every single arrangement has ended rather badly—including my parents. You forced those together who were never meant to be, and they took their unhappiness out on the entire country. We all suffered under their rule.”
“Be that as it may. This is bigger than you or an arranged marriage. Contracts and concessions, years in the making, were on the line. Our economy will crumble thanks to this stunt.”
“I’m happy to reopen Sinclair Enterprises’ manufacturing and technology buildings. We could have everything up and running at at least eighty percent capacity by the week’s end.”
“That would require your foot on our soil and I’m not willing to risk a toe.”
Colin’s jaw works. “Perhaps you would consider a representative. The sea lines need to be maintained and while you’ve plotted my marriage, other companies have been making bids.”
“Don’t pretend to care about the Isle while you’ve spent years gallivanting around the globe, sleeping with countless women, and shirking your duties—”
I burst out laughing.
Everyone looks at me.
“Please tell me he’s not serious.” I glare at the prime minister and cross my arms over my chest. “You’re serious.”
“Extremely. I have my sources,” the smug asshole smirks.
“Then your sources should have told you that the only gallivanting Colin has done has been with his boys.” I don’t bother to address who he’s slept with because before now it didn’t matter. Okay, so it matters a little, but we weren’t together then. “As for his duties, he’s a single dad—an awesome single dad. He’s taken care of Aiden and Pierce their entire life, without the help of a nanny or anything…and I know because I was there. I didn’t need sources to tell me what I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears.”
A look passes between Davies and Fletcher.
“You are still in exile, and in case you thought to get around that with her, she is forbidden to step foot in our country as well,” Davies sneers. “Good day to you both.”
My heart sinks. I just made things a million times worse.
“Beaumont will see you out,” Colin says.
As soon as the door shuts, I open my mouth to apologize but Colin has other ideas. He kisses me, long and hard. So long and hard that my body starts to ache and tingle.
“Why are you kissing me?” I gasp.
He smiles. “Because you defended me.”
“I’m your best friend, of course I’d defend you…well, when you’re falsely accused of something, I’ll defend you. Act like a jerk, no way.”
Tenderly, he brushes back the loose strands of hair at my temple. “You misunderstand me. No one has defended me, or my siblings, in over a decade. No one would dare stand against the prime minister and a member of Parliament.”
I blush at his compliment. “Well, you know how we Americans are. Rebelling against the Crown since 1776.”
He laughs low in his throat, then sobers.
“But I feel like my rebellion made things worse for you,” I admit.
“Not possible.” He kisses my nose and then my forehead. It’s strangely comforting and arousing.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
“Why aren’t Aiden and Pierce your heirs?”
Colin doesn’t answer me at first. Instead, he lets go of my face and captures my hands. His head lowers and I can’t see his eyes. “Because they’re illegitimate.”
My stomach does a funny flip in my stomach. “That’s a thing—not being married to their mom?”
“It’s a very real thing when it comes to lines of succession—not that it matters since they are boys.” On one hand I feel relief, on the other, will he want to marry a woman who will give him legitimate female heirs? “I don’t give a damn what label they put on Aiden and Pierce. They are still Sinclairs. Honestly, I wouldn’t wish that kind of pressure on a child. Imogen and Charlotte have it much worse than I do.”
I blow out a shaky breath, my heart breaking a little for Aiden and Pierce…and for him, too. “Is that why you asked me to stay?”
He lifts his head. “I had no idea what they’d say about me or my family in front of you, but I know it won’t be the last time you’ll hear the worst about us. About me.”
“Who cares what they say? Who cares what anyone says?” I lift my hand to his chest, his much larger hand surrounding mine. “I know what’s in here, remember? Even if I wasn’t your wife, even if I hadn’t agreed to marry you, you are my best friend and I will always be on your side.”
“How would you feel if I took you out to dinner?”
“Like a date?”
He tilts his head from side to side, his expression going from serious to downright mischievous. “I feel like showing off my very beautiful wife.”
“My husband isn’t too bad looking, either.”
He lets go of my hands and tugs on an ear. “I do have ulterior motives.”
“You mean you don’t want to just take me to dinner?” My body warms to the thought of what he could have in mind, but a part of me is cautioning my heart to stay out of it.
“I want to seduce my wife…unless she is not keen on that part of my plan.”
“Why?” Maybe I shouldn’t ask, but I can’t let go of years of friendship that might be harmed for a night in his bed.
“Beyond the fact that you are beautiful and sexy, that I adore you and all that you’ve done for me over the years?”
“When you put it that way….” I smile a little, then lay my palm against his heart. It’s beating hard in his chest, fast, too. “Are you renegotiating our contract?”
“Yes. I think that if we are to be married f
or the next three years that we should enjoy our time together to the fullest. I don’t want another woman, Della, and that’s the bloody truth.”
Oh, holy crud. He wants me and I want him, and there’s nothing to stop either of us. I swallow down the nervous energy and try to be sophisticated instead of giddy. “I need more time.”
“How much time?” he asks, his shoulders falling a little.
Crap. I didn’t mean to make him feel bad or unwanted. “Dinner?”
He bites the side of his lip. “I can handle that.”
“You better show me your best lines and moves tonight, Sinclair. Just because we’re married doesn’t mean that you half-ass it.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” He takes my hand in his and brings it to his lips, where he presses small kisses on my knuckles. “I might be a tad rusty—I’ve never had a wife before.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask him why he didn’t marry his sons’ mother, but I don’t want to ruin the moment, or the night. Regardless of my decision, which I know he will respect, I have time to ask him about…I suddenly realize that I have no idea what her name is.
Is he still in love with her? So in love that he can’t say her name without it hurting? Or maybe she— It’s none of my business. He has the right to a past that does not include me and it’s not like he knows all my secrets, either.
Or least he doesn’t know my biggest one.
—
We have dinner in a small tavern located near the castle. While it’s intimate, it is not without a security detail. Although, where would anyone go if they tried to hurt either one of us?
It’s an island, for goodness’ sake.
“What do you think?”
“Of the food or my date?” I wink at him. In the hour we’ve been here, Colin has complimented me; touched my hand, my leg, and my face every chance he’s gotten; and made sure to whisper in my ear—every freaking time I take a sip of my wine—the extremely naughty things he wants to do to me in the library.
I swear my cheeks are the same color as the liquid in my glass and I can barely sit still. He’s not playing fair and, while I like it, I’m not used to this new change in our relationship.
“Both.”
With a shrug, I reply, “Not bad.”
He looks more than a little offended. “Not bad?”
I hold up my hands in surrender. “Okay, so the food is amazing.”
“I’ll show you amazing,” he mutters into his pint of beer before taking a long drink. “Are you ready for dessert?”
“Giving up so soon?” Purposefully, I pick up my glass and take a drink, staring at him over the rim.
Right on cue he leans forward and whispers, “I am going to tie you to my bed, facedown, and spank you until you’re dripping wet and your arse is cherry red.”
I almost choke.
“But I won’t fuck you, not until you’re begging for my cock. And believe me…You. Will. Beg.”
Hand shaking with desire, I set my glass down. “You sound really royal.” He also sounds really hot. Too hot. “Can I get some ice?” I call out to the server.
His eyes darken and his lips form a wicked smile. “I sound like a man who wants to give his wife orgasms.”
I have nothing to say to that. Nothing at all because that’s what I want from him.
“I’m almost there.”
A dark brow arches. “What will it take to get you the rest of the way?”
I take a breath, knowing that what I say next will either kill the mood and make him walk away, or he’ll understand and show me that I have nothing to worry about.
“Give me one good reason why I should say yes, beyond what you’ll physically give me. Give me one good reason why we should risk the change in our relationship.”
He takes my hand gently in his, running the tip of his finger along the tops of my knuckles.
“Because when we are old, can barely remember our names, and are sitting by the pool, watching my boys’ children play…we will look back on this moment and regret that we weren’t brave enough, that we didn’t believe in us enough to try.”
Chapter 11
Colin
As I walk with Della along the ancient hallways of Castle Saint-Lyon, pointing out the various bits of history and telling her stories of my family, I have to fight the urge to throw her over my shoulder like a raiding Viking of old and run to the library, then ravish her on the rug in front of the fireplace—exactly like her fantasy.
Ultimately, I maintain a rather sedate pace that allows her plenty of time to make up her mind.
“Did you—?” She abruptly shuts her mouth.
“Did I what?”
She sighs. “I was going to ask if you meant what you said to me in the tavern, but I already know the answer.”
I stop in the middle of the hallway, in front of a portrait of Queen Cleo the Second and her much younger consort, who was not her husband.
“If it will persuade you either way, yes, I meant every bloody word.”
She touches my face, right along my jaw where it flexes. “I know.” She swallows. “Can we go slowly? I’m half nervous and half excited and really, really worried that I’ll last all of five seconds because it’s been a few years.”
I blink at her. She’s saying yes. Holy fucking shit, she’s saying yes. “Pretty sure you stole my lines.”
A roll of her eyes has me laughing. “You are not nervous.”
“But I am excited and I’m worried I won’t last long due the years it’s been for me, too,” I admit.
Her face transforms from pretty to luminous. “Years?”
“All your fault.”
“Yours, too.”
I bite the side of my lip. “Then we are both to blame and should be held accountable for our lack of action.”
“By making it up to each other?”
“Seems like the best possible course of action.”
She grabs my hand. “Which way to the library?”
I tug her to me. “We’re almost there. I might have purposefully steered you in the right direction.”
“You are devious.” She smiles. “I like this side of you.”
“That so?” I murmur, and she nods. “When we get in the library, I want you to get rid of your clothes as soon as possible while I lock the door and turn up the heat.”
Her eyes round. “I’m superhot right now.”
Leaning down, I nip at her throat. “I can get your hotter.” I wrap my hand around her wrist and direct her to follow me. “We’re nearly there.”
“Hurry,” she urges, and I break out into a jog. She keeps up with me.
“This door, love.” I stop and twist the handle, then push it open. “After you.”
With a siren’s smile, she steps through and I follow. The first thing to go are her shoes and then her top. Her beautiful, silky hair tumbles down around her shoulders. She bends over just as I kick the door shut behind me and back up, feeling for the lock that will keep everyone out.
But there’s nothing that will keep me from Della tonight.
For a moment, she stands there, looking so beautifully vulnerable that I can’t help but smile tenderly. “We have all the time in the world. You set the pace, love.”
Slowly, she turns away from me and pushes her jeans down her legs, baring a perfect ass partially hidden by a pair of boy shorts. While it’s not the first time I’ve seen her in something this skimpy, it is the first time that I’ve seen her in lingerie. Pivoting to face me, her breasts bounce lightly in the dark blue lace bra.
“You are altogether lovely,” I say hoarsely.
With a fierce-looking blush, she reaches around, unhooking and letting the straps fall down her arms. Finally, the cups give way, treating me to an unobstructed view of the finest pair of tits I’ve ever seen.
They’re not small and they’re not large. They’re bloody perfect and I want to touch her.
“I might need help with my panties,” she says.
“Can you be my knight in shining armor and come to my rescue?”
I take a step toward her, pulling my sweater over my head and then my T-shirt. “I’d rather be the man who makes you come.” I divest myself of the rest of my clothing and simply stand there, my cock hard and ready for her. “Will this do, my lady?”
She quickly nods. “I can work with that.”
“Didn’t you know?” I cross the small distance between us and put my hands on her hips, hooking my thumbs under the material of her panties.
“Know what?” she says faintly. She sways toward me, the tips of her breasts teasing my chest.
“You’ll be flat on your back the entire time. No work involved.”
Her mouth parts and I take the opportunity to kiss her. “I want to be involved,” she insists.
“That’s not work.” I push her panties down her long legs and glance up at her, my mouth going dry at the small strip of pale red hair on her pussy. “Step out,” I manage to get out.
Placing her cool hands on my shoulders, she obeys my command. I kiss my way up her legs, taking the time to massage them as I draw closer and closer to where I have to taste her.
“Colin,” she gasps as I kiss her mound.
“Spread your legs.” I gently run my finger down her pussy and follow it with my tongue. She whimpers as her hips jump. “Perfection. That’s what you taste like.”
“Not honey?”
I know her and I know what she reads. “Peaches. Ripe, juicy peaches.”
She snorts and I swear I fall more in love with her. “Oh Lord. We have to stop. There is no laughing during sex.”
“Maybe with us there is…unless you happen to be pointing in the general direction of my dick.” She starts to laugh and I lick her again, finding her clitoris and sucking it until she cries out.
“Right there.”
I hum in agreement and she lets out a sort of yelp-like moan. Doubling down on my efforts, I bury my face between her thighs, coating my lips and tongue with her. I grab her ass and pull her against me, sending my tongue deep inside her pussy.
She yanks my hair but doesn’t push me away. “Harder and that…with your tongue.” The fact that she’s a talker makes me hard as steel.
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