moment had come at last.
Millie felt like a novice swimmer who had been put on the highest diving board as they made their way to a beautiful room containing a vast bed, and there was a valet, removing the last of their empty cases.
She smiled politely at the servant. When would they ever be left on their own?
There had been one brief moment when they had left the wedding breakfast to go and change, when it had been just the two of them, and Millie had stood shyly in Gianferro’s suite of Palace rooms—hers, too now, of course—and looked at him.
He had read the plea in her eyes correctly, taken her veil off with care and then bent his head to kiss her, and the kiss had been like setting fire to a heap of dry twigs. She had eagerly wrapped her arms around his neck, opening her mouth beneath his seeking lips, and given a little yelp of pleasure until he had smiled and shaken his head slightly.
‘Cara,’ he had demurred, gently but firmly unwrapping the arms which clung to him. ‘Not now. Not yet. And not here.’
‘But…’ Her blue eyes were wide with bewilderment. ‘We’re alone. We’re married.’ And I want you. ‘Why not?’
He gave a little sigh, as much composed of regret as frustration at her lack of understanding. He glanced at his watch. ‘Because our departure has been arranged right down to the last second. The car is timed to leave in half an hour—and after that all the journalists can go away and file their copy. The guests cannot leave until we do—and I cannot leave Premiers and Presidents cooling their heels while I make love to my new wife!’
Millie flushed. ‘Of course not. How stupid of me!’
‘Do not worry. You will learn.’ With the tips of his fingers he tilted her face upwards. ‘There will be time enough for the pleasures of the bedroom, Millie. And I do not intend our first time to be a quick…’ His eyes glittered. ‘How do they say? A “wham-bam”, followed by a hurried dressing which would arouse the knowing smirks of Palace staff.’
Mille’s colour deepened even further. She didn’t want a quick ‘wham-bam’ either—whatever that was! She had hoped for passion and for spontaneity—but now she saw that those hopes were incompatible with her new status.
A great wave of panic began to swell up inside her, but with an effort she wished it away again. Stop fretting, she told herself. It will be all right.
But she was trembling as she turned her back on him, feeling so strange standing there in her pure white wedding gown. ‘Would you mind…unzipping my dress?’
He opened his mouth to call for the new dresser he had appointed for her, but thought better of it, instead sliding the zip slowly all the way down to the small of her back. How tiny her waist! And just above where the zip ended was a peep of the transparent lace of her panties. He swallowed as temptation washed over him, and began to unbutton his uniform.
‘There,’ he said thickly. ‘You can manage now.’
She buried herself in activity—scuttling into the bathroom in her bra and panties, feeling overwhelmingly shy as his dark and impenetrable gaze followed her. She took care to wipe most of the offending make-up from her face and, once she had removed the tiara, tugged all the constricting pins from her hair and brushed it free. Then she slipped on the dress and hat which had been chosen as her going-away outfit.
‘How’s that?’ she asked as she reappeared.
He gave a slow and lazy smile. A pink voile dress, cream shoes and a large cream picture hat, trimmed with blowsy pink silk roses which looked almost real. Her blonde hair was a pale waterfall which gleamed over her shoulders and emphasised the youthful bloom of her skin. She looked like a picture from an old-fashioned book. ‘Perfetto,’ he applauded softly. ‘My beautiful and innocent English rose!’
And Millie smiled back with relief.
Gianferro’s brothers had tied metallic balloons to the open-top car, and Princess Lucy had scrawled ‘Just Married!’ in deep vermilion lipstick on the bonnet of the expensive car!
But there were outriders, too, and shadowy figures in a car which sat on their tail as they moved away.
Millie had thought that they would all disappear once they had driven through the cheering crowds and out of the capital, but they were still there as the powerful vehicle began to ascend the mountain road.
She glanced behind her. ‘They’re not coming with us, are they?’ she said, only half-joking, but she had her answer in the slight pause before he answered.
‘Naturally.’
She opened her eyes very wide. ‘They are?’
‘They are my bodyguards, Millie,’ he said quietly. ‘Where I go, they go, too.’
All the conflicting emotions of the day made her feel light-headed enough to blurt out the first thing which came into her head.
‘I presume they won’t be joining us in the bedroom?’
Gianferro’s mouth hardened. Well, what did she expect? Really? ‘Of course not,’ he answered coldly.
It was a variation of the look he had given her in the Cathedral—displeasure. Another person might have hidden it.
But another person would not have been Crown Prince! Who had spent all his life having his wishes acceded to, his moods catered for. Why should he bother hiding something? More importantly, how was she intending to handle it, as his wife? She with no experience of any man at all?
Maybe that was better. Her slate was clean and ready to be written on. There was no murky history to look back over, to compare with what was happening to her now, with him. They were starting over, and if she wanted an intimacy with him which she suspected had been completely lacking in his life, then she must let him show her how. It could not be done in a minute, or even a day—but slowly, bit by bit.
She would not be offended if he was cool with her! Instead she would ignore it, find a way to work round it. And if she encountered a rock in the path which led to their happiness, then she would simply step over it!
She smiled with delight now, as she looked round at their luxurious honeymoon bedroom, where roses and lilies were crammed into priceless vases, scenting the air with their incomparable perfume.
‘That is better,’ he murmured with approval as he saw her face. The door closed softly behind the valet and his gaze briefly flickered over to it, his lips curving into an answering smile. ‘And what would you like to do now?’ he questioned softly.
Millie blushed, not daring to tell him how much she wanted him to take her in his arms again. For all she knew another servant would come bouncing into the room, or there might be something else they were supposed to be doing. ‘I have no idea,’ she said shyly.
He took her by the shoulders, his eyes now burning black fire and glittering with a certain kind of mischeviousness, too. ‘You don’t?’ he teased. ‘Millie, I’m disappointed in you!’
‘Gianferro—’
‘Shh!’ He lowered his lips to tease them against hers in a light, brushing kiss and felt her breath escape in a low rush of pleasure. ‘Ah! Yes! Yes, I know.
