Page 44 of Awakened On Her Royal Wedding Night
Her heart lurched, led one way by “I love,” and yanked in another by the rest of what he’d said.
“I thought you were ready, too.” It was disconcerting to realize he hadn’t been nearly as aroused as she was.
“I’m greedy foryourpleasure.” He lowered his head to her breast and used his tongue to shift the lace against her nipple.
A fresh jolt of desire shot through her like electricity.
“Poorcara mia. Did you think I would do anything on our honeymoon beside make you mine in every possible way?” He slid his hand beneath the lace and exposed her breast, then dipped his head to take her naked nipple into his mouth.
It was a delicious, sensual assault that she couldn’t help succumbing to, even as she realized that they might take equal pleasure in sharing their bodies, but he wasn’t nearly so helpless to it as she was.
Felipe was a textbook case when it came to being a workaholic, so the annoyance he felt at the end of his honeymoon surprised him. Aside from daily visits to the gym and necessary meals, he worked constantly. Ski trips and other recreation were always combined with work. He had many responsibilities and they’d become heavier since his father’s diagnosis.
It wasn’t as if he would cease to see his wife, either. They made important appearances on their way home. And, while Claudine might eventually have a heavy calendar that conflicted with his own, it had become their habit to dine and sleep together. When he came out of meetings, she was never far if he wanted to find her.
This irritation with the intrusion of real life pressed guiltily against his conscience. He had been born to the crown, raised to wear it, and, for the sake of Nazarine, it was imperative that he continue to serve the throne. Any distraction from that was a threat to more than his sense of mental peace. It was a danger to the country that depended on him.
He had to remember that Claudine was a means to performing his duty. An extension of it, and nothing more.
His duty had never been such a pleasure, however, as when he escorted her into a charity gala in Portugal and she was introduced as his wife. She was beautiful. That went without saying, but she had the ability to make him catch his breath with a tilt of her smile or the feel of her long silk glove against his wrist.
His enjoyment of her presence beside him went beyond their sexual attraction and the boost to his male ego, too. He’d attended countless events like this with a woman on his arm. None had made him feel so...accompanied. That was it. In nearly every setting, he had always felt apart from the humanity around him, not that it had ever bothered him to be so, but with Claudine he was not alone in this sense of remoteness.
She didn’t seem to feel the same removal, though. She shifted between the invisible spaces without effort or even awareness of it. She put people at ease and projected an air of warmth, then looked at him in a way that should have felt invasive, but was a welcome intrusion. Her clear alignment with him undid two decades of Francois’s best attempts to label Felipe cold, corrupt and objectionable.
That amused Felipe no end, but he saw it as a liability, too, though. Being known as ruthless had its uses. Their romantic rush to the altar, dazzling as some found it, also made it seem as though he had a soft spot for her.
Seem?he chided himself. Hedidhave one. His appearance of loving her offered her certain protections, but that same perception made it clear she was his Achilles’ heel.
That concerned him. As much as he adored having her beside him, she created the sense of an unprotected flank. He didn’t expect an attack to come from her, but she was not a shield. She was a crack where an attack could come through.
“Vinicio is trying to get your attention,” she murmured when there was a break in the conversation they were having with a local dignitary.
“Excuse us,” he said to the couple and brought her to where Vinicio offered his phone.
“A message markedPrivate, Your Highness, from Princess Astrid.”
Felipe automatically held out his hand, but Vinicio said, “I beg your pardon, sir.” He offered it to Claudine.
She took it with a blink of confusion, then her eyes widened as she read. She showed it to Felipe.
I believe you. He wanted to move up our wedding date and did not take it well when I resisted. I’m fine, but the wedding is off. I’m on my way home. I wanted to apologize for not believing you when you warned me about him. I really do hope we can be friends in future.
“Find out what’s going on with Francois,” Felipe instructed.
Vinicio took back his phone and brought it to his ear as he moved out of the ballroom.
“I guess we didn’t need to marry quite so fast,” Claudine said with a weak smile.
Her remark had him reaching out to catch at her gloved hand, as if he had to physically restrain her from walking away from him.
“He’ll replace her very quickly.”
Her brow tugged into a brief frown of agony. He swore under his breath as he heard her thoughts. She would have to rake over her experience again and again, going through the process of being disbelieved again and again, as she continued to warn these other women.
Make a public statement, he wanted to insist, but clamped his lips tight. It had to be her decision.
“I think I expected to feel some kind of satisfaction or sense of vindication if she left him, but there’s not,” she said glumly.
