Royal Affair (4 page)

He brushed a fingertip along her shoulder.
“And did he make your first time good?”

“Perfectly horrid. Neither of us had any
idea what we were doing.”

“And so intimacy with Alexander—”

“—was a revelation, to say the least.” She
still had to marvel when she remembered the first night at how much
time Alexander had taken with her to make sure she’d enjoyed the
act. Of course, she’d married him. Of course, she’d loved him. “I
felt so fulfilled as a woman to attract an older man who knew more
about the world than I did.”

“And the two of you were happy.”

She could have honestly answered yes to
that, although “content” fit her feelings better. There had been no
excitement to the marriage. And no children.

“There hasn’t been anyone since,” she said
softly.

“Except for a friend who came to comfort you
and took advantage to kiss you.”

“And immediately ran away as if he’d
committed a crime,” she said. “Really, Friedrich.”

“I can only explain myself by saying I
hadn’t…um…known any woman other than Cecile since my marriage.”

She stared at him, noticed that her mouth
had dropped open, and closed it. “No one at all?”

“It didn’t seem right.” His hand still
rested on her shoulder, and he continued to stroke her with his
fingertips. “I was afraid word would get out and the woman might be
disgraced.”

“You were young. It had been so long,” she
said.

“I thought you’d understand how I felt at
being so alone. I didn’t mean to impose myself on you.”

“You surprised me. I reacted badly. Then, I
kicked myself for months.” She placed her hand on his cheek,
“Friedrich, there still hasn’t been anyone else?”

He shook his head. “Until you.”

She couldn’t speak. Could hardly breathe.
He’d been a vibrant man when his wife had died…scarcely even in
middle age. And he’d had no one all that time until he’d finally
made his feelings known to her. What a great responsibility he’d
given her. What a great treasure. She’d make herself worthy of
both.

“I hardly know what to say.” Her words came
out as a whisper.

“I told you I’m a fool.”

“You’re nothing of the sort.” She could gush
on and on about what a treasure he was. The sort of man one only
expected to meet in novels of bygone days full of knights and even
unicorns. He would be her fairy tale. She’d only found her fantasy
in her later years, but found it she had.

“Well,” he said, squeezing her shoulder.
“When shall we…”

“…consummate our new relationship?” she
said. Somehow, the bold, new Marta could make such outrageous
statements as if discussing a bridge game.

“When we return home, I think,” he
answered.

“And when will that be?”

“I had planned an extensive tour of
Danislova.” A wicked gleam entered his eyes. “I suppose it could be
cut short.”

“You do have guests waiting for you at the
palace,” she said.

“Miss Beaumont’s family,” he said. “If what
she told Ulrich is true, they may need my help.”

“There you are, then. You’re duty calls you
home.”

He rose, pulling her up with him. “Come.
Let’s give Casey and her family the news.”

*

Marta sat in the bay window of her morning
room. The spot always allowed the sun to warm her shoulders, and
the fresh air from outside brought the scent of roses from the
garden outside. This afternoon, this perch gave her a view of the
circular drive in front of the house. She wouldn’t know what car
Friedrich would use as this was no official visit. Even his sons
wouldn’t know of their assignation. For now, the secrecy made the
whole affair all the more exhilarating. For the future…who knew
where this relationship was headed?

She checked her watch again. He wasn’t due
for another full ten minutes, and the Prince Royal was never late.
If he felt as eager as she did, he might appear early. She’d
prepared everything as best she could, and the fluttering in her
stomach would have to take care of itself somehow.

Down at the street, a dark sedan made the
turn onto her drive and slowly approached the house. Not
particularly large or regal, it would have blended into the traffic
across the city from the palace. If indeed, it held Friedrich
VonRamsberg in it. If someone else had taken it into his or her
head to make an unannounced visit, her maid Hilde would send the
person away with a lie that Marta had left the house. She couldn’t
bear any interruptions this afternoon.

Dear Hilde, the one person in the world she
could share her secret with. They’d been together so long, they
could trust each other completely. Hilde would recognize Friedrich
immediately and wouldn’t say a word to a soul about this visit.

Marta waited, counting the beats of her
heart, until a soft knock came on the morning room door and Hilde
let herself in.

“Mr. Schmidt,” Hilde said.

Marta rose. “Thank you, Hilde. That will be
all.”

Friedrich entered. He wore a hat pulled low
on his head and an overcoat far too warm for the weather. A
disguise.

“Schmidt?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Kurt used the name to romance
Casey. It seemed to work.”

“This is all very cloak and dagger.” She
went to him and held out her arms. “Let me have that coat and
hat.”

He relinquished them, and she set them on a
nearby chair.

“What about you?” he said. “Where’s your
butler?”

“I gave everyone but Hilde the afternoon
off.”

“And you think I sound like a novel.”

“I suppose we’re both a bit overly
cautious.” They’d discussed hiding their affair. If the scandal
sheets found out, they’d publish lurid headlines, which would worry
not only his family and Alexander’s but would upset the entire
nation.

With Hilde gone and none of the other
servants about, she had him entirely to herself. Somehow, her feet
wouldn’t move, and she stood drinking in the sight of him. His two
older sons got their stunning good looks from him. The glowing skin
and dark eyes. His white hair made the other features even more
remarkable. A strong jaw and lips sculpted for sin made him a truly
beautiful man. She had to find a way to bridge the few feet between
them. Luckily, she’d anticipated the problem.

“Some music,” she said as she went to the
portable stereo she’d set up on a sideboard.

He didn’t remark at the oddity of her
playing music when he’d come for something entirely different. Nor
did he say anything when she slid a disk into the player and the
low notes of a saxophone came from the speakers. At formal balls,
they’d mostly waltzed. This would be a different kind of dance.

He didn’t object when she approached him but
held out his arms in the usual fashion. With one hand in his and
the other on his shoulder, she stepped into his embrace the way she
had many times before. This time, she wouldn’t have to back away
when the music stopped. This time, she could have anything she
wanted from him.

“I remember the first time I became aware I
wanted you,” he said. “We were dancing, and suddenly I knew I was
in trouble.”

“Trouble?” She gazed up at him.
“Really?”

“Definitely trouble.” With their joined
hands, he tapped the end of her nose. “You were wearing something
blue that brought out the color of your eyes.”

Yes, that gown. She’d thought she’d caught
his attention that night. But then, he’d bowed after their dance,
and she hadn’t seen him after that. Had he been hiding from
her?

“All of a sudden, I forgot about the other
guests and everything I had to do and could only feel you in my
arms,” he said. “The urge to kiss you became almost unbearable. I
don’t know how I made it through that dance.”

“That was…five years ago?” she said.

“Six. Dev’s coronation as crown prince.”

She sighed and leaned against him. “How much
time we’ve wasted.”

He pulled her closer, curling their joined
hands against his chest. The music surrounded them, making their
bodies move with the sultry rhythm. Turning her hand, she pressed
her palm over his heart and felt the solid beat there, perfectly in
tune with her own.

He stopped moving and simply stood, holding
her. Another time, she could stay with him like this for hours,
basking in his warmth and strength. Today, mere gentleness wouldn’t
do. Pressing her face upward, she nuzzled his jaw with her nose and
then kissed his throat.

Bending, he captured her lips with his own.
No shy sampling, this. No kiss good-bye or promise for the future.
He meant business, and she yielded to him, urging him on. They
clung together as the inevitable climb began. The first steps of a
journey they’d take together. From wanting to needing to giving and
taking. She held his face between her palms to fit her mouth
against his as he reached to her buttocks and kneaded them. When
her belly pressed against his growing hardness, she could have sung
out with joy. This was really happening. Not some dream that would
fade when she woke from a fantasy. She really would have him.
Friedrich VonRamsberg would really make love with her.

“I must ask,” she said. “Your heart…”

“Ah, that episode from a while ago,” he
said. “It was no more than a scare, but the doctors made me give up
the cigars, and my sons limit my brandy.”

“Not very successfully that I’ve
noticed.”

“I’m fine for whatever you have in store for
me.”

“Good.”

After reaching behind her to take his hands,
she backed away. “It’s time.”

“Past time, rather.” He stared at her with
such a look of awe she forgot to breathe for a second. Then heat
entered his gaze—an expression she’d only witnessed on a few men,
but one you couldn’t fail to recognize. A man who knows his lover
is eager for him and is all the more aroused for the knowledge.

Still holding one of his hands, she led him
from the morning room to the staircase that led to the master
bedrooms above. Hilde would have removed herself to the kitchen or
somewhere equally distant from Marta’s bedroom. They passed
portraits of Alexander’s ancestors as they climbed the stairs. On
the second floor, they walked the length of an oriental carpet with
no more sound than the ticking of the grandfather clock at the end
of the corridor.

When they got to the door leading to the
rooms she’d shared with her husband, she gave Friedrich no
indication of the importance of the boundary they’d passed but
continued on to the suite she’d moved into after Alexander’s
death.

Neither did she stop in her sitting room but
took her lover directly into her bedroom. She’d left the door to
the balcony open so the warm breeze could make the floor-length
curtains billow. After dropping his hand, she went to the windows
and closed them. No sound from what would happen could escape this
room. Finally, she turned, kicked out of her shoes and began to
open the tiny buttons on the sleeves of her blouse.

“Let me.” He went to her and took over
working on her sleeves. “Undressing a woman is like opening a
present.”

“I’ve never heard it put like that.”

“You have to peel away layers and layers of
tissue, but eventually you get to the treasure underneath.” His
large fingers might have appeared clumsy against the buttons, but
he made quick work of them. His hands on her shoulders, he turned
her around so he could unfasten the back of the blouse. Once he
had, he tugged the garment free of the waistband of her skirt and
pulled it over her head. The silk whispered into a pile at her
feet.

Instead of undressing her further, he
nibbled on the bare skin of her shoulder, then along her neck,
finally taking her earlobe between his teeth. His breath grazed her
ear and slipped inside. So incredibly sexy, her knees almost gave
way. When she wavered, he caught her shoulders in his hands and
continued his assault on the other side. So good, and just a
prelude for everything still to come.

Then he turned her to face him and went back
to undressing her. First her skirt, pulling down the zipper and
pushing it over her hips. Kicking out of it, she added it to the
blouse. Then he pulled her slip over her head and tossed it
somewhere. When he worked the front fastening of her bra, her
breasts fell free into his hands.

“Perfect,” he murmured as he palmed them,
massaging and then tugging gently at the nipples.

For a moment, tears burned at the backs of
her eyes. How many years since a man had touched her this way? Even
before he’d died Alexander had been too ill for lovemaking. Nothing
had marked the last time they’d lain together as momentous when it
had happened. She hadn’t stored away the memories for the long
months when she’d have to exist without human intimacy. And now,
she had this miracle, and she’d memorize every moment.

“
Liebling
?” he whispered.

She glanced up to find him staring at her,
his brows creased with concern. “Is something wrong?”

“Something is very right.”

His smile warmed her from the inside, and
she would have wrapped her arms around his shoulders, but he bent,
cupping her breast in his palm to bring the peak to his mouth. The
gentle tug of his lips set off fireworks inside her—a shower of
sparks along her nerves to every corner of her body. No more
thoughts of tears. Only sexual awareness. She would couple with
this man she’d wanted for so long, and the joining would be
heavenly as well as purely carnal.

Digging her fingers into his hair, she held
him against her as he moved to the other breast. Her mind drifted
into a haze of arousal that blotted out any unpleasant reality—that
she was old and he might find her body unappealing, that the world
wouldn’t approve. To hell with all of that. His loving would make
her a complete woman again.

Of course, they couldn’t do much more
standing in the middle of her bedroom. She still wore stockings and
panties, and he hadn’t removed a stitch of his own clothing. So,
she lifted his head, kissed him briefly, and pushed his jacket over
his shoulders. When he shrugged out of it, she walked around him to
hang it on the back of the chair of her dressing table. He started
in on his tie, but she stopped him.