Crowned for the Prince's Heir

nally over his hardening body and he slanted her a complicit smile. ‘So why don’t you take off your dress and come over here?’

‘That sounds like a very sensible idea to me,’ she murmured, shivering a little with anticipation as she pulled the dress over her head and joined him on the bed.

He unclipped the rose-black lace of her bra and bent his mouth to the puckered point of her nipple, giving it a luxurious lick, before raising his eyes to hers. ‘Looking forward to tomorrow?’

‘I can’t wait.’

He smiled. ‘Then I guess we’d better do something to help pass the time as satisfactorily as possible. Don’t you?’

Lisa stroked her toes against his foot as he slithered her panties down. Tomorrow the three of them were joining Brittany, Jason and Tamsin for a week-long break on the quieter southwestern shores of Mardovia—a sprawling idyll of a royal retreat, well away from all the servants and protocol of the main palace. It was one of the few places where they could be totally free, but Lisa accepted that the occasional loss of freedom was the price to be paid for the honour of ruling this ancient island alongside her husband. And she was happy to pay it, because she had worked hard to ensure her smooth transition into palace life and all its expectations.

Early on she’d recognised that maintaining a business in England while trying to settle into her new role was probably not sustainable in the long term—though Luc had told her that if she wanted to continue, then somehow they would make it happen. But being a full-time designer did not fit in with being a full-time princess and mother—and a part-time designer was never going to make waves. So she sold the label and the few pangs of regret she experienced soon passed.

Luc had invested in and commandeered the building of a new Art and Fashion School, which was named after her, and she had been taken aback and humbled by this gesture of his love. She was proud and honoured to be the patron of the state-of-the-art institution and planned to give monthly lectures on design, as well as making sure Mardovia became a hub for fashion innovation. There was a lot of young talent on this island, she realised—and she was going to make sure that every Mardovian child’s talent would be fulfilled.

She had tried very hard to understand Eleonora’s behaviour towards her. Lisa soon recognised that it had been an overdeveloped sense of patriotism and rather warped sense of devotion towards Luc which had made the aide resent the new commoner princess so much. But, as Lisa whispered to Luc one evening, she didn’t want to start out her royal life with enemies, and forgiveness was good for the soul. So she had given Eleonora a key administrative role in the new Art School, and Eleonora had rewarded her with genuine loyalty ever since.

She and Luc had done everything in the wrong order, Lisa reflected ruefully as her panties fluttered to the floor. Her pregnancy had come before the wedding and there hadn’t been a honeymoon for many months—not until Rose had been settled enough to leave with Almeera.

The other big change was with Jason. Brittany’s new-found independence had given her the strength to tell Jason that there was no future for them until he got himself a job. And she’d meant it. Jason had found himself a job in a warehouse and had put in the hours and the backbone. It wasn’t the most glamorous job in the world, but it proved something to them all—that Tamsin’s father did have grit and commitment somewhere inside him. Six months later he and Britt were married and Luc offered him a role with his security facility at the Mardovian Embassy in London.

‘What are you smiling to yourself for?’ Luc’s deep voice interrupted her reverie—as did the finger drifting over her ribcage—and Lisa looked into the sapphire gleam of her husband’s eyes.

‘I’m just thinking how perfect my life is.’

‘I’m pleased to hear it. Perhaps I can think of a way to make it even more perfect.’

She batted her eyelashes. ‘Really?’

‘Really.’ A smoky look entered his eyes as he brushed his lips over hers. ‘I intend making love to you until the moon is high in the sky, chérie—but first there is something I need to do.’

She lifted her hand to his face, resting it tenderly against the angled contours of his cheek. ‘Which is?’ she whispered, though she knew what was coming for it was something of a daily ritual for them—a glorious reaffirming of the vows they had once made under duress. At times they had each felt this particular emotion, but neither of them had dared say it, but now the words could be spoken freely and spoken from the heart. And they said them just as often as they could, as if to remind themselves of their good fortune.

‘I love you,’ he said softly.

Was it crazy that tears had begun to prick at the backs of her eyes? Lisa didn’t care because she no longer shied away from showing emotion. And when something felt this good, you just had to let it all come rushing out.

‘I love you, too, my darling Luc,’ she whispered back. ‘Now and for ever.’

And she drew his dark head towards her so that she could kiss him, in a room gilded rose gold by the glorious Mardovian sunset.

* * * * *