He had taken to calling her that whenever she lay in his arms, and she liked it a lot. She liked the conviction in his eyes too. He wasn’t a man for idle words, and he meant what he said when he said it.
The way he looked at her made her feel as if she was every one of those things, and the nerves in her stomach settled. And so, obeying an impulse she hadn’t seen coming, she went on her toes and kissed him in front of the crowd.
The cheers were almost deafening as she came back down on her feet, and when she looked up into his face and saw the look of shock there she smiled at him. Then, gripping hard to her courage, she approached the crowd, smiling at them too, speaking a few words to some of the people.
A little girl pushed some flowers into her hands and said breathlessly, ‘You’re so pretty!’ And another young woman wanted a selfie.
Tiberius joined her, and together they moved towards the hospital entrance, pausing to speak to as many people as they could.
By the time they got through the hospital doors Guinevere was breathless. Her face hurt from smiling, and she felt energised in a way she’d never felt before.
It might only have been a small proportion of the population here today, but there had been more who’d welcomed her than who hadn’t, and it had been wonderful.
For so long she’d felt powerless and alone, but here, at Tiberius’s side, she didn’t feel like his dirty little secret now. She felt like his queen.
This is how you can make a difference. This is how you can right the wrongs done to you and your country. This is how you can defeat the ghosts of your father and your brothers.
Determination settled inside her as they were introduced to the hospital management. She was an Accorsi, and while what had happened to her country hadn’t been her fault, or Tiberius’s, it was something she wanted to fix, nevertheless. It was right that an Accorsi should help to put right all the wrongs. It was how it should be. And she wasn’t going to be put off by Tiberius any longer.
Tonight she wasn’t going to let him sequester himself away with his aides. She was going to demand they discuss all things to do with their marriage, and then she was going to join him in his meetings.
And she was not going to take no for an answer.
* * *
The hospital visit was appalling in some ways, because it made clear the depth of underfunding for critical health services. But it was good for both her and Tiberius to know, because once they did they could do all they could to fix it.
The visit took up most of the day, and by the time they got back to the palace it was close to evening. As they got out of the limo, Tiberius said, ‘I have a meeting to attend. I don’t know what time—’
‘No,’ she interrupted, looking at him stubbornly. ‘That can wait. The meeting you have to attend is one with me.’
He frowned. ‘It is to discuss taxation. That will end up funding the hospital we just saw, which desperately needs the money.’
Guinevere let out a breath. ‘There will always be something more important, Tiberius. The taxation discussion can wait for at least one hour, can’t it?’
He regarded her silently for a moment. ‘Very well,’ he said at last. ‘I can spare you an hour.’
They retired to his office, with Tiberius pausing outside the door to ask for some food to be brought to them, since they hadn’t eaten since the lunch the hospital had put on.
Then he gestured for Guinevere to come in, before shutting the door firmly behind them.
‘Very well,’ he said, coming to stand in front of the fireplace, his muscular arms folded. ‘You want a discussion…so let us discuss.’
He looked forbidding standing there, and very stern. The smile she’d seen him give to so many people today was absent now. He didn’t want to be here, she could tell, and she could almost sense the tightly leashed impatient energy crackling around his tall figure.
He still looked tired, and unexpectedly her heart ached. He was so driven. It couldn’t be easy to think that you were ultimately responsible for an entire country, and to be so conscious of it with every passing second. He could afford some time here and there just for himself, couldn’t he?
Then another thought struck her. If he didn’t look after himself, who was there to do it for him? Who did he have to turn to when things were hard? Who did he talk to honestly and openly? Did he have anyone he trusted? Anyone at all?
You know he doesn’t.
Oh, she knew that. She knew all too well. Just as she knew what it was like to be lonely. To have no one. She’d had no one for so very long and it had been so very difficult.
Perhaps if he truly had no one she could be that person for him?
All of a sudden she wanted to be. She very much wanted to be.
‘When was the last time you had a break?’ she asked.
