‘You will be there tonight.’ He’d meant it to sound like a question and instead it came out as a command.
‘Will I?’ She popped the rest of the sandwich into her mouth and chewed thoughtfully. ‘That will depend on whether you’re going to treat me as a wife or a toy.’
This again. Annoyance twisted inside him. ‘I am treating you as a wife.’
‘No, you’re not. A husband and wife generally spend time together, and we do not.’
‘Because we’re the rulers of a nation. Our marriage will not be like other people’s.’
She gave him a level look. ‘And if I want it to be?’
Everything in him drew tight. ‘What are you saying?’
‘I’m saying that I want our marriage to be more, Tiberius. Like I told you yesterday, I want it to be more than just sleeping together at night.’
Tension crawled through him, though he wasn’t sure why. ‘It is more. You wear my ring, you are at my side, you are my queen.’
‘That is not a relationship, and a relationship is what I want. And not one based entirely on sex. I don’t think that’s too much to ask for, especially if and when we decide to have children.’ One fair brow arched. ‘Or do you really want your children to have the kind of upbringing you did?’
That washed over him like a cold shock. He hadn’t spared a thought for children beyond knowing that he’d need heirs, and he certainly hadn’t thought about what kind of childhood he wanted for them.
One like yours? Crushed under the weight of other people’s expectations?
His chest grew tight with instinctive denial. ‘No,’ he said tersely. ‘I do not want that.’
‘Good. Then we agree on one thing, at least.’ She leaned forward and reached for the bottle of champagne sitting in the basket. ‘Let’s have a toast.’
‘We should be discussing what you need to do as queen,’ he growled. ‘Not drinking in the sun and talking about children.’
She only shrugged and uncorked the bottle with a deft movement. ‘Okay, then. Let’s talk about me being a queen.’
She handed him a glass, which he had no choice but to take, then she poured some sparkling liquid into it before doing the same for herself. Putting the bottle down, she picked up her glass and knocked it gently against his.
‘To the future.’
Then she lifted it to drink, and somehow managed to spill nearly all of it down the front of her pretty dress.
Tiberius sat there, unable to move, his gaze pinned to the wet fabric and the way it stuck to her skin, clinging to the curves of her breasts, making it very clear that she wasn’t wearing a bra.
‘Oh, no…’ She put down her glass and looked at him wide-eyed. ‘I’m all wet.’
He was suddenly painfully hard, with visions of himself peeling the damp silk from her and licking the champagne from her skin before checking to see just how wet she really was reeling through his brain.
Her deep blue gaze met his, and he knew that she could read the desire in his eyes because her own leapt to meet it.
‘This is a seduction, isn’t it?’ he asked roughly.
‘Is it?’
She made no move to dry herself, sitting there with the silk clinging to her, making it clear that her nipples were hard.
‘I’m already seduced. You don’t need to do this now. Couldn’t it wait until tonight?’
‘We’re talking about you teaching me how to be a queen, Tiberius. Nothing else.’
Except she wasn’t looking at him that way, and before he quite knew what he was doing he’d reached out, hauling her into his lap so she was facing him, her legs on either side of his hips.
‘Time for your first lesson, then,’ he said and lifting his hands, plunged them into her hair and took her mouth like he owned it.
