"Again," he demanded harshly, driving into her with a force that demanded a response.
"I can't," she told him brokenly, fingers digging into his back.
"You can." His eyes burned into hers as he drove her up again and then followed. For the first time in his life, the climax seemed to go on forever. When it was finished, he collapsed on top of her, his breathing shallow, his body coated with moisture.
He held her to him, even now reluctant to let her go. He held her tight as if banding their bodies together, forging them into one person.
"Stay," she whispered in his ear.
"Hmm. I don't think I can move just yet. My entire body is like water." He brushed his lips over her cheek. "You undo me, princess."
"I don't think I'll ever get used to being called that."
"You have two weeks to try it on for size." Lifting his head, he kissed her forehead and the tip of her nose.
"Two weeks?"
"Hmm." He toyed with her hair, his favorite thing to do. "That's how long we'll be on our honeymoon."
"Here?"
He grinned at her, devastating her with his smile. "Not just here. We have other places to be."
****************
She had told him she doubted she would ever get used to being a princess. What was going to take time getting accustomed to was the fabulous wealth. He took her to Switzerland, where the family owned a chalet, where they spent two glorious days exploring the Alps. They stopped off at France and Italy and visited friends. She fell in love with David and Hailey and their three adorable children. The last leg of their journey was in the UK: Scotland, Ireland and Wales, because she told him she had visited England once and that was it.
Her husband was determined to make up for what he considered to be a lack in her education.
"Exploring other cultures is a fascinating thing to do," he informed her. They were recognized in Paris and from there, the paparazzi went crazy taking pictures.
Six weeks after they returned to the palace, she knew she was pregnant. Even though she had been replaced as the queen's assistant, she still had a hand in helping her with a lot of things. And her husband was right. She had no time to be idle. From the very start, she was shown the number of charitable organizations, not only in Spain but around the world as well. Queen Sofia was a very generous monarch, and her compassionate nature would never allow her to sit back and ignore what she considered as the wrongs being done to the less fortunate.
It was right up Antoinette's alley and very soon she found herself caught up. At first, her husband protested that she was doing too much.
"You said I could no longer work, and I appreciate why that is, but I cannot just sit and do nothing. I promise you that it's not too much for me and you should know better than to try and pamper me. You fell in love with who I am, don't try and change me." He had reluctantly backed off.
Getting to know the man she had fallen in love with was an experience. She knew he loved her, because he proved that to her every single night they were alone. Whenever they were out in public, he was very attentive and had eyes only for her. But he was also moody and could be irascible and arrogant as well.
She was certainly not a pushover, as he discovered early in the relationship, but he was used to getting his own way.
He was the prince and that had been his role from birth. He was also entitled and sometimes careless with his words. She was learning to accept his flaws, realizing that she had a few herself.
Now she was carrying his child, the next heir to the throne, and it was scary.
Fortunately, where they lived wasn't plagued by people who tended to gawk or become obsessed with them and their lifestyles, but elsewhere in the world, especially given the fact of their unusual situation, they were plagued by the press who wanted to document every part of their lives. Her husband was used to courting the press, but she wasn't, and the invasion of their privacy was a source of argument between them.
"You're a princess now and people are fascinated by people like us. Deal with it." His arrogant tone had grated on her nerves and earned him her displeasure. She had reacted by freezing him out for the rest of the day. He had come into their bedroom later that night with a bouquet of flowers, a ridiculously large stuffed bear and a bottle of their wine, his expression penitent.
She had already decided that she was not going to allow their argument to spill over to the next day, which was not how she wanted her marriage to be. But she was also determined not to spend their lives in the public's eye. She had read of too many celebrity marriages going up in smoke because of the press. She wanted to avoid that very thing.
Now that she was pregnant, she was going to be fierce where that was concerned.
She got her confirmation and instructed the kitchen to prepare something special for supper. That role had also been passed on to her. She now handled most of the household duties, with the queen lending a hand whenever she could.
"Darling, you're officially the woman of the house now," the queen had told her. "You taking over certain duties frees me up for doing more."
Antoinette could not fathom how the woman could take on even more responsibilities.
