Perilous Princess: A Sexy Historical Romance Read online

  Anna lifted and placed her feet the way he had suggested and immediately could feel the difference. His cock was reaching deeper inside her and it opened her up so that the touch of his flesh against her was more distinct.

  Rhys threw his head back, the tendons in his neck flexing, as his thrusts came quicker and with less control.

  Anna could feel his building tension and knew he would reach the same sort of peak she had. That unraveled a whole new level of understanding. She watched his face as his pleasure exploded. His body stiffened and he gave a deep, hard groan, as everything seemed to clench.

  Then he relaxed and leaned down to kiss her softly.

  “Much better than the carpet,” Anna told him.

  Rhys laughed and she could feel the tremors of his body against her.

  “So that is how it ends, then,” she said.

  “Normally, yes.” His hips shifted and she could feel his cock move inside her. “But it seems I am not done with you just yet.”

  “We can do that again?”

  He pulled out of her. She could feel the withdrawal and his cock emerged glistening with fluid. Some of it was red. Her blood, she realized. Her virtue. But there was only a trace of blood. Rhys removed it with a cloth then turned back to her once more.

  “We can do that again, but this time, let’s try something different,” he said.

  “Different?”

  “These books of yours did not give you a range of…options?”

  “They were medical texts,” Anna said bluntly. “They were very prosaic. And now I know how much they didn’t explain.”

  Rhys laughed again. “I can see I will need to get you better books. Come here. Clearly, we need to fill in the gaps in your education.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Dawn was showing in the sky through the window. Anna could see it as she pressed her head into the pillow once more and clenched the counterpane desperately. Her education had lasted all night and it was still expanding rapidly.

  One of her greatest discoveries was that lips and tongue could go anywhere that fingers could reach. Rhys had spread her legs and kissed his way down to her thighs…and then between them, his tongue doing wicked things with her flesh. He settled onto his stomach and elbows and began to feast upon her nub. Her clitoris, she recalled from her dusty medical instruction books. He was stroking it with his tongue in hard, teasing motions that were making her writhe and moan and sigh.

  The texts had never mentioned that a woman could feel such pleasure.

  Orgasms. They had spoken of men experiencing them, but had failed to point out that women could, too. She’d had several orgasms already and now her body was trembling and the climax was gathering at the base of her belly, building power until it would crash through her like a wave.

  Her breath hitched and hitched again and then the climax arrived, making her vision fade and her hearing, too. At that moment she was a purely sensual creature, bereft of thought.

  Rhys held her against him as she recovered and she clung to him. He kissed her temple and she realized that she was happy. Simple, pure happiness. She couldn’t remember ever feeling it before, not as a grown woman and not from any memory she held as a child, either. Life had always been a struggle to behave in a way that would eliminate her father’s anger and later, her uncle’s too. All her energy and thought had been poured into that one ambition.

  And now she had no ambitions. None at all. And conversely, she was happier than she had ever been.

  Rhys picked up her hand and threaded his fingers through hers. “While I would much rather stay here with you, Anna, we should get dressed and eat. Your father has demanded a meeting and I can’t put it off any longer. We’re to meet him in the park at eleven.”

  All her happiness evaporated.

  * * * * *

  It was April, but even so, the sun was much too bright, it was far too warm and Anna wished she was anywhere but walking along the busy footpaths of Hyde Park. There were too many people and too many horses and carriages. Anna wished them to all be gone, even as she realized that Rhys had picked this public meeting location for that very reason.

  There was a hail behind them, someone calling Rhys’ name. They both turned and Anna felt a touch of relief, for Vaughn and Seth were hurrying along the footpath, trying to catch up with them.

  “You’re late,” Rhys observed.

  “We were waiting on the other side of the fountains,” Seth said. “Your instructions were somewhat limited.”

  “I believe they were hurried, not limited,” Vaughn said. He pulled his pocket watch out and consulted it. “Four minutes until the hour. My lady, are you up to hurrying?”

  “To meet my father? Must I?”

  Seth snorted. “A plain truth. Very well, let’s stroll.” He held out his elbow. “It is a pleasant morning, after all.”

  “It’s far too hot,” Anna complained.

  “Live in Australia for a few years and you’ll begin to think of this as the depths of winter.”

  She took his elbow but kept her hand tucked deeply under Rhys’ arm. Vaughn fell into step alongside them and they headed for the fountains. Even as the dancing water came into sight, Anna saw her father’s open carriage sitting on the roadway on the other side. Her father and uncle sat one on each side of the carriage, her father perfectly upright, his hand on top of his cane, his bristling beard jutting out. He was staring straight ahead, refusing to look to either side.

  Her heart started to hurt.

  “You’re quite safe,” Rhys murmured and she realized that she was gripping his arm hard.

  Her uncle was lounging back on the seat, one arm resting along the back of the seat, next to the folded-down top of the carriage. He was watching the debutantes and matrons stroll past in their groups of three and more, their parasols bobbing as they walked and talked.

  Anna was suddenly glad she had taken some effort over her appearance. Jilly had seemed to sense her intent and had worked over her hair for a length of time while Anna had fussed with the few ribbons and lace she possessed. But Anna had refused the lace gloves Jilly offered. “Bare hands this morning, thank you,” she told her maid. “No matter how offensive the ladies on Rotten Row may find it.” She glanced at the gold ring on her left hand and Jilly gave her a warm smile as she straightened the skirt on Anna’s morning dress.

  Anna was tired and wasn’t looking forward to this interview at all, but otherwise, she felt a rare contentment. The peace had been settling into her bones since Rhys had taken her from her father’s house but she had only really noticed it since realizing she was happy in Rhys’ arms.

  She leaned into him as she walked and Rhys gave her a small smile. “Once this is over, you should never need to speak to him again, if that is your wish. Everything can be handled through lawyers and representatives.”

  “If there is anything to handle,” she murmured. “He’s quite likely to disown me and find himself an orphan boy to make his heir.”

  “Would you mind very much if he does disown you?”

  “Not in the slightest,” she confessed. “It would actually be a relief, in a way.”

  Seth smiled. “Don’t say that until you’ve lived with no money for a while, Princess. It will change your views about wealth.”

  “I am sure you are right, as you have lived with and without it, Seth, but that was not my meaning. I would be glad to be rid of the responsibility of upholding the family heritage and line and winning back the principality for my father and everything else that my highly marriageable lineage required of me. I am about to ruin my father’s expectations regarding marriage and that just might rid me of the rest of it, too.”

  Her father did not react even when they reached the side of the carriage and were forced to look up at him. She realized that this had been his intention all along. He would not step down to speak to them at the same level.

  “Your Highness,” Rhys said. “Your daughter is here as requested and as you can see, she
is well and in fine spirits.”

  “How fares my mother?” Anna asked, not waiting for acknowledgement.

  Her father didn’t move. He did not even glance at her.

  “Cathrine is well,” her Uncle Rupert said shortly. Then he leaned forward, over the side of the carriage. “What is that on your finger?” he demanded, his facing thinning out even more as sudden fury flooded it. “What have you done, child?”

  Anna fought with every inch of her body the need to step back and away from her uncle. His rage seemed to her like the wash of heat from an open stove.

  Then she felt Rhys up against the back of her shoulder, offering silent support. She lifted her chin. “I am no child, uncle. I am a married woman.”

  Rupert’s eyes narrowed. “To this…commoner?”

  “He isn’t of royal blood, uncle, but Rhys Davies is far from common.”

  Rupert’s knuckles whitened where he clenched the side of the carriage and Vaughn stirred, moving closer to the carriage and to Rhys and Anna. “He is an unacknowledged bastard. Do you think I have ignored the prattle of the women? I know exactly what he is.”

  Anna realized that her uncle was speaking English, rather than German, so that the three men around her would hear every word he said and understand it. It was a hateful thing to do and for a moment, she despised him.

  “Get in the carriage, Annalies. We can deal with this at home. It isn’t too late to have the marriage annulled—”

  “It is far too late,” Rhys said firmly. “The laws of marriage in England are very clear, sir. Anna married me of her own free will. The marriage was perfectly legal and was witnessed and avowed by the Bishop of St. Paul’s. It has also been consummated. You cannot gainsay this union.”

  Rupert’s anger turned suddenly cold and hard, while her father, who had not moved from his upright position in the corner of the carriage, turned red in the face. Rupert straightened up from his lean over them. “This is not the end of the matter.”

  “As far as Anna is concerned, yes, it is,” Rhys replied. He pulled her closer to him and put his arm around her waist, in a very public and deliberate display. “You no longer have any rights regarding Anna, her affairs or her welfare. They passed into my keeping when I married her. I suspect I will keep them in far better order than either of you managed. Her wellbeing, in particular.”

  Rupert looked like he wanted to throttle Rhys, while her father began to quiver with his held-in emotions.

  “You’ll be cut off,” Rupert told her. “Your father will write you out of his will. The estate will become the Queen’s by default and neither your money-grubbing husband nor you will see a penny of it.”

  “I do hope that is a promise, Uncle,” Anna told him.

  Rupert shook his head. “You have no idea what you have done. You are threatening an end to a line of princes that stretch back over eight hundred years. You have a responsibility to this family and to your father to continue that line and a simple marriage will not end that obligation. I will make sure of that!” He turned and shouted at the driver. “Drive on!”

  The driver, Sawby, tipped his whip forward and gave a soft click of his tongue to get the horses moving along.

  Vaughn stepped out of the way of the big wheels, watching them go.

  Rhys sighed heavily. “That was about as unpleasant as I thought it would be.” He turned her to face him. “But now it is over.”

  “My uncle—”

  “—is full of piss and vinegar, if you don’t mind me saying so,” Seth interrupted.

  Anna giggled at the crudity. “But he is still right. My family has resources we do not and they have spent all those centuries fending off threats to the family line in ways that could destroy a marriage, whether it is legal or not.”

  “They’re not the only family to pull together to repel strangers,” Seth said, “no matter how much they might hate each other behind closed doors.”

  “I’ve seen more than one man find himself in sudden dire straits because he looked at the wrong debutante the wrong way,” Rhys added. “But that is not the issue here. I didn’t ruin an innocent girl. I married her, before God and the bishop of St. Paul’s.” His arm tightened around her waist for a moment, then he let her go. “The law is on our side,” he assured her, with the full weight of his years of legal expertise adding to his conviction.

  But Anna wasn’t reassured.

  Chapter Twelve

  “I said find a wife!” Wormwood bellowed, “not marry a bloody princess! For God’s sake, man, how is this firm supposed to live down a scandal of that magnitude?”

  Rhys winced, for Wormwood’s voice had risen enough that the farthest copy boy could probably hear every word without benefit of an ear to the door. “You may find that my marriage brings in even more business, sir,” he offered.

  “From whom?” Wormwood demanded. “No one will want to associate with a firm that employs commoners who reach beyond their station—”

  “Anna wasn’t coerced,” Rhys said swiftly. “If you understood how this happened—”

  “Aye, I’ve heard the gossip,” Wormwood said, his indignation suddenly evaporating. He sighed heavily and scrubbed at his hair with clawed fingers. “Ah, this is a mess and no doubt!” Then he gazed at Rhys sharply. “I’m guessing there’s more to the rumors than women sitting around the teapot supposing the real state of affairs, hmm?”

  “You could guess, but Anna’s safety depends on nothing being confirmed, so I would have to stay mute on the topic,” Rhys explained.

  Wormwood frowned and Rhys could see his mind was moving. Wormwood was a good man and a fine attorney, which was one of the reasons Rhys had remained with his firm for so long. Once he got over his initial ire, Wormwood was always able to see both sides of an issue and come to a fair decision. He might have made a fine judge, if he’d had the family connections to become one.

  “Your silence is a smart decision,” Wormwood said slowly. Then he sighed. “Although you’d be best not referring to your wife by that sweetheart name and using her full title instead.”

  Rhys frowned. “You mean, call attention to her status?” He didn’t understand why Wormwood would want the scandal enhanced that way.

  “For certain,” Wormwood said. “There will be no escaping the talk this will cause, Davies. You might as well reap whatever benefit you can from marrying a royal before we are all out looking for work and you and your royal wife find yourself at the gates of the poorhouse begging lodgings.”

  Rhys didn’t laugh, for Wormwood was quite serious. When he wasn’t instantly dismissed from his position as he had been expecting, he went back to his high desk. He tried to settle to the work that had accumulated during the time he had been away from the office but it was difficult to concentrate, for Wormwood’s gloomy prediction would echo in his mind, pulling his thoughts away from the task at hand.

  He would think of Anna instead and the warmth and softness of her body, her eagerness to find pleasure in the bedroom and his body would tighten and ache.

  He wanted to go home. It was the first time in his entire career that he had ever found home a more enticing location than right here where his mind was constantly challenged.

  Instead, he untied a brief, opened it with determination….then wondered what Anna was doing at this moment.

  * * * * *

  Anna realized she was drawing backward only when both Elisa and Natasha stepped back to keep pace with her. Elisa threaded her arm through Anna’s. “Natasha’s aunt Beatrix is a lovely lady. I’ve never seen her cut anyone dead.”

  “I have met her before,” Anna said. “But not since the wedding. Do you think everyone knows that Rhys and I were married?”

  “I sent Nellie Caxton a letter the morning of the wedding,” Natasha said brightly.

  “Vaughn posted a notice in the Times,” Elisa added.

  Lady Eleanor Caxton had been pointed out to Anna as one of the most vicious gossips in London, but everyone stayed friendly with
her to either avoid being talked about or to hear the chatter for themselves.

  “Then everyone knows,” Anna said with a sigh as they climbed the steps up to the double doors that stood open and welcoming. The butler waited just inside with a warm smile.

  “Most likely, yes,” Elisa said. “But that was the point, Anna. You can’t hide this. It’s better to come out openly and tell the world.”

  “A strong backbone and a defiant air can move mountains,” Natasha added.

  “As only Lady Natasha would know,” Elisa said.

  A warm look passed between them.

  “Well, if you’re sure…” Anna sighed and let them pull her through the door.

  Lady Beatrix Doe-Jones stood just beyond the door to the sitting room where she was hosting afternoon tea. When she saw the three of them, she held out her arms and smiled. “Ladies! Elisa, Natasha…and Your Highness!” Anna was enfolded in an embrace that made her shoulders creak. “I am so pleased you are here,” Lady Beatrix added. Then she picked up Anna’s hand. “Why, you’re shaking! This won’t do. Come, come. Let’s get some tea in the girl and a biscuit or two. Mary, would you bring that chair over here?”

  Lady Beatrix walked them into the sitting room, calling out to the maids and the footmen, arranging everything so that the three of them were settled on the sofa and a small table was pulled up in front of them, right next to the fire. It drew the attention of everyone already in the room, while their position next to the fire would ensure that anyone arriving would see them clearly.

  “Aunt Beatrix has the best tea in London,” Natasha said and picked up one of the cups. She didn’t speak in a particularly loud voice, but because of the silence in the room, everyone could hear her easily.

  “Try the cake, Your Highness,” Elisa added, pushing one of the small plates toward Anna. “It goes rather well with the tea.”

  Anna didn’t dare pick up the teacup, because her hands were shaking too badly. Instead, she twined them in her lap and gave Elisa the best smile she could manage. The room was still completely silent to the point where the crackling of the fire behind them sounded loud.