Forbidden Desire (Maid for the Billionaire Prince) (5 page)

“And so what happens to Tatiana?” the Queen says. “You cast her off like this right after your father has made the announcement? We have made no official statement to the public, and as far as your father is concerned, you are still officially engaged.”

I look at my soup, and despite my grumbling stomach, I suddenly feel queasy.

Claire is eyeing me with curiosity. “Is that my sister’s dress?”

Uh oh.

“We borrowed it because Liz has nothing formal to wear,” Alex says, glaring at her.

“I hope she won’t mind,” I manage to say. My voice wavers, and I’m aware that I’m doing a piss poor job of winning over Alex’s family.
Come on, Liz, you’re better than this
. I straighten my slumped shoulders and add, “She has gorgeous clothes.”

“I should hope so,” Claire says, “seeing as she spends half the kingdom’s coffers shopping in Paris and Milan. Mother, how come I don’t get that much spending money?”

“It’s because you’re still seventeen. When you turn twenty-one, you’ll have your own clothing allowance.”

“Yes, but I still need to look good in school.”

“You do not need to look
that
good. It’s school, not a charity fete.”

“Mother, half the girls have better trousseaus that I do.”

“That’s not true and that will be enough on the subject, darling.” The Queen turns to me. I remember reading that her maiden name is Emily Grant, and she is the sole heir to the Grant empire – a sprawling multibillion dollar worldwide conglomerate of newspapers, TV channels and movie studios. The Grants may own a large chunk of the media, but even they cannot block negative press, it seems. “So tell me, Elizabeth, what do you do?”

“I go to college.”

I’m sure Jasper has already briefed her all about me, and this is merely dinner conversation. Or a test. I think I have calmed down sufficiently to maintain a normal conversation. I mean, they are already predisposed to dislike me intensely, right? Whatever I do or say won’t change that.

“In Chicago?”

“Yes. CNU. I’m doing psychology.”

“And you pay your own way through college?” Queen Emily affects an interested voice, although I can discern the brittle iciness in it. We may be from the same country but we are worlds apart. I can drop any notions of her warming up to me just because I’m a fellow American.

“Yes.”

“Admirable, isn’t she?” Alex says. He has already finished his soup. He looks at mine, still untouched. “You OK, Liz?”

“I am,” I say hastily, dipping my spoon into the soup. Can’t let the royals know I’m being terribly affected by their coolness.

“And how do you pay your way through college?” Claire challenges, her eyes dancing.

“Oh come on, Claire,” Alex cuts in, “don’t you pretend that Jasper hasn’t briefed you already. You’re just trying to embarrass Liz, though she has nothing to be embarrassed about. Just because she works as a hotel maid doesn’t mean she’s going to be a maid forever. And even if she was, there’s no shame in that.”

“I never said there was,” Claire declares.

Alex shoots her a deadpan gaze as if to say, “Come on. I know you better than that.”

“The circumstances of how you two met are rather bizarre,” Emily says. She glances at Claire. “For your sister’s sake, I won’t recount it at the dinner table.”

Claire rolls her eyes. “Mother, I’m not a child, and yes, I’ve heard the details.”

“Are we going to talk about this all night?” Alex says, putting down his spoon. “Because if you both are going to make us feel uncomfortable, we’re better off leaving.”

I gasp. I feel like standing up and cheering for Alex. Did I mention how much I love this man? Well, I love him even more, if possible, and he doesn’t even know it.

“There’s no need for histrionics, Alexander,” his mother says. “I believe we can resolve all of this in an amicable manner.”

“There’s nothing to resolve, Mother. Father made an announcement that I was not consulted on and not privy to. I’m an adult, not a chess piece.”

“Not here, Alexander.” Emily looks pointedly at me.

“But that’s exactly what happened.”

The waiters come in to clear the soup bowls, and the heatedness is momentarily put on hold, though I’m pretty sure they were listening to every word behind the curtains. I barely knew what I ate anyway.

They serve the next course, which is a chicken breast in some sort of orange sauce, garnished with parsley.

“As royals, we have a commitment to the people.”

“You mean we have a commitment to Tatiana’s father – something we can do without, thank you very much.”

The Queen cuts through her chicken with the knife, which clatters sharply on her plate. “We’ll discuss this later.”

“I wish we could have discussed this a lot sooner, then there would be no need for all this unpleasantness.”

“Alexander, that’s enough. End of conversation.”

Looking mutinous, Alex clams up. The next few minutes are followed by scrapes and the chinks of silver cutlery against bone china plates.

“Are you going back to the hospital after this, Mother?” Claire asks.

“Yes. Would you like to join me, Alexander?”

Alex’s expression becomes more conciliatory. “I will. Are you going to stay there tonight, Mother?”

“Yes, I’ve been staying in the royal suite since your father has taken ill.” The Queen’s eyes soften. A tiny pang squirms within my chest. She clearly loves her husband, and I can sense that this is not a show. “It would be wise for you to spend as much time with him as possible before . . . ”. She almost imperceptibly shakes her head. “I trust that Elizabeth can look after herself.”

I nod. “Yes, I can.”

“Good. We’ll put Jasper at your disposal.”

“I can help look after Elizabeth,” Claire interjects with a cheeky smile.

“No,” Alex says shortly.

“Why ever not?”

“I don’t need looking after,” I say to Claire. “Though it would be great if we could spend some time together.”

OK, I’m just being polite. Claire is the epitome of every girl who made my life a living hell in high school, and she’s a princess to boot.

“Splendid. I’ve always wanted to know how the other side lives. You’ve always been telling me that I should socialize more with the commoners, Mother.”

My spirits sink. Can I retract the offer?

“Don’t be a brat, Claire,” Alex says.

She grins at him and sticks out her tongue when her mother is not looking.

I’m glad when dinner is over and we take our leave. I have the most humungous pit in my stomach, having barely eaten anything.

Alex takes me aside, “Hey, chin up. I’m here every step of the way.”

“I know.” I raise my eyes to him shyly. We are in an alcove a little distance away from the family dining room. “So . . . about what you said back there . . . am I really your girlfriend?”

My heart cringes, expecting him to say “No, that was just to rile them up”. I tense my entire body, bracing for pain.

He laughs softly. After his slumber, the dark circles around his eyes have disappeared and he looks well-rested and extremely handsome. “Are you kidding me? Need you even ask?”

Relief washes through me, and gratitude, and love, and a dozen different emotions. Oh, I’m such a wreck when I’m with him. He moves in for a kiss, and I respond hungrily in kind. It’s a passionate one – open-mouthed and full of tongue. I savor him, trying to compensate for the deep-seated gnawing hunger in my belly.

When we part for air, I whisper, “Oh Alex, they hate me. Everyone hates me here.”

“No, they don’t. They just haven’t gotten to know you like I have.”

I shake my head. “I’m not so sure.”

“Hey,” he tips my jaw up with his fingers, “you’ve got me. We’ll weather through this together, OK?”

“OK.”

We kiss again, though I’m really not sure if weathering this is even a possibility. But oh, I love love love Alex so much. It would be kill me if I were to be told that I can never get to see him again. It would more than kill me. It would devastate me and send me to the deepest pits of despair.

“Listen, I have to go see my father tonight and tomorrow morning, but Jasper will take you shopping, OK? My expense account is yours. Buy anything and everything. You need a new wardrobe.”

I have never asked Alex for anything in my life. I mean, he paid the air tickets and accommodation and stuff because I didn’t have any money on me, but we lived frugally and simply for the past month. The possibility of buying clothes with his money now fills me with trepidation.

“Oh Alex, I don’t know.”

“Do it for me. You need a new wardrobe, and you’re my girlfriend, so you’re going to be in a bit of spotlight. We’ll avoid it as much as we can, but unless you plan on being a recluse here, there’s no way you can avoid it completely.” He teases my hair. “I wish I could have prepared you more for this and I was fully intending to ease you into my life . . . or at least,
this
part of my life. But there isn’t time.”

“I know . . . your father . . . ”

“I’m sorry, Liz.”

“Don’t be. I wouldn’t dream of leaving you alone to deal with this.”

“I know. I have to go. I might be back home late tonight, so go to sleep and I’ll see you in the morning.”

He kisses me again – deep, urgent kisses.

“Leave your door unlocked,” he whispers.

And then he leaves.

It’s as if my only anchor in this bewildering foreign world has been taken away. Deep down inside, I know that I’m going to be alone in dealing with this. No matter how much Alex supports me – in the end, it will be up to me and how strong I ultimately am.

6

The next morning, I wake up with Alex. I don’t recall going to bed with him because he did mention that he was coming home late, but here he is – as beautiful as a god in repose in my bed.

I extricate myself from him gently as I don’t want to wake him. Naked, he’s a glorious sight to behold under the sheets. His chest rises and falls slowly. I can watch him sleep forever. If only it were just the two of us in this wide open world. It would be a lot less complicated that way.

But life never has a way of working out the way we planned. I never planned to fall in love with Alex, any more than he ever planned to be born a prince. I never planned to be born into a poor family either. Who does?

Although he is sleeping, his erect cock forms a tent in the sheets. He’s always hard in the morning, from my delicious past experience.

“Hormonal overload,” he jokingly called it.

I have an idea. It immediately puts a smile on my face.

The morning sun is streaming through the windows, lighting up the room into a blaze of gold and brown when I dive under the white sheets. It’s not a complete blackout in there, because the sheet is thin and the sunlight filters through the threads to light the hazy environment down there into a soft golden glow. His cock is a stiff rod holding up the cloth.

I ease my mouth down upon it. I’m determined to finish what I started in Indonesia. I suck it slowly but insistently, curling my tongue around its corona. The ridge is a curved elevation against my taste buds.

I dip the tip of my tongue into the little hole on top of his head.

“Mmmmmm,” he murmurs.

Uh oh. I have woken him up.

But that’s the ultimate idea.

I continue to run my tongue up, down and around his head and shaft, giving him a really wet lashing. I make little fanlike movements – circles, triangles, squares, wavy lines . . . anything I can think of.

Then I swallow his cock hole, going as deep as I can possibly take him down my throat.

“Ohhhh,” he groans.

I am not at the liberty to say anything in my current position.

“Oh my God,” he says, his voice still slurred with sleep. “That feels sooo good. Don’t stop, please don’t stop.”

I slide my mouth up and down his cock. I’m essentially fucking him with the funnel of my mouth. I squeeze my cheek muscles against his turgid flesh to heighten the friction. His head butts against the little pendulum piece of flesh at the back of my throat. I have to try very hard not to gag.

Daylight suddenly intrudes upon my little act of fellatio. Alex has removed the sheet from my head and his lower half, and is now enjoying the sight of me savaging his penis.

His hands reach for and grope my hair.

“Oh baby, you’re going to kill me,” he says softly.

I intensify my sucking strength. I’m drawing his flesh upward and outward into the vacuum suction of my mouth. He moans and trashes his head upon the pillow, and his hands flail here, there, everywhere upon my head and shoulders.

“I’m going to come,” he warns me.

For answer, I bite down gently upon his cock and give him a particularly vicious tug with my teeth.

“Ohhhh!” he cries, and his semen jettisons into my throat.