CHAPTER 7
“Good morning, Your Majesty,” Betsy said as she pushed open the curtains and filled Giabella’s chamber with bright sunlight.
Giabella lifted a hand to her eyes and shivered at the delicious ache in her body. She’d had hardly any sleep thanks to Dash, who had only left her bed an hour before, but it didn’t matter. Who needed rest when she now had such wonderful memories?
“It’s a beautiful morning,” she said, yawning as she sat up and dragged the covers around herself.
If Betsy thought it odd that her gown was lying on the floor in a pile or that she was naked in her bed, she said nothing and just went about the business of tidying up before she handed over Giabella’s robe. She wrapped it around herself as she got up and moved to the window to stare out at the view of the grounds and the sea in the distance.
“I’ve a bath drawn in the other room,” Betsy said. “And then I believe we agreed on the blue muslin to start the day.”
“Perfect,” Giabella said as she followed the maid into the attached room and the bath awaiting her.
Her morning went by as usual. Nothing could have been seen as extraordinary in the bath or how she was dressed or styled. She even managed to keep up a conversation with Betsy, laughing and chatting as she usually did with her longtime servant. And yet nothing about the day felt average.
She had made love to Dash. Over and over again, actually. She had found pleasure the likes of which she had never experienced. It was everything she had ever imagined or dreamed.
How could any day be typical after that?
At last she was ready. Betsy tweaked one last lock into place and smiled. “Perfect, as always, Your Majesty.”
Giabella smiled as she got up and looked at herself in the full-length mirror by the door on the way out of the room. She felt pretty and ready to see the man who inspired the high color in her cheeks and renewed brightness in her eyes.
“Thank you, Betsy!” she called over her shoulder as she left the chamber and made her way downstairs to the breakfast room. As she entered, she found Dash at the table, staring at the door even though the paper was drooping in his hands. He pushed to his feet to greet her.
Heat entered her cheeks as she let her gaze sweep over him. No one would know he hadn’t slept most of the night. He was perfectly pulled together, as always, in a muted gray waistcoat, every hair on his head and whisker of his beard in exact place.
“Good morning,” she said, taking a step toward him before she stopped herself. There were others in the room. The footman who was bringing Dash his morning tea stopped to incline his head in acknowledgment.
She could not forget herself. Even if being in the same room as Dash made her do just that.
“Good morning, Queen Giabella,” he replied, his tone a little rougher than usual, a little more intimate. God, how she loved when he said her name. Or groaned it against her skin.
She never wanted it to stop.
She moved to the sideboard and made herself a plate. Her tea was waiting when she returned and the servant was just leaving the room as she took her place and Dash returned to his. Once they were alone, she dared to reach out a hand and cover his.
“Good morning,” she said again, this time with far more meaning.
His fingers flexed beneath hers and he smiled ever so slightly. “You are so beautiful that it almost hurts to look at you.” Then he shook his head and cleared his throat, returning to the trusted servant he had always been. “I would ask how you slept—”
“My time in bed was wonderful,” she interrupted with a wink. He shifted as if he was nervous, and she smiled at him again. “Dash, we are still us.”
He blinked and she saw the understanding come into his eyes. Us. They had always been an us, for so many years she could barely remember what it had been like before he came into her life. Far more meaningless, certainly.
When had she fallen in love with him? She wondered it as she stared at him and the feeling became so clear that it almost played like music in the air. She loved him, so deeply and powerfully that it was twisted into her own soul. She could not have separated herself from it if she tried.
Had it happened the first time she met him? Was it when he’d come to work in the office of the queen a handful of years after? Had it come on slowly, a little bit at a time as he brought her tea and asked her questions and filled the emptiness of her life with his sure and steady presence? Or was it a thunderbolt that she didn’t remember in the midst of a storm?
He cleared his throat. “I shall try to remember what us is like,” he said, and slid his hand from hers to grab for the paperwork on the other side of his plate. “I have your itinerary, Your Majesty.”
She pushed away her thoughts, her realization that would surely change the course of the rest of her life, and focused on what he was saying. “Yes, it is the farmers this morning, is it not?”
“Yes,” he said. “You have a good memory, as always. And afterward, a pass through the orphanage that was just established on the island. Finally you’ll have tea with the village ladies society.”
“They were the ones who petitioned for the funds for the orphans, yes?” Giabella asked. “And made certain it was built and staffed accordingly.”
He nodded. “Yes. I’ve heard it’s a wonderful facility.”
She sipped her tea. “I think we both have a strong connection to such an issue. When I look at orphans, all I can think about is Sasha that day you brought her to me…to the king and I, after she was orphaned.”
He straightened slightly and she saw the softness that always came into his eyes when he spoke of Sasha. Although she had been adopted by the royal family, it had never been Alistair who treated her as her father should…it had always been Dash. In some way, she was their child, Dash and Giabella’s.
She shivered at the thought and forced a smile. “I cannot wait to see it and meet the children. Is that the entirety of the day?”
“Yes,” he said. “We left some time open for flexibility if you wish to add an event. And if nothing comes up, you and I get to have a lovely supper…alone.”
She shifted slightly in her chair. “I will make sure I add nothing, then.”
He chuckled and they finished their breakfast together. Giabella forced herself to be light, chatting with him as if nothing had changed. And yet every word and glance felt different now. Charged by the power of what they’d shared, what she felt for him, and what she had to look forward to with him later that night when they were truly alone.
Dash had been watching Giabella all day. He always watched her during her events, looking for her little signals that she needed rescue, providing her with swift information so that everyone she met felt remembered and seen by her.
But today…today was different. Although they had made love and he felt closer to her than he’d ever allowed himself to be, he watched from more of a distance as she moved through the ladies’ village society group, talking to each woman.
She was a marvel. She always was. There was no one better than her at soothing the ruffled feathers of pompous dignitaries or putting someone in power in their place with nothing more than a raised eyebrow.