It was the very fact that these things were so foreign to him that grounded him to the reality that he shouldn’t get used to them. In two years all this would be gone.
For the first time, he understood why Ginny had campaigned to make this marriage real. They’d never, ever have this again. He’d be a divorced prince, eventually king, who’d take mistresses while he ran a country and raised a son. And she’d be the king’s ex-wife, mother of the heir to the throne.
“You know it’s really going to be hard for you to get dates after we divorce.”
She turned with a laugh. “Excuse me?”
“Nothing.” He walked back to the section of the dressing room that held his clothes and pulled out a pair of swimming trunks. He couldn’t believe he’d thought of that. What she chose to do when they separated was her business. But he knew it might be a good thing for her to start thinking about that. Not just to remind her that this wasn’t going to last but to get her realizing the next stage of her life wouldn’t be easy.
* * *
They spent a fun, private two weeks on the yacht, with Dom called away only three or four times for phone calls from members of parliament. Otherwise, he’d been casual, restful and sexy.
When the royal helicopter touched down on the palace grounds, Dom and Ginny were greeted by the whir of cameras and a barrage of questions from reporters who stood behind the black iron fence surrounding the property.
Stepping out of the helicopter, helped by Dom, who took her hand to guide her to the steps, she smiled at the press.
“You look great! Very suntanned!”
She waved at them. “Don’t worry. I used sunblock.”
The reporters laughed.
Dom said, “We had a great time.”
Ginny watched the reporters go slack jawed as if totally gob smacked by his answer. Then she realized they weren’t accustomed to him talking to them outside of the press room or parliament.
As they walked to the palace behind bodyguards dressed casually in jeans and black T-shirts—with leather holsters and guns exposed—she turned to him. “That was kind of you to talk to them, Your Majesty.”
He sniffed. “I’m rested enough that I threw them a bone.”
She laughed. “You should rest more often.”
They reached the palace. A bodyguard opened the door and they stepped into the cool air-conditioned space.
She took a long breath of the stale air. “I miss the ocean.”
He dropped a quick kiss on her lips. “The yacht is at your disposal anytime you want.”
“Are you trying to get rid of me?”
“No.” He stopped walking and caught her hand. He kissed the knuckles. “No.”
When their gazes met, she knew he thought the same thing he did. Two years would be over soon enough. But she couldn’t be happy, be herself, make this relationship work, if it was permanent. And neither could he.
They’d been granted a very short window of time to be happy, but two years of perfection was a lot more than some people got.
So she raised herself to her tiptoes, kissed his cheek and said, “Go visit your dad. Get the rundown on what happened while we were away and I’ll be waiting for you for supper tonight.”
CHAPTER TEN
THEY SETTLED INTO a comfortable routine that was so easy, Dominic forgot this was supposed to be difficult. Dressing for the royal family’s annual end-of-summer gala, he held out his arms to Ginny as naturally as breathing and she locked his cuff links.
“I heard your mother made it in this afternoon.”
Ginny glanced up at him, then shook her head. “She didn’t want to miss too much class time, so she only took two days off. Your father sent the jet and she got here about an hour ago. She almost got here too late to dress because she keeps forgetting that we’re seven hours ahead of her.”
He grunted. “She’ll get used to it.”
Her tummy peeped out a bit when her dress flattened against it as she turned to walk away. He caught her hand and spun her to face him again, his hand falling to the slight swelling. “What’s this?”
She laughed. “I thought the flowing dress would hide the fact that I’m starting to show.”
Emotion swelled in his chest, but he held it back, more afraid of it than he cared to admit. “You shouldn’t hide it. Everybody’s waiting to see it.”
She groaned. “Everybody’s waiting to see me get fat? Thanks for the reminder that I’ll be getting fat in front of the world.”
He grabbed his jacket and motioned her out of their bedroom. “That’s one way of looking at it. The other is to realize that since everybody’s so eager to see you gain weight, you now have full permission to eat.”