A/N: Ok, I know I should get back to the stories I had already started, but I can't help it. I like this story too much.
Bella's POV:
I woke up in the middle of the night in a huge, comfortable bed. Wait, what? Did I miss something?
I was just a maid. What was I, of all people, doing in a bed?
My mind was muddled for a minute...then I remembered the night before.
I sat up and looked around. I spotted Edward—asleep on his couch. I got up silently and walked over to where he was laying and kneeled down next to his sleeping form.
I carefully moved his hair away from his face. Even more carefully, I touched his cheek. I wanted so badly to kiss him. But he was still my Prince, such thoughts, if they were expressed, would give me a one-way ticket to working at a cotton farm in Georgia—even if I was white.
I must have spaced out, because the next thing I knew, I was falling asleep on the floor next to him.
Edward's POV:
I could feel that it was morning. Not only because the clock in the hall was chiming eight o'clock, but also because light was filtering in through the window.
I moved my arm to sit up, and felt something fall away. I looked by the ground, immediately awake, and saw Bella sleeping on the floor next to the couch.
I smiled and stroked her hair out of her face. I took her hand and kissed it. I couldn't wait to get our adventure around the country—to look for a wife. This was going to be awkward.
"Edward," Bella said, so clearly I almost thought she was awake, but she was still asleep, I could tell. "I love you..." She was talking in her sleep, relating to what she was dreaming about...me.
She loved me. The afterthought of what she said came to me. Bella loved me. She would never say so out loud, for fear of getting in trouble, but I knew—whether she knew I knew or not, that didn't matter.
"Bella," I said softly, shaking her awake.
"Miss Isabella!" I heard my mother yelling from the hallway.
"Bella, wake up," I said, shaking her more roughly.
"Hmm?" She woke up. I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Get up, and pretend to be helping me get ready to leave," I whispered urgently, my mother's voice getting closer.
"Yes, sir," she said, jumping up. If I hadn't been the one to wake her up, I would have thought she'd been awake all morning.
"Miss Isabella," my mother said, barging into my room. "I thought you would have been in your quarters. I—" she cut off as she caught sight of me. "Edward, why did you not send Miss Isabella back to her quarters when it got late?" she demanded.
"I did not realize how late it was, mother," I said respectfully. "Miss Isabella stayed in my room last night."
Bella's POV:
We were busted. I was going to be sent off to a cotton farm before I could blink. I can't believe Prince Edward would tell his mother, Queen Elizabeth, that I had spent the night in his room.
She was going to assume the worst, I knew it. She was going to think that Prince Edward, her son, and I had slept together, I knew it.
"Ah," the Queen said curtly, dropping the whole, a-maid-could-have-slept-with-my-son-the-prince thing. I bet she wouldn't have done that for any other maid, since Queen Elizabeth actually liked me, I think.
"When will you two be leaving?" Her Majesty asked Prince Edward.
"Very soon," he said.
"Good," Queen Elizabeth said. "A carriage is waiting outside for you two when you are ready."
"Thank you, mother," Prince Edward said, bowing his head slightly.
"Thank you, ma'am," I said, curtsying as I spoke.
"I shall see you two again in a month," the Queen said before turning around and leaving the room.
After she left, I felt my legs give way from under me, and I fell rather ungracefully onto the floor.
Prince Edward walked over to where I was sitting and sat down in front of me.
"Well, that was close," Prince Edward said, tucking a stray lock of my hair behind my ear. "I thought for sure she was going to lecture me, or something of that sort."
"Yes," I agreed. "I thought I would get a one-way ticket to the Americas, to the cotton farms, when you told her that." (Just so y'all know, I'm pretty sure that working on cotton farms was the hardest form of slavery in America.)
"My mother would never do that, if I asked her not to," Prince Edward assured me, taking my hand in his. He seemed hesitant, like he wanted to say something, but wasn't sure how to put his thoughts into words.
"Just out of curiosity," he started slowly, "did you know that you talk in your sleep?"
I froze. I remembered what I had been dreaming about, before he had woken me up. Did I say anything about what I was dreaming?
"What did I say?" I asked in a whisper, almost afraid to hear what he would say. I look down at my hands, too scared to look at his face.
Prince Edward put one finger under my chin and lifted my face so he could look at me properly. His emerald eyes soft.
"You said you love me," he whispered just as quietly. I tried to look away as I felt blood rush to my face, burning my cheeks and neck.
"Don't be embarrassed," Prince Edward said softly. "I had similar dreams."
I focused on his eyes, looking for any hidden humor in them.
"I do love you," he whispered as he leaned in closer to me. My heart started beating faster as he moved closer.
"I love you, too," I whispered back, my lips barely touching his when I spoke.
And then he gently pressed his lips to mine.
One of his hands wrapped around my back, keeping me where I was against his chest, while his other held my cheek, memorizing my face.
My hands slowly reached up to wrap around his neck; to hold him closer to me. I was very hesitant. I mean, how often does a maid kiss her prince, and not get in trouble?
His hand moved from my face, to the back of my head, holding me in place more securely to him.
He broke the kiss after a minute. His forehead was against mine, and his eyes were closed. I had my eyes open, but only halfway.
"Bella," he said my name gently. I felt my stomach flutter at the way he said my name. "Bella, how am I supposed to do this? You are supposed to help me find a woman to marry. How can I force you to do that when we both love each other?" He moved back so he could see my face.
"I-I do not have to go, if you do not want me with you," I said. I could feel agony in my heart at the consideration of him leaving and getting married.
"That is absurd," Prince Edward said gently, looking down. "Of course I want you to come with me, but it does not seem right. I love you, and yet my mother wants for me to find a different person to love."
I put my hand on his cheek, and he looked back up at me. "I am sure that you will find someone to love even more. There are far better women then me in just England. Your mother would not request that I accompany you unless she thought it would be for the best," I said. My heart was breaking at the fact that I wouldn't be allowed to marry him. I wished with all my heart that I could be his wife. Maybe if he didn't find anyone... But, of course, he would find someone. I was, after all, just a maid in his mother's household.
"I doubt that I will find someone more beautiful then you in the entire world," Prince Edward said, placing his hand on top of mine.
Prince Edward removed his hand from on top of mine and helped me up.
"My mother will be expecting to hear us leave. She may decide to investigate if she thinks we are still here."
I nodded.
"I will be back in a moment," I said. "I am going to get my belongings."
I left his room and ran to my quarters to get my stuff.
As quickly as I could, I gather what few belongings I owned and walked back to Prince Edward's room.
He met me in the hallway. I saw him smile when he saw me, and I returned the smile. He offered me his arm and escorted me outside, where a horse and carriage were waiting for us.
"Stay here for a moment, Bella, I left something inside," Prince Edward said after he helped me into the carriage.
"I will be here when you return," I promised.
A/N: Ok, technically, I haven't finished this chapter, but my friend (I think I've mentioned her before in one of my other A/N's in a different story) called me and reviewed twice, nagging me to update, so here you go! And, since she thinks it'll take me a week to write the next chapter, I will take a week to write chapter 5! Take that, princessefron! (Have I ever mentioned how much I hate, hate, hate Zac Efron, with a passion?)