Chapter 10
On the king's dying day the queen visited the tomb-house to place a bouquet of roses on her husband's resting-place. Joseph stood guard outside. Clarisse stayed inside for a long time and only the fact that it was eleven in the morning prevented Joseph from worrying about her safety.
The Holder, waiting along, would never have guessed that the bodyguard's mind was in turmoil: Mr Romero looked calm as ever.
It had been a fortnight since Joseph had staked the vampire. He wasn't sorry for it. He would rather not have had to kill his late king but it was very simply to him: any threat against Clarisse needed to be neutralised. His mind was solely occupied by his ever changing plans to approach Clarisse to tell her how he felt for her.
The queen approached. She nodded at the Holder and walked into the direction of the lawn. Joseph followed her. When she remarked that she liked the strong wind he took it as a cue to walk beside her. She glanced at his arm and he readily offered it to her: he always enjoyed their physical contact, chaste as it was.
They walked in silence for a while.
´I don't dream of him any more,´ said Clarisse. ´For several weeks I had these dreams.´
Joseph cleared his throat. There was no need to ask whom she was referring to. There was no need to inquire after her dreams either for he knew about them. His dreams now started with her lying on her bed, alone, huskily saying his name, inviting him to join her.
´Nice dreams?´ asked he.
Clarisse cleared her throat.
´The dreams were... sensual.´
She blushed.
Joseph pretended not to see it. He found it endearing that this elegant lady, whom he'd witnessed as she'd wriggled on her bed with an expression of pure bliss on her beautiful face, used a word like sensual to describe heated passion.
´The night following the day I fainted I had the last dream...´
´Are you sorry for that?´
Clarisse shrugged: ´Someone else appeared in the dream.´
Joseph's heart skipped a beat. He stepped a little closer to her. They kept on walking.
´I felt that it meant something Joseph. I'd hoped for you to appear and ...´
Clarisse sighed deeply, unaware that she'd made a slip of the tongue. ´I reasoned that I'm ready for a beginning.´
´You said you. You hoped for me to appear in your dream.´
´What?´
´That's what you just said.´
Clarisse recalled her words. She blushed. There was no point in denying her remark, especially not because she wanted Joseph to know how she felt for him. She had come to belief that he felt more than friendship for her, which is why she had dared to enter into the subject of dreaming, but right now she felt too vulnerable to press the issue.
Joseph understood.
´Was it a sensual dream?´ said he in a gruff voice. ´I hope it was.´
She cast a glance at him. He was looking ahead, swallowing hard. She exhaled.
´A dream, no matter how good, won't do any more Joseph. I've been dreaming for too long.´
Joseph covered her hand with his own.
´Years,´ said Joseph. ´Years of growing love and growing want.´
Clarisse made a throatily sound and stopped walking.
´Clarisse, corazón?´
Joseph's admission and the endearment he'd used made Clarisse, a lady of great poise, cry.
He put his arms around her.
Who would guess that her tears were not those of a mourning widow? Who would guess that her loyal bodyguard whispered ´I love you I love you I love you,´ into her hair?
Joseph offered his beloved a brand new handkerchief.
´It isn't going to be easy,´ warned Clarisse after she'd composed herself, ´We might never be able to emerge from the shadows.´
´Your shadow is my castle,´ said Joseph simply.
They walked on, without knowing where their feet were taking them. He, no longer tongue-tied on the subject, told her when and why he'd fallen in love with her.
Clarisse pressed his arm. She was moved to hear that he'd been in love with her for eight years already and it thrilled her to learn that he'd fallen for her when she was singing as she'd arranged a bouquet of flowers. It was something Clarisse had done, not the queen. It was something normal. It seemed like a omen, a chance for a future together.
When it started to drizzle, Joseph took off his leather jacket and placed it around her shoulders. They returned to the castle.
...
The queen had work to do, even on a day like this, but she refused to part with Joseph just yet. Instead of walking to her office, she made it for her suite, for it was the only place in the kingdom where she had privacy. Joseph escorted her, walking a step behind her now. Clarisse swayed her hips just a little bit more than she normally did. She heard his intake of breath and it made her feel sensual.
Once in her suite, the two lovers faced each other.
´Here we are,´ said she.
´Yes,´ replied he softly.
He took her hands in his and bent to kiss them.
They looked at each other lovingly. At the same moment they stepped forward and while his arms circled her waist, her hands came to rest on his chest.
They just stood there, too overwhelmed to do more.
´Some years ago,´ said Clarisse, staring at Joseph's collar, ´the king attended a conference in Greece. I looked forward to his return for I felt lonely. But when I came to greet him on his arrival, and you stepped out of the car first, I realised that I had missed you just as much as I'd missed my husband.´
She looked into Joseph's eyes. ´It confused me.´
Joseph caressed her soft cheek.
´You sometimes appeared in my dreams from then on. At first we only talked.´
´And then what did we do?´
´We danced. It was sweet.´
´But you've had enough of dreaming,´ said Joseph.
Clarisse nodded.
´So have I corazón.´
Joseph bent his head towards hers.
Their kiss started tentatively.
´You're irresistible,´ Joseph whispered against Clarisse's soft lips.
´Prove it,´ breathed she. To Joseph's surprise and thrill she nibbled his lower lip.
He moaned. His hands roamed her back.
´Tonight,´ said Clarisse.
Joseph groaned. He wanted her badly but he didn't want her to feel sorry for rushing things. After all, an hour ago they had not even admitted their feelings for one another.
´Shouldn't we w-´ objected Joseph with difficulty.
´Didn't you just say that I am irresistible?´ said Clarisse with a twinkle in her eye. Her fingers teasingly trailed his upper body and she pressed herself against him.
A fortnight ago Joseph had witnessed that his queen was passionate but he had never imagined her to be playful and luring.
´You and I have waited long enough,´ said she seriously. ´I love you. Let me show that to you Joseph.´
She kissed him once more.
´Become my mate and lover,´ said she as they parted to breath.
´I will set your skin afire with my touch my queen,´ replied Joseph.
~THE END~