Beta: RandomatGedz

Twilight: Not mine

Living Royal

Chapter Twenty Five

"Do you think they're watching?" Bella knew that she was acting paranoid, but she really couldn't help it.

"Who?" Edward moved his head up from its resting position on the back of his reclining chair long enough to ask.

"You know who. Them."

"Maybe," He shrugged nonchalantly. "You can never be truly sure."

"But I'm in a bikini." Bella shrieked trying to cover herself.

Edward stopped her before she could put on her wrap, "And you look ravishing if I may say so myself." He winked. She was wearing the bikini that she had bought during that shopping spree she did with Alice with the engagement ring around her neck. She knew she looked good, but it was still hard to grasp sometimes that someone like Edward saw her as beautiful.

"Edward, be serious." Bella pouted.

"I am being serious, Bells. You looked gorgeous. You look gorgeous! Good enough to eat actually." He smirked. "Look, we can't let those assholes control our lives. We should just act normal and enjoy our time and hopefully soon enough they will figure that there's nothing more to report and eventually leave us the hell alone."

"I don't know what's worse, them finding us too interesting or too boring to even bother with." Bella wondered.

"Hm, we can give them something to talk about if you want." Edward lifted his eyebrows hopefully and bent his head intending to kiss her.

"Hold on, Romeo. Let's just cool it for a minute." Bella giggled.

"Listen, babe. Let's not let them ruin this vacation for us, okay? We're supposed to be here to escape all of that. We're in one of the most beautiful countries in the world, we're on a private beach over looking the Mediterranean, just forget that they exist."

They had arrived in France, Marseille to be exact, a few hours before and had gone directly to their hotel, so all Bella had seen of it so far was the road from the airport to the hotel. Edward had promised to give her a tour of the city later on, they both had agreed to spend the first day doing nothing but lying around on the private beach owned by the hotel where they were staying. To say that Bella was stunned when they first walked into that hotel would be the understatement of the century. It was absolutely beautiful. And that was just the lobby; their suite was a whole other level of gorgeous. What Bella loved about it more than its elegance was the fact that it still felt homey.

They planned on staying in Marseille for a few days before heading off to Paris to do some sight seeing. Bella could definitely get used to it. Dating a Prince had its perks, after all.

Unfortunately, it also had its down sides. They had been hounded by paparazzi since the moment they arrived in France. How they figured out where they were was beyond Bella's comprehension. Someone must have seen them and tipped the media off. That's the way it always happens. Bella wished that people would mind their own damn business for once. She mostly understood that Edward had obligations and one of those was to maintain his cool in the public eye, but in the time since they arrived she was tempted more than once to at least flip the paparazzi off or punch one of them in the face when they got too close for comfort. Edward had almost lost his composure once too when one of the photographers pulled at Bella trying to get her to stop and talk to him. Bella had thankfully been able to stop him from doing anything before it was too late.

He had cooled off considerably since then and was determined that nothing would stop them from enjoying their vacation.

"When did you get so smart?" Bella laid her head on his chest with his arms wrapped around her.

"Are you implying that I haven't always been smart and handsome?" He scoffed playfully.

"I could answer that but I really don't want you to get a bigger ego than the one you already have. How will you get your shirt back on then?" She teased glancing at his naked chest.

"I thought you preferred me shirtless." He grinned.

Bella laughed, "That I can't deny." She lifted her head and touched her lips to his and like every other time they'd kissed things quickly heated up as Bella ran her fingers through his hair and brought him closer. They both groaned already forgetting about the nosy paparazzi.

They spent the rest of their morning on the beach, only going back to the hotel as the sun started setting.

Bella stood with her face against the window in their suite looking down at the crowd gathered below. It seemed like they were determined to get a glimpse of them no matter what. Now there weren't just paparazzi gathered there, there was also a not so small group of regular people with their digital cameras ready.

Bella sighed. So much for a romantic getaway, she thought dismally.

A pair of arms wrapped around her waist from behind pulling her against a hard chest as Edward kissed the nape of her neck.

"Just forget about them." He mumbled while nuzzling his face into her hair.

"I'm trying, trust me. Distract me, please?"

Edward looked up from her neck, "I thought that was what I was doing." He looked so hurt that his seduction method wasn't working that Bella turned in his arms and kissed him to make him feel better.

It worked as he smiled lovingly at her.

"Do you mind of we don't go out tonight? I just don't feel like facing them yet." Bella pleaded.

"Of course I don't mind. There's plenty we can do right here anyway, it's not like we'll get bored any time soon." He smiled wickedly.

"Um, actually I was hoping you'd tell me your parent's story. We never really got around to that."

"You know, you make it really hard for a guy to sweep you off your feet. I bring you to the most romantic country in the world and you want to talk about my parents?" Edward chuckled in amusement showing her that he wasn't really mad at her lack of romanticism.

"Come on, please?" She begged. Little did she know that she already had him wrapped around her little finger. He would never be able to deny her anything.

"Alright, bed time story it is." He joked. He led her to the huge King sized bed and they settled in next to each other.

"Let's see," He began. "Where did we stop last time?"

"When your father figured out that Mrs. Hale, Rosalie's mother, was a lying skank." Bella filled in.

"Oh right, that."

"Yeah and then your grandparents forced him to marry your mother and she hated his guts. That must've been really difficult for her, having an arranged marriage to a man who was in love with someone else and all, how did they get through that?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that my father was still in love with his former girlfriend by then. The thing about my father is that his good opinion once lost is lost forever. He doesn't give second chances."

"That's…harsh."

"That's my father." Edward said. "He demands perfection of everyone he knows and anyone who does not fulfill his expectations has to deal with the consequences. But…he's also the most loyal person you will ever meet."

That was the first positive thing Bella learned about Carlisle, she was really intrigued.

"Although, he was dead set against the idea of an arranged marriage, after what happened with Mrs. Hale he realized that he really had no choice. He'd tried it his way and it ended in disaster so he decided to give up and concede to his parent's wishes. My mother, on the other hand, wasn't as compliant."

"I can imagine. Esme doesn't really strike me as the kind of woman who lets anyone tell her what to do." Bella admitted.

"You got it in a nutshell. She hated dad's guts, thought he was a pretentious jerk and she was never afraid to tell him just that. But her parents forced her hand; they played the sympathy card, telling her they wanted her to get settled with someone who could take care of her before they died. My mum's soft heart won out in the end."

"So, she married someone she didn't love to please her parents?"

"Love isn't exactly a priority when it comes to marriage amongst the nobility. Only the very lucky couples get to marry for love or end up finding it together after marriage like my parents did."

"That's so cold." Bella frowned.

"That's life the way I know it, or the way I knew it until you came along with all your righteous indignations calling me a pompous ass." He joked kissing her lightly on the nose.

Bella smiled fondly at the memory of how they first met and how she had hated his guts. At least they had a pretty good story to tell their children.

Children.

Bella's stomach suddenly turned into knots. Did Edward even want children? She just realized that they had never really talked about it before.

"Hey, why so serious all of a sudden?" Edward asked when he noticed how quiet she'd become.

"Do you want children?" She asked suddenly seeing no point in waiting. They really needed to talk about these kinds of things, just get them out of the way now.

"Yes, of course I do." He answered immediately and without hesitation. "On one condition, though."

"What is it?"

"That you be their mother."

"Who else would it be? Irina?" Bella scoffed.

Edward shuddered, "Do not even joke about that."

Bella laughed at his reaction. She was really relieved that he wanted children too. She couldn't say that it would have been a deal breaker if he didn't want them, but it would've still made a huge difference.

"So how many do you want?" Bella asked, continuing the topic of future baby Cullens. Her heart warmed at the mere idea of it.

"Hm, how about as many as you can give me?" He pulled her closer burying his face in her hair.

"Hey, I'm not a baby making machine." She hit him playfully. "How about we settle for four?"

"Four is fine with me." He grinned. "I always wanted a big family."

"Didn't your parents want more children after they had you and Emmett?"

"Yes, they did actually but Emmett's birth was very hard for my mother, the doctors warned her against getting pregnant again. They said she might not make it through it."

"Oh, poor Esme." Bella mumbled sadly.

"It's fine; they'd already had their heir and a spare as well." Edward muttered jokingly

"Hey, that's not a fair thing to say Edward. Your mother clearly loves you so much. You weren't just an obligation or a royal duty to her. Even I could tell that."

"I know, sorry." He kissed her forehead. "I didn't mean it that way. I know that my mother loves us and shockingly enough she loves my father too."

"So tell me how it happened? Was it a slow build up or did they fall in love at first sight but were too afraid to admit it?"

Edward shook his head, "You read way too many romance novels."

Bella punched him. "Speak." She ordered impatiently.

"Yes, ma'am. They first met a couple of weeks before their wedding. They couldn't stand each other, of course, and remained that way for quite some time after the wedding but they had to act the part of the loving royal couple on public, I think that at some point the acting turned into reality. They didn't really give me all the gory details but I do know that what pushed them over the edge was my mother's accident. It was a few months after I was born, she was being driven by her personal driver to some charity event in London, and the paparazzi were following her, of course. The camera flashes must've blinded the driver because he lost control of the car and crashed into a wall of a tunnel they were passing through."

"Oh my God, I remember hearing about that accident before. Your father must have been so devastated."

"He was." Edward nodded. "He was worried that he had lost mother before he could tell her how much she meant to him and that almost drove him to distraction."

"So he told her when she recovered?"

"Oh, he didn't wait until she recovered, he brought her here to France to continue treatment and they had a second honeymoon right here in Marseille, right in this very hotel in fact."

"Really?"

"Yes, who do you think recommended it?" Edward smiled.

"Wow, your father can be very romantic when he wants to be."

"Enough talking about them now, we've got much more important matters to discuss." He whispered into her ear as he aligned her body against his so she felt the evidence of his arousal.

Bella giggled, "You never get tired do you?"

"With you?" He kissed her. "Never."

The next morning, after waking Bella with kisses all over her face, Edward ordered some room service. The food was delicious, of course. After they were done eating Bella peeked through the windows once more just to check. She gasped at what she saw.

The number of people waiting outside the hotel had doubled!

Don't people have anything better to do anymore? How long were they planning on waiting outside their hotel?

"Edward? You better come see this. I don't think there's a chance of us leaving this hotel any time soon." She called out.

When she got no answer, she glanced back inside the room. Edward was standing next to the breakfast tray looking intently at something held in his hands.

Was that a newspaper?

"Edward? What's going on?" She asked, fearfully walking closer to him to have a better look at what he was looking at.

He handed her the newspaper slowly.

Bella looked down at the front page. She didn't need to know what the headline said to understand what they were talking about. The picture under it said it all.

It was a photo of Edward and Bella at the beach the day before. They were kissing, but that wasn't the problem. There was a round red circle around an object that was dangling from Bella's necklace.

Bella's thoughts reeled.

Her ring.

The engagement ring.

She'd forgot to take the necklace off yesterday.

"Looks like we're busted." Edward announced.

All words Bella might've said in response were interrupted by Edward's phone ringing. He took it out of his pocket and glanced at the screen.

"Right on time." He muttered. "That's dad."

Uh Oh.

(A/N): Dun dun dun!...again :D Yeah there've been a lot of those lately :D

Oh and in case you're wondering….Yes, Esme's accident is inspired by the late Princess Diana's accident…I hadn't really planned on using that in this story but while I was writing this chapter it just struck me how much it fit…so, yeah :)

I know some of you may be disappointed that they haven't seen as much of France yet and only spent their time in the hotel room talking about Esme's story, but I got a lot of requests for it and so here it is :) Besides, wouldn't you want to be stuck in a hotel room with Princeward doing…ANYTHING? :D

Photos of the hotel and Bella's bikini are on my profile…as well as link to my FB page.

Oh and one more thing….We're over 700 reviews! Thank you sooooo much to everyone who reviewed, favorite or added my stories to your alerts, love you all!

So, hope you liked this chapter and please tell me what you think of everything :)