Chapter Seventy-Four

On Harry Pearce's fortieth birthday, he had been living in his manor house in the capital with his two children and Malcolm as his butler. Ruth had come for dinner with his family and she had stayed overnight for the first time at his house in honor of his birthday. It would be a number of months before he was able to propose to her properly, and another year before they were married.

Now it was Ruth's fortieth birthday, and their lives could not be more different. They had been married for just shy of fifteen years. She was queen. They had two daughters who were growing up very quickly. And Harry's two older children were now working for the palace, Graham a captain in the army and Catherine—who had just turned thirty and made Harry feel utterly ancient—was recently promoted in the foreign policy office. The life that they'd led back when Harry turned forty was a distant dream. Simpler and happier in many ways, perhaps, but the gifts they'd been given in the meantime were innumerable.

It was a bit of a letdown, however, that Queen Louisa could not be home to celebrate such a milestone birthday. Harry wished they could be at home together, to take the day to themselves and have a grand party for her and whatever else they could manage to make her happy. Instead, they were on the royal tour. There would be a party in the queen's honor, but they were guests of the new nation of Anu Halla. It had once been one of the smallest of the colonies but one of the most important. The land of Anu Halla was blessed with remarkable metal deposits and an industry of gem mining that was unparalleled in all the world. The diamond that was taken from Ruth's grandmother's wedding ring for Harry to use in the engagement ring he used to propose to Ruth was in fact a Hallan diamond. The tiara that Ruth had worn on their wedding day that had once belonged to her mother was also made of Hallan diamonds.

After the Mahraini revolt that sparked the revolutions in nearly all of the colonies, it was the Hallan bid for independence that had been the bloodiest of all. For such a small land, the hundreds of deaths had been astronomical. As a result, Harry had been a bit uneasy about coming here on their royal tour. He had spoken to Ros about the possibility of leaving the girls with some security staff in Gambon to keep them away from any danger in Anu Halla. Ros assured him that such precautions were unnecessary. He was wary nonetheless.

But it was Ruth's birthday, and it would not be fair for her to be away from their daughters. Though Harry would have preferred if they'd not seen Emmy and Charlotte until much later in the day.

It had been in Harry's mind to make love to his wife on her birthday. To wake her up with gentle caresses and pleasure her passionately as she woke. He'd done so on every single birthday for almost two decades now. And he planned on doing just that as long as they were physically able.

Today, however, he'd rolled her beneath him and kissed her deeply and let his hands wander up her shirt and not even touched her breasts when the door to their hotel bedroom opened. Harry tore himself off her so quick, he'd put weight on his bad knee wrong and groaned in agony.

"Oh Harry," Ruth lamented, knowing exactly what he'd done.

Their intruders made themselves known and thankfully hadn't seen what their parents were about to get up to. Emilia carried a big tray of food. But upon seeing the grimace on her father's face, she asked sharply, "What's wrong with Dad?"

"My knee," he grumbled.

Concern in her every feature, Charlotte hurried over to Harry and asked, "Should I kiss it better?"

He could not help but chuckle at his adorable youngest girl. He gathered her up in his arms and kissed her dark curly hair. "Mummy will kiss me better later. For now, this makes me feel much better," he assured her.

Ruth heard what he'd said and snorted at his innuendo. But she turned her attention to Emmy. "What's that you've got, lovie?"

"Happy birthday, Mummy!" Emilia announced proudly. "We got breakfast for you!"

And sure enough, there was an enormous plate of waffles and a steaming up of tea on the tray. "Thank you so much," Ruth said. "Why don't you put it over on that table so I don't spill and make a mess?"

Emmy carefully put the tray down where her mother had indicated. She was old enough to know that her mother was a bit clumsy and apt to make a mess at times.

Ruth got out of bed and put on her dressing gown to dig into her birthday breakfast. Harry wasn't so eager to get up just yet. He held Charlotte and she snuggled against his chest. "Was it your idea or Emmy's to get Mum waffles for breakfast?" he asked her quietly.

"Emmy's," Charlotte answered. "But she wanted us to sneak down to the kitchen and try and make them ourselves because that would be more special. I told her we couldn't do that at a hotel because Ben would get upset."

Ben Kaplan was the security officer assigned to the girls while on the trip. He was Emilia's bodyguard back home, accompanying her to school and such. Calum Reed was Charlotte's bodyguard, but he had been assigned to general security on the royal tour because Emmy and Charlotte were never apart while they travelled like this, so Ben was capable of protecting them both along with the entire team that went with the whole family everywhere they went. And Ben would certainly have been upset if Charlotte and Emmy tried to sneak around a hotel in a foreign country. And Anu Halla at that. If they'd tried that and Harry caught wind of it, he would have flown through the roof. Thank god for Charlotte's cautious demeanor.

Charlotte continued, "So I told Emmy we should talk to Ben to help us with the kitchen staff and ask for a tray of waffles for Mummy's birthday. He was very helpful."

"You did the exact right thing, Charlotte, thank you. And I'm glad Ben was helpful. I shall make sure Ros knows," Harry said, kissing her sweetly again. Ruth had raised their girls with the understanding that the staff were there to serve them but that it was a job and they deserved respect and praise for doing their jobs well. Charlotte had learned the lesson slightly better than Emilia, who had a sense of entitlement to her that Harry and Ruth were both hoping to break. Their little Charlotte, though, was always very good about ensuring that her parents were informed when a staff member had been particularly kind or helpful. It wasn't difficult with Charlotte, of course, who was still a bit quiet but the absolute sweetest child anyone in the world could ever contemplate. Harry might be biased about his youngest girl, but he could see how universally adored she was. His perfect little princess.

Meanwhile, his other little princess was chattering up a storm with Ruth. As with every place they went on the royal tour, Emilia had a million questions about everything. She had such a voracious appetite for knowledge. Harry knew she took after Ruth with that, and he also knew that Ruth loved answering every single one of Emmy's questions. And if she did not have an answer for her daughter, she made sure they took steps to find the answer together.

The smell of waffles started wafting over to the bed, making Harry's stomach rumble. Charlotte giggled at that. "You got breakfast for your mother, but what about me?" he teased.

"Malcolm says you can call down for whatever you want when you're ready. He told us to wait longer to bring breakfast for Mummy, but we didn't want to wait."

If anyone in the world possibly knew of Harry's birthday traditions with Ruth, it was Malcolm. He knew everything about Harry. Not details, thankfully, but he was a clever man. He knew why Harry and Ruth were always up late on Ruth's birthday and looking a little too smug. Harry would have appreciated if Malcolm had put his foot down with Emmy and Charlotte and prevented the interruption this morning.

It was time to make a move, he knew. Charlotte kissed his cheek and got out of the bed and wandered over to listen to Ruth and Emilia. Harry wanted to call down for his own breakfast, but he got another idea first. He took Ruth's fork out of her hand and put it on the plate before giving her a little pull.

"I have to borrow Mummy for a minute. I need her help with something. We'll be right back," he told the girls.

Ruth looked at him in confusion but followed him into the bathroom. He closed the door behind her. "Harry, what—oh!"

He backed her up against the door with a thud and kissed her deeply. Unfortunately, he had to pull away before they got themselves too worked up again. He rested his forehead against hers and grinned. "You taste like waffles."

She stifled a giggle. "Well, you did interrupt my birthday waffle breakfast."

"I didn't think you'd mind," he whispered back.

"I am sorry we couldn't continue tradition this morning. But I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to get enough of you, so I made sure Jo scheduled some time for me to rest this afternoon," she told him.

"Oh?"

"We have two hours after the afternoon event before the hair and makeup people come to fix me up for the party. I thought we could come back here."

"Forty years old and you need a nap in the middle of the day?" he teased.

"I might need a nap after you give me my birthday present. Unless of course I'm too over the hill for you now," she fired back.

Harry growled, "If our daughters weren't right on the other side of this door, I'd risk my bad knee to get down between your legs right now."

"I don't want you to do anything to your knee. That's why we've got a bed. But I do expect you between my legs." Ruth's eyes had a dark sparkle to them at her suggestive instructions.

"I serve at the pleasure of Her Majesty."

"Her Majesty enjoys when you pleasure her."

Harry kissed her again, softly this time. "As long as I live, my love."

Ruth hugged him close, and they stood there holding each other for a quiet minute. Just a minute before the rest of the world caught up with them. They could take a minute.