Chapter 10

"Mmm, I love your kisses," Clarisse whispered as Joseph placed kiss after kiss upon her cheek and neck. She didn't want to close her eyes, she needed to see him, needed to see that it was for real this time. For too many times it had all been but a dream to her, yet now he was really here with her, bestowing a love fit for only a Queen upon her.

Joseph could not quite believe it himself, as he placed his lips tenderly to her skin. His body had almost froze earlier, fearing another interruption. It still felt quite awkward, consummating their marriage during such a hectic and fearful time. Their jobs had always been in the way, in one way or another. He kept reminding himself that they would both be devoid of such titles in a matter of days now. In a matter of days they could both drop such heavy burdens, and seek one another to occupy themselves for the remainder of their lives together.

He found he could not touch her enough. Her body shivered under his hands, fingers, and in his strong arms. It delighted him, knowing the amount of pleasure he was giving to her. Seeing it in her eyes was a gift he had long looked forward to. Watching them grow dark with passion was something Joseph knew no one else had ever had the pleasure of seeing before, not even her husband.

"Milady?"

"Mm, yes?"

"There is something I'd like to ask you," Joseph raised his head to face her, to see that beautiful sparkle in her eyes looking into his. "You are not sorry you married me, are you?" Clarisse immediately sat up in the bed, covering her bare breasts with the sheet. The stunned look upon her face was crossed with a puzzled one.

"Joseph? I don't understand. Why would you think such a thing, especially now?" Joseph rolled over, almost ashamed of the question he had asked. Seeing her like this, hearing her words had melted all doubts for him.

"I'm so sorry, Clarisse. I...well, it's just with all that has went on, with all of the waiting," Clarisse nodded to herself, a slight smile of understanding coming to her lips as he begun to speak. "I thought maybe it was just bad timing of some sort, and that maybe you were sorry for putting yourself in this right now." Joseph rolled back over, looking once again in her eyes.

"Joseph, I married you because I love you, and I very much want you here with me, like this. I want to make love to you. I want to declare my love for you to the entire world. When I chose to do that, I was, I am, still Queen, if only for a short time now. Being Queen will always have to come first, since the day I was crowned. You know that as well as I. It was the main reason I could not marry you before, but Joseph, after thinking for so long, and waiting, and just...everything; I chose to become your wife. The next week will be hectic, and I'm sure we will have plenty of ups and downs, but isn't that what a marriage is suppose to be? As long as I have you, I look forward to those times, good or bad. That's why I chose to marry you. I realized I cannot go through any more of life without you as my husband. I don't want to." Ending her speech, she turned on her knees, kneeling beside him in their bed. Clarisse cupped his cheek with her hands, letting the sheet drop, exposing her bare body for him.

"I don't deserve you," he answered her, looking over her in amazement at her beauty. "You are so beautiful, and sometimes I find it hard to believe that you love me." She placed a soft kiss upon his mouth, then another, and one more for good measure.

"Well, I don't know how beautiful I am, I just know you tell me often enough, and I've grown to partially believe it. I do know that I love you wholeheartedly Joseph. I'm not sure when I fell in love with you, for how long, or even if there's a reason why. I just know I do. You can count on that."

"I love you too."

Joseph wrapped his arms around her, slipping his hands along her bare skin. As he held her, she moved to cover his half-sitting body, ridding the sheet altogether away from them. As their bodies touched together, she stifled a low moan of pure enjoyment, relishing their coming together. It was only then they finally declared themselves as man and wife.

She couldn't sleep. It was almost six, almost time for the Queen to rise to another day. Clarisse sat up in bed, leaning against the velvet upholstered headboard, watching him sleep soundly. Smiling to herself, Clarisse had hoped she had wore him out, and that he just didn't sleep so soundly always. She watched him breathe, watched as his chest rose and fell. The light coming through from the bath was soft, and it graced his features like she had never seen them before. It made him look, well, almost delicate.

He began to move, stretching and turning, trying to wake. Clarisse noticed how it changed the view, hardened his appearance into the man she knew him as best. Hopefully now, she was going to get to know both of them much better.

"You couldn't sleep love?" Joseph cuddled up to her, placing his head in her lap.

"I did, but I've been thinking for awhile now. Joseph, all this..all this that has happened in the past couple of days," Clarisse ran her hand over his head, tracing his ear with her finger. "Joseph it wasn't bad timing at all."

Joseph, not understanding how she came to that conclusion, opened his eyes wider as if it helped him to think. "Please enlighten me. I cannot understand how you would think otherwise...especially after all that waiting, the frustration, the cut on my head if nothing else."

"Oh Joseph," Clarisse laughed. "My dear Joseph." She placed a kiss over the bandage still covering his wound, a light kiss so as not to cause him any pain. "It was all that for me as well, but in light of the events, I used my frustration in a good way, which you taught me if I remember correctly. If not for that frustration, well, the events would have not been turned so easily and quickly. But the biggest reason love, is that I need you more in times like these. It seems we were married just before the heaviest load of my reign fell upon me. It was good timing, Joseph, very good timing."

"I never thought of it that way, but you're right. I might not have even been here..." Joseph stopped short of what he was going to say, not wanting to ruin the moment, but knowing they both knew the final words to it.

"But you were, and are, and more importantly, I have every intention of keeping you here." She squeezed his hand as it fell into her palm.

"So, what's next?"

"Well, the blockade should have been dismantled last night, and the trading route restored to all. I still have to deal with this ...this organization, myself. I don't like it, but it is in the best interest of not only Genovia, but Europe and the entire Middle East. I can't do it without you, and frankly Joseph, I don't want to try."

"You won't have to, love. You'll never have to." He squeezed her hand again as they took the remaining minutes alone for themselves.

It was quiet. She watched him lie upon her lap, fiddling with her fingers. He inhaled her scent, and memorized the feel of his head upon her thighs, her fingers tracing the ridges of his ear. Nothing more needed to be said. Nothing more needed to be done. They belonged to each other now, officially, spiritually, mentally, and now physically. Nothing could have been more right, nor could it have happened at a better time.

As Porky says, "Th...th..tha..tha...that's all folks."