Thanks to a lot of urging from readers to write the skinny-dipping sequel, here it is ... for tay, and everyone else!

O o O o O o

"Have you ever gone skinny-dipping, your Majesty?" Joseph had asked.

"Certainly not!" she had exclaimed, half-laughing, wondering how he had gone from the serious to the absurd so quickly.

"You're missing something if you don't skinny-dip at least once in your life." Joseph had said. "Look at that water. Imagine shedding all your cares and slipping into something warm which feels like cool silk on your heated skin, wrapping you completely and bestowing upon you a feeling of freedom like you wouldn't believe."

Clarisse smothered a sigh and leaned her head against the window of the car as she stared out over the ocean lying almost motionless in the moonlight. It had been a long, hot day, and they were still almost an hour from home. The water stretched out like glass before her, and looked so inviting ... and she hadn't been able to get Joseph's words about skinny-dipping out of her head since their time in Japan! Suddenly she straightened up. She would go for a walk on the beach! So what if it was the middle of the night? There was a full moon, the clear sky was alive with stars that seemed close enough to touch ... enough light to see where she was going. And Clarisse loved the serenity of the ocean lying dark beneath the stars. Its mystery filled her with a sense of awe that soothed her.

Leaning forward abruptly, she said to Joseph, "Stop the car, please, Joseph. I wish to walk on the beach. I need to unwind."

"Walk on the beach? At this hour?" he was astounded. "You are going to unwind on your own? Rather dangerous practice, I should say."

"As dangerous as unwinding with you?" Clarisse raised her eyebrows, teasing him daringly.

"Were THAT feasible, your Majesty, it would be every bit as dangerous, or more so." came the instant response.

Clarisse swallowed hard. She should have known better than to banter with Joseph! Taking a deep breath, she spoke hesitantly, keeping her eyes down, "Would you care to come with me then, Joseph?"

There was a silence, then Joseph said, "I am afraid that walking on this beach is not feasible, your Majesty. And in that Japanese gown, you are definitely not dressed for it!" Oddly disappointed, but not really surprised, Clarisse was about to speak when Joseph added, "However, I will take you to the beach on the lake in the palace grounds. Will that be acceptable?"

"Yes, thank you," Clarisse said gratefully. She leaned back and closed her eyes, only half listening as Joseph spoke to the other cars in the entourage and told them of the change of plans. She idly stroked the bright crimson silk of the gown, tracing one of the black leaves with a finger. Remembering the trip to Japan only a few months ago, and once more relived her secret time in the garden with Joseph. Although they had never spoken of it since, she was sure he remembered their kisses as well.

In about three-quarters of an hour, Joseph was drawing the car up to the beach. The other cars had continued on to the palace without question. Joseph opened the door and held out his hand for Clarisse to grasp as she got out of the car. Without a word, she began to walk along the sand, her flushed, heated face turned up to the starry sky. She could feel Joseph's somewhat disapproving presence behind her. He had been like this for most of the evening and it was vaguely irritating to her now.

She swung around to him, hoping to catch him off guard. "What is the matter, Joseph?"

"Matter, your Majesty? Nothing. Nothing at all."

"You've been glaring at me all evening!"

"You're mistaken," he said, coolly.

Nonplussed, Clarisse wasn't sure what to say next.

"I thought you wanted to walk." Joseph said.

Clarisse glanced down at her feet. Her new shoes were burning on her feet. She had danced too much, and had had too many partners who were not too graceful. Then a smile skated over her lips. What she needed was a cooling wade in the placid waters of the lake. There was something about the endless expanse of water that drew her, a nameless feeling of desire that seemed imposed from outside and totally separate from her own feelings. It was as if the lake itself was calling to her, beckoning her to come into its cool depths. And why not?

"I'm going to wade," she announced. "I'm hot, and my feet are VERY sore."

"I'm not surprised that your feet are sore, with all those clumsy fools pawing you and stomping on you all evening!" Joseph growled.

Raising an eyebrow at this admission of what had been bothering him, Clarisse waved her hand, "The water is so calm, like a mirror." She kicked off her shoes, then began to draw up her long skirt to reach the garter belt and remove her stockings. Joseph frowned and turned away.

Hiding her faint smile, Clarisse quickly pulled down the stockings and rolled them up carefully, putting them in her discarded shoes. Stepping into the cool water, she sighed audibly as her feet instantly felt better. Wrapping the sheer panels of the dress around her arms to keep them out of the water, and continuing to hold up her dress, she began to walk carefully along the water's edge on the firm sandy bottom. Joseph, still fully dressed, paced grimly along the sand just out of the water's reach.

It was a beautiful night. After walking in silence and growing comfort for a few moments, Clarisse stopped again. "Joseph?"

"Your Majesty?"

"I wish I had been dancing with YOU all night instead of those ... clumsy fools. We've been home from Japan for four months now ... and this is the first time we've been alone. Do you know what I'm thinking about while walking in the water?"

Joseph stopped, too, his face inscrutable in the dim light from the stars. "Probably not what I am thinking," he muttered.

"I'm remembering, as I have remembered every night for four months, our talk in the garden in Kyoto ... our KISSES in the garden ..." Her voice was low as she admitted her thoughts aloud for the first time in four months. "And tonight ... tonight I want to experience ... skinny-dipping."

Joseph choked. "Clarisse!"

"What harm could I possibly come to? I'm still on palace grounds ... I have my body guard ..." Clarisse spoke daringly. She stepped out of the water and dropped her skirt. Then she turned her back to Joseph. "Unzip my dress, please."

"You cannot do this! I forbid it!" Joseph protested, outraged. He began to enumerate the reasons she should not and indeed COULD not strip off her clothes and go swimming.

Clarisse waited. She knew she had shocked him. What surprised her was that she had not shocked herself even more. After enduring more of his tirade, which finally subsided in grumbling, she felt his fingers at the top of the dress zipper. He drew it down agonizingly slowly and Clarisse felt the tension in the air grow almost palpable. She drew the gown off her shoulders, carefully stepping out of the material clad only in her lacy underwear. She walked over to spread her dress on a bush.

Turning to look at Joseph, Clarisse found his gaze on her. Her breath caught. Even more than his build, or the aura of power that surrounded him, it was his eyes, his startlingly vibrant and expressive eyes, which seemed to reveal the inner core of this very private man, that gave him a magnetic appeal and a presence so compelling that he was irresistible to her. He was looking at her right at that moment, his eyes filled with warmth and desire. She could feel her body respond to the mere touch of his eyes. She loved looking at him, filling herself with him. She had thought he was attractive when she had first seen him ... but now, in the moonlight, he took her breath away.

He drew nearer. His hand came out hesitantly and took hers, his thumb running down her palm in a caressing motion.

"J-Joseph ..." Clarisse swayed as if she were about to faint, but she wouldn't look away. "I ... you..."

Joseph tightened his hold on her. Clarisse swallowed, still not resisting as he gently tugged her closer still. The dim light softened the vividness of his eyes, and his forehead, so often knotted in concentration or concern, was relaxed now. She had to fight the urge to wrap her arms around his neck and merge with him. Her intense attraction to him was nothing short of astounding. If he had any idea at all what his proximity was doing to her ...

Then he lowered his head and extracted a kiss from her astonished mouth. He had meant the kiss to be playful and teasing, but once there was contact, the nature of the fun changed. Like a bolt of lightning out of nowhere, desire shot through her body. Suddenly their kiss deepened, igniting her passion. Everything began to spin out of control.

Shocked and somehow humiliated by her own uninhibited response, Clarisse struggled to break free of his embrace. To her mortification, she had to clutch his arm for a moment while she swayed on unsteady legs to regain her equilibrium. During that millisecond before his eyes shuttered against the light, she thought she glimpsed fire in their depths.

"You can't skinny-dip unless you are entirely nude," he said at last.

"I ... I'll take these off in the water ..." and with an effort, Clarisse tugged free, ran eagerly to the beckoning waters, and dived in. The water refreshed her with its cool touch, and she rolled over onto her back and floated, looking up at the stars. Then, feeling energetic and carefree, she turned over and took several strong strokes just to enjoy exerting her muscles.

"It's glorious!" she called softly across the water to the straight figure on the sand. She knew she was playing with fire, but she couldn't help herself. "You should come in. Join me. I thought you enjoyed skinny-dipping."

"YOUR MAJESTY!"

Crouching below the water, she unclasped her bra and slid out of her panties. Scrunching them up in her hands, she called, "Joseph? Catch!" and she tossed the scraps of lace towards him.

Ignoring his roar of outrage and uncaring whether or not he actually HAD caught her clothes, she dove beneath the surface and then burst up again, winded and happy. She had never experienced anything like the freedom of the feel of the cool water flowing over her body like silk. It did indeed feel much different than swimming with a bathing suit! She ducked under the water and twisted wantonly, enjoying herself thoroughly, then came up for air again. She loved the soothing feel of water lapping over her bare skin, the liquid silver that rippled with her every movement. Her laughter peeled out, then died away abruptly as Joseph's wet head broke the surface near her.

Water droplets glistened on his skull, his wet skin gleamed in the moonlight. He drew closer to where she was crouching, and stood up beside her in the chest-high water, drops glittering and highlighting a muscular chest, a flat stomach ...

Clarisse wrenched her eyes away ... he was as naked as she was!

"Are you ready to get out, Madam?" he asked, as calmly as if they were fully clothed and standing in the palace foyer.

"No!"

"Come, now..."

"No, I say!" and she reinforced her refusal with a splash of water that took him full in the face.

He lunged, and Clarisse danced out of his reach. He followed. She slipped away like an eel. Cavorting like young children in the moonlight, they played a laughing game of retreat and pursuit. At last, Clarisse gasped, "I can't keep this up!" and she stopped moving.

Joseph, keeping his distance decorously now, flashed a grin at her. "Getting too old, Clarisse, my dear?" he teased.

"I think I'm just out of shape." Clarisse smiled back at him. Then her smile faded as their glances locked.

They both knew what was going to happen next, and they both knew it should not. And neither did anything to stop it.

"Joseph ... we should not do this," she whispered fervently, her breasts rising and falling rapidly. Yet even as she spoke, she was cupping his face with her hands, and pressing a kiss on his cheek. Wrong or not, she could no longer resist him.

He pulled her closer, and passionately took her mouth. She responded with equal fervour, losing herself in the wonderful sensations his lips engendered. It had been so long since she had felt passion! When he moved his mouth to her neck, to taste her ear and her temple and her cheek, Clarisse trembled, awash with awareness and weak with fiery need. His fingers threaded through her hair and she met his passion-darkened eyes, unafraid. She saw the tightness in his face, the urgency and the regret that churned in his eyes, but above all, the need. A need as intense as hers, and like hers, one that went far beyond the physical. There was an unspoken harmony to their movements, their touches, their needs. Physical arousal was intense and aching, but the emotional need was even more powerful.

"Clarisse!" her name broke from his lips. "We shouldn't ..."

She sighed, and nodded. "I know. Joseph?"

"Hmmm?"

"I remember what you said in Japan about this. About skinny-dipping, I mean. You said, 'Imagine shedding all your cares and slipping into something which feels like cool silk on your heated skin, wrapping you completely and bestowing upon you a feeling of freedom like you wouldn't believe.' Do YOU remember?"

"I do, queen of my heart."

"You were right. It IS freeing. But I think to REALLY know that feeling of freedom, I also need your loving. However, ..." Feeling the night air cooling rapidly, common sense surfaced and Clarisse eased out of their forbidden embrace even as Joseph did.

He leaned his forehead against hers. "I'm sorry," he finally spoke.

Clarisse sighed. She should never have teased him, should never have kissed him or allowed him to kiss her. Now she would ache for things she should not have, for the love she could not allow to distract from the duty she owed Genovia. Something told her she would now go through the rest of her reign as queen wanting him even more desperately than she had before. What had she done? She had thought her emotions and her desires long past after the death of her husband. But Joseph had somehow managed to get under her guard and he had aroused her to the point that she was no longer sure of anything. She fought to remain logical, but feared it was a losing battle. "It's very gallant of you to try to shoulder all the blame, but ..." her fingers smoothed over his chest and shoulders, then she pushed regretfully away.

Joseph released her at her movements, and said, "We DO have a problem. We're attracted, and we both have lots of reasons why we shouldn't be giving in to it. Not the least of which is that you are Queen of Genovia. I am just your bodyguard."

His eyes met hers again for a long moment, and both silently acknowledged the chasm between them. In that spell of vulnerability, Clarisse felt their souls meet, and in spite of what her logic told her, she knew that nothing could ever part them finally and forever. They were meant to be together. It was just ... their time was not now. "You are not 'just' anything, Joseph," she said softly. "You are more than I ever dreamed possible. I am not just attracted to you. I love you. I LOVE you! But I must not reveal that love publicly ... not until Mia is crowned queen. Then, and only then, will I be free to follow my heart."

After a long moment, he nodded. "As you wish, my queen. My love. I will wait."

Clarisse touched his cheek tenderly, the touch a substitute for the kiss she felt duty-bound to deny him for another four years. "Aishiteru, Joseph. Aishiteru."