Disclaimer: We own nothing & nobody and make no profit from this... hell if we owned it there would be changes made:-)
Mixed Signals by Posh and Stoneygem
Part 10
If he could have avoided this, he would have gladly done so. But as head of palace security, it was his job to guard the highest person in the country. Still, Shades would have preferred to be anywhere but in this car today. The way the couple had come outside - her Majesty running ahead, not turning, not talking and quite obviously in a very foul mood; Sir Joseph hurrying after her, struggling to hold his temper as well – he had known that this would not be a pleasant day.
Of course, the couple would do what was expected of them at this dog and pony show at the Winter Palace, but underneath… Shades cringed at the thought. And on top of it all, winter just wouldn't leave. Less than a week until Easter and snow was falling heavily. The wipers barely managed to keep the windscreen clear and it seemed to become more and more as it was. He glanced over to Dansen, who was gripping the wheel as if his life depended on it. In a way, it did, for the driver would be a dead man, if he managed to injure the dowager queen and her husband.
From the driver, the head of security allowed himself a short glance over his shoulder. The privacy screen was up, of course, but until a few minutes ago raised voices had been clearly audible. They were arguing again, like last night, like this morning. Shades frowned. He couldn't hear any more voices from the font. As a matter of fact it was eerily silent. Were they still arguing – only more quietly? Were they giving each other the silent treatment? Or were they…
The car shook a little, and Shades mentally slapped himself. Yeah, right! If there was one thing unimaginable then it was that the couple would have sex on the backseat. No way! Joe had too much taste to take his wife on the backseat of a car, especially right after an argument. And her Majesty would never do something like this. Would she?
"Bloody hell!"
A plopping sound like a bullet rung through the limousine and at the same moment the heavy car lurched to the side. Dansen hit the brake and grabbed the steering wheel, but it was no use. The car swerved over the snowy road, broke off the lane and skidded over the icy plain. Then there was a punch into the opposite direction and the heavy vehicle stopped – driver and passenger being flung forward. Snow whirled around the black limousine, but other than that, everything was quiet.
"Dammit!" Dansen cursed and hit the wheel with his fist. Beside him Shades slowly tried to move backwards to sit upright in his seat.
"You okay, Dansen?" he finally asked.
"Yeah. Nothing broken or anything. Except for the car. Dammit!"
"Stop swearing, man. Her Majesty doesn't like that." Shades eyes widened as he readjusted his glasses. His hand immediately went to the intercom, but before he could hit the button the familiar voice of his former boss sounded over the speaker.
"Are you both alright? What happened?
"Unknown yet, sir. Are you well, sir?"
A slight pause on the other end made both men frown. "Yes, no worse for wear. Thank you."
"Very well then sir. We will get out and check for damage on the car. We'll let you know, Sir, Madam."
Shades disconnected the intercom and nodded to Dansen. Both men unfastened their seatbelts and stepped out of the car. With a disgusted frown Shades looked down on his feet. The snow was already more than ankle deep. At a clicking sound he shot around, but breathed a sigh when he realized that his boss had gotten out of the car. His eyes widened considerably however when he saw the condition the man's clothing was in. Waist down everything was normal, and he certainly wore his suit jacket and his tie all right, but the shirt… The shirt was open underneath the jacket. And when Joseph stepped closer, Shades realized the shirt had no buttons anymore and not only no buttons but there were marks on his... The younger man swallowed in embarrassment. What was that about backseats and erm…
Joseph's voice shook him out of his musings. "Dansen, have you found the problem yet?"
The young man only muttered something and the other two stepped closer to him to assess the situation.
Clarisse sat in the backseat staring straight ahead. Twenty minutes since Joseph had left the car to enquire what had happened. Twenty minutes for her to settle her mind and her emotions again. Yet, those twenty minutes had not been enough and she doubted it would be enough to have twenty hours.
She was shaken. Badly shaken.
Not by the little accident. After all, probably only the car was broken. Nobody had been seriously hurt, they could still walk and talk and everything was fine. No she was not shaken by the accident.
She was shaken by the slight soreness she still felt between her legs, shaken by the tingling of her skin, by the shiver running up and down her spine, by the smell that hung in the air. His, hers, theirs together.
Oh god what had happened here. What had she done, what had he done, what had they done? Almost of its own volition her hand crept up to her shoulder, pushing her scarf away, while her other hand fumbled for the small mirror in her handbag and she moved the mirror up and ran a finger over her neck. The concealer had muted the angry red colour of his teeth marks and of the hickey, but it had not made them disappear.
She closed her eyes and heaved a deep sigh as her finger went over the marks where he had branded her, marked her as his. Possessively, possessing and possessed, by his desire for her, by her desire for him. Gods, what had they done.
And how could it be that she wanted it again? How could she face him now? Knowing what they had done. Knowing what she had said. Oh, she still wanted him - now, here, tonight, tomorrow, every day of her life. But she wanted him to leave. He had to leave. He must leave. She could not bear him near her. Not when she knew what he had done. Not when she knew that…
When she knew what? A small little voice inside her head asked. What did she know?
Well, she knew that he had an affair with this young woman, didn't she? Yet, he claimed time and again that he had no affair. And she wanted to believe him. Wanted to believe him, throw herself in his arms and forget about the last weeks. But there was this young woman. She existed. And Clarisse had seen them hug, knew that he had seen the woman frequently over the last weeks.
If not an affair, he still had kept something from her, turned away from her, ignored her. He had kept things from her.
He had always complained that she closed herself off from him, didn't share her feelings, her secrets, but was he any better?
What did he expect from her?
The door opened and the object of her thoughts stuck his head in.
"The car is broken. Flat tire, front axle broken. We cannot move it from here. We need to wait for help from the palace."
She swallowed and tried to give her voice a neutral tone. "How long until they will come?"
Joseph shrugged. "With the snow coming down like this, it might be hours."
"So we wait here?" she asked anxiously. The temperature had already dropped several degrees in the car and Clarisse, preferring warmer temperatures, felt the chill travelling up her legs.
"No, we aren't far from the hunting lodge. You and I will go there, while Shades and Dansen wait here for help and pick us up then."
Her mind furiously tried to come up with a reason, why this could not be. She could not be alone with him. She just could not, and not at the hunting lodge that was so full of memories. Memories of them last September. Their first chance to get away after their honeymoon. Four days at the hunting lodge. A glorious September – warm, golden and sunny. They had not seen any of it, spending most of their time in bed.
"But they will catch their death out here. It is cold and the heating is out."
"They will use the last of the battery to keep the heating on. They will be all right. And somebody has to stay here. They will be fine."
"But…"
"I'm not going to argue with you about this, Clarisse. They stay here and we are going to the lodge." He held his hand out to her. "Come, before the snow picks up even more."
She didn't move.
"Clarisse…" The warning was obvious in his voice.
Her shoulders slumped down in defeat. "Very well." She took her coat and carefully moved towards the door, mindful of the slightly sore joints. Stepping out of the car, she almost fell back in, as she felt the wetness of the snow against her ankles and the cold flakes battering against her face.
She turned towards the two men, who would be staying. "Will you be alright, waiting here, gentlemen?"
Both men opened their mouth to speak, but only Shades could be heard. "Of course ma'am. Don't worry about us."
She nodded in understanding and turned to her husband. "Well, if we must…"
"We must." Joseph answered firmly, took hold of her arm and began to guide her forward through the snow.
"Honestly, why can they go to that nice and probably luxurious and warm lodge and we must stay here? We could have waited for help there as well." Dansen complained.
"Because, we are personnel, they need the time alone and I said we stay here. Now, get that battery started so we can get the heating to work."
It took less than five minutes for the blizzard of snow to distort the image of the vehicle and it's two guardsmen. Joseph turned occasionally to glance back but it was no use, he could no longer be sure of the road let alone where the car was.
He was still staring behind him when he encountered Clarisse standing hands on hips watching him. He bumped into her, instinctively reaching for her arm. She stepped back paying him no heed.
"How far did you say?"
"Less than two miles, a short walk."
"Not in weather like this." She was shouting above the wind in her ears, the more she spoke the harder it became, her throat complaining at the soreness of the cold. She clapped her mouth shut and took the scarf from her throat; nobody was likely to see the marks now.
Placing it over her head and tying it beneath her chin she felt Joseph come up behind her and take hold of her coat. He lifted the collar up then facing her fastened the button at her throat, pausing only momentarily as his eyes lingered on the redness his mouth had left.
"Try and keep the cold out." He must have whispered it; she could barely hear him over the wind and now the material covering her ears. She only nodded in response but couldn't help but scan his own short jacket, no scarf, at least he had his gloves.
He glanced down at her feet. "Those shoes aren't exactly good for walking in the snow."
"They were hardly meant for it." She snapped.
He swallowed. "Allow me to carry you."
She shook her head forcefully, "I'll be fine."
"You can't walk in this."
"Watch me."
She turned and began to stumble across the uneven surface, keeping her eyes pinned to the floor, partly to hide her face from the harsh wind, partly to keep an eye on her footing. Despite their predicament, despite the fact her body was still burning from his touch, she was damned angry with the man. Hell she'd said 'divorce' – had she really said that out loud to him? Add to that the fact that she was still rather 'uncomfortable' and walking became a whole lot harder, again she wondered how they had gotten so carried away that they could do that in the back of the car? In such a manner…
Joseph followed a few steps behind her, eyes fixed on her back, why did she always have to be so bloody independent and self-minded? He could help her, here now he could offer help yet she pressed on attempting to walk in high heel shoes in weather like this. He was sliding about and his footwear was flat. There were so many things he wanted to say to her right now, so many reasons why what had happened was wrong. And then this… well perhaps it was a blessing, how would he have coped for the day stuck with all those suits playing the dutiful happy husband when inside he was seething.
There were moments he wanted to take hold of her and shake some sense into her, make her realise… make her realise what exactly? She knew how much he loved her; she'd always known that, he adored her. They'd been so happy, after the wedding and the initial heady excitement of finally being together, publicly, not hiding their feelings away in some sordid secretive way. But no, he'd been foolish; somehow he thought marriage would be easy. That their love for each other would be enough, but marriage was more than that, any relationship was more than that. You had to work at it, talk about it; communication without shouting would be a start right now.
Yet who was he to judge her behaviour, hadn't he been just as bad? No, his secrets were for a reason, to protect her. That was what he'd told himself these past couple of months; it was all to protect her. She didn't need to be slapped with his problems so soon after they'd wed. She was still dealing with grooming and guiding Mia. But somehow along the way his good intentions had turned awry and now, good god now she thought he was messing around with somebody else. If only she knew how difficult it had been over the last few weeks to stay away from her, to keep his hands from her body, to safely keep his desires in check… there had been more than one cold shower recently.
His arms involuntarily shot forward as his eyes registered her trip, he caught her body before it hit the floor and hoisted her up, easily lifting her into his arms. For a second she fought against him, pressing her hands hard on his shoulders.
"I can walk, I don't need you…"
"Right now you do, your feet are soaking Clarisse."
She couldn't deny that, not only were they soaking but they were frozen too.
"It's too far, you can't carry me all the way." She said reluctantly.
"We'll see."
The problem with him carrying her wasn't that she was worried he wasn't physically up to it or couldn't manage the distance. It was the actual closeness between them, she tried to keep her head upright, to not allow her body to melt into the firmness of his chest, but it was a tough battle.
For a second he paused and she turned to glance at his face.
"Snow in my mouth." He said twitching his head.
She lifted her hand from her lap and wiped the snowflakes that had stuck to his lips and beard.
"Thank you." He mouthed hoisting her up a little and attempting to readjust her legs over his arm.
She grimaced and pressed hard on his chest.
"You're in pain… was it the accident, have you hurt your ribs?"
She shook her head. "Just… well…" she sighed. "Just a little sore."
The cause of her discomfort registered and the guilt washed over him draining his energy momentarily, she felt his hold dip and looped her arms around his neck, grabbing him and forcing him to stand straight again.
"I am so…"
"Don't. Not now."
He nodded, at the moment the most pressing issue was to get indoors and get dry and warm. They could discuss their actions later; he sensed it would be a discussion that could take a hell of a long time.
They walked for another 10 minutes then Joseph stopped again, Clarisse lifted her head from his chest unsure as to when she'd rested it there. The weather was getting worse, the snow almost blinding her as she attempted to figure out where they were.
"Darling, I need to put you down for a second." He was shouting over the wind, his anger slipping as his concern for her welfare took over.
She nodded and he gently slipped her feet back to the ground. She sank down into the snow, she hadn't realised how deep it had gotten, and he'd been carrying her through this, good lord how could he still move.
She watched as he kicked at the snow, and then knelt on it digging down. The frosty winds assaulted her face, the snow was driving its way down the collar of her coat and she was shaking as she watched him. Her scarf had long since turned into nothing but a wet piece of material, the protection it offered her face was minimal but she wasn't about to take it off.
"Joseph…" She called over the winds.
"Looking for the road." He shouted over his shoulder.
"Oh." She said to herself, it hadn't occurred to her they could have wandered off track, they could be anywhere now. No vehicles had passed, no sign of any other life. She hobbled over to him, fighting against the elements and knelt down helping him dig.
She only took a few scoops of the ice and then he caught her hands and moved them out of the way, the road, they were still on tarmac and hadn't wandered off onto a grassy bank. She dropped back on the snow relieved.
"Well as long as we're not heading for France we should get moving."
She straightened up rather reluctantly, for the snow seemed to be less violent when she was closer to the ground, but it couldn't be helped. A second later she felt herself be lifted up again.
"I told you, you don't have to carry me." She said forcefully, but he ignored her protests and silently plodded through the snow.
She sighed in annoyance, but almost unconsciously put her head back on his chest. Turning her face closer to his body she realized with a start that his short coat was not really covering his torso and that neither his suit jacket nor his shirt provided enough coverage. With a flash of guilt she understood that his shirt no longer could, since she - in her fog of desire - had...
Before the guilt could creep over her, her surroundings suddenly became darker, but the constant battering of snow stopped. At the same moment she felt herself stood back on the ground and him moving away. Despite her earlier protests, she couldn't help the whimper that escaped her at the loss of contact.
She heard him rummaging for something and within seconds he had produced the key and opened the door. Even though they had come here for that, she couldn't process the development and he came, scooped her up again and carried her over the threshold.
Hope you enjoyed!