Quoting Victoria Grant- HOLY MAN! How great are you guys, I hardly believed my eyes when I saw all those wonderful reviews!
Ok, so here goes:
addlogcon: Me either, it´ll be all so gloriously complicated and sneaky once he´s there :DDD
Captain Weirdo: Thank you very much for the review, I hope you´ll enjoy the next part also!
bluegirl-783: Aww, thank you so much- hehe, I thought Clarisse without a plan would make for a nice change and well, who doesn´t love a guy complement his girl... Dreamy smile... ;)
Zsulie: Oh, thank you- wow for the comment from me :D Actually I was a little surprised myself but then I thought hey, what the heck, they are grown up´s and they´ve known each other for ages, they most likely would not behave like teenagers, they´d know what they want- sort of- well, you know what I mean...
Prettycrazy: Aw, thank you- I´m glad about you having time to read it too ;) I´ll do now, sorry it took so long- yeah, nice big conflict and thanks for liking their little bantering, it´s enormous fun to write!
JUJUChick16: Yeah, obviously- thank you very much, more to come now!!
Liesel Meminger: Thank you- I´m sorry it took so long, I´m really busy with school work right now- please keep reading and reviewing, love back!
Clarisse Renaldi: Wow, now you´ve really stunned me :D Thanks so much, I´m glad you are enjoying it and of course Josef will remain as gentle man like in the parts to come!!
"Will you stay here with me?"
Josef asked and Clarisse hesitated, then she sighed.
"It´s already starting to get complicated and I still don´t have a plan."
"I suppose we will have to come up with a whole series of good explanations, Clarisse but for now we could simply try to wake up early enough so you´ll be in your rooms when your maid comes in."
"Yes- it won´t get easier, will it?"
"No, probably not."
"I don´t care, I want to do this, I have to, I want to do one thing in my life without thinking about the consequences."
"You are having my full support, Darling- now let´s try and get some sleep, it´s almost four in the morning."
--
"Good morning."
Clarisse slowly opened her eyes to the sound of the warm voice in her ear and smiled as Josef gently kissed her lips.
"Good morning- what time is it?"
"Almost six- you should go back to your room."
"Yes- when we are back at Genovia I´ll arrange for a wake up call instead of someone coming to my room."
Josef didn´t answer and Clarisse knew what he was thinking about, once they were back at Genovia everything would be different, the relaxed atmosphere would once again be replaced by the stiff protocol of the palace and Clarisse would not only be the queen but also the wife of Rupert Renaldi and spending time with each other would become increasingly difficult.
"Don´t think about it now" he advised her as she reluctantly sat up and reached for her robe, "we´ll have to take it one day at a time."
"We could run away" Clarisse mused as she tied her robe around her waist, "and live somewhere in a small cottage by the sea, no one would ever find us."
"Yes, of course, Your Majesty, they´d send the whole army to look for you" Josef reminded her and Clarisse sighed.
"Probably- well, I´ll see you at breakfast, I think I need a really long shower to wake up."
--
"Good morning, Your Majesty."
"Good morning, Charlotte, do you have the Genovian Times? I want to see what´s in there about yesterday´s parliament meeting."
"Of course, Your Majesty."
Clarisse took the paper from her assistant and checked the headlines on the front page while absentmindedly stirring her tea.
"Like I expected, nothing particular- is my nine o´clock appointment confirmed?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The phone on Clarisse´s desk began to ring and she dismissed Charlotte with a nod while picking up.
"Yes?"
"Good morning, my Darling."
Clarisse´s heart began to pound in her chest at the sound of her husband´s voice, images of the previous night flashing before her inner eye as she tried to keep her breathing steady.
"Rupert- shouldn´t you be in a meeting with Sebastian right now?"
"Cancelled- you sound even more agitated than yesterday, what aren´t you telling me, Clarisse?"
His tone wasn´t simply teasing anymore, now it had a concerned undertone and the queen leaned back in her chair, she had to get back in control, she couldn´t risk her husband finding out about- no, she couldn´t think about it right now, she had to concentrate on the conversation.
"I don´t know what you mean, Rupert, it´s hot, it´s stressful and if our granddaughter wasn´t our granddaughter I would say she is completely hopeless."
The last part of her sentence got Rupert´s attention, just as she had expected and Clarisse almost sighed in relief.
"I told you it wasn´t a good idea to leave it to Helen to raise her" the king complained and Clarisse sat up straighter, glad to be back on familiar territory, arguing with her husband was something she was rather good at.
"I´m aware of that, Rupert but now it obviously is too late and we´ll have to cope with it."
"You have to cope with it, my Darling, I expect her to be a perfect crown princess when I arrive there."
"Right now I´m not even sure she´ll want to be the crown princess, let alone perfect" Clarisse answered challengingly, a small smile playing around her lips as she heard her husband gasp indignantly.
"What do you mean you are not sure about that, there´s no alternative, there is no one else!"
"Thanks for that amazing piece of information, Dear- I´m doing my best here."
"I most certainly hope you do, I´m relying on you, Clarisse."
"You make it sound as though it was only your concern, Genovia is as much my country as your´s, even though I wasn´t born into the royal family."
Her bad conscience combined with his attitude made her angrier than necessary and during the moment of silence that followed Clarisse wondered if she had gone too far and her husband was seriously annoyed now.
"Clarisse, I´m sorry, I didn´t want to say- of course it is your concern as well and I know you will do anything you can, I just feel so helpless, it´s not easy to know that the future lies in the hands of an ignorant teenager."
"She´s lovely, she really is, she just isn´t anywhere near ready for the crown- on the other hand, you are not planning to step down anytime soon, are you?"
"No- when you say hopeless, what exactly do you mean?"
"I didn´t say hopeless."
"You said you would say hopeless if she wasn´t our granddaughter."
"But she is our granddaughter" Clarisse reminded him gently, she didn´t want to prejudice her husband against Amelia but he needed to be prepared after all.
"Of course she is- I´ll stop bothering you now, you seem to be stressed enough without me pressuring you even more."
"You aren´t bothering me but you are right, I really need to go, I havn´t seen my schedule for today and I´m late for breakfast- try and relax a little, will you?"
"I will- I miss you, Clarisse."
Why did he have to tell her that now, he said things like this so rarely and right now it was about the last thing Clarisse wanted to hear, she couldn´t say it back, she couldn´t lie to him about something like this.
"You will be here soon, won´t you" she said instead, sounding a little too cheerful.