“James.” Xavier’s mother pursed her lips. “You’re not starved or starving, you must stop saying that phrase.”
“No one cares, Henrietta.”
“We care.” She looked at him sternly. “And you never know when you might slip up and say it in public and then all the liberals will be on you and the family. The King says he’s starving, what about the rest of us?”
“Mother.” Xavier sighed. “Let’s leave politics for another day.”
“You know it’s true. Between you and your father, the press is all over us.”
“Mother, you know that I’m sorry for what happened. I can’t go back and change the fact that the paparazzi followed Lola and I. It’s not like we planned this.”
“But an engagement, Xavier, really?” She almost sobbed as she gazed at her son in disappointment. “You know that you were betrothed to...”
“Mother.” Xavier’s voice was sharp. “You’re being rude. Lola is sitting right next to me.”
“You’re breaking my heart.” She sighed melodramatically and I looked down at the table. I’d thought that Xavier was rude, but his mother was even worse. Did they think that the fact they were royalty meant they could speak as rudely as they wanted to people.
“I’m sorry, Lola. Would you like for us to go out to dinner instead?” Xavier gazed at me and I could see a look of concern in his eyes. I wasn’t sure if he felt bad for me or more annoyed at his mother. I was about to accept his offer when I realized just how bad that would look, Imagine going out to dinner on our first night. What would people think? What would his mother think? Yes, she’d been rude to me. But I knew I wasn’t going to be helping matters if I left now. A part of me didn’t care what she thought or what happened. This wasn’t real. We weren’t really getting married and I wasn’t going to have to put up with her in a week.
“Come.” Xavier grabbed my hand and attempted to pull me away from the table.
“No.” I said loudly and firmly. “This is fine. I don’t want to leave.”
The room was silent for a few minutes as we stood there and I wasn’t sure where to look. Tarquin’s expression had changed to one of admiration and I knew that he had expected me to leave. It was then that I realized that the servants were standing by the door and by the wall waiting for us to be finished.
“Mother, we’re staying. You can let Edith know that the dinner service may begin,”
“Always so bossy.” She looked at Xavier indulgently. “Just like your father.”
“I’m not bossy Henrietta.” James looked at her and he rolled his eyes.
“You used to be.” She grinned at me and I saw her hand going over to his knee. What the? I was thinking to myself. Was she flirting with her husband at the table? No wonder Xavier was so straight forward with his want for sex. I knew that Europeans were meant to be a lot more open to the idea of talking about sex and even showing their interest, but I hadn’t expected this. Especially not from the Queen of ice.
***
Dinner was pretty quiet for the most part. I was glad that there weren’t many people. I knew my dress would have been the talk of the town if there had been outsiders there.
“Would you have let me wear this dress to a larger dinner party?” I asked Xavier as we made our way to the bedroom.
“I don’t know. It’s not for me to let you do anything. Is it Lola?”
“I don’t mean let.” I rolled my eyes. “Obviously it’s not for you to let me do anything, I just meant, would you have attempted to persuade me to wear another outfit if you had known there were going to be more people there?”
“Why would I try and dissuade you from wearing your fashion. Clothing is also art and I’m glad to see you expressing yourself.”
“You’re an ass**le.” I exclaimed. “Obviously a bright red dress with yellow polka dots is not how I’m expressing myself. What sort of expression do you think I’m making?”
“Well, red typically represents whores and yellow is used by advertisers to attract people to a product they are selling. So perhaps the outfit is expressing that...” He paused and looked at me and smiled. “Let’s not talk about it. Tomorrow is another day and there will be a more formal dinner with a large group of people. I suggest you wear something you’ll be more comfortable in.”
“Why, I don’t believe it. I do believe you just stopped yourself from calling me a whore.” I laughed as we walked into the bedroom. “I never would have believed it.”
“You can show me your thanks tonight if you want?”
“How’s that then?”
“In bed?” He grinned and I groaned.
“You’re really too much.”
“It will be a way for us to christen our relationship.”
“We’ve already had sex.” I walked over to my bag and pulled out a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. “We don’t need to christen anything.”
“Well this would be our first time as an engaged couple,”
“We’re not even engaged.” I walked to the bathroom and then closed the door. “In case you didn’t get it, the answer’s no.” I shouted so that he could hear me as I changed my clothes.
“Sexy.” Xavier was waiting for me outside the door as I vacated the bathroom. “I take it that those are the clothes you intend to wear to bed.”
“You are smart.”
“You’ve got a smart mouth.”
“A smart mouth?”
“You’re mouthy. Too mouthy for me. I’ve a mind to show you what I think should happen to women that mouth off at me.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that? Do you want to wash my mouth out with soap?”
“No.” He followed me over to the bed. “No soap. Though, I would like to put something in your mouth.”
“You want to put something in my mouth?” I stared at him in confusion and then it hit me. “Oh.” I blushed and then glared at him. “You wish.”
“Don’t tell me that you’re going to be boring tonight?” He pouted as he walked to the door and locked it. He pulled out the key and put it on the nightstand next to the bed. “We can do anything we want tonight without fear of getting caught.”
“All I want to do is sleep.”