‘I know you wouldn’t hurt her intentionally. But, Helios, what she says now...it doesn’t mean she’ll feel the same way once you’ve exchanged your vows.’ Amy closed her eyes and sighed. ‘And it doesn’t change how I feel about it. I won’t be the other woman. Marriage vows should be sacred.’
Helios placed her foot gently onto the bed before pouncing, grabbing her hands and pinning her beneath him.
Breathing heavily, she turned her face away from him.
‘Look at me,’ he commanded.
‘No.’
‘Amy, look at me.’ He loosened his hold only when she reluctantly turned her face back to him. ‘You are not Neysa—you are Elaine’s daughter, with all her goodness. Catalina is not your mother. Nor is she mine. And I am not my father. The mistakes they all made and the pain they caused are not ours to repeat. That’s something neither of us would ever allow to happen.’
He came closer so his lips were a breath away from hers.
‘And I’m not married yet.’
Her eyes blazed back at him, desire and misery fighting in them. He leaned down and placed a kiss to her neck, smoothing his hand over her breasts and down to her thighs. He inched the hem of her dress up and slid between her legs.
‘Neither of us are ready for this to end. Why deny ourselves when my vows are still to be made and we’re not hurting anyone?’
Amy fought the familiar tingles and sensations spreading through her again as the need to touch him and hold him grew stronger than ever. How was it possible to go from wanting to wrap him in her arms, to chase away what she knew were dreadful memories for him, to sensual need in the blink of an eye?
She writhed beneath him. Her words came in short breaths. ‘I can’t think when you’re doing this to me.’
‘Then don’t think. Just feel. And accept that we’re not over.’
In desperation she grabbed at his hair, forcing him to look at her. ‘But you’ve made a commitment.’
‘A commitment that won’t be fulfilled for two months.’ He slid inside her, penetrating as deep as he could go.
She gasped as pleasure filled her.
‘Until then,’ he continued, his voice becoming heavy as he began to move, ‘you are mine and I am yours.’
Amy tightened her hold around Helios, wishing she didn’t feel so complete with his weight upon her and his steadying breaths softly tickling the skin of her neck. She was a fool for him. More so than she could have imagined.
They’d laid their pasts bare to each other and the effect had been the very thing she’d been scared of. She felt closer to him, as if an invisible emotional bond had wrapped itself around them.
He finally shifted his weight off her and she rolled over and burrowed into his arms.
‘Don’t even think about trying to sneak out,’ he said sleepily.
‘I won’t.’ She gave a soft, bittersweet laugh. Her resolve had deserted her. Those bonds had cocooned her so tightly to him she could no longer envisage cutting them. Not yet. Not until she really had to. ‘You and I...’
‘What?’ he asked, after her words had tailed off.
‘No one can know. Please. Everyone who knew we were together knows we split up. I couldn’t bear for them to think we’re having an affair behind the Princess’s back.’
When they’d been together originally Helios had made no secret of her place in his life. She might not have accompanied him to official functions, or been recognised as his official girlfriend, but she had been his almost constant companion within the palace.
She’d spent far more time in his apartment than she had in her own, and whenever he had come into the museum he would seek her out. He would touch her—not sexually...he at least had a sense of propriety when it came to that in public...but he would rest his hand in the small of her back, lean close to her, all the little tells of a possessive man staking his claim on the woman in his life. And if work or duty took him away from the palace she would be the one to look after Benedict.
It had only been on the inside, emotionally, that they had been separated. But not any more. At this moment she didn’t think she had ever felt as close to anyone in her life.
‘Discretion will be my new name,’ he acquiesced.
‘And when you marry you will let me go.’
He stilled.
Watching for his reaction, she saw his eyes open. ‘That gives you two months to find my replacement,’ she whispered. ‘I want to know that you’ll release me from the palace and from your life. I appreciate it means bringing my contract to an early end, but I don’t think I’ll be able to cope with living and working here knowing it’s the Princess you’re sleeping with.’