The King's Surprise Bride: A Royal Wedding Novella (Royal Weddings Book 2) Read online

  I incline my head respectfully towards him; Fergus does the same as he kisses my hand again.

  I turn to look at Drew, who calls for a servant to show me to my room. There’s something closed off about his face, as if he’s schooling his expression to hide what he’s thinking. I hope to god he’s thinking about me.

  Up in my room, I spend an hour having a luxurious bath—scrubbing, shaving, and moisturizing my skin until it’s the softest it’s ever been.

  The dress I’m to wear is already hanging up in my room—a strapless, delicately beaded bodice with a floaty, almost weightless skirt. I know I’ll look amazing in it, with my willowy frame and long dark hair. I just wish it was for Andrew, not Fergus.

  Sighing, I sit on the window frame and open the window, gazing out towards the stables.

  I then notice Drew, tending to his stallion, Ness. He lovingly nuzzles his face against his horse, before brushing him down and topping up his hay. I even see him slip the beautiful creature a few sugar cubes.

  Andrew is another man I know basically nothing about, but I’ll marry him in a heartbeat.

  Fergus has nothing on Drew’s raw, primal masculinity, and yet it’s clear Drew is also exceedingly gentle and caring. I can only hope that Fergus can at least match that. But something tells me he won’t.

  I’m surprised to hear a knock on my door. I check the time; there’s still at least an hour until the ceremony. It’s scheduled just before sunset on the edge of the apple orchard, where it meets the sandy western shore of Drew’s country.

  At this time of year, it’s suppose be a breathtaking scenery, considering what I saw of the orchard in full bloom. I don’t doubt that it will be the perfect wedding ceremony—aside from who the groom will be, of course.

  The knock grows more insistent, so I shake my head to clear it of any fanciful thoughts.

  “Who is it?”

  “Who else would it be right before your wedding, idiot?” comes an all-too-familiar, female voice.

  I immediately perk up and run for the door.

  “Gwen!” I cry out excitedly as I fling open the door and swallow the petite blonde in a giant hug.

  Gwen laughs, then raises an eyebrow, before following me into my room.

  “You should be in a wedding dress.”

  I let out an embarrassed laugh as I take the dress in question off its hanger.

  “Help me into this, then?”

  Gwen happily laces me into the dress, then moves on to fixing my hair and make-up as we catch up.

  Gwen is a princess too, though from a country far into the mainland. I studied in her country for two years, where the two of us quickly became friends. She recently got married to her childhood sweetheart, Edward, who’s now king of his own country, though I know they were both originally engaged to other people.

  Merely thinking about how they managed it causes me to think about how I could get out of marrying Fergus in favor of Drew. But such decision could destroy the peace alliance, which my country simply cannot afford.

  “…and so, anyway, Ignora was honestly the worst woman I’ve ever met. Like, I can’t believe Edward ever agreed to marry her in the first place, Ash,” Gwen says as she finishes my hair and make-up.

  I make a face. “She can’t be that bad.”

  Gwen laughs. “Wait until you have a few drinks at your wedding, and I’ll regale you with the whole story.”

  I give her a wry smile.

  Of course, it’ll be a great story—all of Gwen’s stories are.

  “I look forward to it.”

  Gwen checks the time and suddenly jumps to her feet, her perfectly curled, blonde hair bouncing against her shoulders.

  “Ash, we’ve got to get going, or you’ll be late to your own wedding!”

  “Not necessarily a bad thing,” I mutter under my breath as we make our way downstairs, where we are escorted down to the beach front.

  “I thought we were supposed to travel by horse-drawn carriage,” Gwen mumbles in disappointment, to which I heartily laugh.

  “The carriage is currently…indisposed. The wheel broke,” I explain when Gwen looks confused, “and Kind Andrew came to my rescue. Did you know he can carry a whole fucking carriage?!”

  Gwen looks at me, amused. “Can he now? Maybe you’re marrying the wrong king.”

  “Oh, don’t say that to me now, Gwen. Please.”

  Seeing my face, Gwen clucks her tongue in sympathy, then holds my hand all the way to the ceremony.

  “You’ll be okay, Ash. Fergus seems lovely. And this is all for the good of your country after all.”

  I nod, not trusting my voice to agree.

  When we get to the wedding, it is indeed a breathtaking scene. The apple blossom trees have been strung up with lights, twinkling between the petals and making them glow. The sun is at the perfect angle to reflect the glittering sea, painting the sandy shore in dark oranges and reds, as the low-tide waves crash against it.

  I’ve never seen a place so beautiful. It seems as if elves created it.

  Every inch of Fergus looks the perfect groom. The sun is turning his hair into a luxurious shade of gold. When he smiles and beckons for me to join him underneath a delicately woven, wooden archway, I think that perhaps it won’t be so bad being married to him.

  But then, I see Drew, just to Fergus’ left, and he positively beams at me.

  Oh god. I can’t marry Fergus. I can’t.

  “Wait,” I say when I reach the altar.

  Fergus raises a questioning eyebrow.

  All around us, wedding guests murmur in surprise.

  “What is it, Ash?” Fergus asks.

  Behind him, I can see Drew staring at me with wide eyes, as if he knows what I’m about to do. But I can’t just cancel the wedding, or the peace treaty will be in tatters.

  “I want to postpone the wedding,” I demand, much to everyone’s surprise.

  Fergus’ eyes narrow in suspicion.

  “Just for—just for a few days!” I scrabble to explain. “It’s just…Fergus, I don’t even know you. Might we spend a few days together, getting to know one another? Just…give me five days. That’s all.”

  I know it’s risky, but I’m desperate.

  The look on Fergus’ face suggests that he absolutely does not want to postpone our wedding; in fact, I’d go so far as to say that he looks mutinous. But then he schools his expression and smiles politely.

  “A fair, reasonable request. I don’t see why we can’t do that. The ceremony was rather rushed, after all.”

  Confused but ecstatic that I’ve gotten my way, I thank Fergus and kiss his cheek. For half a second, he almost seems to grimace, but then it’s gone.

  “I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse me for a while, Ash,” he says. “I have some business to attend to, now that my schedule has changed.”

  Ignoring how he described our wedding as part of his “schedule,” I wander over to a table laden with drinks and pour myself one as the wedding guests dissipate.

  Gwen gives me a knowing look after glancing at Drew, leaning against an apple tree all by himself, before leaving.

  Eventually, it’s just me and Drew.

  I take a deep breath.

  Please don’t let me have misread our mutual attraction.

  I don’t want to risk the peace of my country on a hunch if it isn’t correct, after all.

  Chapter 3

  Andrew

  This mad, little woman.

  Did she seriously just do what I think she did?

  I’ve sat through many royal ceremonies in my life, and they’re all regimented beyond belief. Wives and husbands dutifully fulfilling their obligations with dead-eyed determination. It’s depressing to watch most of the time, but hey, that’s how it is within monarchies.

  Everyone simply bites down and bears it.

  But watching Ash stand up in the middle of a wedding that took weeks to plan and postpone it? Well, that was single-handedly, the hottest damn thing I’ve
ever seen in my life. Whoever said all women from Ash’s Island were simple-minded and gravely mistaken.

  “Aren’t you heading back to the castle?” I asked Ash.

  She whips around, her long, raven hair spinning around her and wrapping across her body like a second set of clothes. My voice is louder than I intended; birds flutter from the top of the blossoming trees around us.

  Ash’s eyes light up as she looks around at her surroundings, trying to find an excuse for why she’s stayed behind.

  But of course, I already know the reason why.

  I walk over to her as tree branches crunch beneath my feet.

  She looks away and covers her mouth with her hand.

  Is that a smile I detect?

  “I thought I would help clean up a bit, so the wind doesn’t blow any of these down the beach,” she says, gesturing towards the empty cups on a table.

  “I do like a woman who cares for the environment,” I chuckle, though I truly mean it. “But they can wait.”

  For a split second, she looks as if she might protest, as if cleaning up her own postponed wedding is the one desire she has in the world, but then a wry grin spreads across her face as she looks away.

  “Your face betrays your thoughts, Princess Aisling.”

  She looks up at me, her eyes piercing at me through her hair. Her smile is mischievous, like she wants to pounce on me.

  But before I can touch her, she suddenly runs off.

  What the…?

  I turn around to see her gliding behind the trees, her long dress trailing behind her like wings.

  A blanket of dark hair sticks out from around the tree.

  “Don’t come near me!”

  Is she crazy?

  Please don’t tell me I’ve been misreading this whole situation the entire time because that would not be cool—for either me or my penis.

  “Excuse me?” I slowly approach her. “I haven’t done anything.”

  She pokes her head out again, this time sticking her leg out and wrapping it around the tree.

  “It’s not what you’ve done,” she purrs. “It’s what you’re about to do.”

  “And what is it I’m about to do, oh great mind reader?” I tease her.

  If she wants to play games, I can do this all day…and all night.

  “I don’t know,” she says, suddenly sounding shy. “I just…had a feeling.”

  I cock my head to the side and give her a puzzled expression.

  “But you’re an engaged woman. What could possibly happen between you and me?”

  Ash slowly unwraps her leg from around the tree.

  “I don’t know,” she says with a shrug. “I don’t know what’s gotten over me. I’m acting very unlike myself right now, and it scares me a little bit.”

  I step closer to her and lean my arm against the tree. I notice her eyes traveling across my torso and then widening with delight.

  Once she notices what she’s doing, she gasps and goes running off again.

  “Hey!” I call after her. “Aren’t we both too old for hide and seek?”

  Ash runs behind another tree a few feet away as she peers at me, her eyes glaring.

  “I’m betrothed to King Fergus!” she shouts at me. “I must do my duty to my kingdom. I love him! Really, I do! The wedding will carry out as planned, and we’ll both be very happy together.”

  I shake my head and laugh.

  “The lady doth protest too much,” I say, as I step closer to her.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.” I shrug. “Shakespeare.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “You don’t care one bit about Fergus, do you?” I step closer to Ash, who scoots to the other side of the tree.

  “Of course, I do!” she peers out from around the tree in a huff, her breasts bouncing aggressively within her white dress.

  She’s lying, of course, and she knows that I know. But given the abandoned wedding decorations all around us, I understand why she’s keeping up the charade of caring for the other king.

  “Really?” I say, humoring her.

  Although I’m enjoying this game, I can’t help but have this intense urge to just grab her and throw her on the ground already.

  “Judging from the way you’ve been eyeing me since you’ve got here, your body is telling a different story.”

  Ash’s eyes widen in shock, as if she was just caught in a lie. After a mix of emotions wash across her face, she suddenly takes off again.

  “Oh no, you don’t.”

  I reach out and catch her, grabbing her by the wrist before she can take off.

  Surprised, Ash whips around as I yank her closer to me. She resists at first, and then relaxes as our bodies fold into each other. I kiss her, finally, drinking up every last inch of her.

  I can feel myself already growing rock hard now.

  We’re both breathing hard as Ash looks up at me, her eyes both fearful and desirous.

  “We shouldn’t,” she whispers, her breath growing faster.

  “Then make me stop.”

  She does nothing as I slowly start to undo the lacing on the back of her wedding dress, one eyelet after another, until her tits are bouncing free. Once exposed, she throws her arms across her chest, looking around wildly.

  “Someone will see us!”

  “It’s just us,” I hungrily whisper into her ear as I kiss her neck. “Just us.”

  I shove her into the grass as she giggles.

  “I can’t believe we’re doing this!”

  She rolls through the grass as her dress falls around her thighs.

  I grab her legs and pull them up, pulling the rest of her dress off. I reach for her panties, feeling starved to bury my face in her pussy, but she suddenly sits up and brushes my hands away.

  “No, you first,” she says breathlessly as she reaches for my pants. “You’re about to burst.”

  I look down, and unsurprisingly, my cock is rock hard and looks like it’s about to burst through my pants, but I decide to hold it together.

  “Ladies first,” I tell her as I push her back down to the ground.

  I yank her panties down, and for a split second, I realize her white satin lingerie was only meant to be seen by her husband on their wedding night.

  Oh well. So much for that.

  I climb down between her legs and inhale her. Her whole body is convulsing, and I haven’t even touched her yet!

  “I’ve never,” she gasps, “I’ve never—”

  “I know,” I say, as I flick my tongue between her pussy lips, tracing the tip along her clit, so that her body convulses with every light touch.

  I grasp her thighs, digging my fingers into her flesh, as her whole body shakes. She starts kicking her legs, her feet dragging across the ground, covering us in dirt and dry leaves.

  Now, I’m even hornier than ever.

  We’re just a couple of dirty heathens fucking in the place, where, just a few minutes ago, Ash was about to marry King Whatshisname.

  “I’m coming!” she exclaims, trying hard to keep her voice down, “I’m coming!”

  This is wrong. This is really wrong. But it feels so fucking right.

  Her back arches as she comes for the first time—an intense, dry orgasm that sends the birds in the trees soaring.

  She tries to wave me away, but I go back again. She convulses, as I grip her sweaty body, all slippery under my palms.

  Within seconds, she comes once more, covering me with her pussy juice.

  Before I can go down again, she sits up and knocks me over.

  “Uh uh,” she says, eyeing me like some beautiful sex goddess, who’s come to my kingdom for this one purpose.

  “It’s your turn.”

  Chapter 4

  Ash

  “Well?” Drew asks, expectantly.

  I know Drew asks, expectantly. but I want Drew to feel like he’but I want Drew t

  I stalk over like a cat, letting a seductive smirk cross my li
ps as my eyes take in the entire length of him, hard and almost throbbing.

  Suddenly, I grab Drew like a cat, letting a seductive smirk cross my lips as my eyes take in the entire length of him, hard and almost throbbing. hudders pleasantly, so I take the plunge and devour it all, my tongue moving along the shaft with such intensity that I feel Drew entwine his fingers in my hair and push me against him, as close as he can physically get me.

  “Faster,” he orders me, his tone commanding and king-like. “Faster!”

  As I suck his dick, I think about all of the chairs and decorations from the wedding party around us. And yet here I am, giving a blowjob to a man who is not my fiancé. This may come back to bite us both, but right now, I fiancé. This may come

  And just like that, Drew explodes in my mouth. His whole body convulses as he sinks to the base of the tree beside me.

  I can’t believe we just did that.

  I’m supposed to be getting married, and my husband is the one who’s supposed to be ripping my dress off, but instead it was Drew—not that I’m complaining, of course.

  I know it’s wrong, but I can’t help the corners of my lips turning upwards in a small smile, feeling absolutely divine just in that very moment.

  As I lean up against him and wipe my chin, he chuckles, causing me to blush and look away.

  “Oh,” he teases gently, his hand on my thigh, “now you’re shy, after taking a mouthful from me?”

  “Stop that,” I chide, swatting his arm and giggling. “Don’t say it out loud like that.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” he croons, “I wasn’t aware that there were rules of engagement for this.”

  I roll my eyes at him, and that predatory spark in his eye comes back, and I gasp, watching as he slowly untangles his arms from mine.

  “What are you doing? Why are you looking at me like that?” I ask, starting to get nervous.

  He doesn’t answer, and before I can ask again, he slides down my body and his face dives back down in between my thighs, that skillful tongue doing what it does best.

  I groan and run my hands through his hair as he laps at my wet cunt, giving soft, wet strokes with his tongue everywhere but exactly where I want it, turning me into a whining, needy mess.

  I’m still wet from him working his magic just moments ago, and I didn’t think it would be possible for me to get any wetter than I already am.