The Reluctant Duchess Ch. 06

Despite her resolution to let Mark sleep, she couldn't help herself from reaching over and gently stroking his back, surprising herself that her motive was not to wake him up to fuck, but just to touch him and to make him feel good. His low purring moan indicated that she was successful. Mark slowly opened his eyes and gave Sophie a sleepy smile.

"I could get used to this," he whispered.

"Me, too," Sophie admitted softly while continuing to stroke Mark's back.

Mark turned on his side to face Sophie and reached out his arms and Sophie fell into them, and the two lay there, Sophie's neck buried into Mark's chest, each gently stroking the other's back and enjoying the quiet, intimate moment. Sophie could feel Mark's cock beginning to get aroused, and she pulled her head away from Mark's chest and tilting it up for a kiss. They kissed passionately while clinging to each other, with Mark's now fully erect cock pressing against Sophie's leg, before she shifted her hips to press it against her pussy. Mark gently pressed Sophie onto her back, rolling on top of her as she spread her legs to welcome him. They continued their intense kissing as Sophie guided Mark into her, and she gasped softly into Mark's mouth as he pressed himself deeply inside of her.

Unlike their first round after Sophie returned from church, this was slower and less urgent, but no less intense, as Mark and Sophie stared into each other's eyes while making love. They didn't take their eyes off of each other while their hips thrust against each other for what felt like hours, until Sophie felt her orgasm building and she pulled Mark down, wrapping her arms and legs around him tightly, and bucking her hips wildly until she felt the unmistakable waves of pleasure vibrate through her body, which caused Mark to cum again inside her, grunting with the effort.

Spent and panting, Mark rolled off of Sophie onto the comfortable mattress and took her hand as they recovered, both feeling like something had changed.

*

The next few months passed quickly and happily for Sophie and Mark. They spent much of their spare time together, and Mark began to accompany Sophie to official events, when his work permitted it. Because of his long hours at the Fund, Mark spent most, but not all of his weeknights at his flat, and the other nights with Sophie at the palace. Sophie settled back into a good relationship with the government ministers and staff, to their relief. Johanna found her job to be much easier, as Sophie became less demanding, and she was able to task Elise with some of the more menial tasks the job required, which gave her more opportunities to spend time with her new husband. Although they had agreed to wait at least a year before trying to have a baby, they also agreed that there was no reason not to practice as often as possible.

Sophie woke up on a Monday morning in June, still a little sore from her time with Mark over the weekend, and disappointed that he had returned to his flat after dinner on Sunday. She had started going to the gym a few mornings a week before breakfast, with Mark if he was there, and after a trip to the bathroom, she put on her workout clothing and prepared to head out of her chambers when her phone rang. Seeing that it was Jo, she stopped and answered the call.

"What's up, Jo?"

"Fuck, Sophie—it's bad." Jo's voice was strained.

"What happened?" Sophie responded, alarmed at Jo's tone.

"Someone is trying to fuck you over, bad."

Sophie sat down on one of the chairs in her bedroom. "Tell me what's going on."

"Sophie, I'm almost at your room. I'll tell you in person."

Seconds later, Johanna, looking flushed, burst into Sophie's room without knocking. Catching her breath and gathering herself, she said, "Someone leaked two really terrible recordings late last night, and they are all over the Internet and the local media."

Feeling her stomach drop, Sophie whispered, "What?"

"First, there's the conversation that you had with that German minister—what's her name—

"Frohberg."

"Right," Jo said. "Frohberg—about possibly abdicating and trying to turn the country over to Germany."

"But that was part of the referendum, right?"

"Yes, but no one knew that you had secretly reached out to Germany about it. People are pissed off."

"I can fix that, I think. But what's the second one?"

"It's worse. It's a video of you in Berlin, being fucked by two men in a hotel."

Sophie felt herself getting warm, then sick, then angry. "I don't remember any of that, Jo. They must have roofied me or something."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm fucking sure, Johanna," Sophie yelled. "It's not like I've had so many threesomes in my life that I'd forget one. I told you back then I didn't remember a lot of what happened that weekend, but I just thought that it was the booze and the coke."

"Sorry, Sophie, I'm still trying to wrap my head around this. And, not surprisingly," Jo replied, "there's a lot of negative reaction to that."

"Oh my god," Sophie gasped. "Does Mark know?"

"I don't know, Sophie."

"OK." Despite the horrible surprise, Sophie felt in control and realized that she needed to act, not feel sorry for herself. "Get me Mark on the phone immediately. Then, I want a meeting with the Prime Minister, the Justice Minister, the Foreign Minister, the head of security, the head of the IT department, the press secretary, and anyone else that you think should be there. ASAP in my conference room. I'll need coffee and something to eat—nothing heavy. OK?

Johanna nodded, pleased to see Sophie taking charge of the situation, although horrified at what the situation was. She handed Sophie her phone, which was already ringing Mark. When he answered, Sophie blurted out, "Mark, have you heard?" While waiting for his answer, she shooed Joanna out the door.