The Unexpected Journey-A Prince Harry Fan Fic

Chapter 103

"Wow..." Maddie let out a breath as they pulled up outside of their home at Kensington Palace. The decorations trailing behind the Aston Martin drifted down; crinkling as they did. It was a beautiful day; bright and breezy and the most warming sense of calm had settled over Maddie.

"Hmmm?" Harry turned his eyes on her as he killed the ignition; his lips holding onto a lazy sort of grin. Cars full of security, Ms. Ellis, Tara, were pulling up behind them, around them. But in his eyes, it seemed like just the two of them. Maddie hoped they would always have that as they went out in the world in their roles—the ability to center on each other, even when surrounded by others.

"It's just. That brunch was..." She shook her head slowly; still a bit in shock from all the formalities and traditions, from meeting so many heads of state. The switch was so sudden and her mind was working to catch up.

"HA!" Harry clapped his hands together as laughter burst from him. Maddie's smile widened as she watched him chuckle; her eyes registering confusion. "I'm sorry. I just...I love that I got you all the way to the altar before you figured it out."

"Figured it out?" Maddie watched as he slipped from his side of the car, shutting the door and leaning on it as he lowered his voice.

"How incredibly boring my life is."

"Ha!" Maddie's head tipped back as she laughed; good-natured and at ease as he rounded the car to open her door. "Well...you're forgetting one thing."

"What's that?" He took her hand and pulled her from the car.

"Hmmm..." Maddie's eyelids dropped a bit as she stepped up to him; leaning her body to his. "You have me now."

"Yeah?" He moved closer; pressing her between him and the car, his hands resting on the door behind her.

"Mmm..." She nodded, her hands running over the cords and spinets on his uniform. "We can be bored together."

"Yes..." He smiled, his face nearing hers as he nodded. "You make an excellent point."

"I do," she bit at her lip suggestively, her eyes darting to his lips. "I make lots of excellent points."

"You do," his voice dropped suggestively.

"Want to hear another excellent point?"

"Yes."

"You should have let me drive the car from Buckingham."

"Oh wow!" Harry rolled his eyes as he pushed away from her in laughter, taking her hand in his. "You're not going to let that go."

"Your father said I could drive and you...went right ahead and drove anyway."

"Yes, well..." He shrugged as they walked towards the house; looking quite the pair still in their formal dress, tiara still on her head. "I'm the man. I had to drive."

"What?!" Maddie's head tossed back as she laughed. "You're the man?! I cannot believe you just said that. Do you remember who I am? What in the world could have possibly motivated you to..."

"The same thing that's motivating me to do this." And, with a quick kiss to her hand, he dipped down, pulling her up into his arms.

"Oh!" Maddie gasped as he settled her there. "Carrying me over the threshold? Little antiquated, no?"

"It is," he smiled, moving to push the door open. "But this day has been a bit antiquated, wouldn't you agree? I mean, you did just promise to love, honor and obey me."

"I did no such thing!" She laughed as he stepped through their door. The home had been cleaned; tidied and ready to transition into the evening events.

"I'm pretty sure you did," he smirked.

"I can youtube it right now and prove to you that I did not." Though she didn't allow herself to dwell on that fact too long.

"Or..." He moved into the living room and sat her gently back on her feet. "Or we can change out of these clothes and rest up before we head back to Buckhouse for the party."

"Or that..." Maddie smiled, leaning to kiss him. "Brut."

"I think you mean gentleman."

"I think I mean sexist."

"Chivalrous." His eyes flickered with amusement at their back and forth. "Come on, love. Let me do my thing."

"Your thing?" She laughed into a sigh. "Well...I can let it slide just this once. But only because you're in uniform."

"I'll most definitely make note of that," his lips found hers again.

Pulling back, she looked around the room, seeing that the staff of people who had been assembled to dress and make them up that morning had returned to retrieve their items; to prepare for the evening. They were gathered inconspicuously in the entryway, some in the kitchen.

"Ms. Ellis?" Maddie turned around, her dress swooshing around her as she moved.

"Ma'am?" The young dress designer, now instantly famous worldwide, stepped from the office with a smile.

"Regrettably, I think it's time for me to surrender this beautiful gown."

"Here in the living room?" Harry's grin pulled wide.

"No..." Maddie shook her head at him before turning her attention back to Ms. Ellis. "I would imagine that they are also here for this..." Maddie tapped the beautiful tiara on her head.

"Yes Ma'am. They are upstairs with Tara and her crew."

"Wonderful. I'll be right up." Ms. Ellis nodded and with a sweet smile, she moved to join the others upstairs; ready to help Maddie shed her look from the day. "So..." Maddie turned to Harry, stepping close. "How long do you get to keep this?" Her head cocked to the side.

"Hmmm..." He smiled, his hands running over her arms. "Not long love. There's a crew upstairs waiting for me too."

"That's too bad," she grinned as her lips pressed to his. "I'll see you in a bit." Harry watched as she drifted away from him; one last look from his bride before she moved up the stairs to shed what was left from their morning wedding.

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With great care, the veil was unpinned from her hair. With delicate hands, the tiara was lifted from her head and handed over to the Palace officials. With more quickness and ease than they had gone in, Tara pulled the hair pins out; allowing Maddie's hair to flow and cascade from its previous perfect updo. And finally, with the assistance of the others in the room for stability, Maddie stepped from the gown and into the waiting silk robe. Tara double checked Maddie's hair for pins while Ms. Ellis prepared the gown and veil to be transported. It would be cleaned and returned to the Palace offices for display. When both women and their crews were finished, they were ready to leave.

Maddie's reception dress hung in what had been Ella's room; her shoes and accessories lined up beside it. Tara would be leaving for a little over an hour and then she would be back to begin hair and makeup for the evening festivities. Maddie pressed kisses to cheeks, professed genuine thanks for all they had done and then, with a sigh of relief, she bid them good-bye and made her way to the waiting hot water of the shower. When she emerged, refreshed and clean, she found Harry relaxing on their bed.

"Finally!" Harry called out jokingly from where he laid back against their pillows. His uniform had been collected and now, clad in boxers and t-shirt, he was allowing himself a bit of the rest he had been denied the night before. "I thought you would never get out of that dress."

"You should have seen how long it took me to get in it," she sighed as she moved into the room, robe tied loosely about her, patting her hair with a towel.

"Well it was worth every minute. You looked beautiful," he watched her walk towards him with a smile. "Today at St. Paul's; you looked beautiful."

"Thank you," she shrugged lightly, climbing into their bed next to him; a part of her seriously considering a nap.

"I mean it," he reached for her hand, pulling it to him; his lips kissing the inside of her wrist. "You looked absolutely amazing."

"Thank you," she leaned back against the pillows, loving the way his lips caressed her skin as they kissed up her arm. "You know..." Maddie adjusted slightly. "We have an hour before anyone gets here to..."

She needn't say another word; not one. Harry was already there. He had been there all day. His head lifted from her arm and his lips met hers with a caress; a wordless 'I love you'. Maddie was taken back. Not by the force of the kiss but by the weight it carried. It was so heavy; so dense and saturated with emotion, it was almost too much.

Almost.

Her hands moved up to his shoulders as she turned into him, on their way to wrap around his neck, to hold his face to hers. But they couldn't make it any higher; they were weak, like her knees, like her heart, like her breath, like her resolve.

Since walking through the doors of St. Paul's she had been struggling with her emotions; wanting to feel what she felt, but wanting to hold them just far enough away that the entire world wasn't sharing in this most intimate of expressions. And now, having been relieved of the tiara, having shed the beautiful gown that would hang in the museum, she felt like those weights that were holding down her surge of emotions had been lifted.

She was weightless; free to let it all flow. And it did. It flowed from every pore, every corner of her heart. And it flowed right into him; her tongue tangling with his, her lips passing back that wordless 'I love you'.

His hands at her waist were greedy; like his lips, his heart. Maddie went willingly as he pulled; tossing her leg over his, straddling his lap. His hands moved up over her chest, running up her neck and burying into her damp hair as his face tipped up to hers; angling her lips to his. His neck stretched to meet her, to press further into her mouth, to claim her again; over and over.

The flimsy silk robe slacked around her shoulders; drooping to reveal her collar bones, the tops of her breasts, the bright pink, tender skin. Harry moaned as he dipped his head to kiss her there. His lips were soft and warm as her fingers twisted into his hair, holding his face to her; her head titling back so as to allow a groan from deep in her throat.

"I missed you last night..." She breathed. "I hated sleeping in this bed without you..." Maddie gasped as his arms snaked around her waist; pulling her down to him, pressing her closer. The feel of him between her legs, at the clear, stiff, presence of him—of his desire for her—sent chills through her bones.

Harry's chuckle brought goosebumps to her skin. "Do we have time to..." His eyebrows arched as his fingers trailed down the center of her chest, resting on the tie to her robe.

"Yes..." Maddie nodded, taking the tie from his hands and loosening it herself. As the robe fell open, she pulled at his t-shirt.

"Consummate this marriage?" He finished his thought with a wicked grin as she tossed his shirt aside and his hands moved back to her body.

"We do," she smiled wide, her hips wiggling slowly in his lap. "As long as you don't call it consummating again."

"Would you rather..." His jaw clenched; his hands at her hips, stilling her movements. "Seal the deal?"

"Would you rather..." Maddie's hand tickled down his chest, sliding across his flat stomach and tucking into his boxers. With her hand wrapped firmly around him, she met his eyes. "Would you rather just keep your mouth shut?"

"Oh God..." He groaned; arching up into her hand. "I would absolutely rather keep my mouth shut."

"I thought so," Maddie bit lightly at her bottom lip as she rose up on her knees; allowing her better leverage and more room to slip his boxers from his waist. Harry was all too eager to take over for her, tugging them from his own legs and tossing them to the side. "Oh..." It rolled from Maddie's tongue when Harry's hands tugged the robe from her, the silk sliding against her skin as it went.

By-passing any teasing, any tantalizing, any build up, Maddie took him in her hand and slipped him inside of her. Harry groaned as she settled into his lap, warm and welcoming and so amazing that he need a moment, a breath, to calm himself.

"Hi..." Her cheeks were flushed, her eyelids heavy, her breathing jagged as she smiled down at him; her arms moving around his neck.

"Hello..." His tongue darted out of his mouth, wetting his lips as he fought to steady the surge of excitement that her placement elicited.

And there they were; connected from lips to hips, in the most intimate of places. Her nose was next to his, his cheek rubbing against hers. When he took those deep, necessary, breaths, she could feel is chest rise with hers. His hands were on her back, pressing her close in a delicate way; wanting her as near as he could get her without pushing them prematurely over the edge. Maddie laughed lightly at the way they struggled in that moment, the debate that occurred. It was funny, in the most deliriously sexy of ways, just how the simple act of deep breathing in this position could arouse them both into such a heated state.

Maddie's head tipped to kiss him then; a long, slow, sigh inducing kiss. Harry's hands grew rough as they clutched at her, his arms wrapping nearly all the way around her as his lips worked with hers.

"I love the way you feel inside of me..." She whispered into his ear, her lips tickling his skin causing him to shudder underneath her, bringing a delicious friction to every point they were connected. Feeling frisky and slightly naughty, she began to move; loving the feeling of control.

"Oh me too..." His lips moved to her neck, his hands moving down her back, desperate for more of the friction she was denying him. "Baby..."

"Yes?" Maddie breathed, allowing an achingly slow rock to her hips; feeling his breath shuddering from his lungs.

"Tell me what you want..." He kissed her chest, his thumb running over her nipple. "Do you want to go slow..." His tongue moved to where his thumb had just been; a long, drawn out journey that pulled something of a purr from his wife. "Or do you want to go fast?" His head moved to watch her as his arms pulled her down; rough and fast against him.

"Oh!" She gasped at the sensation. Recovering, her eyes met his, her lips pulling into a smirk. "Why can't I have both?"

"Oh..." Harry groaned, shaking his head against her chest with a chuckle. "You do know how mad you make me? Don't you?" He kissed her lips, a bit rough. "Do you do that on purpose?"

"Ha!" She tilted her head back in laughter; laughter that vibrated through the both of them. "I can't believe I got you all the way to the altar before you figured it out."

"Figured it out?" He smirked at her throwback to their earlier conversation.

"Mmm..." She nodded, lifting off him just slightly, just enough to draw a breath from his lungs before sitting back down. "That you have finally met your match."

Her grin was cocky, her eyes full of desire, as she smiled down at him. She was right; he knew it. He had met his match. She was smug and arrogant and full of all kinds of swagger. Though she was also caring and smart and funny and could work and play just as hard as he could.

She was his exact match. Now she was his wife.

And if he hadn't already been turned on by the slow, teasing way she was moving against him, those facts alone would have driven him to the edge. With a cocky grin of his own, his fingers pulled at her skin, running down her thighs to her ankles that he easily linked around him. Wrapping his arms tight around her waist, he lifted her up, taking her weight against him before moving, laying her back on the bed with an oomph and yelp from the beautiful blonde that dissolved into laughter.

As Harry moved over her, still connected from lips to hips, Maddie surrendered completely to him. Brut or not, he was her husband and though the majority of the day had so far been about tradition and formality and everyone else, she was claiming this brief time for her and for him. Just as she had done at the altar when they were repeating their vows, she tuned out the rest of the world and focused only on him; her husband.

This moment. This moment when he would absolutely give her both.

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Maddie stepped from the spare bedroom dressed and made up and ready to go. If her gown from that morning had been the classic, elegant representation of what a Duchess should be, her gown for that evening was the wild, fun, and happy depiction of how it felt to finally be Harry's wife. Even after her early morning wake up call, even after all of the pomp and circumstance of their ceremony, after her slightly stressful lunch with various heads of state, even after the love she made to her husband...Maddie felt revitalized. She felt alive and free and so ready to rejoice with their friends and family well into the night. The hard part of the day was over, now all that was left was the extravagant celebration of their marriage.

"Wow..." Harry breathed as she joined him in the entry way. "Look at you..."

"Thank you," she grinned; her lips stretching wide as her eyes scanned him in his tux. "I was just thinking the same about you. Do I really get to go home with you?"

"Every night of your life baby," he winked and reached out for her hand.

"I'm such a lucky girl," she laughed lightly as her hand slid into his and they stepped from the house. The car was waiting for them, their Security were waiting for them and, just a quick drive away at Buckingham Palace, their audience for the night was waiting for them. Maddie slipped into the car and Harry, shutting her door behind her, rounded the car to join her.

"How does it feel?" Maddie nodded to the ring on his finger; the ring he had been fiddling with absentmindedly since she had placed it there that morning.

"It feels...new." He grinned, twisting it once more before letting it alone and claiming her hand in his. "I've never worn a ring there so it feels strange and a bit foreign..."

"Constricting?" Maddie offered, her finger running over it.

"Anchoring," he corrected, eyes sweeping down over her reception gown. "You're beautiful."

"Thanks," she smiled, a slight flush rising to her cheeks. "But you've said that already."

"I meant it," his hand lifted hers up to his lips. "You're so beautiful. This morning, this afternoon..." They shared a chuckle in the dark backseat of the car. "And now. You're absolutely beautiful."

"You know, if you're trying to get me to marry you..." She sighed and waved her left hand, her rings shimmering in the moonlight. "Mission accomplished."

"Hmmm..." He smiled into himself, playing with her fingers. "Tell me, how are you, love? Is there anything you need? Anything I can get you?"

"No," she shook her head, looking out the window as they pulled up to Buckingham Palace.

"A drink?" He raised his eyebrows.

"I think the shot of tequila we had will tide me over until they hand me a glass of champagne on the inside..." She squeezed his hand in hers.

"How about...this?" Harry reached into his pocket then, pulling out a piece of her favorite Christmas candy. Maddie's features went soft. With a satisfied grin, he continued. "I mean, what kind of party would it be without..."

Maddie's lips moved to his then, silencing him completely. Her fingers were soft on the side of his face, her kisses featherlike. When she pulled away from him, she was smiling sweetly; her eyes a bit teary as she lifted the candy from his hand. "For the rest of my life..."

"Yeah?" His eyes lifted to meet hers as the car came to a stop.

"For the rest of my life, I will thank God for all of the decisions I made that led me to this moment; to you..."

"Are you trying to make me cry?"

"No," she shook her head and squeezed his hand. "But I mean it Harry Wales. Every single decision."

"You just want my candy," he winked and kissed her. "Me too by the way. Me too."

Their doors were pulled open, pulling them both from the moment. Harry was the first to step out, rounding the car quickly to reclaim her hand, to reclaim his bride. With a lightness in their steps, they moved together into the Palace, ready to join the party that was already gathered in their honor.

(To be Continued)