Defeating the System: The Royals of Avalone, #6

By E. V. Darcy

A Contemporary Royal Romance with a dash of intrigue, a pinch of drama, and a whole lot of sexual tension.

 

She been living a fairy tale and that was all it was…

'I'm leaving Roman! He's a fraud and a liar and I won't have it!'

Henrietta really thought she could have it all. She'd slipped into the fairy tale Roman had concocted and believed it to be real. She'd fallen into his bed, believing that physical intimacy could translate to love and adoration. But when Roman's hand is revealed, the fairy tale comes to an end. How could she have been so naïve when it came to the cold and calculating Roman Tyrell?

 

He simply wanted to win her hand…

He already knew going back to his old ways was never going to work… There was nothing that could match or exceed his Henrietta.

Roman thought he'd played the winning hand when he had come up with his plan to marry his Henrietta. He thought he knew what everyone else at the table was holding when he made his stake, but there was one person bluffing the whole time. When their cards are played, the life Roman had been carefully building for his love is in jeopardy and Roman will have to do everything in his power to ensure that Henrietta isn't lost to him. He can't lose her again. He won't lose her again…

 

Read the third and final part of Henrietta and Roman's tale as they discover the results of their gamble and finally lay all their cards on the table.

 

Defeating the System is the third part of Henrietta and Roman's story in The Royals of Avalone universe. It contains scenes of a sexual nature along with heaps of sexual frustration!

 

Note, this is not a standalone book, but the concluding part of a trilogy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Darcy's Royal Library
• Release date: Dec 23, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215389195

E. V. Darcy

E. V. Darcy is a high school teacher with a Bachelor of Arts in Imaginative Writing from Liverpool John Moores University. She lives in the north of England with her husband and rather large -- and very spoilt -- dog, Jabba, who she rescued in 2015. When Evie isn't writing you can find her binge watching her favourite T.V. shows, playing computer games, or walking her much loved dog. 

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Hattie practically purred as Roman’s hands ran down her back before gently kneading her muscles; not that she had a single knot or fraction of tension in her body that required such attention.

The last three weeks being alone with her new husband on the royal yacht had been utterly perfect. They’d swam in the ocean, sunbathed on the deck, and visited several little seaside towns she’d never been to—or even heard of—as they slowly sailed around the country’s coast. She’d loved the few days they’d spent tucked away in Atlas Cove, barbecuing on sandy beaches only accessible by boat, and snorkelling in the beautiful clear blue depths, delighting in watching the fishes and other sea creatures going about their business.

It hadn’t been her first choice for a honeymoon—another thing foisted onto them by her loving grandfather, the king of the dicks—but it had been wonderful just being alone with her husband. Knowing she was Roman’s sole focus, and he hers, had really given them a chance to connect and find their feet at the beginning of their marriage. Roman had been nothing but impeccable, her complete ideal. Everything was about her, and Hattie had to admit, it was nice being someone’s number one priority for a change.

She’d also been pleasantly surprised to find that aboard the yacht, she hadn’t felt the slightest bit of morning sickness. If she got back to land and it returned, she might just ask Dick if she could live on the damn boat until the baby arrived.

‘I was thinking,’ Roman said, his voice quite contemplative considering she was naked beneath him, and he had free reign to touch her. Every other time she’d been naked, he’d been like a moth to a flame and unable to resist her. His hands and mouth all over her body until each of them cried out in ecstasy and collapsed in a hot, sweaty, tangle of limbs. Kisses and smiles exchanged afterwards along with soft words of tenderness.

Hattie had caught herself a couple of times in the throes of passion on the precipice of declaring her heart’s true feelings for the man who made her feel so complete. She’d had to bite her lip when she saw that brightness in his eyes, always moments before she tripped over the edge of her pleasure with him always following a second later.

It was like their bodies were made for each other. She’d never been so eager to be in someone’s bed, never felt an intense need to touch them and be wrapped up in them like she did with him. It was almost as if he were an extension of herself, and she a part of him as he never seemed to want her to be far from his reach either.

He was constantly touching her; running his hands over her shoulders or caressing her thigh when they sat together. His arms encircled her every night, spooning her against him, his palm flat upon her stomach as if he were keeping both she and her unborn babe safe from anyone who might harm them.

It was all so close to everything she wanted. The only thing that was missing was—

No, she’d told herself she wasn’t going to think about that. She could be perfectly content with this. She sighed, long and deep.

‘That’s not a happy noise,’ Roman murmured as his hands moved down her shoulders, his fingertips skimming the side of her breasts. The sigh turned into a pleasurable moan, and Hattie shifted on the bed as a tendril of pleasure brought a throbbing pulse between her legs again.

God, she was like a teenager: perpetually horny in his hands. She moved to roll over and Roman shifted to accommodate her. When she was on her back, he moved over her, one leg slotted between hers, and propped himself up on one elbow as he stared down at her with curiosity.

‘Talk to me?’

Hattie took a deep breath before releasing it slowly, biting back the smirk as his eyes dropped briefly to her chest at the action before immediately meeting hers again. She felt the evidence of his arousal growing along her thigh. He trailed a finger down her shoulder and over her chest until he met one dusky-pink nipple. His digit lazily circled it, the bud swelling and hardening under his touch.

Hattie gasped, arching her back and pushing her hips against him slightly, revelling in the feel of his strong thigh as he pressed back her just enough to give her the friction she sought.

‘What’s the matter?’ he asked as he gently pinched the nub between his finger and thumb. ‘Cat got your tongue?’

‘I don’t want to get off this boat,’ she finally confessed, the words coming out on a gasp. She just caught the hint of bemusement lightening his eyes before she had to close hers as need and pleasure overwhelmed her senses.

‘Were you not listening to what I just said?’ he chuckled. ‘Am I too distracting?’

Hattie struggled to think— Think! He’d said he’d been thinking… And then she had got distracted by sexy thoughts again. Damn, it was so easy to lose focus on anything but him when he was naked and doing naughty things to her.

‘Sorry,’ she said, embarrassed he had caught her daydreaming. ‘What did you say?’

He smiled at her before slowly lowering himself and pressing their lips together in a slow, sensual kiss. Hattie gave a little moan—his hand moved lower, cupping her breast and gently squeezing it before sliding down her body. Her stomach quivered as his fingers lightly brushed over her skin, heading towards their ultimate destination.

Her legs fell open of their own accord inviting him to do what he would with her; she had no qualms with leaving her pleasure in his more than capable hands.

As his fingers slipped into the thatch of curls that crowned her sex, Hattie wrapped her arms around him and pulled him closer, sliding her tongue against his as she deepened the kiss.

A knock at the door, caused both of them to groan and she broke the kiss just long enough to shout Go away! before eagerly returning to her very enjoyable afternoon activities. Her hips moved in time with his caresses, and she felt the thrum of pleasure gaining momentum as she clung to Roman, her hands never tiring of exploring every inch of him that she could reach.

The knock sounded again; this time louder, more insistent.

Roman tore his mouth from hers, his voice harsh and firm as he told their interloper to Fuck off!

Hattie moaned in delight as he returned to her, his mouth moving down her body, trailing kisses along her flushed skin as she writhed beneath his ministrations.

‘Roman,’ she gasped as he slipped lower still, his hand falling away as he shifted down her body and Hattie had to resist the urge to help him get there faster by pushing him down by his shoulders and—

‘Hattie, I’m sorry to bother you—’

‘What the fuck!’ Hattie gasped, actually shoving at Roman—except it was to get him away from her as she snapped her legs closed. ‘What the hell are you doing here, Pippa?’ she shouted back, scrambling from the bed and grabbing her robe. She threw Roman’s at him as she headed to the stateroom door. The mere idea of her sister overhearing, well, what she’d been hoping for, made her skin crawl and completely killed the mood.

She took a second to glance over her shoulder, ensuring Roman was indeed covered before she slowly pulled the door open.

‘I am so, so sorry,’ Pippa began the moment the door cracked open. ‘But I’ve been sent to get you both.’

‘What? Why?’ Hattie asked, her heart hammering in her chest. Nothing could be wrong with Victoria or Alexi. That would have been an immediate phone call to the yacht, a boat to shore immediately dispatched, and a helicopter sent to collect her. She’d have met her sisters at whatever hospital they’d been taken to. This was something bigger, something they couldn’t discuss even over secure lines…

‘The King’s been taken into hospital.’

Hattie’s eyes widened in shock and surprise at the news. ‘Is he…?’

‘Alive and clinging on, I’ve been told. He’s sedated and comfortable—’

‘Thank God,’ Hattie breathed. She might hate her grandfather, but the idea of her uncle, Grand Duke Harold becoming King was terrifying. Even more so with her currently being under the King’s protection. The Grand Duke being made Regent was going to be horrible enough for, what she hoped, was the short term.

‘So why exactly are we needed?’ Roman asked, coming up behind Hattie, his fingers curling around the door above their heads as he peered out into the corridor at his new sister-in-law. His hand at Hattie’s waist, pulling her against him, sent a pleasurable shiver down her spine. ‘It’s not as if you’re—’

‘It’s protocol when a change of power—even a temporary one—occurs,’ Hattie said with a sigh, her shoulders slumping. They had another week on the yacht and then they planned on another night of camping at their future home before returning to Renfrew Hall.

‘It also looks good for the nation to see the family united at such a time,’ Pippa added, pushing her glasses up her nose. ‘I’ll leave you both to get dressed. I have a boat waiting to take us to shore.’

As soon as the door closed, Roman pinned Hattie to the solid oak, his mouth on hers, feasting on her eagerly as he hoisted her up. Hattie wrapped her legs around him, kissing him back as fiercely as he kissed her. His thick, hard cock pushing against her, made it clear he had no inclination of leaving as quickly as Pippa wanted and Hattie had to admit, she wholeheartedly agreed.

However, as much as she wanted him to take her, they couldn’t.

‘Roman, stop,’ she murmured against his lips, even though her hands were shoving his robe from his shoulders. ‘We really do need to leave right away.’

‘I’m sure they can wait half an hour,’ he told her between kisses. ‘Maybe an hour?’

She chuckled at that. God, she wanted to spend forever in his arms, but right now she had to put her stupid sensible head on and go do the one task she hated doing—being part of her family.

‘They can’t,’ she said, canting her head away from him, but the action didn’t deter him. Instead, he turned his attention to her neck, nipping and licking his way down to her breasts that she’d thrust forward with her action. ‘Roman, please,’ she whined, not even trying to stop him. Her fingers flexed, nails digging into his shoulders as his mouth closed over her budded nipple. ‘We really need to—’

The banging on the door behind her made the two of them jump. Roman almost dropped her as he tried to get her away from the thing just as she was trying to lean back from him and his tempting lips.

‘Get a move on, love-birds,’ Pippa called through to them. ‘I’m waiting right here and can hear everything.’

Heat filled Hattie’s cheeks, and she knew the flush was making its way down her body. Roman glared daggers at the door, and Hattie couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled up from deep within her as she buried her head into the crook of her husband’s neck.

‘Put me down and let’s get ready to go,’ she said, her voice muffled by his body. His deep sigh, however, told her he’d heard.

‘I swear he’s done this on purpose,’ Roman muttered as he carefully lowered her so her feet could once again touch the floor. He tucked her curly hair behind her ears as he gazed down into her dark eyes. ‘Couldn’t even give us the four weeks he promised, could he?’

‘Whatever it is he’s done, I doubt he’s done it on purpose,’ she said, only half believing it. She dropped her gaze as she spoke, instead focusing on her fingertips, tracing the smooth muscles of his chest. Which probably wasn’t the best idea because she was already considering giving her sister an audible show if she wouldn’t leave their doorstep. ‘He doesn’t like the Grand Duke. If he could cut him out of the line of succession without ruining Alistair’s chance of taking the Crown, he’d have done it long ago—Grammy would have made sure of it.’

Roman rubbed his hand over his eyes as he huffed in defeat. ‘Fine, he’s not plotting his own demise just to piss us off.’

Hattie smirked up at him. ‘I promise to make it up to you.’

His hands stopped their movements, and he spread his fingers wide to peek down at her again. ‘Yeah?’ There was curiosity in his voice. ‘How?’

‘Depends on how fast you can be ready to go.’

He pressed a fleeting peck to her nose before he dashed into the bathroom, making her chuckle before her eyes dropped to his naked arse and she sighed in appreciation.

Dick had better be dead or dying, she decided before collecting her own things together to get ready for the long trip to Avon.

Hattie’s feet stopped abruptly when she saw the kitted-out Land Rover Discovery waiting for them at the dock rather than the traditional Rolls Royce.

‘It’s your new present.’ Pippa threw the keys at Roman. He grabbed them from the air before staring at them, a slight frown marring his face. Hattie made to speak, but Pippa held up her hands in a shrug. ‘I got handed the keys and told to drive this rather than take one of the bigger cars. They told me Grammy ordered it for you and that you might as well have it now, seeing as it’s just been sitting in Avon waiting for you.’

‘Why were you sent anyway?’ Hattie asked, and Pippa gave her a mock offended glare. ‘No, it’s just usually Victoria comes and does this kind of thing.’

‘She’s married with a child now—’

Hattie laughed and raised a brow at her sister, which Pippa mirrored as she opened the car’s rear door.

‘She’s adopting James.’ Pippa reminded her.

‘Not really the same thing, is it?’ Hattie replied with a derisive snort.

‘Adoption is just as valid as having your own child.’ Roman frowned at her as he climbed in the driver’s seat. Hattie returned the frown mockingly, before turning away and wrinkling her nose in annoyance at herself. Of course, adoption was as valid. Everyone knew that, right? It was a good thing to do, giving a child a home and a loving mother and father—or another parental unit—wasn’t it? No one questioned it.

Except her. The woman with zero maternal feelings.

‘She’s actually with Alistair, trying to placate him,’ Pippa said as she hopped inside the back of the vehicle and clipped her seatbelt in place. ‘He’s probably panicking that Harold being in charge means he’s going to be frog marched down the aisle tomorrow.’

‘Wouldn’t put it past the Duke,’ Hattie muttered. ‘Look who his father is.’ She gave Roman a knowing glance as he started the car, it’s engine roaring to life.

He threw her a wink as he put the car in gear. ‘Yeah, but that didn’t turn out too badly, did it?’

‘I hate driving,’ Pippa muttered as she stretched out in her seat, closing her eyes and settling down. ‘It’s such a chore, and a boring one at that.’

Hattie huffed in irritation at her sister before turning to the scenery as they worked their way through the twisting hills of the northern tip of the Golden Mountains. She’d never actually been to Haverdon and had been looking forward to shopping in the extravagant seaside town the following day.

She sighed before refocusing her attention on Roman. ‘Did you drive yourself much before all this?’ she asked, watching him as he glanced at all the gadgets the car had to offer at the tips of his fingers.

‘If I wasn’t working then yes, I preferred to.’

‘Huh,’ Hattie’s lip protruded slightly as she considered his words. ‘What car do you drive?’

‘I have a rather nice Volvo for everyday use and a lovely Jaguar, for a bit of fun. Both are sitting in a garage back in Wessex.’ He glanced towards her, giving her a little smile. ‘When we’re free and clear, I’m going to take you on a drive along the coast roads in the Jag with the top down and the—’

‘No, you won’t,’ Pippa told him through a yawn from the back seat. ‘It’s not approved for use and never will be.’

‘Beg your pardon?’ He flicked his gaze to Pippa in the rear-view mirror.

‘Convertibles are not approved for Royal Family use. Too easy for—’ Pippa, eyes still closed acted out the pumping motion on a shotgun before making a firing sound. She dropped her arms to her side, her tongue falling out of her mouth as her head lolled to one side.

Hattie sighed and resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her sister’s antics. ‘Assassination attempts are one of the reasons,’ she clarified for Roman. ‘The real reason is- Do you remember how Harold the Sixth was killed in his accident?’ Hattie asked, recalling the gruesome story. ‘Decapitated by a tree branch when he stood his drunken arse up in his imported Cadillac and didn’t duck?’

‘He’s one of our ancestors I never liked learning about,’ Pippa murmured. ‘Seemed like a child in a man’s body. Poor Queen Victoria having to put up with that.’

‘Well, she didn’t have to for long,’ Roman countered with a shrug.

‘Nope!’ Pippa agreed. ‘I hope she shagged the Prince Regent senseless when she got the news.’

‘So, I don’t get to keep my cars?’ he asked, momentarily casting his gaze to Hattie.

She shook her head, feeling another twang of guilt in her chest that he’d lost yet another thing to help her get everything she needed. ‘Damn, I liked them.’

‘We can get you another Volvo,’ she told him quickly. ‘A few of the family use them for their private vehicles, preferring them over these’—she ran her hand over the dark leather of the console between them—‘but I don’t think we have anything agreed with Jaguar.’

‘I think Spence once tried to have one made, but it was too heavy with all the security needs for it to be the toy he wanted,’ Pippa pipped up again. ‘Although, if you’re not after the speed and acceleration, they could definitely do something. But not in a convertible.’

‘It’s actually nice being able to talk to you,’ Roman reached down and took Hattie’s hand in his. He squeezed her fingers, bringing them to his lips for a fleeting kiss, and Hattie felt a little flutter of warmth deep inside her burst to life before he returned his hands to the steering wheel as they approached another hairpin bend. ‘If we’re able to drive this’—he patted the steering wheel—‘more often, we can stop sitting in silence.’ He gave her a pointed look.

‘That would be nice,’ she agreed. She hated sitting in silence in the cars, but she just couldn’t trust the drivers. ‘I used to use Daddy’s car service—it’s just as secure and I trusted them more—to get to places, but I couldn’t afford to after he died, and we weren’t allowed freebies under the terms of the inheritance. Now we’re married and I’ve got the damn money to use Daddy’s service again, I’m not allowed to because of, well, us and the whole…’ She searched for a way to finish that sentence without upsetting her husband.

‘Jensen being blown up?’

Okay, so she hadn’t needed to beat about the bush. ‘Yup.’

‘You don’t drive?’ Roman asked, and Hattie could hear the curiosity in his words. She scratched the side of her head as she turned away and peered out of the passenger window, trying to word the answer to that particular question in best way possible. One that didn’t make her look like an idiot.

‘Ha!’ The cackle from the back of the car told her Pippa clearly wasn’t going to let that one slip through her fingers. ‘She’s been banned from driving by the family.’

‘What?’ Roman asked, his eyes quickly glancing between the two and the road. ‘You can’t drive?’

‘I can,’ Hattie pouted, frowning at the red-orange stone of the mountain walls as they flew by. ‘I passed my test and everything! I’m just… not allowed.’

‘She nearly killed us all!’ Pippa exclaimed, suddenly eager to engage with them. She sat up and moved over to the middle seat, clipping herself back into her seatbelt before leaning forward and telling the sordid tale of how after passing her test, Hattie had taken her three sisters out for a drive.

‘…We skidded around the corner, narrowly avoided an oncoming car, slid back into our own lane, mounted a curb and then slammed to a stop, inches from a tree! Three tyres destroyed, two alloy wheels cracked, the front axle broken, and the chassis bent so bad it cracked the windscreen! The car was a write off!’

‘What the—’ Roman began then quickly bit his lip as his eyes landed on Hattie and spied her casting her patented death glare his way. ‘Was it raining?’

‘No!’ Pippa said, incredulously. ‘That’s the thing, conditions were perfect. We still don’t know how it happened.’ Pippa paused in her regaling and Hattie diverted her gaze from her husband. She curled up in the corner of her seat, face burning so hotly she wondered if she head-butted her sister would she also burn the bitch? ‘The worse thing was the oncoming car was… Marcus’!’

‘Ah, shit.’ Roman laughed, a warm rich sound that Hattie resisted delighting in. He was supposed to be on her side after all.

‘That’s why she got the ban! Daddy was totally on his side.’

‘At least I haven’t wrecked three cars,’ Hattie muttered, bitterly.

‘But none of them where my fault. First one, a deer ran out at me. Second one, a bus side swiped me at a roundabout.’ Pippa ticked the incidents off on her fingers. ‘The third one was a tyre blow out on the Continental Highway. Quite proud of that one,’ she told Roman, patting him on the shoulder before sitting back in her seat. ‘Closed the damn highway for four hours while they cut me out of the wreckage. Skidded sideways into the back of a truck and if I hadn’t thrown myself across the console, I wouldn’t be telling you this now.’

‘Whoa!’ he sounded stunned at the story. ‘And you were okay?’

‘I would have crawled