"He" and "I" became "We".
Our relationship had no effect on my job at the bank. There, my world was my desk. Alex' desk was the world. He did not even have an office at the bank, on the rare occasions when he was there, he used the boardroom as an office. His job was to be the front man for the bank, all over the world, so I rarely saw him at work.
It was very different away from work, when he was in London, we spent every minute of our free time together. Not just in bed, although there was plenty of that, we were a couple, we did everything together.
About a month after Paris, I was called to Sir Charles' office.
"Please take a seat Clare. Coffee?"
Not bad news then. I sat. I accepted coffee.
"I asked you to come in to have a little chat about you and Alexander. I approve. He has little interest in the day to day running of the bank, but he enjoys gadding about the world. It was not always so, it began when he and Caroline, his ex-wife, were divorced. She took their two boys away to America, to Boston. He missed them very much, as do I. The gallivanting was a substitute.
Some of his deals have earned significant profits for the bank, but he was taking more and more personal risks. Many of his associates are unlikely to be found at a Buckingham Palace garden party.
You have changed that. He now spends more time in the UK and I think that he is very fond of you. I also know that you have independent means, so are unlikely to be interested in him for financial gain.
I'm suggesting nothing. I just wanted you to know that there need be nothing clandestine about your relationship.
Oh yes! And I am promoting you. You will do the same job as now, but you will have a new designation and an increase in salary. Neither Alexander nor I wish to lose you."
About three months after Paris, Alex invited me to spend the weekend at the Copemore family seat in the country. His brother was there, on leave from the army.
The house was quite stunning. The grounds covered hundreds of acres of parkland. I could get used to this!
Alex took me riding, something that I had never done, but turned out to be a natural horsewoman. We stopped by the lake, in the shade of oak trees and made passionate love in the open air. After giving me several orgasms and fucking me twice, he asked me to marry him.
Me, married! It had never crossed my mind. One man? One cock? But I was crazy about him. At that time all I wanted was to be near him. Then again, was I a suitable person to marry into aristocracy? I expressed my reservations.
"I think I love you Alex. I can't be sure because I have not experienced love before, but I can't have children, things that I have done you might not want to hear about and I have been used to changing partners frequently. In fact I have fucked practically every man I have fancied, which number hundreds. I'm not sure that monogamy is for me."
He replied that he already had two children, did not want more. He wanted a fuck-buddy, not a brood mare. He too, had a past that would not impress the Archbishop. As for infidelity in the future, who could say? We would deal with it as it happened.
I noticed that he said, AS it happened, not IF.
I said yes.
Dinner that night was a black tie affair. There were many guests, some of whom I recognised and some I had heard of. Quite a gathering. When the meal was over, Alex stood and tapped his wineglass for order. The crowd grew silent. I knew what was coming and found myself blushing.
"My Lords, Ladies and gentlemen." he announced. "I am delighted to be able to tell you that, this afternoon, I asked Clare to be my wife, and that she has agreed."
After a few moments of silence, the audience applauded. Sir Charles proposed a toast to me and with me squirming in embarrassment, the great and the good of British commerce drank to my health.
Things moved quickly. I had to sign a pre-nuptial agreement, preventing me from inheriting anything, but adding considerably to my growing, virtually untouched fortune. We were married, at the house, a month later. It was a civil ceremony, but I did get to wear a white wedding dress. Alex' two sons flew in from Boston, I got to meet my stepsons! And Alex' mother came to the wedding, from her home in southern France. Even she approved. We spent our wedding night at the house, before flying to New York next day for a short honeymoon.
Then the Copemore Curse struck.
Charles the younger had come over from Norway, his current army posting. On the way back to his unit from the airport, his taxi was hit by a train on a level crossing and he was killed instantly. We spent just one night in New York, flying home as soon as we could.
Sir Charles, Charles senior, never returned to the bank. He died two weeks later. Everyone agreed that despite what it said on the death certificate, he had died of a broken heart. As for me, I had gone from being just Clare, to Lady Clare, to Marchioness, to Duchess, in the space of a few days.
Poor Alex. He had lost his father and his brother and had inherited the responsibility of a title and a bank. Neither of which he wanted. He told me that he intended to sell the bank, or at least to merge it with another. He had no desire to spend the rest of his life in meetings. Our sex life was good, but it had lost the vivacity which characterised it.
It remained that way until a suitable partner was found for the business. A Dutch merchant bank, also long established. It would be a merger, not a takeover. Alex would be a director, but would have no executive powers. I too, was to be a director! We travelled together to The Hague, to sign all the agreements. Now we were free of responsibility, rich, and still young!
Alex had insisted that we stay in Amsterdam.