“You succeeded,” she responded tartly. “You’ve done everything you set out to do, so now you can go.” She turned her back on him then, stalking angrily toward the adjoining bath. He caught up to her before she reached it, catching her hand and swinging her around to face him once more. Without thinking, Khalia swung at him with her free hand as he pulled her around. He caught that wrist, as well, forcing her hands behind her back.
She glared at him furiously, fighting the urge to burst into tears. “My guards will be through that door in two seconds if I call out to them.”
His lips tightened. “Summon them. I can kill them both in less time than that,” he growled.
It wasn’t the threat that stopped her or even any doubt that he could do just as he said. It was the certainty that, regardless of everything, she could not bring herself to hurt him in any way. “Why did you come?” she asked a little breathlessly.
Something flickered in his eyes. Slowly his gaze traveled over her face and down her body, like a caress. He swallowed convulsively. “Because I could not stay away,” he said harshly, dipping his head toward hers and capturing her lips in a kiss that seared her to her soul. All the longing she’d denied sprang insistently to life and she surged toward him, coming up on her toes to offer him better access, pressing her body longingly against his. The little restraint he’d held onto broke at her first sign of surrender.
Releasing her wrists, he caught her shoulders and surged backward with her until she felt a gentle collision with the wall at her back. He pressed tightly against her, pinning her to the wall with his body as he shrugged his garments off and allowed them to fall where they would.
Freed from restraint, she caressed every part of his body that she could reach, stroking her fingers through his silky hair, then along his shoulders and his back. When she slipped her arms beneath his, however, and stroked his buttocks and thighs, he broke the kiss. “Don’t touch me,” he growled, grabbing her wrists and manacling them to the wall on either side of her head.
The snarl of barely leashed savagery penetrated the fog of heated desire. Before she could do more than blink at him in surprise, however, he covered her mouth once more in a kiss that made her knees give way, thrusting his tongue possessively into her mouth and raking it along her own. She was gasping for breath when he tore his mouth from hers and dropped his mouth to the curve between her neck and shoulder, sucking so hard the flesh tingled on the edge of pain before he moved lower still, placing a chain of similar burning kisses along the upper slopes of her breasts.
Discovering his hold on her prevented better access, he released her wrists and reached behind her, cupping her buttocks and lifting her up along the wall until her breasts were nearly level with his face. She caught his shoulders, looping her arms around his neck to keep her balance as he captured the peak of one breast in his mouth, ravishing it with his tongue and sending mind shattering waves of intoxicating desire through her. Weakness followed and she felt herself slipping. She wrapped her legs tightly around his waist.
He hoisted her higher, slipping one arm beneath her hips and struggling to align his hard shaft with her body. A shudder went through her as she felt him stroking the sensitive flesh of her cleft. She tightened her arms, wondering a little wildly if he could impale her in such a position, desperate to feel him inside of her.
She gasped as he sank home, squeezing her eyes tightly at the exquisite torture of his slow possession. Her muscles still resisted the immense girth of his member, clinging, impeding his full possession, but her body welcomed him. The moisture of desire drenched her passage. As it grew slick with wanting, gravity provided the last resistance he needed to bury himself deeply.
He withdrew almost at once and thrust deeply again, grinding his pelvis against her to drive deeper still. He battered at her with the mindless precision of a piston engine, growling as he thrust over and over. The same madness welled inside of her as her body rejoiced in the savagery of his possession. A series of tiny explosions erupted inside of her, one after another, finally culminating in a climax that seemed to stop her heart for several moments when she felt his member jerk suddenly and spew his hot seed inside of her.
Trembling in the aftermath, she clung to him weakly, feeling the pounding of his heart against her breasts, listening to his hoarse, ragged breath. Slowly, his body withdrew from hers and he allowed her to slip down until her feet rested on the floor.
He leaned his forehead against the wall above her head, struggling to catch his breath. Finally, he pulled a little away from her. Lifting his hand, he cupped her cheek. “I did not hurt you, sheashona?” he asked hoarsely.
If he’d said anything but that! The endearment was almost her undoing. She shook her head, not trusting herself to speak.
A look of dismay flickered across his features. “I did….”
She placed her fingertips on his lips briefly and shook her head again. “It’s just … Nothing.”
He frowned. Finally, he scooped her into his arms and carried her to the bed. When he’d settled her, he climbed onto the mattress beside her. Relief flooded her. She’d been afraid that he meant to leave her. Before he could question her further, she rolled onto her side facing him and slipped one arm around his neck. “Make love to me again,” she whispered near his ear, tugging on his ear lobe playfully with her teeth.
He needed no further prompting. He made love to her slowly, gently, thoroughly arousing her once more before he moved over her and brought her to glorious culmination as he had that first time.
As they lay basking in the aftermath of their lovemaking, she cuddled close to him and asked about his brother.
He frowned, obviously reluctant to speak.
“Something’s happened to him.”
He lay back against the pillow, staring up at the ceiling. “They claimed he’d escaped. When we went to release him, he was gone. Samala knew nothing, but he suspects that they took him away … perhaps with the intention of holding him hostage for my behavior. In any case, I’ve not been able to discover anything …yet.”
Khalia swallowed her dismay, wishing she hadn’t brought it up after all. “I’m sorry … Do you think he’s still alive?”
Damien sighed. “I feel that he is. I just don’t know if I can trust my instincts on this one.”
“What will you do?”
“There is little that I can do right now, beyond awaiting word either from Nigel that all is well … or from those who hold him demanding something for his return. I have sent out men to search for him, but there is much ground to cover.”
There seemed nothing to say to that, beyond offering her sympathy, and she sensed he didn’t want that. She lapsed into silence, snuggling close to him, idly stroking his body. She was drifting to sleep when she felt him move away from her and get up. She’d expected that he would leave and she was still disappointed.
Resolutely, she ignored it, feigning sleep. In time, she found it.
Despite her disappointment the night before when Damien had left her, she rose the following morning feeling far more cheerful. She discovered she didn’t really want to know why he’d stayed away, or why he’d felt compelled to return. All that mattered was that she had something to look forward to. Knowing he would come to her in the night made everything else more bearable.
She was so happy, so wrapped up in memories of the night before that it wasn’t until that evening that she became aware of the fact that her ladies were eyeing her, blatantly suspicious. Uneasiness welled to tamp her enthusiasm. It wouldn’t do, she knew, to thrust them into the midst of a scandal virtually on the eve of her coronation. The atmosphere crackled with tension as it was.
Moreover, she’d learned enough to know now that Damien hadn’t exaggerated when he’d told her he could not be considered her equal, or even close enough to be considered a suitable candidate as her consort. It was ridiculous, of course, but she supposed, looking at it from their perspective, she could see their point. Excep
t that she didn’t believe she was the princess as they supposed.
It presented difficulties that didn’t seem to have answers at the moment. She could not claim not to be the daughter of Princess Rheaia. It was far too dangerous even to consider such a route, but as long as they believed her to be, they would also consider Damien unsuitable.
Perhaps there would be some way that she could elevate him once she was queen?
Always assuming Damien actually wanted her to.
He was proud. What if he refused to even consider it? He was not mated. She’d managed to learn that much at least. Which mean that he was free to chose, but also made her wonder if there were reasons other than the position she held that he made him reluctant to chose her. Was he too proud to ally himself with a woman when he knew everyone would consider him beneath her?
Or was it, as she’d feared all along, that his feelings for her did not go beyond the instincts he had so much difficulty controlling… and his honor, loyalty and duty to his queen?
Did it matter if she could have him?
It did. It would be torture to feel as she did toward him and know he didn’t return those feelings, but surely not nearly as much torture as watching him chose another.
She was afraid she was becoming obsessed with him. No matter how hard she tried to concentrate on other matters, her mind returned to him again and again. She knew, instinctually, that she loved him beyond all reason. It could be nothing but instinct, for she’d never before loved, or even felt the love, of another being. She supposed it was that emptiness waiting to be filled that made her feelings for him so desperate and all consuming, and perhaps it was for the same reason that it had taken her so long to understand it for what it was.
Regardless, it was both joy and torment, bringing fears to light that she’d thought she had long since buried, bringing her a sense of reason for being.
She’d paced the room for hours that night and finally given up the hope that he would come and gone to bed. With the first caress of his hand, her body awoke to his touch, alive and eager for him. Drowsily, she opened her eyes and looked up at him. He was propped on one elbow, studying her. He leaned down to kiss her when he saw that she was awake and looking up at him.
Chapter Seventeen
Khalia lifted her lips to meet him, but placed a hand on his chest, pulling away after only a moment. “You promised that I could explore your body,” she whispered, her voice still husky with sleep.
His gaze flickered over her face, but finally he settled back, tucking one arm behind his head, watching her. Khalia raised up on one elbow, stroking her hand over his body. With her first touch, his flesh prickled, his nipples becoming tight and erect. Intrigued, she leaned closer, wondering if his male nipples were as sensitive as her own, and placed a tentative kiss there. She was no wiser when she’d done so. He tensed, but she couldn’t tell whether it was purely from her kiss or if her touch there produced more intense pleasurable sensation than if she’d kissed him elsewhere.
Dismissing her doubts, she decided there was pleasure enough in it for her. She’d wanted to caress him and give him pleasure as he did her. She still did. She just hadn’t realized that she would find it almost as exciting as when he caressed her.
Coming up on her knees, she leaned over him, supporting herself on one arm as she stroked his body with her hand, and followed with her lips. The warmth and tension inside of her grew with each experimental touch, each kiss. The scent of his flesh, the taste of it on her lips sent a heady rush through her. No longer content merely to kiss him, she flicked her tongue over his skin, sucked little love bites into her mouth.
She became aware as she made her way down his chest that it rose and fell more and more rapidly, that his breath was ragged, his body trembling with the effort to remain perfectly still as she explored him. That awareness sent a rush of heat through her, a heady sense of power and elation that inspired her to explore him with more reckless abandon. Rising up on one elbow again, she skated her hand down over his ribs and belly and finally stroked his phallus. It jerked beneath her touch, startling her and her gaze flew to his. His eyes were tightly shut, his face contorted, as if he was in excruciating pain.
She could not have hurt him. She was certain of that, but undoubtedly she had found the one spot on his body that was more intensely sensitive than any other. She wrapped her fingers around it, and slid her hand along it. He let out a ragged gust of air, tensing all over. A wave of heat prickled over her skin. Her mouth went dry. Slowly, she leaned forward to taste him, running her tongue along the length of his member and then encircling the rounded tip. Finally, she opened her mouth over his heated flesh.
He caught her hair as she slipped it into her mouth, his fingers curling, but he made no attempt to thrust her away and after a moment, she sucked at the rounded head of his member experimentally. A shudder went through him. He gasped hoarsely. Her body reacted as if he were kissing her instead of the other way around, her belly clenching, her femininity beginning to pulse with the need to feel his possession.
Closing her eyes, she moved his member in and out of her mouth, sucking him more feverishly as the blood pounded in her head and her body tightened with tension.
Abruptly, he caught her. Pulling her away, he sat up, shoving her back roughly against the pillows. Khalia was still gasping in surprise when he caught her legs and snatched them apart, covering her clit with his mouth. She cried out at his tender assault on the sensitive bud with his tongue and mouth, her heart pounding with a hard rush of such exquisite sensation, her body racing so fast toward culmination she found she couldn’t catch her breath.
Mindlessly, she dug her fingers into his hair, tugging, certain she couldn’t bear the intensity of the sensations he was evoking with the teasing onslaught of his mouth and tongue. He caught her hands, forcing them to the bed on either side of her hips, and she dug her fingers into the sheets, panting for breath so harshly it became little high pitched cries of ecstasy. He covered her mouth with one hand, reminding her abruptly of the guards outside her door, and she caught his hand, sucking his index finger as feverishly as she had sucked his member.
He groaned against her, sucking her clit into his mouth, and her body exploded with a release that went on and on as he continued to tease and suckle her until she thought she would black out if he didn’t stop. Abruptly, he moved over her, gasping harshly as he aligned his body with hers and thrust. She cried out, arching upward and reaching for him, clutching his arms.
He covered her mouth with his own, capturing the cries she couldn’t seem to stop, was hardly even aware of and she wound her arms around his neck, holding herself tightly against him as he plunged inside her with hard, deep, rapid thrusts. Her body erupted into another shattering climax as he went still, tensed, shuddering as he found his own release.
They collapsed weakly on the bed in a tangle of arms and legs, gasping for breath, stroking each other as their bodies slowly returned to normal. Shivering as the sheen of moisture on her skin cooled, Khalia moved closer to him, placing a kiss above his heart. He cupped her head in one hand, wrapping his other arm around her shoulders and holding her close.
“I was too loud,” she whispered self-consciously.
He chuckled. “There is little point in whispering now, sheashona. Next time I will bring a gag. You sounded like a howling garshon.”
She pinched him playfully. “I was not that loud,” she growled irritably. “And, anyway, it was your fault.”
He pulled away from her. Pushing her back against the pillows, he levered himself over her until his chest was press against her breasts, his lips hovering just above hers. “I am not convinced. I think I should try again … just so that we can be certain on this point.”
Khalia chuckled. Draping her arms around his neck, she lifted her head, closing the short distance and kissing him lightly on the lips. “You can do anything you like to me, any time … so long as I can do anything I like to you.”
&nb
sp; He lifted his head and studied her for a long moment, his expression serious now. “I am your man, Princess. You have only to ask and if it is within my power, I will do it.”
Khalia stared back at him for several moments and finally looked away. “But I didn’t see your petition among the others,” she said quietly.
He stiffened. Finally, he pulled away from her and rolled back against the bed, draping one arm across his eyes. “It would not be accepted.”
Khalia came up on one arm, staring down at him. “I would accept it.”
He lifted his arm from across his eyes and looked at her for a moment and then reached for her, pulling her across his chest and kissing her deeply, with a slow thoroughness that left her gasping for breath. And when he broke the kiss, he slipped his hands beneath her arms and pulled her up until her breasts swayed before his face, kissing each in turn, teasing her breathless until she was as needy for him as if he had not already thoroughly pleasured her. She braced her palms on the pillow on either side of his head, arching her neck, her eyes squeezed tightly to help her hold the sensations inside of her, to relish them to their fullest.
He slid his hands down to her waist, pushing her back, lifting her hips until their bodies were joined once more, and then guiding her until she found a rhythm of movement that brought her the most pleasure. He stroked her back as she moved on top of him, his hands gentle, loving, as he brought her once more to the peak of ecstasy and found his own heaven.
It felt like good bye.
She was afraid to ask, afraid to say anything at all that might prompt him to say something she couldn’t bear to hear.
Replete, they collapsed on the bed side by side, gathering their strength, struggling to catch their breath. Finally, Khalia rolled over half on top of him, slipping one leg between his and resting her head on his chest.
She was half asleep when she felt him carefully disentangling himself from her. She sighed, tempted to ask him to stay, if only for a little while, but she knew the longer he stayed the greater the risk that they would be caught together.
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