“Oh, yes, please,” she told him.
“Then go for it.”
She needed no further encouragement. Gripping the waistband of his trousers in back, Sara began to push them down with his briefs, over his taut buttocks, his trim hips, his lean thighs, kneeling before him as she pulled them down around his ankles, until he could step out of the garments and she could toss them to the side. As she began to rise slowly again, her cheek brushed the rigid member between his legs, standing now at full attention, and, impulsively, she dropped a swift kiss along its length. Shane caught his breath at the gesture, and when she understood why, she turned her head and slid the tip of her tongue along its full length, then parted her lips to draw him fully inside.
“Oh, Sara…” he said as she gripped his thighs and moved her head forward, taking as much of him into her mouth as she could. He uttered another sound, too, one that was feral and wild and uncontrolled, and she reveled in this newly discovered power she held over him. For long moments, she pleasured him orally, loving the way he twined his fingers in her hair to urge her gently forward even more. She only stopped when she felt his fingers gripping her shoulders, silently encouraging her to stand. But he said nothing as he met her gaze and grinned a drunken grin. Still, she was fairly certain she knew what he was thinking.
Slowly, wordlessly, he began to walk her backward toward her bed, but he surprised her yet again when they got there. Instead of waiting for her to turn down the coverlet, when she turned around and bent to perform the action, he stepped up and, without warning, covered her hips with his hands and entered her deeply from behind. Sara gasped at his entry and tried to straighten, but he opened one hand over the small of her back, and gently he bent over again. His other hand dipped beneath her, catching her breast and giving it a tempered squeeze.
Obediently, she bent forward, gripping the side of the bed and spreading her legs wider. Shane moved his hands back to her hips then and pulled her body toward his, deepening his penetration even more. He skimmed the pad of his thumb lightly up and down the length of the silky garter pressing into her buttock, then moved his digit to the center of her bottom, caressing her, creasing her, pressing lightly into her. Sara caught her breath at the intimacy, pushing her hips back more, taking him deeper inside her.
Again and again he entered her that way, the friction of him inside her delicious in a way Sara could never have imagined. But just when she thought she would spiral completely out of control, he withdrew, turning her around to face him, kissing her deeply again.
And as he kissed her, he urged her back onto the bed. Sara lay back with her legs dangling over the side of the mattress, and Shane stepped forward to enter her again. He jerked her legs up and hooked her ankles around his waist, then thrust into her, closing his eyes at the sensations that must have been winding through him. Sensations, Sara guessed, that were much like the ones she felt herself. She threw her arms up over her head and let the ripples wash over her, glorying in the rapid pace of his thrusting, knowing it was she who held him in such thrall, giving herself over to him just as completely.
With one final hard plunge, Shane threw back his head and cried out his culmination, and mere seconds afterward, Sara followed him, fairly melting under the onslaught. For one long moment, it felt almost as if time had stood still, absorbing them into one perfect, consummate, eternal climax. And then that moment ebbed, and she slowly returned to earth. Shane collapsed onto the bed beside her, and somehow, between the two of them, they managed to pull back the coverlet and crawl beneath it. There, they clung to each other, holding fast, as if each feared letting the other go.
For long moments, they only lay silent, catching their breath, gathering their thoughts. Then, softly, Sara said, “Well, I suppose I should take you downstairs and introduce you to my mother.”
Beside her, Shane chuckled. “I’d rather meet this Devon guy. You never did tell me who the hell he is.”
“He’s the man my mother would like me to marry.”
Shane stopped chuckling at that. “Then, by all means,” he said, “introduce me to your mother. And Devon, too, the schmuck. Think they’d notice if I didn’t bother putting on my pants?”
“Well, it would certainly make a statement, wouldn’t it?”
“Damned straight.”
Sara waited to see if he would say specifically what that statement might be, but nothing more was forthcoming. So she only snuggled more closely against him and wished with all her heart that he would be able to see how very much she loved him without her having to put voice to the words, because she simply wasn’t sure she could say them just yet.
Instead, he changed the subject, though he didn’t seem all that eager to do it. “I guess you heard about King Morgan?” he asked softly as he held her close, his voice sounding troubled and uncertain.
She nodded. “Word travels fast in Penwyck, you know. It’s a wonderful relief to realize that His Majesty is going to be all right.”
“Not able to rule anymore, though,” Shane pointed out.
“No,” Sara agreed. “But at least Broderick will have to step down now. Did you know it’s been rumored that he himself is the head of the bloody Black Knights?”
This was obviously news to Shane, because when she glanced up to gauge his reaction, his dark brows had shot right up into his hair.
“There’s not been any proof, mind you,” she added. “But there are those who think he’s been calling the shots over the years. Me included, frankly. There’s just too much gone unanswered for it not to be him.”
“So what happens if they find out that’s true?” Shane asked.
“I imagine the RET will have much to say about it. At least he’s been forced down now and won’t be in line to rule the kingdom.”
“But King Morgan will have to name his successor,” Shane said.
Sara sensed the anxiety in his voice when he spoke. “You’re afraid they’re right, and that you and your brother might be the missing heirs.”
He nodded. “I keep telling myself it’s impossible. That there’s no way I could be…of royal blood,” he finished in a melodramatic tone. “But as long as there’s a chance…”
“What will you do if you and Marcus are the missing heirs?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I really don’t know.”
Sara wished she knew what to say that might soothe his worries, but she could only watch in silence as he let the thoughts tumble through his brain. Finally, though, he looked down and met her gaze levelly. “There’s one thing I do know, though,” he told her.
“What?” she asked.
He hesitated a moment, then, very softly, he said, “I know I want you to be with me no matter what.”
She smiled. “Of course I’ll be with you when you find out the truth, Shane. That’s what friends are for.”
He shook his head. “That’s not what I meant. I want you to be with me when I find out the truth, sure. But, Sara…”
“What?” she asked, suddenly feeling breathless for no reason she could name.
“I want you to be with me after that, too,” he said. “I want…”
“What?”
“I want you to be with me…forever.”
Oh, dear heavens…
“And not as my friend. Well, not just my friend,” he hastily qualified.
She narrowed her eyes at him, still afraid to let herself hope. “What do mean?”
“I mean…” He sighed fitfully. “Look, do you think you could see yourself spending your life with a guy who’s not noble?”
She smiled. “You’re noble, Shane. Whether or not you’re a prince has nothing to do with that.”
“But I mean… Could you be with a man who’s just a regular guy?”
She shook her head. “No, I’m afraid not.”
He looked stricken by her response. “You couldn’t?”
“No,” she said again. “Look, I’m sorry. But I’d rather have someone like you.”
<
br /> Now he looked confused. “What…?”
Sara laughed, certain now that they were both on the same wavelength, even if Shane was still at sea. “I don’t want a regular guy, Shane. I want a special one. I want you.”
He seemed to think about that for a minute, then, very slowly, he began to smile. “Oh. Okay.” Then he turned grave again. “But what if I end up being king?”
“Then you’ll be a special guy who wears a crown to formal functions,” she told him. She rose up on her elbows, wanting to meet him eye to eye when she said what she had to say. “I don’t care what you do, Shane, whether you’re ruling a country or hammering a nail into a piece of wood. I care about who you are. And who you are is…” She smiled. “Extraordinary.”
He grinned, obviously relieved. “Is that all?”
“No,” she told him. “You’re also the man I love.”
He reached up to cup her cheek in his palm, his eyes filled with longing and promise and love and…so much more. “I love you, too, Sara,” he told her solemnly. “So whattaya say? Will you marry me?”
“And be your queen?” she asked with a smile.
He nodded. “Not that my kingdom comes to much,” he said. “I’m reasonably certain I’ve lost my job at the construction site, and chances are slim that I’m going to be the once and future king here in Penwyck. So, really, my domain is pretty much a one-bedroom rented condo in Malibu, and a vintage Jeep Cherokee. Oh, I do have a really bitchin’ Yater surfboard, though. There are people in high places who would kill to own that.”
Sara laughed. “I’ll make protecting it my first assignment when I go to work for the California Security System.”
Shane arrowed his dark brows down in concern. “I thought you had a job waiting at the RII. Which, now that I think about it, will mean you have a helluva commute to work every morning if you agree to be my queen and co-monarch.”
She shook her head. “I think I can safely say that my future at the RII has been compromised before I even started there. Besides, after the grilling and skewering I got this afternoon about our Black Knights adventure, I think I can safely say I have no desire to work for the RII anyway. I’d much rather accept the job I was offered earlier this year by one of my professor’s former students. She’s a high-ranking official with the CSS, and she needs someone to work in the L.A. office whose specialty is counterterrorism, which, what do you know, just so happens to be the focus of my studies.”
“Well, my, my, my. Isn’t that convenient?” Shane asked.
“Yes, isn’t it?”
“So you’ll be the queen of counterterrorists, and I’ll be the king of the unemployment line.”
Sara laughed harder. “Sounds like a match made in heaven.”
“Or, at the very least,” Shane said, “a match made in Penwyck.” He pulled her close again, and lifted his head to cover her mouth with his. “I love you, Sara Wallington,” he said as he pulled away. “No matter who or what you turn out to be.”
“And I love you, Shane Cordello,” she readily replied. “No matter who or what you turn out to be.”
And as they drew together for a kiss to seal the bargain, they both knew that that was really the only thing that mattered.
Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Elizabeth Bevarly for her contribution to the CROWN AND GLORY series.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-5844-4
TAMING THE PRINCE
Copyright © 2002 by Harlequin Books S.A.
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Taming The Prince (Crown & Glory Book 8) Page 18