Dusk (Equinox Book 1)

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Dusk (Equinox Book 1) Page 6

by Bradley, H. J.


  “Because I know what to expect with Johann. I’ve known for the past six years.” Myf took a deep breath. “And at least he seems attracted to me, even though I know it won’t last long.”

  “Of course he’s attracted to you.” Emma let go of her arm and the two women hugged. “You’re gorgeous.”

  “Hopefully I can hold his attention for long enough to give them an heir,” said Myf. “Then maybe I’ll be allowed my freedom back.”

  “You’re going to sacrifice your heart to gain your freedom?” Emma’s words were barely a whisper. “Does Johann know this?”

  “There’s no point in him knowing.” She glanced over at her friend. “It’s not going to change anything.”

  Chapter Ten

  It didn’t take Johann long to make it to Myf’s hotel room on the seventh floor. Tucking his helmet beneath his arm, he arranged his hair in the mirror that was hanging in the corridor. A sound further down the corridor caught his attention, and looking up he saw Emma standing there glaring at him.

  “Princess.” He nodded in her direction.

  “Hurt her and I’ll take your balls as revenge.” Her words were laced with venom. “I mean it Johann.”

  “I’m not going to hurt her,” said Johann. “Well, not intentionally anyway.”

  “Make sure that you don’t.” With that Emma pushed away from the wall, walking past him in a flurry of feathers with her head held high.

  Johann watched until she disappeared out of sight, before turning and moving over to the oak door of his fiancé’s room. For a few moments he stood outside, palm pressed against the smooth grain while he took several deep breaths. Certainly he had enjoyed the last few days they had spent together, and the memory of Myf’s soft shy kisses kept him wake at night. However, the full weight of what was happening had started to crash down on him. His single life and freedom were essentially over. All in all, Johann was quite frankly terrified.

  Curling his hand into a fist, Johann knocked sharply on the door and then stood back.

  “Coming!” Myf’s voice filtered through the door, and then it slowly opened.

  The vision that met him was so incredible that he all but had to pick his jaw up off of the floor. She was dressed in light purple fabric which was carefully draped over her body. The ensemble accentuated her bust and the length of her neck, and he found that for a moment he was looking on the most beautiful woman in the world. Her shiny black hair was braided and piled on top of her head, soft tendrils tumbling down over her shoulders. “You look beautiful.” He immediately reached for her hands, drawing her unresisting body towards his. Once she was close enough he wrapped his arms around her waist.

  “And you look,” she gave him a quick once over, “… uncomfortable.”

  He laughed then, lowering his lips to her ear. “Are you saying you want me out of my costume?”

  Myf rolled her eyes at him, before ducking out of his arms and sashayed down the corridor. “Not as much as you probably want me to.”

  She had no idea. Never before had Johann fallen so deeply in lust with someone so fast before. “And I was told that you were sweet and demure.”

  Myf’s smile froze, before fading completely. There was something about the look on her face that made Johann cringe, especially since it was him that had put it there.

  “I can be whatever you want me to be,” she said.

  Though those words were often sexy when said to him by a naked woman in his bed, there was something about the way Myf had said them that made Johann’s stomach clench. “What if I want you to be yourself?” He closed the distance between them.

  “I don’t even know who I am.” Myf shrugged her shoulders, a watery smile coming to her lovely face. “Surely you know why I’m here?”

  “To marry me.” He placed his hand against her pale cheek.

  “To do my duty.” Myf’s words were whispered. “As must you.”

  Johann flinched. “Duty?” It was her sad nod that had him giving into temptation, pulling her back into his arms and feeling a sense of pleasure when she all but melted into his embrace.

  “What more do you want from me?” Myf’s words were muffled against his shoulder.

  “Nothing,” said Johann. “Myf, I don’t want anything from you.”

  She looked up at him then, and the sight of the tears in her eyes made a lump form in Johann’s throat.

  “Then why did you say yes to the marriage?” she asked.

  “My hands are tied, just like yours.” Myf ducked her head at his words, and Johann unwound one of his arms from her waist so he could use it to tip her chin up. “But you would have to be blind not to see that we have chemistry.”

  “Chemistry doesn’t make a marriage.” She shook her head.

  Leaning down, Johann brushed their lips together. “No, but it’s a good start.”

  “You just want to make me another one of your women, don’t you?” There was some heat to her words, a passion deep down inside that was bursting to come out. “You just want to sleep with me.”

  “No.” Johann took a step back and held her at arm’s length. “Well, yes … but that’s not the whole reason. You, Myfanwy intrigue me.”

  Pulling away from his grip, Myf folded her arms across her chest. “I intrigue you?”

  “Yes,” said Johann. “Why is that such a surprise?”

  “You’ve only known me a few days.” She turned away from him then and walked towards the windows at the far end of the corridor.

  “We’ve know each other our entire lives.” Johann ran his fingers through his hair in frustration before going to stand beside her.

  “I’m not the same …”

  “Exactly!” Johann hadn’t meant to raise his voice, but it seemed that Myf was stubborn as well as gorgeous. “You’re not the same, and that’s intriguing.”

  “We’ve both changed Johann.” Myf’s voice softened and she reached out for him. “We’re not the same people we were six years ago.”

  “Yeah. My reputation is ruined now.” He took her hand, twining their fingers together as he gathered her against him. “And I’m just going to ruin yours, too.”

  Myf shook her head against his chest. “Your reputation isn’t ruined. The people love you.”

  That at least was the truth. Despite his playboy ways, the press, and indeed the Finnish people themselves, had a soft spot for the black sheep of the Royal family. Johann also knew that they were waiting eagerly for him to find someone to love and settle down, he had to work to ignore the sudden rush of panic that thought generated. To calm himself he ran his hands down the length of her back to take hold of her hips. “I’m seen as a womanizing bastard. There’s nothing redeeming about me.”

  Myf shrugged her shoulders. “It’s not all that bad.”

  “It is.” He caught her gaze. “And now they’ll be looking at you as the latest in a long line of hopefuls.”

  “I don’t care about the press,” said Myf. “Sure your adoring public may be a bit overwhelming sometimes, but I’m sure I’ll get over it. Though your lady friends are a bit of a concern.”

  Johann had known that what she would say about his past, most of the women that he had been with in recent times had been intimidated with his level of experience. A woman like Myf probably felt like she was drowning beneath it.

  “What makes you uncomfortable about my past?” Johann knew that they were going to be late to Rik’s party; however these were issues that needed to be sorted out sooner rather than later.

  “You’ve been with all these women, and I’m so different to all of them.” Myf lowered her eyes, and Johann watched as a flush made its way up her neck. “They’re all gorgeous, ambitious, independent …”

  “You’re gorgeous.” Johann held her at arm’s length, making sure that she made eye contact with him.

  “Johann …” To silence her, Johann dragged her against him and covered her mouth with his own in a gentle kiss. It had the desired effect as she stopped talk
ing and went pliant in his arms.

  “You are.” He moved his mouth from her lips to kiss her cheek. “And I don’t care if you want to spend the rest of your life lounging in a hammock, having your grapes peeled by topless models. I can afford it. Hell Myf, you can afford it.”

  Myf gave a soft laugh. “I wouldn’t mind some handsome young men peeling grapes for me.”

  “I don’t know how I feel about you wanting any shirtless men around except me,” said Johann.

  She raised one fine eyebrow. “I thought I was the one who was supposed to be jealous.”

  “You have nothing to be jealous of.” To Johann it was the absolute truth. He may have a history with women, but he would never go out and cheat on someone he was already in a relationship with. Certainly not a girlfriend or wife. If he knew that he couldn’t commit to someone wholly then he would rather break it off than hurt someone.

  “Johann, it’s no secret that you like women. Lots of women.” Myf smiled at him. “And you have a very short attention span. I’m not fooling myself into thinking I’ll hold your interest for very long.”

  Johann had no answer for that. So instead, he kissed Myf again, deepening it as she moaned into his mouth. Swallowing that desperate sound, he coaxed her into parting her lips so he could delve inside. As their tongues tangled, Johann felt his knees go weak at the now familiar but addictive undiluted taste of her. Myf was making soft, breathy noises as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

  Pulling his mouth from hers, Johann groaned out loud. “I think you’ll keep my attention just fine.” Before kissing her again.

  Chapter Eleven

  Taking Johann’s offered arm, Myf straightened her shoulders and briefly closed her eyes against the bright light coming from the ballroom. Music was filtering into the hotel hallway, causing her stomach to clench with anxiety. She had never really been a fan of parties, and this one was her first with royalty in such a long time that she was sure that she would do something wrong.

  “Remember, there are going to be press here.” Johann dipped his head to whisper the words into her ear. “Which means they’ll be clamouring over themselves to get a photo of us together.”

  “They’re going to want to know if I’m the latest of your special friends.” Myf knew that she shouldn’t still be feeling bitter, however in her mind nothing had really been resolved from their earlier discussion.

  “Well, you’re not,” said Johann. “You’re far more important than that.”

  Myf found that she couldn’t help the way she rolled her eyes at his words. In a way, she was actually less important to him right now than his multitude of lovers. After all, he wasn’t getting what he wanted from her, and she wasn’t some sexy socialite that he could make waves with. “You flatter me.”

  “I love how every now and then you remember that you’re a Vaughn, and you start talking like Cat.” Johann grinned down at her. “It’s cute.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with the way my sister talks.” Myf glared back up at him.

  “No.” He leaned down and brushed his lips against her temper. “She just sounds like a Jane Austen novel most of the time.”

  Myf didn’t even have a response for that, instead she buried her elbow into his side. “So, are you going to take me in then?”

  Johann gave her a tight nod, and then together they walked into the ballroom. Myf was glad to see that, unlike a lot of high society parties, there was nobody to announce their arrival, which meant that they could simply ease their way into the crowd. The birthday boy himself was nowhere to be seen, however Myf was able to spot the blond head of her soon to be brother-in-law above the crowd which meant Cat would be somewhere nearby.

  “I’m going to talk to Cat,” she said, tapping Johann on the arm.

  “Oh, I’m up for that.” His grin widened. “She’s going to want to kill me.”

  Johann’s words had a certain amount of truth to them. Cat had never like the idea of the engagement, and in fact had spent a large amount of time in their early twenties trying to find ways to break the contract. Not that she had found anything, though she had been all but drowning herself in alcohol at the time, which may or may not have had something to do with it.

  Myf couldn’t help her smile when she saw that her assumptions were correct, and as the crowd parted for herself and Johann she spied her petite sister standing on tip-toes to push back a wayward strand of her fiancé’s hair. Valto in return appeared to be basking in her sister’s very presence.

  “Cat!” Myf called out to her sister when they got within distance.

  “Myf!” Cat released her fiancé, before turning to embrace Myf.

  Cat barely came up to Myf’s shoulder. Something that Myf had always been aware of that just added to the fact that they were barely recognizable as sisters. They were just so different in every way, from looks to personality.

  “I didn’t know that you would be here,” said Myf. “I thought you had things to do in Wales.”

  “I do have things to do back home.” Cat’s hazel eyes were sparkling with mirth. “But this one here,” she nodded her head in Valto’s direction, “wanted to come to this party. I thought it would be nice to do something for him for once.”

  “You do plenty for me.” Valto leaned over to kiss Cat softly. “More than I deserve.”

  Letting out a soft hum, Cat placed her hand on his cheek. ‘”We’ll see what you can do to thank me later.”

  Valto leaned into her palm, his eyes fluttering closed as he pressed into her touch.

  “I think I’m going to be sick.” Johann’s voice broke through the touching scene, and Valto immediately turned to glare at him.

  “Hmmm.” Cat released her fiancé before stalking over to Johann, tilting her chin up to look him in the eye. “There is nothing more sickening than the way that you’ve been trying to get between my sister’s thighs.”

  Myf immediately felt herself blush at those words, she had hoped that people would at least ignore the sexual aspect of her relationship with Johann. Trust Cat to bring it up, and in public at that. “Cat.” She reached out for the other woman. “Please don’t.”

  “Right.” Cat turned around quickly after throwing one last glare Johann’s way. “Sorry.”

  There was still the atmosphere of barely veiled hostility, and if there was one thing that Myf hated it was confrontation of any kind. Humiliation was bubbling up in her gut, the idea that she was the cause of so much anger. Turning to Johann, she got his attention by tapping him on the arm. “I’m going to go and get a drink.”

  “Alright,” said Johann, though the look in his eyes showed that he was concerned. “I’m going to go and find Rik. I’ll see you soon, OK?”

  Myf nodded before ducking into the crowd, hoping to firstly find something to drink and then a quiet corner to tuck herself into before someone demanded her presence. Neither were all that difficult to find, and soon she found herself on one of a few left over chairs behind a thick velvet curtain.

  Unfortunately after a few minutes of peace, Myf noticed that there were a pair of boots just visible beneath the bottom edge of the curtain. By the style them it was clear that their owner was a man, or possibly a woman such as Kai, and Myf found herself curling her legs beneath her seat so that she wouldn’t be seen. Though this didn’t seem to have worked because in the next moment the curtain was pulled back.

  “Hello,” said the man as he entered her little corner. “What are you doing hiding away in here?”

  “Oh, hi.” Myf moved her, mostly full, glass of champagne to her left hand so that she could take his offered one. “Niko, right?”

  She had already spied him from across the room, and there was talk that he was the eldest son of the pretender to the Russian throne. Not only was he the most eligible bachelor in Europe, especially now that Valto was Cat’s shadow once again, but he was a known playboy and larrikin.

  “That’s correct.” Niko settled himself in the chair next to her. “I’m
afraid I didn’t quite catch your name. All I know is that you came with Prince Johannes. And I have to say that was quite a surprise.”

  She took a sip of her champagne. “Surprise?”

  “Well, you’re not exactly the kind of woman that we’re used to seeing on his arm.” He must have noticed the horrified look on Myf’s face. “I didn’t mean that in a bad way. You are absolutely gorgeous. Much less of a bimbo than my cousin has a tendency to gravitate towards.”

  “Myfanwy.” She smiled at him. “That’s my name. Everyone calls me Myf, though.”

  His green eyes widened at that. “You’re Cat’s sister?”

  Myf took a moment then to take a proper look at him. Certainly handsome, with perfectly placed brown hair, deep green eyes, and what appeared to be a fantastic body beneath his pirate costume. For the first time in her life she felt a sudden bolt of immediate attraction.

  “Yes,” said Myf.

  “But that makes you a Princess.” He leaned forward to catch her eye. “Which means he’s actually courting you. Not just sleeping with you.” At his words warmth made its way up her neck and cheeks. “Or not sleeping with you at all.”

  Shaking her head, Myf looked at him through her lashes. “I’m not sleeping with Johann.”

  “Well, that’s good to know.” Niko reched over, taking the champagne glass from her hand and placing it on the floor.

  His interest in her was obvious, and though Myf found it flattering, there was something about the attention which made her uncomfortable. “I’m not sleeping with anyone.”

  Niko’s smile widened, and he reached for her hands. “Is that so?”

  “Nobody has ever really been interested.” Myf carefully pulled her hands from his grasp. “Not that it matters.”

  “I’m interested.” He gave her a slow once over. “Very interested.”

  Pressing her hands against heated cheeks. “You’re quite forward, aren’t you?”

  “You’re beautiful. Also, Johann is courting you,” said Niko. “I just want to put my hand forward, you know, before he breaks your heart.”

 

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