She smiled and ignored the heat that crept into her cheeks. “Damn right I am.”
Obsidian snorted as they both laughed.
“I’ll see to him,” Raya said, sliding from her lover’s back and grabbing a currycomb from the wall, ready to give Obsidian a loving brush down.
“He’d certainly love that, Miss Varvara, but his guests have already begun to arrive.”
Obsidian whinnied loudly and gestured toward the door with his nose.
Finlay nodded. “I’ll take care of it, sir.”
Raya raised her brows in question.
“He needs privacy to shift, ma’am. Not all of tonight’s guests are aware that Obsidian and Lord Brinkley are one and the same.” Calder was an unregistered shapeshifter. His mother belonged to a centaur-like race known as the Canterini, but as a half-blood, he could shift between human and horse form.
“Ah,” she nodded. Guests. Ugh. The last thing she wanted to do was stuff herself into one of the fancy dresses she’d been forced to purchase for her business on Oriana and socialize with Calder’s guests. Maybe she could feign fatigue from the long journey. Or better yet from the thorough fucking he’d given her.
Finlay closed the stable doors and locked them. Obsidian shimmered briefly, and Calder stood where he’d been, naked and obviously ready to go another round with her. Finlay tossed him some clothes and boots, and he dressed quickly. He looked damn fine in the tight tan riding pants and tall polished boots. His black shirt strained across his powerful shoulders and muscular chest. He left the top two buttons open in a manner considered rakish on Oriana.
“Lord Partington has arrived with his daughter,” Finlay said as he unlocked the doors. The stable master looked pointedly at Raya. “Miss Varvara’s arrival will be of interest to them, I’m sure.”
Calder’s eyes brightened, and he smiled wickedly. “I do believe it will.”
Raya didn’t like the sound of that. “Who is Lord Partington?”
“An idiot who thinks I’d pay his debts in exchange for his daughter’s hand in marriage.”
“Fuck that.” Raya’s stomach churned. Calder was hers. She didn’t want to be in love, and she didn’t want to live on Oriana, but… damn it, he was hers.
Calder chuckled. “Try to keep your claws in.”
Raya glared at him. “Why are they here?”
“I’m hosting a party tonight to celebrate the conclusion of the legislative session.”
Raya pondered his words. “Is that customary?”
Calder nodded. “When the session ends, most of the regional governors return to their own lands, and life in and around the capital slows down for several months.”
Raya tried to imagine the pace of life being any slower than it already was and failed. She’d originally met Calder when her job at Intergalactic Investors Bank brought her to Oriana to broker a deal for a client. She’d hated everything about the backwater planet except for the fine horseflesh Calder owned and Calder himself.
She’d never let herself get involved with a client before, but she loved beautiful horses and beautiful men, and Calder literally brought all the untamed strength of a stallion into his human form. He’d been impossible to resist, but when he suggested she stay, she refused. No way could an urban girl from New Earth be happy here, not even with a stud of a man like Calder.
She’d ignored him for the intervening months just like she’d ignored the terrifying mix of hot and cold that raced through her when she thought of him. She had no place in her life for romance.
When she’d received the paperwork confirming her client’s purchase of Calder’s horses, she’d chosen to surprise Calder rather than be forced to explain why she’d failed to contact him for months. She caught a flight to Oriana that afternoon, barely taking time to comm her supervisor and let her know she’d be out of the office for the next week. Now here she was, admitting to feelings she’d didn’t want to have, confused and longing to ignore the world and spend the night making love to Calder. But he had a house full of overdressed, stuffy Orianians who would find her exotic if not downright crude.
As if hearing her thoughts, he glanced down pointedly, looking at her nipples standing out against the damp cloth of her dress. Between the heat and the dip she’d taken in the stream her dress looked rather disreputable.
“You’re going to scandalize my guests.”
Raya snorted. “Fucking prudes.”
Calder laughed. “My guests include some of the biggest gossips on Oriana. When we appear at the house together with you in that ensemble, rumors will spread like wildfire. By tomorrow everyone who’s anyone in Oriana’s capital will know we’re lovers. The only way I’ll be able to save your reputation is by marrying you.”
Marry me? Marry me? He has to be kidding. Raya forced herself to smile even as her chest tightened in panic.
Raya thought about how he’d do wonders for her reputation on New Earth. Everyone there thought she was so cold that even a man like Calder couldn’t touch her heart. “Who says I care about my reputation here?”
“You should if you intend to conduct business here. People will accept that you’re a techno snob, but flouting our customs so openly won’t win you any contracts.”
“If I have my way, your contract will be my last on Oriana.”
Calder stared at her for a few moments, his eyes full of something she hoped wasn’t pain. She swallowed past a lump in her throat. Had she really meant what she said?
Before she could retract her words, his usual grin returned. “As a gentleman, I can’t be responsible for ruining a woman even if she is insensible to the insult. Allow me to announce our engagement. You can throw me over in a few days if you choose, but at least I’ll have given you proper protection.”
She almost said yes without a second thought. Did she actually want to marry Calder? No, this was a game, playing along with the social conventions. That’s all. Then she remembered his rough voice saying he loved her as he thrust into her in the grass by the stream.
Her heart pounded with a combination of fear and excitement. “People would truly expect us to get engaged, because we’ve been for a ride together.”
Calder grinned. “And quite a ride it was.”
His words sent shivers of pleasure racing through her body. Heat pooled between her legs. “Damn right. Are you sure you can’t send these guests away?”
Calder raised his brows. “Hardly. An unmarried Orianian lady does not go out alone with a man nor does she wear such thin garments or worse yet, damp them down. Such behavior would label her fast.”
Raya laughed. “Fast?”
Calder’s grin widened. He was clearly enjoying himself. “Indeed, such a woman would be the worst sort of flirt. She might even go so far as to allow a man to sample her wares before an offer of marriage was on the table.”
“Ha! As if I’d agree to marry a man I’d never fucked.”
Calder laughed. “I can’t say I’d want to marry a woman I’d never bedded either, but such is what’s expected here.”
“Utterly insane. Worse than your lack of a decent comm satellite.”
Calder snorted, sounding suspiciously like Obsidian.
“How many guests?” Raya feared she didn’t want to know the answer.
“Hundreds. All the regional governors and representatives are invited as well as various members of Oriana’s upper class. Some I consider friends. A few might push my powers of hospitality to the limit.”
“Is Lady Partington among the latter group?”
Calder grinned. “Would you like her to be?”
Raya’s cheeks heated, but she ignored her silly reaction. “No proper Orianian lady can give you what I can.”
“That’s for damn sure. Some improper ones on the other hand…”
She shoved him away. “Fuck off.”
“Raya. I want you like I’ve never wanted anyone else. We’re going to have to deal with our feelings for each other but not tonight. As regional g
overnor, I’m expected to honor the End of Session with a large dose of pomp and circumstance no matter how much I’d prefer to take you to my bedchamber and fuck your brains out.”
His hot words made Raya’s nipples tighten and her pussy clench. Damn this man and the ease with which he made her want him.
Calder’s gaze dropped to her breasts. He licked his lips as he watched them rise and fall. Then he closed the distance between them and cupped them, brushing her nipples with his thumbs.
She shivered, and a low moan escaped her. His touch threatened to short-circuit her brain.
“We’ve got to get going.” His words didn’t match his actions. He bent to kiss and lick her neck while his thumbs continued to tease her nipples. She arched into his touch, wanting to drag him to the stable floor, not even giving a damn if Finlay watched.
Calder licked her ear. “Miss Varvara, will you do me the honor of accepting my offer of engagement?”
Fuck! Was he really asking that now? He said he wouldn’t hold her to it, not that he actually could. She was from New Earth where such things as betrothal contracts didn’t exist. “Yesssss.” The word came out as a hiss when he tugged on her nipples.
“Good.” He licked her neck then shuddered and released her. His brown eyes were nearly black with passion. And his tight pants did nothing to hide the hard ridge of his cock.
He caressed her neck, rubbing his thumb up and down the corded muscle. “If you weren’t attending a ball tonight, I’d mark you. It’s all I can do to resist.”
His words made her shiver. Damn, she wanted him to bite her, to use her hard and rough. She remembered him biting the back of her neck as he fucked her like he would a mare. Wait a minute. What did he mean going to a ball? “You expect me to attend this party?”
“I can hardly announce that we’re engaged with my fiancée not in attendance.”
Raya’s stomach knotted. She’d studied basic Orianian social customs, but she’d not expected to attend a ball. “That’s not possible.”
Calder’s eyes narrowed, and his jaw tightened, a sure sign he was pissed. “Do you really think you can show up unannounced, insinuate yourself back into my life after two months of silence, and then dictate the terms of your stay with me?”
Raya’s heart pounded. His words came out angry, but need and passion sizzled in the look he gave her. He might not be done punishing her for being a bitch, but everything he had in store would elicit as much pleasure as it did pain.
“You’re still angry that I didn’t call. I get it, but I’m sure you can think of more creative ways to torment me for my transgressions.”
He took a slow breath and backed away. “Believe me, I am far from done with you. I have a list a mile long of ways to torment you physically, but I’m afraid you’ll like them all. Attending a party, on the other hand, that’s true punishment.”
Raya’s stomach knotted. She was going to make a fool of herself at the party in more ways than one. “Calder, I… I’ll have to dance.”
His expression softened. “Only with me. Let me lead and you’ll do fine. You waltzed beautifully when you were here before.”
Raya shook her head. “We were alone then, and I’m not very good at letting someone else lead.”
He snorted. “I’m very aware of your need for control. I’ve broken you of the habit before, and I’ll do it again. Hopefully the same intense methods won’t be necessary on the dance floor. Otherwise, we’ll have to get married tonight.”
He was trying to make her laugh, but she couldn’t, not with her world imploding. She was in love with a man who lived on a low-tech planet, a man she couldn’t control, and he expected her to prance around in a fancy dress, making an impression on his high society guests. She hadn’t become a bank officer to play fancy lady. “I don’t understand enough of your customs to attend a ball. I didn’t study --”
His eyes narrowed. “You understand them. You just don’t like them. There’s no way a woman as serious about her work as you would fail to find out everything she needed to know to succeed here.”
“Calder, I’m --”
His expression softened. “Scared?”
No other man could see through her armor so easily. “No! I just --”
“Don’t want to come to this party, but you will. You owe me this.”
Raya nodded, unable to trust her voice to be steady.
Chapter 2
When they were halfway across the lawn, a tall woman with broad shoulders and a self-important air approached them. Two young ladies who looked scarcely more than fifteen trailed behind her. Both had the beauty of fairytale princesses, bright blue eyes and sleek blonde hair twisted into elaborate chignons, with perfectly curled tendrils caressing their cheeks. Their dresses were frilly and gauzy and looked perfectly pressed and cleaned. Raya noted the wide-eyed looks they were giving her.
“Lord Brinkley, wherever have you been?” the woman asked in a scolding tone. Raya wanted to snub her, but Calder patted Raya’s arm as if trying to calm her.
“Good afternoon, Lady Hendrix. I’ve been out for a ride with Miss Varvara. She is here on business from New Earth.”
Lady Hendrix gave Raya a critical onceover. “I see.”
Calder turned to Raya. “Miss Varvara, this is Lady Hendrix and the Misses Hendrix.”
Only the deepest respect for his wishes kept her from telling the woman off New Earth style. Without thinking, she extended her arm to shake their hands. “I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.”
All three women looked at her as if she were little more important than a bug. They ignored her outstretched hand and curtsied instead.
Raya gritted her teeth and returned their curtsies. Then she squeezed Calder’s arm, hoping to communicate that he better get her out of there before she said something regrettable.
Calder gave a brisk bow. “You’ll have to forgive me for neglecting you a few moments longer, ladies. Miss Varvara’s shuttle arrived ahead of schedule, and she has yet to be shown her room.”
Calder propelled Raya toward the house. He glanced over his shoulder as they approached the entrance. “They’re whispering like mad. You certainly made the impression I expected.”
Raya snarled. “Tell me your other guests will be more civilized than they are.”
Calder laughed. “I imagined they’ll be asking me the same thing about you.”
Calder’s butler, Dodson, opened the door for them. “Welcome back to Brinkley Manor, Miss Varvara. Your luggage arrived a few moments ago. I had it sent to the room you occupied on your last visit. I hope that is satisfactory.”
She liked Dodson. He’d been one of the few members of Calder’s staff who’d been nice to her when she first visited Oriana. His seeming omniscience led her to believe he’d foreseen what would happen between her and Calder. “Thank you, Dodson, that will be lovely.”
“Shall I show Miss Varvara to her room, sir?”
“No, thank you, Dodson. I will reserve that pleasure for myself.”
Dodson’s expression remained unchanged, but Raya detected a hint of a smile in his eyes. “There are several guests waiting in the drawing room, sir. Should I tell them you will be further delayed?”
Calder shook his head. “No, Miss Varvara needs to freshen up, and I have neglected my guests long enough. I won’t be long.”
“Yes, sir.” Dodson bowed to each of them and retreated.
Calder and Raya ascended to her suite. She opened the door and glanced back at him. His hair was ruffled from the wind outside. His broad shoulders stretched the fabric of his shirt to its limit. His riding pants hugged his hips and left nothing to the imagination. Anyone could tell he was hung like the horse he could become. His tall boots completed the costume perfectly.
That’s just what his clothes would be on New Earth, a costume, one worn with the intention of fulfilling a woman’s fantasy about being fucked by an alpha male who wanted to possess her. Raya shivered at the thought. She wanted him, needed him
, and that needing pissed her off.
“I shouldn’t be here.”
Calder raised a brow as he leaned against the doorframe.
“I could never fit in here. Did you see Lady Hendrix’s daughters? They’re dainty and well-mannered and --”
“As insipid as they are beautiful.”
“Hmpf! Most men wouldn’t mind.”
She gasped as Calder jerked her toward him. “I’m not most men. I think you well know that neither stupidity nor docility are something I would look for in a mate.”
Raya knew he was right. He would never be happy with a Miss Hendrix. He needed a woman who could challenge him. She was that woman, but the realization terrified her. “And Miss Partington? Is she also insipid?”
The corner of his mouth twitched as if he were fighting a smile. “She’s been known to have an original thought every now and again.”
Jealousy tightened Raya’s chest. Her stomach grew uneasy. “Then perhaps you should marry her.”
Calder shook his head. “She doesn’t want me. And my heart is given elsewhere, though perhaps foolishly.”
Raya felt the sting of tears behind her eyes. Why the hell was she so weak where Calder was concerned? She should never have come. She should have found someone else to close the sale with him.
Calder caressed the inside of her wrist with his thumb. She looked up. His eyes were filled with lust and an uncertainty she rarely saw there. “Raya, you could fit in better than you think if you’d take the time to learn more about Oriana’s people. They are not all like the Hendrixes.”
Raya didn’t trust herself to answer. She’d either say something sarcastic or start to cry so she did the only thing she could. She rose up on her tiptoes and gave Calder a gentle kiss. Then she sucked his bottom lip into her mouth and stroked it with her tongue. He shuddered and wrapped his arms around her, crushing her to him.
She sucked harder, and he moaned. She opened and let his questing tongue explore. Passion rose hard and fast. The kiss deepened. She slid a hand between them and pressed it against his cock, rubbing up and down, loving the feel of his hardness against the soft cotton of his pants. He thrust against her hand, and she gave him the harder friction he needed.
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