by Alix Labelle
“You’re like the bad penny, aren’t you?” Geoff lifted her into his arms and carried her over to the bed, where he dropped her onto her belly. “Where have they put the bug this time? In your knickers?”
“You know they didn’t bug me, you bastard.” She closed her eyes. “Just do it and get it over with. I have a six a.m. execution call.”
Geoff took out his blade, noting how she flinched when she heard the metallic click and cut the cords binding her wrists together. “Stand up.” When she scrambled off the bed, he held the blade under her nose. “You should have gotten on the plane. Take off your clothes.”
“No.” She lifted her chin. “I’m not cooperating with my rapist.”
Geoff pinched the bridge of his nose. “How do you think Mr. Piscas learned of your duplicity, Ms. Madison?”
“You told him,” she countered.
“Any other theories?” He walked across the room to stand under the security camera and point up at it.
Her mulish expression didn’t change, but the line of her mouth softened. “He must have people here in the palace.”
“All over the sodding palace, I daresay.” Geoff shrugged out of his robe, draping it on the back of a chair. “I find the additional security quite comforting. Now take off your clothes and get on the bed, or I will summon my valet to strip you. He’s not especially gentle, either.”
Meri sat on the edge of the bed to remove her shoes. “You don’t want to do it yourself, Your Majesty?”
“Do I look like a valet?” He sniffed and crossed the room, pouring a measure of brandy into a snifter and bringing it to her. With his back to the camera he grimaced down at her. “Have a drink. It will help you relax.”
She smiled up at him, puzzled relief in her eyes. “Go to hell.”
Geoff pounced on her, pinning her to the bed and kissing her until they were both panting before he pretended to nuzzle her neck. “They’re tapped into palace security,” he breathed against her skin. “We have to make this look real.”
He hated ripping at her clothes, but he kept her body covered from the view of the camera with his back as he did.
“No, don’t.” Meri’s struggles were as phony as his violations, but as he unclipped her bra and stripped off her panties, her nipples hardened. “You can’t do this to me.”
“I know.” He found himself staring at her perfect breasts, and touched her cheek before he used the canopy tie backs to restrain her wrists to the head board rails. She jerked against them, making her breasts jiggle.
Geoff glanced down at his raging erection and bent to kiss her. “Sorry,” he murmured as he worked his way across her cheek. “You’re so lovely, I can’t help it.”
“It’s all right,” she whispered back. “Can you get me out of here before they come for me in the morning?” When he gave her a tiny nod, he felt her smile against his cheek. “Then do it for real.”
Chapter Five
Meri loved seeing the desire war with the concern in his eyes. She felt the way his hands shook as he touched her, stroking her like she was nothing more than his personal plaything. She wanted to explain that this was for her, to give her something to hold onto when the morning came.
He could try to get her out, but if he couldn’t, she was going to die.
Jarek seemed to read her mind, for he cradled her face in his hands. “No, Meredith.”
“Yes, my sweet Prince.” She turned her face to kiss his palm. “I’ll do whatever you want. Only let me. Please. I want to have this.”
He stripped off his trousers, covering her with his long, heavy body as he kissed her for what seemed like hours. Only when she was trembling and mewling under him did he spread her thighs, and fist his shaft.
“Don’t close your eyes,” he whispered as he pressed in, working his thick cock into her softness gently but firmly. “Oh, Meri. What are you doing to me?”
“This.” She tucked her legs around his, lifting her pelvis to take him deeper. “Come on, Prince Charming. I’m helpless. I can’t resist you anymore. You know what you want to do to me, what you’ve wanted since we were in the limo. Remember, how you looked at me? Like I was the feast and you were the starving man.”
Jarek’s jaw tightened as he gave her a harder, deeper stroke. “I am starving. Starving for you, for this? You want all of me inside you, you’ve got me.” He bent to nip and suck at her nipples as he plowed into her.
Meri gripped the railings with her fingers as he pumped in and out of her, his cock hammering into her wetness now. She could hear the sounds coming from her throat in an endless stream. As if whimpering and moaning were the only language she had left. She cried out as he yanked her legs up, lifting her lower torso from the bed and holding her so he could fuck her clenching pussy as deeply as possible.
“I have you now, you lovely little liar,” he crooned, his hips churning between her thighs. “You know what I want, too. So give it up, Meri. Come on my cock, I want to feel it, yes. Oh, that’s so nice, so good. I’m going to come in you as soon as you do, and you want to feel that, don’t you?”
Meri strained under him, her mouth bowing like her back. Dark delight flooded her sex and her belly, and poured into her heart and head until she thought it would become the world.
“That’s it, that’s my girl.” His voice dropped to a growl. “Now take it from me.”
He pushed into her until she couldn’t tell where she ended and he began, and uttered a keening sound. Meri closed her eyes as she felt his heavy cock swell and pulse, the jets of his come pumping into her until he’d flooded her with his cream.
Jarek nearly collapsed on top of her. “Fuck me.”
“I just did,” she whispered, and almost laughed out loud when he began covering her face with damp, panting kisses.
He reached up to release her wrists, and pulled her into his arms, rolling with her so that she lay atop his chest. He held her like that, stroking her hair and staring up at the embroidered canopy until someone knocked at the door.
Jarek drew the silk coverlet over them both as his valet hurried in. “What is it now, Chalen?”
The Irishman closed the door and bolted it. “We’ve a serious problem.” He went to the window and looked out before he picked up their clothes and dropped them on the bed. “Get dressed, both of you. We’re getting out of here.”
“What? Why?”
“Well, sir, it’s bit of a pickle.” Chalen’s brown eyes squinted down at them. “The real Prince Jarek just arrived at the palace.”
“The real prince?” When the valet nodded, Meri sat up and stared at the man beside her. “Who the hell are you?”
“Geoffrey Wells, MI-6.” He sighed. “Prince Jarek’s stand-in.”
A whack sounded. Chalen uttered a sharp cry and toppled forward to crumple on the floor.
Behind him Meri’s maid Holanna aimed the gun she’d used to pistol-whip him at Geoffrey’s head. “Not anymore, spy. And you, traitor.” She jerked her chin at Meri. “Get out of the bed and come to me. Killing you is my first business.”
“You’re the cartel’s assassin?” Meri asked, pulling on Jarek’s robe as she got off the bed and backed toward the bath. As she hoped, Holanna kept her gaze on her, giving Geoff a chance to reach for his blade. “It’s great that they’re into equal opportunity. I mean, for cold-blooded killers.”
“You think this is a game, Ms. Madison? It is not. On your knees.” As Meri dropped down, Holanna smiled. “Stupid American whore. Say good-bye to your spy lover.”
“Bye, spy lover,” Meri repeated dutifully, and then ducked as Geoffrey threw his blade, piercing Holanna’s hand.
The gun went flying. Meri lunged across the floor to grab it as the maid clutched her wrist and screeched with fury.
“Don’t even think about it,” Meri warned as the other woman staggered toward her. “This stupid American whore went hunting with her father every fall and spring.”
#
Geoff bound and gagged Holanna before he pulled on h
is clothes. “We’ve got to get out of here, Meri.”
“I have a car,” she told him. “It’s probably still parked in the royal garage. If not I know where the keys to the prince’s Lambo are.”
Both of them froze as dozens of palace guards poured into the room, surrounding them and holding them at gunpoint. Geoff felt an eerie sense of looking at himself as Prince Jarek strode in. The royal looked furious until he saw Geoff’s face and stopped in his tracks.
“Well, I’ll be buggered.” Geoff’s twin circled around him slowly. “It’s like finding out I have a secret twin.” Jarek glanced over at Meri. “And this is the American the cartel wishes dead?”
She offered him a pained smile. “That’s me, Your Majesty.”
Jarek nodded slowly. “So they told me in London when I came in from my exile.” He ordered the guards to take Holanna from the room, and the rest to leave the room. When they were alone, his gaze shifted to Geoff. “My apologies, Mr. Wells. Your director told me how dangerous game this was for you.”
Geoff finally figured out why King Baran would first exile his son, and then fake his death. “You and your father were never involved with the cartel at all, are you?”
“They put a woman in my bed when I was sixteen,” Jarek admitted. “And, like most teenage boys, I could not resist. She became pregnant from our liaison and broke with the cartel. She begged me to run away with her, but before we could, they killed her and my child.”
Meri pressed her hand to her mouth. “Oh, Your Majesty. That’s awful.”
“It was.” He sighed. “Realizing how ruthless these terrorists were, my father smuggled me out of the country. He put me in hiding, and let everyone believe we were estranged while I studied and learned what I need to be king someday. When I met my wife, we decided to fake my death. It was all to protect me and my family.”
“Daddy.” A little tow-headed boy rushed into the room. He looked up at Geoff and his eyes rounded. “Daddy?”
“Bari, this is my friend, Mr. Wells,” Jarek said, picking up his small son. A petite blonde appeared at his side and gaped at Geoff. “My wife, Princess Serena. Rena, would you take Bari for a walk?”
“Of course, my darling.” The Swedish woman smiled at Geoff and Meri before she took the boy and left.
Jarek turned to regard Meri. “Ms. Madison, I understand that you risked your life to investigate the cartel’s activities in Aslandia. I don’t know how we will ever repay you.”
Meri blushed. “I’m just glad you and your family are okay. I will turn over all the information I have to the state police. They’ll be able to round up these people and give them all rock hammers.”
Jarek shook his head. “I am closing the mine prisons, and all criminals will now be extradited back to the other countries where they have committed their crimes. They are no longer welcome in Aslandia.” He glanced at Geoff. “I imagine you two would like a moment alone before my men take you to the airport.”
“Yes, thank you, Your Majesty.” Geoff bowed, and once the royal had left went over to take Meri’s hands in his. “Well, love, it’s been fabulous to know you, but I have to get back to London and somehow write up a report about all this. You’ll want to return home to America, I imagine.”
“You know, World Times has a UK branch,” she told him, slipping her arms around his waist. “Are MI-6 field operatives allowed to date photo journalists? Or do you have a wife and kid tucked away somewhere, too?”
“Yes, if they’re properly vetted, and no, I’m single.” He tucked a pale lock of hair behind her ear. “I have about a thousand pounds in the bank, I live in a dreadfully neglected apartment on the Thames, and my people are Cornish cattlemen. You’d really come to London after knowing me only a day?”
“I’d come to London after knowing you for an hour.” She hugged him and sighed as he wrapped his arms around her. “You’re my prince.”
THE END
Rescued by the Cowboy
Love in Ghost Lake Ranch
Book 1
(Can be read as a standalone book)
By: Amber Duval
Rescued by the Cowboy
Chapter One
The breakfast smells of maple and coffee filled the big dining room at Ghost Lake Ranch, adding to the cozy warmth provided by the crackling flames in the river stone fireplace. The six big men sitting at the battered old farm table didn’t say much as they plowed through huge piles of plate-size blueberry pancakes, thick sausage patties and jam-slathered toast. Running a cattle ranch in the Montana mountains always required plenty of fuel, determination, and stamina, but now that winter had arrived the Boone brothers would be working twice as hard.
“That monster cold front out west is headed our way,” Ethan Boone said as he filled a thermos with coffee from a white-speckled enamel pot. “Forecast predicts sub-zero temps, and at least three feet of snow before midnight.”
“Great.” Caleb, his youngest brother, scowled down at his half-eaten stack of pancakes. “There goes the winter rodeo.”
“You can impress the ladies with your calf-roping after the thaw, boy,” Buck Lloyd, the old trail cook who ruled the ranch’s kitchen, set down a fresh platter of sausage. “Mr. Ethan, I’ve got to head out to my place to look after the wife and grandkids, but there’s enough grub in the freezer to keep you boys fed for a month. I’ll put up a pot of chili in the fridge before I go, too.”
“Appreciate it, Buck.” Ethan down sat at the long, battered oak table with his brothers. All of the Boones were big men, with broad, muscular frames toughened by years of range riding and stock work. From their father, whose mother had been Cheyenne, they’d inherited jet-black hair and hooded eyes. Thanks to their mother, a talented equestrian who had won dozens of trophies, the brothers had been gifted with a natural affinity for horses.
Although it had been fifteen years since losing their parents in a car crash, Ethan never forgot what they had taught him. He and his brothers were the fifth generation of Boones at Ghost Lake, and despite the hard work and isolation, they were thriving. Ethan only yearned for a partner with whom he could share it – but these days few women had the desire or the strength to take on ranch life.
The rising wind outside made a mournful sound, reminding Ethan of the loneliness that came along with the long, cold winter months. After the storm he could take a run into town, where he knew several ladies who would be happy to entertain him for a night – but that was getting old, too. How the hell do I find a woman who can take on Ghost Lake as well as me?
Ethan pushed aside his loneliness and looked down the table. “All right, boys, you know the drill. Liam, you and Rob prep the stables, barns and cow sheds for the storm. Jonah, take the hands and bring in that herd from the east pasture. Chris, ride out with Tom and make sure we don’t have strays in the foothills. Cal, you’ve got the supply run. Pick up the feed order and whatever else we need in town.”
His brothers acknowledged his orders with a few grunts and nods, but after growing up on the ranch, all the Boones could practically work it in their sleep. Ethan had also earned their respect, not only as their eldest brother but as their boss. Since losing their folks, Ethan had devoted himself to running the ranch, expanding their herds, and improving the quality of their livestock. Ghost Lake now produced some of the finest beef and dairy cattle in the state.
Once the brothers finished eating, they headed out to work. Only Liam, the second-oldest, stayed behind to have a private word with Ethan about Richard Demesse, their new and troublesome neighbor.
“I told Dick Dumbass to stop using the pasture access road as a shortcut to his place in winter, but I saw fresh ruts out there yesterday,” Liam said. “I warned him, he gets his Lexus stuck out there in the snow, he’s done, but he won’t listen.”
Ethan sighed. After a stint as an ordnance expert in the Army, Liam had little patience with fools, but in this case his brother wasn’t overreacting. Demesse had inherited the property adjoining Ghost Lake last yea
r when his grandfather had passed, but had flatly refused to sell it to the Boones. Instead, the attorney had sold off his grandfather’s stock, renovated the old house and moved in. Since then he had repeatedly trespassed on Boone land, spooked the herds by shooting in the woods by their pastures, and otherwise behaved like a snotty, ignorant city slicker.
“I’ll ride out and padlock the gate.” Ethan didn’t care to be antagonistic toward a neighbor, but if Demesse’s pricey car got mired down in a drift, they probably wouldn’t find his frozen ass until next spring.
“There’s something else.” Liam’s strong jaw tightened. “One of the hands said he saw Demesse in hardware store last week. Said he had a big order of rope and chain and hoists and the like.”
Ethan shrugged. “He’s allowed to shop in town.”
“Yeah, but he doesn’t have any stock. He sold off the last of his granddad’s steers over the summer. Far as I know, he doesn’t even own a dog.” Liam’s jaw tightened. “So what the hell is he tying up?”
* * *
Jessa Cooper knew she wasn’t the first woman to be shoved in the trunk of the car. The smell of bleach and new carpeting stung her nose, and the man who had abducted her had done so with the ease of much experience. Now she lay half-naked, her wrists bound with duct tape, and the terror of what awaited her crawled over her skin like bugs made of ice.
I have to do something.
When he came to take her, she hadn’t suspected anything. She’d stepped outside to lock up the back door to her animal clinic, and he’d rushed over to her from his expensive luxury car. He’d been so convincing when he’d told her about the wounded dog he’d found in the street, and how afraid he was to move him before she had a look at the poor animal. He’d even produced tears of gratitude when she’d hurried over to his car with him.
“Thank you so much, Doctor Cooper,” he’d said as he’d unlocked the trunk, and even then she hadn’t realized there was no dog. She’d simply frowned at the empty trunk, completely confused, until the jolt hit her. Everything went dark.