To Claim His Heir by Christmas

by Victoria Parker

  ‘Thane?’ she squeaked. ‘Can you let me breathe? You’re squashing me, here. Are you trying to suffocate me now? First you abduct me and now you’re squeezing me to death. Frankly, I’m not too sure if you even like me, so why you’d want to marry me is beyond my comprehension.’

  ‘Ah, sorry, angel.’

  He loosened his hold a touch and nuzzled a kiss into her hair while he could—while she was wrapped up and couldn’t protest or reject him.

  ‘Of course I like you,’ he said. ‘I’ll have you know I don’t go around kissing just anyone.’ Speaking of kissing… ‘Did I hurt you earlier? Was I too rough?’

  The luxurious spill of her hair tumbled over one shoulder, a shimmering flow of dark bronze that Thane swept back from her face tenderly.

  Those absurdly long lashes fluttered, yet she prised her eyes wide, fighting it. Fighting him. It just made him want her all the more.

  ‘Yes, you hurt me. Inside you hurt me. And I’ll never forgive you for that stunt you just pulled.’

  ‘Admittedly I didn’t think it would backfire in such a spectacular fashion,’ he drawled, trying his utmost to ease the tension he could feel coiling in her body. Her luscious, curvy weight was glorious, he decided. ‘Would you consider that I thought your tongue down my throat meant yes?’

  ‘No, I most certainly would not.’

  The haughty lash of her riposte made him retaliate with his equally devilish mouth. ‘What about the way you rode my lap?’

  Her lips parted on a stunned smack. ‘Lord, you really are wicked.’ Punching at the blanket for some wriggle room, she shoved at his chest. ‘Go away. Go and take your guilt elsewhere. I’m not pacifying it for you. You deserve it.’

  ‘Who says I feel guilty?’

  He did. Terribly. He might have wanted to lure and beguile her, but upset her this much? No. That was the last thing he’d wanted. It made him wonder if he was missing something vital. Surely being rescued from a repulsive royal marriage was something to celebrate, not to weep over.

  ‘I can see it all over your face. And you should feel guilty too. I told you I was not getting on this plane, but did you listen? Of course you didn’t. Then I begged you to go back for my bag, my phone…’ Sighing heavily, she thumped her head back down on his shoulder. ‘I hate you.’

  ‘So you said. But, like I said, your cell phone would not have worked in Galancia. At least nowhere near the castle.’

  Like Fort Knox with scrambling systems, its obscene opulence was locked up tight.

  And right then, for the first time, he thought of his birthright and doubt slithered its sinuous way up his spine. Not only did he loathe the place but also his uncle… He didn’t want his uncle anywhere near Luciana. Because as soon as his uncle set eyes on her he’d know Thane planned to overthrow him and doubtless stir up trouble.

  To hell with that. He needed Luciana to say I do first. And to get her there he needed time. Time only for them. When he wasn’t distracted by having to peer over his shoulder.

  Glaring up at him with a fierceness that verged on the adorable, she mocked, ‘My phone wouldn’t work in the castle? Truth or lie?’

  A laugh burst past his lips—one he hadn’t heard in an age. For a woman who had been in Zurich to let loose and have fun, she remembered quite a bit. ‘Truth. Swear it. Why do you want your phone so badly?’

  She flung her now unencumbered arm out in front of them, exasperated, missing his face by an inch.

  ‘Why do you think? My family will be beside themselves with worry by morning and it’s heartless of you not to care.’

  He was heartless. Completely heartless. Yet every time he thought of that single tear he didn’t want to be. Not for her. And that was akin to tying a garrotte around his own neck. By opening up he would give her the power to destroy him again, and he couldn’t go through that a second time. It would kill him. No, he had to keep his head straight and focus on his end goal. The crown.

  But, unlike him, Luciana had a huge heart, and he didn’t want her fretting about her family so he’d have to fix that too. He didn’t want her mind on anything else but him.

  ‘Are we talking about the same family who is pushing you into an arranged marriage that you don’t want?’ he asked.

  ‘First off, what you have offered isn’t much different.’

  She had a point there. What could he give her in a marriage that Augustus couldn’t? Just as he despised Henri for dragging her towards matrimony, he didn’t intend to do that either.

  Which begged the question—how was he going to entice her there?

  ‘Maybe it isn’t. But that man will never be in your bed as long as I live and breathe.’

  ‘Neanderthal, much?’

  He gave a breezy shrug. She could call him what she liked; it changed nothing.

  ‘And, secondly, I’m not merely talking about my father. I’m talking about my sister, Claudia. She’ll be frantic by morning.’ A devious light flashed in her eyes. ‘Speaking of Claudia… Oh, you don’t want to meet her husband in a dark alley. In fact when he hears about this he’ll make you wish you’d never been born.’

  Thane lounged back with a lazy smile on his face. ‘This would be Lucas Garcia? Once head of national security for Arunthia?’

  ‘That’s exactly who it is.’

  ‘And you think I fear him?’

  She scrunched up her nose. ‘Yes, well, come to think of it that is a flawed strategy. The devil himself wouldn’t scare you. But one day you’re going to meet your nemesis, and I’d love to be there when you do.’

  He had a feeling he already had. In this woman.

  ‘If I have my way you will be there.’

  ‘On this occasion I’m afraid you’ll have to accept defeat. I’m not staying with you. I’ll move heaven and earth to get home, and the sooner you realise that the better. You can’t always have what you want, Thane.’

  ‘Ah, Luciana. When there is a war to be fought I will always be the victor. Especially when I want the prize so very, very badly. And I want you, Luciana—very, very badly. So I will do whatever it takes to make you mine.’

  Those smooth, satiny cheeks flooded with a warm sensual blush of pleasure even as she pursed her mouth in an expression that screamed cynicism.

  ‘Whatever it takes, huh? I don’t think personality transplants are available on this continent, Thane. And, believe me, it will take more than a dishonourable kidnapping rat to woo me down the aisle.’

  At the blatant challenge he felt his blood heat and he arched one brow.

  ‘Okay. So I haven’t been the most noble of men today.’

  ‘Ha!’

  ‘I honestly didn’t think it would upset you this much. I am struggling to understand why you want to go home so desperately when there is nothing for you there but a ball and chain and a vapid viscount.’

  She shifted uneasily and pulled her lip into her moist mouth with a scrape of her teeth. Before he could discern if he was seeing guilt or not, she ground that curvy, firm bottom over his rapidly hardening groin and he had to grind his jaw to stop a feral moan escaping.

  Unclamping his jaw took some effort. ‘All that being said, perhaps a more subtle approach would have been better—but I cannot turn back time.’

  ‘You could take me home,’ she suggested hopefully.

  Not if the survival of mankind depended on it.

  ‘What about if I make a deal with you instead?’

  That grabbed her attention, and she focused those incredible eyes back on him. Where he wanted them to stay.

  ‘What kind of a deal?’

  ‘You give me two days to…what did you call it? Court you? Date you? And if after those two days you still wish to return home I will take you myself. Escort you to your father’s door and never darken it again.’

  Not that it would come to that.

  The knowledge that he was using military tactics to keep his princess in line did not impress his sense of fair play, but then again fair play had flown
out of the window when he’d clapped eyes on her in the company of Augustus. She was his gorgeous little lioness. The answer to his royal prayers.

  In his arms, he could feel the tension ooze from her body, and a corresponding flood of gratification unravelled the anxious knots in his mind.

  ‘You mean it?’

  Her brandy eyes melted to warm honey and flowed through his chest like blissful nectar, soothing his every raw nerve. He brushed the back of his index finger down her nose. Over her lips. Luscious lips that he glossed with the pad of his thumb, where they were still bruised from his kisses.

  A new kind of tension sizzled in the air and a glow of unsatisfied desire filled the space between them––an invisible presence that moved over his skin, sliding over them both like a caress. A teasing, taunting, tempting caress.

  And right there was the difference between him and Augustus. Bedevilled, off-the-charts sizzling chemistry. Black magic.

  This. This was what he would play on.

  Regardless of how he’d got her on this jet, he still made her weak with desire—and right now that was all he had to work with.

  Rebelling against the inner voice warning him to stop, to keep his head this time and cajole her with a gentle hand, he brought his mouth to the edge of her ear and closed his teeth around her lobe.

  Her breathless panting whispered over his neck and made his pulse thrash against his cuff. It was a low, husky carnal want that made him murmur, ‘Absolutely I mean it. I swear it on my very life.’

  Two days were all he needed to lure her over to the dark side.

  ‘Let me show you the most beautiful place on earth.’

  He knew the perfect spot for the ultimate seduction, where his Queen would surrender right into his waiting arms.

  ‘What do you say, angel?’

  CHAPTER SIX

  LUCIANA WAS IN THE throes of a wonderful dream and she never wanted to wake up. Amazingly strong, muscular arms wrapped her in the warmth of their protection and the rhythmic sound of the ocean lapping over the shore lulled her mind into a tranquil peace she hadn’t felt in aeons.

  A muffled lyrical trill shattered the halcyon bliss and beckoned her to rouse.

  Bright was the splash of daylight behind her eyelids. Soft and sensually luxurious was the satin beneath her tummy and her cheek. Sweet was the scent of buttery pastry…or possibly French toast.

  The musical chime hushed to a harmonious end.

  Luciana writhed on the deeply cushioned mattress and stretched the kinks from her body, then prised her eyes open once, twice—and bolted up on all fours.

  ‘Where the—?’

  Rocking back, she sat on her ankles, her heart thrashing a symphonic staccato as her gaze bounced around the gargantuan almond-white room.

  Holy-moly…

  Paradise. She was in an enormous satin-drenched bed in paradise. Not only that, it felt inordinately pure. Minimalistic, all in varying shades of white, it serenaded a desperate search for solace.

  In front of her and behind were the only solid walls, and when she swung to her right Luciana gasped at the fifty-foot-wide unencumbered view of a beautiful azure sky and the glistening crystalline waters of the Med as it frolicked with champagne sands. It was as if the entire wall had been rolled back and hidden to one side.

  A wide wooden deck ran from the room to the shoreline and she smiled when a small lizard scurried across the sun-drenched teak.

  Flipping her gaze to the left, to the opposite open expanse, she was faced with a rugged slab of rock dyed a deep charcoal-grey by the waterfall that sluiced down from some great height she couldn’t see, to rush and froth and pool, then run beneath this very room…out through the other side and down toward the beach. Under the deck, she’d guess.

  Gripping the edge of the bed, she tipped over to look at the floor, her hair spilling around her face. Oh, wow. Glass. The entire floor was glass. And she watched a vivid kaleidoscope of teeny-tiny fish dip and swerve and play beneath her.

  So beautiful.

  Giddiness leapt inside her at the sheer awesome natural beauty of it all—stunning architecture and a visual feast for the senses had always fascinated her. Odd that Thane was probably the only man she’d ever told that too.

  Speaking of Thane… She lurched back upright to sit on the bed. Where the heck was he? And her heart-rate did not shoot through the roof when she thought of his name. Absolutely not. She hated the man. Yes, she did.

  That would be the Thane who’d appeared so desperate to carry her into the main house, since by the time they’d arrived her insides had been battered and bruised from pummelling emotions and she’d been shivering with exhaustion. The Thane who had lain her gently in his bed…and after that everything was a bit blurry. Oh, Lord. Was it too much to ask that she’d booted him out of the room and banished him to Hades? Of course it was.

  But, in her defence, her barricades had been low. And the devil was a maestro at taking advantage of that.

  Lingering anger had her fisting the sheets.

  She might have agreed to this bargain—ha! Agreed? As if she’d had any choice. But he was in for a nasty shock—because she was only here to prove she’d be the wife from hell. She’d evict him from her mind for ever while she focused on her end-game. Getting home to Natanael, come hell or high water.

  On the plus side, seeing the real dark Prince in action, embroiled in some villainous scheme, would be just the ticket to satisfy her conscience that she’d made the right choices for them all. To ameliorate the guilt that constantly ate at her insides because she was keeping her son’s existence a secret.

  Though, honestly, she was mad even to trust that he’d take her home in two days. But the alternative was hauling out the big guns—her father. Who would likely kick off a military invasion. And that was the last thing she wanted. Hence she’d surrendered to the dark Prince.

  Certifiable? Probably.

  The opening bars of muffled Mozart trilled through the room—again!—and Luciana vaulted off the bed, the bare pads of her feet hitting cool glass as she searched every table-top. Because that sounded suspiciously like her phone. Which made no sense considering he’d told her it wouldn’t work anywhere near the castle. But maybe he’d changed his mind about taking her there, maybe they were miles away from the horrid place––

  ‘Oh, good Lord. My bag!’ She’d never been so darn happy in her life! She could kiss that horrible brute right now.

  Snatching the black leather heap from the side table, she shoved her hand in, rummaging to the bottom.

  ‘Don’t ring off…don’t stop. Please don’t stop ringing.’

  Shaking like a windswept leaf, she barely managed to hit ‘accept’ and mash it to her ear.

  ‘H…Hello?’

  ‘Luciana?’ Claudia’s voice was a sound for sore ears. ‘Thank God—where are you?’

  ‘I’m…’

  Common sense smacked her upside the head. Where the blazes was Thane? She didn’t want him party to this conversation.

  ‘Hold on a minute,’ she whispered frantically as she ducked and dived all over the room, opening and closing doors, her heart slamming around her chest, feeling like an extra out of a badly acted eighties cop show.

  Aha! There he was. The fiend. In the distance, standing on the beach, talking to a short dark-haired man. Throwing a stick into the water, of all things.

  Unleashing a pent-up breath, she slumped where she stood. Looked pretty innocent to her. No dastardly guns drawn or fisticuffs. Yet.

  ‘Okay, I can talk. Is Nate all right?’ she whispered, stepping back out of sight, hoping the walls didn’t have ears. Or maybe she was on camera. Her gaze darted around the four upper corners of the room just in case.

  ‘Of course he’s all right. He’s out with Lucas and Isabelle. Now, for heaven’s sake, where are you?’

  Good question. She actually couldn’t believe she was about to say this. ‘I’m in…Galancia.’

  ‘Galancia?’

&n
bsp; Claudia’s holler had Luciana wrenching the phone from her almost burst eardrum.

  ‘Oh. my God. I thought Augustus had been smoking pot or something.’

  ‘The only thing Augustus gets high on is women.’

  ‘Eww. He didn’t? When you were there?’

  ‘Sure he did.’

  ‘You can’t marry that man, Luce.’

  Oh, great—Claudia sounded like Thane. Thane who wanted her ‘very, very badly’.

  Luciana rubbed the heel of her hand over her left breast. Naïve fool that she was, she wanted to believe those three little words. Words that whispered to a secret place inside her. So it was fortunate that his mind-blowing pheromones hadn’t obliterated her every brain cell. Obviously he wanted something from her—everyone always did. She just wasn’t sure what.

  ‘Did Augustus tell Father?’ she asked.

  ‘No, not yet. Lucas made him keep his mouth shut until we heard from you. Half of me wondered if you’d just ducked out on Augustus, so we were giving you today to contact us before raising the alarm. Especially with Dad the way he is. Luce, what were you thinking, going there with that man?’

  ‘I didn’t have much choice.’

  She stormed around the room, shaking the kinky mess from her ratty locks. Ugh, she felt gross. And that was when she spied her case on a pale ecru velvet chaise longue. Her case!

  Mid jiggy-dance, she froze as every ounce of blood drained to her toes. Had he searched it? Hauling it from the chaise, she plonked it on the end of the bed and fumbled with the lock. The still locked lock. Phew.

  Shoulders slumping, she tuned back in to Claudia’s voice.

  ‘What do you mean, you didn’t have much choice? Did he force you? Did he…kidnap you? Did he?’

  Claudia’s glorious indignation flew down the phone line, and it was so good having someone in her corner. She took a great gulp of air to rake him over the hot coals…

  And her gaze crashed into the wide stretch of canvas over the carved bedstead, making the words jam in her throat.

  ‘Oh.’