Dare to Believe: Gray Court, Book One

by Bell, Dana Marie

She smirked, feeling incredibly sexy all of a sudden. “Erogenous zone?”

  “Oh, very much so.” He opened his eyes, a sensuous smile curving his lips. He stared down at her barely covered breasts, the sensuous smile heating. “How do you like my fantasy?” She raised one cynical brow, loving it when he chuckled. “At least you’re wearing clothes. I’d have preferred you naked.”

  “I almost am!”

  “Yes. Operative word: almost.”

  “Pig.”

  “That’s Lord Pig, thank you very much.”

  “How are you doing this?” Ruby rested her hand on his shoulder, brushing at it to see if the gold sparkles came off in her hand. They didn’t.

  “It’s called glamour. What you see around you isn’t actually here. It’s…all in our heads. A shared fantasy, if you will.”

  “An illusion?”

  “Not quite. If someone were to take a picture of us right now, it would show the two of us still in the hayloft. To you, however, everything feels real. I could take you outside, place you on my stallion and ride off into the desert with you, and to you it would all seem incredibly real.”

  “And this is your fantasy? To be sheik to my houri?”

  He brushed his thumb across one of her taut nipples. “Can you blame me?”

  She stared up at him, that wicked sense of humor starting up again. “Man, you must have had some incredible jack-off material when you were a teenager.”

  He blinked, stilling above her. “What?” He sounded like he was choking on something. More than likely it was his own laughter.

  “Picture this,” she waved her hand around, encompassing the tent, “but with a naked Playboy bunny in my place.”

  “Um, it doesn’t quite work like that, and I’d rather picture you naked.”

  “Oh? How does it work?”

  “I can’t really craft a fantasy and project it into my own mind. For me, it would be a daydream, just like anyone else’s.” He smiled, the expression crossing his face slow and wicked. His thumb caressed her bottom lip. The butterfly touch left her wanting more. “I can craft a fantasy of my own making and project it into our senses. Sight, taste, touch, all of them would respond to the magic as if everything were really there. Or…”

  Ruby wasn’t certain she liked the speculative gleam in his eye. “What?”

  “Or…”

  The lights began to swirl together in a kaleidoscope of color, whirling sickeningly around them as the tent, and everything in it, disappeared. She closed her eyes against the sudden onslaught of her senses as everything, sight, smell, even taste became hypersensitive.

  When the maelstrom of sensation died down, Ruby opened her eyes. She blinked and gasped. She was staring at her deepest, darkest sexual fantasy, the one she wouldn’t admit even on her deathbed. “What in the world?”

  She stood at the street corner near the old deli where she’d grown up. Traffic was non-existent. It often was late on a Sunday night. The chalkboard sign just outside Dooley’s Bar and Grill proclaimed it Suds n’ Spuds Sunday. Ruby felt herself relax, the fantasy taking over her body and mind. She stood under the glare of the streetlamp, totally secure, totally safe, knowing that he would be riding up any minute now to pick her up and take her away.

  She wore tight leather pants, so tight you could almost see the cleft of her pussy. Her black leather halter top left her midriff bare and made the most of her cleavage. Her navel was pierced with an electric blue stone. On her feet were high-heeled leather boots. She was dressed to kick ass. She knew, if she took her clothes off, there’d be no underwear to get in the way of whatever he wanted to do to her.

  Her hair was pulled up in a cascading fall that drifted over one shoulder. At her throat was a diamond collar. Something about the collar felt strange, different from her usual fantasy, but she didn’t move from under the streetlamp to check it in the window of the deli. If she did she’d lose the safety and security the light provided. She knew, without having to look in a mirror, that her makeup was smoky, her lips blood red. Her nails were painted the same crimson color, and if she took off one of the ridiculous high heels her toenails would be the same.

  She looked over her shoulder and blinked.

  Behind her stood every single man she’d ever felt slighted by, including Bobby Pencil-Dick. Each and every one of them stared at her with a yearning expression.

  But she didn’t belong to them. She belonged only to him.

  A strange rumbling sound pierced the darkness of the night. She turned back and looked down the road. She could see the bright headlight break through the damp fog and felt butterflies begin to dance in her stomach. The sensation was so intense she pressed her hands to her middle. The motorcycle came purring up to a complete stop at the curb right in front of her.

  The man on the cycle was to die for. Rich leather covered a lean, muscular figure that had her mouth watering in reaction. He swung his leg off the bike, pulling the leather taut over the firm globes of his ass. He reached up and pulled off the helmet and set it on the seat. He seemed to flow into the light. He stopped before her, leaned down and gave her a swift, hard kiss that rocked her back on her heels.

  When Leo pulled back, his gaze went straight for the diamond collar at her throat. With a smile of satisfaction and possession, he took her hand and started to lead her to the cycle.

  “Don’t even think I’ll share you with any of the figments, kitten. You’re all mine.”

  She blinked and shook off some of the effects of the glamour he’d woven around her. That part of the fantasy hadn’t even crossed her mind. Picking and choosing between the panting suitors at her back, leaving them all in her high-heeled dust as she rode off into the night with her fantasy lover, no longer had any appeal.

  It seemed Leo wasn’t taking any chances, however. Apparently he’d decided to skip straight to the riding off portion of tonight’s entertainment.

  With the bold recklessness this particular fantasy tended to inspire in her, she asked, “How do you know I’m ready to leave them behind and have only you?” Of course, she was ready to ride off, but who said she couldn’t play a little too?

  Leo stopped and turned. He hooked one finger in the diamond collar and pulled her towards him in a move that screamed possession. “You’re mine, kitten. You wear my collar. Or didn’t you notice?”

  Her fingers flew to her collar, tracing over the design on the front. Unhooking the clasp, she removed the collar and turned it to look at it.

  It was different from the collar she usually pictured. Four strands of diamonds still made up the collar. The difference? In the center of the collar, in ruby chips circled in emeralds, were the letters LD. He’d collared her with his initials.

  Gently taking the collar from her hands, Leo moved to fasten it around her throat. One black brow rose in challenge when she started to move back a step. “I wouldn’t do that, kitten.” He moved closer to her, crowding her smaller frame with his, surrounding her with his strength and warmth, subtly threatening her with his blatant sexuality. “You know you’re meant to ride off with me. You belong to me.”

  When he reached out to clasp the collar around her throat once again she stood still, watching his hands. A flash of gold caught her attention. When he lowered his hands, she grasped the left one, turning it so that she could see the ring that gleamed there on his finger.

  The gold ring was on his ring finger, right where a wedding ring would rest. The black onyx was slightly oval, like Leo’s pupils. Engraved in the face of the onyx were the initials RH. Without words, he’d told her that he belonged to her just as much as she belonged to him. Wondering, she looked down at the ring, touched beyond belief. In a gesture that was pure instinct, she pulled his hand to her lips and kissed the ring.

  His eyes flared brightly, their green glow intensifying. If she hadn’t known before that he wasn’t human she’d certainly have known it now. He’d lost control over his personal glamour. She could see the points of his elfin ears through
the strands of his hair. The gold dusting of his skin glimmered under the lamplight. With a rough, inarticulate sound he bent down to capture her lips in a searing kiss that claimed her as thoroughly as his body had two nights ago.

  She felt one of his hands tangle in her hair and roughly clasp the back of her head. His other hand moved to her hip. She felt herself being herded backwards out of the lamplight, into the shadows, and she struggled briefly.

  “It’s safe, kitten. I’m here. Nothing can hurt you.”

  She felt herself relax at his roughly whispered words, up until she felt the bricks of the building against her bare back. Leo bit into the side of her neck, his mouth working, sucking at her neck, marking her as his for all the world to see. He undid the fastening of her halter top, pulling the strands down, exposing her breasts to the cool night air.

  She looked with dazed eyes over his shoulder at the figments of her imagination, those few men whose attention she’d so desperately craved at one time or another, and let them go with no regrets. For her, now, there was only Leo. The figments watching them didn’t matter, only Leo’s hands did. He began to greedily pull and tweak her nipples into diamond-hard points, palming the weight of her breasts, commanding her body’s responses.

  Gasping for breath, Ruby decided two could play at that game. She reached down with one hand and began to rub his erection through his pants. She pulled the zipper down in a frenzy when he dipped his head down, sucking on her nipple as if he were a starving man and she a five-course meal.

  “God, Leo, don’t stop.” She was panting with desperation, eager to feel his silken heat in her hands. She pulled his erection out of his pants and stroked it up and down as he suckled her.

  “If you don’t stop that this will be over before it’s started,” he growled. He shifted to her other breast and took the nipple between his teeth. He nibbled it, smiling against her when she gasped in pleasure. In response she moved her hand faster on his throbbing cock. He yanked at her zipper, pulling frantically at her pants. “God, kitten, you’re killing me.”

  “Good.” Ruby wiggled slightly as he pulled her pants down, sighing her pleasure when he stroked and petted her soaking wet pussy. He pinched her clit almost roughly, smothering her scream with a kiss that practically devoured her.

  With a quiet oath Leo tore his mouth from her. He took her hand off his cock, tugging and pushing till he had her positioned facing the wall, both hands spread, her ass cocked back and waiting for him. “Does it excite you to know the figments are watching us, kitten?” He stroked her ass, holding her in place within the cage of his body. He leaned against her, brushing his erection between the cleft of her buttocks in a hypnotic rhythm.

  “What? Who? God, Leo, could you fuck me already? I’m dying here!”

  Leo laughed under his breath at the rough tone of her voice. In one swift move he sheathed himself in the tight, wet heat of her body, stealing her gasp of pleasure with another rough kiss. She felt tighter this way, unable to spread her legs because of her pants down around her knees. Her pussy clung to his cock, holding him to her, reluctant to let him go.

  Leo ended the kiss and looked down as he thrust his shaft in and out of her body, watching the gleaming length sink in, each move causing the woman under him to moan and gasp in delight. When she tried to wiggle her ass in an attempt to get him deeper he slapped it, causing the globe to ripple enticingly.

  Her gasp at the sting of his palm turned to a moan as he gave her what she wanted, moving deeper into her as he pushed her hard up against the wall. One hand held on to her hip and pulled her to him, back and forth, forcing him in even further. The other hand dipped down between her thighs and began strumming her clit between his two fingers.

  “Oh, oh God, Leo, that feels so good.”

  “Yeah, it does. Can you come for me, baby?”

  She did with a muffled shriek even before he was done asking. She bit her lip to keep from screaming, something Leo didn’t like. He wanted to hear her scream, but it was too late. Leo felt the climax rip through her and, with a surprised cry, felt himself come deep inside her. He pounded into her as the last rippling echoes of her climax set off his own.

  Leo shuddered against her. Golden sparkles drifted around them and settled on her skin like fairy lights. Inside and out, he surrounded her, filled her senses until nothing else existed but him. He collapsed against her, pushing her almost roughly into the bricks, both of them gasping for air. She rested her cheek against the brick, her face turned towards his. A satisfied smile drifted across her face.

  His breath tickled her ear as he whispered against her, “Mine.”

  With a sigh, she closed her eyes. “Yours.” He felt his breath hitch before he buried his face in her neck with a contented sigh.

  Chapter Six

  When Ruby opened her eyes, they were back in the hayloft. She was on her stomach, her pants down around her knees. Leo lay over her like a dead man, panting lightly, his nose still buried in the side of her neck as if breathing in her scent. With a huffed little laugh, she whispered, “I gather not everything just now was an illusion?”

  “Nope,” he breathed against her neck.

  She shivered at the intimate sensation. “All I can say is, that was one hell of a mind fuck.”

  “Gives a whole new meaning to the word, doesn’t it?” The rich satisfaction in his voice made her grin. She could feel his lazy smile against the side of her neck. One of his hands reached up and tangled their fingers together as he slid off to the side. He cradled her in his arms and she settled against him, content to be held.

  The lay together like that for a while, getting their breath back and enjoying the feel of each other, until thoughts and feelings began to race through her head again. “Leo?”

  “Yeah?”

  “How old are you?”

  He sighed, pulling his softened cock out of her body and rolling onto his back. “Are you sure you want the answer to that?”

  She looked over at him, his glamour down, that gold-dusted skin even more exotic in the mundane hayloft they were in now. “Yeah, I want to know.”

  “I’m ninety-three years old.”

  She blinked. “Wow. You look good for your age.” When he sighed wearily she pressed a soft kiss to his cheek, trying to reassure him. “I know. Elves are immortal, right? Unless someone kills them?”

  “Try long-lived rather than immortal and you’d be closer.”

  All of the impossibilities of a relationship with Leo began to rear their ugly heads. “That means when I’m old and wrinkly—”

  “You won’t be.”

  The note of complete certainty in his voice confused her. “Uh, give me about forty years and I will be.”

  He shook his head. “That’s the other thing I need to explain to you.” He sat up and began pulling up his pants. “You’ve heard the stories of a man riding off with a Sidhe lass to Underhill, only to return three hundred years later and age all of those years in one day?”

  “Um, yeah. I think a lot of people have heard that story.”

  He zipped up his pants, and then looked at her. “It’s true.” He shrugged at her complete shock. “Okay, the part about Underhill isn’t true. The not aging part was.”

  “And the aging-three-hundred-years-in-a-day part?”

  He took a deep breath. “Also true.”

  “Leo…”

  He couldn’t help but respond to the sudden fear in her voice. He held up one hand. “Please, let me explain.” With infinite care, he pulled her jeans back over her hips, batting her hands away when she went to do up her zipper. It was his right, his privilege to care for his mate. “When a Sidhe finds his mate, he binds her to him. There are three steps to the bonding, the first being the Claiming.”

  “What’s the Claiming?”

  He looked up at her, then back down at the ground. “Do you remember the golden light that surrounded us just as we came?”

  He heard her suck in her breath. “That was the Clai
ming?”

  He looked into her eyes and nodded, holding his breath all the while. This was the part that scared the crap out of him. She could reject him utterly at this point, deny the mating and pull away from him. He wouldn’t be too surprised if she did. In the grand scheme of things, they’d only really known each other for three days. Although she wouldn’t really be able to go very far, now that the ritual was halfway done.

  He watched her absorb the implications. “Do you choose your mate, or is it a fate kind of thing?”

  He was surprised. He thought she’d have more questions about the Claiming. “The gods choose our mate for us before we’re even born. If we’re extremely lucky, we find her or him during the current life; if not, we hope, no, pray we may find them in the next.”

  “So, there’s no choice?”

  He didn’t like the slow, considering way she said that. “The moment I saw you, no other woman would do. Before the other night, do you know how long it had been since I’d had sex?”

  “No.”

  “A year.”

  She blinked, stunned. “A year?”

  “You went seven.” His grin was lopsided, he knew, but this was too important an issue to screw up with a lame joke.

  “But…your reputation…the blondes you escorted all over the place…”

  “I dated, occasionally, but I didn’t really…click…with anyone. Couldn’t figure out why, at first.”

  “You joined the company five years ago.”

  He nodded, watching the wheels turn in his woman’s head.

  “But we didn’t meet until three days ago.”

  His expression turned tender. “Vanilla and peaches.”

  “Huh?”

  “Your scent. Vanilla and peaches. I could smell it wherever I went in the company. Took me a while to track it down to accounting, and when I finally did I had the CEO slot, and you kept disappearing.” She bit her lip, looking guilty. “Yeah, I figured it was deliberate.” He sighed. “I could see you occasionally from the back, and, while I must say it is a mighty fine view, I prefer the one from the front.” He brushed a hand down her cheek, delighted when she blushed. “I love watching your eyes.”