by Liz Craven
The scrap of lace covering her chest barely covered anything and his mouth went dry at the sight. He pulled her up onto her toes and buried his face in the cleft between her breasts. Her hands reached up to hold his head in place as he sucked a pebbled nipple through the lace. She gave a choked cry of delight.
Talon continued to tease her breasts with his mouth, while he struggled to find the closure to her skirt. Frustrated, he finally grabbed both sides of a seam and pulled. The ripping sounded deafening in comparison to their harsh breathing.
Lia gasped, “My skirt!”
“I’ll buy you another one,” Talon growled, yanking the tatters from her hips. He pulled back and stared at the beautiful body he’d revealed. His wife had the figure of a mythical enchantress. One that had cost millions of sailors their lives by causing them to dash their ships against rocks in the hope of another glimpse of her seductive curves. The bits of lace she called lingerie teased him with glimpses of delectable, pink flesh.
He lifted her out of her shoes and carried her to the bed, where he deposited her gently against the pillows. He stepped back and began to strip his clothing.
Lia rose to her knees, and began pressing kisses against the flesh revealed when he removed his shirt. She traced the chain with a finger. “I can’t believe you still wear this.”
“I haven’t taken it off since you gave it to me. I took a lot of ribbing during basic training for wearing a necklace.”
“I’m sorry it caused you such a headache,” she teased. “Maybe I can make it up to you.” Her pink tongue flickered over a dark, male nipple, and Talon groaned in pleasure as he fumbled with the seal on his pants.
“Do you like that?” the little vixen asked with a shy smile.
“More than words can say, sweetheart.”
She took his other nipple into her mouth, and suddenly, he couldn’t get his pants off fast enough. He stripped his pants and underwear in one motion. Briefly, he wondered when he’d lost his shoes, but didn’t dwell on it. He was quickly losing the ability for rational thought.
He crawled onto the bed, taking Lia down with him. Levering himself on one arm and leaving their legs entwined, he slowly peeled the bra from her body. He gently caressed her bared breasts, before curling his tongue around a peaked nipple.
Lia almost shot off the bed. Pleased with her reaction, Talon trailed a hand along her naked abdomen. Reaching her panties, he slid his fingers beneath the elastic and stroked the soft hair hidden there. When she parted her legs to allow him greater access, Talon took advantage and slid his fingers between her legs.
Satisfied with the amount of moisture, he stripped her panties from her and rolled on top of her. He caught her mouth in a searing kiss as he settled between her thighs. Lia’s arms wrapped around his neck, and she returned his ardor. She lifted her hips and rubbed her cleft against him.
Talon groaned. With a restraint he didn’t know he had, he asked, “Are you sure you are ready for this, sweetheart?”
“Yes,” Lia almost shouted. “Now, Talon.”
Unable to hold back in the face of her demands, he thrust himself to the hilt, heard her cry out and stilled in shock.
“Lia?” he asked, stunned.
“Don’t move,” she pleaded.
He forced himself to his elbows and met her tear-filled eyes. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I should have been more careful.”
Tears tracked down her cheeks and would have unmanned him if he hadn’t been seated deep within her heat. He lifted a hand and wiped away her tears, guilt swamped him, tinged with a possessive joy that no other man had enjoyed her body.
He took her mouth in another passionate kiss, relieved when she began to hesitantly respond to the stroke of his tongue. With infinite care, he stoked the fire within her, bringing her back to a fevered pitch. When her hips began to shift against him, he could have sung praises to all the gods in the pantheon.
Taking care to control his passion, he started to move within her. He began with a gentle rocking motion, he moved to shallow thrusts. Watching her face for signs of pain, he worked his body into hers. As his movements became more forceful, he slipped a hand between their joined bodies.
A fine sheen of sweat coated his flesh when Lia arched against him with a low cry. Blissfully, he followed her over the edge. Talon collapsed against her, before wrapping his arms around her and rolling to his back.
Lia snuggled against his chest, and he traced her spine with his fingers. They lay in silence for several minutes, their harsh breathing the only sound in the room.
Long minutes later, he raised his head and asked, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
She didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “I was embarrassed.”
“Why?”
She shrugged, hoping to appear nonchalant. “I didn’t want you to know I didn’t know what I was doing.”
A sexy smile flashed at her. “Lia, you may not have done this before, but you definitely knew what you were doing.”
“I did?” she asked, and he heard the hope in her voice.
“You did,” he reassured her. “I just wish you had told me. I would have cherished the gift you gave me. Taken a little more care with you.”
“You took very good care of me,” she purred, feeling wanton.
He pulled her close for a tender kiss and nestled her against himself. “Good night.”
She smiled against the bare expanse of his chest, raising her fingers to trace the pendant. “Good night.”
—
Lia woke as the light of dawn crept across the windowsill. She stretched and winced at the soreness in muscles she hadn’t realized she had.
Glancing next to her, she smiled at the sight of Talon’s bare shoulder in the early morning light filtering through the window. Remembering the pleasure she’d experienced at his hands, she had to repress a shudder of delight and the urge to reach out and stroke the hot body next to her. Lia decided not to tempt fate and rose from the bed.
She pulled a robe from Talon’s old closet and headed to the kitchen in search of food. The robe she’d grabbed nearly swallowed her whole. She tripped on the hem as she started down the stairs and barely caught the rail in time to stop herself from plunging face first to the lower floor.
Righting herself, she gathered the robe and lifted the hem, moving cautiously towards the kitchen. When she pushed open the swinging door, she discovered Thane and Vardin standing at the counter in deep discussion.
Despite her cautious steps, the two men heard her enter the room and broke off their conversation. They turned to her wearing such expressions of concern the hairs on the back of her neck rose.
“What’s happened?” she asked in alarm.
“Where’s Talon?” Thane asked.
“Asleep. What’s happened?” Thane and Vardin exchanged a speaking glance.
“We should wait for Talon,” Thane told her.
Lia’s temper ignited. She narrowed her eyes at Thane, drew herself up and demanded, “Are you refusing to answer my question, soldier?”
Thane’s expression remained implacable, but Lia sensed his surprise—and his sudden realization that she wasn’t only Talon’s wife, but a powerful woman in her own right, who significantly outranked him.
Vardin gave her a wide—if terrifying—smile of approval.
“My apologies, Damaia,” Thane responded. “We have been notified of a security breach at the palace.”
Lia frowned, not wanting to deal with the realities of life before caffeine, but she had insisted they tell her. “Someone tried to disrupt the preparations for the ceremony?”
“In a manner of speaking,” Thane said quietly. “A bomb detonated in your quarters at the palace.”
Lia shoved her hair out of her eyes with a frustrated hand. “Isn’t it fun being me?” she asked sarcastically, before stomping to the cabinets in search of coffee.
Thane watched her slam cabinets with a wary eye. “The Home Guard is investigating the explosion and the
League has offered its assistance with the investigation.”
The door swung open, and Talon strode into the kitchen wearing nothing but a pair of loose-fitting pants. He yawned and asked, “What investigation? What are we talking about?”
He opened a cabinet on the far side of the kitchen and pulled down a coffee-bean grinder and a canister.
“I’d like some, too,” she grumbled.
Her husband grunted what she assumed was his agreement, before repeating, “What investigation?”
“Our quarters in the palace blew up last night,” she told him.
Talon dropped the spoon and whirled to face the two men at the counter. To her annoyance, he addressed Thane, snapping, “Report.”
“A neutron bomb detonated almost two hours ago. Preliminary investigation indicates the bomb was placed in your sleeping quarters and set on a timer,” Thane replied, in the same tone he would have used to give a weather report.
“So the bomb might have been there for weeks,” Lia mused, homing in on the abandoned coffee beans.
“No one knew you would be planetside until yesterday. That means someone with access placed the bomb within the last eighteen hours,” Talon replied. “It narrows down the list of suspects.”
“Unless someone aboard the Aegir leaked news of our arrival. If that happened, whoever planted the bomb had weeks to do it,” Lia pointed out, as she began grinding the beans.
Lia knew she should have been upset, but she couldn’t seem to wrap her mind around the crisis, the need for coffee more immediately pressing. She wondered how she had survived all those years in the mines without the wonderful elixir.
“The Aegir was on a communications blackout. Minimum communications were sent, and those that were had to be sent from the bridge. No one but Talon contacted N’yota, and that was only yesterday,” Vardin explained.
“Since that time, the palace has been under heavy security,” Talon added, his eyes narrowed like a predator stalking prey.
“Unfortunately, the list is still in the thousands,” Thane warned.
“How in all the hells did thousands of people enter the palace in such a short time?” Talon demanded.
“Preparation for the coronation,” Lia guessed, setting the coffee to percolate.
“Caterers, cleaning services, decorators, protocol officers, priests, priestesses, movers, security personnel for planetary diplomats, the Home Guard, League soldiers—the list is incredible,” Thane affirmed.
Talon cussed loud and long. Even with her mining background, Lia was impressed with his creativity.
“We have to increase Lia’s security immediately.”
“Already done,” Vardin told him. “There are three units of Home Guard forces stationed around the property.”
Talon crashed his fist down on the counter top. Lia winced in sympathy, surprised he hadn’t broken bones with the force he used. “We’ll have to postpone the coronation.”
“Why?” Lia asked.
“Someone tried to kill you by blowing up the palace,” Talon shouted at her.
Lia let his anger roll off her, and secreted pleasure in his obvious worry for her. “So, we have the coronation before they have time to plant another bomb.”
Vardin nodded his agreement. “It would be safer to continue with the coronation before the enemy has time to regroup.”
“Assuming they haven’t concealed another bomb timed for the coronation,” Talon pointed out.
“Bomb sweepers are going through the palace as we speak,” Thane told him. “And neutron bombs are not easy to come by. The likelihood they have more than one is slim.”
“The likelihood they had one is slim,” Talon argued. He turned to glare at his wife. “Not that I’m not glad to hear you advocate for assuming your position as the Damaia, but I’d like to see you do it safe from these lunatics.”
Lia sighed. “Talon, there will always be these lunatics. Fanatics don’t give up easily. The best thing we can do is not let them stop us from moving forward. As annoying as it sounds, a large ceremony with pomp and circumstance will go far in cementing the idea of the new government. Hopefully, over time, people will benefit from the new ways and will no longer wish to return to the old ones.”
Talon and Thane both looked at her as though she’d grown two heads. Uncomfortable with their scrutiny, she distracted herself by setting out coffee mugs.
“You seem to have dramatically altered you position on your title,” Thane noted, not even trying to hide his suspicion.
“You didn’t exactly give me a choice,” Lia shot back, letting her irritation show. The infuriating man clearly thought she was acting and would try to escape at the first opportunity. He was a League soldier and a friend of Talon’s—both roles mandated he keep her on the planet. While she might be willing to stay, she still resented the idea of anyone forcing her.
Talon caught her around the waist with an arm, drawing her against his side. “Regardless, I’m glad you’ve decided to accept your title and responsibilities. If you are sure about going ahead with the ceremony, we’ll do it. Just bear with me. You may be the Damaia, but you are still my wife, and your safety is my responsibility.”
Responsibility. The word echoed in her mind. Somehow, Lia managed a weak smile, but her heart sank. She had finally admitted to herself she loved him—had loved him for as long as she could remember—and his words confirmed her worst fears. He viewed her as an obligation…a responsibility.
She swallowed her tears and busied herself with pouring the coffee, while the men discussed the security arrangements for transporting her to the palace. With effort, she kept from making a sarcastic comment about the onus of “transporting” such a burdensome item.
Chapter Seventeen
“Absolutely not!”
“You look beautiful,” Ilexa told her.
“I can’t breathe,” Lia snarled.
“If you couldn’t breathe, you wouldn’t be able to speak. And you look like something out of a fairytale.
Lia stared at her reflection in Ilexa’s full-length mirror. In under an hour, Ilexa had turned her from plain-old-Lia into a vision of majestic beauty. The sleeveless, raw silk dress had a stiff bodice that forced Lia’s spine ramrod straight. The floor-length skirt billowed out from her waist in straight lines to the floor and created a four-foot train behind her. The golden material shimmered in the light and lent her skin a luminous glow.
Somehow, Ilexa had tamed her wild hair into a dignified up-sweep, leaving a few tendrils to trail past her shoulders like curling flame. The overall effect was regal, but still feminine.
Lia had never felt more like a fraud in her life. “Do heroines in fairytales collapse in swoons? That’s entirely possible in this dress.”
“And if you swoon, I promise Talon will catch you,” Ilexa teased.
Lia snorted. “And give me hell for appearing weak in the role of the Damaia.”
Ilexa laughed. “I bet you can sweet talk him out of his anger.”
“Assuming someone gets me out of this torture device.”
“I’m sure that will be Talon’s first order of business.”
Lia blushed at her sister-in-law’s wiggling eyebrows, memories of the previous night still fresh in her mind. “Just what I need, winding up naked in front of the entire planet.”
“It would certainly make for an unforgettable ceremony,” Ilexa replied, refusing to follow Lia down a negative path. Ilexa stepped back and swept Lia with her gaze. The intensity radiating from the beautiful woman made Lia feel stripped naked, despite the yards of fabric swarthed around her.
Ilexa’s eyes took on the unfocused look healers used. “Lex?” Lia asked, nervously.
Her sister-in-law gave a shake of her head and her eyes focused sharply on Lia. She offered that sultry smile that brought men to their knees. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t resist seeing your aura surrounding you in that dress. It’s an amazing sight.”
“Thanks, but it is probably just the
dress.”
Lex’s beautiful features formed a scowl. “It is not the dress. It’s you. You are a remarkably strong woman. All you have suffered in life, you have survived. That strength is what N’yota needs—what we need. You have to teach us how to survive these unchartered waters we’ve entered.”
Lia shifted, uncomfortable with her sister-in-law’s heartfelt entreaty. Her life might have taught her strength, but it hadn’t taught her comfort with emotion. Trying to dismiss the subject, Lia said, “I doubt your brother will settle for less.”
Ilexa glared at her, giving Lia a glimpse of the blistering temper lurking beneath her beauty. “You will settle for nothing less. I wish you could step out of your skin and see yourself for who you really are.”
“That sounds uncomfortable,” Lia replied.
“Which?” Ilexa asked. “Stepping out of your skin or actually taking an objective look at yourself? Maybe you should start by looking at the loyalty you inspire.”
That surprised Lia. “Loyalty?”
“Vardin is so outraged at the attempts on your life he has called in additional Inderian warriors to guard you. Warriors from his motherland.”
“He did?” Lia asked, feeling a warmth begin in the area around her heart.
“Do you have any idea how stingy Inderians—and Vardin in particular—are with their respect?” Ilexa didn’t wait for a response. “And don’t forget your pirate friends.”
Lia winced. She’d been so caught up with herself, she hadn’t thought to ask after Brisby and his crew, not even to ensure that they had successfully disembarked from the Aegir.
“As soon as Captain Brisby heard about the bomb at the palace, he started contacting his associates on the black market to track down who purchased a neutron bomb.”
Guilt swamped Lia at Brisby’s efforts. Ilexa couldn’t begin to understand the favors Brisby had called in on her behalf. “They are settling in well on the planet?”