Only days earlier she’d stood in one of the state rooms of the palace and wondered at her brother’s calm determination to marry Melania. And now? He was fire and flame, angry, resentful, but at least he was pulsing with emotion and life once more. And it was all because of the American woman she’d only ever heard rumours of.
Abigail McClean.
She thought of his brother’s bride and smiled. Abi was nothing like Melania, and yet she was perfect for Kiral. At their first meeting Lilah had seen that. Abi was sweetness and heart, just as their own mother had been. She was the perfect complement to a man like Kiral.
Only Kiral was determined to keep himself closed off from her.
Lilah chewed thoughtfully on her lower lip then refrained from the gesture when she saw that several guests were smiling in her direction. She returned the smile politely and then shifted away a little under the guise of inspecting one of the flower arrangements that had been placed in the corridor.
She could understand Kiral’s resentment. That Abi had kept their son from him for two long years was almost inforgivable. But Lilah forgave Abi. Lilah could see that every decision Abi had made was out of love and fear.
Just like Lilah’s decisions were being made.
She ran her fingers over a single bloom, and felt stupid, frustrating tears prick at her throat.
“Good evening.” The husky American accent sent goosebumps dancing down her spine. She hadn’t seen him in days. The knowledge hurt. She had missed him. She had missed him despite how absorbed she’d been by Abi’s arrival. She had craved him; she had longed for him, and now she could only stare at him with consternation.
“Will.” She swallowed, her eyes darting nervously behind her. “I told you we can’t speak.”
“Yes,” he nodded, something like anger sparking in those beautiful eyes of his. “You did. But you see, it occurred to me that when other people are around you’ll be compelled to observe the basics of civility. That you won’t be able to run away from me so easily.”
She nodded, keeping any trace of emotion from her face. “I see. It is also not so easy for you to maul me.”
“To maul you?” His smile was sardonic. “Oh, honey. Don’t pretend you’re not aching to be ‘mauled’ by me.”
Desire lurched painfully in her core. Her eyes were wide. Will leaned forward, pretending fascination with the same floral arrangement that Lilah was inspecting. “You want me to peel that dress from your body and take you now,” he said so quietly that even Lilah barely caught the words. “To hold your breasts as I move into you hard and fast, kissing your neck in that place that drives you wild. You want me to kiss you everywhere, don’t you? To taste your sweet pleasure and make your body shake with delight.”
“Will.” She groaned softly, her cheeks flushed. “Stop it. You may not speak to me like this.”
His laugh was a husky invitation. “Come on, Lilah. You’re a perfect princess but you’re also a woman, and in my arms you feel like one.”
Her heart was ricocheting at the speed of light. “This is highly inappropriate.”
He shrugged. “Maybe. But it’s what you want.”
Lilah lifted her eyes to his; it was a mistake. He was so close. She stepped backwards, conscious that they were far from alone. “I told you, people will …”
“Let them talk,” he said nonchalantly. “Surely you can’t still be clinging to your objections now?”
Her eyes widened. “Meaning?”
“Your brother is marrying for love. He is marrying someone like me. A commoner. How can he deny you the same freedom?”
Lilah dropped her gaze, her breath burning in her lungs. “It is even more important than ever that I make an appropriate marriage.”
Will’s laugh was sarcastic. “You have quite the self-important dynastic fantasy in that brain of yours, don’t you?”
She lowered her voice. “We are a dynasty. Like it or not, that’s who I am. You can’t belittle me into forgetting what is expected of me.”
“Yet Kiral, the ruler of this land, the man who had promised himself to another woman, has thrown convention out the window.”
“Maybe Kiral and Abi just love each other more,” she snapped tartly, her expression grim. “Excuse me.”
She cut away from him quickly, moving to speak to some other guests. It was only when they proceeded into the room that she saw the seat bearing her name was beside one with Will’s. She thought of her brother’s request that she ‘look after’ the American and her heart dropped.
Perhaps she could move his placard; shift him further back. Her fingers were curling around it just as he appeared, and his eyes sparked with hers. He took his seat, and leaned closer. With a polite smile on his face he said, “Come to my room tonight or I will tell Kiral everything.”
Lilah pushed back in her chair, her eyes focused straight ahead, her mind spinning.
Come to my room tonight or I will tell Kiral everything.
The ceremony was beautiful. How could she not feel a swelling of emotion as her brother committed himself to a woman such as Abi? They were so right together; despite Kiral’s insistence that he would never forgive her.
But while she watched two people pledge themselves to one another for life, she felt further and further from the man she desperately wanted to make the same commitment to.
* * *
The evening was cool. The desert winds did that sometimes; bringing relief from the scorching days with a gust of cold straight off the Arabian sea. Lilah waited on the balcony, her nerves so torn they were almost shredded.
She heard him first. A slight sound from behind her had Lilah turning slowly, in time to see Will step into his room. He had undone the top button of his shirt and flicked it a little to reveal the thick column of his neck. She could see a curling of hair at its opening; she knew from experience it ran all the way down his chest and into his pants.
His eyes latched to hers across the room and a bolt of awareness juddered between them. He kicked his shoes off without taking his eyes from her face, then strode across the carpeted floor and onto the balcony.
Lilah still wore the dress she’d chosen for the wedding, but as the wind rustled past, it pulled across her skin, revealing her slender frame to Will’s appreciative gaze.
He made no effort to hide the lazy inspection. He allowed his eyes to travel the length of her body with an insolent possessiveness. She crossed her arms, self-conscious and shy.
“Don’t.” He reached across and unpeeled her arm, so that she dropped them to her side. “Let me see you.” His voice was deepened by emotion.
Lilah’s eyes widened.
Before she could say anything, Will stepped behind her and began to lower the zip of her dress. His fingers moved slowly allowing Lilah plenty of time to object.
She didn’t.
Goosebumps danced over her skin as he slid the silken fabric over her body until it pooled at her feet.
“Turn around.” It was a command she was powerless to refuse. She moved as he’d directed, shivering a little – from the cold of the night, or his stare, she couldn’t have said.
Now his appraisal was detailed. He lifted a finger and traced imaginary circles on her shoulder before dropping it lower, to the rise of her breasts, and then lower still to the waistband of her silken underpants. When he slipped it inside the elasticized waist to press against her naked flesh she moaned softly.
“I … I did not come here for this,” she whispered, her words carrying to him on a wave of wind.
His smile was an arrogant flicker. “Yes, you did.” He lifted his hands and unclipped her bra, dropping it to the floor beside her dress.
“I came because you ordered me to,” she said, but her insides were groaning with need; a need only he could slake.
His look was dismissive. “Then go, if you don’t want this to happen.” He dipped his head forward so that he could flick one of her nipples with his tongue. He rolled, then circled, it before c
lamping his lips over the peach tip until a shard of pleasurable pain speared through her. “If you want me to make love to you until you can barely breathe from pleasure then go and lie on the bed.”
Lilah’s cheeks flushed. Was it even a choice? Months and months and months of missing him and desiring him had left her with an insatiable hunger. Now that he offered himself to her, what could she do?
Hating herself for the weakness of her body, she dropped her gaze and walked back into the room. Tellingly, she left her clothes on the balcony, and they both knew, even before her back had connected with the mattress, that it was a mark of her acquiescence.
Will stared at them for a long, hard moment.
He was at a fork in the road. A bend in his destiny. The paths before him were leading him in different directions yet only one was open to him. With a sense of resignation and bitterness, he followed the steps she’d taken, pausing to admire her near-naked form on the bed.
“You’re beautiful.” He said, his voice gravelly.
Lilah couldn’t form a response. He was standing in front of her, and slowly, he was unbuttoning his shirt, pushing it open to expose his muscular chest. Her eyes studied every ridge and detail; she was starving and he was her banquet.
He smiled to himself as he moved to the belt, pulling it loose and dropping it to the side of the bed.
“Your turn.”
Lilah flicked him a nervous gaze, her eyes showing her doubts.
He stepped forward so that he was right in front of her. “You know how to work a zipper, right?”
She didn’t bother to pretend she was offended. She nodded, pushing up onto her side and reaching over. Her fingers weren’t quite steady as she began to move the zip down.
“Good,” he said with a touch of sarcasm to the word. It was only a hint, but it hurt. She bit down on her lip and lowered her eyes.
Will saw the betraying gesture but he refused to soften. Just as she refused to admit she loved him enough to be with him. He pushed his pants down with his boxers, so that he stood before her, only inches from her face, completely naked. He saw the panic and the nervousness and he had to stifle a groan.
She was his beautiful lover, but he was her only lover. He shouldn’t be reducing them to sex.
You didn’t. She did.
He grabbed the thought and cherished it. He had offered her love. She had rejected him. He had offered her sex and she had agreed.
Only after you practically blackmailed her, he reminded himself.
Her fingers around his arousal startled him out of the torrent of reverie.
He looked down; the sight of her manicured nails wrapped around him made his heart burst. He could imagine her lips in that position, with their perfect cupid bow shaping to take him.
With a guttural sound of frustration he stepped back. His chest was heaving with the force of his breath. He had to get control of himself, and of the situation. “Lie back on the bed.”
Her eyes flashed with hurt for the briefest of moments but it was enough. He felt her pain and ignored it.
She fell onto the mattress, her eyes staring at the ornate ceiling rose overhead.
“Earlier tonight I promised you that I would kiss you everywhere.” He peeled her underpants down her legs, dropping them to the floor. He brought his mouth painfully close to her womanhood and Lilah lifted her hips without knowing what she was doing. His smile was one of triumph. He lashed her with his tongue, just enough to make her cry out in pleasure; to lift her knees and spread her legs, making herself available for his enjoyment.
“I promised you I would take you hard, again and again, while I held your perfect breasts,” he said, breaking away from her with true regret. She was so close to orgasm, he could have sent her over the edge easily. But he wanted her to wait. He wanted her to be almost delirious from pleasure.
Lilah’s mouth was dry with longing.
“Turn over.”
She swallowed nervously, but did as he said. Will took a moment to admire her from behind, the smoothness of her caramel skin, the pert roundness of her butt. Then, he gripped her thighs and pulled her backwards, so that her feet connected with the floor and she was bent over the end of the bed.
“Will?”
He pushed a condom onto his length then gripped her hips. “I made love to you in the cabin because I fell in love with you, Lilah.”
His hand was gentle as it stroked her sides.
“And now?” She whispered, pushing her rear backwards, begging him to satiate the fires that were burning under her skin.
“Now I’m going to have sex with you,” he said simply, thrusting into her without any preamble. He pushed into her and felt her insides contract around his length. Her muscles were tight, she squeezed him to the point of pain.
He pulled out and thrust into her again. Lilah was moaning, scratching her nails into the bed linen as her orgasm burst on her like a waterballoon being dropped from a highrise. She shuddered and shook, and he gripped her breasts, squeezing them while he drove into her again.
She moaned his name again and again, and he used her hips to control her, pulling her harder on his shaft before pushing her tantalizingly away, so that the relief she sought was denied.
He felt her climax again and he held her still and tight, waiting for her waves to reach a crescendo. He knew her body would be like jelly.
But he wanted more. He wanted her to experience the kind of pleasure she would never forget. And then he wanted to walk away from her without a backwards glance.
Yeah, right.
Of their own accord, his hands reached up and tangled in her hair, pulling on it just enough to draw her face to the side. She was biting her lip; her face was flushed.
“On your back.”
He pulled out of her and watched as she wriggled over. She was high on pleasure.
Good.
He didn’t notice how she stared at him as though she was searching for something; as though she didn’t recognize him.
“What do you want?” He prompted, running a finger lazily between the valley of her breasts.
Lilah fanned her eyes shut but he laughed scornfully. “You have just been screaming my name and still you can’t admit that you want me?”
“Why do you need me to say it?” She prompted, her eyes shimmering.
“I just do.” He reached down to unfurl the condom but Lilah pushed up.
“What are you doing?”
His smile was cold. “If you don’t want any more …”
She blinked down at her hands on the bed. “You know I do.”
“You do what?” He prompted, bringing himself teasingly close to her femininity.
“I want you.” She forced herself to meet his eyes and shivered at the look of antagonism there. “I love you,” she added for good measure.
“Oh, Lilah. Don’t complicate this. Tonight we are fucking for the sake of it.”
She bit down on her lip to stop from crying but she could feel the tears welling in her throat.
Will didn’t notice. He eased himself into her gently and slowly this time, so slowly that Lilah was driven to a new level of desperation by the slow possession.
“Please, please, please,” she uttered over and over, scratching her nails into his shoulders as he began to fill her once more.
“Seeing as you asked so nicely,” he said, finally thrusting deep inside of her, bringing the weight of his body hard on her. They were completely in contact; his hair roughened chest tormented her over-sensitised nipples as he moved back and forth, making her whole body tingle and ache.
He ran his hands down her body, hooking her legs from behind her knees and lifting them high in the air. He held them aloft as he drove deep into her core, watching as pleasure began to yolk across her face. He felt her give in to the sensations; her muscles surrounded him and massaged him until he felt his own pleasure was about to crest.
He dropped her legs and brought his mouth to her breasts, while with his
fingers he tormented her other nipple, squeezing it and rolling it.
Finally, as she lifted high on the wave of desire once more, he lifted with her, releasing himself with a guttural oath of sensation. He dropped down on top of her. Their breathing was rushed, their skin sheened in perspiration.
Lilah lay beneath him in a state of shock. Her body was floating high in heaven, drifting amongst the clouds. In the cabin, he had made love to her, as he’d said. It had been mind-blowing, but in a lovely, sweet way.
This had been mind-blowing on a whole other level.
Should she be embarrassed that she’d enjoyed his dominance so completely? That when he’d pulled on her hair and flicked her nipples she’d wanted to scream obscenities into the cold night air?
And why had he insisted on saying that they were merely ‘having sex?
Her breathing slowed and sanity began to return. It wasn’t welcome. It wasn’t pleasant.
She lifted her hands to his chest and pushed at him. He rolled off her, so that he could stare at the ceiling.
Lilah turned her head, studying him in profile. His lips were parted and it was only then that she realized he hadn’t kissed her.
Not on the mouth anyway. Colour stole into her cheeks as she remembered the intimacies they’d shared. Confusion was nipping at her heels; reality was not far behind.
She sat up slowly, but her mind was running fast. He was angry with her. And as she’d done nothing wrong, Lilah knew it was an anger born of hurt. She had refused to fall in with his fanciful plans and that had angered him.
He’d seduced her tonight – but why?
Because he’d wanted to, of course. But it was more than that.
Had he wanted her to recant?
To tell him that what they shared was too good to walk away from? Well, it was. By choice, Lilah would never leave him.
But she had no choice.
Not really.
She stood gingerly, but his hand curled around her wrist, pulling her back on the bed. She sat down and turned to face him, but she was no longer his sexual play-thing, begging to be used. She was Jalilah Mazroui, her royal highness.
The Princess's Forbidden Lover Page 14