The King's Bride By Arrangement (Sovereigns and Scandals, Book 2)

by Annie West

  She shook her head and he watched, fascinated, as her long hair slipped over her shoulders. Earlier, in the gloom, he’d thought it seductive. Now it threatened to distract him totally. He wanted to reach out and...

  ‘Come and sit down. Drink your hot chocolate. You’ll feel better.’

  She lifted her chin and met his eyes, just for a moment. He couldn’t read her expression now. It reminded him of when they’d been together at the palace, talking about ending their betrothal.

  She looked away. ‘Thanks, but I don’t want hot chocolate.’

  Paul curved his other hand round her upper arm, her skin like cool silk.

  ‘You’re shaking.’

  She shrugged. ‘It will pass.’

  Not good enough. Paul was used to taking action. Making things happen. Fixing problems.

  ‘There must be something I can do. Something that would help.’

  Another half-smile, this time unmistakably wry.

  ‘What?’

  ‘It’s nothing.’

  Paul frowned. If there was one thing he’d learned tonight, it was that Eva could be forthright when she wanted to be. Why wasn’t she now?

  Releasing her wrist, he curled his finger under her chin, lifting it so he could hold her gaze.

  His breath stalled as he saw how forlorn she looked.

  His other hand stroked up her arm to her bare shoulder and back down to grasp her hand.

  ‘It will be all right, Eva. Truly. It’s over now.’

  Her tiny huff of amusement was unexpected. ‘Yes. You’re right. It’s over.’

  But, though her posture was as perfect as ever and her stare direct, he wasn’t fooled. It wasn’t just the fact that she still trembled. It was the expression in her eyes.

  ‘Eva. Tell me what I can do to help.’

  For a long moment he thought she wasn’t going to say anything. Then he heard, ‘Kiss me. I want you to kiss me.’

  CHAPTER FIVE

  PAUL STARED AT her as if no woman had ever wanted to kiss him before. His eyebrows lifted from their deep V of concern and his eyes widened.

  At least he looked stunned rather than sorry for her. That was an improvement.

  When he’d been kind, Eva’s heart had twisted. She’d had a tough night in so many ways and sympathy would only crack her veneer of calm. She’d feared she might slip up and reveal her feelings for him.

  And when he’d said there was a link between them... She hadn’t known whether to laugh or cry.

  She’d been the one to recognise that link years ago. To treasure it and dream of a future built on it. Paul had been completely oblivious.

  If he’d felt that link tonight...

  No, it was just that he felt some responsibility since, in the eyes of the world, they were to be married.

  ‘Eva? What are you saying?’

  Her lips firmed as she fought despair with anger.

  ‘You heard me, Paul.’

  She wasn’t going to say it again. Even though it was true. The one thing that at this moment would make her feel better was Paul’s lips on hers, blotting out tonight’s bitter regrets and searing hurt. Giving her the solace of his caress.

  His frown was back, deeper than ever. His hand beneath her chin moved to her shoulder. To hold her at a distance or to deliver a paternal pat of solace? As if she didn’t know her own mind.

  He’d asked what she wanted and she’d told him.

  Abruptly, gloriously, she didn’t care what he thought. Only that this was the last chance she’d ever have to kiss the man she’d adored since she’d been fifteen. The man who’d cracked her heart wide open and didn’t even know it.

  Tomorrow—later this morning—she’d say goodbye to him for ever. For now, they were alone, and she still wanted so much more than he’d ever give her.

  Instinct told her to grab this opportunity for just a moment’s solace, and that was what she did. One hand settled on that hard, straight shoulder. The other curled around the back of his neck, learning the texture of hot skin and soft hair. She rose on her toes and pulled his head down.

  Paul stared down into the face of a woman he didn’t know. Felt her hands on him, surprisingly strong, and stopping her didn’t enter his brain.

  Curiosity buzzed, stronger than surprise.

  And something more than curiosity. Something that made his heart leap in his chest as soft lips settled against his.

  That mouth. How had he not recognised that mouth for what it was? Pure seduction.

  Her lips brushed his, making his breath still and his grip on her waist tighten.

  He couldn’t even recall reaching for Eva. But now he couldn’t imagine relinquishing his hold. Her waist was narrow but he felt the sensual curve that led to the flare of her hips. Even the slippery satin of her dress—the dress that had taunted him from the moment he’d seen her in it—felt like an invitation.

  She was so alluringly feminine. Delicious curves. Decadently inviting lips. A body that stretched seductively up against his, her breasts cushioning him in a way that bent his self-control out of shape.

  From the first touch of her hand at his neck he’d gone rigid. The caress of her lips on his sent bolts of searing tension straight to his groin.

  Once more she kissed him, a light caress that hinted at passion but was more tease than anything. Then, as his fingers tightened around her middle, she gasped and finally her tongue flicked out to trace his lips.

  Instantly Paul took the lead. Because tantalising caresses simply weren’t enough. She’d woken the need he’d kept stringently under control for four long years. That, and his curiosity to know this new, unexpected Eva, dragged him straight into temptation.

  Once he tasted her, there was no going back.

  Sweet and distinctive like wild honey from the mountains. No other woman tasted like Eva. Then there was the tiny little humming sound that came from the back of her throat and sounded like approval and invitation.

  He opened his mouth and sucked in her tongue.

  Paul felt her jolt of surprise, wondered at it then forgot about it as he concentrated on the sensations of her tongue in his mouth and the quiver of her body against him.

  His hands were possessive. He wanted to haul her close, but he had enough control not to. Not after her experience tonight.

  Yet she was flush against him, not because he’d dragged her there but because she’d closed the space between them.

  His eyes closed at the sinuous movement of her soft body against his, igniting molten fire in his groin. He tried to ignore it, but that left his brain free to concentrate on their kiss.

  Eva’s tongue curled around his then drew back. He followed, plunging into sweet heat, needing more. Was that a heartbeat’s hesitation? No, he’d imagined it. If anything her hands clung tighter than before, fingers digging into him as she tilted her head and sucked him deeper with a desperation that matched his own.

  He shuddered at the fierce wave of pleasure cresting within him. His hands tightened at her waist and his body canted forward, bending her back, striving to absorb the flavour of her, the piercingly arousing perfection of Eva in his arms offering so much.

  Eva, the woman he’d thought he’d known.

  He’d known nothing.

  Tonight was a revelation. Not just of her but of his own feelings. He’d imagined what he felt for her was simply duty. But when put to the test he discovered nothing about his relationship with Eva was what it seemed. She wasn’t what she seemed.

  She only had to pout those pretty lips and flash those bright eyes and he wanted everything.

  Paul’s guard slipped completely when he heard it again, and felt it too—that humming vibration of approval that came from Eva’s mouth and trembled across his tongue. It was a lover’s invitation.

  How was he supposed to resi
st? That tiny sound alone was enough to test even a man trained in self-denial from years of celibacy.

  Her thighs shifted restlessly against his, her body tantalising as she moved, cushioning his hardening erection against her belly.

  The force of his arousal stunned him. It was so instantaneous, so complete. So unbelievable after years of implacable control. In the past he’d ground down any inclination for sex with long hours of work, achieving the impossible, because it was his duty to save his nation and he refused to countenance failure.

  But now, with Eva supple and seductive in his arms, he couldn’t focus on duty. Even the simple dictates of his conscience, telling him not to take advantage of a woman who was suffering from shock, seemed beyond him.

  Her hands palmed his cheeks then his shoulders to settle splayed on his chest, where his heart hammered. He felt her touch like a brand, a scorching incentive to take more.

  Finally, with a last burst of determination, he lifted his head. But the action was a hollow victory because he ached for her with every cell of his being. He didn’t want to do the right thing. He wanted to kiss Eva. He wanted to delight in her eager body and passionate kisses and...

  ‘Don’t stop!’

  Paul gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, blotting out the beguiling sight of her wide eyes, now more blue than grey, beseeching him.

  As if she wanted exactly what he wanted.

  What he couldn’t allow himself to take.

  ‘Eva.’ His voice was unrecognisable, a strained rumble, as if it came from some distant chasm far below the earth’s surface. He tried again, opening his eyes to meet her gaze, ignoring the jolt of response that hit him like an unseen blow as their gazes locked. ‘Eva, we can’t do this. You’re not thinking—’

  ‘Don’t you dare try to tell me I don’t know what I want!’

  Anger made her eyes glitter but, instead of withdrawing, she stayed pressed against him.

  She’d never looked so magnificent.

  Inevitably his admiration made itself known in the most obvious way. An expression he couldn’t identify crossed her features as his erection stirred against her.

  ‘I wouldn’t dream of it.’ Especially when he didn’t want to stop either. Yet Paul couldn’t shake the conviction that he needed to protect her, even from himself. ‘But you’ve had a shock and it would be wrong to take advantage of that. You’re not yourself.’

  Her nostrils flared and her mouth turned down in the corners in a way that should have made her look unattractive but instead turned into the sexiest, sultriest pout he’d ever seen.

  The throb of need that pulsed through his body almost undid him.

  ‘Because you don’t really want me. You just feel sorry for me.’

  Paul couldn’t contain the crack of laugher that escaped his lips. ‘You know I want you. I can’t disguise that.’

  How much more obvious could it be, with his erection hard against her and his control hanging by a thread? He didn’t yet have the power to pull away.

  On that thought, he finally managed to do what he should have done earlier. He stepped back, coming up against the huge kitchen table that filled the centre of the room.

  Eva moved a split second later, following him. Her luscious body blanketed his, fraying his tattered determination. He was trying to do the decent thing but she made it tough.

  ‘Eva...’ Her name turned into a sigh as she grabbed one of his hands and put it to her breast. Convulsively his fingers closed on satin and warm, rounded flesh. Her eyes darkened as he squeezed. Her gaze turned the hazy blue of the sea at dawn.

  She was killing him.

  Then his eyes rolled back in his head as she cupped his erection with her other hand. His breath hissed and his body turned to stone. All except that throbbing, eager part of him that surged harder against her touch.

  ‘Kiss me, Paul. Please.’

  Her lips were against his, inviting him. The perfect swell of her breast was in his hand and the possessive clasp of her fingers around him obliterated all thought.

  Paul kissed her. Hard.

  It wasn’t enough. He wanted all her sweetness. He wanted...

  Dazed, he let himself savour the heady prospect of her giving him exactly what he wanted—relief from the tangle of frustrated longing, thwarted passion and the inhibiting voice of his conscience that told him to move away.

  This was just a moment’s fantasy, not reality.

  Yet he exhaled with relief and something close to despair as Eva tugged his zip down and slid her fingers inside his trousers to hold him, her soft hand against hard, needy flesh.

  Lightning seared his blackened vision, strobe lights of white-hot energy that arced and whirled as Eva tested his length, then squeezed.

  Air expelled from his lungs in a guttural rush. There was a thrumming in his ears as he tried to collect his scattered control.

  He’d be strong again in a second. When he had time to regroup. Except now, somehow, he held both her breasts in his hands, testing their weight, revelling in the graze of her pebbled nipples. Barely, he resisted the need to strip away the flimsy satin dress so he could feast on her ripeness.

  Then she was undoing his belt with her other hand.

  It was exactly what he wanted and everything he shouldn’t.

  He opened his mouth to stop her when Eva’s mouth collided with his again. The movement was clumsy, almost desperate, but so beautiful that he felt himself sink back into the bliss of the moment.

  Paul’s whole body trembled. He relinquished her breasts, wrapping one arm round her and using the other to push back her long hair that had fallen forward, caressing his cheek.

  It was incredibly soft, impossibly decadent, that long skein of silk that somehow wrapped itself around his fingers, just as she wrapped her fingers around him, stroking, teasing.

  He had to let her go. Make her release him too.

  But then, before he could act, there it was, thundering towards him like a freight train racing down a mountain. Paul felt the building pressure, the torture of a body grown too taut and hard to contain itself. The careering rush of pleasure.

  He just had enough time to read Eva’s wide-eyed look of elation, and cover the head of his erection with his hand, before he convulsed, helpless, against the sudden, raw rush of ecstasy.

  Eva was stunned.

  How could a man be magnificently powerful and at the same time so vulnerable?

  The sight of Paul lost in the throes of climax, the feel of him jerkily pulsing in her hand, was the most exciting thing she’d known.

  Watching his big shoulders judder, seeing him fling his head back, the tendons in his throat standing proud, made him seem not weak but incredibly strong.

  Despite the fact he was at her mercy.

  The knowledge floored her.

  No, this wasn’t about knowledge, it was about the visceral feeling, the love, compassion and deep sense of connection.

  How she loved the feel of him, satin-soft yet impossibly hard, beneath her hand. The feel of him shuddering with pleasure at her touch.

  Hers. Not someone else’s but hers. She’d done that. Brought sexual fulfilment to the man she loved.

  Pinpricks of delight exploded through her.

  Even when he bowed his head and nudged her hand aside, those great, racking shudders easing to small tremors, she was dumbstruck by the power she’d unleashed.

  She’d had no idea it could be like this. So intense, so exciting. Because of course theory was no substitute for reality. Her knowledge of sex, apart from a few pretty innocent kisses, was all theoretical.

  Even the heavy musk scent in the air and the sound of Paul’s laboured breaths were something completely new.

  New and exhilarating. Though she still felt that edgy, needy sensation between her thighs, making her shift her weight to ea
se it.

  She sighed, trying to ignore her own needs. Instead she took in the dull flush of colour across Paul’s high cheek bones, the heavy-lidded look from glittering eyes that spoke of sensuality and satisfaction.

  A shiver ripped through her and headed straight to her sex. Everything inside her softened.

  Watching Paul come, feeling his potent explosion, was the single most exciting moment of her life.

  He turned away, cleaning himself up, and Eva supposed she should do the same. Her hand was sticky. But she stayed where she was, her brain whirring on overdrive, her body revved. Because she loved how she’d affected him.

  Just for a short time, he’d been hers.

  Their kiss had been everything she’d hoped for. Passionate, beautiful and definitely mutual. Her heart had soared. Yet she’d feared it wouldn’t last. She’d known Paul would pull away, because she was the fiancée he no longer wanted. And she’d been right, though he’d couched his rejection in terms of looking after her, not wanting to take advantage.

  Take advantage! Was that what she’d done? Shoving her hand in his trousers?

  Even now she could barely believe she’d done that. It was so out of character.

  Because all her life she’d conformed, agreed, been polite and never pushed for what she wanted. Except when her parents had asked if she wanted to marry Paul of St Ancilla and she’d said yes.

  But all those years of polite waiting, of doing the right thing, being gracious and amenable, hadn’t got her what she wanted. Because Paul had never wanted her, Eva. Just a royal princess who’d do her royal duty and, as a bonus, bring her fortune with her.

  Something had snapped in her tonight. Maybe because of the danger she’d been in at the hands of a stranger. Or maybe because Paul had snarked at her, as if she’d been to blame.

  Whatever the cause, Eva had finally had enough. She was about to lose him. That knowledge had spurred her on to kiss him, touch him, as she’d previously only dreamed of. To snatch at least a moment for herself.

  It had been glorious.

  But now it was over.

  She heard the sound of his zip, saw the straight set of his shoulders as he turned on a tap, his back still to her. Paul hadn’t looked at her once since that gleaming, sexually charged stare that had pierced straight to her womb.