by Kelly Hunter
‘Which means you now get a hearing. It doesn’t mean we’re ready for marriage. Why the rush?’
‘Well, we could always wait for old age.’ He was annoyed and doing little to hide it.
‘There’s something you’re not telling me.’ She’d been around him long enough to know that this relentless pushing wasn’t usually his style. ‘You’re too urgent. You’re pushing too hard for this to happen and making mistakes in your approach. It’s not like you.’
A muscle flickered in his jaw.
Something was very definitely up. ‘Spill,’ she murmured. ‘I know you’re under pressure to marry. Liesendaach wants a queen and you need an heir. But I didn’t think you were under this much pressure.’
‘My uncle is petitioning for my dismissal,’ Theo said finally. ‘He can’t get me on fiscal incompetence or general negligence. I do my job and I do it well. But there’s a loophole that allows a monarch of Liesendaach to be replaced if they haven’t married and produced an heir by the time they turn thirty. We didn’t even know it was there until my uncle found it and raised it. I turned thirty last month. I can challenge the clause at a judicial level, no problem. Buy myself some time. But the best way to address the petition is for me to secure a fiancée and schedule a wedding as soon as possible. When Casimir let you down I saw a solution I could live with. Meaning you.’
‘And here I was beginning to think you had a crush on me all these years and simply couldn’t wait to claim me now that I was free.’
‘That too. I should have led with that.’
‘I wouldn’t have believed you.’ Moriana definitely needed more coffee this morning.
Theo sighed and started slathering jam on his croissant. ‘There’s no talking to you this morning, is there?’
‘Not before the caffeine hits my bloodstream. So who will you marry if you don’t marry me? A Cordova twin?’ The Cordova twins had made a splash last year, when they’d taken turns dating him. One twin one week, the other twin the next. It had gone on for months. Theo either hadn’t cared or hadn’t noticed.
‘You’re picking a fight that’s not there.’
‘And here I thought I was identifying an alternative solution to your problem.’
His eyes flashed silver and his lips thinned. ‘You’re a better one.’
‘I know.’ There was no point pretending the Cordova women were better options when it came to political connections. ‘But you have to look at your offer from my point of view too. For the first time in my life I’m free to do what I please. I want to cut loose and have some fun. I want some romance.’ She gave a helpless little shrug. ‘I know what your offer means. I know the work involved. There’s a lifetime of it, and I’m not sure it’s what I want.’
‘Yet you were all set to marry Casimir.’ His voice had cooled. ‘You wanted it once.’
She had. She’d looked forward to it. So what made Theo’s offer so disturbingly different?
Breakfast continued in silence until finally she could stand the silence no more. ‘I spoke to Casimir this morning.’
Theo looked up from his breakfast but made no comment.
‘I’m investigating my flaws. I had ten years in which to kiss him properly and I didn’t. Nor did he ever push for more. We spoke about that.’
Theo raised his eyebrow. ‘Did he tell you he was celibate? Blind? Hormonally challenged?’
‘No, but thank you for the suggestions for my own utter apathy.’
‘You weren’t apathetic last night.’
Maybe that was what was different about this offer of marriage. Casimir had never really hurt her with his indifference because Moriana had been similarly indifferent right back. But Theo—she wasn’t indifferent to him, and never had been. He could wind her up at whim and leave her reeling, without any effort whatsoever. And that was a dangerous position for a queen to be in.
‘Casimir mentioned that—for him—chemistry with another person starts well before the kissing,’ she began hesitantly. ‘He said there’s an awareness between two people, a connection that can’t be faked. He said that good kisses, spectacular kisses, were as much about letting someone into your head as they were a physical thing. He said kissing random strangers and expecting to see fireworks was a stupid idea.’
‘Remind me to send him a fruit basket,’ said Theo.
‘I told him you’d offered for me. He laughed.’
‘A fruit basket minus the strawberries.’
‘Why did he laugh?’
‘I’m not a mind-reader, Moriana. You’d have to ask him.’
She had.
Casimir had mumbled something about everything falling into place. He’d wished her every happiness, told her she’d be happier with Theo than she ever would have been with him, and she’d cut the call shortly thereafter. It was that or start wailing at her former intended for being an arrogant moron.
‘He did give me one nice compliment,’ she offered wryly. ‘He’s going to miss our political conversations. He said I have great depth of knowledge and an impressive ability to influence decisions. His and beyond. I’m a political muse. Go me.’
Theo’s gaze grew carefully shuttered. ‘The unseen hand.’
‘A guiding hand,’ she corrected.
‘I don’t need one.’
‘You’ve never had one.’ But she was one, with intimate knowledge of how deals were done across four kingdoms.
Theo said nothing.
‘You offer physical intimacy with such a sure hand,’ she murmured. ‘But would you ever seek my counsel?’
‘I’d...think about it,’ he said with a twist of his lips that suggested discomfort. ‘I find it difficult to trust people. Anyone.’
‘And you would include me with the masses? Don’t you want to be able to trust your wife?’
‘When it comes to trusting people, it’s not really about what I want. It’s about what I’m prepared to lose.’
‘Wow. You really are alone. In your head and in your heart.’ She couldn’t quite comprehend how a king who trusted no one could function in office. ‘Aren’t you lonely?’
‘No.’
‘So the main duty of a queen towards her king—that of offering full and frank emotional, political, social and well-being support to the man behind the throne—you don’t want it.’
He said nothing.
Moriana sat back in her chair, still stunned. ‘Seriously, Theo, you don’t need me. Just pick anyone.’
He didn’t like that, she could tell. But she didn’t much care for the position he was offering either.
‘I mean it,’ she said. ‘I am not trained to sit at your side and do nothing. I need your trust in order to function as your queen. Without it, I’m worse than useless. And I will not be rendered useless this time around.’
‘Come to Liesendaach for the week,’ he offered abruptly. ‘And I’ll try and give you what you want.’
‘Not want. Need. This one’s a deal-breaker,’ she finished quietly.
‘Trust takes time,’ he snapped, and, yes, she’d give him that.
‘I have time. You might not, but if you want my co-operation I suggest you make time. I can deal with a marriage minus the love. I’ve been prepared for that for a long time. But I’m telling you plain, I will not become your queen until I have your absolute trust.’
‘Is that your final position?’
She nodded.
‘Then I’ll try. There can be political discussion and getting to know each other and a great deal of kissing and touching and fun. You might like it more than you think.’
‘Perhaps. Okay, here’s the deal. I need your trust. But I want more sexual expertise. I’d like to prioritise both, this coming week in Liesendaach. Can we do that?’
It was as if her question flipped a switch in him. His uncertainty bled away, leaving a
confident, sharp-eyed negotiator in its wake. ‘I’ll do you a deal,’ he murmured.
She stopped ripping her pastry into ever smaller pieces and brushed her fingers against each other to rid them of crumbs before reaching for her napkin and squeezing. ‘I’m listening.’
‘I’m prepared to offer you a minimum of one new sexual experience each and every day of your stay,’ he continued. ‘As an offer of good faith I’ll even throw in a lesson here and now at the breakfast table. But if at any time during our lessons you climax for me...from that point onwards you wear my ring.’
‘No deal.’ She didn’t trust her body to remain sufficiently restrained during these lessons. He’d have her seeing stars so fast she’d be wearing his ring by lunchtime.
‘Okay, I’ll do you a new deal. What if you were able to stop me with a word at any point during a lesson? Climax averted, so to speak. Everyone backs off to allow for breathing space. We could even think of it as an exercise in trust-building. No commitment or ring-wearing required. Easy.’
‘It doesn’t sound that easy.’
His eyes gleamed. ‘Some lessons are harder than others. You did say you wanted to learn. Also, it’ll be fun. You said you wanted that too. I’m merely attempting to provide some for you.’
‘Good of you.’
‘I know.’
The room temperature jacked up a notch as their gazes clashed and she contemplated just how badly wrong this week could go. ‘You’re offering me a week full of fun, sex education, political discourse and trust-building exercises? What about romance?’ She’d bet he wouldn’t offer that.
‘The offer includes romance. You’d be a fool not to see if I can deliver.’
Even if he didn’t deliver, she’d quite like to see him try.
And they said she didn’t have a sense of humour.
‘Agreed,’ she murmured. ‘Let’s go to Liesendaach for a week.’
He sat back, pushed his meal aside. ‘First lesson starts now. You might want to lock the doors.’
Even as she dropped her napkin across her plate and headed for the double doors that would take her from the room, Moriana still didn’t know whether she would lock the doors or not.
Theo was playing her, she knew that much.
But maybe, just maybe, she wanted to be played with.
She closed the doors and locked them, and then did the same to the doors on the other side of the room. She stood there, with her eyes closed and her back to him for a moment, trying to find her equilibrium but it was gone.
He thought her innocent, and in a physical sense she was. She’d never been touched, she’d never had sex. But she was twenty-eight years old and there was no cap on her imagination. In her imagination, she’d had any number of sexual experiences. She knew exactly what kind of things he might teach her. She could describe them in great detail.
And, oh, how she wanted to see if the reality lived up to her imagination.
‘Come here.’ Even his voice could seduce her when he wanted it to.
She took a deep breath, opened her eyes and turned. He was right where she’d left him. She walked towards him, feigning a confidence she didn’t have.
He smiled.
He’d pushed away from the table and sat sprawled in his chair and he indicated the cleared space where his meal had once been. ‘Sit on the table.’
He could have her for breakfast.
She half leant, half sat, hands curling around the table edge, and all the time he watched her like a hawk. She could feel the weight of his gaze and the assessment behind it as he sized her up and planned his approach.
‘Your dress has a zip at the back. Undo it.’ The purr was back in his voice and so was the edge of command.
‘Why should I?’ She was embarrassed to undress for him here in broad daylight. It smacked of her owning her actions when maybe, just maybe, she wanted to be led. ‘You have hands.’ They were very nice hands. Large and strong-looking, with short nails and an appealing ruggedness about them.
‘And I’ll use them. Right now I’m more interested in watching you undress for me. You blush so beautifully.’
Well, he would know. He could make her blush with a glance, and if that didn’t work all he had to do was use his words. Haltingly, she fumbled behind her back and slid the zip down to her waist. The bodice of her dress had boning and would stay up unless pushed.
He raised an aristocratic eyebrow.
She pushed the top part down and folded her arms around her waist for protection. Moments later she unfolded her arms again, dropped them to her sides and curled her hands over the table edge in a desperate bid to at least appear a little more casually confident than she was.
She still had a bra on. It was white, strapless and covered almost as much as the dress had.
His eyes grew intent and he reached out to draw a path from her collarbone to the very top of her bra, tracking the shape of it with his fingertips as it fell away under her arms. ‘This too.’
Her nipples pebbled at his words and he rewarded them by stroking his thumb gently across one of them, back and forth, back and forth, causing the tug of want in her belly to pull tight. She reached behind her for the hook and the bra fell away—he helped it fall away.
‘Your breasts are perfect.’ He sounded almost angry.
They were a little on the small side, as far as she was concerned, and right now they were aching for more than just the flick of his thumb, but the appropriate response to a compliment, sincere or not, had been drummed into her since birth. ‘Thank you.’
Heat stole into her cheeks and across her chest and she looked away from his fierce, bright gaze. The wall was right there, suitably dressed with a painting. Nothing abnormal about that wall. The only abnormal thing in this room was her. And maybe Theo. Or maybe sitting half naked atop the breakfast table was normal in his world. ‘What next?’
He moved, and she closed her eyes and when she felt his lips on her they weren’t where she’d expected him to put them. He’d placed them just below her left ear and she shivered when his tongue came out to trace a delicate circle.
‘Promises,’ she muttered and she could feel his smile on her skin.
‘Patience.’ He placed his hands either side of hers and continued to kiss a leisurely path across to her lips, where he proceeded to tease and tempt and never give her any actual substance.
‘I hate you,’ she muttered next.
‘You shouldn’t. I’m giving you my best.’
He went lower, with his hair brushing her neck as he kissed her collarbone and the swell of her upper breast, and now they were getting somewhere. Her nipples had been tightly furled since she’d unzipped her dress and now they were throbbing and desperate for attention. She pushed up against him, not begging, but hoping, and he responded by drawing that tiny circle with the tip of his tongue again and then pulling back to blow on the skin he’d just licked.
Heat pooled low in her stomach and made her gasp. Dear heaven, he was good at this.
He kissed her some more, lighting a fire beneath her skin, and then finally he closed his mouth around her nipple and sucked.
‘Oh.’ She kept her legs tightly closed and rode out the thrumming clench of pleasure his actions had caused.
A lick for her other breast now, and then he obliged by closing his mouth over it and suckling hard. There. That. The fierce pull of want and the heady coil of desire. She moaned her pleasure, and he grazed her with his teeth. And then his lips were on hers again only this time he was claiming her, devouring her, and she melted into that too. She went where he led, mindless and willing, and when he pulled back and studied her again with glittering grey eyes she obligingly caught up on her breathing.
‘Nice,’ she whispered raggedly. ‘Good lesson.’
‘There’s more.’
She wasn’t at all sure
she was ready for more.
‘Raise your skirt,’ he ordered gruffly.
‘I—’ There was a whole world of imagination waiting for her in that region. ‘What’s the lesson?’
‘The lesson is that compliance has its rewards.’
She met his darkly mocking smile with a level stare. At least she hoped that was what her face was doing. She’d rather not look like a startled fawn.
‘Of course, if you don’t comply you’ll never know,’ he murmured.
He knew he had her; she could see it in his eyes. He knew exactly how badly she wanted to know. Not just to imagine her sexual encounters but to know what one felt like.
With as much shamelessness as she could muster, she put her hands on the skirt of her frock and slid it slowly up her thighs, up and up until he could see her underwear. She’d worn white panties today, with tiny black polka dots, and they were pretty but nothing special. Not skimpy, not lacy, just normal. She wondered whether he would ask her to take them off.
‘Good.’ She could barely hear his low rumble. ‘Now put your hands back on the table and lean back a little.’
The skirt stayed up, her head stayed low and her hands went back on the table as she waited for his next move.
His hands finally settled either side of her thighs, the heat of his body engulfing her as he set his lips to that place where her pulse beat frantically in her neck.
‘You drive me mad, Moriana. You always have. You think you’re so flawed.’
His next kiss landed on her shoulder and she shuddered her surrender. The kiss after that touched the outer curve of her breast and avoided her nipple, but not for long. He left no part of her breasts and belly uncovered as he worked his way down to her panties, and by the time he got there she was a flushed and writhing mess.
‘I tend to think you’re rather perfect,’ he murmured as his breath ghosted over her underwear. He pushed them aside a little and licked. She’d heard about this. Hell, she’d dreamed of it. But not in the broad light of day, and not in the breakfast room.
Slowly, hesitantly, she slid her hand down over the front of her panties, putting a barrier between herself and him. She didn’t know if she wanted him to continue his exploration or not. On the one hand, there was embarrassment. On the other hand, her fingers found the damp, swollen groove, even over her panties, and her eyes closed on an involuntary shudder.
