Convenient Bride for the King

by Kelly Hunter

  She pressed her forehead to the door and let her body melt into his. ‘I don’t want to. I’m trying to be what you need.’

  She turned and brought her lips to his, to offer comfort and a way for him to forget, and he took to the kiss like a dying man to water. There was no finesse, no lesson here, only need and heat and Moriana was powerless in the face of it.

  He picked her up and carried her to the overstuffed leather daybed, all without releasing her mouth. She ended up stretched out beneath him, her fingers at his collar and tie and then his jacket as she slid it from his shoulders, but her dress stayed on and her jewellery stayed on and her hair stayed up.

  She raised her hands to one earring and began to take it off, but he shook his head and clenched his jaw.

  ‘Leave them on.’

  ‘I can’t.’ She had one earring out before he’d even sat up. ‘The jewellery’s too valuable to lie on and the gown is heavier than it looks. I want them gone.’ She took the other earring out and held them in one hand as she fumbled with the clasp on the necklace. It was too complicated, never meant for the wearer alone to take off, and certainly not in a hurry. ‘Please.’ She captured his mouth again with hers, soft and crushed where he was hard and demanding. Willing. And he was still willing too, was he not? ‘I don’t want the worry of them.’

  She needed him to know that there was a woman beneath the perfect princess image.

  ‘Turn around.’

  ‘One of my favourite phrases. Who knew?’ she said raggedly but she turned around so he could remove the necklace. The zip was to the side of the gown but he found it without prompting and she held her breath as he slid it down her side and over her hip. She let the dress fall to the floor and there was no bra to bother with, only panties and high heeled shoes, and she slipped out of those too, before he could say leave them on.

  She wanted nakedness and skin on skin and nothing between them but sweat and sweet promises.

  ‘Still every inch a princess,’ he offered when she turned around to face him, but he stepped in closer and slid his hand up and around the nape of her neck. ‘It’s in the curve of your neck.’ His hand slid around to the front and his thumb tilted her head until she raised her eyes to his. ‘And the tilt of your jaw. It’s in your heart.’ Fingertips slid back down her throat and over her curves until he flattened his palm just below her breast. ‘My heart now.’

  Because it was.

  Another kiss. A ragged sigh.

  He reached for his cufflinks and then for his belt and shortly thereafter he too stood naked and proud, pinning her with his hungry gaze. She was ready for whatever came next. Mindless pleasure and the losing of self. She could help him there.

  He drew her down onto the leather daybed, on his back with her half draped over him. He ran his hand from neck to flank and then urged her leg up and over his exquisitely hard body, opening her up but not boxing her in, pressing against her but not pushing in.

  ‘That’s it,’ he murmured into her mouth but she was through with being schooled by him.

  She dragged her lips from his and started again at his shoulder, tasting his skin until she reached his pebbled nipple. She closed her mouth over him and sucked, darkly pleased when his breath left his body with a whoosh and his head dropped back on the bed.

  Moriana rubbed her cheek against his skin as his body bowed towards her, releasing the tight little nub in favour of settling herself across him more fully. He let her wriggle until she’d found the most comfortable place to sit, and it was like the rubbing lesson all over again, with her finding friction against the silken hardness of his erection. She looked down towards where they weren’t quite joined as intimately as she wanted them to be and swallowed hard at the sight. There was so much of him still visible, and how it was ever going to fit was still a mystery to her at this point.

  She wasn’t scared, but she could admit to being ever so slightly daunted.

  He’d been over every inch of her body with lips and hands but he’d always pulled back from truly claiming her. She’d thought he was waiting until after the wedding, part of his royal need for legitimate heirs, but now she wondered if he hadn’t simply been letting her get used to the idea of something that size going places no man had ever been.

  ‘Are you sure about this?’ There was no judgement in his quiet question.

  ‘I want to. You want to forget, right? This is how you do it.’

  ‘I won’t forget this,’ he said, his eyes darkening. ‘We need to get you ready.’

  ‘I’m ready.’

  ‘Not quite. You’re still capable of thought.’

  Five minutes later, that was no longer a problem. He’d used his fingers to tease and tempt and stretch and a wave of pleasure hovered just out of reach. Skin on skin, one hand soothing as the other inflamed, he murmured nonsense words of encouragement as she took him in hand and lined him up until she felt the wide, wet press of him against her opening. Her gaze met his and his eyelashes fluttered as she gained an inch. She bit her lip, because there was no way this didn’t hurt, but he’d never been wrong about pleasure yet and if she could just get past this first bit she’d be fine.

  She willed herself to relax and gained another inch that felt like a mile and lost her breath somewhere along the way. No more, surely, except he was less than halfway in and she was stuck. ‘I—help?’

  He took control, hands that had been quietly stroking and coaxing, turning firm as he cupped her buttocks and slid her off him, not all the way but enough that she could breathe.

  ‘Circle your hips.’ Big hands guided her way and slickness returned and this time when she slid back down on him she ventured further. This time he helped by drawing back before she did, his palm coming to cover her belly and his thumb gently pressing down on her sensitive flesh. ‘Better?’

  They were going to be here all night.

  ‘You’re thinking again,’ he rumbled.

  ‘Patience isn’t one of my gifts.’

  His eyes warmed. ‘I have enough for both of us.’

  He pulled out as he rolled her beneath him and slid down her body, proceeding to turn her into a mindless, writhing wreck again. This time when he rose back up and entered her it was easier. Slowly, inexorably, he worked his way in and somewhere along the way he stopped being so careful and she stopped worrying about pain versus pleasure, because the pleasure was back and it was constant.

  She tilted her hips and he groaned and she thought he might have been seated to the hilt, but then he wrapped his hand beneath one of her knees and brought her leg up and thrust, and now he was all the way in and it was tight, and breathtakingly good.

  For her, at any rate.

  It was more intimate than anything she’d ever experienced with him. His previous lessons in sexual exploration had been fun, heady and all too often overwhelming. This was soul-stealing.

  She would have more of it.

  She drew him closer, sipped delicately at his lips and then licked within. He’d never been more beautiful to her than he was at this moment, his tightly controlled movements bound only by his will.

  ‘Please,’ she whispered, because surely he needed more than this. His focus had never wavered from his quest to make this good for her, not once. When did he get to let go and feel? ‘I’m really, really ready.’

  His lips quirked above hers. ‘What would you have me do?’

  ‘Move.’

  The man could follow direction when he wanted to. He raised himself to his knees, still inside her, one hand to her hip and the other to her nub, and he moved. Every stroke sent a tremor through her, every slide and every breath wound her tighter as he coaxed her to a rhythm she somehow already knew. Sensation piled in on her—it was too much, too good, and she wasn’t a quiet lover, she discovered, but neither was Theo. The flush on his cheekbones had spread down his neck and across his chest,
a sheen of sweat made his skin glow, and there was nothing she wanted more than to see him come undone.

  ‘Tell me what you need.’ His voice was hoarse but his eyes spoke true. He meant it.

  ‘Give me all of you.’ They were thoughtless words but true. He stilled above her and then with a groan that choked out like a sob he let go of his restraint.

  It took him less than half a dozen savage thrusts before she felt her body clamp around him. She tightened unbearably as the rest of her scattered to the four winds. There was no thought beyond this, and him, and when he followed moments later she could have sworn she could feel him spilling into her, claiming and being claimed in equal measure.

  ‘This. I need this, whatever this is,’ she whispered against his shoulder and his arms tightened around her. ‘Let me love you.’

  CHAPTER TEN

  MORIANA WAS SILENT in the aftermath, but it wasn’t the comfortable, sated silence a man could fall asleep in. This silence was prickly, tense, and for the first time in forever Theo wondered if he’d done wrong by a woman sexually. Had he been too reckless, too forceful, too greedy? Or all of those things? Because with Moriana involved all bets were off. Smoothness deserted him and neediness ruled.

  Self-control fled when passion crept in.

  He could barely believe she was his.

  She’d curled into his side, her cheek to his shoulder and her hair a rampant tumble of curls. Her limbs were curled around his and the evidence of their joining lay wet between them both.

  ‘You okay?’ he asked gruffly, when what he wanted to ask was, Was I good enough for you? Do you still want me the way you did before? Have you changed your mind about all this?

  He tightened his arm around her and ran his fingers over the knuckles of the hand she’d placed on his chest, which led him to the ring she wore, the one he’d chosen for his Queen. It was about time he admitted to himself that Moriana had always been there in the back of his mind. Practically perfect. Unobtainable. Already taken.

  And claimed now, by him.

  He turned, ever so slightly, and pressed a kiss into her hair. ‘Have I rendered you speechless?’

  ‘No, just sated. And thinking.’

  ‘Thinking what?’

  ‘That making love to you was more than I ever imagined. And I imagined a lot.’

  He could stand to hear a little more. He brushed his fingers over her ring, loving that she’d chosen to wear it. ‘When did you decide?’

  ‘Oh.’ Her fingers curled into themselves a little but he wasn’t having it; he wanted their fingers entwined and now they were. ‘Well. Today some time, around about the time you delivered that foal, or a little bit before then. After letting me at the Crown Jewels but before the dinner. And then the petition to remove you because you weren’t married got resurrected and I figured—’

  ‘You figured what?’

  ‘I figured now would be a good time to tell you I was ready,’ she said.

  He pulled away. Not hard but enough for him to see her face. Such a beautiful face. The one that now haunted his dreams.

  ‘You knew the petition had landed.’

  ‘I—’

  He could see the truth in her eyes.

  ‘I knew,’ she said.

  ‘Get up.’ True rage had always settled on him cold rather than hot. ‘Get dressed. I don’t need you to marry me because it’s your royal duty to shore up my reign.’

  ‘I’m not.’

  ‘Get up! Get dressed. And get out. Do you think I want you to do this because duty compels you to? Moriana the perfect, Moriana the good. For God’s sake, for once in your life do what you want!’

  ‘I did! I am! And if you can’t see that you’re blind. I love you, Theo. Wholly and without caveats, but no. You can’t have that. I’d get too close.’ She picked up his trousers and threw them at him. ‘You get out. You’re the one who can’t stand being here with me like this. Give you a reason, any reason, to mistrust a person and you’re there, filling in the blanks. You did it with Benedict. You’re doing it with me. So get out and take your conspiracies with you and leave me alone.’

  He got up. He put his trousers on and reached for his shirt. ‘Moriana—’

  ‘Get out! You don’t see what other people want you to see. You couldn’t accept love if someone laid it at your feet. Benedict loves you. I love you, but no. You can’t see past your own towering mistrust.’

  ‘Moriana, I—’

  ‘Please go.’ She picked up her dress. ‘I don’t want to talk to you right now. Just go. And in the morning I’ll go.’ He looked at her, just looked at her, and, to his utmost horror, got to see Moriana, perfect Princess of Arun, break wide open.

  ‘For heaven’s sake, Theo, get out,’ she screamed. ‘Can’t you see I’m giving you exactly what you want?’

  He got out.

  He went back to his rooms and sent Aury to her, and Sam to her, and food to her. Everything he could think of except himself.

  And then he too held his head in his hands and broke.

  * * *

  She should have seen it coming. Moriana stood at a window in the Queen’s suite and looked out over the grounds below, bathed in soft morning light. She’d showered already this morning, and twice last night, but her body still ached in places it had never ached before, and her feelings kept slipping to the surface, bringing hot tears she couldn’t afford to show. She had seen this coming—Theo’s inability to let her into his life and share his innermost thoughts and feelings. And then she’d gone and fallen deeply in love with him anyway.

  She’s it for me.

  That was the moment she’d lost all caution. But those words weren’t the same as I’ll fight my demons for you. They weren’t I’ll never hurt you. Quite the opposite, in fact.

  Moriana stared down at the ring on her finger, tracing it with unsteady fingers, twisting it round and round. She’d take it off soon and leave it sitting on the dresser in its box. Engaged for less than twenty-four hours. A new record for Moriana of Arun. The illustrious members of the press were going to crucify her and she could barely raise the will to care.

  Let them.

  ‘Milady, will you be breakfasting with the King this morning or shall I see to it that breakfast is served here?’ said a voice from the far corner of the room, and she turned and there stood Aury in the doorway, still sleepy and dressed in her nightgown. Aury, who’d come for Moriana last night and got her back to the Queen’s quarters with a minimum amount of fuss, and who’d then firmly shut everyone else out and earned Moriana’s undying gratitude.

  And then Aury had left too, with a sympathetic smile and eyes sure with the knowledge that some things were best worked through alone.

  Breakfast. Right. She’d never felt less hungry but it was the principle of the matter. Hearts got given and sometimes those holding them didn’t know how to keep them safe, and the sun still rose.

  ‘I’ll be having breakfast here, please, Aury. Just some fruit and coffee.’

  ‘No bacon?’ Aury shot her a pleading look. ‘Bacon on sourdough, with the heritage tomatoes and mushrooms from the gardens. Not that I’m mourning the impending loss of such bounty. At all.’

  ‘All right, that too. And the yoghurt and the passionfruit and the black sapote.’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ said Aury. ‘And about that outfit you’re wearing... It’s perfect. Very sensual. Very confident.’

  ‘Good.’ Because she wasn’t inclined to take it off. The sundress was another from her never-worn-before collection, bright orange and red silks and chiffons, unapologetically fitted to make the most of her curves, and she’d pulled her hair into an untamed ponytail and secured it with a white silk scarf. ‘It’s the new me.’ Moriana liked being confident in her sensuality, a virgin no more. ‘I guess I have Theo to thank for that.’

  ‘Or we could call him
an emotionally stunted imbecile and not thank him at all,’ offered Aury. ‘Just a thought.’

  But Moriana shook her head and turned back to the view out of the window and the weak sun on her face. ‘Let’s not. Theo’s taught me a lot this week, and a lot of it was good.’ He’d encouraged her to think more of herself and she couldn’t regret that. He’d shown her how to embrace her sensuality and make a man fall apart in her arms and she’d never regret that. He’d stolen her heart, and that was unfortunate given that he didn’t seem to want it, but at least now she knew love in all its passionate, painful brightness.

  And she refused to regret that.

  Only the wearing of the ring had been a mistake, and that was easily fixed. All she had to do was take it off.

  Word came with breakfast that Theo’s helicopter would be at her disposal from nine a.m. onwards. Aury received the message in silence and Moriana acknowledged it with a cool nod. Only when Moriana bade the guards to leave the room and shut the door behind them did her brittle façade drop. She’d been hoping Theo would come for her this morning, ask to see her, maybe even be contrite when it came to their harsh words spoken last night. She wanted him to fight for her love. He was a fighter, was he not? A master strategist who knew what everyone else at the table wanted?

  She guessed not.

  She took the ring off and set it on the table and Aury looked at it and sighed. ‘So that’s it?’

  Moriana nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

  ‘You could talk to him,’ Aury suggested carefully.

  ‘I have talked.’ And loved, and given him her all and discovered herself stronger for it. ‘Marriages are built on trust and Theo trusts no one. I’m worth more than he’s offering and I don’t want to compromise.’

  ‘Good for you.’ But Aury looked as miserable and uncertain as Moriana felt. ‘His loss.’

  A knock on the door drew their attention—and Moriana’s hope—but it was only the newspapers for the day and she sent them away unread.

  ‘I’ve grown,’ she told the uncharacteristically silent Aury.