by Amanda Boone
“I know.” He found himself staring at her perfect breasts, and touched her cheek before he used the canopy tie backs to restrain her wrists to the head board rails. She jerked against them, making her breasts jiggle.
Geoff glanced down at his raging erection and bent to kiss her. “Sorry,” he murmured as he worked his way across her cheek. “You’re so lovely, I can’t help it.”
“It’s all right,” she whispered back. “Can you get me out of here before they come for me in the morning?” When he gave her a tiny nod, he felt her smile against his cheek. “Then do it for real.”
Chapter Five
Meri loved seeing the desire war with the concern in his eyes. She felt the way his hands shook as he touched her, stroking her like she was nothing more than his personal plaything. She wanted to explain that this was for her, to give her something to hold onto when the morning came.
He could try to get her out, but if he couldn’t, she was going to die.
Jarek seemed to read her mind, for he cradled her face in his hands. “No, Meredith.”
“Yes, my sweet Prince.” She turned her face to kiss his palm. “I’ll do whatever you want. Only let me. Please. I want to have this.”
He stripped off his trousers, covering her with his long, heavy body as he kissed her for what seemed like hours. Only when she was trembling and mewling under him did he spread her thighs, and fist his shaft.
“Don’t close your eyes,” he whispered as he pressed in, working his thick cock into her softness gently but firmly. “Oh, Meri. What are you doing to me?”
“This.” She tucked her legs around his, lifting her pelvis to take him deeper. “Come on, Prince Charming. I’m helpless. I can’t resist you anymore. You know what you want to do to me, what you’ve wanted since we were in the limo. Remember, how you looked at me? Like I was the feast and you were the starving man.”
Jarek’s jaw tightened as he gave her a harder, deeper stroke. “I am starving. Starving for you, for this? You want all of me inside you, you’ve got me.” He bent to nip and suck at her nipples as he plowed into her.
Meri gripped the railings with her fingers as he pumped in and out of her, his cock hammering into her wetness now. She could hear the sounds coming from her throat in an endless stream. As if whimpering and moaning were the only language she had left. She cried out as he yanked her legs up, lifting her lower torso from the bed and holding her so he could fuck her clenching pussy as deeply as possible.
“I have you now, you lovely little liar,” he crooned, his hips churning between her thighs. “You know what I want, too. So give it up, Meri. Come on my cock, I want to feel it, yes. Oh, that’s so nice, so good. I’m going to come in you as soon as you do, and you want to feel that, don’t you?”
Meri strained under him, her mouth bowing like her back. Dark delight flooded her sex and her belly, and poured into her heart and head until she thought it would become the world.
“That’s it, that’s my girl.” His voice dropped to a growl. “Now take it from me.”
He pushed into her until she couldn’t tell where she ended and he began, and uttered a keening sound. Meri closed her eyes as she felt his heavy cock swell and pulse, the jets of his come pumping into her until he’d flooded her with his cream.
Jarek nearly collapsed on top of her. “Fuck me.”
“I just did,” she whispered, and almost laughed out loud when he began covering her face with damp, panting kisses.
He reached up to release her wrists, and pulled her into his arms, rolling with her so that she lay atop his chest. He held her like that, stroking her hair and staring up at the embroidered canopy until someone knocked at the door.
Jarek drew the silk coverlet over them both as his valet hurried in. “What is it now, Chalen?”
The Irishman closed the door and bolted it. “We’ve a serious problem.” He went to the window and looked out before he picked up their clothes and dropped them on the bed. “Get dressed, both of you. We’re getting out of here.”
“What? Why?”
“Well, sir, it’s bit of a pickle.” Chalen’s brown eyes squinted down at them. “The real Prince Jarek just arrived at the palace.”
“The real prince?” When the valet nodded, Meri sat up and stared at the man beside her. “Who the hell are you?”
“Geoffrey Wells, MI-6.” He sighed. “Prince Jarek’s stand-in.”
A whack sounded. Chalen uttered a sharp cry and toppled forward to crumple on the floor.
Behind him Meri’s maid Holanna aimed the gun she’d used to pistol-whip him at Geoffrey’s head. “Not anymore, spy. And you, traitor.” She jerked her chin at Meri. “Get out of the bed and come to me. Killing you is my first business.”
“You’re the cartel’s assassin?” Meri asked, pulling on Jarek’s robe as she got off the bed and backed toward the bath. As she hoped, Holanna kept her gaze on her, giving Geoff a chance to reach for his blade. “It’s great that they’re into equal opportunity. I mean, for cold-blooded killers.”
“You think this is a game, Ms. Madison? It is not. On your knees.” As Meri dropped down, Holanna smiled. “Stupid American whore. Say good-bye to your spy lover.”
“Bye, spy lover,” Meri repeated dutifully, and then ducked as Geoffrey threw his blade, piercing Holanna’s hand.
The gun went flying. Meri lunged across the floor to grab it as the maid clutched her wrist and screeched with fury.
“Don’t even think about it,” Meri warned as the other woman staggered toward her. “This stupid American whore went hunting with her father every fall and spring.”
#
Geoff bound and gagged Holanna before he pulled on his clothes. “We’ve got to get out of here, Meri.”
“I have a car,” she told him. “It’s probably still parked in the royal garage. If not I know where the keys to the prince’s Lambo are.”
Both of them froze as dozens of palace guards poured into the room, surrounding them and holding them at gunpoint. Geoff felt an eerie sense of looking at himself as Prince Jarek strode in. The royal looked furious until he saw Geoff’s face and stopped in his tracks.
“Well, I’ll be buggered.” Geoff’s twin circled around him slowly. “It’s like finding out I have a secret twin.” Jarek glanced over at Meri. “And this is the American the cartel wishes dead?”
She offered him a pained smile. “That’s me, Your Majesty.”
Jarek nodded slowly. “So they told me in London when I came in from my exile.” He ordered the guards to take Holanna from the room, and the rest to leave the room. When they were alone, his gaze shifted to Geoff. “My apologies, Mr. Wells. Your director told me how dangerous game this was for you.”
Geoff finally figured out why King Baran would first exile his son, and then fake his death. “You and your father were never involved with the cartel at all, are you?”
“They put a woman in my bed when I was sixteen,” Jarek admitted. “And, like most teenage boys, I could not resist. She became pregnant from our liaison and broke with the cartel. She begged me to run away with her, but before we could, they killed her and my child.”
Meri pressed her hand to her mouth. “Oh, Your Majesty. That’s awful.”
“It was.” He sighed. “Realizing how ruthless these terrorists were, my father smuggled me out of the country. He put me in hiding, and let everyone believe we were estranged while I studied and learned what I need to be king someday. When I met my wife, we decided to fake my death. It was all to protect me and my family.”
“Daddy.” A little tow-headed boy rushed into the room. He looked up at Geoff and his eyes rounded. “Daddy?”
“Bari, this is my friend, Mr. Wells,” Jarek said, picking up his small son. A petite blonde appeared at his side and gaped at Geoff. “My wife, Princess Serena. Rena, would you take Bari for a walk?”
“Of course, my darling.” The Swedish woman smiled at Geoff and Meri before she took the boy and left.
Jar
ek turned to regard Meri. “Ms. Madison, I understand that you risked your life to investigate the cartel’s activities in Aslandia. I don’t know how we will ever repay you.”
Meri blushed. “I’m just glad you and your family are okay. I will turn over all the information I have to the state police. They’ll be able to round up these people and give them all rock hammers.”
Jarek shook his head. “I am closing the mine prisons, and all criminals will now be extradited back to the other countries where they have committed their crimes. They are no longer welcome in Aslandia.” He glanced at Geoff. “I imagine you two would like a moment alone before my men take you to the airport.”
“Yes, thank you, Your Majesty.” Geoff bowed, and once the royal had left went over to take Meri’s hands in his. “Well, love, it’s been fabulous to know you, but I have to get back to London and somehow write up a report about all this. You’ll want to return home to America, I imagine.”
“You know, World Times has a UK branch,” she told him, slipping her arms around his waist. “Are MI-6 field operatives allowed to date photo journalists? Or do you have a wife and kid tucked away somewhere, too?”
“Yes, if they’re properly vetted, and no, I’m single.” He tucked a pale lock of hair behind her ear. “I have about a thousand pounds in the bank, I live in a dreadfully neglected apartment on the Thames, and my people are Cornish cattlemen. You’d really come to London after knowing me only a day?”
“I’d come to London after knowing you for an hour.” She hugged him and sighed as he wrapped his arms around her. “You’re my prince.”
THE END
Loved by the Cowboy
Love in Ghost Lake Ranch
Book 4
(Can be read as a standalone book)
By: Amber Duval
Loved by the Cowboy
Chapter One
“Okay, two more errands, and we can head back to the ranch,” Liam Boone said. “I’ll get the wire tacks from the hardware store, and you can grab Jessa’s fabric order. She said she already paid for it, so you just need to pick it up.”
Thomas Boone took the order slip Liam handed him, but nearly groaned when he saw the name of the store at the top. “Want to trade?”
“It’s a quilt shop, Tom, not a minefield.” His older brother grinned. “Besides, the owner is the prettiest gal in town.”
Tom glanced down the street. Spring had finally arrived in Montana, and after the long winter everyone was anxious to get out and about. He liked seeing the new green grass, and the patches of wildflowers popping up everywhere – but he’d rather walk through a sub-zero blizzard than go into Shay Larabee’s quilt shop.
Liam nudged him. “What’s the problem? Don’t tell me it’s Shay. That girl’s pure sweetheart.”
Tom’s dread climbed another notch. “You got a thing for her?”
“Sure. Every man in the county with a pulse does.” Liam gave him a shrewd look. “So, what? That bee you’ve had in your bonnet all winter named Larabee?”
“Nope.” To avoid more talk Tom climbed out of the pickup, resettled his Stetson over his shaggy black hair and headed across the street.
QT Quilts, Shay Larabee’s quilt shop, occupied two storefronts in the center of Main Street. Tiny crystal beads hanging in the big display windows sparkled over waterfalls of brightly colored fabric bolts. The soft pastel colors of the store’s facade always reminded Tom of the pretty dresses the shop owner liked to wear.
His ferocious crush on Shay made it hard enough For Tom to see her, but the fact that she owned her own business jabbed at him, too.
Tom had loved wood-working since he was a boy, and for years had dreamed of opening his own carpentry shop. But since his parents had been killed he and his six brothers had worked hard, endless hours to keep running Ghost Lake Ranch, the family cattle business. All of his brothers loved ranch life, too – so how could Tom ever tell them that it wasn’t the life he wanted for himself?
Out of the corner of his eye Tom spotted Liam coming out of the hardware store down the street, and forced himself to head into the quilt shop.
Inside the usual gaggle of ladies browsed neatly-stocked shelves and aisles of fabrics, patterns, kits and notions. Little pots of tea roses on the window sills lent a delicate, sweet scent to the air. Behind a long cutting table stood a willowy brunette in a rose-colored dress and spotless white apron. She smiled at an elderly lady as she folded a length of bright red cotton.
“Be sure to prewash it so it doesn’t bleed through your quilt top, Mrs. King.” Shay Larabee’s doe-brown eyes flashed up as Tom approached. “Be right with you, Mr. Boone.”
Tom belatedly remembered to remove his hat, and nodded to Ella King as he hovered beside the cutting table. He liked watching Shay work, as her slim hands moved as gracefully as the rest of her. He liked watching Shay, period.
Tom could remember the first time he’d seen her, on the very same day she’d moved to town from Wyoming to take over her aunt’s business. They’d literally bumped into each other coming and going from the bakery.
“I’m so sorry.” Shay had looked up at him with those big brown eyes and offered him a donut from her box. “Here. A bribe, so you won’t have me run out of town.”
“No need,” Tom assured her, unable to hear anything but his own heartbeat thundering in his ears. “I’d never do that.”
That had probably been the last complete sentence he’d ever said to her. Tom had never been especially easy around girls, but there was something about Shay that set his blood to roaring like a lion and his mouth to closing up as tight as a bear trap.
When Shay sent the elderly woman up to the register with her yardage, she turned and grinned at Tom. “Okay. What can I do for you, sir? Are you hankering for some calico for your next sewing project, or can I interest you in my new line of no-sew fleece?”
Tom knew she was only teasing, but he couldn’t respond with the same. “Neither, ma’am.” He could almost feel his tongue tying itself in knots now, so he simply took out Jessa’s order slip and offered it to Shay.
“Ivory silk and burnout cream velvet – oh, yes, this is that special order for Dr. Cooper. I think it’s so lovely that she and her mom are going to make her wedding dress.” Her expression turned curious. “She’s marrying your brother Ethan, isn’t she?”
“In June, yes, ma’am.” Tom could feel everyone within earshot watching them now, and turned over the hat in his hands. “I’m picking it up for her.”
“Well, then, you’re already a very nice brother-in-law.” Shay sorted through some packages under the cutting table before she produced a large white box tied with a silver ribbon. “Here it is. Please let Dr. Cooper if she needs more yardage to call me before Friday. That’s the day I drive up to Helena to pick up new stock from my distributor.”
Tom nodded and replaced his hat as he took one long, last look at her lovely face. “Thank you, Ms. Larabee.”
Her full lips curved. “You’re very welcome, Mr. Boone.”
#
Shay Larabee’s assistant Jenny came to stand beside her and watch Tom Boone walk out of the shop.
“That cowboy is so gorgeous,” the little blonde said with a dreamy sigh. “I’ve never seen eyes like his. What color are they, anyway?”
“Violet blue,” Shay murmured absently. She could still smell the sandalwood he left in his wake. Too subtle to be cologne, so she felt pretty sure it was from the soap he used. “He’s not dating anyone, is he?”
The unofficial hub of all town gossip, Jenny made a quick negative sound. “Tom Boone doesn’t date much at all. When he does it’s a certain kind of gal. One who likes roadhouses, pool tables and horizontal good times, if you know what I mean.”
“Well, he’s a man, not a monk.” Shay rubbed the back of her neck. “So which roadhouses does he go to?”
“I knew it.” Jenny uttered a small shriek and tugged her back into the storage room. “Admit it. You have a thing for Tom Boone.
”
“I would like to have a thing,” Shay corrected. “But whenever I see him, he barely says a word to me.”
“He always kept to himself when we were kids.” Her assistant grew thoughtful. “He was small for a while, too, the way some boys are. He got picked on because of it, but his brothers put a stop to that.”
Shay mentally sketched Tom Boone’s body in her mind for the thousandth time. “He’s not small now.”
“Yeah, it was quick with him. One summer he shot up and filled out, and suddenly girls were tripping over each other to get to him.” Jenny sighed. “But that was the year his folks were killed. I remember he was real close to his dad.”
Shay regarded the younger woman. “Is there anything you don’t know, girl?”
“I don’t know why you’re hankering for Tom Boone. You could crook your finger and every bachelor in this town would stampede in here after you,” Jenny told her. “Some of the married men would sneak on in, too.”
“I’m curious, that’s all.” And frustrated, and lonely, Shay tagged on in her head. But what was the point of yearning for a man who so obviously didn’t want to be near her? “Come on, let’s get back to work.”
For the rest of the morning Shay’s thoughts kept straying back to Tom Boone, however, and his solemn violet eyes. She’d never known a single man with such striking coloring, nor one who smelled so good. When he did speak, Tom’s husky voice always moved along her spine like an invisible caress. She’d never had a reason to touch him, but that was okay. Shay suspected putting hands on that cowboy would reduce her to a puddle of helpless, lovesick goo.
When she took her noon break Shay decided to go to her favorite café for lunch. After walking in she saw one of Tom’s brothers having coffee by himself, and stopped by his table.
“Hi, you’re Becca’s husband right?” She held out her hand. “Shay Larabee. Call me Shay, please.”
“Chris. Nice to meet you.” The biggest of the Boone brothers politely rose to his feet before he gently shook her hand with his massive paw. “Rebecca Rose has told me how much she’s enjoyed that quilting class she’s taking at your shop.”
