“Sin please!”
“Soon,” he promised her. “But you must come for me first. I have missed the sound of your cries in my ears. I have dreamed of it constantly until I cannot sleep because I am so aroused and unable to do anything about it.”
“Could you not,” –she gasped as his fingers worked their sly magic— “take your own relief?”
“A pale ghost of a pleasure when I had memories of you to compete with? No. That would not do.” He kissed her, his thumb now sliding in wet circles around the nub of nerves that so craved him. “I need you, Ariana. Come for me and I will take you. I will thrust into you,”—he thrust a second finger inside of her on the word— “hard and hot and needing you so badly that I will burst apart at the very first stroke. That is why I must give you your pleasure first, because I know I will be selfish when I come to take my own.”
Ariana burst apart, orgasm ripping through her painfully sweet and hard. She cried out, heedless if anyone heard her. Her hand gripped at his hair at the back of his head, the other knotted in the shoulder of his frock coat.
She was barely coming down from the high of pleasure when he was jerking her up to her feet, yanking her gown back down. He grasped her hand and led her back toward the marble colonnades of the capitol building.
“Do you have a private entrance to the gardens?” he asked roughly.
“Y-yes. It’s this way,” she said, pointing up the path that led to her private patio. He walked up to the door and she prayed that it had been left unlocked. Mariah usually locked it at the end of the day right before she got into bed.
He turned the handle to the door and it gave way, leading directly into her bedroom. The gas lamps were lit but turned down low. Mariah was nowhere in sight.
It didn’t seem to matter to Sin. He reached to the back of her gown and unbuttoned it swiftly. She could scarce draw breath before he was whipping the gown off over her head, revealing petticoats and chemise.
“You Sarens wear too many damned clothes,” he grumbled as he untied the drawstrings of her petticoats and send them sliding to the floor. He made even shorter work of the chemise. Finally, she was standing naked before him. It felt strangely erotic, to be fully naked while he was fully clothed. But as titillating as it was, she didn’t want him clothed. She wanted to see his magnificent male body. She reached out and pushed the frock coat from his broad shoulders, sliding it down his arms until it fell forgotten to the floor. The waistcoat followed next. Then he was standing in his shirtsleeves, his fingers pulling at the knot of his cravat until he threw the scrap of fabric aside. He unbuttoned his shirt at the throat. She grasped at the tails, drawing them free of his breeches and finally he was gloriously bare-chested. Here she paused, long enough to run hungry hands over solid pectoral muscles and then a washboard of abdominals. Being laid up had done little to alter his fit shape and form.
Sin pulled her in close, pressing her breasts to his chest and groaning achingly at the contact of bare flesh to bare flesh. He bent his head and seized her mouth in a searing kiss, his tongue wrestling with hers. Her hands went to the buttons of his breeches.
He broke from her mouth and gasped, “Wait!”
“No. I won’t wait. I’ve waited long enough. I want you to take me. Hard. Fast. Hot.”
Sin swore ferociously and walked them over to the bed. He sat down and ripped off his boots. Then he skinned out of his breeches and threw them aside. He reached out for her and yanked her down into his lap. He turned and suddenly they were sliding across the bed, Ariana beneath him, her knees parting to welcome the drive of his body up the center of hers. She grasped at his back, slid her hands eagerly down the length of it as he loomed over her. Her hands slid down and shaped the rock hard muscles of his backside. She drew him into her, her legs wrapping around his, her core open and waiting for him.
“But I want so much more…” he said almost frantically.
“Later. We will have more later. Right now I just want you inside me.”
His burning dark eyes locked onto hers and she saw the savage desire within them. She felt the hard length of him sliding through her wet flesh. He poised to enter her, and she held her breath.
“Promise me more,” he demanded of her.
“Yes! I promise!” she cried, desperate for him.
He surged into her with a ruthless thrust. She gave way easily, her body devouring his greedily. She cried out in exultation, satisfied to have him at last. It had been so long…too long. And she never wanted to be apart from him for that long again. But she knew what that would mean, and she wasn't ready to face it right then. Instead she let her mind swirl around in the pool of desire he was creating inside of her. He rammed into her hard, then soft. He picked up a fast rhythm and rocked into her, radiating his fierce need and want of her.
His breath was heavy and hot in her ear, his hand burned like lightning up the length of her body. He embraced her breast, pulled at the nipple and she cried out. She began to come around him, her need having built so quickly and tilting on a hair trigger. Her orgasm was white hot and electrifying. She felt as though the world was careening off its very axis and he was the one who had set it spinning. The feel of his body inside of hers, so earthy, so connected, so hard and so hot. Every nerve lit up and she soared into the incredible sensation.
“Good god,” he rasped. “I’m going to come. I can’t stop myself. I want to make this last but I can’t…I can’t…I can’t!”
He suddenly reached to grasp her head in his hand, forcing her pleasure-sated eyes to his. He made her focus on him as he thrust harder and harder. “I love you,” he ground out. “I love you!”
He came with a roar of pleasure, his whole body locking up as he did so. His fists were in her hair, crushing fistfuls of curls as his big body shuddered over her and inside of her. He gasped for every breath, exhaled in a hard gust each time. He then collapsed onto his elbows, his arms shaking as he forced himself to hold the better part of his weight off of her to keep from crushing her. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled his full weight onto her. He was heavy and solid and he was…hers. He was hers and she was never going to let him go.
It was a desire that would change the face of both their worlds. But she didn’t want to think of the political ramifications of her choices right then. Right then she simply wanted to be a woman who was well loved by a man. She shut her mind off to everything except the feel of him, so hard and muscular around her, soft and replete inside of her. He did not disconnect from her and she didn’t want him to. She ran the fingers of one hand through the thick strands of his hair, ending by gripping and massaging the taut muscles at the back of his neck. He should be free of tension after such an ejaculation of passion, but he was not.
He kissed the corner of her lips, her brows, and her lashes on each eye. He kissed her temples and her chin. He kissed the soft hollow below her ear.
“Tell me that you’re mine,” he said softly.
“I am yours…but—“
“No! Not buts. Say you are mine and leave it at that.”
“But,” she persisted, “I am a jealous woman. I am yours and you are mine alone. I will not be one of many wives. I will not share you with concubines and other lovers. I know it is expected of you, but if you want me…those are my conditions.”
He studied her eyes for a moment, looking quite serious. Then a small smile kicked up one corner of his lips. “No one could possibly come after you and expect to impress me. No, Ariana, my heart is yours alone and always has been. From the moment I first laid eyes on you I knew no other woman would do. I knew no other woman would ever exist for me.” He frowned a little. “Do Sarens take multiple mates?”
“No. We are monogamous.”
“Good. For I would never share you with another.”
“No others could possibly compare to you,” she said softly as she stroked her fingers through his hair. “You have managed to do what none before you have ever done. You have made me love you.�
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“You have never been in love before?”
She shook her head.
“Neither have I,” he said. “I had no idea it could be so powerful. So debilitating. I have not been able to function these past weeks without you. The time it took to heal enough so I could sit a horse again was interminable. All I wanted to do was go after you.”
“I wanted you to come for me. I realize that now. I knew you would and I wanted it more than anything.”
“I will always come for you. I will retrieve you in any possible way. This time I chose to try your way of doing things, although I must admit it was difficult to overcome the urge to do it my way again. That and they were guarding you like hawks.”
She laughed at that, and then kissed his lips gently.
“What are we to do now?”
“I do not want to think of consequences at the moment. I want to think of nothing that will chase you from my arms.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” she promised him.
“I do not believe you,” he said gravely. “I think you will leave me again at first opportunity.”
“I won’t. I promise, we’ll find a solution. Meanwhile, can we just enjoy one another?”
He grinned like a wolf at supper. “You will not have to do much to convince me of that.” He slid down her body, disconnecting from her much to her dismay. He trailed wet kisses down her breastbone then over to one of her breasts. “You so rushed me just now I didn’t get to enjoy all my favorite delights.”
She smiled as his mouth closed on her nipple and he applied light suction. The tip grew hard and pointed in the cavern of his mouth. He flicked his tongue over her.
He came back up and kissed the smile from her lips, devouring her like a starving man.
“My lady? Are you here?”
The couple in the bed froze as Mariah’s voice entered the dark room. Light spilled from the open doorway and onto the bed and Mariah gasped to see them there. She hastily looked away from their naked, entwined bodies.
“My lady, I-I’m s-so sorry.”
“It’s all right Mariah. See to drawing a bath for me. I’ll be in shortly.”
“Another bath? But you just—“, Mariah broke off as she realized she was being dense. She made a hasty bow and hurried from the room, shutting the door in her wake.
“Will she gossip?” he asked with a frown. “I do not want you open to slanderous gossip.”
“People are already gossiping now that I’ve publicly accepted your suit. It will be in all of the papers tomorrow. I saw to it personally that it would be. I want my people to have a lot of time to get used to the idea of you and I being together.”
He reached to touch gentle fingers to her cheek, brushing back a stray curl.
“Does it matter what they think?”
“It matters in that I want them to think well of the match. Wouldn’t you care what your people thought?”
“I would, but they would not greatly influence my choices. I am not as answerable to them as you seem to feel you are to yours.”
Ariana suddenly frowned. “Whatever did you do about your brother? He was always calling you out on your choices. Did anything ever come of my warning?”
“I discovered he was indeed plotting against me. He was responsible for the attack on us that day when we were riding. He was also responsible for setting Mordol on you. I will never forgive him for either…but especially not for the danger he put you in. It seems he realized that you were going to be my wife and would soon breed my children. He wanted to cut off the possibility before it even happened. Were it up to him he would have me alone and childless for the remainder of my rule…and then see to that rule meeting an abrupt end.”
“I am sorry. I know what a betrayal that must have been.”
“It was. He spoke out against me often, but I never thought him capable of such treachery.”
“And where is he now?”
“I wish I could say I know. He has fled and is on the run, always a step ahead of my guard who follows him.”
“Then who have you left in charge of everything while you are here chasing after me?”
“My mother.”
“Is she safe with your brother running around loose?”
“I have the temple well-guarded. I have brought troops into Temple City. Even if he could drum up an army for himself, he dares not attack her directly. It is more likely he will try and discover where I am and make an attempt on me.”
“And does he know where you are?”
“I am certain he has spies. Men like Mordol whom I think I can trust only to find them duplicitous. I have had Lindo doing interviews with those closest to me, making certain they are worthy of trust. As a Jadoc, Mordol was not easily read…not even by Lindo. It was far too easy for him to slip by unnoticed.”
“I don’t like the idea of your brother knowing where you are when you are not protected well. You should not have come with so few men.”
“Any more than what I have and you would have seen me as a threat. I did not want to appear aggressive.”
“Perhaps not. Can your men be trusted?”
“Lindo says they can. It would take a rigorously trained mind to deceive Lindo now that he is looking for betrayal.”
“You should not be here while your brother runs loose. You should have waited until he was caught.”
“That could take months. Perhaps even years. He has men and resources, people who are loyal to the idea of him becoming raja. I will have to watch closely lest he raise a decent enough army to cause trouble.”
“You cannot watch him from here,” she said anxiously.
“It would take him far longer to drum up an army than it will take for me to win you to my side.”
This remark sobered her. She frowned. “You should not have come all the same.”
“Are you not happy to see me then? I thought you missed me.”
“Oh I missed you terribly,” she breathed, combing loving fingers through his hair. “And it eases my heart to see you here beside me. But I would not have you or your people endangered because of me.”
“They would be in danger without you, for their ruler would die of a broken heart and that would leave them in the hands of my treacherous brother and his overbred line.”
“You cannot die of a broken heart,” she said. “And you would not allow your feelings to get in the way of your rule.”
“Wouldn’t I? Look at all I have done just to follow my heart. Look at all the risks I have taken just for the chance to have you. I am not at my best as a ruler when it comes to being denied you.”
This was a very sobering thought to the ruler inside of Ariana. “No one should come between you and your people.”
This made him frown and he sat up away from her, running a hand through the hair her fingers had so recently mussed. He looked away from her as his jaw tightened.
“Does this mean you will put your people above your desire for me yet again?”
“I cannot ignore the needs of my people,” she said. “However…in this case…I will follow my heart.”
“Even if it leads you back to Kilt?”
“Even then,” she whispered, sitting up and reaching for him. She wrapped her arms around his brawny shoulders and hugged him to herself. “There is a solution to this. I simply need to make Mason and Jutsin aware of my feelings on the matter. But I had hoped to give them time to get used to the idea of you paying me court first.”
“Very well. I will give you the time you need. But I am warning you, Ariana. I will not leave without you.”
She should be offended by his highhanded remark, but she was not. Instead she found herself thrilled by it. He was determined to fight for her, whatever the cost to himself or his country. There was something incredibly flattering in that. And it spoke of his devotion to her. To them.
“I love you,” she said softly against his ear. She was trying to reassure him. “I don’t want you to go without me.”<
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His breath caught and he looked at her.
“Are you saying…you’ll give all of this up and come be with me? That you think you can be happy doing so?”
“I am saying we will find a solution that allows me to be with you. What it is I don’t know yet. But we will figure it out.”
He reached for the back of her head and pulled her in to kiss her wildly. He dragged her across his lap, cradling her in his arms as he continued to kiss her as deeply as he dared.
This time, when he took her, it was with determined purpose and attention to the very tiniest detail. He marked her, spoiled her for any other man. She couldn’t imagine ever wanting anyone else this strongly. She couldn’t imagine ever being in anyone else’s arms ever again.
He was hers, she was his. And now, nothing could keep them apart.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Sin was living in the same building as Ariana, staying in the diplomats’ quarters at the opposite end of the capitol building. But he may as well have been living in Ariana’s quarters, for he slept there every night, in her bed, after making love to her as thoroughly as he possibly could. If there were any lingering effects of his injuries, she certainly could not find them.
The public sentiment over their courtship was strangely mixed. Ariana had thought they would be dead set against it, practically revolting in the streets, but Mason handled the press adroitly, making certain all news reported in the gossip papers reflected a feeling of intrigue and excitement over the match. It was no easy task, since Sin had been responsible for the war that had taken so many Saren lives. Of course there were those who spit on anything having to do with the Kiltians or Kilt, but time would heal the worst of the wounds inflicted. To Sin’s surprise Ariana stuck to her guns when faced with any negativity from her people. Instead of trying to please them, for a change she pleased herself first and then dealt with the fallout from it afterward.
They made their courtship quite public. She refused to hide with him behind capitol building walls. She brought him out to see every corner of her city. They ate publicly. They walked the slushy streets together. They were not foolish however. There was always a contingent of guards with them and Lindo attended them and kept his mind open to any possible threats.
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