By Royal Demand

by Robyn Donald

  A childhood friend had invited her to a party in London' it had been classic stuff she thought now a real eyes-across-a-crowded-room momenta She'd been acutely aware of his interest even though she couldn't see who was watching her. Eventually she'd turned around to stare indignantly at him-and met eyes alight with purpose. Hard eyes that had promised her forbidden pleasure and stripped away the sophisticated veneer she was trying to keep intact.

  Well he'd more than delivered on the forbidden pleasure. Their lovemaking had been incandescent a wild mingling that had stunned her almost as much as it had excited her. She'd had no idea that she could need so much-or that she'd be able to give as much as she took.

  And even as her breath came softly through her parted lips and her eyes turned smoky at memories of past erotic release she reminded herself of its shallowness and her eventual disillusion.

  The trees pressed closer to the narrow ancient trail in some spots overhanging it. Sara looked around

  uneasily half expecting dreadful old apparitions to lurk in the sombre depths. No birds sang no butterflies flitted through the green gloom no small scuffles in the undergrowth signalled the secret life around her.

  'Not far now ' Gabe said. He inspected her face. AII right'?' 'Yes, of course.' But the atavistic fear disturbed her modern sensibilities.

  He gave her another searching survey. 'Then what's making you tense'?' 'Nothing,' she snapped adding with a shrug, ‘WeII nothing new.'

  To her surprise he grinned warming her heart into foolish pleasure. 6We'II have something to eat and drink when we get there.'

  There was a dell a smooth cup of grass in the trees one side open to the valley. In the middle a huge stone thrust upward its rough grey sides oddly marked as though aeons ago someone with primitive tools had tried to shape it. A small trickle of water emerged from the forest and lapped around the base of the stone its sound thin and surreptitious in the silence before it tumbled towards the cliff edge and hurled itself over.

  Unlike the close-hung trees over the trail this didn't feel ominous' it seemed expectant waiting for something that might never happen.

  Sara shivered and her horse jibbed jerking her head anxiously.

  'What is this'?' she asked hoarsely.

  Gabe gave her a considering glance. A menhir. It's a glacial rock that was dragged here several thousand years ago and set up to mark something-a boundary perhaps or the way to the pass.'

  ‘for a site for sacrifice ' she said sombrely trying to ignore the tightening of her skin.

  ‘possibly ' he agreed irony overlaying the word.

  Had she sounded like someone out to get a cheap thrill? She slid down from the mare saying prosaically 'Where shall I tether her'?' Already down Gabe took a pack from behind his saddle and handed it to her. 'There's a pool against the cliff-face through the trees. I can tether them there. Take out the rug from the pack and choose a place to picnic.'

  With resentful eyes she watched him lead the two horses away. He looked completely at home here broad of shoulder and lean-hipped long legs striding confidently into the shadowy space beneath the trees. A stray beam of sunlight kindled blue flames from his black hair and her heart turned over.

  She'd thought she was over him but that first glance at the castle had proved her utterly wrong. Left alone she might eventually be able to chisel him from her heart but he wasn't going to leave her alone and she couldn't prove that she didn't have the Queen's Blood.

  If only she could convince him to check up on Marya. . . .

  But why would the woman who had risked so much to protect the jewels steal them from the man she'd saved them for? Gabe was right-it simply didn't make sense.

  Sara was still standing there the pack in her hands staring at the menhir when Gabe came back. He saw her brace herself and turn her pale face carefully blank.

  ‘so this is where the Queen's Blood was found. Did your grandfather hide it here'?' she said evenly eyes too steady.

  He took the pack from her every instinct on full alert. He'd brought her here hoping to shake those prickly defences of hers but this was more than he'd expected.

  ‘Come over here and we'll sit down.' She followed him obediently and he undid the pack. 'The treasure was originally found here but my grandfather thought it was too obvious a hiding place so he hid it in the castle.' He shook out a rug and gestured for her to sit down waiting until she'd done so before asking 'Does your hand hurt'?'

  ‘No,' she said vaguely, not even looking at it. She swallowed then said with obvious effort elf I'm a bit wan it's probably because my head is definitely feeling the effects of a full glass of wine on an empty stomach.'

  He had to give her credit for an attempt at her usual spirited attitude. And probably the adrenalin rush from rescuing the child is fading fast. We can deal with that right now.'

  Sara had to force herself to eat the fruit and yoghurt he unpacked but her appetite soon perked up and she was able to demolish a slice of crusty bread and butter with delicate greed. shlmm that was delicious.'

  ‘Pour some coffee for yourself and for me too.' He handed a vacuum flask to her.

  The intimacy of the moment struck her with poignant bittersweet intensity. She'd poured coffee for him at breakfast so often sometimes in bed sometimes not and she'd always cherished that small service.

  Now her fingers trembled but she managed to get the liquid into the cup and set it in front of him. ‘TeII me about the Queen's Blood ' she said.

  ‘1 know that one of your ancestors found it around the twelfth century. Here'?' He leaned back against a tree trunk and surveyed her with burnished blue eyes. 'That's the accepted story.

  The local peasants have a different one.'

  'Really'?' Sara copied him leaning against the comfortable trunk using her cup as a shield for her face while she sipped .

  'They say that once a queen came through the mountains. A beautiful woman whose dowry was the necklace an ancient heirloom of her house. She was to marry the Emperor-' 'What emperor'?' she asked.

  His wide shoulders lifted. 'Who knows? She never got to him. Her party was ambushed and everyone was slaughtered. The robbers wanted to hold her for ransom but their leader killed her and her blood stained the menhir and hid the necklace. When the robbers searched for it they couldn't find it.'

  Hypnotized by the story Sara said 'Were the robbers your ancestors'?' 'This took place long before the original Considine came through the pass. The peasants say that as she died the Queen was transformed into a-'He paused then said a word in Illyrian.

  ‘A vampire'?' Sara asked lost in the story. for a ghost'?' His beautiful mouth curved. 'Neither. I think the nearest equivalent in English is the word sprite. She appeared as a beautiful woman dangerous and secretive who protected her hoard by luring any who searched for it to their deaths in the forest.'

  Sara shivered again. It took a real effort of will to say lightly, sl'm sure the brothers Grimm heard this tale somewhere.'

  ‘possibly but even now you won't find anyone from the valley here after dark.'

  Sara shivered. 61 don't blame them.'

  He looked at her keenly. 'Does the place scare you'?' She took a moment to sort through her emotions. ‘No ' she said slowly. 'Not scare exactly but I feel that it's waiting for something.' And because she didn't want to think too much about it she asked ‘so when did the first Considine arrive here'?'

  He set his coffee cup down and looked across at the huge stone. Around the twelfth century. Some say he was Greek but all agree he was poor although various ballads describe him as beautiful and kingly and deadly with a sword.'

  ‘AS ancient ballads do ' she said ironically. ‘presumably because they were composed to laud winners not losers.'

  ‘l'd agree. He and his band of mercenaries were coming through the pass on their way to the coast when the sprite appeared to him.' Gabe's voice grew very dry.

  ‘lt appears she'd been waiting for him down the centuries because she offered him the Queen's
Blood if he would marry her and make the valley secure from the brigands who were ravaging it.'

  ‘lf she was still beautiful I bet he agreed even if she was a ghost ' Sara said cynically, trying to shake off the spell the story was casting. She felt as though she'd strayed into another time and place as though the ties that bound her to the twenty-first century were weakening.

  ‘Ah but she appeared to him as an old hag ' he said with a sardonic smile. 'However he was nothing if not resourceful and he instantly saw that this bargain offered a life that promised much better pickings than that of a roving mercenary. So he took the jewels and used them as security to build the castle.'

  He smiled when she demanded 'What happened then'?' ooh they were married and on their wedding night she revealed herself to him in her true form ' he said smoothly. ssome tests of love came into it but of course they lived happily ever after.'

  Outraged she stared at him. 'ls that aII?' 'Basically. There was a lot of fighting before they got rid of the brigands and then they had several strapping sons and set up a dynasty. Eventually one of their descendants became Prince of Illyria.'

  ‘so why did the Queen's Blood stay here in the valley? It's so magnificent I'd have thought it would be removed to the capital when that happened.'

  ‘Ah that's the thing,' he said watching her with an intentness that unnerved her. 'The first Considine promised his wife that the Queen's Blood would never leave the valley permanently. My ancestors were arrogant and tough but you don't argue with a dangerous sprite-even if she happens to be your grandmother however many times removed. The Queen's Blood stayed in the Wolfs Lair.'

  Sara swallowed the last of her coffee. It tasted bitter as bitter as her emotions. ‘Iwish you'd never given it to me to wear ' she said passionately.

  Perhaps it was the story perhaps her strained nerves perhaps just a desperate need to convince him but she did something she'd vowed never to do. Leaning forward she touched his hand. He didn't move but she felt his awareness beat against her the sheer force of his will intimidating in itself.

  She looked up into the dark charismatic face autocratic and formidable and said urgently ‘Cabe I swear to you that I had nothing to do with the theft of the rubies.'

  Even as she spoke she knew it wasn't going to work.

  His face hardened even further and he shook off her hand with a single contemptuous gesture that shattered her composure.

  'Marya's father was the only person who knew where my grandfather hid the Queen's Blood ' he said harshly.

  ‘Once the dictator took over the Wolfs Lair he had this whole place dug over-he even tried to blow up the menhir and only stopped when he was forced to realise that no one had buried anything near it. Then my grandparents were killed and Marya's father was captured. He'd told Marya where the necklace was so at great danger to her life she got into the castle removed it and buried it in her family's cow byre. And there it stayed until the tyrant was dead. Then she contacted me and took me to it. Why the hell would she steal it'?' He got to his feet in one sm00th powerful movement and looked down at her his contempt so plain she shrank back.

  ‘My ancestor married ugliness and found beauty ' he said in a voice that iced through her veins. ‘I thought I'd found beauty in you. At least the theft of the Queen's Blood showed me that it was only skin deep.'

  Sara flinched at the steely note of self-derision in his words but scrambled up eyes flashing and cheeks flaming. ‘1 didn't steal it ' she said hot with defiance. 'You can do everything, wield your power and money like clubs but you can't get from me what I don't have. I don't know what happened' it certainly doesn't seem that Marya would steal the gems.'

  'She didn't.'

  She said hopelessly, 'Has it ever occurred to you that I didn't need to steal them? That if I'd married you I would have had them for as long as I lived'?' ooh yes. It's also occurred to me that to stay married to me you'd have had to be faithful. I assume you realized-unfortunately just a little too late-that that was too much of a sacrifice for you to make.'

  The words hit her like hailstones out of a summer sky cold and implacable and utterly unexpected. But then she'd made love with him only a week after meeting him. Perhaps he thought she was like that with every man she'd gone out with.

  'You never really knew me did you'?' she said unevenly. 'Not that it matters.'

  'Not that it matters ' he agreed his relentless tone matched by the severity of his expression.

  So hurt she couldn't see straight she swivelled away to hide her tears only to blunder into the little rivulet and gasp as she tripped on a turning stone.

  From behind she heard a muttered imprecation and then Gabe caught her one arm beneath her breasts one around her waist and hauled her upright against his aroused body.

  She gasped again and tried frantically to pull away but he turned her in the tight circle of his arms and she looked up into a face set in lines of savage determination into eyes that glittered with desire.

  Gabe didn't say anything' his mouth took hers and she opened her lips to his urgent invasion a white-hot relief beating up through her. AII it took was one kiss and she was lost again. . . .

  He lifted his head but only to say her name in a desperate goaded voice before he kissed her once more as though he was starving for her as though it had been a long heart-weary year for him too.

  As though he needed her as much as she needed him.

  Dimly, she thought of resistance but the thought faded when he invaded her mouth making himself master of her responses. Crushed against his hard addictive body she surrendered to the hunger that clamoured through her. Every sense vital and keen her cells singing with delicious pleasure she came alive again.

  He slid a hand up beneath her jersey. His long fingers closed over her breast and wildfire rioted through her burning away every conscious thought but the need to lose herself in this drugged excitement.

  Strong teeth found the delicate lobe of one ear and gently savaged it sending shudders of anticipation through her. She turned her face into his throat and ran her hands beneath his shirt fingertips tingling when she smoothed over the heated burnished skin finding the pattern of hair across his chest spreading her palm over the driving force of his heart.

  Humiliating though her complete capitulation was she could no more deny him-or herself-what was coming than she could lie to him.

  He kissed her throat then lifted her. Somehow between his arms and the rug he managed to free her of her sweater and the thin shirt she wore beneath it leaving her torso bare except for the plain bra she'd donned that morning. Hot eyes took in her dazed face as he carefully pulled her hair-tie off. Gently he picked up a handful of silken mahogany hair then let it float onto her bare shoulders. A rough sound from his throat tore at her heart.

  'You are so damned beautiful ' he said harshly. 'Like a drug in my veins irresistible and consuming and mindless .'

  She pulled at a button on his shirt. Gabe kissed her again and when at last he lifted his head she'd opened his shirt down the front.

  ‘1 prefer you in silk and lace ' he said his voice deep abut you make even that schoolgirlish bra look sexy.'

  And he bent and clamped his mouth around a peaking prominent nipple suckling her urgently through the thin material.

  Sara gave a gasping incoherent sob and arched into his mouth her body flexible as a bow hands clenched against his chest while he ravished her soul from her body. Incredulously she felt her release shatter within her abruptly sending her over the border into that mysterious erotic place where all that mattered was Gabe. . . .

  'You are hungry ' he murmured and turned her limp body so that he could unclasp her bra.

  Repelled by his blatant satisfaction she opened her eyes. But the scornful words died when she saw his face. He could no more deny this primal craving than she could' resent it they both might but they were trapped in this habit-forming web of passionate need.

  And then he ran a lean forefinger down her breast teasing
her with the lightest of touches and stopping just short of the pleading centre and she knew that for her this love wasn't going away.

  Perhaps if she showed him how much she loved him he would understand that she could never have stolen the necklace. And even as she realized she was fooling herself searching for reasons to placate her pride when all she wanted to do was surrender she Ii|ed her hands and cupped the his cheekbones giving herself up completely to the heady storm of sensation.

  Gabe felt her capitulation in his innermost being. He wanted to feel nothing more complicated than raw lust but although he would have given his soul to be able to throw her on her back and take her coldly dispassionately he couldn't.

  Her slender beauty summoned him strong and soft and warm skin as exquisite as magnolia petals each curve and hollow as familiar as his own face and yet irresistibly intensely alluring. Every muscle in his body tightened. He fought an instinctive drive to bury himself deep, deep inside her and make her his in the most primal most inevitable way.