“The girl,” Greer insisted. He had thick silver hair, scars lining his face, and the body of a warrior.
“My apologies if I gave you the impression you had the right to question me about my people,” Vasili replied in that smooth, humming tone, and the older man narrowed his eyes. “Now let’s all return to the party, shall we?”
“Father,” the redhead said in a gentle voice—to the old man. Not Vasili’s sisters or daughters, then. Potential girlfriends? Rose wanted to hate them, but their eyes were kind. “Perhaps the girl would like to change into a gown first?”
“What a kind little thing you are, darling.” Vasili patted the top of her head. “But she won’t be joining us.”
Darling. He’d called the redhead darling. A moment ago, he’d called Rose by her name. And with that thought, she realized that he hadn’t called her darling. Not once during this visit. Not while he’d had his fingers inside her, not while he’d tongued her to orgasm.
Disappointment rocked her. No endearments. Did that mean his affection for her had waned?
Oh, he wanted her; she knew that much. He was still hard, after all. But you could screw a woman, even a wife, and not truly like her. And he’d bonded them, so he couldn’t sleep with anyone else. She was the only outlet he had.
“May I escort you back to the ballroom, Your Majesty?” the redhead asked. Without waiting for a reply, she reached out and took Vasili’s hand.
Now Rose hated the girls. Mine, she wanted to scream. He’s mine. No one else was to touch him. Ever. Even so innocent a touch. He’d just had that hand on Rose’s body, inside Rose’s body, and to casually touch someone else . . . Her teeth ground together.
“Actually,” she said, raising her chin, “I would love to join the party. As is. So . . . let’s do this. Maj-ass-tee.”
Chapter Six
He’d had her, Vasili thought, but he hadn’t had her. And now he had to parade Rose around the ballroom with his enemies surrounding her—and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do to stop the madness. Not without drawing more attention to her. Worse, he had to do it with the intoxicating taste of her in his mouth, the feel of her burned into his hands. And a hard-on only she could relieve.
She remained by his side, at least, as she watched the happenings through wide eyes. Both a blessing and a curse. She was here, but he couldn’t claim her. Couldn’t stop every single man from staring at her. Men he wanted to kill, his own as well as Greer’s. But he couldn’t blame them. She was enchanting. That fall of white-blond hair, those cherry red lips swollen from his kisses. Even dressed like a warrior, she was the most elegant woman in the room.
And she was his. He wanted to announce that fact more than he wanted to throw her on his bed and strip her. Well, maybe not quite that much. But damn it! Everyone needed to know whom she belonged to! In time, he promised himself. After he’d assured her safety. Maybe.
He led the group—Rose, Greer, Jasha, Grigori, and the princesses—to a quiet corner, as far from the masses as possible. There, he positioned Rose against the wall, with half of his body shielding her from the others.
Awkward silence seized them. He was glad. He preferred silence to questions. But, of course, a few minutes later Greer had to ruin everything. As always.
“So tell me, King of the North. Which of my daughters do you favor?” Greer asked him. “Which will you choose to be your bride and end the war between us?”
Rose stiffened. “Bride?”
He reached back, grabbed her wrist, and squeezed, all without looking at her. At the moment of contact, he hissed out a breath. So hot, so soft. So his. He wanted more. Wanted her under him, over him, shouting his name. “Now is not the time for such a discussion.”
“When, then?” the king insisted. “That’s the reason I’m here, isn’t it?”
Rose dug her nails into Vasili’s hand, drawing blood.
“You’re here for peace talks, nothing more,” he said.
A vein nearly burst from the king’s forehead as another bout of silence settled over them. The princesses inched away from their father, as if they feared being struck. They probably did. Vasili had heard about the king’s fearsome temper.
“Prince Jasha,” the redhead said with a shy—desperate?—smile. Funny. She knew all of their names, yet Vasili couldn’t recall hers. “Would you care to dance?”
His brother’s violet gaze dropped to his boots. He opened his mouth to reply, but no words emerged. Finally he shut his mouth and gave the redhead his back, glaring out at the circle of ladies closest to them.
Her cheeks flamed with embarrassment as she lowered her arm.
“Men,” Rose grumbled with sympathy, speaking in Vasili’s language. “Forget him, sweetie. He’s obviously an ass.”
Vasili pressed his lips together to stop his laugh. At least she’d spoken the correct words.
“What’s your name, girl?” Greer snapped at Rose.
“She’s mute,” Vasili said. “And her name is unimportant.”
“What’s the matter, darling?” Oh, the anger in that tone. She would punish him later, though he wasn’t exactly sure of his crime. “Embarrassed of me?”
Embarrassed? When he wanted to beat his chest and warn every other man away? When he would have been happy if she tattooed his name on her chest? A suggestion he would later make. Still. He wasn’t sure how she affected him like this when no one else ever had. Surely the bond wasn’t fully responsible. He’d reacted to her before bonding them, or he wouldn’t have fucking bonded them.
“Like I said,” he snapped. “Mute.”
Greer watched the entire exchange with anger sparking in his eyes. “A slave would never make a good wife, you know.”
She isn’t a slave! “You know this from experience?” he asked smoothly.
Rose’s nails were now embedded in his bone. He could feel warm drops of blood sliding down his arm. He reached back with his other hand and applied pressure to the center of her palm, harder . . . harder . . . but she held steady. Damn her, when would she give?
He eased the pressure rather than break her bone. Finally she released him. He wanted to smile. She’d outlasted him, and he was irrationally proud of her. Again.
“Yes,” Greer said. “I do. Though I have not bonded with any of my women, I keep five of them to attend my needs. One is a slave, and she is by far my biggest mistake. Greedy, grasping, desperate. So keep your girl, if that’s what you wish, but take one of my daughters. I want peace, but I cannot trust you without the marital bond.” Nails raked down his back, hard, and he nearly hissed in pain. And pleasure. He’d endure Rose’s torturing over any other woman’s caressing. The little wildcat. “When you yourself refuse to wed any of your women? Besides, Greer, I’m not the one who attacks without provocation.”
Those nails began to pet him. Again, he wanted to smile.
Greer ran his tongue over his teeth. “I have other offers, you know. Other kingdoms eager for an alliance.”
“Yet you came to me first. I’m moved, really, but that doesn’t mean I’ll give you what you crave.”
A growl. “The Western and Southern kingdoms despise you for your strength, yet they have not risen against you. Yet. But they will. Mark my word, they will. There is already talk.”
He reached back a second time—he couldn’t not touch her—and traced his fingers along the waist of Rose’s pants. Felt her belly quiver. Cut off his possessive grunt of approval. “They fear my strength as much as they hate it. They will not attack.”
“They will when I agree to help them defeat you. Which I will do if you refuse this opportunity.”
He stiffened. “I don’t like threats.”
“And I don’t like issuing them. But I want this alliance, more than anything.”
The man’s desperation relaxed him. He resumed his exploration of Rose’s pants, twisting the
button, moving the zipper. His finger glided over her panties, and she gasped. Her nails dug into him once more, but not to hurt. To urge him on. “And what’s in this for you, hmm?” Had that breathless tone been his?
Greer sighed. “I’m old. I’m tired of all the fighting. I want to ensure my kingdom is properly cared for when I’m gone.”
Truth or a lie, Vasili didn’t know. But the sentiment he understood. He wanted his kingdom safe, as well—but he wouldn’t be backed into a corner. “I could kill you and place a new king on your throne. One who will adore me. What think you of that plan?”
“I like it,” Rose whispered. She arched against him, a command to attend her. He did. He cupped her between her legs, rubbing. Even with the thin cotton barrier, he could feel her moisture, her need for him, and he reacted. His cock, which had never truly deflated, grew and hardened.
He fought the urge to whip around, press himself against her, drop to his knees, taste her again, to have her, here, now, in front of everyone, or drag her away without a word to his guests. He needed her, wanted her, had to have her, and the wait was impossible. But he didn’t allow himself to do any of that. He would be patient, take care of territory business like a good boy—no matter the cost to his sanity—and then himself.
“You need a new plan,” Greer said. “Before I die, I’ll either have joined with you or defeated you. That, I swear.”
Vasili stilled, the vow ringing in his ears. If he failed to wed one of the princesses, Greer would ensure their minor skirmishes became full-blown battles. That was what he was truly saying. People would die. Lands would be burned. Was one life—Rose’s life—worth that? These people trusted him. Needed him. Relied on him.
“I need time,” he gritted out.
Greer nodded, as if that were the answer he’d expected. “Do not take too long. But meanwhile. Girls.” He waved them closer. “Tell King Vasili all about yourselves so that he might know you better.”
“Wait, what?” Rose suddenly demanded, pulling from his touch entirely. “Did you just say you needed time? To decide among them?”
He wanted to howl.
“Isn’t that just a party in a box?” she gritted out. “I’m outta here.”
“No! You—”
“I’ll do it,” Jasha said, cutting him off. “I’ll wed one of the princesses.”
Vasili stopped breathing, afraid he’d misheard. “Are you sure?” Whether his brother’s claim was a token or not, Vasili didn’t care. He grasped onto the offer like a lifeline.
His brother nodded. “I’m sure.”
To save Vasili from losing Rose, or because Jasha desired one of the princesses for his own and was too shy to say so? Again, Vasili didn’t care. Sweet, sweet lifeline.
“Do you find this acceptable, Greer?” he demanded.
The old king thought for a moment, then nodded. “A union with royalty is a union.”
“Good. It’s agreed. Jasha may choose one of your daughters and wed her, and you will leave my people and my lands alone. Forever.”
“Agreed. But the wedding must be soon,” the old king insisted. “I was willing to give you, the king, time. The prince will not be afforded the same luxury.”
Jasha gave a stiff nod. “I don’t care when it happens. A wedding is a wedding.”
Vasili could have kissed him. “Enjoy the rest of the party, men, ladies. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” Vasili grabbed Rose’s wrist and dragged her out of the ballroom for the second time that night.
“Dismiss the guard,” she ground out when they reached the hallway. “I want to talk to you. And by talk, I mean peel the skin from your bones and hear you scream.”
“Kinky, but no.” He wasn’t taking a chance that they would be interrupted again. “This area isn’t private enough.” He didn’t turn back to her, but coiled around several corners, pounded up a flight of stairs and down another hallway. Finally, he reached his wing of the palace.
Servants were tending to the party, so each room was deserted. He bypassed the bathing room, his workout room, his entertainment room, and headed straight into his bedroom.
Large bed. Four posters, velvet sheets. Silver, the color of her eyes. He’d had them made earlier that year. He stopped at the edge and turned to face her.
Her eyes were narrowed, her lips pulled tight in a scowl. She was panting, shoulders lifting and lowering in quick succession, as if she wanted to punch him but was restraining herself. Just barely.
“You needed time?” Although they were alone, she still spoke in his language.
She wanted to hash that out now? Fine. He would multitask. “Yes,” he said, unbuttoning his shirt. “I called you a slave and a mute, too, so feel free to slap me around while you shout.”
“You threaten me and call me names, and that’s always been foreplay. But the fact that you needed to think about whether or not to kill me so you could marry one of your princesses is insulting!”
Insulting? Try ingenious. His shirt fell from his shoulders, leaving his torso bare—except for the blades he had stashed on his arms, both of his tattoos covered. “I would never kill you, Rose. Ever.”
“Rose.” She laughed without humor. “There you go again, calling me by my name. You bastard!”
A bastard? For that? “I’m lost,” he admitted, kicking off his boots before unfastening his pants, pushing them to the floor, and stepping out of them. There were blades strapped to his thighs and ankles, too.
“What happened to ‘darling’?” she lashed out, careful not to look at the hard cock peeking from the waist of his underwear.
He blinked. She was angry that he hadn’t called her darling? A meaningless endearment he used for everyone?
“Were you going to pick the redhead?” Her voice rose. “You called her ‘darling’ fast enough. Never mind. Don’t tell me. Just tell me how you were going to manage a new marriage if you weren’t going to off me. I seem to recall you telling me death was the only way out of the first one.”
“And that’s still true, baby, but here are the facts. I can’t think when I’m with you. I’m reduced to two words. Mine and more. And I don’t call you darling anymore because—” He pressed his lips together. Do it. Tell her. But he’d never said the words before. Never thought them before. “Because I don’t want to call you what I call everyone else. You’re special.” She meant something to him.
Her features softened, those silver eyes going liquid. “Really?”
“Yes.” He closed the distance between them and cupped her jaw. So soft, so delicate. “And I never would have abandoned you. I was going to toss the princess in a palace far from here, let her call herself my wife, and shack up with you.” War averted, body and mind satisfied. “But now I don’t have to. Now we can be together.” In secret, he thought with a frown.
He didn’t want to hide her, though. But he would. To keep her safe, he would do anything.
Rather than softening her further, his admission left her sputtering. She jerked from his clasp and backed away, his hands already mourning the loss of her. “How sweet of you. And how about this? I’ll go find another man, let him live in my apartment, let him tell everyone he’s my husband, and then I’ll return to you.”
Oh, hell, no. He got in her face, breath suddenly like fire in his nose. “Touch another man, call another man anything, and I will find a way to enter your dimension and murder him in front of you.”
“I’ll take that as a ‘Do whatever you want, Rose.’” She pushed him, hard, and he stumbled backward. “To get here, all I had to do was think about you. To go home, I figure all I have to do is think about my apartment. Right?”
“You’re staying right here.” He lunged.
She waved her fingers, smiled too sweetly and—
Disappeared.
He flew through air, just missing her. “No. Rose!” Righting himself,
he swung left and right, searching for her, any sign of her, his heart pounding against his ribs, that heated breath still sawing in and out. There wasn’t a single trace of her.
“You little witch!”
She’d gone home. Well, this was her home now, and it was time she learned and accepted.
She’ll be back, he told himself. One week, and she would be back. She wouldn’t be able to stop herself.
He almost rubbed his hands together as his blood flamed yet another degree. He did laugh. This, he realized, was just foreplay for him. Like the threats and the name-calling were foreplay for her. Every time she left, he only wanted her more.
Oh, how he enjoyed her.
Oh, how he would have her. In every way imaginable.
One week, he thought again. He had some planning to do.
Chapter Seven
Maybe she’d overreacted, Rose thought the next day as she cocooned herself in the cold sheets of her bed. Alone. Aching. As if the fire Vasili ignited had never been doused. Had she stayed with him, she could have woken up in his arms. They could have made love. Down and dirty, nothing taboo. She was more certain than ever that he wouldn’t allow insecurities or hesitation on her part. He would demand everything. And she would give it. Willingly. Eagerly.
But he’d thought about making another woman his “wife” and she’d felt as if he had just punched her in the stomach. Her fury and her jealousy had raged out of control. She couldn’t stand the thought of him with someone else, even for appearances. Even to save his people and his land.
Selfish hussy.
She wished she had a girlfriend to talk to about him, but over the years she’d cut everyone from her life. Or they had run from her. She worked, she trained, she thought about Vasili, and that was it. Which was his fault, damn it! After that first visit to his world, she’d begun to pull herself out of this one. She knew that now. As if she’d known she no longer belonged here. As if she belonged with him.
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