A Heart's Chance

by Paula Calloway

  Her moans encouraged and she sucked while his hand guided her up and down his long veined shaft until her own body shivered in delight. She released him with a pop and grabbed his rigid cock with her hand. “Make me take all of you.”

  “Ilona.” He growled and shoved his hips forward, his gaze fixed as her mouth slid back onto his engorged erection. Ever careful, he avoided gagging her, but tightened his grip on her hair. Her unrelenting sucks summoned his nectar. Unable to fight her, he thrust deep into her mouth. His pumping vigorous, he tilted back her head and stretched her throat. With a grunt, he poured his seed over her tongue and admired how her swallows drew every drop.

  She sucked him dry, but didn’t stop until his warm flaccid muscle hardened in her mouth. Slow enough to tantalize, she eased back and licked her lips. “Delicious, Mikeli.”

  His maneuver gentle, he snatched her up and tossed her back onto the bed. “My turn, Ilona.” Dropped down on one knee with his arms under her sexy thighs, he grinned while his fingers opened her lustrous folds. He lowered his head, licked the length of her moist slit until his lips encircled her sensitive clit then kissed and coaxed the shy nubbin from under its hood. Her squirms ignored, he licked the velvet entrance then eased his tongue inside her snug and inviting pussy. With his face buried against her, he delved into her sweet passage.

  “Mikeli.” She fisted his hair, thrust up her hips and met his probes. Desperate for him, she rode his tongue with dire need. “More, yes.”

  His body flexed and thrummed when the clamp of her muscles demanded even more. He propelled her into the heat of a climax. Relentless in his pursuit of her sweet essence, he sucked her hooded pearl, licked the satin slit and tongued her hot tunnel until her uncontrolled bucks threatened his hold. With the delivery of one long slow lap, he stood and raised her legs over his forearms.

  “You promised me punishment, Mikeli.”

  “I never break a promise, Ilona.” The crown of his thick length slid along her glistening folds and nestled in her hungry sheath. He plunged his unyielding solid length along her eager inner walls with a possessive growl, retracted and sank into her again. Pressed tight against her, he groaned when her velvet pussy encased him in heaven. Her gasp declared he bordered on too deep, but her expression assured her want of more. His action repeated with dynamic thrusts and vigorous strokes, he increased his pace with her every wanton moan.

  She reached for him in vain and surrendered the attempt. “Right there!” Her flung back head accompanied her screamed release.

  Merciless in his drive, he hammered his swollen cock into her silken passage and reveled in the creaminess of her orgasm. “You feel fantastic.” He unloaded his seed, pumped her until both panted with repletion then came down on top of her and kissed her shoulder.

  Ilona squirmed. “I am not a bed, my lord.”

  Mikeli kissed her shoulder. “If I need such you will be exactly that.” He nuzzled her neck. No matter how much anger the woman stirred in him, he could never resist her, would never refuse her and would never turn from her. “I love you, Ilona.”

  She rested her cheek against the top of his head. “Don’t say such.”

  His sigh weary, he closed his eyes. “I will never cease to confess my heart for you.”

  Ilona wiggled her hips and shoved her palms against his chest. “You should.”

  Mikeli pushed up and granted her the requested space. “Why?”

  “Because it drives me to do things you find irksome. Like this.” She raked her nails down his chest with a soft laugh.

  His jaw clenched at the pain, he glanced down at the raised welts and the occasional trickle of blood left in their wake. He leveled his gaze on her lovely face. “Did you think to make me forget, my lady?”

  Her expression innocent, Ilona shivered. “Forget what, my lord?”

  Mikeli stood. “Your punishment.”

  “You did that.”

  “You thought what? Come here.” With a lecherous chuckle, he seized her waist, sat on the bed and yanked her across his lap. “As your lord and husband, this is my right.” His raised hand landed on her rounded backside with a loud clap.

  In a scramble to escape, Ilona clutched his thigh and tried to push up. The unyielding press of his forearm across her upper back pinned her in place. “My lord, please! I beg you. Please no more.”

  “I have missed your begging, my lady, and that is a bad thing.” Mikeli smirked. His large palm unleashed another stinging smack. Excited by the redness of her curved ass, he welcomed the hardening of his cock. He smacked her backside twice more then lifted his hands to grant her escape.

  She scrambled to her feet. “How dare you!”

  “Never spanked before, my lady?”

  Ilona shook with anger. “No and you will not start now.”

  On his feet in the blink of an eye, Mikeli seized her waist and drew her lithe figure against his solid body. “I’ll do whatever I take a notion to.” He coerced her toward the bed. “Hands and knees, my lady. Or else.”

  His tone left little doubt failure to comply meant her punishment intensified beyond her pain threshold. “Mikeli—”

  “Remembering my name now, my lady?” He eyed her glistening slit. “Just what we need.” As his fingers plunged inside her velvet pussy, he relished her wanton moan. His strokes slow and deep, he collected their mingled cream from her drenched passage. “I have decided your punishment.”

  Ilona pushed back into his touch. “Hmmm, yes, more. I can take this punishment all day.”

  “If only such were it.” Mikeli withdrew his touch, smeared their nectar over the entrance of her backside then slathered the remaining cream over the head of his veined shaft. Positioned on his knees behind her, he grasped her hips.

  Panicked, she tugged against his hold. “My lord, no—”

  “Relax.” His unhurried and steady push buried his erection deep inside her ass. He leaned forward. “Did I hurt you, Lady Ilona?”

  She shook her head. “I, uh, Mikeli…” The skate of his hand around her hip stole her breath. His middle finger settled on her clit.

  He slid his finger across the hooded pearl with a calculated glide. “How long can you take me in you like this, my lady?”

  She shuddered at his erotic massage in conjunction with the slow stroke of his hardness. “I’m at your mercy, my lord.”

  “Good.” He straightened, withdrew, buried his thick full length with a grunt and repeated the action. “We’ll see.”

  Chapter Nine

  Two years passed.

  The war raged, destroyed, murdered and seemed endless. Mikeli lost troops, land and holdings to numerous and more powerful forces. Spread thin and weakened, he hated the manner in which fate thrust him into alliances more to help him than to benefit his beloved daughters. In order to hold his outnumbered position and, with no other choice available, he relented and allied himself with more lords via his three remaining oldest daughters. But even they failed to turn the tide.

  Ilona spent her every waking minute drilling into her youngest daughter she was next on the block for placement in the highest bidder’s bed.

  Marija missed her father dearly and her heart broke while her mother’s tales twisted their way into her world. She watched in agony as the day closed in and her last sister left without a smile.

  Mikeli slammed his gauntleted fist on the war room desk and shoved the papers from his sight. “No, no and no.” Agitated, he paced the floor.

  Juris folded his arms over his chest. “Come Lord Mikeli, you heavily drained your financial resources trying to meet the dowries of your other eight daughters. I’m merely asking for the one with the smallest dowry.”

  “But inherits all I own.” He sneered. “You ask for what I cannot, will not give. My daughters always possessed the right to decide and only one ever chose what could be called best for me over her heart. All the men my daughters accepted ranged close to their age. You, Juris, are eighteen years younger than I. Such an age gap a
ssures her a widow within ten years, but not before you destroy her and prove Ilona right. Marija is my heart and her happiness matters above all else to me.”

  “But my troops will strengthen yours far greater than the last three additions and turn this battle in your favor.”

  Mikeli exhaled a growled breath. “In exchange for the hand of my most powerful heir and her soul. No. I refuse your offer.”

  “Then I shall align myself with your enemy and simply overrun you. I’ll look for you on the field of battle.” Juris turned his back and grabbed the door handle.

  Without a word, the warrior drew and flung his dagger. The blade bit into the doorframe mere inches from his arrogant enemy’s ear. He narrowed his eyes when the man turned. “After you leave my presence, the next time I see you, you are in my sights as a target. I have never missed a desired target in my life. Never forget that, Juris.”

  “Rest assured, I won’t.”

  Mikeli clenched his jaw when the man departed. Incensed, he roared at the ceiling. “I’m out of time!”

  Marija rushed in the door. “Father?”

  In the blink of an eye, his expression softened as his gaze settled on her small figure. Lengthened strides carried him across the floor in a mere second. He embraced the child considered most precious, and kissed the top of her head. The heartfelt emotion that raged through his veins ignored, he smiled. “I love you, Marija.” Her nod against his chest compelled him to clutch her even more.

  “I love you, too, Father.”

  At a loss, Mikeli simply held the brightest star in his life. Juris’s forces might end this madness, but at what cost? He hugged her tightly. No, never this price.

  Marija pulled back. “Are you all right, Father?”

  He released her and winked. “I could sure use a sweet cake.”

  She leaned up and kissed his cheek. “I’ll make it myself.”

  When his most precious possession exited, Mikeli sighed. Regret lay heavy on his shoulders. How can I give my heart to any man who will not put her first?

  Vilhelm knocked on the open door. “My lord, pardon the intrusion, but a Prince Cáel seeks an immediate conference with you.”

  “Bid him rest for the night as I am tired of talk.”

  “Yes, my lord.”

  Cáel stepped into view. “This talk cannot wait, my lord.”

  His immortality lost with the death of his beloved, Mikeli understood no celestial would recognize his previous identity. He locked the silver gaze of a man an inch taller than himself. The scent undeniable, he knew what the prince was and what the man sought. Tired of the on-going battles, he motioned the heavenly being toward a chair. “If this is talk of alliances I am truly not in the mood.”

  He strode into the room and waited until the door shut. “Word has spread across many nations and most wait to see the outcome, Lord Mikeli. Lord Juris’s departing words of taking what he sought offended me. Your daughter’s gentleness of heart is widespread through many realms.”

  “And you’ve seen her before.” Mildly surprised by the prince’s nod, he raised an eyebrow and proffered a slow smile. He understood fate lured the man for scent sparked familiarity, eye-to-eye contact revealed possibility and touch assured probability, but only when a woman slept deep through the night did a celestial being truly recognize his soul mate. “Prince, I cannot give her.”

  Cáel raised his hand. “No, my lord. I do not ask you to give her to me as such should be her choice. I ask you to let me court the lady with all the proper protocol.”

  Mikeli sat in the large chair behind the desk. “Court her.”

  “Win her, my lord. Let me earn her love.”

  “And in exchange for the privilege to court her?”

  His smile confident, Cáel sat. “My troops under your command. I assure you my forces far outnumber your enemies. My men can handle five of theirs any given day and I can manage three of my own men. My forces are a power unlike any you’ve seen in this realm.”

  Aware of what sat before him, Mikeli understood this alliance swayed the battle, but only if the celestial before him ordered such. “Anything else?”

  “Simply your word if a forced choice arises, I am given priority to her hand. You have my word I will never hurt her. Your honor far exceeds any I dealt with before, Lord Mikeli.” He stood and offered his hand.

  Duplicated actions met with a firm handshake. “Love her and earn her love.”

  Cáel smiled with the deepest warmth at the emotion in the stronghold master’s eyes. “I will.”

  Mikeli released the firm handshake. “Forgive me if I seem to push, but I am being trounced on the battlefield. May I rely on your troops within a month?”

  “Two days, my lord. They’ll assemble in the open field behind your stronghold between the tree line and the hill beyond.”

  “Thank you.” He eyed the opening door. “Marija. Come in. I wish you to meet Prince Cáel.”

  Marija froze. The graceful splendor of the man who approached stole her breath. Black knee-high boots caressed powerful legs until tan fitted pants contoured muscled thighs, narrow hips and a firm backside. A white swordsman shirt hugged a trim waist, but the untied laces and open neckline revealed a smooth broad chest while the sleeves flowed over brawny arms.

  The powerfully built prince stood six foot one and weighed two hundred twenty pounds. Long platinum hair flowed over wide shoulders and rested just below his shoulder blades. A curved scar from his right eye to the corner of his mouth marred his lightly tanned complexion. She stared into the warmest silver eyes.

  Cáel captured her hand and bowed. He brushed his lips across the back of her middle knuckle and straightened. “My lady.”

  Marija swallowed hard. “Who are you and why are you here?”

  He caressed the back of her hand with his thumb. “My name is Prince Cáel, my lady, and I’ve come to support your father in his efforts to bring peace.”

  She pulled away from his soft grip, but her gaze remained fixed on his face. “Father?”

  “He speaks the truth, Marija.” His daughter’s stunned nod given with her pivoted departure, Mikeli grimaced. “Her mother can be a bad influence. Please give my daughter time.”

  Cáel smiled. “It’s not in my nature to force one against their wishes, but I will not stand for another to do such to her either. I must gather my forces for you.”

  With the prince shown from the room, he strode into the kitchen, leaned against the wall and studied his occupied daughter. I pray you can love her as I do and even more, Cáel, but also that you win her heart and protect it. He returned to his war room and outlined a plan.

  Chapter Ten

  Two days later.

  Dressed in her usual attire, Marija stuck her head in the door of the war room. “Father, Filip said you have somewhere to go. Can I ride with you?”

  Mikeli looked up at her, his smile warm. “By all means. On your new horse?” At her nod, he stood, ushered her outside and saddled her black stallion while a soldier readied his destrier. With his fingers laced together, he bent over and boosted her onto the stallion’s back. He handed her the reins and patted her knee before he mounted his own horse.

  His smiled nod accompanied by his directive point, signaled her to lead. She spurred her mount forward into an easy lope, her father at her side until they reached the crest of the hill.

  “Whoa.” With her horse’s bridle seized, the warrior halted her mount with his destrier. “Impressive.” The meadow displayed numerous foot soldiers and cavalry. On the horizon, a large pair of shimmering wings stretched. Another larger set lifted a dragon into the air. He turned his head toward his daughter and leaned forward to greet the approaching prince.

  Cáel half-bowed. “As promised, my lord. My lady.” He bowed deeper then straightened.

  Mikeli dismounted. “Much appreciated. Would you assist my daughter’s dismount, Prince?”

  “Be honored.” He moved to her side, reached up and grasped her waist. He lowe
red her down, set her on her feet and stepped back. “My lady.” He proffered a sweeping bow, straightened then nodded to the stronghold master. “My lord.”

  “I thank you as I’m certain my daughter does.”

  “Yes. Forgive me.” Marija eyed the two men and absently stroked the stallion’s soft muzzle.

  Cáel motioned over a soldier. “See to their mounts. My lady, my lord, this way.”

  She lagged behind the powerful warriors and compared them. Side-by-side the men were impressive. With the prince a bit taller, less broad and more muscled, she hoped never to witness combat between them. The paused stride of the younger man earned her gasp, but the capture of her gaze by an intense silver one rattled her senses.

  His smile warm, he fell in step beside the maiden. “My lady is preoccupied.”

  At her lack of response, Mikeli dropped back and draped his arm around his daughter’s shoulder. “Marija worries more than she needs. The mounts over the hill are yours as well?”

  Aware most of those of supernatural nature remained unseen by mortal eyes. Cáel tore his gaze from the delightful maiden. “Yes. Dragons, griffons and the likes. I did not lie about my forces and intend to keep my word.”

  “As do I.”

  Even with the warmth of the two much larger unarmored men on either side of her, Marija shivered. What word?

  “My lord, please forgive the focus of my attention on the lady.” He turned to her and smiled. “Did you ever meet a dragon, my lady?” At her slight headshake, he raised his hand and motioned a creature closer. “Allow me to introduce you to a sky dragon.”

  The creature seemed like it walked out of a fairytale. She stepped back into a wall of warm muscle. “Sorry, Father. It’s beautiful. May I touch?”