The Prince's Bride

by Joanne Wadsworth

  “Whatever am I going to do with you?” She lifted his face to hers, pressed a soft kiss against his forehead, then each cheek before settling her mouth over his mouth. She kissed him, long and deep, then she teased the tip of her tongue over his tongue and lost herself in the passion he always brought rising swiftly to the surface within her.

  “Cap’n!” An excited shout as Wills bounded up the stairs and skidded in beside them, a wide smile splitting his face. “The wind is rising. Giovani says he can’t keep the ships hooked together for much longer. Do we sail for Algiers?”

  “We do. Tell him I’ll be there directly.” A firm nod from Anteros, and the boy sprinted off.

  “Go,” she murmured as she stepped back from him. “We can speak again later.”

  He rose, dipped in and stole another heated kiss from her before he strode away.

  Chapter 19

  Several hours later as they neared the Bay of Algiers, Anteros stood at the helm of his ship, the sun skimming the horizon, half sunken and its magnificent glow sending a final spear of orange-red bleeding into the twilight-blue. A few stars appeared, twinkling here and there as he rounded the tip and entered the bay. Ahead, the citadel rose like a sentinel along the land, guarding the desert sands rising high behind it.

  Flanking him on the water, Adrestia sailed in tandem with him, while Olivia stood at the curve of The Decadence’s bow, his woman so close yet also so far away. With her elbows resting on the railing, the night wind blew her hair back like a golden sail, her snowy-white skirts billowing about her slim legs, legs she’d wrapped around him just last night. Hell, she was the only woman who’d ever truly seen right through the façade he always donned. How on earth was he supposed to let her go when all he wanted to do was tie her to his side and ensure she never escaped him again?

  He handed the wheel to Giovani and jogged to the bow of his ship, the distance now between him and Olivia only twenty or thirty feet. “It’s time for you to be out of sight,” he called to her.

  “Of course. I’ll go below deck now.” She grasped her skirts and weaved around the sailors on deck, then when she reached the stairs leading down into the companionway, she snuck a look back at him, clear longing evident in her beautiful golden eyes.

  Likely the same longing that shimmered in his own eyes.

  Blast it all, he was such a fool.

  A lost fool whose heart pined for a woman he couldn’t have, not if he wanted to keep her safe. As she disappeared, he dragged his gaze back to the fortified walls of Algiers.

  The night sky now covered them like a shimmering blanket of black. Time to drop anchor. He gave the order, Adrestia doing the same, their vessels indistinguishable now from any other vessel out on the water.

  Since he’d already formulated a plan with Adrestia and Giovani, he followed through and met his right-hand man at starboard where Giovani lowered a skiff over the side of the ship. They would fetch Shira and bring her back to the ship to speak to Olivia here, where she would be the safest.

  “Be careful, Fratello.” Adrestia blew him a kiss from her vessel, her voice floating to him over the water.

  “I always am.” He wrapped a black headdress around his head to keep his identity hidden as best as he could, then clambered down the roped netting and joined an equally veiled Giovani in the skiff. Seated on the center bench seat, he gripped the oars and rowed them toward shore. Skin damp and his heartbeat thumping madly, he sent a quick prayer skyward for their continued safety this night.

  “Shira already awaits us.” Giovani motioned toward the shore. “Eastern end of the beach. Change course a little.”

  “It is at times like these when her ability astounds me.” Shira stood alone, leaning against a craggy rock wall near the shore. As the waves rolled into the sandy beach, he guided their skiff in, bounded into the knee-deep surf and jogged toward Shira while Giovani remained with the skiff and turned it around for their return trip back. Grasping the old woman’s hands, he murmured, “Have you been well, Shira?”

  “Very well, and we shall all be well tomorrow too, Insha’Allah.”

  “That is good to know.” Through the slits in his headdress, he quickly searched the beach either side of them. “Are you ready to depart?”

  “Yes, take me to your angel, my beloved boy. I have been awaiting this night for a long time. I wish to meet the lady who has seen deep into your soul and wishes to claim you for herself.” Shira passed him a basket holding her pots and special brew. “She has many questions for me this night and I pray I shall be able to enlighten her as to the course she now needs to take.”

  “I need her to return to England.” He propped Shira’s basket on one hip, took her elbow and guided her to his skiff. Giovani aided Shira in, while he stowed Shira’s basket safely in the hull.

  “Marhaba, Giovani.” Shira cupped Giovani’s face with her wrinkled hands as she sat beside him. “How are you this night?”

  The two chatted away while he pushed the skiff deeper into the water, bounded on board and rowed them back toward The Decadence. He came in alongside Adrestia’s roped ladder dangling into the water and taking all care with Shira, aided her up the rigging to the deck. Leaning back toward Giovani with one arm outstretched, he snagged Shira’s basket.

  “As-salamu alaykum, Shira.” Adrestia welcomed Shira with a tearful hug. “I have missed you.”

  “I’ve missed you too, my sweet girl. You do not come to see me nearly often enough.” Shira held Adrestia at arms-length, her gaze sweeping her up and down. “Look at you. You grow more beautiful with each day that passes. The man who will one day be yours will need a great deal of stamina if he wishes to hold onto you.”

  A giggle from his sister as she hooked Shira’s basket over her arm. “Seeing you is a balm to my soul.”

  “As it is to mine too. Show me to your brother’s woman. It is time I met Lady Olivia Trentbury.”

  “Come with me.” Adrestia drew Shira with her toward the stairs leading below deck, the two of them disappearing from his sight.

  “Wait here until Shira is ready to return,” he called to Giovani over the side, his man still seated in the skiff below. He followed the ladies.

  In the doorway of the cabin which Adrestia had given Olivia, the three woman completed introductions then seated themselves on plush pillows before a low table, the bed pushed against one wall to make more room for them.

  Shira set to work adding her special coffee to a pot of hot water, then once done with the preparations, she took ahold of Olivia’s hand and squeezed it. “You have done well in holding your position with your emir.”

  “Emir?” Confusion flickered in Olivia’s eyes as she glanced up at him in the doorway. A look back at Shira. “I’m sorry. I’m not aware of what that word means.”

  “Emir is Arabic for prince,” Adrestia translated for Olivia.

  “Oh I see. I have so many languages I need to learn.” Olivia laughed, her smile wide as she beckoned him closer with one finger. “Does my emir wish to hear my reading?”

  “Only if you wish it, otherwise I will go.”

  “You should stay. I’ve already asked Adrestia to remain here.”

  “Then I’ll stay.” He closed the door with a quiet snick then eased down onto the low pillow next to hers. Unable to help himself, he lifted her fingers to his lips, his need to touch her as necessary as breathing. He crossed his legs, settled her hand on his right thigh.

  She looked into his eyes, hers a little watery.

  “Don’t cry,” he warned with a frown. Otherwise he’d have to take himself to task for upsetting her.

  “Let us begin, for there is too much danger about this night for us to dally.” Shira swirled the coffee pot and the rich and exotic fragrance of her special blend permeated the air. She poured Olivia a cup and encouraged, “Drink it, my child.”

  Olivia sipped from the tiny cup and once she’d finished, handed it back to Shira.

  Shira spilled the remains onto a saucer and s
tudied the markings she saw. Her azure eyes glowed as she traced her wrinkled fingers around the edge of the saucer. With a deep breath, she lifted her gaze to Olivia. “You must pay heed to my words. Your life has reached a fork in the road. If you choose the pathway to the west you will marry a man you do not love. If you choose to follow the pathway to the east, then you must learn that when your emir says no, you must say yes. He will insist he knows best, but his fate is already sealed and now lies in your hands. Spread your wings and fly, my child. You were never meant for any other, not when you’ve always belonged to him.”

  Shira struck an equally intense look at him. “I speak now to you, Emir. Never forget the words I spoke to you the last time we were together. It’s time for you to leave the dark behind and enter into the light. You must accept your new future and allow it to flow into complete alignment with your angel’s. You’ll never regret doing so, provided you cleave unto her, embracing all that you can be together.”

  “My angel is fighting for her life right now.” A snort under his breath. “She wouldn’t be if I’d remained far away from her in the first place.”

  “My beloved boy, deep in your heart you know you can’t live without her. Fight for your future with her.” Shira squeezed his arm. “When one finds such a great love as you two have, they should never let it go.”

  “He is very stubborn,” Olivia stated, her voice breathy.

  “Yes, but he is your stubborn man.” Shira cast a warning look at him. “Your father awaits you. Fight fair but fight well.”

  Chapter 20

  On board The Decadence, Olivia sat on the end of her bed while Anteros paced back and forth in her cabin. Giovani had seen Shira safely back to shore, then they’d set sail. The ship rocked as they continued east toward Sicily, Giovani captaining Anteros’s ship since he’d chosen to remain here with her following her reading. With the hour incredibly late, she picked up the pillows scattered on the floor and dropped them onto her mattress, then in her chemise, climbed into bed. With just the bedsheet covering her, the heat far too oppressive for anything heavier, she patted the other side. “Come and lie beside me, Amati.”

  “We need to talk about Shira’s reading.” He unstrapped his sword belt, pulled his pistol from the front of his tan breeches and placed his weapons on the side table. Boots toed off, he pulled his loose-sleeved white tunic over his head and with his breeches still on, eased down next to her. A thump of the pillow as he settled his head on it.

  She settled back too, her gaze on the planked ceiling above, candlelight playing pretty prisms of light over it. “Let’s talk about the direction I should take in the fork of the road. To the west lies a man I could marry but who I do not love. Shira must be referring to whom awaits me in England should I return there without you.” She rolled onto her side and faced him. “Then there is the east, where you are, where Paradiso lies. Should I travel east—which I currently am—then I must learn that when my emir says no, I must say yes. Would you like to argue against any of those points thus far?”

  “I can’t,” he muttered, his covered legs stretched and feet crossed at the ankle, the gold medallion at his neck gleaming. “Which I find incredibly frustrating.”

  “I particularly liked it when Shira said your fate is already sealed and now lies in my hands.” She lifted her locket and rubbed the engraving—so soothing.

  “You would.” He rolled toward her, his expression studious.

  “It’s time for you to leave the dark behind and enter into the light, Anteros. You must accept your new future and allow it to flow into complete alignment with your angel’s.” She repeated Shira’s reading word for word. “You’ll never regret doing so, provided you cleave unto her, embracing all that you can be together.”

  A groan as he scrunched his eyes shut.

  She caught a lock of his hair falling over his brow and tucked it back. “Do you want to fight for a future with me? As Shira said, ‘When one finds such a great love as we have, they should never let it go.’”

  “I need time to think this all through.”

  “Well, while you’re busy thinking, I’m going to begin cleaving unto you.” Naughtily said as she pushed the bedsheet back and unbuttoned the front flap of his breeches. A shuffle of the fabric down, his cock springing out at her. Meeting his gaze, she grinned. “Can I kiss you here the same way as you kissed me below last eve?”

  “Only if you want to.” His eyes begged for her to say yes.

  “Oh, I want to. Desperately.” Slowly, ever so slowly, she took his shaft in hand, bent and pressed a sweet kiss to the flared head. When he shuddered, a bead emerging and glistening on the head, she lifted her gaze to his. “What do I do now?”

  “Don’t be afraid to take me fully in your mouth. Suck on me. My cock will love every bit of attention you bestow upon it.” He caught the sides of her chemise and dragged it over her head, tossed it aside.

  A swipe of her tongue and she collected that bead then eyes closing, she rolled his taste over in her mouth. Mmm, slightly sweet, slightly salty, although she’d hadn’t taken enough of a taste. More. She needed more. She wrapped her mouth fully around his flared head and sucked strongly. He cupped her face in his hands as she worked her mouth up and down his length, taking him as deep as possible before pulling back and going shallow. More of his essence coated her tongue, which she greedily devoured, her nipples beading tight with desire.

  “Damn, that feels so good.” A heavy rumble in his chest, his eyes rolling back.

  She pumped him with one hand, the other smoothing over his balls which had tightened and drawn up. More sucking. More essence. She soaked in his strength and his taste.

  “Amore, I’m going to come in your mouth if I don’t stop you right now.” He pulled back from her, his shaft so incredibly thick, the head darkening to a deep purple.

  “I hadn’t finished.”

  “I can’t take any more.”

  “I want everything you have to offer.”

  “I can’t offer you anything at all, not when my father is determined in his endeavor to keep us apart. I can’t stand guard over you every hour of every day. Doing so is impossible. Do I need to remind you of how Bruno managed to tear you away from me as evidence?”

  “I’m not choosing any other pathway, other than the one which leads directly toward you.”

  “You are a stubborn woman.”

  “You are a stubborn man.” She scrambled on top of him, straddled his thighs, his cock waving high from the dark nest of curls surrounding it. Rising to her knees, she wrapped her hand around his shaft and rubbed the plump head back and forth against her own slick folds.

  “What are you doing?” He moaned, long and low. “This position is extremely distracting for me, Olivia.”

  “You are like a fine Italian wine, Amati. To understand all the characteristics and complexities of who you are, one must consider that wine and the diverse soil of the ground where the grapes for the wine were grown. Could the roots of the vines have been planted deep within the fields of Naples or Sicily, or on an island where the soil is rich from the love and labor of your grandfather?”

  “My roots were planted and sustained on Paradiso.” He squeezed her breasts, his thumbs grazing her stiffened nipples.

  Heat pooled in her core and dampened that place between her legs which throbbed for his touch. “My roots were planted in England and nurtured by the immense love of my parents. Shira is right. It’s time for you to cleave unto me, embracing all that we can be together. I wish to bind you to me by becoming one.”

  “No.” He lifted his head from the pillow and suctioned his mouth around her nipple.

  “When your emir says no”—she arched her back as he continued to suck and she rubbed his cock harder along her lower folds—“you must say yes.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.” She wriggled and squirmed for more. She needed him terribly, to join them together as one and no more could she wait. She sank down onto his shaft an
d cried out as pain tore through her, her channel filled to the brim with his thick cock. “Oh goodness, that hurts.”

  He shuddered underneath her, his eyes closing and sheer ecstasy flaring across his face. “Don’t move,” he muttered haggardly. “Or I’ll come right now, and you’ll never get to experience the pleasure which should be yours the first time we come together as one.”

  “What should I do?” She grasped his hips, his length imbedded fully within her, the sight of his shaft disappearing into her body painfully delicious. “I want you, Anteros. How do I make this better?”

  “Lean toward me. Kiss me. Don’t hold back.” She leaned in as he instructed, his cock jerking inside her. “Slowly, Amore, slowly. My cock is in heaven and I feel too much.”

  “I’ll go slower.” When she got to within an inch of his mouth, he lifted a touch, captured her lips with his and kissed her with breathless hunger. She kissed him just as hungrily back, then gasped as he massaged her breasts and pinched her nipples. Gently, sweetly, he played with her breasts, then he eased one hand down her torso and fondled her nub.

  The pain slowly eased, and pleasure began to build.

  “Lift up a little, then settle back down on me.” Whispered words against her lips, his fingers still working their wonderful magic over her below.

  She lifted up as he instructed, sank again, her breasts swaying in his hands.

  He tweaked one nipple, the rosy tip arching toward him for more of his pleasurable touch. “Continue to move up and down on me, until you feel more comfortable being seated on top.”

  “Am I doing this right?” She followed his instructions, exposing part of his shaft again, then she closed her eyes as she eased back down. Less pain this time. Slowly up again, higher this time, then down. Tingles radiated out, his cock suddenly hitting a spot inside her which spurred even more pleasure to flow.