Magic After Dark Boxed Set (Six Book Bundle)

by Deanna Chase

  Cinderella’s head snapped towards the door, then just as suddenly her gaze fell to the floor and she swallowed hard, color coming into her cheeks.

  Reina glanced toward the voice, and only long hours of schooling kept her expression neutral.

  By Cinderella’s reaction, Reina was positive this was the man she loved, and this man just so happened to be the Prince everyone was so excited about.

  Looks like the imminent homecoming was a lot more imminent than anyone knew.

  “Hello, Cinderella,” he said, his voice warm and his attention focused completely on the girl. He was a very good-looking man, thick black hair resting against tan skin, green eyes displaying intelligence, the slight lines around them telling of a good sense of humor. Still, blue eyes were better, and a man without dimples really wasn’t worth a second glance.

  Not looking at him, Cinderella responded, “Hello, Henry, this is Reina. She and her husband started working here recently.”

  He gave a quick nod in Reina’s direction, but his eyes went right back to Cinderella, who was still not looking directly at him. “I welcome any new friend of Cinderella’s.”

  Reina smiled at that. This man was so wrapped around this little blonde’s finger, it was almost an affront to her as a Fairy Godmother. If the consequences weren’t so severe, she’d be laughing right now. “She’s a very easy girl to be friends with,” Reina responded, warmth in her voice to put the man at ease.

  “Yes, she is,” he agreed, his voice deepening the slightest bit.

  “What can I do for you, Henry?” Cinderella asked, standing but still not quite meeting his eyes.

  “It seems there is to be a ball,” he said, and Reina noticed the flash of annoyance that crossed his face with that announcement.

  “Henry is a messenger for the king,” Cinderella explained for Reina’s benefit, coming closer to Henry to get the thick parchment in his hand.

  So that was how the prince could just show up at someone’s door without the household having a screaming fit, huh? Why the hell was he running around playing dress down while having everyone believe he was outside the country and just now coming home? He must have been doing this quite a while, considering the build up of feelings between him and Cinderella.

  Cinderella took the offered paper from the disguised prince, and Reina noticed the subtle movement Henry used so his fingers could brush Cinderella’s.

  “I guess this means the Prince is back?” asked Reina, more to give Cinderella a chance to breathe rather than truly needing the answer.

  “Yes. His Majesty declares a ball is needed to welcome His Highness home.”

  For yet another reason to not look at Henry, Cinderella was reading the announcement. “Stepmother will be very pleased to learn of this,” she said softly.

  “What about you? Aren’t you pleased?”

  Her eyes were direct on his for the first time. “Why would I be pleased?”

  He shrugged, and Reina could see the veil covering his eyes, telling of long practice shielding his real feelings. “Don’t all women want to meet a prince? Dream of marrying one?”

  Hurt covered Cinderella’s features. “Do you truly think so little of me, that I would be swayed by such a thing? That I would want to marry a title, and not a man I love?”

  “No, Cinderella, I’m sorry,” Henry said, his hand coming up without forethought to stroke her face. “Never. Never would I think such a thing about you. I’m just feeling a little jaded after seeing all the responses to the announcement.”

  Cinderella went stock still at the first touch of his fingers. Henry seemed to realize as well that he was touching, probably for the first time, the face of the woman he loved.

  It was such a beautiful moment, so of course Cinderella’s stepsisters came tromping in to ruin it. “Well, well, I see we have a message waiting for us,” the skinny one said, causing Cinderella to jump back from Henry, once again not looking at him.

  Both stepsisters’ eyes roamed hungrily over Henry, and Reina thought over what animals she should turn them into. No matter what animal came to her mind, though, it seemed such an insult to the animal she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

  “What a day,” murmured one to the other. “First our new handyman, now our favorite messenger.”

  “The King is going to have a ball,” said Cinderella, her voice displaying a hint of anger, the first Reina had ever heard from her.

  The skinny one grabbed the message from Cinderella’s hand. “It’s true,” she said, after looking over it quickly. She grabbed her sister’s hand and ran out of the room, calling out, “Mother!”

  Cinderella turned to the man. “You should leave before Stepmother comes back.”

  It was obvious the man did not want to leave, but he held back his instinctive negation. Instead, he said, “The King’s decree says every unmarried female is to come to the ball. That means you should go.”

  Cinderella shook her head. “I have no desire to go, Henry.”

  Without warning, Henry grabbed her hand, pulling her so that their bodies aligned, nearly touching. “I’ll be there, Cinderella, and I want more than anything to dance with you.” With a last lingering look, Henry left.

  Cinderella’s hand absentmindedly wandered up to her throat, her eyes indicating her thoughts were anywhere but the present. “Cinderella,” Reina said gently.

  “Huh?”

  “We should finish the floors.”

  “Of course,” she said, and sank to the floor to finish her job, so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn’t realize Reina was still in the room. Reina watched over her, the occasional indulgent smile stealing over features.

  The rest of the morning saw the house in an uproar over news of the impending ball. Visitors arrived at odd times, and the continuous voices of women constantly whipped around the halls.

  When lunch came around, Reina found herself in the kitchen alone, grateful that Cook and Cinderella were at different tasks around the house and she could finally get a few minutes of peace.

  “Damn, women are loud. I swear I heard them over the hammering in the barn.”

  Tiernan’s grumbling voice alerted Reina to his presence in the kitchen, so she turned to greet him.

  The words died in her throat.

  Tiernan’s chest was bare, and it was her first time ever seeing him in this state.

  He had a lean, muscular build. His upper body was v-shaped, and his wide shoulders went down to a nicely sculpted chest, to a stomach ridged with muscle. His trousers were a little loose, and she noticed he had a v even there along his stomach and hips going down his thighs, the lines trailing delectably to that bulge between his legs. Her eyes lingered there, and she wished desperately that last night she’d had the presence of mind to disrobe him.

  Then she remembered where she was, and praying he was too busy to notice where her gaze had been, she finally looked him in the eye.

  He noticed, the bastard. Of course he did. Oh yes, there they were, those dimples out full force in all their majestic glory. “Well, Fairy Godmother Reina, what exactly are you thinking about?”

  “Our assignment, of course,” she responded, not giving him the satisfaction of seeing her ruffled. “What else is there to think about?”

  “What else indeed?” he asked, going to collect his plate of food. “I assume with all the thinking you were doing, you have something to tell me?”

  Smug bastard. She noticed he didn’t bother to put anything over his chest. “As a matter of fact, I have many interesting things to tell you.”

  Tiernan listened quietly as she related the events of the morning. “The file never mentioned the Prince’s deception.”

  “No, it didn’t. That implies a certain laxness on the part of the intel gathering which I will investigate when we get back, but I can only see it working in our favor right now. She is very obviously in love with him and he with her.”

  Tiernan reached out, twirling her hair around his fingers.
“Do you think Cinderella is over her fear of men?” and despite the fact he tried to sound disinterested, Reina could see his pupils dilate slightly, darkening his eyes in a way that caused her heart to start beating madly.

  She leaned closer to him, her voice lowering. “I think she has made a good start.”

  His fingers went from her hair to feather over her lips. “Maybe we should be sure her fear is gone.”

  Chapter Eight

  “Maybe we should,” Reina said, looking up at him from beneath lowered lashes, and Tiernan was hard pressed to remember why he couldn’t just pick her up and carry her to their shared room.

  All morning he had been dealing with so-called “gentle” women showing less class and dignity than the average whore, and he wondered why the FGs were always complaining about how men were only interested in one thing. Selective memory, obviously.

  After a while, it made him want to take a shower to wash the slimy feeling all the staring was starting to cause.

  That went out the window when he felt Reina’s gaze on him.

  Reina’s gaze caused licks of fire to travel wherever her eyes touched and caused his muscles to bunch as if in preparation for her physical caress. He wanted nothing more than to bare himself to her, beg her to do whatever she wished to do to him, swear to her his body was made for the express purpose of satisfying her.

  He leaned down, his lips ghosting over hers, light brushes and small nips to start, to make the want grow.

  Reina growled and grabbed him, threading her fingers through his hair and pulling his mouth to hers, making the kiss hard, deep.

  He purred in appreciation. Now that was his woman, taking what she wanted.

  Keeping the kiss as hard as she wanted, Tiernan grabbed her hands and pulled them down, placing them on his chest, encouraging her to touch him.

  She needed no further prodding. She dragged her nails down his chest, the ridges of his stomach, using her palms to massage the firm flesh, taking his sharp exhalations into her mouth.

  “Reina,” he moaned into her mouth.

  Someone cleared their throat, and he jumped apart from Reina, looking to see Cinderella standing at the side, not looking at them, her face rosy.

  He immediately turned away from her, hiding the bulge in his pants. Reina tried for a tone of normalcy. “Yes, Cinderella?”

  “Stepmother said I should inform you that we are to clean out all the chimneys today, and Tiernan is to work on the fence.”

  “Yes, we were finishing up lunch, right, Tiernan?”

  He nodded. “I’ll get right on the fence, Cinderella.”

  Tiernan could hear the smile in Cinderella’s voice. “Thank you, Tiernan.”

  Footsteps, then Reina’s smug voice. “She left, you can turn around now.”

  Oh, she really thought he’d let her get away with that, did she? So quickly she had no time to react, Tiernan turned and grabbed her hand, placing it firmly on his erection, making her feel the strength of his desire. “When you are bent over cleaning that fireplace, think about how I want nothing more than to come up behind you and slide this inside that hot, delicious pussy of yours, the one I ate out yesterday,” he said, taking the lobe of her ear lightly between his teeth. “Think about it, because I swear if I can manage it, that is exactly what I’m going to do to you.”

  Her grip on him tightened slightly, a moan coming from her mouth.

  “Think about it, Reina,” he repeated. “Think about how I’m going to feel when I’m finally inside you.”

  “Cinderella!” came the cry from a room inside the manor, and though it wasn’t directed at either of them, it was enough to break the spell surrounding them, causing them to slowly separate from each other.

  He didn’t give up without one final kiss to the hand that had been cupping him, and a wink when said kiss caused her to give an annoyed growl.

  While the afternoon wasn’t any easier in terms of leering woman, he was able to deal with it much better. In fact, his problem was he had to be careful about letting his mind wander, because as soon as he did, his thoughts went to Reina and, well, he didn’t want the women surrounding him to think that the resulting physical reaction was caused by any of them.

  The day was long, made longer by the fact that he refused to go back into the house while any random women were roaming around. He trusted Reina to finagle all the important information out of the various women and share the results with him.

  He worked well into the night, past reasonable hours, past even when the house’s residents could be expected to be asleep. He had to. Once he walked back into that house, Reina was his, the rest of the world be damned. Staying away was his only defense.

  As he finished cleaning up, Reina’s voice whispered across his mind, “Main hall.”

  Every muscle in his body tensed, reacting in anticipation. He took a deep breath, telling himself to be slow, telling himself to let her lead, and headed exactly where he was told.

  Reina stood in front of the huge fireplace, the firelight shining through the thin fabric of her dress, making her amazing curves visible.

  She knew he was there. He could tell by the slight tightening of her body, but she did not turn around.

  He had wanted this woman forever. He wanted to absorb her within himself, so that he would never be parted from her.

  He took off his clothes, letting the fabric fall to the floor as he walked towards her. Once he reached her, his arms came out, bracketing her. He nuzzled her neck, breathing in her scent. “How was your day?”

  “I refrained from killing those ladies who thought nothing of discussing my husband’s assets while I was in earshot,” she replied, letting her head fall to the side so his mouth could go wherever he wished.

  “I applaud your restraint. Does this mean we aren’t going to be putting on a show for any of them?” he asked, his teeth grazing the soft skin, marking her slightly.

  “Cinderella might have an urge to go exploring, but the rest are safely in bed.” Reina’s ass pushed back slightly, rubbing against the ramrod straight cock, causing him to groan as it bounced against her. “I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from killing them if they tried anything with you.”

  “That’s my angel,” he said, and he dropped to his knees.

  In surprise she tried to turn, but his hands on her hips kept her stationary. “Oh no, Reina. I have thirty years of fantasies to appease. You will just have to bear with me.”

  She swallowed heavily as he started to push up the hem of the slip she was wearing so that it bunched up just above her hips. He put the fabric in her hands. “Hold it,” he whispered, his voice rough, pleased when she obeyed.

  “Luscious, luscious Reina. I can’t believe I’m finally able to be here with you.” Starting with her calves, he ran his hands up her body, up her thighs, lightly dipping between her legs before placing all his attention on that firm bottom. With hands, tongue, lips and teeth, he paid proper homage to the backside that had tortured him for so long.

  Words were spilling from Reina’s lips, curses and promises, threats and pleas. Moisture was glistening from that amazing juncture, causing him more than once to visit it when he had promised himself to strictly worship her backside.

  He helped her down to her knees, guiding her forward so that her weight was supported by her hands. In this position, open to him, he couldn’t resist the temptation to place his mouth on her again, needing to rediscover the taste of her.

  “Need you, Tiernan need you. No more, no more... please.”

  He rose above her, primal and strong, and pushed himself into her.

  Reina’s head was thrown back, and a cry that almost sounded like pain passed her lips, but Tiernan’s attention was where they were joined, where she enveloped him.

  He pulled out slowly, pushed back in slowly, unbelieving how right, how tight she felt around him.

  He wanted it to last forever, he wanted to move slowly, to never be parted from her.

  And then
she pushed her hips back.

  Just like that, she broke him, and he could no more slow down than he could quit breathing.

  He brought her head around so that he could kiss her, pounding into her body as his tongue swept her mouth. Sweat droplets rolled down his chest as he pushed himself, used every motion of his body to bring her the most pleasure possible.

  Her cries became higher, breathier, the same erotic sound she had made yesterday. He guided his hand over her stomach, between her legs, rubbing that amazing little nub. She screamed as she clamped around him, milking him, causing his own roar to follow as he pulsed into her.

  ***

  In the aftershocks, Tiernan gently maneuvered her so that she was on her side and he was draped behind her. His arm wrapped around her chest, and she rubbed her fingers over the skin, loving the texture of the man.

  “Thirty years,” Reina said, breaking the silence.

  “Huh?”

  “You’ve been imagining that for thirty years?”

  Tiernan nuzzled her ear, kissing the sensitive skin behind the lobe. Even after their earlier exertions, she could feel his cock starting to harden against her. “That was just the tip of the iceberg. We’d have to lock ourselves in a bedroom for a decade before I’d say we got through the majority of them.”

  Reina partially rolled to her back so that she was able to look up at him. “I’m not sure we’d be allowed to take a decade off of work.”

  “Darn strict Godmothers.”

  Reina started laughing. “Why are you suddenly so amusing?”

  He looked affronted. “I’ve always been amusing. You were just determined to hate me.”

  She rolled back, looking away from him. “I never hated you.”

  “You could have fooled not only me but the entire Fairy nation.”

  “Believe me, it would have been so much easier if I had simply hated you.” Not giving Tiernan any time to respond, Reina moved swiftly, rolling over and pushing him back, then sitting herself on top of him.

  Tiernan’s face broke out in a wide grin. “Now, this is another fantasy that I’ve been looking forward to having fulfilled.”