“Not until you’ve surrendered to me this way,” he whispered. “Not until I feel your body quiver and writhe and thrum with a need you can’t suppress.”
Damn, but he was obstinate! She glared at him, but then he pulled the string upward and tugged it down over her clit and crevice again! Her protest sounded wanton as it echoed around them in the small room, and as the ship surged away from the pier—as the men above them cheered and stomped with the victory of escaping Blackbeard’s diabolical wiles—Sofia cried out with the first curlings of her climax.
Relentless he was, rubbing and then teasing her flesh with quick flickers of the pearls until she clutched the velvet in her fists and gave in. The tremors overtook her—and then he ducked his head to goad her on with his tongue! Sofia’s upper body shot up from the floor, and her inner spasms became so intense she wondered if she’d lose her sanity along with her will. She was every inch Damon Delacroix’s willing victim—his slave, wrapped in velvet and draped with diamonds.
“I’m coming in,” he rasped.
She wanted to wait, wanted to come down from this dizzy height before…But this pirate would plunder her as he chose, wouldn’t he? He knew all her most sensitive areas, knew how she loved it when he buried himself to the hilt and then rubbed high, against her bone.
And when he did, she screamed—so he muffled the outburst with a ravenous kiss. “Can’t have those randy sailors coming to see how I’m torturing you, can we?” he breathed against her ear. “They’ll all want a piece of my prize, and I’m not sharing you! I went berserk, watching Blackbeard rip your gown, and, well, we’ll have no more of that!”
Damon’s body quivered with the emotion Sofia heard in his voice—the rage and frustration and fear. Fear for her safety. Fear because the situation had gotten out of hand—even though she had provoked it. Captain Delacroix had suffered almost as badly as she had when Edward Teach snatched her away, and Damon had forgiven her in the heartbeat it took for their fragile new romance to be threatened.
Sofia felt warm and cherished and protected when she realized this. And who had ever made her feel that way—except Mama?
Damon balanced on his elbows, gazing down at her as he slowly thrust and pulled up, thrust and pulled up. His lips parted, but it was his expectant silence that left her hanging suspended between blessed release and the faint stirrings of another climax.
“You’re a beast,” she muttered. “A ruthless, wicked devil of a Delacroix—and I love you for it.”
His face softened. His blue eyes shone with so much of that same love, Sofia knew she’d never forget this moment—and never regret being the first to say that phrase outright.
“Sofia, my sweet, you’re just beginning to fathom the meaning of that word,” he whispered. Then he kissed her softly. “Can you tame me? Mold me into the loving husband who’ll do your bidding?”
“Of course I can! Look how far I’ve brought you already!” With that, Sofia thrust upward and clenched his cock. When she wrapped her legs around his hips, the strand of pearls created a delicious friction between them—only this time it was Damon who grew desperate.
He grabbed her backside to control her so he’d last longer, but she was having none of it! Squeeze, release, squeeze, release—the secret weapon she used to drive him wild worked every time.
For what would she do with a tame Damon Delacroix? What good was a loving, biddable husband when she wanted to be constantly surprised and delighted—needed a man who could put her in her place?
He laughed, a sound that started with a low rumble in his belly and sent them both into a quivering, aching frenzy of thrusting. She felt him tensing, saw the stitches along his jaw tighten as his need passed the point of no return.
Sofia held him tightly, rocking with him, singing out his name when his climax triggered hers. Spent, she relaxed into the makeshift pallet that cushioned them. With the cool weight of the diamond pendant on her chest and Damon’s heavy warmth pressing her into the rich velvet, she felt like quite a queen indeed.
Sofia smiled. She did know her place; she was in it now. And she’d be forever enamored of the pirate who’d put her there.
The Pleasure of His Bed - Donna Grant - Ties that Bind
Ties that Bind
Donna Grant
1
Kingdom of Hesione
Outskirts of the Quantra Province
I f there was one thing Queen Jarina hated, it was when her uncle tried to control her. She was queen, after all, though he seemed to forget it at every turn.
“Ampyx, hold your tongue,” Jarina said between clenched teeth.
Her uncle disregarded her order and spun toward the small group of nobles gathered in the chamber. “She must marry. No woman should rule alone. Each of you know what type of damage a woman can get us into,” he all but shouted as he swung around and pointed to Jarina. “She’s young and doesn’t yet know her true position.”
Jarina had heard enough. She rose on shaking legs and glared at the uncle she had come to despise. He was the only family she had left, but there were times she could have cheerfully called for his beheading. And this was one of those times.
“You overstep your bounds, Ampyx,” Jarina said, her voice loud and carrying well in the high-ceilinged chamber. “Though you may be family, you do not rule. I do.”
“I know that all too well,” he mumbled.
But loud enough that Jarina heard him. There was no mistaking the hate radiating from his gaze. She would have to be careful with her uncle. She couldn’t throw him out—he had too much power with the nobles—but she would make sure that power began to decline. Immediately.
“If you know who rules, how do you dare tell me I should marry? Do you forget Queen Neffi, who ruled alone her entire life? She had no man at her side, she needed no man at her side, and she kept us out of war. Something you men can’t seem to do.” Jarina turned to the nobles. “Turg, was it not your people who disobeyed my father’s direct order to stand down against the Pereths?”
Turg had the good grace to lower his gaze. “Aye, your highness, that we did.”
Jarina whirled back to her uncle. “I will get us out of this war that has all but brought us to our knees, and it will not be by marriage, Ampyx. Understand that now, for I will not hear another word on the subject.”
She held her uncle’s gaze until he looked away and bowed, but not before she saw the malice lurking in his cold blue eyes. It was no secret her uncle wanted the throne. He had tried many times to convince her father to turn over the crown to him. Her father had been a good man, a soft-spoken, quiet man, but he had ruled with dignity, honesty, and fairness. The people had loved him as much as they had loved her mother.
Jarina waved the nobles from the throne room as memories of her parents flooded her. She sank onto her throne and rested her head in her hands. How she missed her parents. They had been loving and supportive. Since the day of her birth, her parents had tutored and readied her for her role as queen of Hesione.
She was ready to be queen, and she knew she could rule as well as her parents had—if her uncle weren’t around to stir up the nobles and make them think she wasn’t a capable queen.
“As if marriage to some pompous man would stop this infernal war,” she grumbled to herself.
She still couldn’t believe Ampyx wanted her to marry the king of Pereth, the very man who had started the war that had taken her parents.
“Never,” she vowed.
After a deep breath, Jarina rose and looked around the chamber, vacant now of everyone except her personal guards and herself.
“Tyrus.”
“Aye, your highness,” the head guard said and stepped toward her. “What is your pleasure?”
Pleasure. She wanted nothing more than to experience pleasure, but that would have to wait. She blinked and smiled at her head guard. He was tall and broad of chest, with thick arms and a steely gaze that brought his men under control. From what Jarina had heard from her maid
s, Tyrus was quite the man in bed. It wouldn’t be unheard of to bring him to her bed, but something held her back.
She swallowed and raised her gaze to Tyrus’s dark eyes. “I think I will take my dinner in my chamber tonight.”
“I’ll see to it, your highness,” he said and bowed his dark head as she walked past.
Just as Jarina reached the tall double doors of the chamber, the guards on either side opened them. She didn’t need to look behind her to know that Tyrus and his two guards followed her.
There was no doubt she was lonely, and she wanted a king beside her, but not to help her rule. She wanted a love match as her parents had had, a man that would stand beside her and help her make decisions but not rule in her stead. Did such a man even exist?
By the time she reached her private chambers, Jarina wanted nothing more than to sink into her large marble tub and let the hot water wash away the day’s events. She didn’t wait for her maids as she began to unlace the front of her silver gown. She pushed it off her shoulders and let it pool at her feet before stepping out of it. She kicked off her soft-soled slippers and pulled down the stockings that covered her legs to her thighs.
As she stood wearing only a thin chemise, she saw the appreciative looks of her guards. Aye, she could most certainly lure one into her bed. If she so desired. There was no doubt to that desire within her—she just didn’t desire any of the men who surrounded her.
Jarina turned and pulled off the chemise as she walked into the large bathing chambers adjacent to her chamber. She tossed the chemise aside, stepped into the tub, and sighed as hot water surrounded her.
Jarina didn’t know how long she’d stayed in the tub, when her maid woke her for her meal. She quickly dried off and pulled on a robe of thick, dark red material as she sat at the small table on her balcony that overlooked the city of Hesione. Her city.
After a few bites of the foul, she motioned for her maid. “I think there is something wrong with the meat, Merda. Please tell Cook to have a look at it.”
“At once, your highness.”
Jarina pushed aside the foul and dipped her bread in the rich, creamy sauce that covered the meal. She drank deeply from her goblet full of the kingdom’s best wine. She blinked as her eyes went in and out of focus; she didn’t think much about this, because she had gotten little sleep over the past few weeks, thanks to her uncle. It was then she found it difficult to breathe.
Jarina blinked several times as her vision clouded. The chamber began to spin around her as she tried to grab hold of the table to steady herself. She missed the table and fell with a thud to the floor. Sleep pulled at her, but she fought it as she looked for her guards and then tried to cry out when she saw all three lying motionless on the floor.
And then the sleep claimed her.
2
K yros ran a hand down his face and sighed. He wasn’t sure Boreas’s idea was a good one. Though Boreas was as close to Kyros as a brother, Boreas was known to get them into trouble on occasion. Which was fine before Kyros had become king of Pereth.
“Stop frowning,” Boreas said with a grin. “Trust me.”
“I trust you with my life, but that’s not the point. Just tell me where we’re going.”
Boreas stopped walking amid the crowded streets of Pereth and faced his friend. They had both dressed as peasants so as not to attract attention. “I know you don’t want to marry—especially to the hellcat of Hesione—so I thought of a plan.”
“To get me out of the marriage?” It wasn’t that Kyros didn’t wish to marry—he just didn’t wish to marry someone he didn’t know. Though, if he was honest with himself, he’d do whatever it took to bring his kingdom out of the war with Hesione, and if it meant denying himself his future happiness, then so be it.
Boreas rolled his eyes. “I dearly wish, brother. Nay, I have something else in mind,” he said with a smile as he turned on his heel to continue through the streets.
Kyros had no alternative but to follow his friend through the winding, crowded streets before Boreas was swallowed by the sheer number of people. Kyros kept his head ducked in case someone recognized him. He was just about to stop Boreas when he noticed they were in the slave market.
Intrigued, he continued to follow Boreas until they came to the sex-slave section of the market. Kyros smiled at his friend.
“I told you to trust me,” Boreas said with a smirk. “Now, pick out a woman who will satisfy your lustful nature—because your wife won’t be able to.”
Hours went by as Kyros looked over every candidate. There were a few who drew his interest but none enough to purchase.
“I see nothing this day,” Kyros said, disappointment heavy in his voice. “We’ll return later.”
They were turning away when the auctioneer called out, “And for the jewel of this auction.”
Kyros looked over his shoulder to see a woman being carried onstage. She was bound with her arms over her head and her legs spread wide on the stand. Her eyes were covered and her mouth gagged. Though her curves would make a saint stand up and take notice, it was her wealth of dark, auburn hair falling in waves to her waist that captivated Kyros.
“I guess we’re staying,” Boreas said as he slapped Kyros on the back.
“I want her. I don’t care how much she costs.” He looked at Boreas. “Get her. Quickly.”
Boreas smiled and walked to the head of the crowd. Kyros held his breath as the bidding began. The woman had elicited quite a fervor, and Kyros began to worry that Boreas wouldn’t bid quickly enough to win her. Her price grew higher and higher with each call of the crowd.
Kyros’s gaze shifted; the woman was moving as if just waking. He realized then that she must have been drugged before the auction.
A smile pulled at Kyros’s mouth. She must be a feisty one. His rod grew thick and hard just thinking about how he would take her. Her breasts were large—plenty to fill his big hands. He couldn’t wait to taste her flesh and feel her nipples harden in his mouth as he suckled her.
“Sold!” the auctioneer shouted.
Kyros jerked his gaze to Boreas to see his friend paying for the woman. Kyros breathed a sigh of relief, not realizing just how much he had wanted the woman until then.
He nodded to Boreas and turned to leave the market. He needed to prepare for his new slave.
Jarina tried to control the racing of her heart as she heard the man beside her yelling out figures. She tried to shake away the fuzz in her brain as she struggled to determine where she was.
When she found her hands and feet bound, her mouth gagged and blindfolded, she knew something was dreadfully wrong.
The feel of the cool air on her bare skin told her the absolute worst had happened. Somehow her uncle had managed to sell her to the sex-slave market. Jarina wanted to rage against her bonds, to demand her uncle’s head on a platter, but she knew her cries would fall on deaf ears.
She was a queen, after all. She would figure out a way to escape her new prison and return to Hesione before her uncle did too much damage.
“Here she is, sir,” she heard a deep voice say beside her. “I’ve never had a slave go for so much before.”
A hand touched her cheek before moving down her neck to cup a breast and tweak a nipple. Jarina was at once outraged and curious at her response to the touch.
“Aye, she is certainly a prize. Where did you get her?” The man’s voice was smooth and deep. Friendly almost.
“Ah…I cannot divulge where I get my merchandise,” the other man stammered. “You, of course, understand, sir?”
“Of course,” the friendly man said softly. Too softly. “You stole her.”
“Never!”
“No need to get irate. I don’t plan to investigate further.”
Jarina felt tears threaten. She hadn’t cried since her parents’ death six months earlier, and she refused to do so now. She didn’t want her new owner to think her weak.
Her hands were lowered from over her head. Her ankle
s were released also. She prayed that her gag and blindfold would come off as well, but she should have known better.
She used her hearing to decipher what was going on. She heard something rustle near her, and then she felt cloth against her skin.
“I cannot take you through the streets naked, my prize. I’d be gutted in an instant,” the man whispered in her ear just before he lifted her in his arms.
Kyros was impatient to reach his chamber. Boreas had returned with his new slave a few hours ago, and Kyros was eager to slake his lust with her.
He entered his chamber to see the woman tied much as she had been at the market—her arms over her head and her legs spread wide. Boreas had used the two great columns near Kyros’s bed to tie her. He had also left her blindfolded and gagged.
Kyros’s gaze roamed over her beauty. She was tall for a woman, with long, lean legs, wide hips, narrow waist, and full breasts. Her skin was bronzed by the sun, and her nipples were a dark, dusky pink. The hair hiding her sex was the same dark auburn as the hair on her head, and he was ready to part her folds and seek the moisture of her sex.
Somehow Kyros held himself in check. She was awake, her body held still as she waited for him to touch her. He walked around her, letting his fingers caress her stomach and then around her hip to her rounded bottom. Back to her stomach.
“Very nice,” he whispered in her ear.
She jerked away from him in surprise.
“I won’t hurt you,” he assured her. “I’m your new master, and we will share many nights of pleasure.” He cupped her breasts and watched as her nipples grew taut before his eyes. “You do like pleasure, don’t you?”
When she didn’t respond, he lightly pinched her nipples and heard her sharp intake of breath.
“A simple nod will do,” he prodded. “Now, answer me. You do like pleasure, don’t you?”
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