The King's Bride By Arrangement (Sovereigns and Scandals, Book 2) Page 7

  Just thinking of it, another tremor raked her from head to toe. Once more it ended at that sensitive place between her legs.

  Paul turned and she braced herself for rejection.

  His face was unreadable, his features tight, the curve of his cheek and the angle of his jaw pronounced. He looked more handsome than ever and even more unattainable.

  Eva’s heart dropped.

  His mouth twisted up in a grimace that reinforced her fears. ‘I’m sorry, Eva.’

  ‘Sorry?’ she parroted. She should be the one apologising. She’d been the one to force him to kiss her, to touch him.

  He closed the space between them with a couple of strides and she found herself pressed up against the table.

  ‘I lost control.’ His brow furrowed into a scowl.

  ‘I know.’ And it had been glorious, but she didn’t say that. ‘You didn’t...enjoy it?’

  Now she was confused. Surely that powerful climax told its own story?

  The scowl eased a little and the curl of his lip looked a fraction softer. ‘Of course I enjoyed it. But I shouldn’t have. I don’t know what came over me. One touch.’ His voice lowered to a mutter. ‘One touch and I was done for.’ He shook his head. ‘I showed all the finesse and self-control of a teenager.’

  Eva tilted her head, trying to gauge whether it was embarrassment or genuine regret behind his words.

  ‘What’s the problem? That you came so fast or that it was me that made you?’

  Her eyes widened a little as the words shot from her mouth, for this was the sort of straight talking she never engaged in. She raised her chin too. She wasn’t ashamed of what she’d done.

  Unless Paul saw it as some sort of assault. The idea made her flesh crawl. Had she been so wrapped up in her own desire she’d misunderstood his protests? How unwilling had he been?

  His crooked smile eased her fears. ‘I’m a big boy, Eva. If I hadn’t wanted your touch, I’d have fended you off.’

  So he’d wanted her touch.

  The constriction that had hampered her last few breaths eased.

  ‘I’m not usually so gauche.’ Another shake of his head. ‘But it’s been a long time since a woman touched me.’

  ‘It has?’ She’d imagined that with his looks and charm he’d have a bevy of women waiting to provide comfort to the lonely Prince who saw so little of his fiancée.

  Paul’s gaze caught hers. ‘Of course. We’ve been engaged for four years. I exchanged promises with you and I take my word seriously.’

  Eva had thought by now she’d withstood every shock the night could possibly have in store. She was wrong. She stared up at him, eyes bulging.

  ‘You mean...?’ She shook her head, then paused to shove her hair back from her face when it obscured her vision. ‘You’ve been celibate all this time?’

  It seemed impossible. Paul abstaining from sexual pleasure because of her.

  ‘I made a promise to be loyal to you as my bride-to-be. I don’t break my promises.’

  Eva couldn’t tell if that was pride, hauteur or disapproval stiffening his tall form.

  ‘I take it you didn’t feel the same?’ His tone was austere. ‘I suppose you wouldn’t. We’re only together a couple of times a year.’

  ‘That wasn’t my choice.’ Her hands slid to her hips. ‘I offered to visit more often but you said no.’ That still rankled. During the first year of their engagement, she’d only seen him twice!

  ‘Only because I’ve been very busy. I didn’t have time to entertain you on a social visit.’

  Eva drew a deep breath and counted to ten. ‘Maybe I don’t need entertaining. Maybe I wanted to support you.’

  It was clear from Paul’s stunned stare that the thought had never occurred to him. Which was typical of their non-relationship, wasn’t it?

  Suddenly Eva was tired of all this. The false relationship, the tiptoeing around the truth. It was over and that was that.

  Even her breaking heart and the ache of rejection could wait till tomorrow. For now, she just wanted to escape. There was no reason to stay for a post mortem on their engagement. Or to rehash tonight’s events.

  She turned towards the door, already forming words of farewell. Except long fingers wrapped around her arm, stopping her.

  Immediate heat flashed through her. Excitement. Need.

  Eva hated that she couldn’t prevent her reaction to him. But it was time to face facts. Whatever they’d shared was over.

  Yet when she tried to free her arm Paul captured her other arm too, his long fingers gentle but implacable.

  ‘Where do you think you’re going?’ His voice dropped an octave, rumbling across her skin on an unfamiliar note that made her insides clench.

  Eva looked up but didn’t meet those keen eyes. ‘Tonight has been a disaster. It’s time we went our separate ways, don’t you think?’

  ‘You’ve got to be kidding. We’ve barely started.’

  Stunned as much by Paul’s unmistakably suggestive tone as by his words, she met his gaze. And couldn’t look away. His expression made her hot inside. Hotter than she already was.

  He released one arm and lifted his hand to her face, long fingers sliding gently across her cheek to her mouth, his thumb capturing her bottom lip and pressing till she opened for him. Instantly, without her consciously planning it, her tongue slipped out to lick him, drawing the taste of him—hot, salty male—into her mouth.

  Those dark blue eyes flared and his mouth rucked up in an approving smile.

  ‘No, I don’t believe we’re anywhere near finished.’

  For the second time in one night she looked into the face of a man with sex on his mind. But this wasn’t a stranger who dismayed or disgusted her. The roaring rush of blood in her ears and the catapulting thump of her heart were all about excitement.

  Paul’s head lowered, slowly enough that she could turn away if she wanted. Instead Eva tilted her chin higher, meeting his lips with hers.

  Eva was struck by how familiar it felt. The shape of Paul’s mouth on hers, the taste and scent of him, something fresh like pine trees and the outdoors. The wonderful warmth of his body against hers, his embrace enfolding her.

  It didn’t even matter that this was simply sex, not love. If this was all she’d have of Paul before they parted, she’d take it gladly.

  She slid her hands up his broad chest to link around the back of his neck, the ends of her fingers tunnelling through his hair. Surprising how intimate that felt, given how she’d touched him earlier.

  A chuckle bubbled inside her, but died when powerful hands palmed her buttocks and lifted her off the floor. Her eyes snapped open and for a moment she lost herself in his indigo gaze.

  He moved and then she was sitting on the table with Paul standing wedged between her thighs.

  Heat squirmed through her, making her shift on the scrubbed surface.

  ‘What...?’

  But then he was kissing her again, tenderly, thoroughly, learning her and what she liked. It seemed she liked everything, from the gentle bite of his teeth on her bottom lip that made her nipples tingle, to the languorously slow kisses that made her melt inside.

  Her eyelids were heavy and her body fluid with pleasure when she registered his hands on her legs. Their kiss didn’t falter as her hem crept up her thighs and his hand slid down to cup wet silk.

  Eva moaned into his mouth, her hips tilting needily.

  Another caress, another circle of her hips, and the hunger for fulfilment grew. Was this how Paul had felt when she’d caressed him, at first tentatively, then with determination?

  There was nothing tentative about Paul’s touch. He knew exactly what he was doing. Looping an arm around her waist, he lifted her off the table just enough to drag her silk underwear down. Then he backed away from her, rolling her panties down her bare legs.


  And still their lips were locked, his tongue stroking hers, then delving rhythmically into her mouth in a way that made her even more restless.

  Finally, he touched her again between the legs. A slow, sliding caress through damp folds that nearly had her jumping off the table.

  Eva moaned against his mouth then stopped as he pulled away. Appalled, she met his knowing gaze. Was he going to stop? He couldn’t, surely? Not when he made her feel...

  ‘Patience, Eva.’ He lifted her hand to his mouth, but instead of a courtly kiss to the back of her hand he held her gaze and licked her from the inside of her wrist, across her palm and right to the end of her fingers, drawing them into his mouth and sucking.

  A dart of fire shot from her nipples to her womb, exploding in shuddering waves. Her internal muscles clenched and her breath hissed in sharply.

  Looking into that proud, determined face, Eva realised she didn’t know Paul as well as she’d imagined. This flagrant carnality was a side of him she’d never suspected when she’d imagined his kisses and, yes, sex. She’d known being with him would be wonderful because she loved him. But the earthy appreciation in his expression as he looked down her body to where his fingers teased was something she hadn’t expected.

  Eva felt she should be shocked. Instead she was incredibly aroused.

  And he knew. It was there in the triumphant look he gave her from under those straight black eyebrows.

  She opened her mouth to say something but words eluded her. Then he was gone, sinking to his knees before her. One hard yank dragged her right to the edge of the table and then, while she watched in disbelief, he leaned in to kiss her.

  It was like watching a film in slow motion. Each frame froze as she struggled to take in what she was seeing. Then, with the touch of his mouth on her most sensitive skin, the film sped up to match her racketing pulse.

  Eva stared, trying to connect the sight of Paul between her legs and the exquisitely arousing sensations as he used his tongue and lips to pleasure her.

  It didn’t take much. She was ready for him, so on edge. What he made her feel was wondrous, so exactly what she needed, that soon she teetered on the brink of losing herself.

  It was the sight of Paul looking up that did it. The expression of satisfaction in his gaze as it met hers, as if the pair of them shared a delicious secret, that sent her over the edge.

  Fingers clamped on the table, legs spread wide by his shoulders, Eva tossed her head back and screamed as ecstasy took her.

  It went on and on, writhing through her, a pleasure so intense it came close to pain, except that this made her feel as if she’d shot to heaven.

  Eyes closed, all she could do was cling on and ride out the waves of powerful sensation. Till somehow it wasn’t wood that she clutched but Paul, his shoulders hard beneath her clenching fingers, his arms tight around her, his voice rough but reassuring in her ear.

  Foggily, Eva wondered if it was possible she’d died and gone to paradise. Then she gave up trying to think and slumped into his strong arms.

  CHAPTER SIX

  EVA FITTED HIS hold perfectly. Strange that he hadn’t considered that before. Even when they’d danced at various balls he hadn’t realised how good she’d feel against him.

  He’d been aware of her femininity, of course. You couldn’t waltz with a woman like Eva and not be drawn to her. But in the past he’d been busy trying to find a way through her reserve, frustrated at her aloofness. Sometimes, when her conversation had consisted of platitudes and she’d barely met his eyes, he’d focused his mind instead on the most pressing of the nation’s debts and his plans to reduce them.

  Now she had his full attention.

  She’d had it since she’d swept into the ball, head high and with a light in her eyes he’d never seen before.

  There was so much about Eva he’d never seen or suspected before.

  Her fiery anger.

  Her obstinacy.

  Her passion.

  Her ability to take him from zero to a blistering climax in what felt like seconds.

  His belly clenched and heat eddied deep inside. Paul was torn between shame at how he’d come apart so easily and the burning need to have her touch him again.

  As for the sight of her losing herself with such abandon, the scent and wild honey taste of her...

  He hefted her higher in his arms and strode from the kitchen towards the tower’s spiral staircase. He knew every step of the way but was glad of the low-level sensor lighting that sprang up on the steps. He didn’t want to stumble with Eva in his embrace.

  She turned her face into his neck, but gave no other sign of being awake.

  Paul smiled. Her orgasm had left her soft as a sleepy kitten against him. It made a change from the defiant, obstinate woman who’d made her appearance tonight. And from the coolly distant fiancée who’d visited St Ancilla for years.

  He was determined to discover which of them was the real Eva.

  As he strode higher he quickly reviewed practicalities. They needed time alone and here at the lodge they’d have privacy, more so than at the palace.

  Key staff knew where he was. The car had a tracker and he’d used handprint security to enter the house, at the same time remotely locking the gates. Staff could contact him in an emergency. No doubt there was a guard on duty now in the discreet security building near the front gate.

  But, with any luck, no one would need him for the next twenty-four hours. He’d kept a full day free of appointments, knowing that his plans to end the engagement would mean he’d need to be available to discuss the details with Eva. To agree on how and when they’d announce the news of their separation.

  Now, with her hair tickling his chin, her delicious body in his embrace and the scent of sex and spring flowers tantalising his nostrils, the end of their betrothal was the last thing on his mind.

  For years Paul had stifled his libido as best he could, working to the point of exhaustion. He hadn’t fully succeeded but he hadn’t given in to its urges.

  Tonight he had. Spectacularly.

  And the most intriguing thing was that, despite his clumsiness, his ego-bruising gaucheness at coming the way he had, the last half-hour with Eva had rivalled any sex he could recall.

  He reached the top of the stairs and shouldered his way into the suite he kept for himself, a round room with windows on three sides and an en suite bathroom. No lights were on here, but the curtains at one window were open and he had no trouble finding his way.

  Moments later he lowered Eva onto the bed. She stretched, turning her head into the pillow and arching her back. It was an instinctive, sensual movement and it dragged the tension in his belly up another notch.

  He liked having Eva in his bed, her hair spilling like a dark cloud around her pale shoulders. Her legs bare and her toes curling.

  Paul recalled the thud as her high heels had dropped unheeded to the kitchen floor as she screamed her release, and the skin across his neck and shoulders prickled.

  Reaching back, he grabbed his lightweight sweater at the neck and hauled it over his head, tossing it onto a nearby chair. He looked forward to having Eva in his arms again, skin to skin.

  The thought sent a luxurious shiver through him as he bent to rifle the bedside table, hoping to find... Yes, he was in luck. There at the back of the drawer was a box of condoms. He opened it, dropping its contents onto the top of the table.

  ‘What are you doing?’ There it was again, that husky note he’d heard in Eva’s voice for the first time tonight. It rasped across the tight skin of his belly, sending another surge of heat to his groin.

  She lay on her side and had raised herself on one elbow. Even in the gloom he appreciated the feminine allure of her silhouette, the deepened dip to her waist and the sweet curve up to her hips.

  Paul’s throat dried. ‘Making sure we h
ave protection.’

  In this light he didn’t see her move but he’d swear she stiffened.

  ‘Aren’t you taking a lot for granted?’

  But, when her gaze turned from the table to him, he heard her indrawn breath as she surveyed his bare torso.

  Paul wasn’t vain but he knew his wide-shouldered frame, kept trim by his love of sport, drew female attention. Now, as he felt Eva’s gaze track from his ribs to his belt, he bit back a smile.

  He sat beside her, one hand planted on the bed beyond her hip.

  ‘What, you were going to take your pleasure from me then just walk away?’

  She shifted, wriggling up the bed towards the pillows. In the process he felt the brush of her legs and inhaled again the heady scent of warm woman and sex. His trousers tightened against his groin but he didn’t move.

  ‘You’ve already...taken your pleasure.’

  Was that embarrassment he heard? Surely not from the woman who’d thrust her hand into his pants!

  He shuddered at the memory of her soft palm sliding along his length, her fingers encircling him. She’d been a little clumsy but that had only added to the piquancy, proof that she was too eager for finesse.

  Paul laughed, the sound rusty with barely suppressed desire. ‘That was just a start, Eva.’ He had plans for the rest of the night and they didn’t include sleep. ‘When a man’s fiancée shows she’s eager for sex—’

  ‘I’m not your fiancée.’

  Paul refused to touch that one. He had more pressing things on his mind than another argument.

  He lifted his hand to trail his fingers down her satin-clad thigh. ‘But you want me, don’t you, lover?’

  Her breath hissed in and he felt her tremble. Yet he made himself stop, his fingertips barely touching the place where satin met smooth, enticing flesh. It was surprising how difficult it was not to caress her. Once he’d touched her and tasted her, he wanted so much more.

  ‘You want to have sex?’