She knew he was not asking about making love but about her marrying him and felt confused, horrified at her inability to resist him.
“I can’t think when you’re doing stuff like that.” Siobhan heard the weak craving in her voice with despair, because there was still some small part of her brain functioning and it was telling her to stop this madness right now and get back on track of what they were discussing.
“Thinking can be a much-overrated virtue,” he murmured, and slid his finger deeper, groaning as she squirmed against it.
“Oh, damn, Angus, just do it.”
Angus breathed a sigh of relief. His body was on fire, as it always seemed to be when she was around. He flipped her on her back and moved between her legs, shoving her skirt up and slowly pulling her panties off. “I’m going to lick you until you scream my name.”
Siobhan felt her whole body burn as those amazing eyes bored into hers.
He couldn’t stop a groan of pure pleasure from escaping him as he cupped her buttocks and raised her to his mouth.
Despite not being the first time he’d went down on her, she was unprepared for the electrifying zing that made her bow her spine up as he parted her delicate folds and began caressing her with his tongue.
A balmy breeze brought with it the distant sound of cows lowing but it was all lost on Siobhan as she pushed up on her elbows to watch him lavish attention on her: it was almost as erotic as the actual physical touch.
He raised his eyes and caught her watching him. He rose his face and licked his lips, leisurely. “You should taste yourself. You’re so sweet.”
“Angus…” she breathed.
He had shocked her, but he had shocked himself, too. He could imagine them doing many naughty things together, exploring their desires—for many years to come.
When he dipped two fingers inside her and rubbed them on her lips, she gasped.
His eyes glowed, and he licked her long before saying, “Suck, Lieben. Taste your honey.”
She did, pulling his fingers into her mouth, and it drew a groan from him, the sound of his pleasure at seeing her obeying his order, reverberating on her folds.
She couldn’t imagine ever doing this with anyone else—there were a lot of things she couldn’t imagine doing with anyone else, but she closed her mind to all of that and enjoyed his licks taking her higher.
He took it slowly until her rapid breathing became low whimpers and long moans. Angus encouraged, “That’s it.”
“Oh, Angus! Yes, more, there.” She arched her back and pushed herself against his face. “Oh! Yes.”
Her small cries of pleasure were music to him. He fastened his mouth to her sweetly ripened, throbbing bud, powerfully sucking her clitoris, and pumped his large fingers inside her.
She could feel her own inevitable climax approaching as he continued to lick and suck her wildly sensitized nub. Carried away on the wings of powerful, drugged passion, she fisted her fingers into his long hair and tried to pull his head up. “I want you inside me, fucking me—fucking me hard and deep.”
But her efforts were useless against the inroads he was making with his expert lathering. She dropped back against the pillow, unable to do anything but watch his head moving between her thighs, and then she closed her eyes and lost herself in wave upon wave of shameless pleasure which had her arching back, crying out at the intensity of her fulfilment.
When she opened her eyes again, he had already divested himself of his clothes and was stroking himself.
“This is what you do to me,” he murmured roughly, as always, shaken by her ability to completely wipe out all his self-control.
For a man who could be arrogant, frighteningly self-assured and sometimes just plain exasperating in his need to control his surroundings, he was vulnerable in his desire.
Siobhan opened her arms and let her legs fall to the sides. “Fuck me, Dragon.”
Once more, Siobhan closed her eyes, sighing with a mixture of pleasure, as he began to feast on her breasts.
She gave a stifled groan when he playfully bit her nipple and began moving against him when his thigh moved rhythmically between her legs.
Soon, she was gasping and moaning and shuddering against his seductive hands and mouth.
“I can’t wait.” He drew in a sharp breath, as if in the grip of something over which he had no control, and plunged inside her welcoming warmth. “God, you’re paradise.”
She felt him thrusting powerfully into her, with hunger and urgency, his hips pistoning to fill her, more, deeper, harder.
“God, Siobhan.” He put his hand between them and coaxed her higher when he felt his sack tightening. “I’m going to come so hard.”
She took him deeper, squeezing him inside her. “Angus, I’m coming.”
He took her hands in his and raised them up over her head and hammered inside her.
With their hands, mouths, and bodies joined, they succumbed to the racing heights of pleasure.
After a timeless period, they surfaced and their eyes met, slumberous with satisfaction.
It was glorious. Wonderful. If she could have made time stand still, she would have done so. She would have liked to bottle the memory and kept it close to her forever, so she could breathe it in whenever she wanted.
She had spent half of the time since he kidnapped her berating herself for her foolishness for having gotten involved with him. She had given herself lecture upon lecture on the importance of love and the sanctity of marriage. In her head, he had quailed at the logic of her arguments, admitting defeat and then begging her to be patient with him, to show him how to love; she had been fully in charge, leading the way, a dominatrix cracking the whip, the bearer of truth and enlightenment.
But fate had seen fit to throw them together for a reason, and whatever the reason was, she only knew one thing: she was helplessly in love with her dragon.
27
Lenox Palace
1:05 p.m.
Catriona stared at the paperwork before her, the shock reverberating through her body. This could not be right. She and Aileen had just sat down to breakfast, their plates laden with delectable foods. Of all meals, breakfast was Catriona’s favorite, though this morning, she wished she would have stayed in bed.
“What is it? Anything we can use?”
She laid down the folder on the table, peering at her sister-in-law over the breakfast table. “Are you certain this is correct?”
“Quite,” Aileen replied, looking offended. “He is trustworthy and quite good at what he does, the best even. Whatever he found, it’s all true.”
Catriona shook her head, pointing at the file. “Our dear waitress is a royal.”
Aileen looked at her sister-in-law, bursting into laughter a moment later. “Now that would be icing on the cake, dear sister. A royal! That is laughable at best.”
“I am serious,” Catriona said loudly, silencing her mid-laugh. “She is a damn royal.”
Aileen’s wide eyes looked at the file, confusion in their depths. “B-but she is not. She did not tell us of any relation to royalty. I am certain Angus would have corrected us.”
“I believe Angus does not know,” Catriona stated angrily.
“Well what kind of royal is she?” Aileen asked haughtily, spearing her sausage with her fork. “Surely the tenth in line or something like that. Nothing like you and I.”
Catriona blew out a breath. “She’s Valantín Agustin de Castella y Aragon’s sister. Half-sister, I mean.”
Aileen’s fork clattered to her plate. “The…King of Aragon? Are you sure?”
“As sure as the words in this damn file,” Catriona said dully, her breakfast losing all appeal. Aragon was a small kingdom just over the river from Lektenstaten and rumor was that the late king had been on a desperate search for his long-lost daughter before he died, and now the recently crowned king would honor his father’s wish to see her recognized and crowned princess.
It had been all over the news and in the tig
ht circles of the upper crust, everyone wondering who the sister might be.
And now the missing royal daughter was on the verge of becoming her son’s wife. While some would see it as a good political move, it was the principle that Angus had chosen a waitress to spite her.
“Are you going to tell him?” Aileen was asking.
Catriona’s lips curved in a smile as she thought of another way to make all of this go away. “No,” she purred. “I believe I won’t.”
Aileen looked at her sister-in-law, seeing the familiar glint in her eye. “I believe this is about to get interesting.”
“Interesting indeed,” Catriona smiled, picking up her tea cup.
Romani Village
1:55 p.m.
“The Romanis have been a people unfairly persecuted for a long time,” Angus mused as he tried to explain to Siobhan why he, as king, was so invested in having a fair vote for Lektensaten Prime Minister. “Since I began ruling, I have been helping them acquire the basic needs of civilization but the Romani People United getting the majority of the parliament came as a total surprise. I don’t want to have any more bombings or to reignite the prejudice and hate which was ripe in my grandfather’s time.”
“But don’t you think that not choosing Dom Mircea is showing the people you don’t support them?” Siobhan asked, checking herself in the mirror, making sure her image didn’t show she’d just had amazing sex. She ran her fingers on her hair, satisfied with her appearance: she had a glowing look but she was composed.
“I have pondered about this for many days…looked at the matter from many different angles,”—he sighed and took his eyes of the road to look briefly at her, letting her see the anguish in his heart—“I think they will win and that will be the best that can happen to us. For us.”
Any further conversation was cut off by the car entering a very small village, made basically of a main street and a square, as they pulled to a stop in front of a modern-style house.
Hands clasped tightly in her lap, Siobhan anxiously watched as children came running to greet them. I’m not ready for this type of engagement.
“Are you nervous?”
She looked at him. “Of course, I’m nervous. I don’t—I’m not this person you think I’m supposed to be.”
He laughed, his fingers drumming on the steering wheel. “And what are you supposed to be, Siobhan?”
She wanted to say everything that she was not. He needed some sort of refined, polished woman at his side when he made these types of official business trips, not her.
“You know what I mean,” she finally said, clearing her throat. “I don’t know what to do.”
He reached over and took her hand in his, the warmth of his skin against hers causing goosebumps up her arm. “You will be fine. Be yourself and they will adore you.”
Siobhan took a deep breath, opened the car door and stepped out, straightening the Giorgio Armani light-blue half-cape she had over her Chanel lavender dress, hoping she had the right look for the king’s bride.
She watched as Angus greeted each child with a smile and offered them a box full of candies, which led to happy screams and bowing, and then she looked around, taking in the houses, surprised to see there wasn’t much difference between them and any house from her own neighborhood, apart from the colorful paint.
“What were you expecting? A gypsy cart?” Angus’s breath tickled her ear, a chuckle in his voice.
“I was not,” she wanted to stomp on his foot for reading her mind.
“Liar,” he offered her his arm. “Actually, the houses that were here before were what you’d have expected. We’ve done major improvements with a beautification project recently, plus running water and everything these forgotten people needed to live life with dignity.”
A couple walked out, the smiles on their faces making her feel marginally more at ease. The couple was striking, the woman tall and slender, her long hair draped over her shoulder. The man was a great deal older than the woman was, though Siobhan could see the handsome features would have attracted any number of women to him.
“Your Majesty!” The woman said warmly, holding her hands out to them. “Welcome! We are glad you have decided to visit.”
“Claudia,” Angus replied, grasping her hands lightly. “Looking lovely as ever.”
“Watch it, Your Majesty,” Mircea growled, though his eyes were alight with laughter. “She’s taken.”
Angus laughed and Siobhan was surprised to see an easiness in his features. She had anticipated he would be the staunch king she had been dealing with. “Mircea, Claudia, this is Siobhan, my fiancée and the mother of Lektenstaten’s future ruler.”
Siobhan saw the confused looks on their faces and then the smiles, and she forced herself to smile. She was surprised herself by him announcing her pregnancy like that.
“Well now, congratulations! You finally went and did it,” Mircea replied with a smile. “Scared I would steal her away from you?”
“Not in the slightest,” Angus chuckled as they clasped hands. “You are far too ugly for the likes of her.”
Then another woman came into their group, her skirts swishing about her ankles as she looked at them, followed by Javert, who had a bright smile on his face.
Siobhan took in her long dark locks, her body swathed in a myriad of colorful skirts and a bell top that showed off her cleavage. There was an air of confidence about her, an ease that Siobhan only wished she had.
“Your Majesty,” she said, dipping her head lightly. “Welcome to our home.”
“Diamanta, Javert,” Angus replied. “It’s good to see you.”
She gave him a smile and then her eyes turned to Siobhan.
“Siobhan,” Javert nodded at her and introduced the woman, “This is my mother, Diamanta.”
“Nice to meet you,” Siobhan said, seeing the resemblance between the two. There was no doubt that this was where Javert got his confidence from.
Claudia added, “Siobhan is His Majesty’s fiancée and she is pregnant, Diamanta!”
“Well now, this is a surprise.” Diamanta gave Siobhan a once over and stretched out her hand, shaking Siobhan’s but not letting it go.
Diamanta pursed her lips and then turned Siobhan’s right hand over, staring fixedly at her palm. “I suspect we will learn a great deal about you, Siobhan. I am intrigued to hear your story.”
Not being superstitious, Siobhan watched with interest as the woman’s eyes narrowed, and her finger traced one line on her palm.
“Strange…” Then Diamanta picked up Siobhan’s other hand. “You have unusual hands…your head and heart lines are one.”
“And what does that mean?”
“Basically, that you live your life synergistically with both your head and your heart. There is no confusion about which one takes precedence, because they are the same…but…you have no life line.” Diamanta shook her head and looked down at Siobhan’s palms again. She swallowed hard, something vaguely frightening appearing in her dark gaze for a split second before it all dissipated, and she smiled at Siobhan. “That’s a good omen. You’re creating your life as you go.”
Diamanta turned away from her and struck up a conversation with Angus, for which Siobhan was glad for her to do. She wasn’t afraid of the woman, but a bit unnerved by her sudden palm reading.
Claudia seemed genuinely interested in her, though, and her greeting was warm.
“It’s good to see His Majesty interested in another woman—finally,” she confided in a whisper when they were alone beside the table where an array of wonderful food was being set out by helpers.
Siobhan didn’t reply to the comment right away, but her gaze strayed to Angus, who was standing only a few feet away, talking with Mircea, Javert, and Diamanta.
“I guess it’s been pretty hard for him,” she ventured, pretending to know more than she did.
“The worst,” Claudia agreed. She pulled Siobhan a little distance further from the men. “We thought he’d
never get over losing Innes.”
The pain of losing someone was hard to get over, not to mention the love that Angus must have felt for Innes.
“But,” Claudia continued, her smile wide. “He has, and it seems to agree with you both.”
Siobhan flushed. There were moments she had butterflies in her stomach by Angus just looking her way, and other days, well, she wanted to kick him in the balls. Is that how it’s supposed to be?
“It will be a moment before they finish talking politics,” Claudia said. “Would you like to meet the children?”
Grateful for the change in subject, Siobhan nodded and the women left the table, walking the length of the room until they were at a hallway. After passing a few doors, Claudia entered a room full of children, from the tiniest of babies to pre-teens.
Siobhan felt the warmth of the children’s excitement as Claudia greeted all of them by name.
“And this”—taking a swaddled bundle from another woman, she showed a baby to Siobhan—“is my Thomas.”
Siobhan peered down at the tiny pink face and head full of downy hair, her heart melting at the sight. “He’s precious.”
“Would you like to hold him?”
Siobhan’s motherly instinct kicked in and before she knew it, she had the baby in her arms, a wealth of emotions flooding her body. She had dreamed of holding her own child a few times since she had found out she was pregnant, but to feel a baby in her arms, there was nothing like it.
“Don’t worry,” Claudia laughed. “It all comes naturally, I promise. I was scared to death the first time I held a baby, but you find out everything you need to know just comes to you.”
“That’s reassuring,” Siobhan laughed, touching the baby’s soft cheek. She hadn’t the first notion of how to take care of the baby growing within her.
Of course, the struggle wouldn’t even compare to what she would be experiencing if she was by herself. But, under Angus’s watchful eye, Siobhan doubted she would be able to change a diaper without someone hovering over her.