“I’m sure I can get there on my own,” she said, knowing Nico wouldn’t enjoy spending his time in her presence.
“A lady as beautiful as you cannot be out alone. You would never arrive, as suitors would be stopping you each step of the way,” he said, taking her hand and pulling it through his arm.
“You are quite the charmer, aren’t you, Nico?” she said, loving the softening he was showing toward her. Maybe he didn’t think she was the stupid American he had originally thought her to be. No, he’d never treated her with disrespect, but it had been obvious from day one that he didn’t find her suitable to stand alongside his king. Maybe, just maybe, his opinion was changing. It was odd that she cared, though.
“How can I resist a man who bestows such lavish flattery on me?” she said, laughing as he led her through the massive doors and down the steps to a waiting car.
Nico assisted her inside, then joined her, reaching for a bottle of chilled cider and pouring her a glass. The cool liquid sliding down her throat helped ease a bit of the tension in her stomach.
She and Nico chatted on the extended ride to the Fiorito mansion, and as they drew near, Rachel felt her nerves jump. The closer they approached, the more nervous she became.
What if this night was a failure and she ended up feeling like an idiot?
Then, she would go on with her life. It wasn’t the end-all, and she was too strong to wallow in pity.
“The ball is being held by a longtime friend of the royal family. It is to honor the fallen soldiers of our land, and is quite a big event each year. It would be a disgrace if some member of the royal family did not attend, which is why the king was so upset when he didn’t think he’d be able to make it. By bringing you here, he is announcing to the country that you are a very important part of his life,” Nico said as the car arrived in front of a stately residence.
It was impressive in its old-world charm, made from stone like that used at the castle, and from exquisite marble.
The driveway was lined with a canopy of lush trees, and it wound around a fountain showcasing two cupids dancing within its waters’ mist. Though Rachel had grown up with more money than most, she still found it all a little intimidating.
This was different from what she knew. It was a world of ancient bloodlines, of authority and prestige — a world that wasn’t hers.
Rachel cast off the thoughts as she accepted Nico’s hand and climbed the steps with him. Soon, she’d see Adriane, soon she’d know whether she was giving their relationship a chance, or running away.
Either way, she’d be out of the quandary she’d been in since the day he’d told her she’d be his wife.
As they walked inside the large ballroom, Rachel clung tightly to Nico’s arm and looked around with insecure doe eyes, wondering where Adriane was.
The crowd parted, and suddenly he was there, throwing his head back and laughing at something his companion must have said. The king looked so carefree for a moment that she was rendered motionless.
As if he could sense her, he turned his head, and their gazes locked. Without a word to the man he’d been conversing with, Adriane moved swiftly through the crowd, his eyes never breaking contact with hers, not for even the briefest of seconds.
An unsatisfied ache flared within the recesses of her womanhood as he reached her side, his gaze drifting down the feminine lines of her body. She felt as if he’d touched her, for his look was so intense as his eyes drank in her revealing but elegant golden gown.
When his gaze returned to her eyes, his expression was unreadable, and Rachel wondered if she’d just made an idiot of herself. She suddenly wanted to turn around and flee.
“My deepest apologizes for not accompanying you on your ride here. I only just arrived,” he said as he held out his arm.
Did she take it and swiftly move forward on her mission, or did she bolt the way she so wanted to do?
She took his arm.
“Nico has been a fine escort. Thank you, Nico,” she said, impulsively leaning over and kissing the man’s cheek. Much to her amazement, the king’s always confident adviser blushed deeply as he looked down and cleared his throat.
“The pleasure of escorting you here was all mine,” he murmured before looking back up and smiling.
“Thank you for bringing her safely, Nico. You may take the rest of the night off,” Adriane said.
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Rachel wanted to grab the man and prevent his departure, suddenly feeling safer in his presence. But the moment the words left Adriane’s mouth, Nico obediently turned and left her alone with the man who wanted to marry her.
They were silent as Adriane led her to the center of the room, where couples were floating around the floor in a traditional Viennese waltz. Without a word, he pulled her into his arms as the music enveloped them. Rachel melted against his chest; they spun slowly in a circle.
“I don’t know if I can last this entire event. The way you look in that dress has taken my breath away. I want nothing more right now than to take you back to the palace, carry you to my room and slowly peel the fabric away from your flushed skin and reveal your curves in all their glory. I want to bury myself inside you, and then, when it’s all over, I want to begin again, and pleasure you all through the night. ”
Rachel couldn’t say a word as she looked at the raw hunger on his face, in his eyes, and in the tenseness of his mouth, and felt his arousal pressing insistently against her stomach.
After several heartbeats, she nodded her head.
For a moment, he did nothing, as if he didn’t know what she’d just said to him with her silent gesture. When she nodded again, the breath he’d been holding exploded from his lungs; his feet stopped moving, and he bent down and claimed her sweet mouth.
Rachel didn’t care that they weren’t alone. She clung on tightly and accepted his passionate kiss. Finally, tonight she would get to feel the pleasure of lying in his arms again.
The ball couldn’t end soon enough.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
“WE’RE LEAVING!”
Trembling from the power of his kiss, Rachel didn’t realize for a moment that he’d pulled back from her and now had her hand in a viselike grip as he led her through the crowded room.
“Leaving?” she asked.
“Yes. I want you in my room, on my bed, na**d and wet for me,” he said, picking up his pace even more.
Suddenly Rachel’s clothes felt like a straitjacket. She wanted them off immediately.
“Oh, don’t worry, I’m plenty wet,” she whispered, relishing the instant power she felt as his steps halted for an instant. He didn’t dare turn in her direction, but instead picked up speed again and led her through the front door.
When he called his car around, Rachel looked back. “Shouldn’t we tell someone we’re leaving?”
“No. I made my appearance; they won’t notice that I’ve gone,” he said in a strained tone.
She doubted that — everyone notices what a king does — but she was too excited to argue. She didn’t even care that she’d spent hours getting ready only to stay at the ball for about ten minutes.
After all, what she’d really been doing was preparing for a night of lovemaking, and it looked as if she was going to get exactly that.
As the car approached, he didn’t wait for his driver to open the door, but just flung it open and helped her inside, and then slid in next to her. As rushed as he was, he was surprisingly gentle.
Before the car pulled from the drive, Adriane grasped her, lifting her onto his lap as he guided her mouth to his face and meshed their heated breaths together in a tantalizing kiss that didn’t quit.
Rachel inhaled his sweet, musky scent as he ran his tongue along her lips. When he bit down softly on her lip before sucking it into his mouth, she felt her blood rush straight to her core, demanding him, now.
Her hands l
ifted, grabbing and tugging a fistful of his thick short hair, craving more from him. It was never enough — nothing was enough. She wanted him buried inside her while his hands stroked hungrily up and down her back. She wanted a mutual feeling of complete possession in each other’s arms.
She wanted to be held and never let go.
“The sight of you in this dress…oh, Rachel, I’ve been hard and aching since the first glance,” he gasped. “But you can wear anything and my body responds. I’ve never desired a woman so much. Never. I will make love to you long into the night. I don’t think I will ever release you from my bed. ” His lips trailed down her throat and sucked on her erratically beating pulse.
Rachel tried to keep some semblance of her sanity — tried to remember that this was about more than sex — but the more places he touched her, the more he spoke, the less control she maintained.
Need.
Raw, exhilarating, thrilling need raged within her in waves and she hoped it would never, ever end.
Adriane was silent when they finally entered the palace. He shot a single look at his servants, and within seconds, he and Rachel were alone.
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“I won’t stop,” he warned, as if giving her a last chance to back out.
Rachel didn’t understand why he would give her an out after he’d been waiting for so long, but she was grateful for the consideration. A man who didn’t care wouldn’t have given her the chance to change her mind, would he? She didn’t think so.
“Why are you still talking?” she asked, batting her eyes and letting him know with nothing other than the intense yearning in her features how much she wanted him.
Victory flashed in his eyes for the briefest of moments, replaced by a molten need. She’d given him an answer to his unasked question. She wasn’t going to pull away from him this time.
Without even giving her time to blink, Adriane lifted her into his arms and then began up the staircase, quickly ascending and then winding his way through the hallways, breathing heavily, though not from exertion, as he reached his massive bedroom doors, so lost in his haze of passion, he forgot all about his promise of not taking her to his chambers until after the wedding.
Leaning in against him, she couldn’t resist running her tongue along the salty skin of his neck and delighting in its erotic tang.
“I can barely walk,” he groaned as he dashed through the sitting area and made a straight path to his sleeping chamber, stopping only when he reached his bed.
Had Rachel been able to look around her, she’d have taken in the bold red of his curtains, the matching duvet and the lavish antique furnishings he’d chosen — if he had in fact, chosen them. How foolish. He had servants to do such tasks, of course. Still, she wanted to study it all, but afflicted by passion-inspired tunnel vision, she could see only the man still holding her securely in his hard-muscled arms.
“I want you, Adriane,” she whispered, feeling a shudder pass through his body.
He released her, and she slid down the hard planes of his chest, her stomach trembling as she felt his manhood pulse against her.
Undoing the top of her dress, he dropped to his knees as her skin was bared to him, letting the dress pool at her feet. He grasped her h*ps with his hand and leaned forward, breathing in her very essence.
With fierce impatience, he ripped her panties away, grabbed her thighs and spread them roughly apart, not giving her time to even gasp before he buried his face between the juncture of her legs. Her knees trembled while he began licking along her upper thighs, inching toward the place where she was aching the most.
With expert technique, he penetrated her moist folds with his tongue as he continued pushing her legs apart, and when neither of them could stand the foreplay any longer, he clasped her throbbing womanhood and sucked. She cried out when he drank from her, sliding one hand up her thigh and inserting his long fingers into her heat, making her gasp and moan in pleasure.
“Yes, Adriane, more!” she cried as she held on to his shoulder, wondering how she was still standing.
Only a slight groan exited his mouth as he continued devouring her core, his tongue torching a path along every inch of her womanhood.
More! She wanted so much more. She wanted him — only him.
“Please,” she pleaded, wanting it all.
His lips circled her most sensitive area; his tongue swirled and his fingers pushed deep inside of her. She exploded, slumping forward against his face as tremors shook her body.
“Oh, Adriane,” she groaned, unable to move at all, still upright only because she was leaning against him.
What a fool she’d been to wait so long to do this with him!
When he stood up, she nearly fell to the floor, but he caught hold of her, turning her body so she fell on the bed, her limbs weak, her rounded behind in the air.
Trying to turn, she didn’t have a chance as he grabbed her legs and pulled her back to him. “I need you now!” he said in a strained voice before lifting her hips, then gripping her as he slammed into her, burying his burning manhood deep.
Rachel cried out as another orgasm ripped through her, taking her by shock as she pulsed around him, his staff filling her completely.
“Too long,” he groaned as he pulled back, and then surged forward again, making her orgasm continue on and on. “Way too long. You are mine, Rachel Palazzo, mine forever. No other man will touch you again; no other man will have what’s mine,” he said, slamming into her again and branding her with all he was.
“Yes, Adriane,” she cried, not caring what she agreed to, just desperate for him to continue.
He paced himself, moving deep within her body before retreating and then starting all over again, moving slow and then fast, his thick arousal filling her, stretching her, building her ever higher in her need for him.
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He’d already given her a surfeit of satisfaction, and still, it wasn’t enough! She felt like a sexual glutton.
“Now, Rachel. Let go now!” he demanded.
As if attuned to his every desire, she prepared to cl**ax again, her body responding to his movements, to the sound of the ardent groan deep within his chest. As he emptied himself inside her, her pleasure overwhelmed her, and she shattered, then floated away into a sea of blackness.
Rachel quickly returned to consciousness, surprised when she realized she’d passed out.
“Rachel, are you feeling all right? I should call the doctor. I was too rough; I wasn’t thinking about the babies at all. I’m sorry,” Adriane said as he ran his hands down her body, stopping on her stomach as if he could tell whether the babies were healthy just by feeling her.
Some of her euphoria faded as she saw him focused solely on her stomach.
How could she forget even for a single moment what his ultimate goal was? He had to protect his heirs no matter what.
Would nothing she did make him focus only on her?
If the sex hadn’t been enough to knock his socks off and have him thinking of her as a woman and not a human incubator, then she didn’t possibly know what would catch his attention.
Pushing his hands away and pulling the blanket up to her chin, she sat up, suddenly feeling overly exposed. Where were they going to go from here? He’d gotten her into the sack; now was he going to leave her alone?
She didn’t want that. She wanted to be held.
Impossible as it seemed, just the feel of his hands caressing her flesh had begun stirring her up again. Even with the confusing thoughts fogging her mind, she wanted him — as she feared she always would.
Maybe it was because it had been too long since she’d been held; maybe it was just because he was such a fantastic lover that it was easy for her to forget why she was here in his palace — and in his bed.
“I’m fine, Adriane. Pregnant women all over the world have sex. I highly dou
bt anything could happen. The children are locked up safely inside my womb,” she said, trying to disguise the sting she felt, trying to focus on the positive fact that at least he was concerned.
After a pause, while he tried to determine if she was telling him the truth, he began shedding the rest of his clothes and dropping them to the floor — the clothes he hadn’t removed in his haste to claim her.
“If you’re sure…” he said, hesitating before lifting the blanket on the bed.
“I know how I feel. I’m fine,” she said, her voice confident. But if he dared ask about the babies again, she wouldn’t be at all OK.
“In that case, I will just make sure to be more gentle from here on out. ”
“Oh,” she said. “There’s more?” She couldn’t deny that her blood was already heating at just the thought of him making love to her again. That round had been undeniably satisfying, but it was still over too quickly. He’d promised her till the sun rose.
She didn’t think she’d get that much lovemaking, but she’d gladly take another hour or two.
Climbing beneath the covers, he immediately reached for her, pulling her into his arms and positioning her body on top of his.
The heat of his skin scorched her from br**sts to toes, and it was a burn she reveled in.
“Plenty more, Rachel. It’s been entirely too long since we’ve come together,” he said, letting his hands glide across her skin, running from the smooth indent of her calves all the way to her collar bone before moving lazily back down.
“Adriane,” she moaned, unable to keep still as he caressed her.
“The shape of your body takes my breath away. Every single curve on you is perfect, fits beautifully in my hands, or softens beneath my touch. You were made for me — and me alone,” he said as he leaned into her and trailed kisses along the path he’d forged with his fingers.
Each kiss brought her intense pleasure that pooled in her core and made her ache for his touch. Reading her mind, he let his fingers rest there, and she leaned back, giving him better access.
His arousal grew beneath her backside, and she wiggled against him as his fingers sank inside her, time fading away as she cried out in pleasure with each sure stroke of his hand.