His Royal Pleasure (7 page)

A click from the front door interrupted his brooding thoughts, and he brushed aside the curtains. He immediately identified the small figure running through the rain. He stood stock-still while his mind raced. He should leave her alone. He should accept her rejection. He should turn his back, blank her out of his mind. He shouldn't follow her.

Alex had spent his life doing what he should, denying himself. What he wanted for Katherine, though, was more powerful than all his shoulds. Discontent rippled through him, taunting and challenging. He pushed away from the window and followed his needs.

Heedless of the rain, he tracked her to the beach. It was only a few strides before he caught her from behind. She was damp and soft and light. Then she turned into a whirling dervish.

She cried out, fighting. “Stop it! Let me go. Let me go.”

She rammed an elbow into his side, and he swore, tightening his grip. “Hush! It's me, Alex.”

His voice didn't calm her. “Let me go, you, you, you—” Her heel connected with his shin.

The little pain fueled his irritation. Patience gone, he flipped her into his arms so that her face was two inches from his, but her arms and legs were safely bound.

She glared at him. “You
creep!
”

Al frowned. Something was wrong with this picture. He'd imagined her soft and malleable in his arms, not hissing like a she-cat. He opened his mouth, ready to make her take back the insult, but Katherine was just getting started.

“You low-down creep! I was just fine until you came. Get your slimy hands off me.”

Creep was one thing, but slimy? He dumped her on the sand. He heard her muttered curses about his father, his grandfather and his great-grandfather. Al stopped listening after that. “Would you care to explain this irrational display of behavior?”

She scrambled to her feet. “Irrational!” She thumped herself on the chest. “I'm not irrational. I didn't disappear for over twenty-four hours and show up for a performance in a mask, did I?”

Temporarily distracted by the outline of her breasts against her damp dress, he did not respond.

“I didn't assault you from behind when you were minding your own business taking a walk on the beach.”

He looked straight into her furious eyes. “I didn't assault you. It's a strange time to stroll on the beach since it's the middle of the night and it's raining.”

“Then go back to bed.”

“I wasn't in bed. I couldn't sleep for thinking of you.”

She sucked in a deep breath. Their gazes locked for a full minute. A full minute with the soft drizzle coming down when need and desire fought against fear. A full minute when he didn't feel lonely because he saw she felt the same way that he did.

Katherine bit her lip and turned away.

His chest went tight. “Wait,” he said. When she still wouldn't face him, he swallowed his pride. “Please.”

She bowed her head. “I wondered if you'd left.”

She looked fragile and vulnerable. It made him want to hold her. He took a step closer. “I won't leave without saying goodbye. I swear it.”

She turned then and looked at him curiously. “It was the press, wasn't it?”

He didn't say anything. He couldn't.

“Are you a criminal?”

He shook his head.

Her fine brows furrowed in confusion. “Is it something to do with your family?”

He let out a long sigh. “It's always something to do with my family.”

“Well, I guess I can understand that.”

She couldn't fathom the half of it, he thought, but she let him take her hand and walk beside her.

“Are you married?” she blurted out after a few steps.

He coughed to cover his amusement. “No.”

“It's not funny, Al. You know much more about me than I know about you.”

“Okay. I'm the oldest of four children. I'm thirty years old. I graduated from Oxford University. I'm on a monthlong vacation from a—job that's both draining and rewarding.”

“A monthlong vacation in North Carolina?” she asked skeptically.

“Luck. Pure luck.”

“Where were you born?” she ventured.

“At home,” he sidestepped.

“And where is—”

He put his fingers over her mouth. “There are some answers I can't give you.” A grim feeling came over him. “Later, but not now.”

“That's a promise,” Katherine whispered.

“Yes.”

She took a deep breath. “One more question.” She paused. “Are you promised to another woman?”

He thought of the relationship he'd just cut off. He thought, also, of the women his advisers would love to see him marry. “No.”

She was cautious. “You had to think about it.”

He took her other hand and made her face him. “I have neither publicly nor privately promised my love and life to another woman.”

Tension coiled between them. It was always hovering. He saw it in her face, felt it in her grasp. “And now,” he said in a low voice, “answer my question. Why are you out here in the rain?”

Katherine pulled back immediately. “Oh, no.”

“I answered your questions.”

She shook her head. “But this is, oh, this is craziness.”

“We have a bargain,” he reminded her.

She tried to pull away. “I can't say it to your face. It's too embarrassing.”

He quickly solved that, pulling her into him. “Then say it to my chest.”

Her groan vibrated against his ribs.

He waited, and when she didn't begin, he tried to help. “Was it the music again?”

She nodded, and he threaded his fingers through her damp hair. She huddled against him.

“And?”

Her sigh warmed a bare spot on his chest. “I had a dream.”

He hugged her tighter, stroking her shoulders. “A nightmare?”

“No, but it was strange. You were in it, and you were wearing your mask. I tried to get it off, but I couldn't.”

He was surprised, touched that such a small thing had distressed her. “Is that all?”

She burrowed her face into him farther, and his senses stirred. He noticed her feminine scent. He noticed she was braless. He noticed her belly rubbed against a rather sensitive part of his anatomy. And he also noticed that, for once, she wasn't trying to get away from him.

She cleared her throat. “You were touching me,” she murmured. “Making love to me.”

Alex's chest swelled. So she did dream of him. He kissed the top of her head. “Where were we?”

“In my bed. It was dark.”

“Then how did you know it was me?”

“I knew.”

His body immediately reacted. “Did I please you?”

“Yes,” she admitted quietly.

His voice grew rough. “What did I do?”

She shook her head. “Al.”

“Tell me.”

“You kissed me and touched me, and—” her voice lowered to a whisper “—you said things.”

“What things?”

“I don't remember,” she said desperately.

“Katherine,” Al began as he lifted her head. “Did I tell you that your eyes remind me of diamonds? That your laughter tugs and pulls at something inside me?”

Her lips trembled, and he kissed her. “How close did we get?”

“Very close.”

“Was I inside you?”

She closed her eyes and spoke so softly that he barely heard her. “Yes.”

The dam of his self-control broke. He kissed her again, intimately, in a way that showed her he wanted her. He ran his hands down her body, cupping her hips, lifting her against him. “Why do I feel like I've wanted you forever?” he murmured against her mouth, unable to stop touching her. “Why do I feel that if I don't taste you, I'll regret it for the rest of my life?”

“I don't know,” Katherine murmured.

“Tell me you feel the same way.” He kissed her a little roughly then. “Tell me you're not pretending.”

“I do,” she said, breathlessly. “I'm not pretending.” Then she took a giant step farther and pushed aside his shirt and ran her hands over his chest.

Al shuddered. He snatched one of her hands and brought it to his lips, tasting his way from her fingertips down her arm to her shoulder.

Katherine instinctively arched her neck. He nuzzled her throat, murmuring dark, sexy words into her ear. Katherine was dizzy with him, his scent, his voice, him. At this moment it simply didn't matter that she didn't know as much about him as she wanted to.

He slid the strap of her sundress over one shoulder, and his hand followed the falling drape of material down her chest until the dress dangled on the beaded tip of her breast. “I dream of putting my mouth there,” he said.

Her knees turned to putty. She looked into his dark, stormy eyes, and her breath caught. Slowly she exhaled, watching as he watched her dress fall to her waist. It was incredibly erotic to see his fascination with her breasts, to see him reach out and lightly touch and fondle. He plucked and fondled her nipples until she was biting back a moan. She rubbed her legs together, trying to assuage the restlessness that rushed through her.

“You are beautiful.”

Al lifted her, wrapping her legs around his waist. She felt the measure of his arousal nudge at her, and a surge of fire licked through her veins.

He looked at her breasts and swollen nipples. He licked his lips. Then he looked into her eyes. “This is just the beginning.”

If this was just the beginning, then she hoped he had a heart monitor handy.

“Oh!” Katherine gasped when his mouth found her breast. She slid her fingers through his hair, needing something to hold on to. He suckled her nipples until they were wet, stiff and sensitive, and she felt the caress in her blood, his need in her heart.

Then he pulled back, the passion on his face so raw and basic, it made her burn. He looked at her, trailing his knuckles down her cheek. “Your breathing isn't quite so steady.”

Al ran his finger around her mouth. She swallowed, then instinctively opened her lips wider. “Neither is yours.” She darted out her tongue to taste his finger.

He sucked in a quick breath and nodded. “As you say.” His gaze swept her again, and Katherine felt like a rich dessert served up for his pleasure. “I like the way your eyes glaze when I touch your breast. I like the way your breast tastes and feels in my mouth.” He dropped his hand to one nipple and thumbed it in a lazy motion that made her thighs clench together.

He smiled then, like the devil. “I like the way you do that too.” His lids lowered in sexy indolence. “I think I like everything about you, Katherine Kendall.”

One of his hands slid up her thigh, beneath her panties, and squeezed. Her breath stopped.

“I just want more.”

In a quick, smooth motion that left her more dizzy than before, Katherine found herself lying on the sand with him beside her. His hand slowly pulled the hem of her dress to her waist.

He toyed with the edge of her panties, brushing the backs of his fingers against her inner thigh. It was torment to have him so close to the place that ached. “Al,” she pleaded.

“Shh,” he said and continued, back and forth, moving closer and retreating, kissing her, slipping his tongue into her mouth. She was taunted and teased until she wondered if she'd remain in this state forever.

Until he finally touched her where she was moist and desperate. A moan broke from her throat. Her vision blurred. Her panties were discarded, and it seemed she felt him everywhere, her mouth and her cheek, her throat and breasts. And Katherine realized that although she'd been married, a man had never made love to her before.

He pulled away and looked down at her, breathing hard. His eyes were dark with passion. His hands rested on her inner thighs. “There's something else I want from you.”

Katherine thought she knew what he was talking about, because she wanted the same thing. She wanted his closeness. She wanted nothing between them.

When he bent down and put his open mouth on her thigh, though, she jerked. He looked up and must have seen her shock. “Don't deny me this,” he said in a rough, strained voice. “I can't leave without tasting you.”

Her throat closed up.
Oh, my God.
She covered her face with a hand. The sight of his lips on her was unbearably erotic, but the sensation of them was torture. The journey he took was excruciatingly slow, his tongue skimming across her sensitized skin. Every nuance of movement danced through her system with arousing familiarity, the brush of his stubble, the controlled nip of his teeth. She'd heard his voice, rough with emotion, before. She'd inhaled his scent before. She'd done this before in her dreams. Her legs began to tremble.

She was totally under his power. Why did he seem to know just how to touch and where? He could make her cry or laugh. He could make her shiver or moan. He could take her to the edge and leave her there, or push her over the edge. She hovered on that edge, undecided, vacillating, whether to stay or fly.

His mouth touched her intimately, sipping and stroking as if she were a tender bud ready to bloom. She was so swollen, she felt she was going to burst. She could barely breathe.

“Give me all of you, Katherine,” he coaxed, his voice low. “All of you in my mouth.” Then he touched her again. His tongue was tenderly persistent. His mouth was ruthlessly pleasure-giving.

Her blood roared through her veins as if it were jet-propelled. She arched off the ground, crying out his name. And her whole body convulsed into a chain of spasms within and without. One ended, and the next began, and the next.

And Katherine flew.

 

Moments later Alex was still trembling. He held Katherine in his arms. Or was it she who was holding him? For God's sake, why did he feel this way? After all, he had remained in control. He hadn't cried out. He hadn't come.

He'd thought to teach her, to show her how lovemaking could be. He hadn't counted on her teaching him that her sweet surrender would affect him like this.

He'd planned to bring her so much pleasure, she'd be crying with it. He hadn't planned on getting high from her complete responsiveness. He never would have believed the simple gesture of her hand on his cheek would render him speechless.

He'd planned to be the giver, yet he felt he was holding pure gold.

She stirred and pressed her face into his neck. Her breath fluttered in soft pants against his skin. His heart swelled within his chest, and he tightened his hold on her.

The mist still came down. The moon played peekaboo behind the clouds. The world was still spinning on its axis, he thought. So why did he feel completely undone?

Katherine stirred again and moved her mouth to his ear. “You can go ahead and say it,” she whispered, the breathy sound tickling and arousing.

Alex's skin began to heat. “Say what?”

She continued nuzzling his throat. “I told you so.”

It was difficult to concentrate with her hand skimming over his chest and down his belly. “I told you what?”

“That you would bring me incredible pleasure and that I would beg for it.” She met his gaze a little shyly. “You were right.”

Her fingers tugged at the top button of his pants. His blood pressure zoomed. “No,” he choked out, reluctantly clutching her hand. “We can't. There's no protection.” His full erection strained painfully against the tight pants. If he weren't a prince, Alex thought, he'd say to hell with it and finish what they'd started. But his father's indiscretions hung heavily over his head, making some actions impossible.

She lifted her head, looking at him uncertainly. “You don't want me to touch you.”

“I didn't say that,” Alex quickly corrected her. “I said—”

She covered his mouth with hers. He should stop her, he thought, as she unbuttoned his pants. He felt and heard the hiss of the zipper as she slowly lowered it.

She slid her hand under the edge of his briefs, and he groaned. She was so close. Maybe he could last for just a moment.

Her fingers grazed his masculinity. He ground his teeth.

“You're hard,” she murmured.

“An understatement,” he growled.

She brought her mouth an inch from his and murmured against his lips, “Next time, bring a condom.”

Hell, he'd buy a whole factory.

When she wrapped her small but capable hand around him and stroked, he saw stars, and he knew there were none out tonight. He let out his breath in a long, uneven hiss.

Her thumb rubbed the tip, spreading a drop of his arousal and causing more. Just as he opened his mouth to tell her to stop, Katherine gave him a French kiss so erotic, there wasn't a rating for it. She slid her velvety tongue in and out of his mouth while she milked his throbbing shaft with her hand.

It was too much. She was too good. He couldn't stop. He jerked. He thrust, then spilled himself into her hand.

The hot, stinging release took his breath. Closing his eyes, he leaned his forehead against hers while he gathered his wits. Al shook his head. “Incredible,” he muttered. “I haven't done this since—” He swore, then broke off.

“But I wanted you to,” she said earnestly.

“Not that way. Not in your—” Lord, he felt like a fool, and he was supposed to be the experienced one.

“Yes, I did,” she insisted in a husky voice. “It was—”

Curiosity got the better of him, and he looked at her closely. “It was what?”

She looked away, but not before he saw the intimate look on her face. “Sexy.” She took a deep breath. “So sexy.”

His body began to respond. Al groaned and kissed her. She opened her mouth to say something, but he shook his head. “Show some mercy, Katherine. Be quiet for a moment.” Still oddly embarrassed, he stood and stripped off his pants. He pulled Katherine to her feet and lifted her dress, which was miraculously still on her, over her head.

She stared at him as if he'd gone crazy.

For once in his life Alex couldn't think of a single intelligent thing to say, so he just hauled her up in his arms and walked to the water's edge.

“What are we doing?”

“Going for a swim.” He splashed through the waves until the ocean lapped against their lower bodies.

She tried to move away, but he wouldn't let her. “I thought you said we were going to swim.”

Alex hugged her slippery, naked body to his. “I changed my mind.”

“What if I want to swim?”

He looked as if he were going to overrule her, then he seemed to catch himself. “Do you wish to swim?”

“No.” She smiled and shook her head ruefully. “I probably sound contrary, but you have this tendency to give orders that makes me feel like I'm supposed to click my heels and say, ‘Yes sir!'”

He unbent and gave a half-grin. “Think of it as a genetic condition.”

“
All
the men in your family are like this?”

Walking from the water, he nodded. “My father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather and on and on. Complete confidence is necessary for the job.”

“You do the same work as your father, then?”

“Yes,” he said in a tone that let her know he wouldn't explain further. He set her on the sand and pulled her dress over her head, then pulled on his pants. He took her hand. “It's late,
chérie.
We should go back now.”

They walked in silence, and as they neared the cottage, Katherine thought of what they'd done and what they hadn't. Suddenly she couldn't accept not knowing about him. Too much had happened between them. Or had it just happened to her?

“You're thinking too much,” Al said.

“Maybe. But you're quiet too. What are you thinking?”

Al stopped outside the door and brushed a stray strand of hair from her forehead. “That you're going to scowl at me in the morning if you don't get some sleep.”

So he wanted it light and easy, she thought with a twist in her stomach. She wasn't sure she could manage it, but she took a deep breath and mustered a smile. “Good night, then.”

She glanced away, then felt his hand on her shoulder. “Tonight,
mon amie,
there are no right words.”

She looked into his dark eyes and saw the glimmer of something deeper. Her heart bumped along unsteadily. Declarations and promises whirled in her head, frightening her with their strength. She was connected to him, yet somehow not.

“You're right,” she whispered. “Everything is either too little or too much.” She reached up and kissed the corner of his mouth. “Till tomorrow.”

He clutched her waist possessively and kissed her full on the mouth, obliterating his earlier light tone. “Dream of me,” he muttered, then urged her through the door.

 

The next morning Alex rose before Katherine and Chad. He felt like a new man, young and free. The crunchy horrible coffee he made couldn't even dim his grin.

He tossed it out and traded it for a glass of orange juice, then strolled onto the front porch. The sun was just rising. He breathed in the salty morning air.

He caught sight of a paper bag on the bottom step. He picked it up and opened it. The silky triangle of Katherine's panties was the only item it held.

His stomach turned at the realization of what it meant.

Someone had watched them.
Someone had watched what should have been private. Someone had watched her nearly naked and needy beneath him.

Fury shot through him, nearly blinding him with the force of it. He crumpled the bag and cursed, scanning the wooded area, suddenly knowing he wasn't alone. “Show yourself,” he called in a rigid, quiet voice.

A man immediately stepped forward. Dressed like the other campers, he wore jeans and a T-shirt, but Alex stiffened. He knew him. “Who sent you?”

“Isabella.”

He would tear out her hair when he saw her. “How many others?”

“One. He sleeps.”

Alex's jaw clenched. “You will speak of this to no one.”

“Of course.”

The man was sworn to protect and defend Alex at all costs. He was also sworn to secrecy. “Jean-Luc, in two weeks I return to Moreno. Until then, keep your distance.”

Jean-Luc nodded. “Yes, Your Highness.”

“Al Sanders,” Alex corrected. “No one must know.”

Jean-Luc looked uncomfortable. With great reluctance, he nodded again. “Yes—” He hesitated. “Al.” Then he disappeared into the woods.

Alex rubbed the back of his neck in frustration. He probably shouldn't have been so hard on the man. Jean-Luc was only trying to do his job, and the bag was a pointed reminder of the penalties of being indiscreet. Princes didn't make love with women on public beaches. Anyone could have been watching.

A reporter would have a field day with this kind of story, Alex thought. Where had his mind been, to put Katherine and himself in such a compromising situation?

He heard the squeak of the screen door and quickly turned. Fresh from a shower, Katherine stood there with a soft smile on her face. “Good morning.”

Torn by self-condemnation and the effect her morning-husky voice had on his system, he nodded stiffly. “How are you?”

Katherine's smile wavered at his cool tone. “I, uh, I'm a little tired.”

“Yes. I regret I kept you out so late.”

“Regret?” The word deflated her. She looked at him carefully, noting the rigid set of his jaw, the stoic expression on his face and the unhappiness in his eyes. She couldn't help but recall other morning-afters when she'd hoped for warmth and love and gotten neither. Her heart sank. Perhaps, she thought with a bitter taste in her mouth, she'd misread his feelings.