“It’s so beautiful,” she breathed.
“It is.” Where Miranda got something likethis at the last minute, I had no clue. I mentally bumped up theraise she deserved to fifty percent. “Pity it’s going to bedestroyed by the end of the night.”
A visible shiver racked her body. “Isthis…what I think? My surprise, I mean?”
“Most likely, given your reaction.” Ioffered her my hand and she rose to stand over me, every glorious,naked inch of her. I couldn’t help myself. I placed my hands at herwaist and dragged them down the smooth, luscious skin of her hips.“Let’s get you dressed, and I’ll tell you all about it?”
“Please,” she whispered.
I unlaced the pink part of the dress andseparated it from the white underneath, to put that on first. Thematerial was sheer; when I helped her pull it over her head anddrop it to the floor, her creamy skin and hard nipples were visiblethrough it. The beading along the bottom of the skirt helped weighit down, skimming every curve.
“Your dragon is going to share you tonight,”I began, making careful adjustments to the garment that allowed meto cup her breasts and wander my fingers down her stomach. “Withtwenty of his hand-selected knights.”
“Like the story,” she rasped.
“Do you think you can take them?” I asked.“Twenty?”
“Forty,” she snapped back. “You have no ideawhat today has been like.”
“Oh, I’ve been edged to near insanitybefore,” I assured her. “Are you into this? We can cancel at anytime, and I’m not going to be upset. You know that, right?”
“Of course, I know that. I’m overwhelmedthat you would go to this length to—”
“Make your fantasy come true?” I winked ather. “What did I tell you I was in the business of doing?”
She rolled her eyes and laughed. Then, ahiccupping sob tore from her throat, and she cleared it away. In atremulous voice, she said, “The princess wasn’t allowed to comeuntil all twenty had finished with her.”
“Not tonight,” I promised, kissing her head.“Tonight, the princess is going to come as much as she wants.”
“The princess is going to come the secondsomeone touches her,” she warned.
“Then the princess is going to have awonderful night.” I reached for the pink dress, uncertain for amoment how she was supposed to put it on. “Do you step into itor…”
She raised her arms. “Over my head.”
The velvet, like the linen, hugged her body,a second skin all the way to her hips, where the voluminous skirtflared out. The sleeves, likewise, were huge, draping all the wayto the floor. She really did look like something out of astorybook.
I picked up the ends of the gold lacesthreaded through the grommets. Not too tight; they were simplydecoration because she still needed to breathe. “No one will doanything you don’t like. They’ve all been sent a list of yourlimits.”
“I trust you.”
The words hit my heart like nothing I’d everfelt before. They physically knocked the wind out of me. It wasn’tthe first time I’d heard them, but somehow, knowing we were aboutto play out a fantasy that had been so formative to ourrelationship, they meant more this time.
“Are you going to watch?” she asked.
“Isn’t that what the dragon did?” I managedto keep my voice even and playful through the lump of emotion in mythroat. “Is my princess going to make me proud?”
A flush crept up her neck. “Yes, mydragon.”
I led her to the full-length mirror near thebathroom. “Look at you. A real princess.” I hesitated.“Except…”
The final touches had come in a separatebox, which Miranda had put directly into my safe. I doubted anyonehad planned an elaborate heist, but itwasvaluable. I’dpurchased it through a jeweler and had it hand delivered by courierovernight. I carried the surprisingly heavy wooden box to the bedwith difficulty I miraculously concealed and opened the lock withthe small golden key provided.
“This isnotgoing to be destroyed,”I promised her, folding back the protective fabric to reveal thecontents.
She gasped.
Inside, a golden tiara studded with palerubies and huge, flawless diamonds winked up at her. Nestled besideit was a gold-plated, titanium-core plug, the base decorated withgold filigree around a perfect, blindingly white fifty-carat,round-cut diamond.