Page 43

“Good morning,” he breathes into my ear, and the whisper of his breath sends shivers of desire down my spine.

“Good morning,” I reply and smile as he tugs me closer to him and places a kiss on my bare shoulder.

“I suppose this is where you flee my chamber to pretend you spent the night in your own bed?”

It’s my turn to smile. “I suppose it is. However, if it’s any consolation I think I shall miss you a tiny bit and I think I would return if I lost another wager.”

He snort laughs into my shoulder, “If? I don’t make wagers I can’t win, Queen Elinor, and after last night I don’t think I have to make wagers with you in order to get you here.” His voice becomes husky and I feel the heat of his lips on my neck. Tendrils of desire twine along my skin and a corresponding heat flares in my core. His hand sweeps down over my hip and moves up to my waist, and before I have a chance to draw in a gasp of air he is fondling my breast between his fingers. “Do I?” he asks and the only response I have is a low groan.

“You may have presented me with other enticements,” I manage to say as my body flares to life with need. He chucklesinto my shoulder and the happy sound vibrates through me, amplifying my growing desire. His hand continues to fondle my breast as the other one skims over my thigh and lifts my smock. I barely have time to realise all this is really happening when his strong fingers dip down into my womanhood and I’m stunned to discover I’m already wet again.

He groans into my shoulder and the sound is low and feral, causing a shudder of pure lust to ripple through me. I turn slightly, twine my arm around his neck and pull his lips to mine. He kisses me with unbridled ferocity as his fingers start to massage my womanhood and he sets my body alight. He quickly finds the throbbing bud at the apex of my womanhood and does that magic with his fingers until I am awash with pleasure and panting and moaning into his mouth.

As I lie sated in his arms I can feel the hard evidence of his own arousal against my buttocks. “Is it painful for you,” I ask, “not being able to release yourself inside me?”

I feel him smile against the back of my neck.

“It’s nothing I can’t cope with,” he replies, “but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I’m looking forward to the consummation of our union.”

After last night and this morning I have to admit I’m not just looking forward to it but am positively aching for it. “I’ve been thinking,” I say in a quiet voice, as I’m not so sure of my words and where they will lead, “with a view to making that happen sooner rather than later, I’ve decided perhaps I could be the one to harvest you after all.”

I feel him stiffen and I wince at his silence, unsure of its meaning. My inexperience in matters of the flesh can’t have gone unnoticed by him and perhaps he has had a change of heart in this regard.

“Turn and face me, Elinor,” he commands, and I reluctantly do so, loving the way he simply calls me by my name. “When can this happen?”

“I don’t know,” I reply as I wonder if that’s hope I see shining in his eyes. “I need to speak with Kes. She or one of the other Khaleeni will need to procure some pennyweed, the sacred herb we use to test the seed. All known supplies are kept in the Sky Temple.”

He brushes a lock of hair away from my cheek. “So, in a day or two?” he asks.

I nod. “Perhaps, yes. I’d say that’s a realistic timeframe but…” my voice falters as I don’t know how to formulate the rest of my sentence.

“But?”

I turn my head in an effort to look away from him and his questioning gaze, but his strong fingers gently grip my chin and turn my head back to him and tilt it upwards until I have no choice but to look into his eyes.

“But what?”

I take a deep breath. “I’m sure you’ve noticed by now I am most inexperienced in these matters, and I feel it’s only fair to tell you that I have no idea how to do it.”

He throws his head back and laughs and my sense of embarrassment deepens. “Prince Ronan,” I say in a delicate voice, “I think it's most indecent of you to laugh at me so, after I have confided my innermost fears in you.”

He stops laughing and looks down into my face. “I'm sorry, my Queen, it's just that you have nothing to worry about. I think it's sweet you're worried about your lack of experience but fear not, as I’m more than willing to guide you.”

I smile a half smile. “Really? You don't mind? You don't think me some silly girl?”

He smiles back, a smile full of warmth and caring. “You may have been a girl once, Queen Elinor, but I doubt you were ever silly, and just for the record, I happen to think you’re a very beautiful woman. Furthermore, I consider myself lucky to be the man who will educate you in the art of love making.”

He kisses the top of my head. “And as much as I’d like to spend the day in these chambers with you and continue that education, I think I’ve probably delayed you enough this morning.”

“I can’t think of a nicer way to be delayed,” I reply, as I reluctantly extricate myself from his arms and leave his bed. “I have some matters to attend to this morning, but perhaps we could ride out together this afternoon and I can show you more of Valensia and the surrounding valley.”

“I’d like that,” he says with a wide grin, and he looks so devastatingly handsome my stomach clenches with repressed desire.

“Good, I’ll inform the stables to have a horse ready for you,” I tell him and then turn and quickly leave before I change my mind and jump back into his bed. I make my way along the Queen’s Passage, and as I step back into my own chamber I marvel at how much I am changed since I left it the night before.

***

“I see you kept your end of the wager,” Kes says from across the room and there’s no mistaking the note of amusement in her voice.