Page 37 of The Intergalactic Duke's Inconvenient Engagement
She’ddone everything she could to hide her fear from Lishelle and Trixie, and they’d let her stand in for them at the ball, probably thinking she had her shit together. But she hadn’t, not when Mom left, not when Daddy’s CO patted her head, not when Vaughn had announced she’d enlisted and was shipping out the next week, leaving Rayna behind. And definitely not now.
Raz saw her weakness. Saw it butdidn’t try to tell her everything would be fine. And he still respected her. He even said she inspired him. Now he was offering her this ring.
“Just for the ball,” she whispered, her voice pitched half toward a question, half consent.
He tilted the ring again, sending shards of light spiking across the room. “Probably it didn’t need to be so grand and gaudy just for one ball,” he mused. “It’soverkill, isn’t it? Everyone will think I’m desperate to win your affections and that you’re a shameless hussy, taking advantage of a clearly captivated duke—”
She laughed, her emotions veering wildly. “Yes.”
He lifted one eyebrow. “Yes, you are a shameless hussy, or—”
“No!” Except maybe she was lying about that… “I meant yes to your proposal.” Her voice quavered. “Yes to you. At least forthe ball.”
She held her breath as he slid the ring onto her finger. It was heavier than it looked, and it looked plenty heavy. Her hand sagged.
He gently turned her wrist—even the underside of the ring band glowed with light—and kissed the center of her palm before folding her fingers tight and rotating the ring upward again. “I’m honored that you believe in me. At least for the ball.”
Thewry note in his voice seemed to require response, but the fire in the gem had mesmerized her. “Anyway, if I need to defend myself, this rock could put out someone’s eye.”
With a laugh, he rose smoothly to his feet, towering over her. “It’s called the Eye of Zalar, the blood champion who led our system in the Thorkonos Wars.”
“He had very big eyes,” Rayna murmured as she tilted the ring to thelight.
“Shehad very deep pocketbooks after the wars and a galactic accountant lover who indulged her affection for all things sparkly and wisely steered a portion of her riches to mineral rights.”
Despite her own sudden interest in sparkly things, Rayna lifted her gaze to Raz. He was watching her with the same indulgence she imagined that long-ago lover had bestowed upon his lady, underlaidwith something deeper and hungrier.
“So,” she drawled. “In your review of Earther engagement traditions, did you read about the kiss?”
“Maybe. Remind me how that part goes…”
He half closed his eyes, but behind the shield of his lashes, his gaze brightened, more intense than the energy from the black hole had been, and she knew from her readings that most of that energy was invisible, pulsingabove and below the limits of human detection. What would she find if she opened herself up to him?
Exposing herself to the singularity would’ve meant breaking out into space itself. Here, now… She didn’t know what it would mean, but she suspected it would be every bit as thrilling, beautiful…and perilous.
And though she would’ve sworn an oath—on any god around—that she didn’t need anybody,in that moment, she wanted Raz above, below, and deep inside.
Canting up to her tiptoes, she lifted her lips to his. After a nanosecond’s hesitation—she counted—his mouth crashed down.
All the awkward fumbling of that first kiss, even the memory of hesitation, burned away on the impact of their mouths. Maybe before she had been overwhelmed, so recently awakened from her imprisonment, but thistime she knew exactly what she wanted.
She twined her fingers into his black hair, tugging down the shoulder-length strands and thrilling in his demanding caress as his hands plunged past the tight strictures of her belt, flaying open the edges of the robe. She still had on a thin nightgown underneath—she hadn’t been stupid enough to come out to meet him wearingonlya robe—but the lightweight,silky material seemed to act as an accelerant to the urgent roaming of his hands.
He made a low noise in his throat, half groan, half growl, that reverberated in her bones and rattled loose a moan of her own. She stroked her hands down his bare arms, reveling in the hard clench of his muscles as he lifted and spun her toward the starry fireplace. They sank together to the thick rug in front ofthe fireplace that now showed a fiery comet plunging across the heavens. How appropriate. They would burn up on entry in a glorious immolation.
“Rayna,” he murmured. “My little honey-bird.”
She gasped as he trailed his lips down the column of her throat while his restless caress drifted upward to cup the heavy, aching weight of her breasts. The breath hitched in her throat as his thumbs teasedthe tight buds of her nipples.
He laughed hoarsely, a sound as dark as space and riddled with stars. “Ray,” he murmured. “You are my ray of light. Guide me.”
With a sharp inhalation of pleasure, she clutched his one hand to her breast and guided the other down to the juncture of her thighs. He curved his big palm over her mound through the thin, silky material, his fingers stroking restlessly.When he brushed her clit, swollen and throbbing, she sucked in another mewling breath.
“Ahh,” he breathed. “There? That is where you guide me.” He stroked her again, leaving her trembling. As he pinched her nipples through the nightgown with more force, she arched helplessly into his hands, keening out another breath. When she slid her hands up inside the hem of his tunic, the ring caught thetrailing edge, dragging it higher. She grasped at the hard ridges of his abs to hold herself upright. The harsh gusting of his breath only fanned her need, each convulsion of his hard gasps against her palms echoing through her as if he was already inside her.
“Raz,” she gasped. “Oh God…”
“Justagod,” he murmured. “Not the only one. Although I would gladly be your only.”