Page 37 of What A Rogue Wants (Lords Of Deception #1)

Good God. Was he trying to prepare her? Her heart tugged at his thoughtfulness. “I’m aware.” Though only slightly, but he didn’t need to know how utterly na?ve she was.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

“I know exactly what I’m doing.” For tonight she did anyway.

His gaze burned her. “This makes you mine. There’s no turning back.”

She wanted to be his forever. Even if only like this. “I know.”

He slid a gold ring off his finger and held it toward her.

“I don’t have a ring for you yet, but soon you’ll wear one—mine.

For now, I pledge my loyalty to you and swear it on this ring, which holds great meaning to me.

” He kissed the ring, and she swallowed back thick tears.

God, how much would he hate her tomorrow?

Was this wrong? She was too selfish to change her mind now.

He cupped her chin. “Will you pledge your loyalty to me?”

She could. She would always be loyal only to him, but he may not see it that way. Still, she had no choice. Shaking, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to the cool metal. “You have my undying loyalty.” She took the ring from him, kissed it and handed it back to him.

He slid the ring on, cupped her neck and drew her face close to his. A deep ache coiled through her when his lips brushed her tender mouth.

“You are so damn beautiful.” His voice hitched.

That she made him vulnerable made her tremble anew. She shook her head.

“Don’t do that.” His tone was sharp, insistent. “You are beautiful. I know your mother made you feel ugly because you were different, but it’s that difference that makes you so beautiful, so special to me.”

His words unlocked a part of her she hadn’t realized had been barred against people.

Inside, she felt as if she shattered. Moaning, she pulled his head closer still, needing more of him.

His mouth crushed down on hers in a plundering kiss that robbed her of coherent thought.

Blood surged through her veins; the rush of heat through her body was extraordinary.

His hands were underneath her, scooping her up and laying her back against the soft pillows.

As she reached for him, he rolled off the bed and stood beside her.

His eyes held hers while he stripped the clothing from his body.

She meant to protest the loss of his heat, but as he revealed himself, she sighed.

His skin glowed in the candlelight. She caught her breath as she drank in his appearance.

He was hard and sculpted, just as she had always imagined her knight would be.

There was nothing soft or relenting about the rippling muscles of his flat abdomen or the rising curves of his arms. His broad shoulders appeared strong enough to withstand many blows from an enemy, and based on the angry red zigzagging scars on his right shoulder, she realized he’d already withstood some sort of wounds.

She scrambled off the bed and licked his shoulder, and then she kissed the scar once, twice, three times. “How did you get this?”

“Equerry training.” He sounded guarded. Maybe training had not gone well.

“You should choose a less dangerous profession.”

He laughed. “I wish I could. Too late for that, my love.”

My love . The sound of the endearment from his lips made her smile. She trailed her fingers down the smooth skin of his chest, grinning when he shuddered beneath her fingertips. “Is that because of my touch?”

“It’s because I want you too much.” He cupped her breasts, causing her nipples to harden.

Her newfound power made her dizzy with excitement. “How much do you want me?”

Laughter rumbled from his chest. “I ache all over.”

She nodded, understanding his need because her body burned as well. His mouth slanted then, trailed kisses down her neck, over her collarbone, and back up to her lips.

Now she was the one shivering from desire. Heat singed her skin every place his warm mouth touched her. Madness and need consumed her, overriding any doubts. She wanted to rub her lips against every part of his body. She kissed his shoulder, his neck, his chest.

The length of his body covered her for a moment, wiry hair to smooth skin.

Once again, his mouth found her breast, sucking greedily until she moaned and writhed beneath him.

Her loins pulsed, and she ground her pelvis against him, gasping at the sparks of pleasure that shot through her. “What happens now?”

He smiled slowly. “Now I bring you pleasure again.” He caressed her belly before moving to the juncture between her thighs.

“No!” Laughing, she tried to scramble out of his reach, but his hands locked down on her legs like two steel manacles. “Oh yes, my love. The more pleasure now, the less pain in a moment.”

“But you already brought me pleasure,” she protested.

“And I intend to keep bringing you pleasure the rest of your life. It’s my most sacred duty as your husband.”

Her heart slammed against her chest at his revealing words. “You are not my husband.”

His brow puckered. “Not yet. But I will be soon.”

There was no point arguing. What could she say anyway?

Tomorrow I’m intending to flee you and betray your trust?

She nodded and forced herself to relax. His fingers massaged across the sensitive place between her legs, but this time light as a feather until she was pushing against him in silent demand that he move faster and harder. He acquiesced without a word.

Need coiled once again within her, driving her to clench the sheets as her body quivered with wanting.

Her longing slowly grew stronger like the heat of the sun from morning to afternoon, until she burned within.

“Please,” she moaned. This time she knew exactly what she begged for.

That same release, but not from his hands.

She wanted to feel him sheathed inside her.

She pushed his hands away and dug her nails into his sides. “Take me.”

He hovered above her, sweat covering his brow.

His ragged breathing told her just how difficult prolonging his own pleasure had become.

One strong hand slid below her pelvis and lifted her toward him before he drove into her.

She tensed with a twinge of pain, but he was hot, hard and pulsing.

He stroked once, twice, three times. The pain disappeared, and she lost count, desperate to meet him stroke for stroke. She clutched his back, moaning.

He nipped at the sensitive skin of her ear. “Let go, my love.”

She pulled him to her, wanting to bury herself within him, until they were one.

Every muscle in her body clenched as wave after wave of pleasure rolled through her.

Her back arched as her head fell back. He groaned and drove faster, harder until his muscles shook beneath her fingertips.

With a final stroke, his body shuddered, tightened and trembled with his release.

He sagged against her, slick with sweat.

They lay for a moment panting with exhaustion, until he moved off her onto his back then tugged her against his side.

She snuggled up to him and laid her head on his chest to count the beats of his heart.

“I love you.” The thought had been flooding her mind.

She’d not intended to say it, because it would seem a lie tomorrow, but she couldn’t hold back.

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “And I love you.”

Doubts about her decisions crept into her head. Maybe she could trust him? The errant thought horrified her. Not only was it breaking her vow, it would be putting Grey in danger, if things should go badly. No. She had to leave him. To protect him.

The candle in the room burned itself out.

Madelaine lay very still and pretended to be asleep.

Grey’s chest rose shallowly at first and then deeply and his heartbeat against her ear slowed as well.

She rose until she could see his face, but could not make out his expression in the dark. Yet his moans indicated he dreamed.

With care, she rolled slowly away from him and swung her legs over the bed.

Her feet touched the material of her dress, and she silently bent, retrieved it and quickly put on her clothes.

Her body was sore all over, but she welcomed every precious ache that had come from giving herself to him.

Within a few minutes, she was at the stables, where the boy who was paid to keep the horses was only too glad to hand over Grey’s stallion for a handful of coins.

She started to walk away, but then thought perhaps she better take the other horse as well.

She gulped as she handed the last of her coins over.

That was the last of two years’ worth of pin money.

Yet, she had to spend it. She could not afford Grey reaching her before she met the prince.

After another exchange of coins, she got on Grey’s stallion and led the other horse deep into the woods where she swatted it in the opposite direction of the inn.

When she was certain the horse ran away, she turned the stallion and galloped toward home and a future filled with only one certainty—she would always love Grey and he’d likely hate her until his dying day.