Behind the Palace Walls (10 page)

“Are you cold?”

“Not at all,” she replied.

He looked concerned. “If you are cold, we will return to the palace. You have only to say so.”

Paige touched his sleeve. “Not yet, Alexei,” she said. “I don’t want it to end so soon.”

He smiled down at her. “Then we will keep going.”

Truthfully, once he’d stood up from the table, she’d thought the evening was over. And she’d believed it was probably best that way, no matter how her heart pinched at the thought.

Because what on earth was she doing? This man was a prince, he lived in a palace and he was trying to destroy her boss’s—soon to be brother-in-law’s—company. She had no business being here, no business enjoying her time with him.

It was wrong.

Yet here she was, sitting beside him in a sleigh, gliding across a darkening landscape that was lit by the fat moon hanging low in the sky. The cloud cover of earlier hadn’t dissipated, but it had lessened enough that the moon shone brightly so long as it was close to the horizon. Another couple of hours, and the light would be gone as the moon rose into the high clouds.

It was romantic, being out here like this, something she would remember for as long as she lived. She did not regret this moment, even if she felt guilty for enjoying it.

After a few minutes more, Alexei pulled the horses to a stop in a clearing on a small rise.

“If the weather were normal for this time of year, we wouldn’t be able to do this,” he said to her. “But we had a late snowstorm.”

“I’m glad it snowed,” she replied, smiling up at him.

He touched a gloved hand to her cheek. She shivered, but not from cold. No, when Alexei touched her, it was like a furnace fired up in her belly. Every part of her felt hot. She remembered his lips on her ear, and her skin glowed. She’d almost turned in his arms, almost told him to forget the troika and take her to bed instead.

Fortunately she’d shocked herself so much with the idea that she had not acted upon it.

“Perhaps the snow came for you,” he said softly.

A blast of heat sizzled through her core. Any second, she’d need to rip off her coat and hat and let the frigid air chill her skin. He leaned toward her, his head dipping lower. She was wrong to want him, and yet everything about this moment was magical.

She stretched up to meet him—

And gasped as a mournful howl split the night.

“Wolves,” Alexei said. “There aren’t as many as there used to be, but they still come at night.”

“Shouldn’t we go?” Another howl sounded in the distance and one of the horses snorted. Bells tinkled musically.

“There is nothing to fear. We are not too far from the palace, and I am armed.”

Paige squinted into the remote landscape. The snow went as far as the eye could see, but no shapes moved upon it. Still, the animals were close. “They sound hungry.”

“Yes, but there is prey here. Wild boar and goats will feed their bellies.”

“I’m not certain I find that reassuring.” She looked up to find him watching her with an odd expression. “What is it, Alexei?”

“You look as if you belong here,” he said. “I knew white would suit you instead of black. The coat, the hat. Your cheeks are red, your eyes bright and your lips…” His gaze dropped to her mouth. “Your lips need kissing.”

“Alexei,” she began. The rest was lost as his mouth came down on hers.

She knew she should stop him, but she simply wasn’t capable of it. She wanted his kiss, wanted his touch. He groaned low in his throat as their tongues tangled. One arm came around her, pulled her in close, while his other held the reins. Paige grasped his lapels, tilted her head back as she pressed herself closer to him.

She let him pillage her mouth, her heart pounding so hard in her chest she was certain he could feel it. This was the kiss in the square, but bumped up a few thousand degrees. She felt as if she’d known him forever, as if she’d been destined to arrive at this very moment forever.

Everything about kissing Alexei felt right, though it should not.

It most definitely should not.

But she was caught in the grip of new feelings, of the excitement and danger of kissing this dark, hard man.

Paige threaded a gloved hand into the hair at his nape, let the other slip beneath his coat to wander over the hard muscles of his chest. He made a sound of approval. And then his lips left hers, trailed hot kisses along her jaw to her ear.

“Alexei,” she breathed, his name turning to frost as he sought her lips again. Whatever she’d been about to say was lost as he kissed her into a quivering bundle of nerve endings and sexual excitement.

“You are so beautiful. I want you, Paige,” he said. “Now. Tonight.”

Their mouths fused once more, and her spirit soared. Whatever the past, whatever the future—this moment was right. She couldn’t have him forever, but she could have him right now. And why not? She deserved her own slice of happiness, for however long it lasted.

A little voice inside her head tried to interject reason, but she refused to listen. She’d been listening to that little voice for the last eight years, and it hadn’t gotten her anything but loneliness and heartache.

“Yes,” she said between kisses. “Yes.”

The ride back to the palace took no time at all. Alexei turned the horses and gave them rein until the troika was whisking across the snow at a smart pace. Behind them the wolves howled, but in the sled, Paige felt safe and warm. Soon they were gliding into the courtyard, and then Alexei was handing the reins to a groom and lifting her from the sleigh.

They raced into the house like a couple of children, Alexei holding her hand and tugging her up the grand staircase. She felt like a princess in her white coat and fur hat, and she laughed when Alexei threw open a door and pulled her inside. Then he was slamming the door, his fingers flying over the buttons of her coat as he walked her backward.

“I have wanted to get you out of this uptight suit since I first saw you this morning,” he said, his voice hot and sexy as he slipped the coat from her shoulders and tossed it aside. The hat and scarf followed, and she tugged off her gloves so she could feel his skin beneath her fingertips.

This morning. Was it really only this morning that they’d faced each other in a boardroom? Paige extinguished the thought before she could dwell on it. She knew who she was with, and she knew why it was wrong.

But she didn’t want to stop. She wanted to race recklessly forward, before sense caught up with her. She wanted to feel alive for one night, wanted to feel the passion and power of a man moving inside her.

This man.

It was only once, only tonight. Tomorrow, she would go back to being staid Paige Barnes, efficient secretary.

Alexei got out of his coat before she could do it for him, and then he started to work on the buttons of her blouse. Paige slipped his shirt from his waistband and ran her hands beneath, finally touching his hot skin.

He flinched, laughing. “Your hands are cold.”

“So are yours,” she said when he slipped a finger beneath the edge of her bra. But she was too hot to care. His touch soothed the sizzle, gave her hope he would quench this fire before the evening was through.

Crazy, crazy, crazy.

She could hear the chant in her head, but she didn’t want to listen to it. There would be plenty of time for self- recrimination later. Now, she only wanted to feel how good it could be with him.

Alexei’s mouth sought hers as he slid the blouse from her shoulders. Paige met him eagerly, arching into his touch like a cat. Don’t think; just feel.

He broke away and ripped his shirt over his head, then kissed her again, his hands sliding to the waistband of her trousers. A cold shot of fear darted through her, threatening to douse her ardor.

Should she explain that she was inexperienced? That she’d only done this once before, and she wasn’t even sure if it counted?

But if she did, would he stop? She couldn’t stand the idea that her inexperience might make the difference in whether or not he found her desirable, so she didn’t say anything.

Another moment, and her pants were gone, sliding down her legs to pool at her feet before she stepped out of them.

The heat in Alexei’s eyes was so intense she felt scorched from the contact. He spoke in Russian, exotic words she had no hope of understanding. She started to fold her arms beneath her breasts, but he stopped her.

“I would have never guessed that you had naughty undergarments beneath that suit.”

Paige blushed. “They aren’t naughty. They’re just lacy.”

And maybe a little bit racy. Her bra was white lace, fairly staid, but she’d worn a thong beneath her pants because it left no panty line.

Alexei made a spinning motion with his finger. She turned in an awkward circle before facing him again.

“You are very beautiful, Paige.”

Part of her wanted to tell him to stop saying it, that she wasn’t beautiful at all, but another part wanted to believe every word.

“You have too many clothes on,” she said, unable to bear his scrutiny a moment more while he was still partially clothed.

“Then help me to lose them.”

She reached for his belt buckle, slipped it open. His bare chest radiated so much heat she thought she would burn. Last night, she’d seen the shadows of muscle and sinew beneath his open shirt, but that hadn’t prepared her for the sight of him. He was broad-shouldered, beautifully made, with tight muscle and silky skin. Heart in her throat, Paige tugged his zipper down.

He took over, shedding his trousers until he stood before her completely naked. Paige swallowed a bubble of apprehension. He was magnificent, tall and broad, with clearly defined stomach muscles, and a dark, sexy arrow of hair pointing a trail down his abdomen.

“Do you like what you see?” he murmured, and Paige’s gaze snapped to his. She’d been staring at his penis, hadn’t she? But he was hard, ready for her—and clearly unembarrassed by his state of arousal.

Oh, God.

Paige felt as if she were stuck to the floor. She didn’t know how she was supposed to act now. What would a sophisticated woman do? Would she go to him, wrap her arms around him and purr in his ear? Or would she shed her underwear and drape herself artfully across the bed?

Thankfully Alexei had no such problem deciding what to do. Sweeping her up, he carried her to the bed and laid her down. She could hardly process the luxury of her surroundings—the bed was canopied, gilded, and draped with thick, rich velvet. Inside the canopy dome, someone had painted a scene of a man and woman in a troika, the horses stretched out as they flew across a snowy landscape.

“You are trembling,” he said as he came down beside her on the crisp cotton sheets. “Do I frighten you?”

“No, but it’s been a long time,” she admitted.

It was true, in a way. It had been a long time since she’d lost her virginity to a guy from her accounting class. Bob, who drank too much, botched the job and never called again. She’d always imagined it was out of embarrassment rather than because of anything she’d done.

Now she was beginning to worry that she might have been wrong.

“Then we will take our time,” Alexei said, removing her glasses and placing them on the nightstand. “I can imagine nothing more pleasurable.”

His mouth came down on hers, and her body melted by degrees. When Alexei kissed her, she felt that she would do anything he asked. It must be true, considering that she was naked in his bed and more than four hundred miles away from where she was supposed to be.

Except that he hadn’t kissed her at all tonight until they’d gone on the troika ride. Everything that she’d done up to that point was her own doing, not a result of coercion.

Nor was this, she admitted to herself.

Alexei reached beneath her, found the catch to her bra and unsnapped it. Then he tugged it off and tossed it aside before cupping her breasts in his hands and kissing first one nipple and then the other while she squirmed beneath him.

“You are most sensitive,” he murmured against her flesh. “I like you this way.”

When his lips closed over her nipple, sweetly sucking it into a hard point, Paige gasped and arched her back. He obliged her by sucking harder.

“You like this,” he said. Goose bumps rose on her flesh where his hot tongue left a wet trail to her other breast. Then he was repeating the motions again and again, sucking each of her nipples until she thought she would scream from the pure pleasure of it.

“Alexei,” she gasped. “I don’t want to go slow anymore!”

She was burning up, aching for him in ways she’d never experienced.

He chuckled. “Patience, sweet one. We have plenty of time.” He kissed her stomach, rolled his tongue around her belly button and then traced a line across the top of her thong. “This is very sexy underwear, Paige Barnes. You make me wonder what other surprises you have in store.”

And then he pushed her panties down her hips until she had no barriers left. Her breath caught in her throat.

She thought she was prepared for what he did next, but how could you be prepared for a thing you’d never experienced?