Duncan's Rose (19 page)

The muscles on his neck tensed and flexed in reaction. “Very well, my dear, anything for you,” he whispered in a husky voice. The wild glitter in his blue eyes aroused her even more, and she moaned.

He didn’t waste time. Still standing by the edge of the desk, he lifted her legs so her ankles came to rest on his shoulders, which gave him a complete control of and access to her body.

His hard flesh thrust into her moist depths. Deep he drove, thrusting with a rhythmic pumping of his hips. She moaned and arched against him, taking him deeper, needing
more
. Flattening his hand on her stomach, he slowly drew it downward toward her mound, until his thump slipped between her folds of flesh and he was right where she needed his touch to be. He stroked her intimately, building the tension within her. And when she gave herself over to him in hot, liquid release, she cried, “Oh, Mac!”

He sank into her shivering body one last time, and came into her. His body clenched and tightened as a growl escaped his lips. He hugged her for a long while and didn’t let go, his head buried in her hair, their breathing mingled together. Then his lips found hers with a long, yearning kiss. He tipped her chin up and kissed her neck, nice and slow and deep. He ran his hands slowly up and down the length of her body, taking his time; his fingers barley touching her bare skin. She treasured every minute of it, his nearness, his touches, and his way of loving her.

“God, I missed you,” Mac whispered.

She looked at him and her hands wandered to his chest.

“Don’t do that. I will harden again, trust me.”

She laughed. “It’s my intention to stir you up.”

He caught her laughs in his kisses. Mac straightened and helped her to her feet. She fixed her dress and he pulled on his trousers and fastened them, leaving his upper body for her eyes to feast upon. He grabbed her by her wrist and pulled her to him.

Miranda caught the hardness that painted his face. “So, did that convince you to marry me?” he asked. “Or should I convince you some more?”

Her breath halted for a second as she became aware of the meaning of his words. “Is that a proposal?” she asked cautiously.

He knelt in front of her. “Miranda Blair, I love you. I have loved you for more than two hundred years.” He held her arm and kissed the back of her hand. “Will you marry me, be my wife, my friend, my lover, the mother of my children?”

She froze.
Children? Yes, I would love to have little boys and girls with this man.
Tears gathered in her eyes, tears of joy.

“I’m not that bad,” he chuckled nervously.

“Oh, Mac.”

“Is that a yes, or a no?” He waited, and she knew her silence was killing him.

“Yes, of course, yes!” She laughed and hugged his face with her hands. Miranda placed a deep kiss on his lips, which he returned with one that was deeper and inflamed with a hunger she had never experienced from him before. “Thank God, oh, thank you. Because I can’t go on one more day without you.”

Miranda pushed him forward and he sank onto the leather chair. This time, she would take charge.

Life with Mac would never be boring. On this island, they would live their lives and dreams mingled with the dreams of those who came before them.
From the open window, a warm breeze caressed her cheek, a silent farewell from a soul that had been unable to rest until now.
Rose,
she thought
, rest in peace. We found our love.

I started reading romance novels gazillion years ago. And not far back, precisely, nine years ago, I started writing and never stopped. I sometimes wonder if I can breathe without writing.

For many years, I worked with numbers, finance, and credit. But eventually my addiction to writing took over.

My “Roman God”—sometimes Demon, and even Vampire—heroes consume my time, and I find it a blessing that my handsome husband works as an anchor to bring me back to my own fairytale. We have four cats that we love as our own children, and I am grateful for the love I get from them and my hubby.  

* * * *

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Insatiable Hunger

An interview with a rock 'n' roll star on a cruise-ship turns into a deadly nightmare.

As Jewel Henderson, a journalist, travels to Athens, she accidentally takes the wrong ship—filled with Vampires, 'Other-Kin' called Vrykolakas. As her nightmare begins, her struggle to survive begins.

Draven, son of King Lykourgos, cannot help but sense her presence, demanding to have a taste of her insatiable blood.

Jewel as an intruder, the King pronounces her death sentence.  Despite Draven’s hatred for humans, as he was one five hundred years ago, he battles between executing the order, and saving her life for his own amusement.

Jewel's only way to survive is to die, and Draven's only way to save his soul and existence is to keep her alive.  Is Jewel worth it for Draven to break the Vrykolakas' law and face the wrath of his King? Will she win her life, gain a new life, or maybe wish she were dead?

“What are you talking about?” Jewel zoomed through the crowd to get to her luggage at Athens international airport. She adjusted her cell phone on her ear, outraged at her sister’s accusation.

“I can’t believe you slept with my fiancé,” Anna screamed into the receiver.

“Listen, I don’t know where you got the crap from, but really now, would I do such thing?”

“Cindy saw you entering his building and stayed for a whole hour. Did you play chess with him, and the fact that you came out adjusting your bra!” Anna sobbed.

Jewel cursed the four-inch heels as she heaved her luggage onto its wheels. The rapid clip of the leather pumps on the polished floor was drowned out by the sound of her sister’s crying as she hurried to the counter to gather her ticket.

Bags in hand, head tilted to one side securing the cell between her ear and shoulder, she hurried through the terminal. “I’m at the airport right now, Sis, and I don’t have time for your childish accusation. Not every woman in the universe is trying to sleep with John. Remember who else you accused last month, and now me. I can’t believe you believed Cindy over me. I went to him to get a straight answer if he wants to marry you and to stop playing games. This is the fifth time he agrees on the wedding date and backs out. Anna, wake up...hold on…Hi, my name is Jewel Henderson. I’m here for my cruise ticket, my assistant called and…”

“Yes, you’re from Zass Magazine according to the reservation. Your ID please.”

Handing her ID, the brunette on the counter clattered away on the keyboard for a moment before she smiled and handed the blue envelop over.

“Thank you.” Jewel shoved the ticket in her bag hearing her sister’s sobbing still on the phone.

“Will you stop crying.” Jewel continued her walk, pulling her two small luggages to reach the exit for a taxicab.

“Oh you are so cold.
Because your life is not as perfect as you wanted it to be doesn’t give you the right to ruin
mine
.” Anna’s weeping increased.

Yup, her life wasn’t perfect. Thanks to her boss Margaret. “In order to get the more substantial types of jobs you must master the easy ones first,” she had told her, then gave a long lecture about being a journalist—one must start from the beginning. It was rough to land a job like this one in a big city like New York, and she should be grateful. And she was, really.

Writing about a Rock-and-Roll singer was her idea of the first step. Her spoiled brat twin sister of twenty-two, one minute younger than her, had to remind her of her dilemma.

“Maybe I’ve been a little controlling but that doesn’t mean I hate you. I would never do such a thing and you know it.” Jewel breathed in her anger. When Anna didn’t say anything, except sobbing, Jewel continued, “Stop blaming me for something I didn’t do and find the real reason behind your ang—aww.”

Running into a woman and her bags, Jewel fell on her knees with a thud and skidded forward along with the woman. Cell phone and bags banged onto the cold, hard floor. “Oh, gee, I’m sorry.” Jewel collected her things in hurried hands.

“Sorry, it was my fault too.” The young redhead woman helped her collect her things and separated her stuff from Jewel’s.

“No harm done.” Except her cell broke into pieces and her sister was probably mad as hell thinking she hung up on her. Misunderstandings followed her like her own shadow. Anna and Jewel were too much alike: same black long hair and blue eyes. Yet, so different in personality, Anna wanted everything, spoiled to the bone, talkative and outgoing. Jewel on the other hand, shy, the unnoticeable kind who listened, analyzed, and talked when asked only.

Jewel pulled herself from the scattered thoughts and frowned at her broken cell.

“Sorry.” The woman must have seen the mortified expression on Jewel’s face.

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it.”

“Here’s your ticket, I think you got mine.”

“Thank you. And I think this is your lipstick.” Jewel handed the item and smiled.

Her life tended to turn into wrong paths. And this trip, her first assignment, was definitely an example. She hated the job that was shoved up her throat, but to get into the more lucrative assignments to write about, she had to endure this, not that it’s a bad job,
not the right one for her.
To think of it, a free ride on a first class cruise, meeting interesting people, and bake under the sun with margarita drink in hand wasn’t so bad.

* * * *

Jewel rolled her shoulders to release the tension and cranks from her muscles after hours sitting on the plane from New York to Piraeus, Athens. As the taxicab climbed the hill, the traditional Greek houses looked like they were about to fall into the sea—breath-taking view of the old ancient style mingled with modern portrayed the whole area.

Jewel pulled her ticket looking at it for the first time. She gasped. “Crap, the cruise leaves in two hours?”

“You have enough time, Miss.” The cabby’s smile flashed in the rearview mirror.

“I have couple of hours, how could they do this to me? And I could swear the cruise name was Elizabeth not Lillith.”

“Can I see your ticket, ma’am?”

She handed it to the stretched, wrinkled hand.
As the man examined the details his shoulders shrugged. “Queen Lilith.” His beady eyes trailed on her face. “Oh, you are one of those.”

“Excuse me?” Not liking the demeaning tone in his voice, she glared at him. The Greeks were known for their good nature and loving soul, this one shocked her.

“Well, ma’am, you
don’t look like the people I saw mounting that ship. Some strange people. That’s all.” He handed her the ticket as if he wanted to get rid of something dirty he
touched. “Hope you’ll enjoy your cruise,” the old cabby drawled.

For sure, to an old man, rock stars and their atmosphere considered weird, she wasn’t into gothic either. To some people it was frightening to look at one wearing black clothing, nails painted in black with body piercing. Oh dear, she hoped they weren’t as gothic as she thought them to be, she would look like an outsider with her yellow short dress and four inch delicate heels.

The old man crooked a bushy gray eyebrow, and parked in front of Zea Limani port.
After a few minutes, he cleared his throat and said with a grouchy voice, “Thirty euro,
parakalo
.”

She handed the old man the money. “Keep the rest.”

“Oh, thank you.”
He climbed out of his car and opened the door for her.

Jewel dragged her bags behind her as the driver wheeled off.

She stood on the seaport, her luggage beside her. It was early morning; the smell of the sultry air mixed with the sea salt enticed her. She proceeded to the porter of Queen Lilith where a young man took her bags and told her she could kill an hour on the harbor’s cafeteria before they board. The feel of being free of her bags brought some comfort to her anxious nerves, but the way the young man regarded her body in an evaluating look send prickling sensation as if thousands of ants crawled up her body.

Life stirred on the port, Jewel walked along the sidewalk. Huge cruise ships, yachts, cargo ships, and boats of all shapes, all creating a swarm of activities. Trucks loaded with huge piles of luggage to the cruise ship of Queen Lilith appeared as though they would tip over any minute.

A mild drift of June’s weather caressed her bare arms and legs, dallying with her long hair and the hem of her short dress. Spotting the bar and cafeteria, she chose a side table and settled into one of the four chairs surrounding the white square table. Jewel ordered strawberry shake, and then enjoyed the clear skies above as the other tourists sat around their tables having their early breakfast.