In the Flesh (10 page)

“It feels good, doesn’t it?” His voice was deeply sexual. “I love how you squeeze me. You’re so soft and slick. I want to come more than I want to breathe. But I can wait.”

“Don’t.”

“Yes.” Wulf continued the seductively slow plunge and retreat, watching her. Studying her reactions, repeating movements that made her crazed for him.

She had no defense against his sexual siege. Her body adjusted to him, then welcomed him. She had never felt such pleasure. His cock filled every crevasse inside her as if it were made for her. He rocked his hips and she couldn’t stifle her moan. The friction was irresistible, urging her to work with him. As she thrashed beneath him, his hands moved over her, gentle and soothing.

“Shh.” He gathered her closer. “Don’t fight it. Let go.”

“Wulf…”

“Feel how deep you can take me?” His tone was reverent and tender. “What a perfect fit you are for me? You were made for me, Katie.”

Detachment was impossible. If he’d focused on the sex, she would have as well. But he made the sex a part of a larger whole and she wasn’t strong enough to resist the connection.

Cupping a breast in his free hand, he plumped it, then lifted it to receive the attentions of his mouth. The moist heat of his breath burned across the straining nipple. “When you’re in my bed, these jewels will be talgorites.”

The royal stone of D’Ashier.

“One night,” she insisted, tightening in anticipation of her coming orgasm, her hips lifting eagerly to meet his.

His voice came slurred with desire. “You’ve been mine from the moment we first saw each other.
When we’re lying in
my
bed, in
my
palace, and I’m buried deep inside you, you’ll know just how completely you belong to me.”

Wulf’s possessiveness curled around her as surely as his body did.

“Damn you, Wulf. You can’t—”

He increased his pace. “You’re so wet…so hot…I’m the last man who’ll ever touch you.”

She moaned, focused solely on the simmering tension inside her. All of her skill and training fled her mind. She could only feel Wulfric moving within her, over her, so handsome he stole her breath and reason. She arched up, pressing herself against him. “Please…”

Releasing her hair, he rose above her, shoving his arms beneath her legs and opening her fully to his possessive drives. “That’s it, Katie,” he urged. “Don’t hold back…”

Wulf plunged deep. It was almost painful but not quite. He was so skilled, he knew where she was most sensitive. He rubbed the flared head of his cock over and over the spot, deliberately driving her out of her mind.

Sweat dripped from him onto her, branding her with his scent. Wulf growled low in his throat, an animal sound of pure pleasure as he rode her. She gripped his clenching thighs, digging her nails into the rock-hard surface, her entire being consumed by a lust so fierce it scared her.

She arched like a bow as her climax rocked her. Her pussy convulsed around him, milking him, rippling along his plunging cock. He held her captive with his gaze, watching her come apart with
tangible masculine satisfaction, flooding her greedy body with violent spurts of white hot semen.

“Katie,” he gasped. “Katie…”

Shuddering, he wrapped himself around her and buried his damp face in her neck.

As Wulf pulled free of Katie’s body, she whimpered in her sleep. He understood the loss she felt because he felt it as keenly. His response was disturbing. He’d never felt the desire to linger in a woman once his physical needs were met. What would be the point?

With Katie, the point was simple—it was an undeniable claim. She couldn’t belong to anyone else when his body was inside hers.

Frustrated by the emotional remnants of the encounter, Wulf stood with the intent to reengage the Guardian, but his legs faltered beneath him. She’d sapped his energy and will to leave. He had never climaxed so hard in his life.

He looked at her now, still spread on her back, lost in sleep. Impatient, he waited for the strength to return to his limbs so he could dress and return to his life in D’Ashier.

She turned, curling onto her side, unconsciously seeking his warmth. Her sun-kissed skin was flushed from his ardor, her hair tangled all around her. She sighed his name.

“Katie.” Without thought, his hand extended toward her.

Even now, he wanted her. Wanted to hold her close and share the warmth she was seeking.

Clenching his outstretched hand into a fist, Wulf pushed to his feet and retrieved his pants. He drew them on, tied the drawstring, and refused to look at the bed as he twisted the face of his signet ring. Instantly he stood on the transfer pad of his palace in D’Ashier.

His eyes burned, but he told himself it was caused by exhaustion and the relief of being home.

Chapter 7

Sapphire awoke and reached her arms over her head, her legs stiffening in a full body stretch. She winced at the soreness that plagued various parts of her body, but her mouth curved in a feline smile. Wulf had been a dominant lover, but his touch was so gentle, his focus so completely on her pleasure, that she relished the experience.

Turning her head to the side, she expected to find Wulf beside her, but he wasn’t there. Frowning, Sapphire lifted her head to search the shadows of the room.

“Guardian?”

“Yes, Mistress?”

“Glad to have you back. Open the drapes.” The gold velvet parted, letting sunlight drench the room. She blinked, hurrying her blurry eyes in their adjustment to the brightness.

“Wulf?”

There was no reply.

“His Highness is no longer in the residence.”

Wulf had left, just as he’d promised.

Sapphire swung her legs over the side of the bed and paused a moment to collect her thoughts. She would have to relegate Wulf to a distant corner of her memory. They’d shared a stolen moment and indulged in temporary pleasures. Now, it was time to move on.

Easier said than done, she realized as her eyes began to sting. She held on to the edge of the mattress as she dropped gingerly to her feet. The tightness in her chest made breathing difficult, and she forced herself to inhale deeply and exhale slowly.

“Should I send for a
mästare?”

“No. I’m fine.”

A moment later the doors to her room slid open. Rapidly becoming accustomed to a computer that did whatever it wanted, Sapphire reached for a sheet to cover herself. “I told you—”

“Good morning, Sleepyhead.”

She paused at the sound of the familiar, deeply commanding voice and stared at the man who filled the doorway.

Wulf’s smile weakened her knees. “I was going to feed you breakfast in bed.”

Relief flooded her and Sapphire found herself sinking to the floor.

He was kneeling before her in an instant, lifting her chin with gentle fingertips. “Are you crying?”

She shook her head violently and scrubbed at her eyes.

His grin turned roguish. “You missed me.”

“You weren’t gone long enough to miss you.”

Scooping her up in his arms, he draped her in
the red silk robe waiting on the dresser and headed out to the atrium courtyard. “Liar.”

“Arrogant bastard.”

“Ah, Katie, I love the way you talk to me.”

“Because you’re too used to having women kissing your—”

He cut her off with a quick, hard kiss.

Turning away, she buried her face in his neck to hide her smile and breathed in the scent of his skin. “You broke your word.”

“I said I would leave today and I will, but the day is still young. We have hours left.” He nuzzled his cheek against her hair. “Now open the door.”

She raised her head and saw they were standing in front of the healing room. The lock pad disengaged with a wave of her hand. “Why are we here?”

His emerald gaze was hot; the intimate timbre of his voice was hotter. “Because you have to be sore after last night.”

As he lowered her to her feet, heat suffused her cheeks. She, the most famous courtesan in Sari, was blushing. It was an outward sign of how deeply intimate their lovemaking had been.

Sapphire felt like a new woman, when she exited the healing chamber moments later. Wulfric waited with an outstretched hand, and when she accepted it, he led her out to the courtyard.

“Let’s bathe together,” he suggested when they passed the bubbling outdoor pool. “Then we’ll spend the rest of the day in bed.”

“Is this an exercise in making our parting as difficult as possible?” She descended the steps and sank into the hot, steaming water.

He reached for the drawstring of his pants. “Will it be difficult for you?”

Sapphire was contemplating the best way to answer when Dalen came running through the courtyard, startling them both. Without a word, he grabbed Wulfric’s arm and started to drag him away.

“What are you doing?” Wulf asked, remaining rooted.

“Come, Your Highness.” Dalen’s face was grave. “We must hide you. Now!”

“Mistress. Forgive me,”
the Guardian said in hushed evening tones.

Instantly apprehensive, Sapphire looked at Wulf. “Go. Hide yourself.”

The anxiety in her tone prodded Wulfric to move. He allowed Dalen to pull him behind a thick patch of vegetation. Then, Dalen pivoted and ran a few feet away to prostrate by the pool.

Moving on instinct, Sapphire leaped from the pool and folded into a low bow. There were only two people for whom such deference would be paid. Neither was someone she wished to see.

Not now.

“Karisette.”

Her eyes squeezed shut at the sound of the king’s voice.

“I told your Guardian to keep my arrival a surprise. I knew you would be as pleased to see me as I am to see you. Rise. I’ve missed you.”

Stunned, she stood and met his gaze. “Welcome, my king.”

Wulf watched through the cover of man-sized fern fronds as the King of Sari approached Katie with covetous eyes. Two dozen royal guards entered behind the monarch and spread out to encircle the atrium, their deep blue uniforms embellished with gold threads that glimmered in the sunlight.

The six royal guards who lived with Katie wore silver thread—apparently, the queen’s guards. An interesting development.

As Wulf watched Katie become enfolded in the arms of the king, envious fury filled him. Earlier that morning, when he’d returned to his own palace, he had intended never to see her again. But the thought of her naked in bed, her skin scented of his sweat and flushed by his passion, had been irresistible. Just a few more hours, he’d thought. More time with her would dull the most biting edge of his craving.

Now, watching her with her former lover and burning with jealousy, he knew he’d deluded himself. He couldn’t leave her in the grip of another man. Not when it would be so easy to claim her, to make her irrevocably his, to have her near at hand whenever he felt the need to touch her.

He’d been truthful when he told the Guardian that he could give Katie more than the king had—in bed and out. She would want for nothing as his concubine and she would be restored to the position she’d recently lost, a position she had trained years for. Of course, there was the matter of logistics and familial ties…But he would benefit there, as well.

Katie’s throaty voice drifted to him, and Wulf clenched his fists. Her beautiful curves were bared
to the king’s ravenous gaze. Regardless of the contingent of guards around her, Wulf was dangerously goaded to leap from his hiding spot and cover her, shielding her from any other eyes but his own.

“My king, what brings you to me?” she asked.

“My heart.” The monarch dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around Katie’s hips, burying his face in the tautness of her stomach as if she were the ruler and he the servant.

Wulf’s reaction to the sight was not what he would have expected. Instead of seeing the king’s affection as a vulnerability, he saw it as a threat.

Katie’s fingers drifted into the king’s tousled blond hair. She crooned so softly Wulf couldn’t hear what she said.

The king urged her down, and when she sank to her knees, the monarch pushed her onto her back and climbed over her.

Wulf lunged forward, but was restrained by a desperate grip.

He’d been so focused on the scene before him, he’d failed to notice Dalen moving stealthily into position behind him. The guards, too, were riveted by the unfolding drama.

The
mästare
shook his head and mouthed,
They’ll kill you.

Wulf was prepared to take the risk regardless, but he was arrested by Katie’s outraged cry.

The king, equally stunned, was easily thrown from her.

“You must return to your queen now, Your Majesty.” Leaping to her feet, Katie backed away, her arms wrapped around her naked body.

“You think I haven’t tried?” He rose to his feet in a ripple of sapphire blue robes and seething frustration. “I’ve tried everything—total darkness, your perfume and bath oil, aphrodisiacs. Nothing works. She has no passion, no fire, and she arouses none in me.” He held his hand out to her beseechingly. “I ache for
you
.”

The rigidness of her shoulders softened. “I’m sorry.”

“Come to me,” the king ordered.

She shook her head.

“I am the king.”

“With a duty to your people.”

“What of your duty to me? I have loved you to the exclusion of everyone else for the last five years. You belong to me, Sapphire.”

“I was contracted to you. You never owned me.”

The king’s gaze narrowed. “Our contract is void. You must come to me of your own free will. Come now.”

“No.”

“You
deny
me?”

“Yes,” Katie said simply.

“You love me,” he stated. “You’re angry with me for setting you aside.”

“How could I love you, my king? You belong to one woman and are in love with another, and I am neither of them.”

“It will never be over between us.” The king began to pace with a powerful, agitated stride. “If I must court you anew, I will. If I must bend you”—he jabbed a finger in her direction—“I will. Whatever it takes, Sapphire.”