The Man's Outrageous Demands (6 page)

“You weren’t talking about your lips, but I’ve been thinking about them all night.”

His statement stilled her hands and she froze against his tall, strong frame. “Why?” she asked, her nervous eyes looking up at him.

“Because I’ve wanted to kiss them for a long time.”

Her eyes dropped to his mouth of their own free will. “No. We can’t do that,” she said breathlessly.

Sam ignored her, noticing the increased pulse at the base of her throat. He smiled slightly before bending his head to touch her lips gently. When she didn’t pull back, he touched them again, then again, eventually covering her lips with his, caressing them softly and finally coaxing a response from her. He felt her shiver when his mouth covered hers and absorbed it into his body, enjoying the feeling of her feminine shape against his masculine one.

After several minutes, she pulled back as far as his arms would allow, which wasn’t very far. “Sam, we can’t do this,” she said, but her arms slipped higher to hold onto his shoulders.

Sam shook his head slightly, just before bending to kiss the corner of her mouth, her check, her jaw. “Just kiss me, princess,” he said and deepened the kiss, his hands moving up her back to touch the bare skin revealed by her black dress.

She obeyed his order and lifted her head so she could feel his lips better. That was all the invitation he needed. He pulled her higher against his body and his mouth moved more roughly against hers. Sam rubbed his tongue against her lips and as soon as her mouth opened, his tongue moved in, mating with hers and doing what his body was now aching to do with hers.

Marabeth felt his body harden against her stomach and a small, inner voice told her that she should stop this insanity. She didn’t even like Sam and he didn’t like her. So why were her arms wrapping around his neck and her body moving against his? Why was she feeling things she had no right to feel for a man she didn’t really like and had been trying to avoid for the past two weeks?

She couldn’t answer those questions since his hand moved from her back around to her side, then slid slowly up her waist. One hand stopped right under her breast and she almost moaned with the pain her body felt when his hand didn’t move higher.

The noises off to the side were like a bucket of ice water on Marabeth’s feelings. As the first sound punctuated the haze of passion within her, she moved back a step. Sam allowed it, only because he was so involved in the kiss himself and he wasn’t thinking right either.

The slap came a moment later. If it hadn’t been so dark and she hadn’t responded so willingly in his arms, he might have expected it, or at least seen it coming out of the corner of his eye. But he was dumbfounded.

His hand went to his cheek and both of hers went to cover her mouth in horror. “I can’t believe I did that,” she said.

Sam chuckled. “Neither can I. What happened? One moment you were a passionate woman melting in my arms and enjoying the kiss, and the next…” Sam stopped for a moment and shook his head. “Well, why don’t you just explain what happened next and I won’t assume anything?”

Marabeth stepped back again, horrified when he articulated what they’d been doing, as if the action wasn’t bad enough. Shaking her head in denial of her feelings as well as his request for an explanation, she said, “No. We have to go. I’m so sorry I slapped you. That was inexcusable and I’ve never done that before in my life. I promise you that it won’t happen again. But more importantly, we can’t be like this. We can’t kiss like this again. I don’t even like you,” she said, pacing around the veranda in her confusion as she spoke. “This can’t be happening. I don’t do things like that,” she said, dumbfounded that she’d actually resorted to violence.

“Marabeth, come here,” he said but she only walked farther away.

He reached out and pulled her towards him, not painfully. In fact, his grip was very gentle. But it was firm and, although she resisted, he had her right where he wanted her within seconds. “Why are you so upset about this? Because you slapped me or because I kissed you?” His eyes took in her pale skin and round mouth swollen from his kiss and revised his opinion on her actions and what caused the unexpected slap. “Or is it because you kissed me back?” he asked, his voice deep and husky.

Marabeth was shaking her head before he even finished the last sentence. “Don’t say that,” she said, covering his mouth as if her hand could stop the words and the feelings his kiss had generated within her. “I didn’t kiss you back! This is ridiculous. We’re opposites on too many issues. We need to get back to the ballroom and you need to finish what you came here to do.” She stepped out of his arms quickly, grateful that he let her go without a struggle this time.

“Marabeth stop,” Sam said firmly and reached out to touch her arm, holding her from stepping off the veranda.

She struggled against his grip, terrified that he might pull her back into his arms and knowing she might not be able to pull away a second time. “No! Please, we can’t be out here alone. Too many people will talk and that will lead to rumors. Neither one of us want those rumors to start so we have to get out of here immediately.”

Sam looked at the fear on her face and decided to relent this once. They had been out here for too long for the rumors to not have already started. But he didn’t mind. In fact, for the first time in his life, he had actually encouraged the rumors to start. He imagined that the papers would be full of speculation tomorrow morning on their relationship. And they wouldn’t be very far off.

“Okay. Let’s go back and get something to eat,” he said and tucked her hand back into his arm.

“Do I look okay?” she asked, patting her hair to make sure it was smooth and still in place.

Sam couldn’t see very well in the dim light, but he could tell that her lips were swollen from his kiss and the color was high in her cheeks. She looked like she had been kissed. “You look lovely,” was all he said a moment before they stepped back into the light of the ballroom.

Sam led her over to the buffet table set up in another room and they continued to talk. He noticed that she worked very hard to keep several feet of space between the two of them but she still worked the guests around him with impressive social skills.

It was after two o’clock in the morning when the party finally fizzled down. Sam noticed that Marabeth was tired but she kept smiling at someone he hadn’t talked to yet.

“Excuse me,” he interrupted the person who was speaking at the first opening, “I need to talk to you, your highness,” Sam said, turning to Marabeth. “Will you excuse me for a moment?” he asked the man standing to the left of him.

The elderly man smiled and shook his head. “No problem. I’m on my way out,” he said and kissed Marabeth’s hand. “Thank you for a lovely conversation, your highness,” he said and turned to leave.

“Who was that?” Sam said as he guided Marabeth out of the ballroom and out into the hallway that would eventually lead them to the private area of the palace. He put a protective arm around her shoulders and was pleased when she didn’t pull away. In fact, she leaned into him letting his strength guide her down the hallway. She trusted him when she was completely wiped out. Now if he could only get her to trust him when she was fully awake.

“Um…:” she tried to concentrate on the person she had been speaking to less than thirty seconds ago but her mind drew a blank. “I’m not sure,” she said, unconsciously leaning against his strong body for support.

“You need to get to bed,” he said.

His words woke her up. “Yes. I’m very tired,” she clarified.

“Sam, can you wait a moment?” Max said from a few feet away.

Sam stopped and turned towards her brother. It was now or never, she thought. She had to slip away from him or fall more under his magic spell. “I’ll see you both later,” Marabeth said and quickly slipped her hand out from Sam’s arm. The two men started talking about a discussion Max had been involved in earlier in the evening and Marabeth walked away, leaving Sam with her brother and her escape complete.

Slipping between the covers that night, Marabeth yawned with fatigue. But her mind was still active regardless of how tired her body was. She replayed the kiss with Sam over and over, wondering what would have happened if she hadn’t heard those people talking so closely to the veranda.

Nothing, she told herself emphatically, punching the pillow in frustration. She would have come to her senses. Marabeth knew herself and she just wasn’t the type of woman who would let things like that get out of hand. She was conservative and careful. She had never acted rashly in her life.

So why was it that Sam seemed to spark things within her that made her lose her control? It had happened several times now and she didn’t like it.

Marabeth rolled over and pulled her pillow over her head. She wanted to fall asleep and forget about her lack of decorum earlier in the evening. It was just too embarrassing and she didn’t want to deal with it now.
Chapter 3

“Are you serious?” Marabeth asked her secretary several weeks after the formal ball for Sam. “Why would all of my appointments be canceled?”

Stacy, a very efficient personal assistant, typed up some information on the keyboard. “Apparently it was done by security,” she replied, looking up, hoping it wasn’t because of their new Minister of Defense. Over the past few weeks, each time the new minister’s name came up, Marabeth seemed to become agitated and started mumbling under her breath. Stacy thought it was rather odd, but didn’t say anything about her boss’s behavior.

Marabeth shook her head. “There has to be some mistake. I’ll call Manny and see what is going on. This will be fixed soon,” she said and went back into her office. Marabeth pushed her long red hair off of her shoulders impatiently as she sat down at her Queen Ann desk and dialed the number to the head of security. “Manny, I just found out that all my appointments have been canceled by your office. Can you fix this?” she asked sweetly, knowing that Manny was a very nice man in his late fifties.

She listened for a moment and the sweetness disappeared. “I understand,” she said and hung up the phone. “I can’t believe it!” she said, gritting her teeth. “What right does he have to cancel all my appointments?”

“Who?” Stacy asked, walking into her office and handing Marabeth several letters. They were requests for help or Marabeth’s appearance at some charity function. Having Princess Marabeth show up at any function was a guarantee of success for the event. Everyone in the kingdom loved to see her with her fiery red hair, beautiful smile and soft, blue eyes. She was the darling of the press and all the subjects of Cordova loved her, even wanting her autograph as if she were some sort of movie star.

“That obnoxious, horrible, irritating new Minister of Defense!” Marabeth snarled angrily. She couldn’t ever remembering being this angry in her life.

Stacy cringed for a moment, noting Marabeth’s fury, just as predicted. “I don’t understand why he makes you so angry,” Stacy said, getting a dreamy look on her face. She looked like she was melting as her body relaxed at he thought of the new minister. Stacy’s body leaned against Marabeth’s desk, her shoulders drooped and her head lolled to the side slightly as she looked at Marabeth curiously. “Have you really looked at the man? He’s amazingly gorgeous. And so charming! I can’t imagine him being obnoxious.”

Marabeth snorted in disbelief. Was every female under this man’s spell? Stacy was at least fifty years old, married and with a grandchild on the way. How could she be awestruck by a man who was as annoying as Sam?

Slapping a folder onto her desk from her filing cabinet, she shook her head in exasperation of her secretary’s fascination. “Well, all my appointments outside the palace were canceled by his direct order,” Marabeth explained, trying to maintain a degree of professionalism and courtesy when she really wanted to go pummel the man for doing this to her.

“I’m sure he had his reasons. My husband is already feeling the benefits of his changes in the military,” Stacy said.

Marabeth knew that Sam was making some great changes in the military and had done so more quickly than anyone had thought would be possible. Morale was up and that meant a safer defense which was all good and wonderful. But the man still irritated her personally. “Yes, well, your husband is a military man. I’m not. I don’t think he has the right to do this to me and my schedule.”

Stacy bit her lip, hesitating slightly before stating, “Isn’t palace security underneath the Ministry of Defense?”

“Yes, but they’ve never intervened in Manny’s domain before. There’s no reason he should be doing so now,” Marabeth said, picking up the phone, determined to force the issue with the great man himself if that was necessary.

“Who are you calling now?” Stacy asked, laying the letters on Marabeth’s desk.

“The Minster of Defense,” Marabeth replied as if the answer were obvious. “I have a full day planned and I don’t intend to change that simply because he’s arbitrarily demanding that I do so. I’m going to have a little chat with our new and reputedly improved Minister of Defense. He’s going to regret this day, I’m telling you!”

Stacy ignored Marabeth’s angry tone, instead continuing with her fantasy starring Sam as her hero. “Wow! I’d like to have a cozy conversation with him,” she whispered, a dreamy look in her eyes.

Marabeth wanted to rant and scream at the man, not converse rationally with him so she didn’t understand Stacy’s response. “Why on earth would you want to do that?”

Stacy laughed, shaking her head at Marabeth’s obvious confusion. “Because he’s hot! There’s no way even you can deny that fact,” she said and slipped out of Marabeth’s office to draft responses to some newly arrived letters.

The phone rang several times before someone answered it in the Defense offices. “This is Princess Marabeth. I’d like to make an appointment to see the minister this morning,” she said and waited.

“No, it needs to be almost immediate. Not this afternoon or tomorrow.”

Marabeth listened as the receptionist quickly shuffled some papers, then covered the mouthpiece to the phone and spoke to someone quickly. She came back on the line, “He’ll see you right now if you are available,” the woman said efficiently.