The Stone Prince

EIGHT

WHILE KATIE MANEUVERED the enchanted transportation along the winding roads, Jorlan weighed his options. The woman was obviously in a temper. Her breath was coming in short, shallow pants and her fingers were clutching the steering wheel as if it would fly out the window if she let go. He needed to gently sway her from her pique so that she could at last admit her desires for him. But how?

He could make her laugh with a story of his childhood. He could whisper sweet, seductive words in her ear. Or he could simply wait until her anger crumbled on its own.

“I don’t think this is going to work between us, Jorlan,” she said.

A dark, primitive blaze uncurled inside him. “It will.”

“Of course it works for you. You gain everything and lose nothing.”

“So I must lose something to win you? Then so be it. Name it and it is gone.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I have less than thirteen days, katya. ’Tis a mere flash.” He had considered begging before, dropping to his knees and begging her for her affections. His desire for permanent freedom far surpassed any pride he harbored. “You have only to tell me what you need of me and I will do it.”

“I don’t know what I want from you, okay? I only know I can’t give my heart or body easily. Besides that, it’s hard to think of you as the love of my life when I know you consider me nothing more than a necessary burden.”

“Then I—”

“We’re from different worlds,” she rushed on, slicing his apology to a halt. “I have enough trouble with Earth men.”

“Just because you have trouble with men of your own world,” he growled, “does not mean you will have trouble with a man of Imperia.”

“No, it just means I have trouble with any man who wants to screw everything female.” Katie parked the vehicle, emerged, then strode inside the old house, all without uttering another word. She was beyond angry now, that much was obvious. Her shoulders had been stiff and her chin high and she had never once glanced back to see if he followed. He didn’t. He remained within the enchanted transportation.

The day was not fraught with the promise he’d first supposed.

Screw everything female? He had already proved those words for the falsehood they were by declining the girl, but he only now realized the full extent of what had transpired inside the café. He, a man who had been without bodily contact for more than nine hundred spans, had been unable to summon a single shred of awareness for any woman save Katie since obtaining his freedom.

The simple fact was that he was fast becoming obsessed with Katie.

“Katie,” he said, wanting to hear her name aloud. “Pretty, courageous Katie James. How can I want you so desperately, yet want no other?” Though he hated himself for it, he did want her desperately. Wanted, if only for a little while, to be the center of her life. Wanted to tear down her resistance and bend her so completely to his will that he could take her whenever, wherever he wanted. More than that, he wanted her cries of love to ring in his ears long after he left her.

For the first time, however, he considered what would happen to her if he were to win her. Would she suffer greatly if she fell in love with him and he simply abandoned her? Curse it, she claimed she did not need a man’s protection, physically or emotionally. Why should he consider her well-being his responsibility?

Obsessed. Aye, he truly was obsessed, for not even Maylyn had affected him like this. He’d thought of her, but not constantly and she had never confused him. He’d wanted her, but it had been a gentle kind of want, a need to cherish and show tenderness. Now, with Katie, he felt anything but gentle, and all traces of tenderness had already dissipated. He felt an ache, an all-consuming desire that constantly battered against his reservations. He felt a need to dominate, a need to ride her harder than he’d ever ridden a woman.

What did it mean that he simply had to have her, whether she returned his affection or not? That he simply had to taste more of her? Her lips were too sweet, her scent too delectable, and her body too ripe. What did it mean that a part of him was willing to wait forever, if need be, to have her?

He didn’t want to contemplate the answer.

The air inside the transportation was hot, cloistering, and sweat dripped down his chest. Still he made no move to leave. He needed more time to gather his wits. Closing his eyes, he thought back over Katie’s reasons for ending their kiss. They did not like each other, she had said. He liked her all too well. She thought he still considered her a necessary burden. She was necessary, but no longer a burden. They did not know each other, she had said. He did not like discussing his life, but he would do it, tell her anything she wanted to hear.

Aye, he would do whatever was required to gain her favor. In the process, he would do whatever was required to rid himself of his fascination with her.

Resolved, he emerged from the vehicle and followed the path Katie had taken.

KATIE SERIOUSLY CONSIDERED doing a dropkick and punch right into Jorlan’s solar plexus, followed by a knee to the groin, and as a finale, taking his rolling pin and bashing him over the head. The man was entirely too confident, too cocky (in every way) and most assuredly a jackass. And to top it off, he was too damn sexy for his own good.

Even the redhead had noticed.

Just thinking about the redhead sent her already heated blood into a serious boil. Where is that rolling pin? she thought savagely. Where is it? At the moment, she’d even settle for the spatula. Jorlan might need her love, might want to use her body, but he still wanted to sleep with every woman he encountered. Yes, he was a jackass and a womanizer and there was no way in hell Katie was falling for him.

She paced the living-room floor, her movements clipped, jerky. The soles of her shoes squeaked with each step. Her palms were clenched so tightly her nails dug half-moon crescents into her skin, and her knuckles had long since lost all traces of color. Five minutes later, her muscles were still clenched. Somehow, and God only knew how, she managed to paste a carefree smile on her face when the screen door groaned in protest and Jorlan entered the house. His massive frame filled the entrance.

“You are tense,” was the first thing he said.

Tense! Tense! She rounded on him, one finger pointed at his chest. “Are you blind? I’ve never been more relaxed in my life.”

One inky brow rose in mocking salute. “Then why is your eye twitching?”

She spun away from him, blocking his view of her face. “There’s something in it. An eyelash, I think.”

“Then there is no need to tell you that the girl—”

“Girl? What girl?” Katie tried for a carefree laugh, but couldn’t quite manage it. Jorlan could do what he pleased, with whom he pleased, and show interest in little redheads all freaking day if he wished. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Then allow me to remind you,” he said at last. Silently, he moved behind her, placed his fingers at the base of her neck and gave a gentle squeeze. He bent down, allowing his breath to fan her ear. “The girl found me desirable. Had I shown any interest, I could have had her sooner rather than later,” he said.

Lord, she both hated and loved his words. “You showed no interest?”

“Nay.”

Slowly, she released a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding.

“I should have been interested,” he added in a self-disgusted growl. “She was a woman who knew what she wanted and was not afraid to try and obtain it.”

“Just what are you implying?” Katie spun around to confront him. “That I’m too cowardly to go after what I want?”

He clasped a pale lock of hair from her ponytail and brushed the strands across his lips.

She shivered.

His gaze locked with hers. “That is exactly what I am saying, katya. You have been afraid of what I make you feel since the beginning.”

“That may be true,” she retorted, “but how dare you judge me? You don’t know me, not my likes, my dislikes or my past. You have no idea what made me the woman that I am.”

“You are right,” he said, his voice just as dark. “I do not understand you, nor do I know much about what makes you do and say the things that you do.” Then, “But I would like to.”

But I would like to, echoed so sweetly in her mind and so shocked her, she could only blink up at him. His tyrannical disposition she could resist. This…gentle caring she could not. Suspicions sparked in the back of her mind, like a candle in a shadowy room. “Is this a ploy to make me fall in love with you?”

He ignored her question. “From the moment I first appeared to you, you have driven me half-mad. I cannot explain the connection between us, but I do know that it is there.”

This was everything she’d ever wanted to hear from him, and yet self-preservation proved tenacious, clinging to her with a sharp grip. “What you’re saying is wonderful, and I want to believe you. I do. But how can I truly believe that you’re interested in me as a person and not just my love?”

“Can I not say the same to you?” he demanded quietly.

He could, she realized then. He really could. Since he first appeared in her garden, she had lusted after him like he was the last piece of chocolate in a PMS survival kit. She probably would have slept with him already if he’d claimed just once to love her or even that he would stick around for a while. But she’d never once stopped to consider the man beneath the brawn.

He lightly fingered her earlobe. “I want you to know about me, and I want to know more about you.”

“What do you know about me already?” She didn’t mean to sound so desperate, like a child pleading for assurance, but she just couldn’t help herself. Things were changing between them with every word he spoke, and she liked the changes. Maybe too much.

“I know that you do not smile nearly enough. I know that you were generous to allow me into your home when I had nothing to offer you in return. And I know that I hurt you by calling you a necessary burden.” His fingers released her ear, traveled to the base of her neck and lightly massaged. “For that, I am truly sorry.”

Katie stilled, absorbing the warmth of his hands and the glow of his apology. But surely she had misheard him. Surely this man, this warrior who took great pleasure in ordering her around, had not just apologized.

“Jorlan—”

“Nay. Say no more. I once thought taking only your body while remaining distanced was best. Not so now.”

And yet, she thought suddenly, he seemed more distanced from her than ever before. There was a flat tinge to his eyes that clashed with his honeyed tone. For the life of her, she couldn’t make herself care that this might be a ploy.

“You intrigue me,” he continued, “and I find myself constantly thinking about your thoughts and actions. Were I home, I would still wonder, and I would regret not knowing. We have this day, and only Elliea knows how many others, to learn of each other. If you wish.”

If she wished, Katie silently repeated. What did she truly want from this man who had no plans to stay? Just how much of herself was she willing to risk? The answer had seemed so clear only this morning.

“No alliance is one hundred percent secured,” he said. “In this, at least, we know the final outcome.”

He was right, of course, but that didn’t make her decision any easier. “Saying goodbye will be harder if we’ve initiated any type of emotional relationship.”

“Only if we make it so.”

So where did that leave her? She truly had tried to ignore her attraction to him, but it hadn’t gone away. It had only grown stronger. So strong, in fact, she had only to picture his face in her mind and bam! She desired him. Katie closed her eyes. Opened them. Gazed up at him. “Just give me a little more time, okay? That’s all I’m asking.”

He lightly pressed his lips to her collarbone. Flames uncoiled in her belly, and she almost blurted her capitulation then and there. But Jorlan pulled back, and said softly, “I remind you that time is our enemy, katya. Do not forget that fact.”

“How can I?” she answered, her tone just as soft.

A long, protracted moment passed. She stayed exactly as she was, afraid to sever — or perhaps afraid not to sever—the tentative bond growing between them. Then, suddenly, Jorlan stepped back and clasped his hands together, brisk and formal, as if they’d never shared such an intimate moment. “What labor would you have me do? I am eager to begin.”

The heavy sexual tension eased with the small distance between them, making her feel as if she had been released from some sort of captivity. “I need you to move the large rocks that line the edges of the driveway to the back fence. It’s a tedious and back-breaking chore, and I hate to ask you to do it, I really do, but you’re free labor, and I…” She shrugged.

The blue of his eyes twinkled. “Have I not told you before that I welcome the chance to exercise?” He turned and tossed his next words over his shoulder as he strode to the door. “Worry not, for I fully intend to lose myself in whatever physical task you place before me.”

With the sexual innuendo lingering in the air, Katie found herself alone.

Alone.

Time to think about the kiss, her mind shouted.

“No. I’m not ready,” she grumbled.

Kiss, kiss, kiss.

Realizing she could delay the inevitable no longer, Katie sank onto the scarred hardwood floor, rested her chin upon her upraised knees and remembered. When she’d first felt Jorlan’s arms anchor around her waist, smelled his hot, masculine scent, she hadn’t wanted to run. She’d wanted to feel and touch him, to allow him to feel and touch her in return.

And oh, how he had touched her. He’d stroked his tongue into her mouth, sending scalding heat all the way through her. The world around her had faded to black, and she’d known only Jorlan. Desire had coiled deep in her belly, tightened her nipples, and pooled between her legs. She’d been completely lost. Lost, as if she no longer existed as a separate being. She’d reveled in every moment and hungered for more—more of the glorious sensations. The consuming ache. The sheer need. Her entire body had come alive, each nerve ending on alert and ready for completion.

She’d been kissed before, but this had been different somehow, more than a simple meeting of lips. Thinking back, she realized every other kiss she’d ever experienced had left her cold and hollow, and she had always craved escape. With Jorlan, she had craved forever.

For the first time ever, the chemistry had been exactly right.

I’m going to sleep with him, she admitted then. She could no longer deny the inevitable. Like Jorlan, she would always wonder what could have been if she didn’t take what she wanted now, while she had the chance. Besides, she’d played things safe with Jorlan so far and look where that had gotten her. Frustrated and unsure. Confused. Why not dive headlong into whatever pleasures awaited her in his arms? Damn the consequences?

Feeling more lighthearted than she had in days, weeks, even years, Katie gathered her heat gun and putty knife and jumped into her work. Two hours later, she was humming under her breath and tearing up linoleum in the upstairs bathroom when Jorlan reappeared.

“I have finished my task,” he said, his pride in his accomplishment evident.

She faced him. He had removed his shirt, and she saw that sweat beaded his forehead and chest. Several scratches from the sharp-edged rock marred his abdomen. Dirt streaked his brow. He looked like a primitive god, strong and confident and oh, so delicious. Knowing she was soon going to have all that strength above her and inside of her made her mouth water.

“What would you have me do next?” he asked.

“Why don’t we talk?” she suggested.

His chin tilted to the side, and he watched her for one protracted moment. Satisfaction flittered through the depths of his eyes. He nodded. “We will talk.”

Suddenly nervous—she didn’t know why—she set her tools aside and pulled her knees up to her chest. “Have a seat. Please.”

He eased down in front of her until they were eye to eye. Getting comfortable, he removed the weapons strapped to his body and set them at his side.

“I’d—I’d like us to get to know each other,” she confessed.

Whatever reaction she’d expected, he didn’t give it to her. He nodded calmly, assuredly, as if he’d known all along she would capitulate. “Why do you not begin?” he said. “Tell me about—”

“No!” Katie hadn’t meant to shout the word, but she’d suddenly been overcome with a single fear. What if she told Jorlan about herself, and he didn’t like what he learned? She wasn’t like most other women; she was lacking in so many of the feminine graces. “I’d rather hear about you. Tell me about your family, about your past. If you want to, I mean.”

“I will tell you anything you wish to know, katya.” He stared at the wall just above her left shoulder, perhaps seeing through it, through the passage of time and galaxies to his “other” life. “Where should I begin?”

“At the beginning, of course.”

“I thought as much.” He sighed. His muscles smoothed beneath his skin, and he settled his back against the wall. “My father, Great-Lord Gui-en Sarr, a king, you would say, died a few spans before my confinement. He—”

“Your father was a king?” she demanded, incredulous. No wonder Jorlan expected his commands to be instantly obeyed. He was freaking royalty.

“Aye, but the throne will never be mine.”

“Why not?”

“I was not chosen.”

Her brow puckered with confusion.

“An Imperian great-lord is chosen by the Kyi-en-Tra Crystal,” he explained. “Upon the death of the current lord, men journey from all over the world to touch the ancient stone, for whoever makes the crystal burn bright with crimson is known as the one true king until his death.”

She could just imagine the impatient hopefuls standing in line, awaiting their turn to touch the stone. “So you didn’t give the crystal color?”

He chuckled. “Do not look so sad for me, katya. My father’s brother, Challann, took the throne. He was a good and just man. The people adored him, as did I.”

“You would have made a spectacular king or lord or whatever.”

A negligent shrug lifted his shoulders. “The people would not have agreed. To them, my sorcerer’s bloodline tainted my royalty.”

“That’s discrimination.”

“But the truth all the same.”

Looking away from him, she tinkered with the scraps of linoleum scattered around her. “If you’re thought tainted, why do you want to go back so badly?”

“’Tis my home,” he said simply. Then shrugged again. “In Imperia, I may not be a great-lord, but I am a man of consequence, a warrior of great ability and power. Here I am only a man who must rely on a woman to see to my needs.”

Yes, she could see how that would eat away at his pride.

Stretching out her long legs, Katie leaned back against the wall. Cool tile seeped through the thin material of her shirt. She felt as though there was something she was forgetting, something she wanted to tell him. When she realized what it was, her eyes widened, and she silently cursed herself for getting so caught up in his story of kings and princes that she hadn’t said these words sooner. “I’m so sorry about your father’s death.”

He nodded to acknowledge her empathy.

“How did he die?” she asked gently.

Jorlan propped his elbow on his bent knee and hesitated only a moment before answering. “He was murdered. I commissioned several sorcerers to aid me in my search for the culprit, yet no one was able to divine the truth.”

“Were there any suspects?”

“Many believed my half brother responsible, but Percen did not have the strength to rise from bed that eve, much less thrust a talon into a man’s chest.”

“How do you know?” She tried to keep her tone light and easy, not wanting him to see how sad she was for him, how she longed to wrap her arms around his neck and take all of his past pain away. “Your brother could have been faking his injury to give himself an alibi.”

“’Tis not a possibility. He was recovering from a talon wound. A wound I inflicted.”

His words elicited images of blood and war, a side of Jorlan she knew existed but didn’t want to contemplate. She preferred instead to think of him as the charming, sexy man before her. A man who was a prince and should have been king. “If you had decided to challenge your uncle for the crown, could you have done it?”

“Why?” His gaze grew cold, like pools of ice in the winter. “Do you have hopes that I will take you back with me and make you my queen?”

“No,” she assured him, a little offended that he thought so little of her. “I’m curious, is all. Your mother was—is—a sorceress, yet her bloodline didn’t prevent her from becoming queen.”

The coldness remained in his eyes, but it was no longer directed at Katie. He seemed lost in his memories. “My mother was never truly accepted. Her sovereignty and the authority it brings were ignored.”

“That’s awful.”

“A marriage between a sorcerer and mortal has always been forbidden.” He pushed out a breath and jerked a hand down his face. “Both my mother and my father knew this and accepted the consequences.”

“Why is such a union forbidden?”

“Because mortal and immortal have different life spans. While a sorcerer can live forever, a mortal cannot. My mother watched my father grow old, while she remained young. Every day she became increasingly aware that my father was dying, that there was nothing she could do to save him. And then, suddenly, he truly was dead.”

Compassion shimmered in Katie’s gaze, and it affected Jorlan more than it should have, warming him all over. He had stepped inside this chamber thinking he was guarded against her allure. Yet as he spoke, sharing a part of his life he’d never shared with another, he was somehow making the connection between them grow stronger.

“Did your mother take another husband?” she asked, her tone as gentle as a fifth season breeze.

“Nay. She loved my father with all of her heart, and claims the heart can only love so greatly but one time. Besides, she abandoned her people to be with him; she even abandoned her first son, my half brother. No man of the Druinn would have her, and I doubt another mortal man would have her, either.”

“Even though she is a former queen and high priestess?”

“Even then. The Druinn are loyal to Percen now, and would not wish to anger him.” Percen…His image flashed in Jorlan’s mind. As a child, Jorlan had prayed for a chance to meet his brother. He’d wanted someone to play with, someone to teach him the ways of magic. Yet his mother had always refused to introduce them, saying Percen belonged with his own people and needed no reminder of his mortal ties.

On the eve of his eighth span, Jorlan finally decided to visit his brother on his own. While his parents were too consumed with celebration details to notice his absence, he had sneaked away from the palace. For three hours he traveled, imagining the blessed meeting with every step. Percen’s face would light with happiness, and he would take Jorlan in his arms and swing him around with joyful abandon.

His imaginings died a quick death when he entered the white sands of Druinn.

Percen recognized him instantly. Instead of happiness, a dark cloud of hatred had descended upon his brother. Percen had pushed him, ridiculed him, spat on him, all the while destroying his boyhood dreams. Jorlan had never gone back, nor had he told his mother what had happened. He’d merely grieved in silence for the brother he would never know.

“I almost feel sorry for your brother,” Katie said, her voice whisking away his bleak thoughts. “I mean, I ache for his loss. Losing a mother is difficult. Mine died of heart failure when I was nine years old, and I still miss her.” Featherlight, her exhale swayed on the midday air. “I always knew she loved me. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d thought she hated me.”

That Katie could hurt for someone she’d never met—no matter that the person was his greatest enemy—touched Jorlan to the very core of his being. Not many people could be so understanding, so filled with empathy. Katie might strive for a hard, warriorlike demeanor, but she possessed the soft, caring heart of a woman.

Curse it. He didn’t want to, but he liked this side of her.

Her lips began moving again, but he didn’t catch the words. He was staring at her, Jorlan realized. Staring at her lush pink lips while the world around him ceased to exist. Unable to stop the images, his mind entertained pictures of those lips closing over his shaft, her pale hair spilling over his legs. Need uncurled inside of him like a lion awakening from an afternoon rest. His muscles clenched. If he did not distract himself, he would be ripping off her clothes, curse their talk and curse her resistance.

“Tell me about your life,” he barked.

A look of panic darted across her expression, but was quickly replaced by determination. Silently, she watched him. He wondered what she was thinking. Heat soon grew in her gaze, hot and consuming, slowly cresting to the rest of her features.

She smiled seductively.

On her hands and knees she crawled to him, not stopping until her nose brushed his. “I was born November sixteenth. Blue is quickly becoming my favorite color, and when I die, I want it to be from pleasure.” Then she planted her lips over his, took his tongue inside her mouth and sucked.

His body sprang to life immediately, and he groaned against her lips. Their tongues battled for control, thrusting, darting away, thrusting again. He wanted to howl when she eased back. She traced the seam of his mouth with her tongue, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, lest she decide to end the embrace altogether.

“Did you like that?” she asked instead.

“Aye.”

“Want me to do it again?” In that instant, Katie wanted so badly to be naked, wanted Jorlan to be naked, as well. Without conscious thought—Lord, she couldn’t think, only feel—she leaned into him, pressing herself more fully against him. Her nipples hardened, her lips tingled and her body came alive.

“Nay,” he breathed.

“Nay?” She froze. She craved him with every ounce of her being and he didn’t want her to do it again!

“This time,” he said, “I want to do it to you.”

As she sagged with relief, the pink tip of his tongue circled her lips, tasted every corner, nibbled every indentation. She twined her fingers in his hair, losing her breath completely when he shifted to lick her ear. “I want more.” I need more.

“Then more you shall have.”

“But just one more kiss,” she whispered, recalling where they were. “One kiss and then we’ll stop. If you still want me, we can start again later.”

“I want you now, and I will want you later. So I will give you the one kiss you are asking for,” he said, “but it will be a kiss that lasts all through the eve and requires our naked bodies to be entwined.”

Before she could reply, his mouth reclaimed possession of hers. She opened for him, opened and cried out in pleasure at the same time. With each flick of his tongue, desire slammed into her forcefully, coaxing tremors from her. Hot and eager, mercilessly, he moved his mouth over hers. He slanted across her lips with a savage hunger that caused stars to twinkle behind her eyelids.

Their first kiss had been fiery and wonderful, but this was the essence of dreams. Soul-searing, erotic dreams. It made up for every second date she’d ever missed, every evening of bad company she’d ever endured, and every night she’d spent alone, wishing for someone to love.

Lost in his scent, his body, his maleness, she gave herself completely into the kiss, holding nothing back. Giving him every ounce of herself. Had other women ever experienced such bliss? A bliss that eclipsed reason and time? Movies and books lauded such passion, of course, but had anyone ever really tasted it as she was now?

How sad if they had not.

Her arms moved over Jorlan’s muscled chest, feeling his skin, jagged in some places, smooth in others, but hot all over. She jerked the spatula from his waist and tossed it aside. His tongue continued to caress her mouth, bold and passionate. She pushed him down until he lay flat on his back. Her knees braced his sides, spreading her legs wide, and she arched her hips, thrusting slightly against his erection.

“Aye, just like that,” he praised. “Again.”

She arched once more. This time, the contact caused a ragged moan to slip from her throat because he arched, too, making the impact deeper. Stronger. Over and over they continued the motion. Then in one fluid motion, he tumbled her over, taking control and pressing himself between her open thighs. He trailed kisses of fire along her cheek. He swirled his tongue around her ear, dipped inside, pulled out, and dipped again. Had he stripped her naked just then, had he plunged into her body and buried his cock to the hilt, she would not have protested.

She would have thanked him.

This is the wild, wanton woman I’ve always longed to be, Katie realized. She felt utterly alive. So free. But reason tried to insert itself. You’re lying on the bathroom floor. You’ve only known this man a few days. You wanted only one kiss.

Yes, she’d asked for only one kiss, and he was taking far more. In fact, he was ravishing her. The thought caused hot, heady moisture to pool between her thighs. How easily she pictured him holding her down and forcing her to face her desires. How easily she pictured…and how easily she wanted the fantasy to come true.

She wanted to be ravished.

“We have to stop kissing,” she said, breathless. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”

“When you stop wanting my kisses, katya, then will I stop.”

Oh, yes, my barbarian warrior. You’re in control.

He pulled back a little, gazed down at her, his eyes smoldering to a fiery blue. He reached under her shirt, kneaded her breast, and decided the contact wasn’t enough. He shoved her bra up, let his fingers roll her nipple, and then, suddenly, he froze. His growl echoed loud and long off the walls.

“With much regret do I recall our bargain.” Dark emotion etched his expression. “I cannot give you pleasure unless you ask nicely. Or beg very prettily.”

No, no, no. She wasn’t supposed to beg for anything except mercy, and he wasn’t supposed to be chivalrous! That wasn’t how a man ravished a woman. He was supposed to take her, seduce her completely, damn the consequences. At this point she’d even settle for a “I know what’s best for you, katya. I’m only doing this for you.”

“This time, however,” he half snarled, half moaned, “I will make an exception.”

Oh, thank you. Thank you. She almost smiled. She did tighten her hold on his neck, ready for another mind-blowing kiss. Her elation was short-lived, however.

“You do not have to beg,” he said. “You do not even have to ask. You only have to push me away if you wish me to stop. I will give you time to decide.”

She didn’t want time, damn it. She wanted his tongue in her mouth. Wanted his hands on her breasts. Now. But he was the ravisher, and she was the ravishee, and the fantasy wouldn’t work if she forced herself on him.

“One, two three,” he counted. “Time is up.”

His mouth smothered hers.

Relieved, excited, she leaned up for his kiss. The silky heat of his tongue danced with hers. His body pushed against hers. He smelled so hot, so masculine. So delicious.

“What do you want me to do to you?” he demanded.

“I have no control over you,” she breathed. “You’ll do whatever you want, no matter what I say.”

He jerked back, confused. “No, I—” Suddenly, comprehension dawned. He smiled wickedly. “That’s right,” he said, his tone heavy with authority. “I’ll do whatever I want to you. Your protests mean nothing.”

Hallelujah.

For what seemed hours, but could have only been minutes, he worked his hands over her body, learning her every curve, teasing her, tempting her, making her beg.

“Who is in control, katya?”

“You are,” she whispered. “Only you.”

“Do not forget.”

“Never.”

His big hands closed over her breasts. Intense pleasure rocked through her. He pinched her nipple at the exact moment he pressed his erection against her clitoris. Their clothes added to the friction, and she shot off like a Fourth of July rocket. Her moans became wild cries, a building crescendo, the force of which made her almost incoherent.

When she quieted, Jorlan held her for a long while, his shallow breaths in her ear. He pulled back, searching her face. “Katie,” he said softly, “you have already—”

“I know. I’m sorry.” How embarrassing. He was still primed and ready; she was all finished. But damn it, she hadn’t been able to stop it, hadn’t wanted to stop it. Her body had raced toward completion, heedless of anything else. “I truly am sorry. I just couldn’t help myself.”

“Do not apologize.” His tone was reverent. “Simply do it again.”

She slowly smiled. “Again? Really?”

“Most definitely. I command you.” His lips claimed hers once more.

Her arms wound around his neck, holding him captive. Her ankles locked around his waist. He reached between them, grasped the neck of her shirt, and gave a sharp tug. The cotton split down the middle. She bit her bottom lip to keep from shouting her renewed excitement.

Jorlan was just reaching for her shorts, and she was just arching her back to give him better access, when a voice said from the doorway, “Uh, am I interrupting something?”