She grasped handfuls and hefted it back over her head, no longer cold now that the blazing heat of Maxim was beneath her. “Better?”
He took one of her nipples in the velvety warmth of his mouth. “Much.”
Tansy ran her fingers through the silken strands of his hair, then kissed his temple at the patch of silver. He suckled her other breast then, and he slid his hand up and down her spine in a gentle caress that incited the flames of wanton desire into a feverish pitch. She was already wet, more than ready for him, their earlier lovemaking leaving her in a heightened sense of awareness.
“Mine,” he said against the curve of her breast, as if she were a prize to be coveted.
As if he made the declaration for all the world instead of just the two of them.
She kissed his cheek, the scrape of his stubble against her lips, and inhaled deeply of his scent. “Maxim, I love you.”
The confession left her suddenly. Unintentionally. But she had to tell him. She’d meant to all through the night, but fear had made her hold her tongue. Here was her sole opportunity to unburden herself before she lost the chance forever.
He stilled, his head lifting to meet her gaze, an expression of such astonished wonder on his countenance that she felt everything inside her seize. “Say it again.”
She swallowed, holding his stare. “I love you.”
In one fluid motion, he rolled them as one, so that she was on her back and he was above her, big and strong. He gave her a kiss that was ravishing and ferocious, and with one thrust, he was inside her to the hilt, his cock embedded deep, pinning her to the bed with his hard body.
She moaned into his kiss, feeling her will to leave him flee by the second, her core clenching around him to grip him tightly.Their mouths still fused, he withdrew and then slammed into her again. Tansy wrapped herself around him, arms and legs, clinging like a vine. He withdrew, almost slipping entirely from her body, and then he was inside her again, thrusting with powerful strokes that took her instantly to the edge.
Maxim groaned and gave her his tongue as his hips moved faster. The sounds of their bodies meeting, skin slapping, the bed heaving beneath the force of his thrusts, filled the air. Helplessly, she writhed under him, her engorged pearl brushing against him with each movement. She felt as if she might splinter apart into a thousand tiny shards of herself, exploding from the sheer, raw pleasure it gave her to be so claimed by him.
Her orgasm came upon her quickly, her cunny contracting on his cock with helpless spasms. He tore his mouth from hers and pressed his face to her throat, fucking harder, faster, his hips pumping as he sought his own release. And with each thrust of him inside her, she unraveled more, bliss exploding from deep inside her and radiating outward. His breathing was ragged and warm on her neck, his shoulders stiffening.
With a growl, he came, filling her with the hot spurt of his seed.
Tansy held him to her as he collapsed atop her, their bodies both slick with a sheen of perspiration from their unrestrained efforts, and closed her eyes tightly against the renewed threat of tears.
She couldn’t bear to leave him.
And yet, she couldn’t bear to stay and watch him become another woman’s husband.
She only hoped he could forgive her.
After spendingthe morning closeted in meetings with Prince Theodoric, his general, and his privy council, Maxim was exhausted and ravenous. He was also longing for Tansy. Mere hours had passed since she’d left his bed, but already, he missed her.
Pacing the length of his sitting room as he awaited her arrival in his private apartments, he exhaled a heavy sigh. Everything was in place, the plot to invade Boritania coming together flawlessly. He would soon have what he wanted, and his army and naval fleet were both far superior to Boritania’s depleted ranks. With the revolutionaries stirred and ready to join forces with Theodoric, victory was almost certain. The elite soldiers who had been tasked with infiltrating the August Palace and secreting the remaining St. George princesses to safety had completed their mission. Princess Anastasia’s sisters would soon arrive safely on Varrosian shores. No detail had been overlooked.
And yet, Maxim couldn’t shake the unsettled feeling lodged in his chest, an instinctive premonition that something was wrong.
A knock sounded at his door, and he instantly halted his pacing, the lure of seeing Tansy again chasing the tension from him. She loved him. It seemed a dream, a miracle. He’d been basking in the wondrousness of those words ever since she’d uttered them this morning. When she’d said the words, a burst of possession had struck him with so much force that he’d been able to do nothing but show her he felt the same. He had made love to her with almost brutal abandon.
So much so that he had feared afterward that he might have hurt her in the fever of his passion. When he had worried over it, she had soothed him with a kiss that had stolen his breath, and then she’d taken his cock into her mouth, and he’d forgotten his own name.
“Come,” he called now, expecting to find his gray-eyed enchantress crossing the threshold with one of her soft, sultry smiles.
God, he’d missed her.
Instead, it was the frowning servant he’d sent to fetch her. Maxim was instantly on edge.
“Where is Lady Tansy?” he asked, a sharp note entering his voice.
The footman bowed in a show of respect before reporting, “She’s gone, Your Majesty.”
Gone?
“You mean to say she isn’t in her room at present,” he corrected.
