Royals Untamed!. Annie West

mouth left her nipple, the cool air making it tingle but, before she could move or say anything, he’d claimed the other one. The onslaught of desire continued and her hips pushed towards him.

      She couldn’t take any more of this. Each touch was seducing her into total surrender. Her fingers gripped his hair, currents of desire rushed through her and her knees buckled as his mastery continued.

      He caught her as she slid against him, pulling her upright and holding her firmly; his lips claimed hers once more in a hard and demanding kiss, one that gave no mercy. She closed her eyes as the room spun and kissed him back.

      He moved against her, forcing her to step back until she felt the bed behind her and fell back onto it, bringing him with her. His demanding kiss continued as his hand slid down her body, his breathing hard and fast. He pulled back from her and levered himself off the bed, reached down and in one swift movement pulled her panties down her legs, throwing them aside.

      He stood before her as she propped herself up on her elbows, strangely comfortable with her nakedness. His black eyes swirled with molten desire, firmly focused on her. The energy that zipped between them was intense and potent, manipulating both of them. His lips lifted into a teasing smile as he pulled the towel from his hips and slung it aside, leaving him totally naked to her eager gaze.

      He was magnificent, his bronzed body a work of art. Total perfection. Hungrily, she took in every detail, from an old scar on the left side of his chest to the tantalising trail of dark hair going down over his abs, drawing her gaze to his erection.

      Before she could register any thoughts, let alone say any words, he’d joined her on the bed, lying at her side, propping himself up on one elbow. The heat of his body scorched into her and she turned her head to face him, wanting his kisses, needing his touch.

      She touched the scar and he dragged in a deep breath. ‘What happened?’

      ‘My father...he lost his temper with my mother.’ His expression hardened and her heart sank. Had she asked the wrong thing? ‘I tried to protect her. But now is not the time to talk.’

      She allowed her fingers to trace the scar once more and whispered softly, ‘Sorry.’

      He trailed his fingertips across her lips, silencing her sympathy, then down her face and throat and to the hardened peak of one nipple. He was distracting her but she couldn’t help herself and writhed in pleasure as he lightly circled it before moving to the other one. She gasped as her lips sought his.

      He laughed, a soft, low, sexy rumble that made her heart skitter. ‘Such a beautiful body,’ he said as he kissed her gently, but she could taste the underlying urgency he held firmly in check. ‘And you are all mine.’

      She pushed aside the words of possession, not wanting to think of anything now, only to surrender herself to this moment. ‘Make me yours again,’ she whispered boldly against his lips. Deep down, she knew that, whatever happened, she would always be his, that she would always love him, and right now she wanted to sample that elusive dream of love and happiness that existed only inside her.

      His fingertips continued their torture as he trailed lower, circling over her stomach for a moment before moving down between her legs, to the centre of her throbbing desire. He’d barely touched her as the first wave of ecstasy broke over her body like a wild wave crashing to the shore. She moved against his touch as each wave rushed over her, threatening to drag her away.

      As the last ebb of delight slid over her so did he, his hard thighs nudging her legs apart as he slowly slipped deep inside her.

      ‘Amber—’ his voice demanded her attention, but she was still floating from his touch and now the feel of him inside her was too much ‘—look at me.’

      She opened her eyes and saw the flush of desire cross his face, saw his eyes grow heavy. His momentum increased, taking her once more to a place she’d only just discovered. Their gazes locked as she lifted her hips, moving with him, increasing the pleasure of the moment.

      Harsh words she could barely recognise rushed from him as he moved harder and faster within her, taking her to the heights of ecstasy again, this time clinging to him, her fingernails deep in his back as their cries of pleasure mingled together.

      She lay against the pillow, her hands absently stroking down his back as her heart rate slowed. He rolled away from her to lie on his back and she stole a look at him, the harshness he hid behind already back on his face, and her heart sank. It had not been the loving moment for him that it had been for her.

      It had been possession. Duty.

      * * *

      The afternoon sun had gone from the room and Kazim stirred, his body languidly replete. He was more relaxed than he’d been for many months. Was that why he’d allowed the desire that had throbbed between him and Amber to explode so spectacularly?

      The second time, he’d tried to be gentle but it had been beyond him to do so. Urgency had driven him again. Memories of that altercation, the moment he’d lost all control and lashed out at his father, had been stirred by her sympathy. The scar to his skin wasn’t deep, but emotionally it was still livid and raw, brought to the surface once more by Amber.

      She moved against him and he wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms again, kiss her awake and make love to her for the rest of the night, but he had further meetings this evening.

      He ran his fingers through his hair as the relaxed feeling he’d woken with disappeared. He should have made it clear to her exactly why her presence in Barazbin was required. He should have told her that she was not only expected to be his princess but the mother of his heir. But wasn’t that why they’d married in the first place? To secure his succession and the future of Barazbin.

      ‘What’s wrong?’ Her soft voice tentatively asking the question roused him from his thoughts and he looked at her lying sleepily in his bed, her lovely hair like silk spread over the pillow.

      ‘I was just thinking about the final meetings I have this evening.’ He danced around the truth, not wanting to tell her that the meetings would take place only because she was here with him, that their reconciliation was already having an effect on his country’s relations with its neighbours.

      ‘You’re leaving me—again?’ She smiled teasingly at him.

      Even so, guilt ripped through him at the hidden rawness of the question. He’d hurt her badly before, handled it all wrong. ‘For a few hours, yes, then I will be back.’

      He wanted to pull her close, to kiss her and reassure her, but didn’t trust his ability to control himself. Instead, he chose that moment of unguarded openness to ask what he’d wanted to ask almost a year ago. What he should have asked.

      ‘That dance you performed on our wedding night?’ He kept his tone soft and coaxing, reaching out to stroke her face.

      Her eyes closed briefly but he waited.

      ‘I made a mistake,’ she said then looked at him.

      ‘As did I.’ He’d believed the rumours, which he now knew were unfounded.

      ‘I’d hoped I could distract you... I didn’t want you to think I was completely inexperienced.’ She paled as she said the words and he realised he’d stopped stroking her face and that his own was set in a hard frown.

      ‘That is why you performed that dance? So that I wouldn’t think you were a virgin?’ He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Surely she knew that in his culture a man prized virginity above all else when he married?

      ‘I had been warned by my mother that you had a reputation, that you wouldn’t appreciate inexperience.’ Her face coloured as she explained her motives and inwardly he cursed her mother’s unintentional bad advice.

      He swore harshly, unable to believe what she was telling him, and she pulled back from him, physically and emotionally. ‘I’m sorry.’

      ‘It’s in the past,’ Amber said as she