Leslie Kelly, Jennifer LaBrecque Read online

  Somebody slipped the wrong kind of mushroom on a pizza. You’re hallucinating all of this!

  But he wasn’t. And he knew it. So he just kept riding.

  He saw many fascinating sights during the long day of travel, eventually dropping his own veil of skepticism enough to question Olivia about this world of hers. Everything she told him hammered the point home: if this was all real, then everything she’d told him about herself, and her life, was real, too.

  She was an Amazon. She had been celibate for eight years. And she’d never made love with a man.

  That, more than anything, filled his head as he watched her slim, leather-clad form riding ahead of him, looking as one with the beautiful animal on which she rode. He could hardly think of anything else.

  She’d given up one of the most delicious experiences that existed in either world without ever really tasting it.

  She’d also given up everything that went with it. Love, a relationship, children, family, a home.

  Something was terribly wrong with this Amazon group she took such pride in. She was too beautiful, too passionate, too smart and brave to live like that. And though she would deny to her last breath that there was anything wrong with her life, he found himself wanting to simply show her how screwed up it really was, not try to explain it, just take her there.

  As she’d done with him.

  “We’ll stop for the night,” Olivia called as she came to a stop a few yards ahead of him.

  Though it hadn’t seemed like they’d been riding a terribly long time, shadows had begun to cross the land. She’d warned him time was different here, shorter, and he realized evening was approaching.

  “The castle is only another two hours’ ride. We should rest. Get a fresh start in the morning.”

  She climbed off her horse, and he did the same, glad his legs weren’t shaking, even if his ass was pretty numb.

  “Follow me,” she said, leading her horse off the trail into a thick stand of woods. These trees, at least, looked normal, though they certainly weren’t anything like those in California. This was more like a dense jungle, lush and rich, with leaves so green they hurt his eyes. The colors were so much more vivid, just as the air itself, which he’d now become accustomed to, tasted so much more vibrant.

  Walking behind her, he wondered if she was actually following any kind of trail, because he saw no sign of one. But Olivia seemed to know where she was going.

  As they walked, a low hum began to fill his ears, growing louder the deeper they went. A few minutes later, when the hum had grown to a roar, he understood what it was. Olivia led him out of the thick forest into an enormous clearing. A huge, crystalline lake occupied the center of it, fed by a waterfall that almost seemed to stretch up into the clouds.

  It was deafening. Sparkling. Magnificent.

  “Grand Falls,” she told him, pride evident in her raised voice. “The kingdom’s namesake.”

  “Beautiful,” he said, unable to look away for a moment, feeling as though he was looking at heaven’s spigot showering fresh water to the ground.

  She gave him a minute or two to gape, then said, “We must take care of the animals.”

  Following her instructions, Rafe unsaddled his horse, who, thankfully, had managed to avoid killing him during the ride.

  That was one thing he already disliked about her world—no public transportation.

  Only after their mounts were taken care of did they set up a small camp. Along with the horses, she’d left blankets and food—some dried fruit and meat—back at that stable by the borderland.

  She’d also left her sword, bow and a quiver full of arrows, which she had immediately strapped on. His California liberal side tried not to find that incredibly hot, but failed miserably.

  He had been anticipating an uncomfortable night. But as he sat on the banks of the water, he had to admit the mossy ground was soft, plush. Like a mattress provided by nature itself. “I’m glad we stopped,” he told her after they’d finished eating. “I needed a breather before tomorrow.”

  “You are still sure you want to do this?” she asked, frowning. “You don’t have to, it’s not too late. We can turn around and go back the way we came.”

  “What about your job? Your family?”

  She waved an unconcerned hand. “That isn’t your problem. I’ll be fine, as will they. Honestly, Rafe, we can find another way.” She put on one of those dark scowls that made her look a little ferocious and a lot sexy. “The closer we get to Queen Verona the more my shoulder blades come together—in anticipation of a knife between them.”

  “She’s a queen, she can’t be that bad.”

  “Tell that to Snow White’s descendents.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, uh-huh.”

  “It’s not funny. Legend said the poor girl became so claustrophic after the coffin incident, she ended up a paranoid old woman, and ordered all the interior walls of her castle torn down. It nearly crashed upon her head.”

  Seeing she was dead serious, he mumbled, “Sorry. This is gonna take me a while.”

  Thinking about this queen, he couldn’t help wondering what would happen to Olivia if she returned to the castle without the prince. If the woman was that dangerous, what would she do to someone who failed to complete an important mission? How might she make Olivia pay for it?

  He was suddenly worried about a lot more than her family, or her job. Her pretty neck, for starters.

  “I’m going,” he insisted. “And that’s that.”

  Looking suspicious, she asked, “Why?”

  He tried to play it cool, knowing she would refuse to take him if she thought he was doing it to protect her. “I came all this way. Might as well meet this infamous queen and get treated like royalty for a couple of days. It’ll be fun.”

  Even if, right now, he could think of nothing more fun than lying Olivia down on this soft ground and teaching her what real pleasure was all about. Especially if there was any chance whatsoever that something bad could happen to her because of this whole misadventure.

  Though the sun hung low in the sky, the air felt warm, and his thoughts made his body hotter. He couldn’t help thinking how good that cool water would feel against his skin.

  And there was something else that would feel good against his skin: hers.

  He’d been following her lead all day, the stranger in her land now. Never a chauvinist, he’d had no problem letting Olivia set the course and the pace and even the tone of their ride.

  But they weren’t traveling anymore. They had stopped for the night. One last night before they’d begin the charade and he would be playing her prince and she his bodyguard, unable to publicly interact much less share an impromptu shower.

  He knew how he wanted to spend this night.

  He also knew Olivia was tense and aware, thinking the same thoughts. She’d eyed him several times today when she thought he didn’t notice. Ever since yesterday, when he’d shown her what her body was capable of doing for her, she’d been on edge, so wanting to experience it again he could almost taste her need in the air.

  She’d dragged him into her version of reality this morning. Maybe it was his turn to introduce her to his tonight.

  With that in mind, Rafe began to strip off his clothes, tossing his shirt to the ground, letting the warmth of the setting sun bake into his tight muscles.

  “Wh-what are you doing?” she asked, staring up at him from where she sat on the ground. Her eyes were wide, shocked, as if she hadn’t walked around his apartment in nothing but her glorious hair yesterday morning.

  “I thought I’d take a swim.” Smiling, he began to unfasten his jeans. “That’s not against the rules or anything, is it?”

  “Uh, no,” she replied, licking her lips, looking nervous for the first time since he’d met her.

  At last he’d found the one area where she wasn’t absolutely self-assured. When it came to sex, Olivia was no warrior. In fact, right now she looked a little like a tentative virgin
.

  A virgin wearing a black leather miniskirt and a sword strapped across her back. But a virgin nonetheless.

  “Why don’t you join me?” he asked, kicking out of the rest of his clothes, watching the way her mouth parted on a deep sigh as she ogled him, standing there, naked, in the last rays of sunlight.

  He turned around, not wanting to give his intentions away yet. Because that look, the want in her eyes and the way her choppy breaths flowed audibly in and out of her mouth had him hardening in response. She thought she’d seen him through the screen the other night? Hell. If he had stayed put, she would have had an up-close, eye-level view of what she did to him, without as much as a touch.

  Not waiting to see if she would follow, he strode to the edge of the water. It lapped against his feet, cool but not cold, and without another word, he dove in.

  The liquid relief might have eased the heat on his skin. But when he finally looked back toward the shore and saw her walking into the water, wearing the same nothing she’d worn to bed at his place, his internal temperature shot way up.

  She had been stunning then, inside, standing at the window. Now, beneath the brilliant blue sky of her homeland, she was the definition of beautiful. She literally took his breath away.

  For all her ferocity, Olivia was every inch a seductive, desirable woman. From the loose, flowing blond hair, to the full, lush breasts topped with those mouthwatering, dark nipples, to the small waist, the curvy hips, and that soft womanly mound between her legs, she was every man’s sexiest fantasy.

  And she was coming right at him.

  Following his example, she dove in completely. But the water was so clear, so sparkling, he was easily able to see her swimming beneath the surface.

  He didn’t know if she had her eyes open underwater. Didn’t know if she was aware she was coming close—so damn close to him. He only knew that as her blond head reached his hip, her hair brushing against his thigh, need set his blood afire.

  He’d intended to ease into this, to seduce her, then, afterward, dare her to say she had known what she would be forsaking with her job.

  But those plans flew out the window when she slowly rose to her feet, her mouth so close to his side, it was like she kissed her way up his body as she emerged.

  Her eyes were open, water dripping from her thick lashes as she stood before him, their legs inches apart, her taut nipples brushing the hair on his chest.

  He gave up all thought, all resistance. No slow seduction, no easy lovemaking.

  He needed her. He was desperate to have her, to have this. And without a single word, he reached for her, digging his fingers into those soft hips and drawing her close.

  Then he covered her mouth with his and kissed her the way he knew she needed to be kissed. The way every woman about to experience passionate lovemaking for the first time deserved to be kissed…with every ounce of wanton hunger he felt for her.

  THOUGH SHE WAS HOME, on her own ground, where tradition and loyalty meant everything and she had never once veered from her avowed course, Olivia wanted this. Wanted him. Wanted the one night of heat and desire and sensation she knew he could give her.

  Seeing him so hard and tall, his member swelling before her eyes as he’d turned away to enter the water, she had felt all inhibition fall away. Every part of her body had come alive and begun to tingle, hot blood sluicing through her veins, her womanly center throbbing with a need with which she had become all too familiar since she’d met him.

  There was no more awkwardness. No more simple curiosity or worry. Only this moment, this night, this man. So when he kissed her, she took his tongue greedily, tilting her head so he could come ever deeper into her mouth.

  Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, and her legs around his thighs, she rubbed against his firm body, shocked at the sensations battering her from all sides. His kiss was devouring, every breath shared, every gasp swallowed down and each cry of delight echoed.

  One big hand remained on her bottom, firm and tight. The other he lifted to her breast, his touch more gentle, careful, even though the way he plucked her nipple between his fingers soon had her whimpering with pleasure.

  “That feels remarkable,” she admitted. He’d touched her there yesterday, but she’d been so focused on the other place she hadn’t thought as much about how good the attention to her breasts felt. Now, she could think of little else.

  At least, until he lifted her bottom, tilting her so that rigid shaft of heat fell directly against the core of her.

  Then everything changed again. She simply didn’t know what to focus on, which sensation pleased her more. “Oh, yes,” she cried, jerking, rubbing up and down and taking the pressure where it felt the best.

  Her body had reacted quickly again, like it had in his apartment. She knew the glide of his manhood against her was made easier by the slick, hot moisture oozing from her womanly parts. She could only imagine his penetration would be just as easy, just as smooth and good and sweet.

  Unlike before. Unlike ever.

  But he didn’t penetrate her, didn’t slip in and fill that empty center, as much as she wanted him to.

  Funny, she had never thought of herself as an empty vessel, needing to be filled, until she had met him. Now, it was all she could do not to reach down and grab that thick member and guide it into herself.

  “Not yet,” he whispered, as if reading her intent.

  “When?”

  “Soon. I promise. Let yourself go, enjoy it. Let your body take what I want to give you.”

  She closed her eyes, and did as he asked. Each place he touched her sizzled and she simply couldn’t imagine what intimacy could be better than the last.

  Then he kissed his way down her throat, as if he would taste every inch of her skin, and she began to get an idea. Olivia wrapped her legs tighter around him, nestling his cock against her womanly lips as she fell back onto the surface of the water, floating on her back.

  “You were made for this,” he growled as he moved his mouth to her breast. When his tongue lapped at her nipple, she gasped at the utter perfection of it. And when he closed his mouth over it and suckled her, she actually cried out to the sky.

  Twining her hands in his thick, wet hair, she held him there, loving the deep pull of his mouth. She couldn’t help writhing, thrusting, wanting what she had never wanted in her entire life.

  To be utterly and completely taken by a man.

  She didn’t notice his pushing her closer to the shore, until she realized she was no longer floating, but now lying on her back in the shallows. Rafe didn’t move over her, his mouth didn’t return to her breasts or her mouth. Instead he parted her thighs and kissed his way down toward them.

  “You don’t… You’re not…”

  “Hell, yes, I am,” he growled as he nipped at her belly, then moved until his lips brushed her womanly curls. Unable to help it, she jerked toward him, warmed by his breaths, shocked and so excited she almost forgot to breathe.

  An inch more and his soft tongue was dipping into her, lapping at the very spot where he’d touched her in the shower.

  “Mercy!” she cried, amazed at both how good it felt, and by the thought that he was licking her there.

  The sensations were mind-boggling. This time, it didn’t take several long strokes to make those waves of pleasure burst through her; it happened almost right away.

  “Oh, Rafe,” she cried to the sky, gasping at the power of it—her second-ever orgasm.

  He rose over her, bending to kiss her lips again, his body on top of hers. The heat of his rigid erection pressed into her thighs, and she spread them farther, instinctively, wanting it more than she’d ever wanted anything. “Now?” she asked.

  He reached for one leg, lifting it over his hip as he tenderly kissed her again. “Yes.”

  The silky tip of his sex nestled into her and she arched up in welcome, her body somehow knowing what to do. Slowly, he eased his way in, inch by sweet hot inch.

  Oliv
ia tried to keep her eyes open, loving the flex of muscles in his neck, watching the way his mouth parted on a guttural cry as he possessed ever more of her.

  But the sensations were too great. As he pushed inside, all thought was pushed out, there was only ecstasy. It grew and grew. “Yes, more,” she told him, “fill me up.”

  He groaned in response, thrusting up with all his might until he was buried deep inside her.

  It was magical. The most wonderful thing she’d ever felt in all her days.

  Olivia didn’t move for a second, letting herself adjust. Once her mind was clear, and she was able to think about each new feeling, she realized this was as close to complete as she had ever felt in her life.

  And she’d never even known she was missing anything.

  One thing she knew—this was nothing like what she’d experienced before. Absolutely nothing. Rather than wanting it to end, she only wanted it to go on and on.

  “Okay?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Yes. Is it…finished?”

  He laughed softly, but she didn’t take offense. Because she had the feeling his laughter meant this wasn’t nearly over. Which was fine with her.

  “Hang on, sweetheart,” he told her. “We’re just getting started.”

  7

  BY THE TIME THEY REACHED the imposing stone castle at the center of the kingdom of Grand Falls, Rafe was beginning to feel pretty damn nervous. Not to mention uncomfortable.

  He was wearing one of Ruprecht’s ornate cloaks—supplied by the prissy prince—and it was too tight at the neck. While trying to control his horse, and look like he knew what he was doing, he also had to keep his nose in the air. Because as villagers came out to bow and lay flowers as he passed, Olivia told him Ruprecht made it a point to never look at his subjects. What good was being a prince if he didn’t even see his own people?

  He so wasn’t looking forward to this. What he wouldn’t give to be able to turn around, go back to that waterfall and spend a month making love to Olivia Vanderbrook.

  Every time he looked over at her and saw the tiny, satisfied smile on her face, he got the feeling she’d like that, too.