Any Price (11 page)

Her surge of impatience and sexual frustration set Lore free. Making that choice on her own was the key he’d been waiting for.

Leaning down, he carefully licked up the lush outer lips of her center. He intentionally paused at the apex to snake his tongue down over her quivering clitoris. Stroking that exploding collection of sensation slowly, he was careful not to give her too much. He wanted her needy, hot and demanding. Using his talented tongue, he teased her with a hint of what he could grant her. Sliding down the inside of the opposite fold, he reached her opening gently, lifting the pressure off his stroke so he only gave a featherlight caress.

Kenna panted through his soft touches. Her body arched and writhed helplessly in his inflexible hold. She knew what he was doing but was powerless to combat it. She needed more! The heat zipping up her nerve endings required so much more.

This was obsession but she didn’t care. Addictive and wicked, the freedom to seek his intimate touch was burning her alive. Need didn’t come close to describing the hunger clawing up her body.

He felt her desire and it pleased him in ways most men could never hope to experience. This was more than a woman complementing the male with her excitement. This was lust directed at everything about him. His extreme pleasure in her need only served to make it more intense.

Lore growled into her tender flesh but never lifted his head. Unexpectedly, he thrust his tongue into her begging body. That flexing muscle speared her hard and swirled around her channel, it greedily lapped, gathering what she so generously gave him. Dragging her liquid emotion into his mouth, he went back for more, his mouth engulfing her sensitized mound as he sucked hard.

Kenna screamed, her hips jerked at his command, slamming into sensations so overwhelming that she lost control as if he’d simply whisked it out of her grasp.

The last remains of the old Kenna were appalled. The primitive woman she’d become loved it. Thrashing beneath him in shrieking passion was exactly what the new Kenna wanted to do.

She needed to feel him easily control her body. This new woman reveled in depraved pleasure as her lover held her open and up for his consumption. His power fed the greedy, elemental female who needed to know her mate was strong enough to handle her, protect her. That woman gloried in his strength as he commanded her compliance to his attentions. That woman went wild with a feral lust.

Lore moved up to torment the plump folds, loving them fully this time. His mouth sucked gently and he took sinister pleasure in her nails sinking into his shoulders at the first hard, fast swipe of his tongue over her swollen, eager clit. Pulling that tender flesh into his mouth caused her to rake his back. Her slender body bowed up off the bed as she tried to drag him up to the proper position to impale her.

Reaching up with one hand, he placed it over her left breast and captured the swollen nipple. Clamping down hard, he twisted a tiny bit. Kenna froze. His head lifted just enough to issue a command as he held her nipple tightly.

“Down.”

His hand pushed her back. They were both too involved in the carnal, animal need rushing between them to be capable of using more than one word at a time.

She sank back on the bed and his head returned to torment his new possession between her legs. She realized he considered it his.

He was intent on investigating every feeling, sensation, texture and taste that he could wring out of her. He wasn’t done experimenting with how to make her come for him. What touch drove her wild? He wanted to know it all. He needed to feel her convulse on his face before they could move on. Even then he wasn’t sure he’d be done with this part.

Surrendering to him and his plundering mouth, she gave him what he wanted. In the giving, she acknowledged that this was what she wanted. She needed. He was consumed with the drive to pleasure her fully, deeply before she felt penetration. He didn’t think he could be gentle then, so now was for her.

Her journey to ecstasy was swift and shattering. As he licked his way back down the cream-covered lips, then up to focus on her clit. She screamed into release. The overwhelming tide of splintering sensations rushed up her body and shorted out her brain in blinding heat. He pressed into her fiercely, sucking and thrusting while she convulsed on the devilish muscle he lashed her with. As her screams subsided into moaning pants, he licked her gently.

At last he lifted his head to regard the engorged folds before him. Sliding his hands up around her trembling thighs, his thumbs gently pulled her outer lips open. He looked at her. Leaning down he blew gently, just to watch her contract as the warm air washed over her.

“Mine, Kenna. This is mine. You know this. You might as well hear it.” His eyes lifted to look into hers. “We have to get married.”

Kenna smiled at him as his big body rose from between her legs. He gently lifted her fully on the bed then crawled up her body in prowling possession, an absolutely perfect beast. And damn if he wasn’t good at being primitive. Her body glowed with pleasure and shuddered in anticipation.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think that was all you’re interested in. Only idiots get married because the sex is good,” she chided him as she raked nails down his sides. Kenna had to have a taste of him as he lowered himself over her. Her mouth went to his shoulder, licking first and nipping the damp spot. She couldn’t help it. The impulse drove her across his broad shoulders to start up his neck.

The feel of his weight settling into her body was another new pleasure. Hard muscles wrapped his entire form and now pressed into her. He covered her completely. Being aware of that was a new sensation. Its gratification so intense she had no word for it.

“It is foolish to say words that bind us when I haven’t known you for a full day yet, but what passes between us has made the normal chain of events irrelevant.”

As he spoke, he positioned the wide head of his penis at the small opening made expressly to take him, nudging it gently. Not entering then exiting completely, he ruthlessly stroked her with the hard length of his shaft, sliding up eager folds to press against her clit. That flaming male rod sent her tumbling back into the engulfing sexual frenzy they created between them.

“You’re mine,” he whispered in her ear as his undulating hips drove her deeper into the abyss of sensations. “Tell me this body is mine.” Again he pressed the insistent head marginally into her entrance, withholding penetration she now craved. He felt her opening clench in empty desperation.

“Say the words, Kenna. I need to hear you say yes.” He thrust shallowly, stretching her but not filling her. The dual sensations caused her to jerk sensually, pressing into him for more.

“Say it, Kenna,” he withdrew again, sawing up her, slathering his shaft with her cream.

Scrambling to assemble a complete thought, she moaned loudly as he pulled away again. “King…” She gasped as he nudged back in and retreated. “You’re the king, I…I don’t want, ah… Can’t… Oh stop talking. I need it,” Kenna trailed off as her body moved to his touch like a finely tuned instrument. A trembling supplicant beneath him, all she wanted was the mindless pleasure he’d demonstrated he could give her. That didn’t mean she’d actually had a lobotomy.

“I know what you need, baby. Give me what I need,” he demanded. “Say yes.”

Kenna’s head thrashed on the pillow as he burned her with leashed passion. She knew he wanted this as much as she did but there was suddenly an iron will between them. He refused her. No! He couldn’t refuse her. Not now. Her eyes opened and she tried to find some control.

“Tomorrow. We…talk tomorrow…” Kenna panted.

“Now.” His face was a fierce mask of gritted teeth and narrowed eyes. Sweat dripped off his brow as his body flexed above her, both holding her open and denying fulfillment.

“Aw
hell
, Lore! Fuck me already!” she yelled at him, clamping her arms and legs around him fiercely.

“No. I’m not wearing a condom. I will not take the mother of my children until she agrees to stay with me,” Lore replied in a harsh guttural voice.

Kenna’s hips slammed up but he evaded her attempted impalement, her taut body warring with his.

Now she was mad. Spitting-in-the-street mad. “I can’t think when we’re doing this and you know it! Stop teasing, damn it! Get a freaking condom and finish what you started!”

“No. This is mine and I will take it bareback or not at all. I’ve never touched a woman without a condom so you’re safe from sexually transmitted diseases. But I will not enter the one woman who is mine covered.” The growl in his voice had become a warning snarl, an animal response of frustration and determination.

Kenna hissed, actually hissed like a cat, baring her teeth in frustration. “Why do you assume I’m clean? You could catch something. Get a condom.” Perhaps threatening him would work, but Kenna couldn’t think of a really nasty STD to claim. There wasn’t enough blood in her brain to figure out details.

“Baby, you’re a good girl. You’ve never had raw sex in your life,” Lore assured her with sharp confidence. “You’re mine, Kenna. Say it.”

“You’re a fucking, piss-poor negotiator, Lore. You’re supposed to have a fallback position we can both feel good about when you issue a demand,” Kenna told him through clenched teeth. “Come up with one already.”

“My fallback option is locking you in the tower until you agree,” Lore responded in frustration. His body trembled with both desire and determination. “I’m not negotiating, baby. This is for keeps and the terms are permanent.”

“I have a job. I have an apartment, obligations. What about all that? What about the fact that your best bud in this ruling thing hates me? I’m some weird hybrid or something. God only knows how that mess is going to play out. We can’t make this decision after something like twelve hours of knowing each other,” Kenna tried to reason with him.

“It’s been a little over fifteen hours and there is only one thing you’re really afraid of. The rest is crap, Kenna,” Lore told her. “You think my cock is leading me around. Well, sweetheart, it’s not. To prove it, we aren’t doing this until you agree to marry me.”

Lore rolled off and lay panting beside her. Kenna looked at him in consternation.

“What?” she yelled. “You’re refusing me?”

“No. I have never refused you one thing,” his deep voice countered. “I’m proving I know what I’m doing. I know what I’m asking. And I want it bad enough to wait for it. But don’t assume this means you’re free, Kenna. I said I’d wait until you agreed to marry me. I did not say I’d let you go.”

Kenna sat up and frowned down at the magnificent male she wanted to thrash. The emotions crashing between them told her how much he wanted to hurl her down and plunge into her, taking her deep and hard until she begged for mercy. If he didn’t do just that, the naked, nasty female animal inside her wanted to rip a piece of his flesh off with her teeth. Damn, stubborn, fixated man!

Her narrowed eyes watched him lift his arms to fold his hands behind his head. Thick muscles bunched and flexed as he shifted into that indolent position, not even pretending to cover himself. He simply lay watching her. Waiting.

She was damn tired as well as emotionally strung out. If he wanted to be an ass, fine. He wasn’t going to force her to do one more freaking thing. Unbelievable shit had been flying at her all day. Now the man refused her and she was mad.

Sucking in air through clenched teeth, Kenna searched for calm. Why was she mad anyway? Not like going to bed fuck-less was a new experience for her. How come she was the mad one? And where the hell was all that crap normal men would say to get some? He lay there silent, confident she’d come around with no further pressure on his part.

Anger swelled as her body struggled with denial. Kenna could barely look at him. “I’ll use the bed in that other room.”

“I will not allow it. This is our bed. This is where you sleep,” Lore decreed calmly.

“No. This is your bed. Your royal ass can stay in it.”

Whirling away from him, Kenna slid off the bed and marched naked into the outer room. There were three couches in there. If he wouldn’t let her use the perfectly good monster bed in the connecting suite, she would sleep in here.

Lore stalked right after her and scooped her up as she lay down. She remained limp in his arms while he carried her back into the bedroom.

She didn’t need to scream or kick. He could feel white-hot anger in her mind. She’d been reasonable all day. Right now, all Kenna knew was that she wouldn’t be pushed one more time. If he got in this bed with her, she’d get out again.

He gently put her down in the middle of the bed and reached over to snag a pillow, which he tossed to the floor. He took the folded comforter from the foot of the bed and lay down on the floor.

Kenna frowned fiercely at the ceiling.

He wouldn’t budge, she wouldn’t concede. The rock and the hard place were tired, stressed and sleeping alone.

“You’re mine, Kenna,”
his deep, quiet voice rumbled into her mind at the last second before sleep claimed her.

Midmorning sunshine streamed through tall windows as Kenna rolled over and gazed at the empty spot on the bed that should have held a male impression but didn’t. She knew he wasn’t in the castle. Yet she still stared at the place he should have been.

“Where are you?”
her thoughts reached for him.

“On the golf course with your Chinese boyfriends,”
Lore answered.

In his thoughts, she could feel the frustrated male who’d rather be somewhere else.
“Hey, it wasn’t my idea to take a pass last night,”
Kenna shot back at him.

“Right. You’re just the woman who drives me crazy,”
he growled.

“I miss you,”
Kenna sent to him shyly. She knew it was safe to say such a thing, still, at first it felt scary and then so good to be free to admit it to him. All of which was silly to worry about.

“You’re going to make me miss this putt,”
he accused.

“That’s not what you miss,”
she purred softly.

“Then you know what I want. I’m the guy who proposed, remember?”

“Come finish what you started,”
Kenna invited as she stretched languidly. She let that invitation flow through with desires and wants.

“Witch,”
he laughed softly in her mind.
“Say yes and I’m there.”

“What about your game? Aren’t you wooing all that lovely money?”
Kenna needled and sidestepped his repeated demand.

“I have to lose. It’s the Asian thing to do. Besides, there can always be an urgent matter I have to take care of somewhere. Mr. Fu just won’t have to know how urgent it really is,”
Lore offered.

“How do I get coffee in this mausoleum?”
Kenna wanted to know.

“Use the damn communication thing and let Julianna know what you need. Don’t send for Thomas. I forgot to order all men out of my rooms when you’re alone,”
Lore instructed.

“It’s not like I could hide anything from you, beast,”
Kenna chided.
“Don’t you think you’d know as soon as I did something like this?”
Kenna slid a slender hand down her torso, gentle fingers rubbed intimate flesh. A jolt of sexual heat shot through her, and Lore gasped in her mind.

“Stop!”

“Why? A girl needs some satisfaction.”

“I’ll give you satisfaction, baby, but torture me like this, and I’ll tan that pretty butt first,”
Lore threatened darkly.

Kenna laughed but she wasn’t quite sure if that was a threat she needed to be concerned about. The picture in his head as he said it was a tiny bit exciting. He could be firm, even ruthless, but only in his efforts to protect and please her. Or, Kenna amended to herself, when he decided to be a stubborn, pigheaded idiot.
“Go back to your game. I need a shower and coffee,”
Kenna relented as she rolled off the bed.

“Don’t suppose you’d wait a couple hours for help with that shower?”
Lore asked hopefully.

Smiling, Kenna wandered groggily into the bathroom.
“No, but it’s not like you won’t know what I’m doing.”

“Aw, baby. This will never take the place of touching your sweet body,”
he whispered into her mind.
“Now why don’t you be reasonable? What can you possibly think you’ve got to go back to? You’re not the same person.”

Kenna frowned as she turned on the shower. He was about to make a good point. She could feel it. Everything was different now. Not only was she different, but the entire world was radically different.

“Besides,”
he continued,
“I’ll tell every son of the Keepers that you want to leave us. What do you suppose will happen then?”

“You wouldn’t,”
Kenna gasped as she stepped under the cascade of water. That disturbing possibility was not one she’d thought of.

“Sure I would,”
Lore insisted in her mind.
“Did I mention I don’t fight fair?”

Kenna huffed as she digested his threat. He actually wouldn’t have to say a word if she left. The news would travel faster than the speed of light. Besides, she didn’t want to leave, not really. She just didn’t want to be pushed anymore. Her life had been ripped out of her control yesterday and it’d been a reflex to try to regain some measure of choice.

Honestly, what did she think she wanted to do with herself anyway? Of course she couldn’t leave. In the bright morning light, she could see there was no other option. That didn’t mean she was willing to let this whole thing steamroll over her. Nor did she want to concede his point—yet.

Being first daughter, or whatever, was a huge scary unknown. Being his queen was another huge scary issue she didn’t want to face. It didn’t seem fair that he wanted her to do both at the same time. Never mind it was impossible to be one and not the other. She couldn’t put being first daughter back in the proverbial bottle. From what they’d been told, the only way to quit it was to die. A dead-end solution if there ever was one.

It wasn’t possible to fall in love with the man in barely twenty-four hours. Yet the sheer intensity and volume of the emotions swirling around them was greater than she’d ever imagined love would be. Whatever it was, it was all tangled in the other unbelievable stuff. Nonetheless, life without him was unacceptable. Kenna shook her head and finished up the shower.

When had they lost the ability to choose? Where was the critical moment they could have pulled away from each other? Suddenly she knew exactly when that threshold had passed. The moment they’d kissed in the war room. Something in that first intimate touch had been the key that clicked in the lock.

Pulling her thoughts back to the more manageable and immediate needs helped her cope. At the moment, her big problem was clothes. Kenna slid on the sweats she’d worn briefly yesterday and decided to investigate the queen’s apartment. Getting her clothes from the hotel had to be possible. Finding Julianna was the important thing. She seemed able to make things appear with amazing ease.

Lore was always in the back of her consciousness. He could feel her as well. He wasn’t so much monitoring her thoughts, but he was conscious of her moods. They shared animal awareness in natural comfort. Right now he was letting her mull this over in peace.

Kenna had to laugh as she stepped into the connecting suite of rooms. There was Julianna with a tray of coffee and an array of breakfast choices on the pretty side table in the queen’s bedroom.

“Good morning, your highness,” Julianna greeted her with a smile. “I brought coffee and food. Also a collection of clothes for you to choose from.”

Strewn across the massive bed were several elegant outfits. Kenna grabbed a cup of coffee and wandered over to look at the bounty on the bed.

“Good morning, Julianna,” Kenna murmured. “How did you know I needed clothes?”

“I collected your belongings from the hotel. I found nothing there for a queen. We have very good shops, so I ordered several things. With respect, only the best is required for our first daughter,” Julianna stated firmly.

“You brought my stuff from the hotel? Great. Where is it?” Kenna wanted to know as she glanced around.

“I’ve put them away,” Julianna stated firmly. Her attitude made it clear put away probably meant hid. “These choices are much more appropriate. Do you like them?”

“Oh yes,” Kenna breathed as she looked at the obviously original designer outfits spread out before her. “But I can’t afford all these, Julianna. We’ll have to take some of them back.”

Julianna frowned. “We are not a wealthy country, but his highness is not destitute.”

Kenna laughed. “His highness has nothing to do with it, Julianna. I’m the one who has a limited budget.”

Julianna crossed her arms and frowned harder at Kenna. “Is he not marrying the first daughter? I will show that boy a switch if he thinks he can be disgraceful in this relationship.”

“Julianna. He’s the king. You can’t say that,” Kenna admonished as she watched the dignified woman bristle. “He never said he wouldn’t marry me, but we are not married now. There’s a difference. He isn’t responsible for me.” Kenna went to the table and exchanged her empty coffee cup for a bowl of fruit.

“Of course he is responsible!” Julianna insisted. “He is the One. He must care for the first daughter’s needs. That is his duty. Where is the naughty boy? He requires an attitude adjustment and I’m going to help him with that!” Julianna turned from Kenna and spit out some pithy-sounding remarks in her own language.

“He’s working. But this has nothing to do with him, Julianna. I haven’t agreed to marry him. That means I provide my own things,” Kenna explained. “I can take care of myself. This, whatever is happening, is a huge, ah…a monumental, oh ah, well, damn it.” Emotions overpowered Kenna as she struggled to explain.

Setting her bowl down carefully, Kenna turned to the window and wrapped her arms around herself. Suddenly she felt very alone. Alone in some sort of bizarre maze where scary things kept jumping out at her. She was in a strange country. Surrounded by strangers and thrust into a situation she had no control over and no experience to deal with.

Her head dipped as unexpected tears dripped down her cheeks. At this moment, Kenna just wanted to go home. There was nothing much at home except familiar surroundings, but at least it was home.

Julianna clucked sharply and glided to the forlorn figure in the window. Hugging Kenna tightly, Julianna crooned to her in Hungarian. Kenna could pick up a bit of it now. The Keeper gifts gave her an insight into word meanings as people spoke them. It sounded a lot like Julianna was going to thrash someone over a little chicken. Then she would do something rather disgusting to that person if the little gold was not happy. These dire threats were said in a calming tone.

Kenna sniffed and let the mothering woman hold her. She could feel Julianna’s genuine, warm concern. Even though the two women hadn’t spent much time together, Julianna felt very protective.

Abruptly the door burst open and Lore strode in. Large hands plucked Kenna into a steely embrace. Lore wrapped himself around her and inhaled her scent deeply. His big body expanded with the relief of holding her in his arms.

“I’m sorry, baby,” he groaned into her hair. “Please don’t cry. It’ll be all right. You’re not alone. Never alone.”

The overwhelming tide of his emotional response to her tears swept through Kenna. She realized he’d been shielding her from the depths of his response until he picked her up. Physical contact negated any attempt to repress their reaction to each other.

“Lore,” she gasped into his neck. “I’m afraid. Then you touch me and everything changes. What is this need?”

The need she referred to was an emotional one they both felt keenly. The flow of their two souls changed as they clutched each other tightly. As if the few hours apart drained them. They hadn’t realized separation, even though communication continued, created a stress response. Kenna suddenly felt like an addict who’d just gotten her fix. It terrified her.

“Julianna, what happens when we’re apart? Why is it physically stressful?” Kenna lifted her head to ask.

Julianna frowned darkly at Lore. “Why aren’t you marrying her? You must marry. She needs the One, always. Her heart grows tired with separation. She is your responsibility. Do not hurt her!”

“What does that mean?” Kenna pressed. “Are we somehow physically dependant? What’s happening?”

Julianna transferred her attention to Kenna. “I think dependant is the right word. There is much we don’t know anymore, but the old words given us might mean this. Two must be one, sword and sheath. Pain follows the empty vessel. Now I think this is what they meant. You feel separation more than his highness.”

Kenna looked at Julianna in amazement. “You can’t be serious. How medieval is that?”

Julianna glanced down and smiled. “We didn’t make the rules, my lady. When they were made, medieval was in the future, I think.”

“Oh great,” Kenna groaned, and jammed her face back in Lore’s neck.

“Make her well,” Julianna admonished Lore with a fierce frown. “I will not hear any more of you hurting her.”

“Yes ma’am,” Lore purred. He swung Kenna’s legs up over his arm and turned to his room. “We’ll be a while, Julianna. Please tell your brothers we’re not to be disturbed.”

Kenna buried her blushing face in Lore’s neck as he swept into his own rooms. “Good grief, Lore. Do you suppose there is anything that woman doesn’t know about our sex life now?”

“Considering how limited it is, no,” Lore responded. “We’re about to change that, sweetheart.”

Lore deposited her on the bed and started stripping off his golf clothes. “First we take a shower,” he listed. “Then we expand our horizons.”

Kenna leaned back on her hands and watched him disrobe. “I just had a shower.”

“Yeah, well, I need one, and you’re not getting more than a reach away from me until we clear this up. I can’t take it, Kenna. No more crying. I’d rather take a bullet than go through what I felt out on the damn green.”

Kenna tested her new abilities and ventured into his mind.
“Show me,”
she whispered into his thoughts. Lore looked up at her as he shoved down his shorts. Then he showed her. She saw it, felt it and lived it with him through the memory. It was vivid and real, just as he remembered it.