Harlequin Kimani Romance September 2014 Bundle: Seduced by the Heir\Secret Silver Nights\Someone Like You\Indulge Me Tonight (61 page)

“Humph...closure...I've always wondered about that word.” He looked at her. “Whatever can of worms my brother wants to open won't give anyone closure. It'd just be another load of drama we'll all have to deal with.”

“At least it'll be dealt with, right?”

He smiled. “You think it's that easy to
deal
with things?”

She gave a lazy shrug. “If all parties are willing to work at it, not just draw lines in the sand.”

“Humph. Parties like me, huh?”

“Grae, I didn't—”

“Who is he?”

The question, as out of place as it was unexpected, rendered Tielle quiet for a time. “Grae—”

“How long was it before you let him in your bed, Tel?”

“How long before one of your scores of admirers was in
your
bed?” she countered hotly.

Graedon turned on the lounge, giving Tielle the full benefit of an ambivalent glare. “Getting back at me for something you
think
I'm doing, Tel? You never played the assumption game before.”

“There's a lot I never did before.”

“Like asking me to use a condom.”

“Please.” Her eyes narrowed to lovely slits. “Do not sit there and act like you've got
no
clue why I'd ask that. I'm sure the offers to warm your bed started to roll in before you wrote the last
G
in
Clegg
when you signed our divorce papers.”

“The offers never
stopped
rolling in, Tel,” he growled. “They were persistent, something I got every day of our marriage.”

She smiled. “How nice it must be that you don't have it in your way anymore.”

“Neither do you.”

“Grae...” She closed her eyes, standing still and counting for calm. “We don't need to be doing this. You're handling enough drama in your family without creating more between the two of us.”

“Creating?”

Tielle threw up her hands. “The terrace is all yours.”

* * *

Grae pushed off the lounge. Going to the railing, he folded his hands over the wrought iron and squeezed. He prayed for restraint, commanding himself to listen to the voice that told him not to follow Tielle's departure but to let their budding disagreement die. The voice failed in its task.

“To hell with it,” he muttered and bolted a heated path from the terrace.

* * *

Tielle resisted the urge to slam her bedroom door when she beat a clear trail there from the terrace. She tossed down the work she'd intended to handle and watched the folders, pads and her tablet slide across the wide antique pine desk in the corner.

She stood in the middle of the room with her hands on her hips. In fewer than twenty seconds, she dissolved into a puddle of laughter. The argument with her ex and how it all started was the catalyst for her amusement. She dropped to the bed and was still laughing when Grae barreled into the room.

* * *

Finding his ex-wife overwhelmed by laughter diminished whatever argument he'd come to deliver.

“I'm sorry, Tel,” his said in one rush of breath. “It's none of my business who you see or—or sleep with—”

He swallowed back something distasteful that followed those words. “Even so, I won't lie and tell you it doesn't piss the hell out of me to even think about it.”

His words had a sobering effect on Tielle. “There's no one else, Grae.” She shook her head. “Not only don't I have the time, but I've got no desire for any other man. Humph. I'm an unbelievable idiot for telling you this, but you're kind of a hard act to follow.”

He gaped at her. “And you think you're not?”

“Not sure.” Tielle's cognac gaze faltered, and she studied the bed comforter's elaborate stitching. “It seemed pretty easy for you to walk away from me before.”

“Easy? You thought that was easy, Tel.”

He stated the last as fact, and Tielle could see the upset filtering his stirring gaze. “Grae,” she said, scooting to the bed's edge, “we shouldn't talk about this now, not after the day we've had.”

Hurt pooled his expression. “You really think I'm that much of a pig that I could have another woman warming your place in my bed just like that?” He followed the declaration with a snap of his fingers.

“Grae, I'm sorry.” She left the bed. “I shouldn't have said that.”

“Damn straight you shouldn't have.”

His words had reclaimed their growling intensity. He looked totally unapproachable, yet Tielle remained undaunted.

“You need to calm down. It's been a crazy day.” She ran her hands over the chorded bulges of his arms defined beneath the sweatshirt he wore.

“It's been a crazy day...” she soothed as much for his benefit as hers.

Tielle thought she was making headway given the change in his expression. She discovered that she'd completely misread him when he captured her upper arms. Effortlessly, he took her off her feet, settling her flush against him so that they were eye to eye.

Again, Tielle realized she'd mistaken his mood. The steadiness of his glare screamed
hostile.

“Grae—” His name was the last word she was allowed to utter before her tongue was otherwise engaged. He occupied her mouth in an act of seeking exploration, bruising and sensual in its intensity.

Tielle may have criticized herself for the whimpering moans that escaped her lips were she not so terribly in need of what he was giving her. Languidly, she drew her legs up around his hips while simultaneously winding her arms up over his shoulders and locking her hands about his neck.

* * *

Grae's moves didn't harbor the same fluidity. Need for her overruled any possibility for finesse. He was of the single-minded intention to take her to his content. His tongue filled her mouth with a force that could have snapped her neck, but she met it with equal heat. Grae treated her to an array of potent lunges before dragging kisses of similar intensity down her throat. He paused to infrequently gnaw the supple flesh of her shoulders and the base of her throat. The V-necked cashmere slipped and shifted as Grae went on, exposing more of her skin. The loose material revealed the silk cami she wore beneath.

Keeping her sealed against him, Grae still managed to disrobe her, peeling away the delicate undershirt. His strong teeth against her flesh was soothed with a gentle bath from his tongue.

Tielle felt the bed against her back for only a moment before Grae put her on her stomach. He finished freeing her of the cami. The gravelly tones originating from his chest caused a shiver to rush along Tielle's spine, yet she craved to be free of her clothes.

Grae's thinking ran along the same lines. Impatient to have her bare to his gaze, he pushed his hand beneath her belly to expertly undo the button fastening on her jeans. Once he'd freed it, Grae didn't tug the jeans down her legs. Instead, he slipped a hand between the zipper's teeth, easing his hungry fingers along the dampening crotch of her panties when she shifted to open herself to him.

“Grae...” His name sounded ragged when she spoke it into the pillow cradling her cheek. Her sharp gasp accompanied the slight tear he made in her panties as he pushed her thighs farther open to accept his fingers inside the lacy undergarment.

Tielle moaned his name again.

That time, Grae covered her with his weight. He cupped her jaw, angling her head to kiss her again. Tielle raised her head a bit to improve their positioning. She went weak all over, unable even to thrust her tongue with any real effort. His middle finger ceased its tormenting rubs up and down the dark caramel-toned petals of her sex and plundered beyond.

Her persistent moans of his name held no volume behind the word. Grae steadily explored her mouth, his tongue tangling with hers before charting a journey across the ridge of her teeth. He tasted the roof of her mouth, reengaging her tongue when she hiccupped a gasp.

Grae's fingers played a scandalous melody upon her body. Eventually, Tielle was so drugged with sensation that she could no longer take part in the erotic dance between their tongues. She rested her head on the pillows and gave herself over to the delight his touch drummed inside her. Shamelessly wanton, she moved with an alluring grace upon the covers, tangling them beneath her body.

“Grae please...more...” she begged until he had her totally naked.

“More what?”

Tielle smiled at the actual question he'd managed. “Everything,” she moaned.

“Specifics, please.” He drove his middle finger high and rotated it slowly.

“Mmm...th-that...”

“Just like that?”

“More...Grae...please...” she whined when he stilled his finger. “More fingers,” she urged, nudging her bare frame into his massive one, which smothered her in the most delicious way. “Take off your clothes...”

He chuckled. “You've got me a little busy right now.” He'd added his index and ring finger to the X-rated massage.

Tielle ended her begging and accepted the ecstasy claiming her. Her gasping breaths and low moans were meant to encourage Grae. She didn't want him to stop until she'd achieved every bit of her satisfaction.

Grae unraveled the French braid she wore, needing to feel the coarse beauty of her hair between his fingers. The sound of her hitched cries and panting ushered in a hint of jealousy from Grae. He wanted to experience more of the joy she was capable of giving him.

With hungry determination, he dragged his mouth across her skin while jerking out of his clothes. He took his mouth off her only to pull his sweatshirt over his head. He worked his tongue between her shoulder blades while kicking out of his boots, socks, jeans and boxers.

Tielle luxuriated atop the covers; a messy tangle then. She caught the edge of a pillowcase between her teeth, hoping to silence the gurgle of her delighted screams. He was tonguing the small of her back and at the same time encircling her hips to apply a dual-thumb massage to her center.

“Grae, no...”

He deprived her of his touch, putting her on her back. She complained until the feel of condom packets sprinkling her tummy sent laughter tickling her throat.

“All for me?” she asked.

“Only you,” he confirmed, covering her body with his and gently nuzzling his tongue into her mouth. There, he began a kiss that transitioned from sweet to lusty in the space of a heartbeat. Her small, ravenous whimpers had him muttering curses in criticism of his hands. They were shaking from need and anticipation.

Grae managed to ease the erratic movements by clenching his fists. Winning the battle over the shaking allowed him to apply their protection.

Tielle kept her fingers clenched in the glossy mass of curls covering his head. A surprised and smothered grunt mingled into the kiss they shared when the wide head of his shaft teased her entrance.

With maddening slowness, Grae invaded, stretching and spreading her as he overwhelmed, filled and pleasured. Tielle's hands slid from the dark cloud of his hair to fist against his broad pecs.

“Grae it—it's been a year,” she reminded him.

Arrogant awareness defined the already alluring curve of his mouth. “Yes, it has.” He had no complaints about the wet, tight sheath steadily enveloping his sex. Keeping her thighs wide for him, he nuzzled the softness below her ear and eased himself home.

Tielle felt deliciously suspended between pleasure and tension. She trembled, but there was no escaping his hold, not that she would've dreamed of doing anything so foolish. The low, indecipherable sounds of need that he emitted just beneath her ear kept her in a state of disbelief that she'd done without him for so long.

Grae continued to fill her until he was completely buried inside her. Tielle felt her toes flex when he moved, stirring her slowly, working her into an erotic frenzy. He exhaled slow, satisfied breaths into her neck as she gloved him in a deep, drenched haven from which he never wanted to leave.

Tielle felt the throb of tension lessen the longer Grae subjected her to his probing drives. They succeeded in stretching her to accommodate his size more appropriately. Whatever doubts her ex may've had about how...active...she'd been during their year apart, they had to be settled.

Grae could get his mind to formulate little in the way of cohesive thought. Tielle was still miraculously tight despite his stretching power. Then again, she'd always fit him like a tailor-made glove. The acknowledgment set a ragged sound building in his chest, and his seed erupted inside the condom's thin sheeting moments later.

Almost instantly, Grae refueled for another round of love. Tielle's heart thudded out a frantic, elated beat in anticipation for what more was to come.

Chapter 9

“C
oming!”

Tielle made no move to leave the bed. Smiling, she wondered at how many times she'd cried out that word during the night before and into the wee hours of the morning. Sadly, the context in which she had just used the word didn't hold quite the same punch of delight.

Unfortunately, the person carrying out the insistent stream of knocking on her bedroom door clearly had no sympathy for the hour of the day.

“Are you in there?”

Tielle lifted her head from the pillow when she heard Laura's voice. At least the voice
sounded
like Laura's but was far removed from her usual easy tone. The woman on the other side of the door sounded...panicked.

“Laura?” Cautious, Tielle pushed back the covers with every intention of racing for the door. Then, her body reminded her of what she'd been doing the night before.

“Coming,” Tielle called again, her voice more strained and less drowsy that time. Tielle reached for the sheet that was virtually free of the bed with the exception of the corner barely tucked beneath the mattress. She wrapped herself in it on the way to the door.

Laura quieted once the door opened, and she studied Tielle on the other side of it. She opened her mouth, closed it and then tilted her head at a curious angle. “You okay?” she asked.

“Fantastic.” Tielle clutched the sheet tighter about her otherwise nude body and appeared wholly honest. She waved Laura inside. “What's up?”

“There's a—” Laura paused, taking in the sight of the bedroom. She then shifted another measuring glance in Tielle's direction. “What happened in here?”

Tielle leaned on the door, closing it in the process, and rested herself against it. “Everything.” She sighed.

Laura arched a brow. “Obviously.” She noted a torn lace cami that had somehow hooked itself on the doorknob.

Tielle gave a little wince. “You mind if we don't discuss it?”

“You might prefer to once I tell you why I'm here.”

The foreboding words sent Tielle bracing off the door. “What?” Weariness cleared her expression to make way for mounting unease.

“There's press out front.”

“What? Why? How?” Tielle fired the questions while slowly closing the distance between her and Laura.

“The
what
is there's press out front. The
why
is I don't know, and from what I gathered from the members of the media I encountered when I asked what they were doing at our front gates, the
how
is because your brother-in-law called them.”

Tielle closed her eyes against the pressure of despair. “What's he done?” she moaned.

“Well, no one's seen him yet this morning, so...”

Tielle ran a hand through her wild hair, grabbed a fistful and gave it a yank. “Did they tell you anything else? The press?”

“They said he told them he had an announcement to make.”

“And he wants the press there for it...great...” Tielle rubbed at her temples. “Has anyone else in the house gotten wind of it yet?”

“You mean besides the house staff?” Laura sighed. “Only the entire Clegg family in residence. Maybe with the exception of Grae. No one's seen him this morning, either.” She favored Tielle with another interested look. “The rest of the family is already heading to breakfast in the terrace dining room.”

Tielle made a beeline for her closet.

“We can't afford having the press out there like that.”

“Well, what do you suggest, Laura? Inviting them in for breakfast?” Tielle snapped from the bowels of her closet then made her way out to face Laura. “I'm sorry.”

“
I
should be apologizing.” Laura waved a hand. “Looks like something pretty amazing happened in here last night.”

“Yeah...” The observation took the edge off a great deal of Tielle's anxiety. “It did...but we've got work to do. Starting with giving the Cleggs the best breakfast they've ever had and keeping them out of sight from the press.”

“On it.” Laura headed for the room's door, but hesitated before opening it. “Maybe after all this is done, you and Grae can get lost for a few days, huh?”

“Get out,” Tielle ordered, though the smile on her face proved what an excellent idea she thought it was.

Laura left her with a wink, and Tielle continued her trek toward the closet. She paused for another look around the room, paying particular attention to the disarrayed bed. She smiled. Things were still a mess between her and Grae, probably more so in light of whatever Faro was brewing.

She shook her head, not wanting to wrap herself up in the hope that a chance was on the horizon. Still, she couldn't resist praying that one was. She smoothed her hands over her arms when a shiver of anticipation kissed her skin. A wince followed the motion, the pressure from her hands agitating the bruise above the bend of her elbow.

Her smile returned, and Tielle wondered how many scratches her ex was wearing on his back that morning. Suggestive tingles attacked her someplace intimate, and Tielle left off her daydreaming to prepare for another day of Clegg fireworks.

* * *

Grae didn't bother with catching a few extra hours of sleep once he'd returned from Tielle's room that night—well, that morning. He was way too wired, despite how thoroughly, how impressively, he'd been depleted. He'd taken her over every square inch of that way-too-neat bedroom of hers.

Smirking, Grae recalled the state in which he'd left the room. Quickly, he closed his eyes to shut down the memory that threatened to return him to the state of almost throbbing arousal he'd endured since spending a full day in his ex-wife's presence after a year of separation.

Ex-wife
...

He grumbled a silent obscenity over the phrase. That was a status long overdue to be changed, but when, dammit? Grae tossed aside the damp hand towel he'd been using to dry his hair following a long shower.

He'd expected Faro to have already revealed all or at least some of the hand he was using to play his game of Family Secrets and Lies, but the man had been remarkably cool. The longer he remained so, Grae knew the longer he'd have to wait to devote his full attention to Tielle. The longer it would take to bring her home where she belonged.

Grae closed off the thoughts that would only fuel his anger. He reached for the hand towel and ran it through still-damp hair. He was tugging at the knot securing the bath towel at his hips when a knock fell to his room door. Unmindful of appearance, he answered.

“Tel.” His rough voice was whisper soft when he saw her.

* * *

Tielle's purpose for the trip down to Grae's guest suite flew right out of her mind. She could feel her mouth hanging open but had no inclination to shut it. In helpless fascination, her gaze traced the heat-inducing ripple and flex of his chest, broad and perfectly defined. This reaction, despite the fact that she'd just had the pleasure of the chiseled plane beneath her fingertips, against her back and thighs, as they'd pleasured each other in the most explicit ways.

She heard a gasp and realized that it had thankfully not come from her, but one of the upstairs room attendants. The young woman had caught sight of Grae and stood rooted to her spot. The fresh linens she carried promised a tumble to the floor while she ogled the half-dressed male in the doorway.

“Morning, Chelsie,” Tielle said while pushing Grae into the room and closing the door behind them.

“Sorry about that,” he said.

“Sure you are.” She risked another indulgent scan of his body. “I see you're not out and about yet.”

“Getting a late start. You completely exhausted me.”

“Sure I did.”

Grae indulged in his own survey of his wife's attire. Slowly, his cool bronze eyes studied the subtly alluring cut of the peach wrap dress she wore. “I see you're up and at 'em. You know I could probably use another shower if you'd like to join me.”

“Be serious.”

“I am.”

Tielle took note of their position then. Grae had not put much distance between them since she had pushed him back into the room. Sandwiched between him and the door was perhaps not the best place to be if she'd come there for discussion and...nothing more.

“There're reporters outside. Faro arranged for them to be here.”

“Wonder what that's about?” Grae's consideration of the issue was scant.

He rested a shoulder against the door. Tielle clenched her fists to resist running her hand across the sleek, honey-toned surface of his magnificent chest. She cleared her throat when he noticed her staring.

“I, um, I came down—came by—because I didn't want you to get...agitated...” Her eyes traveled helplessly downward.

“I'm not agitated, Tel. I only want Faro to make his point so we can get this over with and I can focus on why I came down here.”

“You came down here for your family.”

“
You're
my family.”

“Grae, we need to get downstairs.” He was dipping his head to kiss her. “Everybody's on edge—” She moaned as his tongue drew hers into an erotic dance. “Reporters are at the front door,” she managed when he broke the kiss. “Faro hasn't come down yet.”

“Good, that gives us time...”

“We have no time.” She made half fists against his chest when he launched an assault on her earlobe. “They're already asking for you.”

“They can keep asking.”

“Grae...” His name slid into a moan from her tongue. His fingers had found the side entrance provided by the design of her dress.

Grae was skirting her thigh, celebrating that panties were all she wore beneath the frock. The garment made a quick trip to the floor after a few insistent tugs. His tongue coaxed her lips apart while his fingers made their presence known. Relentlessly, they plundered her core, instantly reducing the spot to a quivering, moist mass. The kiss he requested deepened when his middle finger probed high.

He treated her to an exchange of thrusts and rotations that put Tielle on the toes of her platform pumps. She wanted to experience every nuance of his touch. Her kiss held a shameless desperation and carried with it unsteady moans with each scrape of her tongue against his.

Her heart flew into her throat when he suddenly hoisted her high, bringing her to his eye level. Setting her back against the door, he secured her there with a knee between her thighs.

“Grae...” His name was a warning veiled within a caress.

Tielle felt the unmistakable bump of an insistent erection, and she pushed at his shoulders with more warning. Grae didn't argue, simply kept her close, gnawing at her neck before pampering the ravaged space beneath his tongue. He held her easily with one arm banded about her waist. She realized he was taking her deeper into the room.

Although there were more pressing things needing to be handled, Tielle could summon interest only in what was happening at that moment. She wanted it. It was
all
she wanted. She'd let herself surrender to the mastery of Graedon Clegg's touch, to indulge herself.

Disappointment sidled in, however, when Grae slowed his steps toward the bed, which she thought—hoped—was his intended destination. He stopped at the bureau and slanted a wink her way. Tielle realized he was rummaging around in the top drawer for the condoms. She smiled, hiding her face against his neck while he elbowed the drawer shut.

Tielle renewed her anticipation of being carried to the bed, but Grae had other plans. She found herself against the wall next to the bureau, and she was once more secured by his wide length. Blinking madly, she relished the sensation of his expansive cylinder of muscle stimulating her sex.

* * *

Cupping her thighs, Grae plied her with a teasing kiss that invited Tielle to chase his tongue and slowly suckle it when she emerged victorious. Her low, satisfied purrs as they kissed motivated Grae to come out of the bath towel that was then only loosely knotted at his trim waist.

Grae didn't need to ensure that she was wet enough to take him easily. He could feel her need dousing his thigh where it was snugly lodged against the part of her that he ached for—was rock hard and throbbing for.

Tielle's purr transitioned into a quivering moan when she heard the foil packet rattle as he ripped into it with his perfect teeth. With protection handled, he claimed her in a swift, filling lunge that forced her to sob out a breath. The folds of her peach wrap dress flowed gorgeously about her bared thighs cradled in Grae's hands as he positioned them high about his hips.

She wanted to urge him on, to beg him not to stop or change a thing he was doing to her. She had no words—none she could articulate at the moment, anyway. Grae kept his head bowed while he worked her body to his satisfaction.

The sight of her sheathing his sex inside hers and the creamy need coating his shaft when he withdrew made Grae's pulse thrive. The intensity was so shattering, he swore he could feel the blood zipping through his veins.

He put his head on her shoulder and listened to her sex-driven cries that stoked his ego and desire. He was sensitive enough to feel her walls tensing beautifully around him.

Tielle came violently around the lengthy pleasure-inducing organ as it continued to pummel her with sensational thrusts that stretched her deliciously. She felt a definite sense of emptiness when he retreated. Her toes flexed inside the confines of her suede heels when he went even more rigid inside her only seconds before his seed poured heavily into the condom.

Grae squeezed her bottom, dragging a ragged kiss across her neck as she milked him of all he had to give. Then, he was drawing her earlobe between his teeth. “Take a shower with me?”

“Grae...” Tielle spread her hands across his chest, but couldn't summon power to press against it. “No...we need to be downstairs.”