The Princess in His Bed (5 page)

There was no doubt in his mind—Aimee de Miran was the most beautiful woman in the realm.

Clearly enjoying herself, she made him smile.

He liked seeing her face aglow. Flushed with pleasure. Mental images of her naked form in his bed, her soft skin just as pink, just as warm, as he rode her to ecstasy and back, burned through his mind.

His groin tightened.

Unwittingly, Marc had tortured him for years with countless details of his wife’s beautiful body. He hated it that Marc had discussed his wife with the same level of disregard he had for his paramours—more than he could ever express. Though Adam couldn’t remember any of the particulars of his friend’s many mistresses, he recalled every single detail Marc had mentioned regarding Aimee’s sweet form—when he hadn’t wanted to. When he’d wanted nothing more than to forget them. Forget her. Adam knew Aimee had a beauty mark on her inner right thigh and another on her left hip. And he didn’t need Marc to tell him just how beautiful her tits were. He could see that for himself. The top curves of her breasts were presently visible above her décolletage.

And tantalizing in the extreme.

Aimee pressed her palm to her partner’s raised hand, and turned in a circle in time with the music and dancers around her. Her dark curls were swept up and adorned with tiny blue ribbons; the few cascading down flounced about her as she moved. He drank in the sight of her. She was breathtaking to behold.

The only woman he knew who could render him awestruck again and again.

As the last notes were played, she made a final turn and a deep curtsy to her partner, the Baron de Ranvier. He immediately offered his arm and escorted her off the dance floor.

Intent on intercepting Aimee before she disappeared into the crowd, Adam began to make his way through the throng, just as the King rose, descended the steps, and exited the Hall of Mirrors to enter his gardens.

The crush immediately followed him out, the mass moving across Adam’s path making it impossible to do anything but move with the flow.

He lost sight of Aimee.

Moments later, he found himself outside in the gardens. A hush fell over the crowd. Anticipation infused the silence as the mass gazed up at the night sky, everyone aware of what was about to happen. Suddenly, the heavens filled with explosions of lights and sounds, spectacular fireworks dazzling and delighting His Majesty’s court. The King did everything on a grand scale, to demonstrate to all that he was the head of the most powerful realm in all of Christendom. Adam scanned the crowds but couldn’t find his golden-eyed beauty.

A hand touched his sleeve and grabbed his attention. To his astonishment, Aimee was standing beside him smiling. His heart quickened, sending blood rushing to his already hardened cock.
Dieu
, this woman had him unbalanced. Each time he thought he’d have to do the chasing, she appeared before him.

Because of the crush around them, she stood so close to him, her soft breasts lightly pressed against his arm, wreaking havoc on his senses.

“Good evening, Adam.” Her voice was elevated due to the noise of the fireworks. “Are you enjoying the fireworks?” she asked. He barely noticed them with her so near.

“Yes. Are you?”

Her beautiful golden eyes swept heavenward. “Yes. They’re lovely.” She returned her gaze to him.

Adam leaned in, using the loudness of the exploding fireworks as his excuse to move closer to her. “I trust you’re feeling better?”

“Much better, thank you. How goes the work on the fountains and your machine?”

He smiled, once again pleased by her interest. “It goes well. I’ll be giving the King a demonstration tomorrow afternoon.”

“Tomorrow? With the keen interest he showed today, I would have thought he’d want to see your demonstration immediately.”

“The King has other officials here to meet with. I understand that he was occupied the better part of the day with his Lieutenant General of Police.”

Her smile faded slightly. “Oh . . . really? The Lieutenant General of Police . . .” She looked away, gazing up at the skies.

All the telltale signs of her desire were there. Her heart raced; he could see the rapid pulse on her slender neck. And her breathing was a little faster than normal. Someone bumped her from behind, pushing her soft form up against him harder.

A bolt of lust rocked him.

Merde
. He had to fuck her. Soon. He couldn’t take much more.

She placed a hand against his chest and gently pushed herself away as best she could. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“Don’t be. I’m not.”

To his delight, she didn’t shy away. In fact, she hadn’t looked all that sorry she’d bumped into him. Her smile was unwavering, bordering on sultry, as she moved to stand in front of him, her skirts deliciously caressing his leg, the space between their bodies so provocatively minimal.

“You’re wearing blue,” she said, looking pleased.

His gaze drifted down over what he could see of her appealing form. “So are you. Quite magnificently, if the truth be told.” He liked the awareness between them.

“I’d say just about any color suits you, Adam. You truly have the finest justacorps.”

“Thank you.” He’d no idea why they were talking about his clothes except to guess that she was nervous. He could sense it. She wanted to touch him. That much was obvious. As was the heat mounting between them the longer their bodies remained this close.

He definitely approved of the direction this was going . . .

Aimee had stirred his hunger. She could see it in his dark eyes. It was so raw and real, it made her head spin. Clearly, her skill at seduction was improving, for she was the one in command of the game at the moment. All she had to do was remain in control of her desire. And his.
That’s how this game is played, no?

The seducer had command over the seduced.

Adam had used women for his own purposes. For his pleasure. She’d use him for hers.

It would give her great pleasure to search his pockets, find the ring, and leave him burning.

Fool
.
You’ll leave yourself burning, too
.

She ignored the errant thought, and her slick, aching sex that conspired against her. Knowing her own limitations, not wanting to push him or herself too far, lest she got ensnared in her own game, she decided this was a good time to change tactics, demeanor, and tone. She abruptly clamped her hands on his shoulders.

“Yes, this is quite a lovely justacorps.” She stroked the fabric down his chest, stopping to tap over his breast pockets. No ring in there.

“Wonderful fabric . . . Silk, is it?” She moved her hands farther down the coat, using short strokes in much the way one would pet a horse. His brow furrowed as he glanced down and watched the odd motions of her hands.
What the bloody hell
. . . ? clearly shone in his eyes. She fought to keep a straight face. His expression was priceless. It was obvious he was expecting to be touched in a more amorous way. In perhaps more intimate places on his muscled body.

Aimee refused to dwell on how deliciously solid his chiseled chest felt.

“I just adore silk,” she said, then purposely steering well away from his sex, she shot her hands out toward his hips and the pockets there.

He caught her wrists, her hands only inches away from her goal.

“
Chère
, perhaps it’s been a long time since you touched a man. Why don’t we try something like this?” Before she could react, he pulled her hand inside his justacorps and pressed her palm to the bulge in his breeches and stroked it down his length and back up the crest of his cock.

Her knees weakened. He was much thicker and bigger than Marc. And so delectably hard and hot. Heat emanated from his body through the fine cloth of his breeches.

The bud between her legs pulsed with need.

With the crowd so gripped by the entertainment in the skies, Aimee and Adam were cocooned in their small spot, their bodies too close together for anyone to see the wicked motions of their hands over his shaft. Her gaze was locked with his. She couldn’t break away, mesmerized by the passion in his eyes, his fever for her inciting a voracious sense of urgency.

“That’s much better . . .” he murmured, yet somehow she still heard him over the noise.

Her breathing was shallow and sharp. Aimee curled her fingers tightly around his straining sex inside his tented breeches.

He released her wrist. “Perfect . . .” he said, and she realized she was still stroking his glorious cock. As much as it shocked her, she didn’t want to let go. Adam slipped his hand behind her neck. He was going to kiss her.

You can’t let him!
She was teetering on the edge of a complete surrender. Right here. Right now. She’d never been so brazen.

Adam de Vey had masterfully turned the tables on her.

Aimee had wits enough to know when to cede defeat and run. She yanked her hand away from his alluring shaft. “I am feeling a bit chilled.”
Get the justacorps and go! Hurry!

“Chilled?” Amusement flicked in his dark eyes. To her relief, he removed his hand from the nape of her neck. “We can’t have that. Allow me to be of assistance.” He caught her arm and pulled her to the right until his shoulder met the tall palace wall. Within the tightly packed throng, their new spot was no less dense with spectators of the King’s show of fireworks.

He pulled off his light blue coat. “Turn around, Aimee,” he said, slipping the justacorps onto her shoulders the moment she complied.

She slipped her arms into the sleeves and gave him a semblance of a smile over her shoulder as the explosions continued overhead.

He slid his arm inside the justacorps and pulled her up against him. Aimee stiffened. The bulge in his breeches was pressed against her bottom. Surely, he wasn’t going to do anything more with this crowd around them? Her answer came when she felt her skirts being raised from behind. She sucked in a breath. He was using his hand closest to the wall, using their bodies to hide what he was doing from view. She reeled, stunned by his actions.

“Adam . . .” His name rushed out of her lungs, but the rest of her words were choked off when she felt his hot hand graze over the front of her thigh and cup her sex through the cloth of her drawers. She jumped on contact.

He tightened his arm around her. “Easy . . .” His mouth was against her ear. “Spread your legs for me, Aimee. Let me warm you.”

Her heart was hammering. Warm her? If she got any hotter, she’d burst into flames. Aimee looked at those closest to them. Did no one notice his hand up her skirts? Heads tilted back and eyes skyward told her definitely “No.”

“Your caleçons are wet with your juices. I like that.” He rubbed her lightly over her drawers.

Her breathing hitched, and she grabbed the wall, digging her fingers into the stone. The heat from his hand was spine-melting. Her clit throbbed in time with the hard thuds of her heart.

“Excellent . . .” His hand had slipped inside the slit of her drawers and he was gently caressing her slick folds, strokes that were all too perfect, inundating her with voluptuous sensations. She whimpered. She’d no recollection of widening her stance, but clearly she had, giving him easy access to her needy sex. She’d never done anything like this. So outrageous. So unbridled.

He slid his fingers inside her core. She lurched but his strong arm around her waist kept her in place, not allowing her to escape his delicious invasion. Adam pumped his hand, the heel of his palm tantalizing her clit. She’d no idea how many of his long wonderful fingers were sliding in and out of her. She knew only a sublime pressure and exquisite friction as he filled her and withdrew. Filled her and withdrew.

“You have the sweetest cunt, Aimee. So wet and silky soft . . . I love how you’re squeezing around my fingers. You like being possessed this way, don’t you?”

Yes! Shaking, her breaths ragged, she turned her head and pressed her forehead against the back of her hand still clutching the wall, refusing to answer him. Her mind screamed, “End this now!” but she’d no will in her body to stop him. She couldn’t even muster a protest when his other hand opened the front of her gown, and pulled down her chemise. The cool night air whispered through the opening of the justacorps and blew gently across her hardened nipple. A soft cry slipped past her lips.

He captured the distended tip of her breast and masterfully rolled and pinched it, sending sensations streaking through her breast down to the bud between her legs, which he expertly teased with his palm. She could barely hold in the sounds surging up her throat.

“Have you ever been fingered like this in public, Aimee?” She shook her head. Her husband had never done anything like this to her. Had never incited her to this magnitude. Her muscles were taut. Her body tensed as she fought against the waves of hot lust crashing through her, wrestling for a modicum of control.

“
Chère
, don’t fight me. Let me give you the pleasure your body is hungry for . . . You want to come, don’t you, beautiful Aimee?”

She was panting now, yet she managed to nod her head. What was the point in denying it? He was purposely holding her on the edge with his skillful hands and measured strokes. He could send her over the edge anytime he wanted.

“Let me hear you say—”

“I want to come!” she quickly injected before he could finish his sentence. “Now! Right now . . .” She didn’t care if someone heard her. Or where she was. She needed this. Needed him. Wanted what he was offering. Had to have it or die.

“I want to come for you, Adam.” She heard the smile in his tone as he fed her the line in her ear, his experienced hands holding her gripped in a flood of erotic sensations.

“Yes . . . I want to come . . .” Squeezing her eyes shut, she was practically delirious with desire.

“. . . for you, Adam,” he supplied.