Chapter Twelve
CHAPTER TWELVE
Divesting his wife of her glorious wedding gown was an experience Benedikt would remember for years to come.
He felt alternately eager excitement and something else, strong yet tender, as he took in her hazy, slightly unfocused stare, her body blush and her fumbling efforts to assist. He felt a need to cherish and protect.
It was as if the orgasm he’d given her had truly undone her.
Sure! You don’t think the long, long day and the stress of the past weeks have anything to do with it?
The proud, argumentative woman who didn’t hesitate to question when she thought he was wrong, or step up to daunting royal responsibilities, lay limp and delectably biddable as he carefully wrangled her out of the dress that had driven him crazy since she’d walked down the aisle.
She’d looked…perfect, a word he rarely used.
He told himself it was because of the clever dress design. It harked back to ancient tradition with its embroidery, full sleeves and shape that drew attention to her small waist. Yet it was thoroughly modern with that tantalising slice of bare flesh that defied anyone to label it old-fashioned.
It’s not the dress and you know it. It’s Annalena. You couldn’t have chosen a better bride. She may be a novice at court but she understands duty and dedication to her people.
He wasn’t thinking about duty or dedication as he dropped the heavy satin over the side of the bed.
His heart hammered as he surveyed her, bare flesh pink with the flush of satiation. She had a slender frame, gentle curves and long legs. Pale breasts tipped with rose pink. Pubic hair a dark, burnished gold. Her lazy green gaze made his blood rush and sizzle.
Slowly he stripped her fine pantyhose and the wet scrap of lace and silk from her legs, tossing them over his shoulder, watching her eyes widen then narrow, sending a bolt of fire through his belly.
Benedikt slowed his breathing, battling the urge to wrench open his trousers and plunge into her.
‘Take down your hair,’ he instructed, wincing at his telltale huskiness.
‘Don’t get too used to giving orders. And shouldn’t you be undressing? Or would you like me to do that for you?’ She propped herself up against the bank of plump pillows.
So much for his wife being undone by bliss. His wife! That would take some getting used to.
But he could definitely get used to having her in his bed. Especially when she surveyed him with a glittering challenge that held neither anger nor doubt but pure sexual anticipation.
Benedikt lifted his hand to his shirt, undoing the studs as Annalena shuffled higher in the bed, her breasts jiggling invitingly.
He fumbled, fingers seemingly too big and clumsy, so he grabbed both sides of the shirt and tugged.
That was better. Cool air caressed overheated flesh as he shrugged free.
The look on Annalena’s face as she watched made him still for a second before reaching for his belt buckle. Her stare branded as surely as fire. That look—as if she’d never seen anything so good as his naked torso—ramped up the arousal he struggled to control.
She lifted her hands behind her head and her hair uncoiled, rolling down over one shoulder, past her breast, towards her waist. He swallowed over a scratchy lump in his throat.
Once more he was reminded of someone mediaeval. A maiden letting down her hair for a lover.
The eroticism of shining tresses against flushed feminine skin was new to him, a man experienced in the art of sex. Benedikt felt a beat of something harsh and unfamiliar, something dark and untamed. Sex had always been fun, a need, a release. Now he fought the idea it could be more.
Not because of her long hair. But because of the way each moment since he’d walked into her suite felt invested with deeper significance, a meaning he couldn’t quite grasp.
Now who’s letting weeks of stress affect them?
A frown wrinkled Annalena’s brow, her attention going to his groin and his half-undone belt buckle. ‘Why have you stopped?’
He smiled, taut facial muscles pulling. ‘I’m taking a moment to admire you.’
To his surprise, the colour in her throat and cheeks intensified. She looked delighted, as if she weren’t used to a lover’s compliments.
No time to ponder that. Benedikt stepped off the bed, stripping away shoes, socks and the last of his clothes, retrieving the condoms he’d shoved in a pocket.
‘You came prepared.’
He couldn’t decipher her tone and forbore to admit he’d been carrying condoms for weeks. He knew she’d viewed him as an opponent but he hadn’t been able to deny his rising hunger for her. Or the hope she’d admit to the attraction she’d been so determined to repudiate.
‘I assumed you weren’t ready to conceive a child.’
She sat higher, crossing her arms and inadvertently plumping up her breasts, making his shaft twitch as he rolled on protection. ‘You assumed right.’
He nodded, trying to focus on the conversation, not the bewitching sight of tight nipples cresting her arms like treats displayed for him to taste. He failed. How could he not notice?
‘Good. Nor am I.’
Though at some stage a child had to be on the agenda.
His mouth tightened. He was already doing what he could to secure the throne.
So was Annalena. The thought of them coming together, solely to create an heir, felt wrong.
Like the way his father had manipulated his mother, convincing her he cared for her to get the heir he needed.
Not to mention access to her fortune and international connections.
‘What is it, Benedikt? Having second thoughts?’
‘Does it look like I am having second thoughts?’ he asked as he turned to the bed, his erection heavy and his flesh too tight from the effort of holding back.
She shook her head but he saw the way her crossed arms tightened and the upward tilt of her jaw. He recalled how she’d believed him uninterested in her.
Did she still think, even a little, that he didn’t desire her? He knelt on the end of the bed, knees wide, gripped her ankles and, in one quick movement, tugged till she lay flat before him.
‘I want you, Annalena, and it has nothing to do with making an heir or satisfying duty.’ Their eyes locked and he felt that familiar electric pulse between them.
‘Frankly, I’ve had it up to my neck with duty.
I refuse to take it to bed with me. This is personal. I want you . Just like you want me .’
He waited and eventually she relented, her eyes like emerald fire. ‘I do. So much.’
Her words stroked fire through his already eager body but he made himself go slowly, kissing his leisurely way up from her ankles.
The musky, enticing scent of female satisfaction teased as he reached silky inner thighs.
But before he could settle between her legs and bring her back to the verge of climax, she wriggled and tugged at his shoulders.
‘Not that. I want you .’
She’d get no argument from him. Making his movements slow, forcing himself not to rush, he moved higher, nudged her legs wide and settled between them.
His eyes closed as a powerful throb of pleasure rocked him.
Their bodies, naked together, evoked powerful magic.
When he lowered his head to her breast and she wound her arms around him, pressing him close, need rose sharply.
His hand was between them, guiding himself to her slick passage when she spoke. ‘I should tell you I haven’t done this before. It mightn’t be easy.’
Disbelief blasted Benedikt. And the desperate urge to ignore the words and bury himself deep.
He closed his eyes, lowering his forehead to her neck and exhaling slowly. It took a moment or ten, but finally he trusted himself to move. He lifted his head to discover her chewing the corner of her mouth. She looked earnest and adorable.
Adorable? The feisty woman who never conceded a point?
‘I thought you should know,’ she said quickly. ‘In case it’s difficult. It could be…not what you’re used to.’
She was right. He’d never been with a virgin. Having seen the debacle of his parents’ marriage, he’d shied from potentially emotional relationships. He’d only been with experienced women who understood he wasn’t looking for for ever.
‘It could be disappointing for you,’ she murmured.
‘I won’t be disappointed, Annalena. But this may be difficult for you .’
The idea made his gut churn and a heavy ache settle in his chest. He’d do everything to ensure that wasn’t the case but even so…
‘That’s okay. I know the first time mightn’t be good. But hopefully the time after will be better.’
He rose to his knees, disturbed by her low expectations, even if he applauded her common sense.
Benedikt didn’t want this to be anything less than wondrous for her. He should be pleased she was pragmatic but he wanted, he realised with startling clarity, to see stars in her eyes. He wanted her to come around him, muscles clenching and heart pounding, her cries of ecstasy filling the room.
He wanted Annalena to shatter with delight. Then turn to him again and again and again.
Nothing less would do.
Annalena surveyed Benedikt’s serious expression and wondered if frankness had been a mistake.
She bit her lip and almost…almost wished herself elsewhere. But how could she wish to be anywhere but here, about to have sex with the one man who’d ever roused her to such passion?
‘Why?’ He frowned. ‘Is there someone else? Someone you’ve been waiting for?’
The question flustered her. The head of his erection was notched at her core, the heat impossible to describe, yet he found time to interrogate her!
She shifted and was rewarded by the sight of muscles and tendons in his neck and chest drawing tight. Relief pulsed through her at the visible proof he was strung out too.