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day to discover the numerous ways to make love in the cramped cellar. For now he wanted plenty of space.
And a soft mattress.
Gently laying Jaelyn on the quilt, he disposed of his sword and various daggers before kicking off his boots. He’d just managed to shuck off his jeans, when she gracefully slid off the bed and unbuckled her holster, setting aside the loaded shotgun.
But instead of getting rid of her few bits of clothing, she moved forward to place her hands against his naked chest.
“Ariyal, we need to talk... .”
No. No. No.
He wasn’t an expert, but conversations that started with “We need to talk ...” were never, ever good.
He pulled her into his arms and lowered his head.
“Shut up and kiss me, Jaelyn,” he tossed her words back at her.
“Ariyal.” She pulled away, her expression oddly uncertain. “There’s something I need to say.”
“It can’t wait an hour?” Hoping for a distraction, he pulled her stretchy top over her head and threw it toward the walnut dresser. He didn’t notice when it instead caught on the edge of the hand-carved rocking chair. He had far better things to stare at, he readily acknowledged. The air was squeezed from his lungs as he reverently cupped the perfect globes tipped with rosy nipples. “Or two?”
She shivered, her eyes darkening with sharp arousal, but she gave a slow shake of her head.
“ No.”
Despite the driving instinct to press Jaelyn back onto the mattress and convince himself once and for all she was truly in his arms, Ariyal instead ran a comforting hand down her back.
The need to please her went far deeper than sexual.
And just how scary was that?
“Tell me,” he urged in gentle tones.
Again he sensed her rare uncertainty.
No, he swiftly corrected himself. She might be uncertain at how to share her thoughts with him, but there was a fierce determination beneath her hesitant manner.
“You’re going to return for the child, aren’t you?” she at last demanded.
“Yes,” he admitted without hesitation. It wasn’t as if he could lie to her.
“And you know I’m not going to let you go alone.”
Dammit. His brows snapped together as his hand curved her tight against his lower body.
“Jaelyn ...”
She pressed a finger to his mouth. “Hear me out.”
Like he had a choice? Ariyal heaved a frustrated sigh. “Fine.”
“I’m a Hunter.”
“Yeah, you’ve made that painfully clear.”
She again hesitated, as if searching for the right words.
“We work on the barter system.” Her finger shifted to outline his lips in a light caress. “If I’m going to risk my neck to save the world then I intend to get something out of it.”
Ariyal instantly hardened, finding it more and more difficult to concentrate on her words.
“Something?”
“You.”
Oh ... thank the gods.
He shuddered with need as he swooped down to press his lips to the curve of her neck.
“That’s precisely what I’m attempting to give you, poppet,” he said huskily, “if only you would cooperate.”
“I want you.” There was a long, dramatic pause. “As my mate.”
Chapter 18
As showstoppers went, this one was a doozy.
As her shocking words sliced through the air, Ariyal instantly went into mannequin routine, remaining frozen in place for what seemed to be an eternity.
Not that she’d expected him to break into song and do cartwheels, she wryly assured herself. Still, she had thought he might be ...
Pleased?
Excited?
Delirious with joy?
At last he pulled back to regard her with a wary expression.
“Mate?” His voice was thick with an emotion she found difficult to read, his hands holding on to her hips with a bruising grip. “You said that Hunters aren’t allowed a mate.”
“They aren’t.”
He muttered something beneath his breath. “Then what am I missing?”
She lifted a hand to brush it over the satin heat of his cheek.
“I had no choice about becoming a Hunter, just as you had no choice about becoming prince of your people,” she said, wrinkling her nose at her awkward bumbling. Who knew it was so difficult to ask a man to become her mate? It was a damned good thing she was a Hunter, not a diplomat. “We’ve both been trapped by duty.”
His eyes smoldered with a bronze glow. “And now?”
“I want us to be trapped together.”
Without warning he was spinning away from her, shoving his hands through his chestnut hair until it cascaded down his back in a ripple of satin.
“Dammit, poppet,” he rasped. “You don’t know what you’re doing to me.”
Jaelyn’s fangs lengthened at the sight of Ariyal’s body outlined by the moonlight streaming through the bedroom window. Oh, it would be