Royal Recruit - Susan Grant Page 0,49

but didn’t humiliate her with the knowledge. He didn’t know much about this passionate stranger who was his wife, but he’d already started to figure out she didn’t like feeling frightened—maybe even less than admitting it.

“I didn’t want this marriage,” she said.

“I didn’t want it, either.”

Hurt flashed in her eyes. “Just mate and go then. Get me with child and you never have to see me again.”

“That’s not how I see it, Keira. I don’t ‘mate and go.’ We’re married. You have a husband now whether you like it or not. I may have entered this marriage as a treaty to keep the peace, but it’s just as real to me as any marriage I’d have committed to.” He paused to take in the sight of her hair, dark, thick and wild. Her face was oval shaped with that little mouth he wanted to kiss and those huge eyes, golden brown and slightly almond shaped with amber specks that glowed like copper.

Of all the women in the galaxy, this one is yours. It was a staggering thought. He’d grow old with Keira. He wanted to soak her in, to commit her to memory. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly, and her brows were slanted over furious eyes, but he could imagine her smiling. Sort of. In time, maybe he’d grow to love her.

“It’s okay to be nervous,” he said quietly with an overwhelming urge to kiss her. “I’m nervous too. About being with you, wondering if you’ll like making love with me. Hoping I can satisfy you.” You’re a queen, he wanted to say. And I’m just a regular dude. A commoner. “However, it is the first time for us. It’ll get better. I promise you that. We’ll learn what pleases each other.”

Her lips compressed and her blush deepened.

“Keira, we don’t have to do anything tonight, no matter what your tradition says. Let’s take our time to get to know each other. I’m fine with that.”

She shook her head, on the verge of getting angry again. “No. It must be tonight.”

“Why? Is someone going to check the sheets? Is someone going to watch?” He hoped not. The cuffs were kinky enough without an audience. He glanced around, checking for cameras.

“The goddesses are watching. If we do not mate, our union will be cursed, the marriage will be damned and any future children we have will not grow to see adulthood.”

He’d heard of wedding-night pressure, but this was ridiculous. “Keira, have you done this before? Or is this your first time?” he asked, gentler.

“If you mean consensual sex, yes.”

“Or course I mean consensual.” How many times was he going to have to reassure her?

If she’d been raped, maybe a lot of times.

“What happened, Keira? I need to know.”

“There was a suitor,” she said in a voice that told him she didn’t want to talk about it. “He was a mayor of one of our largest worlds. He’d come to the palace so we could spend time getting to know each other. I was young. Very young. I didn’t think he would want more if we only kissed, but one of the times we were together it went too far. I let it go too far.”

“It wasn’t anything you did. No man has to cross that line, no matter how turned on he is. Not if the woman says no.”

At first she seemed amazed that he’d said so. Then her expression soured and she made a fist. “It was a single penetration, only for a few seconds. That’s all. But enough to hurt. I wasn’t ready.”

She was also a virgin. Anger swelled in him when he remembered how the eunuch had gained his brief sympathy. Now he felt like picking up a smart-sword and finishing the job.

“I fought him off,” Keira said. “And then I finished him from ever doing the same again to any other woman.”

“Why did you send him to me tonight to escort me here? Why?”

“Many reasons! I wanted to punish him for taking what I could never give you. I also wanted you to know I was not weak, that I would not tolerate being forced. I—” She sighed. “It happened a long time ago, but sometimes it’s hard to forget. I have let no man get close to me since.”

“Until me.”

“You are my husband. We have to mate.”

“We don’t have to do anything. We don’t do anything you don’t want to. Period.” He pulled her close. No wonder she was nervous. She was as inexperienced as