Royal Recruit - Susan Grant Page 0,56

the core.

It didn’t take her long to come apart in his arms.

It was even stronger than the first time. She wrapped her legs around him, clinging to him as he drove into her. When he reached his orgasm as hers subsided, the pleasure was so sharp she thought she was going to die of it.

“You have me now,” she gasped. “Why are you working so hard to make it better?”

“You’re my wife, Keira. That means something to me.”

A strange and wonderful sensation filled her, then, and not only because of the sex. It took some moments of thinking, but she finally realized what it was. For the first time since she was orphaned, she knew what it felt to be happy.

Later, Keira lay on top of the tangled bedding in her darkened sleep chamber, sated from the meal and more lovemaking. She waited until her husband had fallen asleep, and then rolled to her side of the bed they would share for the night. She wanted so much to snuggle closer but she was afraid it would become a habit and soon she would need him too much. And unlike the rings on her fingers or any of the other objects that surrounded her, people could not so easily be replaced.

Chapter Fifteen

“Huh! Huh!”

Awakened by a female voice, Jared felt blindly for Keira’s warm body. The indentation where she’d slept next to him last night was cool.

He opened his eyes and pushed up to a sitting position. The sheets slipped to his waist. Keira was gone.

“Huh!”

What was that noise? Keira yelling? More like grunting. He slid out of bed and pulled on his boxers, scratching a hand through his hair as he followed her voice. He felt a little stiff. He smiled. He’d definitely used a few muscles last night that hadn’t been worked lately.

“Huh!” It sounded like she was in the middle of a workout. Didn’t the woman ever relax?

He found her in the gym. He paused by the entrance to watch her. She wore practically nothing—what amounted to a few black strips of fabric over her breasts and butt. Her incredibly hot, tight little butt. His hand twitched, remembering how she’d felt as he’d gripped her, pressing her close as he’d made love to her. His boxers got a little snugger.

Grunting, Keira released two daggers, one at a time. The weapons flew across the room, sinking into a target on the opposite wall. The woman was good, he thought, folding his arms over his chest. Real good. She turned to choose two new daggers. Her hair was tangled and wild. It looked as if it hadn’t seen a brush since they’d last tumbled over the bed. Her face was flushed, as it had been last night, but her eyes were dark and angry. Now what? They hadn’t even had a chance to argue yet.

He entered the room just as she hefted two more knives. For a moment, it was like looking into the eyes of a cornered fox. Her gaze was wild and frightened, and she looked capable of doing anything with those knives, including sinking one into his chest.

He lifted two hands in surrender. “Hey, Sunbeam. I thought you wanted me around a little longer.”

She swallowed, closing her eyes for a fraction of a second, closing him off from the flurry of emotions he saw there. Then she spun away and threw the daggers. One went astray and skidded across the floor.

Jared heard the clanking of body armor. He turned to follow the sound and a huge man blocked him from going any closer—blocked him with a sword. Jared glanced from his half-naked wife to the muscled warrior and demanded, “Who the hell are you?”

“Tibor, let him pass.”

At Keira’s order, the man dropped his sword. “I am Tibor Frix,” he said, coming to attention. “The queen’s guard.”

She doesn’t need a guard, Jared wanted to say, but where had Jared been while Keira was up? Sleeping. And where was his body armor? Or weapons? He had none. He was standing there in his boxers, which only out of sheer luck had he thought to pull on at all. He made a mental note to be better prepared from now on. What right did he have to lecture Keira on complacency when he wasn’t any better?

She took the last two daggers and sank them into the wall. “Bath,” she said and spun on her heel. She swept a towel off a table and breezed out of the room.

Jared turned to