Royal Recruit - Susan Grant Page 0,62
anger and gave me a sense of control.”
“That’s why you didn’t come to the hospital to see me after the crash.” His face shone with relief and revelation. “You were afraid I’d die.”
“Yes…” Her head dipped, her hair sweeping over her face. “I threw daggers until my muscles trembled so much I could no longer raise my arm. Then I switched hands and kept going.”
Jared hauled her to his chest, squeezing the breath out of her. His voice rumbled under her ear. “You don’t need the daggers, Keira,” he repeated. “You have me.”
You have me. The three simple words could assuage her fear and all the long years of loneliness. But were they to be believed?
In his arms, she knew the answer. Jared didn’t retreat when she pushed him away, something she did far too often. He came right back even stronger than before. She couldn’t scare him off, no matter how hard she tried.
His embrace told her the truth: this marriage mattered to him. She mattered to him, not only in a physical sense, but for who she was on the inside. The realization filled a place inside her that had been empty for as long as she could remember.
She tipped her head back, gazing up at him. “I have you,” she whispered shyly.
“Hook, line and sinker,” he murmured in his native tongue, and brushed his knuckles across her cheek with obvious emotion.
She shook her head, not understanding the words, but he didn’t explain. Instead he told her, “As for the halls of parliament, someday you will walk into that room. And when you do, it will be because you want to.”
He sounded so certain that she believed him.
And it was exactly why she’d fallen in love with him.
That night dozens of candles flickered all around the tub where they soaked together. Jared slipped his arms around her waist and turned her until she sat facing him, straddling his lap, her breasts peeking out of the water.
“Mmm.” She smoothed her hands over his biceps and rounded shoulders, over his chest and the ridges of his stomach as he nibbled lazily on her neck. They knew they’d soon make love. They knew how good it would be. There was no need to rush. “It is my fertile time. Perhaps I have already begun to ovulate.”
“You know for sure?”
She laughed softly. “Every one of my cycles is tracked and monitored—menstruation, ovulation. I take nanomeds that keep me in perfect, functioning order. I am, after all, a breeding machine.”
“No, baby, you’re a sex machine.” He took one of her nipples into his mouth, tugging gently as his hands circled over her hips. Water lapped around their waists. The next thing she knew, she was on her back on the side of the pool and he was kissing her all over.
Goddess, she spun on a magical cloud of pleasure. He pressed a hand to the side of her face, forcing her to look at him. His smiling gaze twinkled darkly as he pulled her thigh to his back. “Maybe that’s why the sex is so good with you. It’s the computers.”
She giggled. “Sorry, that’s all natural—helped along by the Sakkaran blood. It runs infamously hot. All the bots do is assure pregnancy or prevent it. In our case, it’s turned on full force.”
“You turn me on full force. Who needs computers?” He was fully aroused, hard as he pressed against her belly. A tilt of her hips and he’d be inside her.
“If I have ovulated, the nano-bots will choose the strongest of your seed to bring to my egg.”
“So the guys get a police escort, huh? Technology. Gotta love it.” He buried his mouth in the hollow between her shoulder and neck. “I hope a rogue gets through without permission. That’s how the best babies are made.”
“I could get pregnant tonight or the next.”
He lifted his head. “If that’s what you want. I have no problem waiting until your cycle’s done. We have a lot of time, Sunbeam. You shouldn’t feel pressured or rushed to get pregnant.”
With Jared, you have the freedom of choice. No one had given her that before. It was her decision to be made. No, their decision. Their decision as a couple. “And you, my husband, what do you want?”
Many emotions crossed his face. Again, she glimpsed his secrets; and once again she made the decision not to uncover them. “I’ve always wanted to be a father,” he said.
She’d have a family once again. “Then let us make you