Royal Recruit - Susan Grant Page 0,63

one.” She slipped her hands behind his head and pulled him back to her mouth.

Keira stood perched in blinding sunshine on the summit of a mountain she’d never visited in summer, much less in the dead of winter. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever been outside the palace in winter.

There was a snatch of a memory of throwing balls of snow with her father, the king, but it was so faint she couldn’t be sure. She decided to think of this as her first visit outdoors in winter.

The wind was light, which was why her husband—her crazy, adorable, maddening, deliciously barbaric husband—had chosen this day. But the air was frigid and stung the exposed skin around her sun goggles. She watched with wary anticipation as Jared fastened her boot to the thing he called a snowboard. Palace engineers had fashioned several of them just as they had these “runs,” and a chair lift designed to her husband’s specifications.

He had been amazed at the swiftness of the construction, but then he was used to his primitive world that inexplicably maintained a vast fleet of battleships and yet operated day to day without the benefit of advanced technology. An odd, old-fashioned place, Earth was. Old-fashioned and powerful, like its prince.

Jared stood behind her, keeping her from sliding by pressing two hands to her hips. “You ready, Sunbeam?”

She peered over his shoulder. “It’s steep.”

“Nah. It’s a bunny slope.”

A bunny was an Earth creature with long ears and a twitchy nose, as well as an insulting—but humorous, Jared assured her—term for a shallow slope. “It doesn’t look shallow to me.”

He lowered his goggles over his eyes. “That’s because the elevation is so high.” Together they paused to peer at the palace in the distance, built into the mountainside like a frozen waterfall. “Just do as we practiced in the gym. Remember to lean into the turns. Like this.” He took her elbows, guiding her. The board slipped a bit under her and she yelped half in fright, half in exhilaration. But Jared caught her. “If you have to, just fall. You can always get back up.”

She caught his face in her gloved hands and kissed him—a deep, lingering kiss instead of the peck he may have expected. How she hated to do things halfway. She couldn’t help thinking of some of the erotic things she’d learned to do to him with her mouth and grew hot with the memory. Jared was a good teacher, but thanks to her blazing Sakkaran blood, she was a fast learner and the teacher was at risk of becoming the student.

Adjusting her goggles, she readied herself for her inaugural run. They’d be going down the backside of the mountain first, in blessed privacy, out of sight of the palace. It was too far away to see, but she was certain Tibor was standing at the windows in her chambers, frowning about being left behind and worried sick.

Jared followed her to the crest of the hill. “Me first, or you?”

“Me!” She threw her body forward. Powdery snow sprayed, and she almost fell, but miraculously she stayed upright and aimed the tip of her board downhill. Walls of ice sped by in a blur. The wind whistled in her ears. “By the goddess—whoop!”

“Turn!” she heard Jared yelling from behind her. “Turn!”

She used her arms for balance, managing to carve a couple of S turns. On the third one she fell, spinning backward on her behind until her board caught on a bump and came off, flipping her onto her belly. She ended her spectacular run by plowing chin-first to a stop.

All was silent. She pushed up to her knees, clumps of snow dropping from her face and hair.

Jared skidded to a stop next to her. Concern tightened his mouth. “Keira, are you okay?” he shouted, using the Earth word she’d grown used to. He raised his goggles. “That was at least a nine from the Russian judge.”

“The who?”

He grinned. “Never mind. Are you hurt?”

She flopped onto her rear end, threw her head back and cried out, “I am wonderful!” She laughed out loud. The sound carried, echoing in the frozen trees. “Now, help me up, Terran. I wish to resume my run.”

“You got it, Sunbeam.”

And so they did. Jared was a strong, athletic skier. Her first runs were rather awkward at first. Then, with increasing confidence, she understood why he wanted her to experience this. It was like flying. No, better than flying, it was as if she’d soared skyward and