Each kiss brought her intense pleasure that pooled in her core and made her ache for his touch. Reading her mind, he let his fingers rest there, and she leaned back, giving him better access.
His arousal grew beneath her backside, and she wiggled against him as his fingers sank inside her, time fading away as she cried out in pleasure with each sure stroke of his hand.
After she peaked again, she turned, capturing his mouth with hers and kissing him in appreciation.
“You make me feel so good,” she said, pulling back to kiss his neck. Moving downward, she first swirled her tongue across his hard ni**les, nipping the dark peaks, before kissing his trembling stomach.
“Rachel?” he asked, but she ignored him as she reached her favorite place on his body.
Not giving him time to stop her, she cradled his thick member in her hand and sucked him inside her mouth, moving slowly on him as he cried out.
His hands reached downward, grasping her head and guiding her up and down his shaft, teaching her exactly what he wanted.
When he came close to coming in her mouth, he moved her head away and then grabbed her hips, pulling her up his body until she was sitting on his face; his mouth began to work its magic on her core again.
Soon, time had no meaning as he pleasured her over and over again, trailing tender kisses along every inch of her skin before singeing her body as he touched her everywhere.
Just as the sun was beginning to rise in the sky, he sank deep inside her with a sure, strong thrust of his hips. Gripping the back of his head, she held him close as he pushed against her. Lifting her hips, pulling him deeper, Rachel held on as he stoked her fires ever higher.
When she cl**axed around him for the final time that night, he collapsed against her, both of them too spent to move a muscle.
It had been needed, this night of lovemaking, but she was more worn out than she’d ever been. Adriane was a considerate lover, and her body had tensed many times as she reached her peak over and over again.
“I want to take you back to the private hideaway soon,” he whispered as he shifted off her, only to tug her into his arms.
“That sounds nice,” she sleepily murmured.
“Then it’s settled,” he said, a smile in his voice.
Rachel drifted into a dreamless sleep, secure in her lover’s arms.
CHAPTER FORTY
“DO YOU LOVE my son?”
Rachel stared at Adriane’s mother, Queen Octavia, and was at a loss for words. She’d managed to avoid a conversation like this with his mother before now, since she’d never been alone with the queen before. This luncheon wasn’t going well, and she was praying for a natural disaster to intervene.
It seemed she’d prayed for a lot of those since meeting Adriane.
That should be a sign that she should run as fast as she could, but the last few days had been about as perfect as they could be.
“Adriane and I haven’t had a lot of time to get to know each other,” she replied diplomatically, then picked up her cup of herb tea and took a sip.
“Time is irrelevant when you’re with ‘the one,’” Octavia countered.
This queen wasn’t giving up. Rachel was sure the woman hadn’t sat by her husband’s side for more than thirty years without learning how to interrogate people. Could Rachel be thrown into the dungeons for not being loyal enough to the king of Corythia?
Though she was joking to herself, a shudder still passed through her at the thought. Still, she was raised not to lie.
“I don’t dislike him anymore,” she said.
“You are guarded, aren’t you, Rachel?”
What was she supposed to say to that? She picked up one of the small tea sandwiches and took a bite, thrilled when her stomach didn’t rebel as the salmon and watercress traveled down her throat. The last few days, she hadn’t felt a lick of morning sickness. She so hoped that she was over it.
“I just know I deserve to be in a relationship where the man wants me,” she said.
“I think you are good for my son. He needs a woman unafraid to stand up to him. The responsibilities of ruling a country can be taxing, and a confident woman he can share his worries with and hold tightly in his arms can make the difference between Adriane being a mediocre king and a great one.”
Rachel gazed at Adriane’s mother, pretty sure she’d just received a compliment. “But Adriane doesn’t love me. How can I help him do anything if he looks at me as only another one of his duties — as simply a responsibility he has because of my condition?”
Queen Octavia hesitated as she stared at Rachel, making her want to fidget in her seat. The woman’s piercing black eyes were enough to penetrate Rachel’s skin. But she was a Palazzo, and no Palazzo would cower, even before royalty.
“I think you would be surprised at how Adriane truly feels. You are a special woman, Rachel, and you carry my grandchildren, so I am very pleased with the way this relationship is progressing. Don’t underestimate the loyalty of my son. He will make a fine husband and father.”
“I’m sure he will, Queen Octavia. But I need to be loved,” Rachel said, almost pleading with the woman to understand.
“So you do love him?” she pressed.
As Rachel sat there, locked in this woman’s knowing glance, her stomach heaved. Her sickness came back with wrecking-ball force.
How could she possibly be in love with Adriane? Their relationship had started off as a brief no-strings affair between strangers, followed by three months with the two of them not seeing each other. Then he’d suddenly appeared in her life again, demanding marriage, kidnapping her, and then coldly “courting” her.
To have fallen in love with him was impossible.
But it seemed as if that had somehow happened.
Somewhere along the line, his moments of kindness, his softer smile, his loyalty and compassion for the people of his kingdom — all of it had added up to his winning her heart.
How could she have left herself so unprotected?
They’d boated around the island, with him pointing out the small fishing villages and independent landowners. He had driven her through the land, stopping in quaint towns where the people had rushed to visit their king. He’d talked to her for hours about his plans for the kingdom, and about what would be expected from her as queen.
She’d slowly fallen under his magical spell, and now she was apparently in love with a man who hadn’t made a single declaration of any emotion toward her beyond lust and duty.
This was going to end up hurting her— maybe inflicting a wound that was irreparable.