The minute the door closed, Callum turned his body into hers, pulling her down into the bed so her head was on the pillows.
Then he kissed her, soft and sweet but also wet and lingeringly.
It was a great kiss.
Sonia’s body responded but, luckily, her brain did not.
Nevertheless, she was breathing heavier when he lifted his lips from hers.
“Callum,” she whispered.
“You’re here,” he whispered back, his eyes, full-on tawny, roaming her face, his fingers sifting through the hair at the side of her head. “In my arms, in my bed, in my home.”
She had to stop him. She couldn’t listen to this, couldn’t witness it again and want it just as much as she knew he’d never give it to her.
“Callum. I feel strange.” His head cocked to the side at her words and the warm look on his face vanished as his brows shot together. “Not that,” she said swiftly, she couldn’t bear his false, loving concern, not again. “Just, I think jetlag or something. All that food. Everything went so fast yesterday. I feel weird. I think I need a shower and more coffee –”
She stopped speaking because his face relaxed and he touched his mouth to hers.
“Take a shower, baby doll,” he allowed (would she ever get used to him telling her what she could and couldn’t do and when she could and couldn’t do it?). “I’ve got a few things to do but I’ll come back and take you on a tour of your new home.” His head bent and he nuzzled her neck a moment before he marked her hair with his temple and lifted his head again. “You’ll take it easy a few days, get acclimatized. Is that good?”
Was he asking like he cared about her answer or was it a rhetorical question?
She answered the only way she could. “That’s good.”
He grinned at her.
She loved his grin just as much as she told herself she hated it.
He pushed away from her and exited the bed.
She looked at the big room and called out to him, “Callum?”
He glanced down at her, brows raised.
“Um, where’s the bathroom?”
She really hoped it wasn’t on another floor or something. That would be awful, climbing down those winding, stone steps should she need the facilities in the middle of the night.
He smiled, planted a fist in the bed on either side of her, touched his lips (again!) to hers, pushed away and then walked across the room and opened a door that was in a tapestry. The tapestry was affixed to the door in a way that it looked a seamless part of the bigger tapestry all around it. The doorknob, too, was hidden in the tapestry’s design.
It was very neat and super clever.
She didn’t share this with Callum.
She just threw back the hides (really? who slept under hides?), got out of bed and headed to the bathroom.
Callum stalled her progress by hooking an arm around her stomach and she twisted her neck and looked up at him.
“I’m anxious to show you your new home, honey,” he murmured, before kissing her forehead and finishing by ordering gently, but definitely kingly, “You have an hour.”
Then he was gone.
She was glad for the reminder that he was king.
And the reminder that, even if she was queen, and not of his people, she was still nothing but a subject.
* * * * *
The bathroom was (almost) as nice as the bedroom. The walls and floors were still that stone but there was a big, brass towel warmer, a huge circular tub in a very pretty shade of rust and a shower cubical tiled in rich-colored tiles. The ceramic basin was rust-colored and set in more of that mellow golden-red-brown stone. There was a set of shelves inset in a wall with stacks of fluffy, neatly folded towels. The shelves also bore pretty stoneware boxes and trays that Sonia would love to fill with her girlie bits and bobs. There was a huge, round mirror over the basin surrounded on the top half with brass lights. And last, twin, narrow, thin handsome cabinets on the walls on either side of the recessed basin.
Seriously, so far, Sonia could see why everyone was so happy in this castle.
She tried to hate it, she just couldn’t.
She lugged her cosmetics case into the bathroom, found her stuff, took a quick shower and did the best she could do with her hair and makeup when she didn’t know where anything was.
Luckily, there was a blow dryer (as hers didn’t have the right plug) and fortunately, when she was ready, she didn’t look a fright as one wouldn’t want to look when one was possibly meeting their new subjects as their new queen.
She decided not to wait for Callum (he hadn’t ordered her to stay in the room) and she started wandering on her own.
The bedroom was the best of all but it was also the best room Sonia had ever seen in her life. But the rest was still really, really good.
It was all decorated in warm, rich, manly shades. The furniture was handsome and comfortable looking. There were lots of pillows and snug throws and hides tossed everywhere, all of it inviting as well as beautiful. There were tons of circular fireplaces in other rooms, not to mention wavy walls and diamond-paned windows.
It was magical.
Sonia wanted to hate that too but she couldn’t.
In her new life she’d have Regan and probably Maraleena and of course Ryon and Caleb and maybe Calder, though he hadn’t been around as much and sometimes he could be surly so she didn’t know what to make of him yet.
And she’d have the castle.
That just wasn’t enough.
But, she decided, it was all there was going to be.
For, she decided, she’d tell Callum she’d do her duties as his queen but she wouldn’t be his mate.
Last night was the last night they’d have.
Forever.
She was standing in what she guessed was a living room though all of them kind of looked like that. Or at least as far as she got except she found a library and what appeared to be a knitting room as there were huge skeins of wool in big, wide-woven baskets by the comfy chairs. She was staring out the window at the landscape (mostly tall, rolling, snow covered woods, as far as she could see) when Callum found her.
She tensed, expecting him to be angry that she’d started the tour on her own but he just strode right up to her, shifting to stand at her back. His arms wrapped around her and he pulled her to his front and dipped his head to kiss her neck.
She told herself she shivered because she was cold (though that wasn’t the reason).
And she decided now was as good a time as any.
Sonia opened her mouth to speak but Callum beat her to it.
“Have you liked what you’ve seen, little one?”