Aurora's Promise (21 page)

The light in the courtyard had already been dimmed. Connyn
was not surprised. He was unwilling to leave Aurora alone in the capital city
until things were more settled between them, so much of what he had to
immediately assess and deal with was taking longer than usual. If he had
returned personally to his home territory, decisions would be made much quicker
than dealing with second-hand information through reading and listening to
reports. After the Council meeting, he’d have to travel home regardless. His
people needed to see him. But for the next two days…

He hurried across the courtyard to their bedroom, suddenly
eager to hold his woman. Throughout the day he’d found his mind leaving
whatever concern lay at hand to seek out memories of Aurora. Because he knew
she wouldn’t appreciate being watched so carefully, he’d not told her that
every hour he was away from her, he was having reports brought to him of her
whereabouts and activities. It was as much for his peace of mind as for her
safety. If he didn’t have information being brought to him, he’d feel compelled
to find out himself, delaying his work further.

Today he’d been pleased that she had gotten on so well with
her sisters. Hopefully their presence would ease her transition between worlds.
Though not happy that they’d wandered out of his family’s sector, he knew she
needed to feel some sense of freedom or she might do something rash to prove
her independence. He contented himself with the knowledge that his men would
have stopped her had she decided to leave the highly protected grounds of the
palace compound and that she had returned safely.

Likely she’d already be in bed asleep now, but he looked
forward to waking her as the door slid open silently at his touch. Here too
were the lights dimmed, their soft glow intimately illuminating only the bed.
An empty bed. His heart stopped. Immediately he scanned through the far wall,
looking in vain for his mate in the adjoining room.

An unfamiliar fear spiked through him, its saw-toothed
tentacles severing him from his habitual restraint. “Aurora!

“Yes?”

The low, husky answer floated to him from behind. He turned
to find her under one of the open arches that led out to the balcony, one arm
wrapped around the column. She leaned against it with the languid grace
expected of a woman who held a warrior’s passions at her beck and call. Silvery
rays from Ilyria’s two moons swept around her and softly outlined the curves
beneath the sheer material that lay draped over her body.

Panic turned to lust in an instant. She stood mostly in
shadow, seeming as ethereal as the gown she wore that floated in the slight
breeze as gently as the morning mist rising from the river. As his eyes
adjusted to the low light he saw that her hair was loose, cascading around her
shoulders and breasts in subtle waves of glimmering midnight made all the
darker against the pale white of her skin and gown.

Where she stood, the only light touching her was in the form
of ethereal moonbeams streaming through the large open archways. The floor,
walls and columns in this room were the black stone quarried from deep within
the mountains of his home. Though the walls were left rough with the red
crystal marbling through it, the floor was polished to a mirrored shine making
it appear as if she were standing on the cavernous edge of eternity, a dream of
beauty caught for just a breath of time by the web of night.

He felt rather than saw her smile before she slowly pushed
away from the column and started toward him, her hips swaying seductively.

As she got closer he could see that what he thought was a
dress was actually separate strips of material tied together in an intricate
pattern that played more on the imagination of what was hidden beneath them
than on what the outfit actually revealed. The layered strips were woven
through with thin shimmering threads of silver. Gathered in an array of complex
knots at both shoulders and at her waist, the strips ended in an uneven edge
around her ankles. Her feet were bare, silent on the smoothed stones of the
bedroom’s floor as she approached.

The reflective threads in the gown caught at every small
shaft of light in the room making her appear as if the gods themselves had
wrapped her in the diaphanous beams of his world’s twin moons. Seeming to float
more than walk, she graced every movement, every step, every slight swing of
her hand, sway of her hip, tilt of her head with an unmistakable sensuality
focused directly on him. He never remembered ever wanting a woman so much.

She stopped just out of reach. “You called. Did you want
something?”

His gaze moved up from where the shape of her nipples
pressed through the gown. Her eyes were dark with a teasing promise and her
full lips curved in invitation.

He started to reach for her but she stepped back and held
out her hand to stay his movement.

“No,” she commanded, frowning at him.

He froze. “No?”

Slowly her seductive smile returned. “Tonight we play by my
rules. And first, I want your promise.”

Narrowing his eyes, he asked, “What promise?”

She rested the fingers of her right hand on the base of her
throat. Drawing out the movement, she let her hand drop so that her fingers
grazed over her skin to lie lightly in the deep vee of material between her
breasts. “That you will do as I say. And only as I say.”

His blood pounded at the erotic tenor of her words. No woman
had ever made such a request of him and he wasn’t sure he liked it. In fact,
his reputation for the way he absolutely ruled a woman’s body and thus drove
her to the highest levels of ecstasy had always made his lovers willingly yield
to his will. Until Aurora.

“Why?” The word came out harshly, making him sound as if he
didn’t trust her. Making him wonder if he did.

Since the moment he’d seen her on the Riverwalk in San
Antonio, he’d studied his mate. Watched her expressions and gestures, gauged
her emotions and reactions. Because of his close scrutiny, he caught the
lightning fast flicker of anxiety in her eyes and the slight way her lips
tightened nervously before she turned away from him.

She moved back toward the balcony, back into the shadows.
For a moment, he was mesmerized by the soft curve of her ass as it swayed in
front of him with each step. She stopped by the column and looked over her
shoulder at him. Shrugging it slightly, she said, “Just because.”

There was something in her voice that hinted at all things
erotic beyond the
just because.
Catching his gaze, she held his eyes
with her own, the dark, intimate offer smoldering in their depths clearly
revealed before the heavy fringe of her lashes fell to shield them and she
turned to look out into the night with a small sigh. “But it’s obvious you’ve
worked hard today, so of course I’ll understand if you’re not up to it tonight.”

He grunted in disgust. Just because he knew the words were
only to spur him into her agenda didn’t mean that he could stop the automatic denial
that would spring from any Kilth male in a similar situation. “Woman, stop
talking nonsense and come back here.”

“Woman?” She turned with her hands on her hips but her tone
was light. “Careful, Your Royal Highness, your inner barbarian is showing.”

Tension skated along his jaw and down his neck. He was
nowhere near showing his barbaric side. Something for which she should be
gratefully thanking her blessed stars since the way she looked and the way he
wanted her both drew deeply on the elemental passions driving him tonight.

He was about to pick her up and toss her on the bed when she
took a step toward him. The soft lights she’d left on in the room fell across
her face and a strange new emotion swelled up from somewhere deep inside him as
she looked up at him, waiting. The feeling, strong and sweet, flooded through
him until it saturated every chasm and crack in his heart and soul. Without
even thinking about what it might cost him, he found himself nodding and
agreeing to her request simply because she had asked it of him.

Her smile of acceptance settled on him like the rays of a
thousand suns. He started to reach for her again but her eyebrows shot up in an
arrogant affront. Teasing one of the small knots below her right breast until
it started to unravel, she said, “You’ve given your word. I expect you to keep
it. Unless you don’t you think you can control yourself enough to keep your
promise.” She tugged harder at the knot and her breast jiggled above it. “And
here I was laboring under the impression that all Ilyrian men, especially the
warriors, were known for their control no matter what the situation.”

As he watched the knot come undone, he felt tension grip him
tighter. Her low, sultry laugh filled the silence as once again he let his
hands fall to his sides. Though he knew she was only goading him to get the
response she desired, he grudgingly had to admit it was working. She was
appealing to his basic lust as well as to the honor of his word and his
reputation as a man and warrior.

Winding the loosened strip of material around her finger,
she gently tugged on it and the other end pulled free from where it was
attached at her shoulder.

“Well?” she asked. The strip of material slid over the swell
of her breast and in its wake left her breast slightly more exposed. “Do I have
your promise?”

“Yes.”

She allowed the strip to uncurl from around her finger and
drop to the ground by her feet. Smiling up at him with desire and triumph
glittering in her dark eyes, she whispered, “I promise you won’t regret it.”

Too late. Connyn already regretted not taking her
immediately. That smile of hers promised a long and torturous night.

“First,” Aurora said, stepping close and running her hands
over his shoulders, “no touching.” Pointedly, she looked down at where he had
automatically placed his hands on her hips as soon as she’d drawn near.

He raised his eyebrows. “You’re touching me.”

“Oh I plan on doing a lot more than just touching you,” she
said. “But we’re playing by my rules and my rules say that you only touch me
when I say.”

Her skin was warm under the thin material. His fingers
itched to slide between the sheer layers and touch her, pull her against him.
The teasing scent of flowers drifted from her hair. He wanted her. Now. “Aurora—”

“No.” Dropping her hands, she stepped back and his hands
slid off her hips. “My way or no way.”

He was staring at her breasts when she crossed her arms
underneath them, plumping them up. He wanted to put his hands on them, slide
his fingers around the fullness, feel her nipples tighten under his palms.
Instead, he slowly curled his fingers into fists. “What do you want me to do?”
His voice was gruff with irritation.

Her slow smile was sexy, promising and sent a chill down his
spine.

“First,” she said, “Take off your shirt.” In seconds he was
naked from the waist up. She might have plans to draw out this sensual torture,
but he sure as hell didn’t.

“Very good,” she said. “Now put your hands behind your back.”
She waited as he did as she commanded, holding his left wrist in his right hand.
“Oh…” she purred. “You are being such a good boy. That deserves a reward.”
Unknotting another corner of one of the strips at her shoulder, she pulled it
loose from where it was tucked at her waist. This left a thin ribbon of flesh
along her hip and thigh bare to his gaze. Its removal also left only one thin
panel covering the center of her right breast through which her nipple could be
seen clearly. It poked up against its covering, proud, pink and begging for the
attention he could give it.

She dropped the thin strip of material on the floor and then
ran her hand from her shoulder to her hip where the material had been. Gazing
at where his cock strained against his pants, she said, “I see you appreciate
your rewards.”

“Rewards can work both ways,” he offered.

“I’m sure they can.” She stepped closer again, slid her
hands back over his shoulders. “And maybe another time we’ll explore that
variation. But not tonight.” She kissed his neck and let her breasts brush
against his chest. Barely. Her kisses were light and teasing, and when he
turned his face to catch her mouth she pulled her head back. “No. I just want
you to stand there for a minute. I want complete freedom to touch and taste you
without interference.”

With a scarcely muted growl, he complied and turned to stare
straight ahead.

Running her hands across his chest and shoulders, she moved
to stand behind him. “Did I ever tell you how sexy your hair is?” she asked as
she untied the narrow braids that kept it pulled back out of his way. Her
fingernails gently scraped down his back as she combed her fingers through his
hair. She repeated this process several times and he was about to make a demand
of his own when she sauntered back around.

Slowly she splayed her hands over the center of his chest.
Even in the dim light her ivory skin seemed to glow against his own darker
tone. She flexed her fingers until her nails made shallow half-moon
indentations in his skin. And then she leaned forward and kissed the spot
between her hands. Her tongue swirled and then started to move down.

Straight down. She didn’t stop until the waist of his pants
made it impossible for her to go further. She looked up at him, her mouth still
doing wicked things to the spot below his navel. Briefly, her nails dug in
deeper as she swiped her tongue under his waistband. Need shot through him and
his arms jerked with the restraint it took to keep them behind his back.

A hum of approval skated over his skin as she started
kissing her way back up his abdomen. Her hands moved, kneaded, pressed over his
chest, shoulders and arms. Her hair fell forward and slid against his heated
skin. His teeth clenched and he switched how he was holding his hands behind
his back. He’d been holding his left wrist so tightly, his hand had started to
numb.