Checkmate (11 page)
Authors: Katherine Kingston
Chapter Nine
Present
Raje emerged from the shuttle bay airlock alone. She’d
expected at least a bodyguard or two. He wore plain shirt, tunic and pants,
with a pistol at his hip, looking very much as he had the first time she’d seen
him. Where were the royal trappings? Had he really argued with his government
again and gone back to space piracy with his rebellious friends?
Her heart clenched painfully at the sight of him.
“Your Highness,” she said, moving forward to bow. She wanted
to throw herself in his arms and kiss him blind but dared not.
“Shit. Can it, Dev,” he answered. “I’m Raje to you.”
“That was a man I knew a while back. He’s no longer around.”
“He hasn’t gone anywhere.” He looked at the rest of her
curious crew standing behind her and acknowledged them with a gracious nod.
“Can we go somewhere private to talk?”
“It’ll have to be my cabin. That’s the only private place on
the ship.”
“It’ll do then.”
Her small cabin felt crowded with him in it. His presence
filled up any space he occupied however big it was. She couldn’t help but
recall him in the Sangari arena, manipulating that enormous crowd to get what
he wanted.
“Why do you want this cargo, Raje? I thought you’d given up
piracy. You’re respectable now. Acknowledged and accepted as the first heir.
Haven’t you settled all your differences with your government?”
“All of them? Not by a long shot,” he answered. “We still
differ on a number of issues. But we’re learning how to compromise and work
together. Fortunately my uncle’s getting old enough to look back and start to
consider how history will evaluate him. He doesn’t like all he sees in his past
and is ready to start trying to put some of it right.”
He watched her steadily. The gaze of those beloved
yellow-green eyes went straight to her soul.
“Devonne, why do you want this cargo so badly? It’s got to
be more than the money.”
“It is.” She paced around the little cabin. Calm. She tried
to force herself to it. The combination of his presence and her desperation
wouldn’t allow it. “I’m at the end of this. The authorities are closing in on
me. If I keep it up much longer I’m going to get blasted soon. But my people
still need a place of their own. A place they can settle and build homes and
communities. A place that will give them a viable future. The Denogrenian
treasure is the way to buy that for them. Not the money per se, but what the
Denogrenians will exchange to get it back.” She stopped and drew a harsh
breath. “This is the only way to give my people a real chance at a future.
That’s why I’m
not
letting you have it. Even if it does cost me my life
and my ship.”
“I see,” he said quietly.
“You’ll concede, then?” she asked. “Let me have it?”
“I can’t concede. I need that treasure, too.”
“Why? Now that you’re reconciled to your family, you have
all the wealth and gaudy treasure you could possibly want. Why do you need
this?”
“As a wedding gift for my future wife.”
It hit her like a fist to the gut.
“That was cruel, Raje,” she said.
He looked up at her with shock plain on his face. “I’m
sorry, I didn’t mean it to be.” He shook his head. “The lady I want for my wife
and consort is being difficult. She refuses to answer my messages or meet with
me. She’s prickly and difficult and prone to leaping to unwarranted
conclusions. She also seriously undervalues what I feel for her. I wanted this
treasure to give her, so she’d understand that I’d do anything for her.” He
paused, watching her face carefully. “It was also a way to get her to talk to
me since she’s refused to answer my messages or agree to meet me.”
It finally penetrated through the layers of her fears and
defenses. “Me?” She almost choked getting that one word out.
“Who else?” His expression remained serious. “Who else could
there ever be for me? I told you once, the first day we met, that I knew you were
the one. I’ve never changed my mind about that. Everything that’s happened
since did nothing but convince me even more.”
“But… Your government… You’re a prince. The first heir.
I’m…less than nobody. I don’t even have a home other than this ship.”
He nodded. “I won’t say it’s been easy to get them to let me
have my way in this. Especially when we’re at odds over so many other things.
But I finally convinced them I’d be a far better first heir with the most
amazing woman I’d ever met at my side, to help me…and to watch my back.” He
grinned on the last part. “Would you, Devonne? I can function without you if I
have to, but I’d rather not. I just feel like more of a man when you’re with
me. Like you’re a part of me that’s been missing and I didn’t even realize it
until I found you. Please? Marry me?”
She had to shake herself out of a daze of disbelief. “I
don’t know—”
“It won’t be easy,” he admitted. “Most of the government
isn’t going to be happy about this. But we can win them over. Together. I’m
sure of it. Please? It’s going to be a hell of a cold, lonely time if you don’t
agree. And think of what you can do for your people. You won’t even need that
treasure to buy them a place. We’ll make sure they get justice and reparation
of some sort.”
“Damn it don’t stoop to trying bribery,” she told him. “You
don’t need it. You’re enough, in and of yourself. I honestly wish you weren’t a
prince, but if I have to take the prince to get the man, I’ll do it.”
“You will?” Disbelief mixed with the elation. “You will?”
“Of course I will. You’re a missing part of me, too!”
He grabbed her and danced her around the small space then
tipped her onto the bed. In the frenzy of kisses that followed, they managed to
get out of their clothes, shedding a few more buttons from her uniform in the
process, and then they joined their bodies together in the whole they were
meant to be. Months of celibacy left them with a ravening hunger for each other
that couldn’t wait long for fulfillment.
He pumped into and out of her only a few times before they
came together in a furious climax that had them both bucking and shouting.
When it was done, they lay together, panting but fulfilled.
“That was…amazing. For a start. But should we tell your crew
before or after the long, sweet loving?” he asked.
“They can wait,” Devonne said, reaching for him and holding
his face near hers. “I can’t.”
Katherine Kingston welcomes comments from readers. You can
find her website and email address on her
author bio page
at
www.ellorascave.com
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