Prime Reaper

An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

www.ellorascave.com

Prime Reaper

ISBN # 9781419905827

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Prime Reaper Copyright© 2007 Charlotte Boyett-Compo

Edited by Mary Moran.

Cover art by Syneca.

Electronic book Publication: January 2007

This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 443103502.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.
Content Advisory:

S – ENSUOUS

E – ROTIC

X

-

TREME

Ellora’s Cave Publishing offers three levels of Romantica™ reading entertainment: S (S-ensuous), E (Erotic), and X (X-treme).

The following material contains graphic sexual content meant for mature readers. This story has been rated S-ensuous.

S-
ensuous
love scenes are explicit and leave nothing to the imagination.

E-
rotic
love scenes are explicit, leave nothing to the imagination, and are high in volume per the overall word count. E-rated titles might contain material that some readers find objectionable—in other words, almost anything goes, sexually. E-rated titles are the most graphic titles we carry in terms of both sexual language and descriptiveness in these works of literature.

X-
treme
titles differ from E-rated titles only in plot premise and storyline execution. Stories designated with the letter X tend to contain difficult or controversial subject matter not for the faint of heart.

WESTERNWIND:

PRIME REAPER

Charlotte Boyett-Compo

Charlotte Boyett-Compo

Haines City in the Exasla Territory

The wedding night of Arawn and Danielle

Her skin was as soft as silk and as he dragged his rough, calloused palm over that sweet expanse, he shuddered from the strong emotions roiling through him—emotions he had never experienced before and that could bring him to his knees if he but let them. There was such protectiveness, such possessiveness churning within his body and soul that he could barely draw breath. Not once in his life had he ever held such a treasure in his arms—had never expected to, had not wanted to—and now that it was in his grasp, he would ruthlessly kill anything or anyone who tried to take it from him. She was his treasure, his priceless jewel.

She was his wife.

Carrying her over the threshold, he kicked the door shut with his boot, wincing at the too loud sound it made.

“They’ll think we’re eager,
mo shearc
,” she said with a giggle. Hearing her call him her love sent waves of pride coursing through the Reaper. He paused on the way to the bed and looked down at her. “Do you care, wench?” he asked, his eyes burning into hers.

Danielle’s slow, saucy smile made his groin tighten painfully. “If I’d cared, I wouldn’t have chased your uptight ass all over Haines City until you caught me,” she responded.

The Reaper arched a dark brow. “Who put that notion into your head, may I ask?”

“To chase you?” she asked, caressing the hair at the back of his neck.

“That you chased me until I caught you,” he countered. “Sounds like something Aingeal Cree would say.”

“Mayhaps she might have suggested it,” Danielle replied.

“Aye, I figured as much,” he said, and continued over to the bed. With deliberate slowness, he let her slide down his body until her feet touched the floor. His arms still around her, he held her to him, gazing down into her upturned face. “Mayhaps you should take what Aingeal says with a grain of salt, wench.”

She smiled and lifted a hand to his lean jaw to caress him. “Then I should be afraid of you, milord?” she asked softly.

Arawn’s brows drew together. “Why should you be?”

Danielle pressed close against him. “You said not to pay heed to Aingeal’s words, yet she was quick to say I should not fear you or what a man and woman do in the 4

Prime Reaper

privacy of their room.” She lowered her chin then looked up at him through her lashes.

“Should I tremble at what you have in store for me this eve?”

Caught in a trap he had a notion had been lying in wait for him, he shook his head.

“Wench, the only trembling you will do this eve is with pleasure. I’d no more cause you hurt than I would slam my dangly with the door a’purpose.”

Danielle giggled. “I would hope not,
mo shearc
,” she said. “That would make it hard for you to make me yours I’d think.”

Shaking his head at her impish look, he moved his hands to her shoulders. “You’re going to be a handful, aren’t you?” he queried.

“Aye,” she agreed, “but I’ll be your handful.” She stepped back away from his light hold and turned her back. “Undo me, please?”

A shaft of heat careened through the Reaper and he was shocked to see his hands trembling as he lifted them to the long row of tiny buttons that held the back of her gown together. He felt clumsy and inadequate as he worked them apart, aching to simply grab the neckline and rip the garment from her.

“Where will we be living, milord?” she asked. She ran a hand over her side, easing a twinge that plagued her from time to time.

He looked up and realized he could see the two of them in the mirror above the dresser across the room. She met his gaze with her head tilted to one side as she waited for his answer.

Having to concentrate on the small buttons he was undoing, he had to look away from her to watch what he was about. “I have an apartment in the Citadel,” he answered. “Outside the apartments of the Shadowlords, because I’m the Prime it is the most opulent. I think you’ll like it there.” He glanced at the mirror to see she had tucked her lower lip between her teeth. “Is that a problem?”

“We won’t be living in Haines City?” she asked.

Arawn shook his head. “Cynyr has been given this place as his home base. If you want to live out west, it will have to be in another territory.”

“Such as?”

He had undone enough buttons down her back that he could see the pale blue silk camisole beneath the gown. It caused another shaft of lust to ripple along his nerve endings.

The Reaper frowned. “I don’t know, wench. That would depend on the Shadowlords. I will be stationed where they choose. If they are agreeable to me going west, it might be Oklaks, Moilia or Nemcone. Bevyn’s home base is in the Armistenky Territory but he’s at the Citadel more than he’s home.”

“He told me Lea likes it at the Citadel,” Danielle told him.

“Mayhaps you will too,” he said as he undid the last button. He had no desire to live anywhere else but if his lady would be unhappy at the fortress of the Shadowlords, he would live with her elsewhere.

5

Charlotte Boyett-Compo

“We’ll see,” she said, and continued to stand with her back to him. “Will you help me undress, Ari?”

He nearly groaned at her use of the nickname his fellow Reapers called him. It sent shivers of delight through him and made his heart swell. Feeling like an untried youth, he put his hands on the top of her dress and eased it down her arms, down her hips, holding his breath as the creamy smoothness of her back was revealed to him. Lowering his head, he placed a soft kiss at the juncture of her shoulder and neck as the gown slid into a silken pool at her feet.

“Umm,” his lady said.

“Like that?” he asked in a throaty voice.

“Very much.”

He hooked his thumbs into the waistband of her petticoat and tugged it downward over her lush hips, allowing it to fall atop the gown as it slid down her legs. Heat coursed through his cock when he caught sight of the white lace garter belt that held up her silk stockings.

Moving his lips along her silky neck, he worked his way up to the curve of her ear and then took the tender flesh of her earlobe between his teeth, grinning at the little squirm that pushed her backside against his hardening erection.

“I’ll give you an hour to stop that,” she told him.

He chuckled as he slipped his tongue into her ear, exhaling softly.

“Ari!” she whimpered.

“Danni!” he responded, and snaked his arms around her waist to pull her taut against him, rubbing his hardness across her rump.

“Oh god!” she said, and felt her knees giving way beneath her. Laughing, he dipped his knees and swung her up into his arms, stepping forward to lay her on their bed as gently as though she were a fragile piece of spun glass. Danielle looked up at her husband and suddenly felt shy. She was lying there in only her camisole, underwear and stockings.

Arawn held out his hand. “Sit up, wench.”

She didn’t hesitate but put her hand in his. When she was up, he reached down to pull her camisole off, laying her bare breasts open to his view.

“By the gods, milady,” he whispered as he reached out a trembling hand to lightly cup her left breast. He eased his thumb across the nipple and when she shivered, he splayed his hand between her breasts and urged her to lie down.

“You are so beautiful,” he said, his eyes roaming over her. He sat down beside her on the bed, his hip against the side of her leg.

She could think of nothing to say to his compliment and couldn’t have spoken if she’d tried for he was running his hand down the inside of her silk-clad thigh to her knee. The sensation was a giddy one that sent chill bumps all along her spine. As his 6

Prime Reaper

hand curved under her knee to draw her leg up, she had to bite her lip to keep from groaning.

The Reaper bent her leg toward her chest so he could remove her shoe. He took his time slipping it from her foot and then treated her other leg to the same sensuous action. When the shoes were on the floor beside the bed, his hand went to the garter belt that held her stockings in place and very carefully, very slowly, very seductively, he removed the silky material from each clasp on her right leg.

“You have such a gentle touch, milord,” his wife whispered. Arawn smiled. He’d never had someone tell him that before. Much of the time he was accused of being too heavy-handed. That his lady found his touch gentle made him grateful for his self-restraint.

Dreading snagging the silk with his calloused hands, he took the top carefully between his fingers and began easing the stocking down her thigh, over her slightly bent knee and then down her leg. Slipping it from her foot, he was relieved he hadn’t caused a snag in the flimsy material. He was equally as careful with the other stocking, holding his breath in the hope he wouldn’t put a run in the soft material. Tugging down her underwear until she lay completely nude before him was an exhilarating experience he knew he would relive many times over in the years ahead. The feel of her husband’s fingers against the bare flesh of her leg sent shivers of delight through Danielle. She curled her fingers into the fabric of the bedspread in an effort to keep herself still although she wanted to writhe beneath Arawn’s tender ministration.