Pure Desire [Pure 3] (Siren Publishing Allure) (39 page)

Theopolis eyed Caroline, scanning her from head to toe, resting his gaze on her bodice where her breast protruded from the top.

Denny walked forward and took Caroline’s arm to move her closer to Theopolis. “Don’t be shy now, honey. This was your idea, remember.” She looked at Theopolis. “Apparently, Caroline is as illustrious and avaricious as us.” She chuckled. “She isn’t any backwater fool, and I had to pay her half the money up front before she agreed to help get rid of Noor and Allura. Seems she has some axe to grind—is that the Texas jargon you use—with the Deverills and want to see Allura’s brother pay for hurting her. Aren’t we lucky?” She clapped cheerfully.

* * * *

Caroline fidgeted with her gown, twisting the material into a knot as Theopolis’s stare remained fixated on her. Nervously, her fingers fingered the diamond and pearl bracelet on her wrist. The jewelry had cost her a mint. Along with the other jewels, new sleek stallions and carriage, Worth gowns, and a slew of other pleasantries she purchased to make her comfortable and stop the wagging tongue of Mrs. Tidwell who wouldn’t stop talking about her father’s dwindling finances.

She met Theopolis’s unnerving gaze. “Dunst works by my orders only. He won’t do anything until I return to Legend and give him his assignment, which I will do when I return, and only then.” She lied. Dunst couldn’t wait to go after Noor. As soon as she gained his confidence and mentioned what she wanted him to do, he was all too willing. With the issue he had with Noor, Dunst would have killed Noor whether she gave him a nice sum of money or not.

Denny went to Theopolis and stretched lithely on the settee beside him. “She is cautious, if nothing else. I believe there was a threat in there somewhere.” She raised her perfectly arch eyebrow.

“Call it an insurance policy,” Caroline said.

Theopolis rose, stood, and walked toward Caroline. He slowly circled her, eyeing his fill, drifting around her like a buzzard. His eyes roved languorously over her body before he stopped in front of her. A slender finger raked over her cheek. “You needn’t fear me. If I wanted you dead, you would be.” Caroline hugged herself and shivered. She watched him cautiously. “I can say Denny has outdone herself. You’re almost as exceptional as Allura.” She stiffened. He laughed and she saw his statement that apparently insulted Denny didn’t amuse her. He teased her, sliding his fingernail over her breast to her cleavage, and then cupped and kneaded her breast. “But, Allura wasn’t agreeable as you seem. Tell me, you are willing to do anything necessary to help our cause, aren’t you?”

“I came, didn’t I?”

He grabbed her throat between his fingers, and Caroline winced as his fingers firmed on her neck. “I don’t care for flippancy,” he said softly. “I find it deplorable in a concubine and irritating.”

“I didn’t mean to offend you.” She lowered her eyes demurely to the floor.

He patted her cheek roughly with his palm slapping her face. “That is so much better. Now, let’s see if I shall applaud Denny or chastise her for her rash action by bringing you here.”

His hand came up and slide behind her head, resting on the back of her neck. With forced pressure, he moved her head forward and down until Caroline went to her knees. “Show me how acquiescent you are and put that mouth on me. Worship me, my little concubine.”

Tentatively, her lips touched the crest and then tongued the stalk.

“No…suck the head,” he commanded roughly. His fingers harsh, digging into her hair, he jutted his hips and buried the bulbous head inside her mouth. “Suck it harder...show me you want it.” Theopolis closed his eyes for a second. “Mmm…you seem a willing vessel and that pleases me. Now, take my erection fully and suck, thirst, gorge yourself on my cock until I’m satisfied and spill my seed. Then I will decide your fate.”

Fate
. Caroline startled at the word, realizing what he was saying, and reality dawned in an instant. Principles aside, this wasn’t just about saving herself but securing her future if she got into the emperor’s good graces. She had sense enough to know what she did now would decide the consequences if she could orchestrate the outcome to her advantage.

It wasn’t something she wanted to do. She had to do it. With a renewed interest, she set to the task of saving herself from a prosaic lifestyle she was destined to if her cowardly father didn’t step up and do something about their miserable financial state. She’d be the laughing stock of Legend. Mrs. Tidwell would have a field day announcing to everyone they were penniless. How could she hold her head up in public knowing everyone who once coveted and cherished her beauty and wealth would ignore her as if she was nothing?

The emperor wasn’t an ugly man, and his fair features, youthful and athletic body helped. She would do this. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t used her body to get what she wanted before. Poor, fumbling Dunst pawed her for all of five minutes, and she’d managed not to gag smelling his stale breath and feeling his penis stick continuously inside her.

She flattened her palms on his thighs and increased the pressure of her mouth until the emperor moaned low in his throat. She looked up at him, seeing the ravenous look in his eyes. Along with that, she saw something else. His fingers trembled when he touched her cheeks, moving along her jaw where his cock was submerged in her mouth and tracing a line over the hardness. Clamping down hard, flickering her tongue over the tip, he inhaled sharply. A fire brightened his eyes.

“That’s good. I might just keep you,” he grunted, slamming his hips forward, sending his cock brushing the roof of her mouth.

The frisson of excitement at the control she possessed surprised her, awakened a new yearning. She slipped him from her mouth. “Is this what you want, Grace?”

His voice was strained, full of sexual tension. “What I want is your mouth back on my cock and sucking until I ejaculate. My semen filling you…” he said, running his fingers down his erection and stroking the head. “Come.” He walked to the couch and sat down, spread his thighs, and spoke with accustomed authority. “Come, my nymph, and please me.”

Caroline crawled to him on her hands, knees, and covered the distance until she sat back on her heels between his thighs. She encircled the swollen crest, bent low and licked the thick ridge with her tongue before engulfing the entirety of his dick to the back of her throat.

Theopolis murmured appreciatively, reaching for Denny as she moved closer, and reached out and thumbed her nipples, squeezing, tugging the ripe tips. His eyes half-mast, he smiled at her. “You are jealous?”

“Why should I be, darling?” She kissed him.

“Because I might replace you with this little bitch, which is proving to be very accomplished…and willing without the attitude.” He smirked.

Denny wrapped her arms around his neck. She kissed him wildly and grabbed his lip between her teeth, biting him.

“Bitch,” he snarled.

She laughed, licking his blood from her lip. “But, darling, that’s what interested you about me in the first place. I’m so bloodthirsty, if you recall. We are an excellent team.” Caroline wondered if she was making a statement or trying to remind the emperor of their pact or perhaps both. She glanced at Denny seeing the disturbed expression on her face. Denny was scared of her. She smiled inwardly, feeling triumph.

“Ah, that you are, my hot blooded wench,” he said then ignored Denny. He cupped her cheeks and forced her to look at him while he continued to delve deeply, pushing between her lips. His eyes focused on her as he continued. “Denny is jealous whether she admits it or not, but you have nothing to fear from her. You have my protection as long as you please me. Now…on your knees and submit to me like you have no other.”

Caroline faced the full-length cheval mirror in the corner of the room. She watched with a sense of elation, seeing the emperor’s pure expression of interest. She suspected she intrigued the emperor, not sure why, and at this point she didn’t care. She continued to match his stare boldly, seeing how his eyes brightened when he jerked her bodice down. Her large breasts tumbled free, and he licked his lips as if he could already taste her. His touch wasn’t gentle, she wasn’t surprised, and preened when his fingers caught her nipples that he pinched and tugged. A sharp pain shot through her. Her pussy quivered at the tough play. No longer surprised by her need for the hard touch, she relished in the feel of pleasure that streaked through her when he fondled her breasts roughly between his hands. She wiggled her bottom, pushing back against the steel erection prodding her ass. This was the first time she allowed a man to touch her sacred area. The unknown anxiousness and excitement of giving in to the wanton act made her pussy scream with pleasure. She felt herself dripping, oozing, hot as flames when he spread her and pushed into the tight entrance.

“Scream for me,” he said ultralow. “I want to hear you scream.” He propelled forward and took her swiftly, pushing his cock past the virginal seal, continuously filling her, taking her, working his erection inside her ass until Caroline screamed.

The cry was throaty…filled with pleasure. She growled, backing into his thrust as wildly as he plunged inside her. She moved her hips, gyrating against him, begging for more of the hedonistic pounding.

Theopolis groaned, gripped her hips, backdrew before slamming inside her again. He shuddered. Perspiration poured and drenched his body, and his cock stiffened and throbbed deep inside her. Caroline squirmed. He moaned, a low growl, and then locked tight. She didn’t stop, kept clenching him, using her talents to secure her future.

She thought of nothing but her future wealth and everything she would gain simply by playing up to the emperor’s need to possess and control. It wasn’t such a hard task to do. In fact, she rather enjoyed his animalistic rutting, hard, rough, and so manly. A man who could take control and make her submit enthralled her. She giggled inwardly. While the emperor thought he was getting his way, she saw her status elevate beyond her wildest imagination. After all, the Grace was no more than a man, and that meant he was controllable when she found out his weakness.

Just a man.
She smiled, satisfied when he collapsed on her back. His weight uncomfortable, she braced herself and allowed him to continue to plummet her ass. She sensed how close he was to losing control. How close she was to protecting her livelihood.

“Take me, use me…fuck me, Your Grace.”

With his release, he unleashed the beast from within and came with a terrifying howl as he poured a hot stream inside her ass.

Caroline pulled away and turned around to face him. The emperor hissed, raised his arm to shield his face, as if he feared her seeing his true form. That’s why he took her from behind? He wanted to hide from her—she found his vulnerability. Smiling warmly, she captured his hands and pulled them aside. “No,” he snarled. “Yes,” she said softly. The flaming eyes bore into her, and she didn’t look away. She framed his face with her fingertips to draw him closer. He growled—tried to resist. “Yes, I must,” she said, and then kissed the crude formed mouth.

Denny watched with an uneasy expression on her features, as if she suddenly realized the mistake in bringing her to Theopolis.

Caroline eyed her with contempt, smiled in victory as she faced the emperor. They exchanged glances. His approval was brief, and then shuttered, but she saw the pleased look in his eyes.

She was jubilant, eyeing the opulence of the room, which denoted the emperor’s wealth. And suddenly, her task forgotten, she felt a renewed sense of arousal knowing the power she possessed over the emperor, whether Denny or he wanted to admit it or not. The emperor seemed infatuated with her.

She had given him what no other had before and that was acceptance of who he was, what he was.

Chapter Thirty-eight

“Where are we going?” Allura asked when Noor stopped the horse and dismounted. He helped her down, and then, hand in hand, they walked through the shaded area that was picturesque with the cloudless, starlit sky, sparkling above the outline of long-leaf pines treetops and mountains outlined against the siren backdrop. Into a nature preserve of cluster of overhanging cypress trees, grassy knoll blanketed with wildflowers, and a rock bottom stream that gurgled and bubbled into a pool of water. The cool air and heat of the water mixed and it percolated causing steam to rise into a mist.

The moon, bright and full, cast a faint glow of light and revealed lush greenery of an oasis. A bed of pussy willows swayed in the gentlest breeze, back and forth over the carpet of plush grass that sunk and cushioned the sound of footsteps they made walking along the path toward the intimate setting.

“How did you find this place? I didn’t even know it was here.” Allura twirled around, whirling in a sea of green gauzy material her skirt created when she moved, and inhaled the refreshing essence of nature that tickled her nostrils pleasantly. She laughed. “This is wonderful.”

Noor caught her hand and enclosed it in his fingers. He pulled her close, kissed her knuckles tenderly, and spoke warmly, “I would like to take full credit, but Channing gave me directions.”

“You actually brought me to Channing’s place where he probably enacted his endless pursuits of debauchery with god knows how many women?” she teased.

“Actually, this is where he comes to clear his head and think through difficult matters...self atone for his actions, if necessary.”

“I’ve already forgiven you, Noor. I probably shouldn’t tell you that. Especially if you intended to plead for forgiveness for breaking your promise about staying until our baby is born.”