A Bride for the Taking

Was she crazy? If she didn’t go through with this ceremony, the Tagor would give her away like a party favour. Worse, he’d kill Jake. And a world without Jake was not a world worth living in.

‘Kitten?’

Dorian looked straight at the Tagor. ‘Tell him I am eager to be your wife,’ she said quietly.

Jake put his arm around her waist and drew her close to his side as the Tagor spoke.

‘He says that the joining of two people is not to be taken lightly,’ he translated, while the chieftain’s deep voice rumbled. ‘He says that life is a long journey that should not be taken alone. Man and woman should undertake this journey together.’ Jake paused. ‘He asks if I love you.’

Dorian looked at him. ‘And what did you say?’ she whispered.

Jake’s eyes met hers. ‘I said that I love you with all my heart.’

Of course. What other answer could he have given, if they were to get out of this in one piece?

‘Now he asks if you love me.’

Her mouth trembled. ‘Yes. Tell him I say yes, that I will love you always.’

Jake’s arm tightened around her. ‘He says, then, that you are mine, and I am yours.’

She swallowed. ‘You mean—it’s over? We’re husband and wife?’

‘Yes.’ He turned her to him and his hand cupped her cheek. ‘We’re married, kitten.’

Married. They were married!

A shout rose up from the assemblage, and Jake smiled. ‘We’re getting comments from the sidelines. They want me to kiss the bride.’

Dorian smiled, too, and blinked back the tears burning in her eyes.

‘Then do it,’ she said lightly.

Jake bent to her and kissed her. It was a kiss meant for the crowd, and they responded to it with good-natured laughter and a smattering of applause. Off in the distance, the balalaika began playing again, joined now by a drum and tambourine, and suddenly Jake swung her up into his arms.

‘Jake? What are you doing?’

‘Claiming my bride,’ he whispered, and his mouth dropped to hers again.

The crowd cheered and parted for him as he strode through it, and all the while he never stopped kissing her. It was part of their performance, she knew that; she told herself that she was only doing her bit when she wound her arms around his neck and kissed him back. The charade would end once they’d left the bonfires—and the crowd—behind.

But it didn’t end; it changed, instead, so that by the time they’d reached the darkness of their tent Jake was kissing her with a hungry passion. He lowered her to her feet slowly, letting her body slide down the hard length of his, and she knew without question how much he wanted her.

Not that it was a surprise: he’d wanted her from the start—he’d been honest about that.

Now they were alone, a million miles from reality.

Why wouldn’t he want to play this game to its end?

She wouldn’t let him, though. To let him make love to her would only make their parting more difficult. It would only make forgetting what had happened this night impossible.

That was what her head was telling her. But her body wasn’t listening to her head—it was responding wildly to Jake’s touch, to his taste and smell, it was warming under the soft stroke of his hand, quickening under the cleverness of his fingers.

His mouth was hot and open against hers. She made a little whimpering sound as his tongue explored hers. Slowly, inexorably, her hands lifted to his head and her fingers curled tightly into his dark hair.

Jake shuddered at her touch. ‘Yes,’ he whispered.

Her head fell back as he bent to her and pressed kisses against her throat. His teeth bit gently at the swelling flesh above her gown’s neckline.

‘I’ve never wanted a woman as I want you,’ he whispered. He cupped her buttocks and brought her tightly against him. ‘Feel what you do to me, kitten.’

She felt it: the heat, the hardness. And she wanted that, she wanted the tightly leashed power of him in her arms and in her body, she wanted…

‘This is our wedding night, kitten. How can we deny what we feel on a night such as this?’

Dorian felt the sharp sting of tears. ‘Our wedding night,’ he’d said. But it wasn’t that at all; it was only a sham. But if she let him take her, if she let him make this a night she could never forget…

‘Tell me you want me as much as I want you,’ he said softly.

‘No. Jake, I—I can’t.’

His fingers were moving down her spine; she felt the coolness of the night air on her skin.

‘Jake, you mustn’t. Please—’

But her whispered protest was meaningless; it hadn’t the power to stand up to his kisses or his caresses. Her gown floated to her ankles like a gentle snowfall. She moaned softly as Jake’s hands began moving over her.

‘I can feel your desire, kitten,’ he said softly. She stood, trembling, while his fingers brushed lightly across her budded nipples. ‘Here,’ he said, ‘and here…’

She cried out as he touched the dampness of her womanhood. ‘Oh, Jake. Jake, I—I can’t…’

‘You can.’ His whispered words were fierce. ‘You’re my wife, kitten. You belong to me now.’

‘You belong to me.’ How barbaric those words had sounded, only a little while ago. Now—now, they sent a tremor of longing spiralling through her. If only she did belong to him. If only—if only all of this were real. If only…

A match hissed in the darkness. She blinked. Jake stood in a pool of golden candle-light, watching her.

‘Ah, kitten,’ he whispered, ‘you’re so beautiful.’

Was she? Suddenly, she wanted to be beautiful, she wanted to be everything Jake could ever desire in a woman.

He took her hand and drew her gently to him.

‘Undress me,’ he said softly.

&nbs

p; Her fingers shook as she undid the first button of his shirt and then the next. Jake caught his breath as she touched his skin; he clasped her wrist, brought her hand to his lips, and pressed his mouth to her palm. His clothing fell away as hers had, until finally he stood proud and unashamed in the candle’s glow.

He was beautiful, too; she wanted to tell him that. But how could she talk when his hands and mouth were searching out all her secrets? She was a creature made of crystal and air, shimmering with light and desire, and when he drew her down with him into the darkness she was trembling.

‘Dorian,’ he whispered. ‘My wife.’

His kisses were flames burning her skin everywhere, his whispers promises of pleasures yet to come. Moaning, she moved against him, her body on fire, her hands learning the hardness of silken skin stretched taut over muscle.

When he entered her she cried out, a long, keening sigh that broke from her throat in wonder. Trembling, she called out his name and he held her close, his body shaking, too, as he fought for control.

‘Slowly, kitten,’ he whispered into her throat. ‘We have the whole night for love.’

A night. What was one night, when she wanted forever? And they had forever, she thought suddenly. There were things to sort out, but Jake—Jake…

‘Ohhh.’

Her cry rose into the darkness and was captured in Jake’s kiss. I love you, she thought—and then she was beyond thought: she was adrift in the night and the darkness, guided only by the sweet, fierce power that filled her.

* * *

The tent was dark when she came awake, stirred from sleep by his caress.

‘Mmm,’ she sighed, her mouth pressed to his throat.

Jake kissed her. ‘Sleepyhead,’ he whispered as his hand moved over her, his fingers stroking lightly across her nipples. ‘So you’re finally awake, hmm?’

Dorian smiled. ‘How could I not be?’ Her breath caught as he trailed his fingers down her belly. ‘It’s very hard to sleep when you’re—when you’re doing that…’

‘It’s hard to sleep when you’re in my arms, kitten,’ he whispered. ‘It seems a shame to waste this night.’

This night. Was he telling her that this night was all they had?