“Sweetheart, this is King Roman,” I hear our mother say.

I glance over at her and see she’s got a giant smile on her face. She’s all too happy to pass her daughter off so easily. She doesn’t care if Alena even wants to go. No, not my mother. I stare at her for a moment, and for the first time, I really feel hate for her.

Lost in my reverie, I miss Roman come flying across the room. He grabs Alena, who was tripping over her own shoes. He pulls her towards him, and I watch my sister melt into him as if she’s done it a thousand times.

I glance back to my mystery man, who’s now moved closer. He stares right at me. I feel like he can see though my clothes. His gaze roams over me as if he owns me, as if he has personal knowledge of my body. I’m used to men looking at me, but this feels different. I know he wants me, but it’s more than that. He wants to own me. The thought should piss me off. It’s why I’ve never liked this arranged marriage crap. A man showing up and taking me just isn’t going to happen. But why now, with this stranger, am I feeling a tingling all over my body at the thought?

“Hi,” I hear Al say, and it pulls my eyes reluctantly away from the man.

Her voice is awkward and doesn’t sound anything like her. I can’t help but snort. I know the sound gets her, because she starts to fight a laugh.

“Tabby,” she says, her eyes still locked with Roman’s. I’m a little shocked she’s holding his stare. “I think our plan is working.”

His eyes narrow on her. It takes everything in me not to burst into laughter. I can feel my body shaking, wanting to let the laughter go, but I fight it back.

“You can’t say that out loud. He can hear you,” I say out of the corner of my mouth, but I know everyone can hear me.

I sneak a glance at my green-eyed mystery man, wanting to focus my attention on him again, wanting to make sure those eyes are still on me. Damn, maybe I’m starting to feel that ownership crap, too. Yep, eyes still on me, only this time he’s smiling at me. It makes him not look so deadly. Unlike Alena, I can’t hold a stare, so I look away, feeling my face heat at being caught ogling him. I’m never shy, but something about him makes me feel that way.

“Roman.” My mystery man speaks for the first time. “I think she’s good.” I glance back to Alena, who’s still in King Roman’s arms, feet dangling off the ground. He places her on her feet and takes a step back. I can tell he’s fighting it. He doesn’t want to let her go.

“Tabby?” Roman says my nickname but doesn’t look at me. He won’t look away from his betrothed.

“No, I’m Alena.” My sister corrects him like she thinks it’s an honest mistake. Yeah right, this man knows who she is. If I had to guess, from the way he’s acting he knows everything about her.

“I know who you are, my princess.” He looks over at me, taking his eyes off Alena for the first time since we walked into the room. “Tabitha.” He says my full name this time. Only Alena calls me Tabby. “Can you take my princess to her room to remove these ridiculous shoes before she hurts herself?”

“Hey, she isn’t my servant,” Al snaps at him, and I watch her square her shoulders in a very un-Alena-like way.

“I help Alena with stuff all the time.” I jump in. Maybe if he thinks she needs me, I can go with them when they marry. It would be a fight with my parents because they want to marry me off, too, but Roman is very powerful. Alena frowns at my random comment, clearly not getting it. I can tell this man will do anything to have her, so maybe now I can convince him that I need to go with her. That’s what’s really been bothering us this whole time - the thought of no longer having each other. It’s always been Al and me.

“Then help her remove the layer of what’s painted on her face as well,” Roman adds.

Alena takes a step back from him, and I think she wants to smack him. She isn’t seeing what I’m seeing. I’m guessing he’s seen pictures of her before and he wants that Al. Not this made-up one we created in hopes of scaring him away. I kind of like that.

“Alena. Do as you’re told,” our mother half-whispers, half-scolds. Her scolding tone is no different, even in front of a king. I can’t fight my eye roll.

Roman turns to look at our mother. Her face is scrunched, and I can tell she’s pissed. We’re going to get it later.

“You don’t give her orders. She will be Queen in one week’s time. She doesn’t take orders.” Roman’s voice is stern and final. He just gave her a command, and it will be followed. He earned a few points in my book right there. He stood up for her and put our mother in her place.

“Except from you, I guess,” I hear Alena say, looking down at the floor and taking another step back from Roman. Clearly she’s trying to get space from him.

“All your whispers are too loud. Keep them in your head,” I tell her, a little too loudly myself. Crap, we are terrible at this.

“Alena,” Roman says, drawing our attention. He doesn’t look mad. In fact, he looks like he’s fighting a smile. Yep, we are definitely terrible at this.

“Please.” The word, laced with urgency, comes from his lips, and I can tell it’s not a word he uses often.

Al grabs my hand and pulls me from the room, clearly wanting to escape. I glance back over my shoulder to my mystery man. I don’t know his name, but from the look on his face, I don’t think I will ever escape him.

Chapter Two

Vlad

By the time the ladies come back downstairs, it’s time for dinner. We each take a seat at the table, and I choose the chair directly across from Tabitha. Her dark hair is in waves down her back, and I clench my fingers into fists with the ache to grip it.

She doesn’t look like a demure, staid princess. Her lush curves are like something out of a pinup magazine. Her body is made for sinful deeds, and my cock thickens with desire like it never has before.

She raises an eyebrow at me, and I see a spark in her eyes. There’s a challenge there, but I don’t think she’s prepared to have it answered. Not yet. She has no idea what temping me will do. I’m a man who’s forgotten his own needs, and suddenly they’re alive and demanding.

I wink at her and bite my bottom lip to keep from smiling. I want to go to the other side of the table and pull her into my lap. I came tonight to help my king meet his bride and offer assistance. As the head of his security, I never put much thought into my own future. I was always thinking of his. But one look at sweet Tabitha and I know what I want. All this time I’ve just been waiting. Before now I’d never seen a woman who made me want more. Until her.

Dinner is slow, and the table that separates us is an irritation. I watch Roman exchange a few words with the mother and then Alena before he’s out of his chair. I stand, joining him before he even says my name.

“Vlad.” Roman calls for me.

I step forward, ready to do my king’s bidding, but also to move closer to Tabitha. I’ll use any excuse to get next to her. She stands and follows as we exit the dining room so that Roman can have a moment alone with his b

ride.

If anything, he’s traditional. He won’t take Alena on a walk alone as they aren’t married yet. So they’ll need someone to go with them, although if Roman wants something, he’s going to get it.

“I will escort Princess Tabitha from a short distance,” I say, taking her hand in mine.

The feeling of life pulses in my hand as her fingers wrap around mine. There is heat and passion in her veins, and I crave her. I’m desperate to pull her to me and taste it.

I hear Roman talking to Princess Alena and walk slowly behind. I glance down at the beauty next to me, and suddenly my chest hurts. It’s a thought that didn’t occur to me earlier. Only that I wanted her and I intended to claim her.

Tabitha is of royal blood, and I’m not. She’s a princess who could very well be destined to marry a king. She could be out of my grasp. For a moment, the thought of her with someone else is overwhelming, and I want to murder every possible candidate. I push the dark thoughts out of my head because there is nothing I can do about it right now.

Glancing up, I see Roman nod at me, and I pause my steps. Tabitha comes to a stop beside me as my king takes his bride to the fountain. We are beyond a ring of tulip trees that are in full blossom. The deep purple in the moonlight makes Tabitha look like a goddess sent from heaven.

“Are you trying to get me alone?” she asks as she steps away from me and walks over to one of the trees.

The petals of the flowers are all around her, and the vision makes every inch of my body hungry.

“Sweet Tabby,” I say, walking over to her. “I don’t believe we’ve been property introduced.”

I push her up against the tree and wrap my arms around her. I press my hardness against her body and feel her soft curves welcoming me.

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