Rowena's Key Read online

  Her insides liquified. Oh God, she would never last. Not with the way her blood drummed a rhythm of need. Not with how her core pulsed and quivered, ready for whatever pleasures he might offer.

  Hunger flared in his eyes as she scraped her nails up his straining arms. He moaned and his jaw clenched when she continued along the width of his broad shoulders, down the contours of his chest, until her fingers trailed through the velvety hair beneath his bellybutton. The planes of his stomach contracted, rock hard under her hands. She prodded the firm ridge of muscle on each side of his hips with her thumbs. A fascinating web of little blue veins popped in his abdomen, disappearing in a delightful trail under the band of his leather pants.

  She swallowed a whimper, anxious to discover where they led. A twirl of her fingers through the laces on each side of his waist and she yanked, loosening the last restriction denying her access to every last inch of his glorious male form.

  Her heart pounded with anticipation. She snaked her hands inside the back of his breeches and he inhaled sharply. His eyelids fluttered closed as she dug her fingers into the curves of his perfectly formed ass. Smooth skin covered hard muscle, flexing against her palms. He swayed, his hips grinding. The motion eased the tight fit of leather. She urged the material down with the backs of her hands until his pants lowered and his distended cock sprang free.

  Beautiful. Veined and hard. She bit her lower lip. And huge.

  The dense hair at its base snared her attention and she licked her lips, curling her fingers around his turgid length. She would stroke him higher, until he teetered with her on the edge of release.

  The rapturous texture of satin over steel glided along her palm. The bulbous tip slid like silk when she swept her thumb back and forth over the swollen ridge.

  He groaned and rocked forward, returning her hand down his shaft. The head of his erection prodded the hidden bud between her legs. Ecstasy jolted through her limbs and she arched high. The craving for more tightened her inner thighs. A delicate tingling warmed the arches of her feet. Her hips jerked and she shuddered when he dragged the heated length of his cock through the moisture coating her folds.

  Hips rolling, legs shifting, he worked his breeches down his thighs, past his ankles and off his feet.

  Any pretense at patience vanished the moment his naked body fell on top of hers. Spearing his fingers through her hair, he captured her lips with his. The tip of his tongue swept the roof of her mouth. The ball of his thumb met the edge of her chin and he angled her head back and forth, controlling their kiss, his mouth slanting over hers as he devoured her lips.

  Clasping the rock-hard swell of his biceps, she met him stroke for stroke, enthralled by the taste of him—green earth and fresh sunlight, a soft mountain breeze imbued with the promise of spring.

  His hand left her throat. Sparks sizzled behind her closed eyelids when his warm fingers tightened around her ribcage, trapping her in place as his mouth danced a moist path to her breast. He nudged the key aside with his nose and latched onto her nipple. She burrowed her hands in his sleek mane, fisting the strands, holding him in place as he sucked and teased the tight peak. His tongue swirled. The graze of his teeth arrowed straight to her pulsing clit.

  Lips pursed, he blew a hot breath across her damp skin. Her nipple stiffened to the point of pleasure-pain. His fingers skimmed down between her legs and she writhed on the brink of bliss. The pad of this thumb tapped her aching bundle of nerves. A small circle and he coaxed her higher. She filled her lungs and held tight.

  His daring tongue swept lower, looped a hot trail around her navel. The flat of his hand pressed her thigh, urging her legs wider as he descended.

  She seized his shoulders and lifted him back to her lips, wrapping her arms around his neck. Body, heart and soul, everything she was belonged to him. But she wanted their first time to be together, a fulfillment of both their needs. A consummation of their love they could share into the future. “Stay with me,” she whispered.

  He tended her lips with a gentle kiss before he withdrew, just enough to meet her gaze. An amused frown creased the skin of his forehead. “I am with you, my love.” He removed her hand from the nape of his neck and pressed a kiss to her fingers. “Yet I long to satisfy your every desire.”

  “And I yours.” She cupped his cheek, smiling into his eyes. This was their chance at forevermore. “Don’t you see? I want this to be a special memory for both of us. A joining of our lives we will always remember.” She skimmed her thumb along his high cheekbone. “If you truly want to satisfy me, then you’ll take me, my prince. Give me your heart as I give mine, and together we’ll bask in our love.”

  He grinned, then chuckled, his hold tightening around her waist. “I do believe you’ve become somewhat accustomed to my dialect.”

  Her jaw dropped. He was making fun of her? All his flowery dialogue and he was making fun of her?

  She shoved his shoulders and squirmed beneath him, trying to break free, but she might as well have been fighting the constraints of a straight jacket. He captured her wrists and pinned them to the bed on either side of her head.

  “And as your prince, I shall take you as you so eloquently command.” He lowered his lips to hers and all her exasperation melted when the supple curve of his bottom lip brushed hers. “As often as you wish.” A nip to the edge of her chin and his tongue soothed the slight sting. “In whatever way you wish.” He released her wrists and floated his palms down her forearms, along the sides of her breasts to her waist. “Until Helios no longer reigns in the sky.”

  Gripping her hips, he angled her bottom off the bed and slowly sheathed his body with hers.

  Her back bowed. She squeezed her eyes tight. A heady pulse throbbed even as the taut fit of him brought her a moment of sweet pain. Her head rolled to the side and she suppressed a moan as he withdrew. No, she needed him back. Wanted more of him. All of him.

  He clasped her jaw and returned her lips to his, the flick of his tongue the perfect calming caress to her senses. “Look at me,” he breathed.

  She blinked and stayed riveted to his eyes as he eased in a second time, deeper, stretching her to accommodate his length. A groan gathered strength in his chest as he nudged a place high inside her, but he kept their bodies joined. She drew her bottom lip between her teeth and bit down against the urge to quicken their pace.

  Slow…too slow. He was going to drive her mad. She bucked against him, fisting the blankets, seeking pressure where she needed it most.

  He heeded her silent plea and slipped a hand between their bodies. The ball of his thumb pressed her aching bud, rubbing and tapping, urging her ever nearer a shuddering release. Her skin heated. Moisture pooled and he rolled his hips, caressing her inner walls. A quiver spasmed and a predatory growl rasped from his throat.

  He wound an arm under her lower back, deepening the angle, but still he didn’t move.

  “Caedmon…I can’t. Please. I need…”

  Something inside him seemed to snap. He crawled to his knees, wrenched her pelvis onto his thighs and drove into her, each thrust transporting her closer to ecstasy. The musky scent of his skin, the tight, slippery friction. The smooth ridges of his cock propelling her toward nirvana.

  She sprang up from the bed, cinching her arms and legs around him. He dug his fingers into her hips. A hot coil tightened on an oncoming thrill as he ground into her with increasing speed.

  The swift jerk of his hips, an explosion of light, and she was tossed freefalling into a bottomless abyss. Her fingertips went numb. Caedmon throbbed and pulsed within her. She tossed her head back as wave after wave of release swept through her flesh.

  Her prince shuddered and fell forward, his body covering hers as they collapsed to the bed. “Sweet tits of the nine,” he whispered into her hair. His heart raced and the shallow vibrations echoed the erratic rhythm in her chest. “You have ruined me for all eternity.”

  She chuckled against the damp skin of his neck. God, she did love him. He
was everything she imagined and more.

  Another laugh shook her shoulders as he rolled to the bed and stared at the ceiling, a hand resting on the labored rise and fall of his chest. He pushed up on one elbow, grasped her opposite hip and tugged her close. His index finger trailed a naughty path down the center of her chest and he circled her nipple, an eyebrow twitching when the sensitive ring sprang to attention.

  If he didn’t stop, they were never going to leave the bed.

  “Again, my love?”

  Which was just fine by her. “Give me ten minutes.”

  He cupped her jaw and lowered his lips to hers, his thumb grazing the side of her cheek. They shared a lingering kiss before she glanced down at the key nestled between her breasts.

  She sat up and Caedmon quickly followed suit, smoothing a palm down the length of her hair. She fingered the mysterious treasure that had brought them together. Strange. After wearing it only three days, to willingly be separated from it somehow seemed…wrong.

  “What is it?”

  But she’d made a promise. “Nothing.” She swept the chain over her head and carefully lowered it onto his shoulders. “Here. I think this belongs to you.”

  He scooped the key into his palm and bounced his hand, flipping the sides over and back again. “These markings. What is RAL, my love?”

  She shrugged. “The nearest I can guess, those are my initials. Rowena Analiese Lindstrom at your service, Your Highness.”

  He grinned and leaned in for a kiss, but before his lips made contact, a deep rumbling shook the bed. Rowena clutched his shoulder and he steadied her in his arms as the floor pitched and heaved. On the back of the armoire door, a pinpoint of laser light zipped around the edge of the mirror’s frame. The view of her bedroom rippled, like a pebble had been thrown into the surface of a pond.

  She and Caedmon exchanged a wide-eyed glance before scrambling from the bed. Wrapping herself in his fur-trimmed bedspread, she lurched across the room, fighting gravity and the undulating floor. He rammed his legs into his breeches, jerked them to his waist and rushed to stand behind her, wrapping her in his arms.

  Knees locked, leaning heavily against the hard wall of Caedmon’s chest, she jerked her head around when a leaded glass bottle rattled to the corner of his desk and tumbled off the edge. The inkwell exploded. Black ink sprayed across the floor.

  He tightened his arms at her waist and his lips met her ear. “The veil closes,” he whispered. “If you lament crossing, you have but a moment to return.”

  She clasped his arms more securely around her. She regretted nothing. Here, with Caedmon, was where she truly belonged. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  He dropped his head and dotted soft kisses along the length of her shoulder, snuck his hand inside the blanket and smoothed his palm up to her breast. Wiggling her hips, she seated her bottom more firmly against him, and then chuckled when he expelled a hot moan in her ear.

  The image in the mirror doubled then cleared and, for the flash of an instant, she and Caedmon stood centered within the glass.

  Rowena inhaled sharply. She squinted and tried to concentrate though the surface swam in and out of focus. Her hair. The color had lightened to brilliant white-blonde, just like when she was a child. And her skin. Alabaster white. She traced a fingertip down the side of her cheek. Not a blemish or a scar. No freckles, not even the slightest crease marred the corners of her eyes. The only color was the pale green of her irises, a set of dark, ruby lips.

  How could this be? Traveling the veil…maybe in the process all her imperfections had been erased. She’d gone back through time and emerged the other side untainted, as if her previous years on earth never existed.

  The mirror cracked and splintered. She flinched and pressed two fingertips to her forehead. Something was wrong. Pressure coalesced to a grating vortex inside her skull. She buried her face in her hands and doubled over when the pain increased. A heavy pounding rattled Caedmon’s bedroom door. Dread leeched into her stomach like a bitter poison. Her thoughts jumbled and she was unable to sort them out.

  A shard of glass exploded from the mirror. She was wrenched back. Two powerfully muscled arms shielded her. The heat of honey-brown skin covered her body. What was happening? A splitting throb wracked the recesses of her mind. She shrieked and thrashed when flashes of her life collided and eddied in her brain. None of this made sense! Where the hell was she?

  The door burst open and a team of heavily guarded men stormed through the door. The young man on top of her crawled to his feet and lifted her from the cold, stone floor.

  “My love.” He cupped her face in his hands. “What is it? What troubles you?”

  She grimaced and clenched his arm against another bolt of excruciating torture. A blood-curdling scream scored the back of her throat. Like threads of gossamer, the past disintegrated and floated to nonexistence in her mind. Her knees buckled and she wavered unsteadily. Exhaustion swooped in, stealing her will to stand.

  The man before her whisked her forward and clasped her tightly to his bare chest. “Fandorn! Bring the medicant and Wizard Fandorn immediately!”

  Through the shadows of her lashes, the guards parted and an elderly gentleman bearing a gold crown stepped through the crowd. Behind him trailed a tall, gangly man with a long gray beard.

  A draft of cool air wafted past her ankles and she shivered uncontrollably. None of this was right. No, no, these people, this place. Everything seemed foreign…surreal. And who was this person? Why did he hold her as if they knew each other?

  The king slapped a hand to the young man’s shoulder and a full grin creased his weathered face. “By the great path of Helios, you did it, my boy. Many said the key would never cross into our realm.”

  The young man shrugged off the offending appendage and faced the bearded elder. “Something is wrong with her, Fandorn. What has happened?”

  He dropped his focus to the floor and slightly bowed. “The veil has wiped her memories, Your Highness.”

  Terror clawed at her consciousness. The room spun and her lungs refused to expand. My God, he was right. She remembered nothing but the past few moments.

  Her protector’s eyes widened in alarm and he cinched her tighter in his arms. “You knew this? You knew, yet you still bade me tread such a traitorous path?”

  “I am deeply sorry, my prince.” The one named Fandorn bowed low a second time. “I remained silent only to increase your chance at success.”

  The king stepped forward. “The sorceress is no longer our concern. You must ride out at once, Caedmon. Make our victory known.”

  Sorceress? What the hell was he talking about? A soft whisper swept the back of her mind. …Caedmon… She searched for some recognition, but the effort caused an intense hammering behind her eyes and all logical thought slipped like strands of silk through her fingers.

  The name meant nothing. She stood in a stranger’s arms.

  “I will do no such thing.” He placed a protective hand on her head. “She is in pain. She denied everything for us. I cannot now leave her side.”

  “You can and you will. The fate of our country rests upon your neck.” The king flicked a finger and two of the guards stepped forward. They wrestled her out of the young man’s grasp, pinned his arms behind his back and dragged him away from her.

  She wrapped the blanket more securely around her at the absence of his warmth. The void seemed almost too much to bear, but her instincts made no sense. How could she miss someone she’d never met?

  He broke free and with one jab of his elbow, the first guard crumpled, wailing and clutching the bleeding remains of his broken nose. A kick of her protector’s booted heel and the other guard fell to his knees, collapsed onto his side and moaned, holding his stomach.

  She slowly retreated from the gruesome scene. Didn’t know what to do or where she could hide. Anyone who could inflict such damage so quickly was dangerous, and yet this brutal man seemed the only one bent on defending her.

 
He strode forward, her heart pounding over the way he kept her leveled in his gaze, how his jaw was set in grim determination. Before he reached her side, four more guards leapt from the mob and blocked this path.

  “Yield!” The wizard held up a hand and his voice boomed throughout the chamber. The one named Caedmon froze midstride and, though he gnashed his teeth and rage glinted in his eyes, he did not move.

  “Release me at once, Wizard, or at my first opportunity I shall cleave your head from your shoulders.”

  What? What kind of person made threats like that? She glanced around the tense faces in the room. If only someone would explain what all this meant, then maybe she would know what to do!

  The wizard sighed and shook his head. “I must accompany your garrison to the front lines, but I vow to you, Caedmon, no harm shall come to the sorceress whilst we are away. Let us be rid of this nefarious duty. The sooner begun, the sooner you may return to her aide.”

  Caedmon shifted his focus to her and she withdrew another step, shying away from his penetrating stare. She was not a sorceress. And these people were wrong. All of this was terribly, terribly wrong. She shook her head as a tear tumbled onto her cheek. She didn’t belong here. This was not her home.

  “I only wish to bid her farewell. Now leave my chamber, all of you, and I shall ride out before the setting bell.”

  “You will come with us now and return whence your task is accomplished.” The king beckoned the guards forward with two fingers and a dozen men enclosed the warrior prince in a tight clutch.

  The wizard waved his hand and the young man lunged forward. He fought to break through the ranks, but several men held him firm, pressing him backward through the door.

  “I will return,” he shouted, the muscles in his chest straining against his oppressors’ grappling hands. “Await me in this chamber, my love, and I shall hasten to your side.”

  The king tossed her a glance over his shoulder and followed his guards through the door. The wizard followed quickly at his heels, the rest of the armed men shuffled out, and she jumped when the door slammed behind them.