Fit for a King (18 page)

Diana
Palmer

his mouth gently
teased it. He lifted his head just
enough to look, to watch his subtle
tracing shatter her composure and bring a mist of tears to her blue eyes.
"Don't
cry," he whispered, bending to touch his
mouth to her eyelids
and taste the salty moisture

there.

"I
hate you," she whimpered huskily.

He smiled indulgently.
"No, you don't. You hate
being vulnerable. So do I. But we enjoy each
other
too much to deny ourselves this pleasure. And it is
pleasure,
isn't it, Elissa?" he whispered over her
mouth. "Such
wild, sweet pleasure."

"But—"

He
covered the word with his lips, brushing her
mouth open with lazy,
expert movements that made
her body burn. She tried to protest, but he
kept at it,
slowing his movements, deepening them, tormenting
her with
little shivers of sensation that made her wild.
He'd never kissed her
like this before. It was as intimate as lovemaking. More intimate. She moaned,
the sound as intimate as the kiss, as revealing as her

shudders.

His free
hand came up to her chin, cupping it, hold
ing it firm. Above
her, his body blocked out the sun,
and his face was a stranger's, hard
and faintly flushed,
his eyes almost frightening.

"Yes,"
he whispered gruffly, continuing the subtle
torment of her
mouth, watching it open, feeling its

Fit for a King

aching sensuality.
"Yes, you're ready for me, now,
aren't you? Soft and submissive...oh,
baby..."

His
tongue penetrated her mouth in one slow, sharp
thrust, his lips
crushing down on hers.

She cried
out, her trembling hands clutching his
hair, her nails
digging into his nape. She arched, shud
dering, her body in
sweet anguish as he felt her need
and answered it, his hand swallowing
her breast,
softly cradling it. Her tongue tangled with his; her
breathing
seemed to stop. It was the most incredible
sensation she'd ever
felt in her life. Like flying into
fire. Burning up. She was trembling
all over and she
couldn't stop, totally vulnerable and powerless to hide
it from
him.

She began
to cry, tears rolling down to their fever
ishly joined mouths,
sobs tearing from her throat, and
still she clung, arching her body
toward his hand.

"Elissa,"
he whispered in a tone he'd never used—
achingly tender,
almost loving.

He moved
completely onto her shaking body, his
weight exquisitely satisfying, his
mouth tender now,
his hands... He was doing something to her bodice,
and then
she felt his chest against her bare breasts, the hair on it tickling, the warm
muscles gently
spreading her swollen softness against them.

"Hold
on tight," he whispered at her lips. "Hold
me."

She
couldn't stop crying. She buried her lips in his
hot throat,
shuddering under his weight, devastated by

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Palmer

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King

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the feel of his body
in such intimacy. He was aroused,
and she felt that, too, and moaned.

"Sweet,”
he whispered at her ear, his fingers biting
inter her back.
"Sweet, sweet Elissa!"

She bit
his shoulder, a helpless reaction that she
didn't even
understand, and made a sound in her
throat that curled his toes.

"Shh,"
he murmured. His fingers came to her
cheek and soothed it, smoothing back
her damp hair.
His hand slid down to her waist and caressed it gently,
while he
whispered to her, tender little encourage
ments to relax, to
lie still, to be quiet.

By the
time she stopped shaking and could feel his
taut body relaxing
and losing its frightening hardness,
her face was drenched in tears.

He rolled
beside her then, still holding her, and
onto his back. He
pillowed her head on his shoulder,
his arms betraying a fine tremor,
while he stared
blankly up at the sky, where sea gulls dived and
called to each other against
the gray clouds.

"I
have to leave," he said after a minute, his voice
harsh. "We can't
go on like this any longer."

She knew
that instinctively. He'd gone almost too far to stop, and so had she. She
wasn't thinking anymore. Her body had a will of its own, too strong to
fight. She
closed her eyes and felt that she'd die if
she couldn't have him
just once.

"I
know," she whispered. She sat up, her breasts
swollen and slightly
red from the pressure of his lips.

"Oh,
baby," he breathed, looking as she covered them, his eyes blazing. "I
could look at you forever."

"Don't." She closed
her eyes, and he sat up, too,
fastening the
straps for her with hands that were a
little
unsteady.

"I don't know what's wrong
with me lately," he
confessed, forcing
her to look at him. "I want you to
the point of madness. You, Elissa. Not Bess." He looked down at her
shoulders, delighting in their
creamy
perfection. "I don't understand why I feel this
way, but if I don't have you, I think I'll
die."

She
understood that, because she felt the same way.
"I want you
just as much," she said quietly. "But
afterward, I'll hate
you," she added, looking up at
him. "All those years of
conditioning don't just van
ish. I'll hate you, and myself, and I don't know how
I'll live with it. But," she confessed shyly,
looking
at his chest, "I don't
know how I'll live without it."

He got to
his feet, pulling her up with him. His
face was serious now,
intent. "Come back to
Oklahoma with me."

She moved
restlessly, frightened of what they were
discussing.

"Come
with me," he repeated gently. He tilted her eyes up to his. "I
promise I won't make you pregnant.
I can't stop what's going to happen,
but I'll make sure
you're protected."

"No, I...I'll do that," she faltered. She
looked to-

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Palmer

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King

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ward the sea.
"But how will we explain to my parents
that I'm going back
with you?"

He sighed wearily and
touched her hair. "If it's any consolation, it bothers me, too." His
fingers
trailed down her cheek to her mouth, and he stared at
it until
her lips parted. "We'll tell them we may be getting engaged, and you're to
stay with my family." She looked up at him with stunned delight in her
eyes, and the sight of it made him suddenly posses
sive. He jerked her against him.

"The
hell with it—let's get married," he said sud
denly. "I can't
have Bess, and I've got to have you.
Let's do it by the book."

She
almost screamed "Yes!" at him, but she held
back, sobered by the
certainty that Bess would surely
find some way to get to him eventually. It
wouldn't
do for Elissa to marry him and create even more prob
lems. No
matter how much it hurt, she was going to
have to sink her pride
and principles and give him
the physical ease they both ached for. She
loved him.
If she had nothing else, she could have this. She could
belong to
him for a few ecstatic days, and then she
would have to pay the
piper. Somehow she'd survive
the future. She and her memories of him.

"I
won't marry you," she whispered gently. "But
I'll go with
you."

He frowned. "I don't mind—"

She put
her fingers against his mouth. "You would,
someday. Marriage should be a total
commitment, a

sacred thing, not
just a legalization of desire. I hate
what I feel for you, I hate what I'm
going to do, but
I think we'd regret marriage a lot more."

"It
would ease your conscience afterward," he said
tersely.

"And
destroy yours," she countered. "Bess may...
may be free someday.
How would you feel if you
were tied to me by then?"

His
grimace gave her the answer.
 
“It isn't
fair, ask
ing this of you."

"Life
isn't fair sometimes," she said with a sigh,
fighting tears. She
looked up at him with the anguish
of love in every line of her face. "Oh, King,"
she
whispered softly, "I want you,
too."

His hands
tightened on her arms. "Come to see the
ranch," he said,
feeling guilty but unable to stop him
self. "Just that. Maybe we can
fight it."

That gave
her a little hope. It would make it easier
to explain to her parents if she wasn't
definite about
things. She smiled.
"Okay."

He loved
the way she smiled. Her eyes brightened,
her face relaxed, she looked...beautiful.
She
was
beautiful, inside and out.
His body made an emphatic
statement
about its feelings for her, and he laughed
in spite of himself.

"I'd
better get dressed," he murmured dryly, turn
ing away. He hadn't
even been in the water, but he
was drenched with sweat anyway.

She found her patio skirt and put it on, watching

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Palmer

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King

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him pull on his
jeans. It didn't embarrass her anymore
when she knew he
wanted her. It was so natural, as
if she were already an extension of him, a physical part of
him. She loved him to distraction.

He glanced
at her, frowning at that rapt expression.
She didn't seem to be
afraid of him or nervous about
giving herself to him. Why? Did she care for him?
That made him tingle, and he turned to scoop up
his
shirt with a feeling he didn't
understand. When he
was dressed
again, he took her hand, clasping it close
in his without a single
twinge about Bess.

"If
it happens," he said without looking at her,
"I'll make sure
you never want to forget what we do
together."

"I
never would, whatever happened," she said sol
emnly.

He drew in a
steadying breath and linked his fin
gers with hers. She made him feel ten
feet tall. He couldn't understand this compulsion to make love to
her; it
wasn't only sex, but he couldn't puzzle out what else it was. He glanced down
at her slender
body, already picturing the very fluid way it was going
to become part of him. He felt a flush of warmth
from head to toe, and
it got worse when he happened
to drop his gaze to her flat stomach and
involuntarily
wondered what she'd look like with a baby in there.
His
fingers clasped hers until they hurt, and she caught at them with curious
laughter.

"What
is it?" she asked breathlessly, wondering if
he was thinking about Bess.

He
searched her eyes. "Elissa...do you like chil
dren?" he asked
slowly.

Inexplicably,
she felt deliriously happy. He'd never
asked a question like
that It gave her a little hope.
She smiled, turning back toward the house.
"Yes, of
course. I'd like at least two someday. Why?"

He didn't
answer her. His eyes were dark and trou
bled the rest of the way home. Bess said
she didn't want children. And he was shocked to discover that
he did. But he wanted them with Elissa.

He was
totally withdrawn while he waited for the
women to get supper
together, electing to watch tele
vision with Mr. Dean. A telephone call he made
a little later gave Tina the chance to ask Elissa what
was wrong.

"He's asked me to his
ranch," Elissa said with a
smile.
"I think he's worried about telling you and
Dad."

Tina
searched her daughter's face. "You're very
much in love with him,
aren't you, darling?"

Elissa sighed. "Yes. But
he...I'm not sure he feels
that way about
me."

"He
wants you." Tina smiled, but her eyes were
solemn. "Be sure,
honey. It's all too easy for a man
to be physically infatuated, with no
lasting emotion
to hold him to a woman. I like your young man very
much, but
then, he's no threat to me."