When his gaze returned to her eyes, his expression was unreadable, and Rachel wondered if she’d just made an idiot of herself. She suddenly wanted to turn around and flee.
“My deepest apologizes for not accompanying you on your ride here. I only just arrived,” he said as he held out his arm.
Did she take it and swiftly move forward on her mission, or did she bolt the way she so wanted to do?
She took his arm.
“Nico has been a fine escort. Thank you, Nico,” she said, impulsively leaning over and kissing the man’s cheek. Much to her amazement, the king’s always confident adviser blushed deeply as he looked down and cleared his throat.
“The pleasure of escorting you here was all mine,” he murmured before looking back up and smiling.
“Thank you for bringing her safely, Nico. You may take the rest of the night off,” Adriane said.
Rachel wanted to grab the man and prevent his departure, suddenly feeling safer in his presence. But the moment the words left Adriane’s mouth, Nico obediently turned and left her alone with the man who wanted to marry her.
They were silent as Adriane led her to the center of the room, where couples were floating around the floor in a traditional Viennese waltz. Without a word, he pulled her into his arms as the music enveloped them. Rachel melted against his chest; they spun slowly in a circle.
“I don’t know if I can last this entire event. The way you look in that dress has taken my breath away. I want nothing more right now than to take you back to the palace, carry you to my room and slowly peel the fabric away from your flushed skin and reveal your curves in all their glory. I want to bury myself inside you, and then, when it’s all over, I want to begin again, and pleasure you all through the night.”
Rachel couldn’t say a word as she looked at the raw hunger on his face, in his eyes, and in the tenseness of his mouth, and felt his arousal pressing insistently against her stomach.
After several heartbeats, she nodded her head.
For a moment, he did nothing, as if he didn’t know what she’d just said to him with her silent gesture. When she nodded again, the breath he’d been holding exploded from his lungs; his feet stopped moving, and he bent down and claimed her sweet mouth.
Rachel didn’t care that they weren’t alone. She clung on tightly and accepted his passionate kiss. Finally, tonight she would get to feel the pleasure of lying in his arms again.
The ball couldn’t end soon enough.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
“WE’RE LEAVING!”
Trembling from the power of his kiss, Rachel didn’t realize for a moment that he’d pulled back from her and now had her hand in a viselike grip as he led her through the crowded room.
“Leaving?” she asked.
“Yes. I want you in my room, on my bed, na**d and wet for me,” he said, picking up his pace even more.
Suddenly Rachel’s clothes felt like a straitjacket. She wanted them off immediately.
“Oh, don’t worry, I’m plenty wet,” she whispered, relishing the instant power she felt as his steps halted for an instant. He didn’t dare turn in her direction, but instead picked up speed again and led her through the front door.
When he called his car around, Rachel looked back. “Shouldn’t we tell someone we’re leaving?”
“No. I made my appearance; they won’t notice that I’ve gone,” he said in a strained tone.
She doubted that — everyone notices what a king does — but she was too excited to argue. She didn’t even care that she’d spent hours getting ready only to stay at the ball for about ten minutes.
After all, what she’d really been doing was preparing for a night of lovemaking, and it looked as if she was going to get exactly that.
As the car approached, he didn’t wait for his driver to open the door, but just flung it open and helped her inside, and then slid in next to her. As rushed as he was, he was surprisingly gentle.
Before the car pulled from the drive, Adriane grasped her, lifting her onto his lap as he guided her mouth to his face and meshed their heated breaths together in a tantalizing kiss that didn’t quit.
Rachel inhaled his sweet, musky scent as he ran his tongue along her lips. When he bit down softly on her lip before sucking it into his mouth, she felt her blood rush straight to her core, demanding him, now.
Her hands lifted, grabbing and tugging a fistful of his thick short hair, craving more from him. It was never enough — nothing was enough. She wanted him buried inside her while his hands stroked hungrily up and down her back. She wanted a mutual feeling of complete possession in each other’s arms.
She wanted to be held and never let go.
“The sight of you in this dress…oh, Rachel, I’ve been hard and aching since the first glance,” he gasped. “But you can wear anything and my body responds. I’ve never desired a woman so much. Never. I will make love to you long into the night. I don’t think I will ever release you from my bed.” His lips trailed down her throat and sucked on her erratically beating pulse.
Rachel tried to keep some semblance of her sanity — tried to remember that this was about more than sex — but the more places he touched her, the more he spoke, the less control she maintained.
Need.
Raw, exhilarating, thrilling need raged within her in waves and she hoped it would never, ever end.
Adriane was silent when they finally entered the palace. He shot a single look at his servants, and within seconds, he and Rachel were alone.
“I won’t stop,” he warned, as if giving her a last chance to back out.
Rachel didn’t understand why he would give her an out after he’d been waiting for so long, but she was grateful for the consideration. A man who didn’t care wouldn’t have given her the chance to change her mind, would he? She didn’t think so.
“Why are you still talking?” she asked, batting her eyes and letting him know with nothing other than the intense yearning in her features how much she wanted him.
Victory flashed in his eyes for the briefest of moments, replaced by a molten need. She’d given him an answer to his unasked question. She wasn’t going to pull away from him this time.
Without even giving her time to blink, Adriane lifted her into his arms and then began up the staircase, quickly ascending and then winding his way through the hallways, breathing heavily, though not from exertion, as he reached his massive bedroom doors, so lost in his haze of passion, he forgot all about his promise of not taking her to his chambers until after the wedding.