The group returned to the palace several days later without incident, and they settled into the cool comfort of Eli’s suite.

Leopold sprawled into an overstuffed chair. “Ndrek and me’ll keep an eye on Auburn. I’m guessing you got meetings to attend.”

“Tomorrow,” Eli said. “In the meantime, Sligo will give you a run down on Qumarefi security.”

“That means you’re kicking us out of your rooms.” Leopold glanced at Auburn.

“Hard for you to tour the palace in here.”

“You wanna come with us, Auburn?” Leopold asked. “Accommodations aren’t as nice, but the company’s better.”

Eli’s words dropped to a low growl. “Get out.”

Auburn squeezed the prince’s hand and smiled at Leopold. “Thank you for the kind offer, Sir Leopold, but I would prefer to stay with Prince Eli.”

Eli laced his fingers with hers. “You can see yourselves out.”

Leopold grumbled, but he led Ndrek out of the suite and closed the door behind them.

As the door closed, Eli tugged on Auburn’s fingers and pulled her into his arms. He tangled his hands in her hair as he touched his lips to hers. He’d meant the kiss to be soft, gentle, but the need that stole through him demanded more.

By the gods, he wanted her. Needed her. He deepened the kiss and claimed her mouth.

Auburn softened against him, her lips parting as she gave him all he asked. He stroked his fingers down her back, across the indentation of her waist, and over the swell of her hips. Touching, memorizing every detail of her.

Auburn was his.

To the seven hells with Daniella, the prophecy, and Tamarian politics.

He molded Auburn against him as he kissed her, as he touched and stroked her. He enjoyed the way his kisses left her breathless, and the intensity of his own need surprised him.

She spread her hands across his back, and his muscles bunched beneath her fingers as he pressed her softness against the hard wall of his chest. A quiet sigh escaped her, desire already stealing through her. He wanted to give her that and more, wanted to fill her with the golden bliss of shared pleasure.

Teasing his fingers along her heated flesh, he drank in her silken skin, the rich scent of her, and her soft moans. He lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bed, laying her down on the crisp linens as her copper hair fanned over the plump pillow. He stroked down her sensuous curves, teasing over the soft swells of her breasts and trailing over the roundness of her hips.

As he eased his fingers back up, he found the fastenings on her dress and unhooked them. A moment later, he slid the garment off her, and he sent her underpinnings after them.

Color flushed her cheeks as he paused and drank in the sight of her milk-pale skin, rich curves, and the copper curls at the juncture of her thighs.

By the gods, she was beautiful.

Need burrowed into him, but he reigned it in as he stroked up along the outside of her thigh, reaching higher until he cupped her soft breasts.

His thumbs found her pert peaks, and she moaned, arching her back and filling his hands. Kneading her soft globes, he listened to her intake of breath as he leaned forward and captured her lips with his. She yielded to him, giving him all he wanted. The feminine scent of her filled him, and he grew drunk on the taste of her.

Stripping off the rest of his clothes, he tossed them to the floor.

She reached for him, and he came, filling her arms as he parted her thighs and eased his knees between them. Her breath tangled in her throat as he opened her to him, and his weight pressed her into the bed. The light sprinkle of hair on his chest teased her sensitive mounds, and he groaned as she wriggled against the evidence of his desire cradled against her belly.

He caught her lips with his and plundered her mouth as his hands stroked her.

Auburn dug her fingers into his shoulders as she clung to him, but Eli gave her no quarter as he lavished sensation on her. Touching, caressing, searching for the places that brought soft sighs to her lips then exploiting them.

Desire flushed her skin, and she surrendered completely and totally to him.

She stroked down his back and grazed him with the tips of her nails as she teased over his hips and back up his abdomen.

By the Twins, he loved her and wanted to give her everything. As she gave everything to him.

Her questing hands ignited him, and his body responded. Eli grit his teeth to keep control. He caught Auburn’s fingers and pinned them above her head as he continued to explore her, stroking down her cheek, over her collarbone, and teasing her rosy peaks before dipping lower over her softly rounded belly.

Teasing lower still, he traced the curve of her hip and the smooth column of her thigh. He stroked the sensitive area behind her knee, and she writhed beneath him as she parted herself wider for him.

His eyes locked on hers as he teased up her thigh and over the curls at her apex. Dipping inside, he found the tiny nub secreted there and rubbed his thumb over it.

She moaned, her hands slipping from his grasp as sensation shot through her and she clung to him.

Capturing her mouth again, his lips and tongue teased her as his hand continued its ministrations. When he was certain she was ready, he eased a finger into her, and her velvety sheath tightened around him.

She opened herself further to his plundering hand, urging him forward.

Eli knew what she wanted, knew what he’d aroused in her. He slid his hand from her slickness and guided himself between her parted thighs, pressing into her and taking her completely.

She held him as he stretched her, filled her, and made her his. Her breathing hitched, then she moved beneath him. She was already learning the steps to this ancient dance.

Her throaty moan sizzled through him, and he met her, matched her, took them both further up the cliffs of passion.

His chest pressed against her softness as his arms encircled her. Taking her. Filling her over and over as the scent of vanilla and sandalwood, the sound of her pleasure, and the feel of her in his arms permeated his senses and left room for nothing but her.

Auburn tightened her arms around him, clinging to him as he heaped a rising tidal wave of desire on her. His steady thrusts drove them higher and higher, building, reaching. He plundered her softness until she soared beyond.

Gasping as she lost herself, her body arched beneath him as her passion exploded.

Her velvety sheath gripped him, caressing him in the most intimate of ways, and he couldn’t hold back any longer. Eli lost himself in her.

Falling back on the bed beside her, he gathered Auburn to him, their limbs still intertwined as he wrapped a blanket around them.

“I love you, Eli,” she whispered as she nuzzled against his chest.

He held her closer and kissed the top of her head as he watched her features soften with sleep.

“And I love you.”

The words swirled through the room, and he couldn’t deny them.

By the gods, he loved her.

A truth, a dangerous one.

He’d almost lost her. Eli closed his eyes as he waited for the waves of fear to quiet. He’d never wanted to be vulnerable again, never wanted someone to have such power over him again.

She’d crushed that plan, taking his queen and forcing him to rethink his strategy.

He didn’t care. She was alive and where she should be. Where he always wanted her to be.

With him. And safe.