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An Excerpt From: PRIME REAPER
CHARLOTTE BOYETT-COMPO.
All Rights Reserved, 2006
Her skin was as soft as silk and as he dragged his
rough, calloused palm over that sweet expanse, he shuddered from the strong
emotions roiling through him—emotions he had never experienced before and
that could bring him to his knees if he but let them. There was such
protectiveness, such possessiveness churning within his body and soul that
he could barely draw breath. Not once in his life had he ever held such a
treasure in his arms—had never expected to, had not wanted to—and now that
it was in his grasp, he would ruthlessly kill anything or anyone who tried
to take it from him.
She was his treasure, his priceless jewel.
She was his wife.
Carrying her over the threshold, he kicked the door shut
with his boot, wincing at the too loud sound it made.
“They’ll think we’re eager, mo shearc,” she said
with a giggle.
Hearing her call him her love sent waves of pride
coursing through the Reaper. He paused on the way to the bed and looked
down at her. “Do you care, wench?” he asked, his eyes burning into hers.
Danielle’s slow, saucy smile made his groin tighten
painfully. “If I’d cared, I wouldn’t have chased your uptight ass all over
Haines City until you caught me,” she responded.
The Reaper arched a dark brow. “Who put that notion into
your head, may I ask?”
“To chase you?” she asked, caressing the hair at the
back of his neck.
“That you chased me until I caught you,” he countered.
“Sounds like something Aingeal Cree would say.”
“Mayhaps she might have suggested it,” Danielle replied.
“Aye, I figured as much,” he said, and continued over to
the bed. With deliberate slowness, he let her slide down his body until her
feet touched the floor. His arms still around her, he held her to him,
gazing down into her upturned face. “Mayhaps you should take what Aingeal
says with a grain of salt, wench.”
She smiled and lifted a hand to his lean jaw to caress
him. “Then I should be afraid of you, milord?” she asked softly.
Arawn’s brows drew together. “Why should you be?”
Danielle pressed close against him. “You said not to pay
heed to Aingeal’s words, yet she was quick to say I should not fear you or
what a man and woman do in the privacy of their room.” She lowered her chin
then looked up at him through her lashes. “Should I tremble at what you
have in store for me this eve?”
Caught in a trap he had a notion had been lying in wait
for him, he shook his head. “Wench, the only trembling you will do this eve
is with pleasure. I’d no more cause you hurt than I would slam my dangly
with the door a’purpose.”
Danielle giggled. “I would hope not, mo shearc,”
she said. “That would make it hard for you to make me yours I’d think.”
Shaking his head at her impish look, he moved his hands
to her shoulders. “You’re going to be a handful, aren’t you?” he queried.
“Aye,” she agreed, “but I’ll be your handful.” She
stepped back away from his light hold and turned her back. “Undo me,
please?”
A shaft of heat careened through the Reaper and he was
shocked to see his hands trembling as he lifted them to the long row of
tiny buttons that held the back of her gown together. He felt clumsy and
inadequate as he worked them apart, aching to simply grab the neckline and
rip the garment from her.
“Where will we be living, milord?” she asked. She ran a
hand over her side, easing a twinge that plagued her from time to time.
He looked up and realized he could see the two of them
in the mirror above the dresser across the room. She met his gaze with her
head tilted to one side as she waited for his answer.
Having to concentrate on the small buttons he was
undoing, he had to look away from her to watch what he was about. “I have
an apartment in the Citadel,” he answered. “Outside the apartments of the
Shadowlords, because I’m the Prime it is the most opulent. I think you’ll
like it there.” He glanced at the mirror to see she had tucked her lower
lip between her teeth. “Is that a problem?”
“We won’t be living in Haines City?” she asked.
Arawn shook his head. “Cynyr has been given this place
as his home base. If you want to live out west, it will have to be in
another territory.”
“Such as?”
He had undone enough buttons down her back that he could
see the pale blue silk camisole beneath the gown. It caused another shaft
of lust to ripple along his nerve endings.
The Reaper frowned. “I don’t know, wench. That would
depend on the Shadowlords. I will be stationed where they choose. If they
are agreeable to me going west, it might be Oklaks, Moilia or Nemcone.
Bevyn’s home base is in the Armistenky Territory but he’s at the Citadel
more than he’s home.”
“He told me Lea likes it at the Citadel,” Danielle told
him.
“Mayhaps you will too,” he said as he undid the last
button. He had no desire to live anywhere else but if his lady would be
unhappy at the fortress of the Shadowlords, he would live with her
elsewhere.
“We’ll see,” she said, and continued to stand with her
back to him. “Will you help me undress, Ari?”
He nearly groaned at her use of the nickname his fellow
Reapers called him. It sent shivers of delight through him and made his
heart swell. Feeling like an untried youth, he put his hands on the top of
her dress and eased it down her arms, down her hips, holding his breath as
the creamy smoothness of her back was revealed to him. Lowering his head,
he placed a soft kiss at the juncture of her shoulder and neck as the gown
slid into a silken pool at her feet.
“Umm,” his lady said.
“Like that?” he asked in a throaty voice.
“Very much.”
He hooked his thumbs into the waistband of her petticoat
and tugged it downward over her lush hips, allowing it to fall atop the
gown as it slid down her legs. Heat coursed through his cock when he caught
sight of the white lace garter belt that held up her silk stockings.
Moving his lips along her silky neck, he worked his way
up to the curve of her ear and then took the tender flesh of her earlobe
between his teeth, grinning at the little squirm that pushed her backside
against his hardening erection.
“I’ll give you an hour to stop that,” she told him.
He chuckled as he slipped his tongue into her ear,
exhaling softly.
“Ari!” she whimpered.
“Danni!” he responded, and snaked his arms around her
waist to pull her taut against him, rubbing his hardness across her rump.
“Oh god!” she said, and felt her knees giving way
beneath her.
Laughing, he dipped his knees and swung her up into his
arms, stepping forward to lay her on their bed as gently as though she were
a fragile piece of spun glass.
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