Close Encounter of the Carnal Kind Read online

  Although her body was a little sore from their previous play, Marika returned the movement with a little inner-muscular squeeze. “You are very dedicated to fulfilling your mandate. Your nursery will be quite full in the next year.”

  “My nursery will need room for only one occupant.”

  Marika stilled, part of her hoping she’d translated his meaning correctly, but the other part equally dismayed. “Sire—”

  “Etienne,” he said, his voice holding a hint of warning.

  “All right, Etienne, it is your duty to impregnate as many of your wives as you can,” she said, but didn’t really mean it. The thought of him regenerating with any other woman sucked her breath from her lungs.

  “I will have only one wife—and not because I’m breeding the next generation of a ruling class.”

  Oh no! This was worse, so much worse than she’d suspected. “But it is your duty to—”

  “But not my choice. My mother chose to send me to Earth—well, she should have done her homework. America isn’t ruled by a monarchy. We elect our leaders.”

  “Oh, this isn’t good. It’s all my fault. You’re just resentful of how you were taken.”

  Etienne disengaged from her, rolled her to her back, then quickly settled his body over hers. “Lights on!”

  He hadn’t just figured out the identi-locks. Does he also know how to pilot my ship? Marika wondered, irritation overriding her need to get him to listen to sense. She glared upward, not the least surprised to greet his scowl—he was one stubborn man.

  “Cher, I’ll say this once. I nearly died fighting for what I believe in, and I lost friends to ensure that the people of a country that had been ruled by a dictator would have a choice in how they’d be governed. If I become your king, I’m betraying everything I believe in.”

  How could she make him understand? “But what about the Sister planets? What about what we believe? Without strong rulers, our civilization is vulnerable to the Gracktiles—and I can tell you now, they won’t offer us elections to decide who remains in charge.”

  “Not my problem, sweetheart. You’ll all have to figure it out yourselves. Or better yet, open up the discussion to the people.”

  She snorted. “You don’t understand our history. Our ruling class liberated us from oppression by their might, and they continued to breed the strongest warriors. Without your seed to strengthen the warrior caste—”

  “It’s not always about who has the biggest muscle, is it? If that were the case, wouldn’t I still be on my own planet?”

  That shut her up. That and the kiss he pressed to her lips. Her days as a fightership commander were numbered. She didn’t have the attention span of an argnat when he continued to stir her libidinous pot.

  Marika wrapped her arms around his strong back and opened her legs to allow him entrance.

  Just as his cock nudged her weeping portal, a siren blared its warning.

  “What the—” Etienne began.

  Marika shoved him away and rolled off the bed. “Carillon, report!” she shouted to the intercom in the ceiling as she hurriedly pulled on her uniform.

  “Riska, the queen’s sent an escort. Get the king ready for transport.”

  Chapter Four

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  Etienne paced the length of the solar, unaware of the opulence of his surroundings, wishing the coming minutes were already over. How long did it take to escort one slim girl from the military base?

  “Son, you weary me. Come sit beside me. Your little fighter will be here any moment now.”

  He turned to the queen whom he still had difficulty thinking of as his mother, despite the fact they shared a strong resemblance. At their first meeting, he’d recognized the truth he’d tried to deny in his heart. The woman he’d called his mother all his life, Estelle Lambert—wasn’t. The queen’s tall, robust figure, pale complexion, and stern features were a mirror of his own. Today, dressed in a long, dark green gown with a high, embroidered collar and starched cuffs, she looked every inch a monarch.

  “It shouldn’t take this long,” he grumbled. “She doesn’t want to come.”

  “Then you should command her,” she said with a brisk nod.

  He shot her a baleful glance. This was one of many things they’d argued about over the past weeks. “Well, I handled it my own way. Don’t interfere.”

  She sniffed. “Your wishes should be acceded to without question. However odd they may be,” she said, nodding again.

  “Mother, everyone has free will.”

  “You are the king, whether you call yourself one or not. The people insisted on retaining this custom—and on looking to you for guidance.”

  “I’m no king. Hell, I can’t command myself. What do I know about diplomacy or governing? I was a grunt in the Army—a non-com, at that.”

  She shook her head. “You confuse me with your manner of speech. But you are wrong—look at what you have accomplished. A treaty with the Gracktiles! Never would I have thought it possible to sit at a table and negotiate with those creatures.”

  “The trick, mom,” he said just to annoy her, “was figuring out why they wanted these worlds in the first place. They need the minerals we mine—we need their markets. If you’d ever bothered to ask—” He broke off when he saw her lips press together to suppress a smile.

  “Already, you sound like a king, my dear.”

  The sound of booted feet marching in the outer hall brought his gaze to the tall, wooden doors. “Well, watch this king grovel,” he muttered.

  The door opened and a contingent of the castle guard entered. At their center strode Marika, her slim straight figure held rigid, her eyes blazing. She was in a magnificent rage. Good! Let her stew in her juices for a minute or two more after the merry chase she’d led him. His gaze drank her in, thirsty for the sight. It had been too long since he’d last seen her aboard her small spaceship.

  “You!” she cried out, halting five paces away from him when a guard lowered his laser-lance to halt her progress.

  Etienne waved the man back and folded his arms over his chest, staring at her, absorbing the fact that at last she was here.

  Marika cast a scathing glance at the guard, and then turned to Etienne. Her face screwed into a scowl very like a bulldog he’d once owned. “By what right did you have me arrested?”

  He ignored his mother’s muffled laughter and kept his gaze on the woman who’d caused him sleepless nights for weeks. “You deserted your post—again.” Etienne nodded to the man, standing at the rear of the guards. “Commander Zahra reports that you filed an illegal flight plan and fled with your ship—my property now, by the way—weeks ago. What do you have to say for yourself?”

  Her expression smoldered, a flush of outrage tingeing her cheeks red. “I had a mission.”

  “Not one condoned by me.”

  One dark, elegant brow lifted. “How quickly you assumed your mantle of authority. After all that fine talk about not wanting to be a king—Let the people elect their leaders,” she mimicked.

  “They did.” He narrowed his eyes. “They elected me. If you’d been here, you would have known that.”

  He could tell his statement took a little of the wind out of her sails. She took a deep breath, no doubt to harness the anger still roiling in her eyes. “Well, congratulations then,” she said, her words grudging at best. “I’m happy for you—and your wives.”

  That one betrayal of anger told him what he wanted to know. She was jealous! He could feel the tension of the last minutes roll off his shoulders. Etienne turned from her to take a moment to get control of the smile threatening to curve his lips.

  His glance caught Commander Zahra’s—who seemed to have a similar difficulty.

  The man hid a grin with a cough.

  Etienne scowled at him, then turned back to Marika. “As to wives, your disappearance delayed my wedding.”

  Her jaw tensed. “I’d rather hoped it was all out of the way by now,” she muttered.

  “
How could it, when I had a fightership go missing in the midst of delicate negotiations with the Gracktiles?”

  “Negotiations?” Her eyes rounded. “What did you negotiate with those lizards?”

  “Peace and a trade agreement.”

  Her mouth gaped. “I don’t believe it.”

  “Don’t believe what? That they were willing to parlay? Or that I could do it?”

  She remained still for several moments, then her eyes grew moist. “I never had any doubt you were meant for greatness, Sire,” she said, her voice soft.

  Etienne swallowed, and the room and people around him seemed to fade away as he stared into her tearful eyes. “I wanted a peaceful world to raise my children, Marika. No more wars for me. No more bloodletting on my watch.”

  She let out a shaky breath. “Well, now you have it.”

  He fought to keep his face a stern mask. “But what am I supposed to do about you?”

  Her chin lifted, but she didn’t offer a suggestion.

  “You’ve committed an act of treason. May I ask why?”

  “I had a special cargo to retrieve,” she said through stiff lips.

  “Was it worth your life?”

  She swallowed, but her gaze didn’t waver. “I wanted to give you a wedding gift.”

  Etienne rocked back on his heels. “Clear the room,” he said, never taking his gaze from hers. When the last of the guards and his mother had departed, he spoke, “Explain yourself,” he said, his voice gruff.

  Marika cleared her throat. “After you left my ship, I got to thinking about how difficult it must be for you in a strange place with so many people around you, but none familiar to you.” Her eyes held a sadness that made his heart ache. “I asked your family to come here for a visit, or to stay if they like it here.”

  “My family? Maman, Arnaud?” He had to force the words past a throat suddenly thick with emotion.

  She nodded and gave him a little smile. “And Uncle Jacques. He’s forgiven me, by the way.”

  “As long as he wasn’t expecting another probing,” he muttered.

  Her lips twitched. “No, he was quite willing to come this time.”

  “Marika…” Etienne closed the distance between them. “I was worried about you. I never expected that you wouldn’t be here when I arrived. And when they told me you’d left…”

  Her eyes filled, and she shook her head. “You needed to find your own way.” She glanced around the spacious chamber. “And it seems like you’re acclimating well.”

  “No, I’m not. I’ve hated every minute.”

  She looked at him, a question in her eyes.

  “I needed you.”

  Her lips parted, and she drew in a deep breath. “I missed you,” she whispered, “but I couldn’t bear to see you with the other women.”

  Etienne bit back a curse. “Do you see other women in this room?”

  She shrugged. “I assumed they were in their quarters.”

  “That harem has been dismantled, and every woman released to her family or married to another of her choice.”

  She stood so still he wondered if she’d understood what he’d just said.

  This time he did swear and knelt awkwardly on his good leg, pressing his forehead against her thigh in a symbol he’d come to recognize as one of respect and obeisance to the ruler.

  He gazed up into her startled eyes and took her hand in his. “In my culture, when a man wants a woman to be his wife, he kneels at her feet in supplication to ask her for the privilege.”

  Tears filled her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. She hastily scraped them away with the back of her hand. “I won’t share you,” she said, then sniffed.

  “Goes the same way for me, cher.” He pressed a kiss against her palm then rose to stand in front of her. “Will you?”

  She opened her arms to encompass the room, looking a little lost in the large space. “Your mother—”

  “Has already filled the dining hall with people who are waiting for us to say our vows.”

  She glanced down at her brown uniform, and he grinned. Even on Euphrazha brides worried about their dress. “If I tell you what the sight of you in that uniform does to me, will you come now—just as you are?”

  “How about if I find out for myself,” she said, sliding him a glance from beneath her eyelashes.

  “By all means,” he murmured, dying for her touch.

  She chewed the corner of her lip then reached and cupped his sex with her hand.

  He couldn’t help the sudden tightening her touch produced.

  She pursed her lips and tilted her head to the side. “He seems happy to see me. Why aren’t you wearing your uniform?”

  He snorted. “No way—I’d look like one of those guys in a ballet with his package out there for anyone to see.” Then everyone would know about his almost constant state of arousal whenever she was near. He inhaled her scent and felt his body tighten further.

  “I like your trousers—and I don’t want anyone else looking at your…package. I wondered who started the new fashion.” She withdrew her hand, giving him a little squeeze as she did.

  Etienne caught her chin with his fingers, and tilted back her face. “You still haven’t answered me,” he said, his mouth a breath from hers.

  “You don’t have to ask,” she murmured. “I’m yours to command.”

  “I wish everyone would stop saying that.” His brows furrowed in a frown. “I want you willing.”

  “I’ve always been willing, Sire.” This time the dimple peeked out from her cheek.

  Etienne gritted his teeth. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

  “Why should I lay my heart open when you haven’t told me why you want me for your wife? Is it because you think I may have conceived? Well, I haven’t.”

  “If we never conceive, it won’t be from lack of trying. What the hell do you think I was saying when I knelt at your feet?”

  “That you want me for your wife—it’s what you said.”

  “Fuck me!” He blew out a breath, irritated and anxious.

  She leaned so close her breasts scraped his chest. “Can we reconnoiter first?”

  “Marika?” His voice rose in warning.

  She kissed him. “Why do you want me, Sire?” She kissed him again.

  He groaned. “Etienne, dammit!”

  “But we’re not naked.”

  This time, there was no mistaking the light of mischief in her eyes. He gripped the neck of her uniform and slid the material down to expose her breasts. “Now!”

  “All right. Etienne.”

  “No. Now. Here, beneath me.” He could barely force the words from his mouth. He had to be inside her.

  “Are all our conversations going to end the same way?” She sounded irritated, but her hands tugged her belt open, and it dropped to the floor.

  “We’ll never talk—that way I won’t ever be tempted to strangle you.” He shrugged out of his jacket and pulled the shirt beneath it over his head. By the time his sight was clear of clothing, he noted she was already naked and grinning.

  He opened his trousers and shoved them past his hips. Then he grabbed her by the waist and lifted her in his arms. Marika wrapped her long legs around him and centered her sex over his cock.

  Dipping his hips despite the sharp pull of muscle in his damaged leg, he entered her with one rough thrust. Then he settled his hands settled on her hips and held her immobile. “Tell me, Marika. Tell me, or there will be no fucking.”

  “That’s not fair. You can’t stop now.” She pressed on his shoulders trying to rise, but his hands were firm.

  Held high against his body, her face even with his, she scowled so fiercely he almost laughed. “I said no fucking—not until you tell me.”

  “Yes, I’ll marry you,” she said, gritting her teeth. “Now will you give me the fucking?” She wriggled in his arms, trying to start the sliding motion he knew she craved.

  “It’s not good enough, Marika. I want the words
, too.”

  “Which words?” she moaned, her body quivering, her breaths coming in shallow gasps.

  “Tell me you love me.”

  “You first,” she said, her expression pained.

  His smile broke through. “You’re a very stubborn woman.”

  “I have to be. I want everything, Etienne.”

  He chuckled. “How about we go at the same time?”

  She nodded quickly.

  “All right, get ready.” He jostled her a little to move his hands lower to cup her ass.

  She dragged in a ragged breath and clenched her pussy hard around his cock. “I’m ready.”

  “Now!” he said, lifting her then driving her down hard along his shaft. He gritted his teeth, fighting the urge to pump hard and fast inside her.

  “I love you,” she gasped.

  “I love you.”

  “I said it first.”

  “I’ll say it more,” he said rocking his hips, driving his cock inside her, again and again. “I love you, Marika,” he groaned, and squeezed her ass so hard he knew he left bruises.

  She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and leaned back a little, angling her hips to take him deeper. “I love you,” she keened, her voice rising higher. “Deeper, oh pleeeaase.”

  He ground his hips into her, rubbing close to scrape the base of his cock against her clit. “Cher, hold me tight. I can’t wait!”

  She cried out, and her channel rippled along his shaft, pulsing as he exploded, his come erupting deep inside her body.

  As his cock emptied, Etienne pulled her close, hugging her tight, not wanting to set her down. Not yet.

  “I tol’ him pussy make him happy.”

  Cursing, Etienne jerked his head back and stared toward the open door. Arnaud and Jacques stood there, grinning in the entrance.

  “Your new maman tol’ us to tell you to hurry it up,” Jacques said, with an embarrassed shrug of his shoulders. “We’ll tell her you did just that.” He gripped Arnaud’s arm and pulled him from the doorway, shutting it behind them.

  “Your family is going to make life interesting here, Etienne,” Marika said, a smile curving her lips. “I really like your brother.”

  “Do you suppose they’ll keep quiet about what they just saw?”