Mastered By Love (2 page)

Tariza lifted her chin. He
may have phrased it as a question, but she knew an order when she
heard one. If the circumstances had been different, she’d have told
him to piss off, but here and now the formality of the occasion
constrained her.

She gave him the most regal
smile she could muster. “Yes, thank you.”

He raised his brows, just
enough to let her know he found her amusing. Tariza ignored it. All
she had to do was get through this one dinner and then she’d
probably never see him again. Certainly she’d have no contact once
she went home to Concordia.

His scent, combined with the body heat
she could feel even through his clothes, made her tremble inside
with a strange yearning. Goddess, what was wrong with her? She
never reacted to men this way.

The dining room boasted a table made
of some dark and glossy wood; it seemed to stretch forever down the
length of the chamber, while enticing savory aromas drifted in from
the kitchens. Above it hung more chandeliers, like the ones in the
ballroom but smaller, with red and amber crystal drops that
glistened like jewels in the candlelight. Another Concordian carpet
underlay the table. The rug was so big she wondered irrelevantly
how many people it had taken to carry it into the room.

Dario led her to a position
near the head of the table, directly across from her mother and
King Grasos. A Demon Kin male presided at the head of the table. He
was the Bellerenic ambassador, a man with the unlikely name of
Gluttony Black. In spite of his name, he was bone thin. At the foot
of the table sat the Argelian High King, Zandro Margelia. In
between were Bellerenic diplomatic staff, members of the Argelian
High King’s Court and representatives from both Concordia and
Saturnios, including her mother, Queen Merita of Concordia, and
sister, Princess Lenora.

A glittering assembly, even
if there weren’t enough women present. She’d heard a rumor that
some of the Saturnian women had come along with the men, but they
were confined to their quarters. And they wore slave collars. Her
hands tightened in her lap at the thought of those poor, captive
women.

If we do go to war, I’m
going to free the Saturnian women. No matter what it
takes.

Tariza glanced at the
Bellerenics – exotic Demon Kin, with their devilish-looking horns
and tails. Until she’d come here, she’d only seen them in pictures.
Something about them reminded her of the Saturnian men. Maybe it
was the air of physical power and vitality that surrounded them, or
perhaps it was the bold way their gazes lingered on her.

Were all free males so shameless,
regardless of race?

Dario bent his head nearer
to her. “Don’t be afraid. The Demon Kin are quite friendly. They
won’t hurt you.”

“
I’m not afraid, you great
dolt.”

“
Now, Princess, that was
unkind.”

She gave an irritated sigh.
He grinned – the most self-satisfied expression she’d ever seen.
The big idiot was teasing her.

“
I don’t understand why you
persist in trying to speak to me,” she said. “Can’t you see I’m not
interested?”

His grin only deepened.
“Sometimes girls don’t know what they really want.”

“
That’s the most conceited,
ignorant thing I’ve heard in a very long time.”

She loathed him, from his
curly black hair to his big puppy eyes to his athletic legs, the
muscular contours of which she could see right through the fabric
of his trousers...if she chose to turn her gaze to his lap, which
of course she wouldn’t. Insolent, disrespectful stallion that he
was, he’d probably expected her to fall trembling at his feet and
offer herself to him like a mare in season. Or some ancient virgin
sacrifice.

Well, she was no ordinary princess.
She was a Concordian warrior and no virgin, either.

Tariza pasted a smile on
her face and kept her movements serene and regal as she dipped her
spoon into her first course. She could put on a show as well as
anyone and better than most. She’d been doing it all her
life.

***

Dario glanced
sidelong at Princess Tariza. He caught her scent,
faintly floral spiced with female musk, even with the odors of food
all around them. What was that smug little smirk on her lips for?
He couldn’t decide if she feared him or hated him. Probably a
little of both.

She’s right to fear me. If
I could get her beneath me, I’d do it. Fuck her right here on the
banquet table and make her like it.

But that wouldn’t be
diplomatic. His Uncle Grasos wanted to pursue diplomacy first,
before escalating to an armed conflict. It was radically out of
character for him and the first decision he’d made with which Dario
could wholeheartedly agree.

War hurt everyone. The last thing
Dario wanted to see was more men under his command strewn broken
and dying on a blood-stained field.

Still, it rankled to sit next to this
self-important, over-indulged Concordian girl who thought she had
the right to be accorded equality with men. Equality. She ought to
be kneeling at his feet, accepting scraps from his
plate.

His cock swelled
insistently at that image. Tariza Concordia would look even more
beautiful naked except for a black and red leather harness, her
golden head bowed in proper submission, long blond hair unbound and
spilling over her shoulders. He would feed her from his own hand.
And then he’d guide that luscious mouth of hers to his
cock.

He gave her another glance. She still
had that impudent smirk on her face. Dario leaned in and whispered
in her ear.

“
Someday, little one,
you’ll be mine.”

The smirk disappeared,
replaced by a furious glare. “Only in your pathetic little
fantasies, big boy.” Even more furious color flooded her face, her
dark eyes widening. She bent her head to her plate.

What was that all about? Had she been
fantasizing about him?

He grinned. “I’ll make both
our dreams come true.”

She gave a brittle laugh.
“I’d like to see that. I truly would.”

“
I promise you it will
happen.”

He’d only meant to needle
her, but when her head came up and their eyes met, something fiery
grabbed hold of his heart. It was almost as if she’d reached out
with her glance and touched some part of him he’d never even
noticed before. Something deep and hidden.

Her lips parted. Her little pink
tongue swept out to moisten them. His cock responded with a painful
throb.

She’ll be mine. Someday.
Somehow.

***

How had
she let him get her outside alone? Just one more
dance, she’d said, but somehow they’d ended up in the garden under
an arbor covered in climbing red roses. The flowers filled the warm
evening air with their perfume. Above them hung the Argelian moon,
full and round and tinted the glorious aquamarine that made it
famous. It was a nauseatingly romantic spot – if you believed in
romance. Tariza didn’t.

Romance was just a bunch of silly
sentimental nonsense thought up by men in order to control
women.

Yet here she was, under the rose arbor
with Prince Dario ... her worst enemy. And she was full of the kind
of shivery excitement she remembered from her adolescence and her
very first time with a man.

Dario leaned against the side of the
arbor with a negligent arrogance that made her jaw tighten even as
her heart beat faster. He was so damn full of himself. And he
looked so uncompromisingly masculine, even with roses all around
his dark head.

She ought to walk away.
She’d been more than polite and accommodating enough to satisfy
diplomacy. There was no need to continue playing his
game.

“
This is the last night of
the summit. We won’t see each other after tonight,” he said in a
low drawl.

“
I’m well
aware.”

He smiled in that seductive
way of his, the way that made her palm itch with the urge to smack
him at the same time as her knees went wobbly with desire. “Kiss
me, Tariza.”

“
What? No!” She took a step
back.

Dario caught her hand.
“Just one kiss. What could it hurt?”

He tugged her gently toward him. And
Tariza let him.

She’d lost her mind. That
was the only explanation for why she failed to defend herself as he
palmed the side of her face, his gaze lingering on her mouth, his
other hand splaying against her back. His skin felt so warm against
hers, the calluses and strength of his hand giving him away as a
fighting man.

She’d never met a fighting
man before attending these talks.

Mother is overprotecting
me.

The shock of that disloyal
thought evaporated as his lips touched hers. The sweet coaxing
brushes of his mouth felt much like other kisses she’d received
from other men who wanted her approval. This was familiar.
Safe.

She put her hands on his shoulders and
allowed him to pull her closer. Their bodies met, as they had on
the dance floor. Dario flicked his tongue along the seam of her
lips, asking for entry. She gave it to him.

His hand slid around to the back of
her head as his mouth slanted across hers, tongue plunging deep
inside her. His other arm crushed her against him. His mouth, so
hot and slick, tasted of wine.

The heat inside her built and throbbed
between her legs and in her womb. She clutched his shoulders,
moaning, and he gave a low groan in response. His hips moved
subtly, rhythmically against her.

The suggestive motion
brought another moan from her throat. The kiss no longer felt
familiar or safe at all. He was so big and powerful, so confident,
so much
more
than
any man she’d ever kissed before.

That second moan seemed to inflame
him. His grip tightened, holding her skull in place as he plundered
her without mercy. His devouring mouth bit, sucked and licked every
crevice of hers. He clasped her ass through the satin of her gown
and kneaded with strong, sure squeezes, pressing her up against the
bulge of his erection.

Her whole body flooded with pulsing
liquid tingles. She rubbed herself against him, undulating with the
need to feel his hands on her bare skin, to climb on top of him and
take him inside her.

She was drowning in him, in
his taste and scent and hard, hot body. He’d crashed over her like
a great ocean wave and she was drowning. No man had ever – he’d
never – Tariza quivered under the rushing sensations that
threatened to overtake her, that blotted out all thought, all
identity, and stole all desire except one – to be inundated by
him.

No. What in the Goddess’s
name was she doing?

She yanked her head back against his
imprisoning hand. He loosened his grip on her and she punched him
in the jaw.

He let go. “Ow. Damn. What
did you do that for?”

He stared at her,
fingertips pressed to the red mark on his face where she’d struck
him. He was breathing hard, lips parted, eyes still heavy-lidded
and sultry in spite of her blow.

“
Don’t kiss me.”

Dario’s lips quirked. “You
seemed to be enjoying it.”

She rubbed the back of her
hand across her lips. “I wasn’t.”

“
So all that moaning and
wriggling in my arms was what? Indigestion?”

“
I wasn’t wriggling. I
never wriggle.”

“
I see.” He grinned and
adjusted the left shoulder strap of her gown.

“
You are
insufferable.”

“
I’m sure I am to a woman
like you.”

“
Now what is that supposed
to mean?”

Dario merely laughed and
shook his head. “Good-bye, Princess.” He turned and walked away
into the shadowy depths of the garden.

Impossible man. She bit her
lip against the strange melancholy that loomed over her as he
disappeared into the night. Her body still burned with the lust
he’d caused.

Oh, how she longed to teach
Dario Saturnios a lesson he’d never forget. Her mind conjured
pictures of the proud prince in a slave collar. Kneeling at her
feet. Twitching and jerking beneath the lash of her whip. Chained
to a bed, his cock rising thick and hard from his body while she
straddled him.

She treasured the imaginary
look of desire and surrender on his face as he begged her to take
him. She would take him, of course, but only after he’d proved
himself sufficiently humble.

Several weeks
later

Dario’s field
headquarters was comprised of a single large
canvas tent, all red except for black piping along the seams. It
was comfortable enough for the summer, while he supervised the
beginnings of a fort in a high pass between Concordia and
Saturnios, but cold at night, which was why he, Mateo, and the king
were gathered around a glowing brazier, drinking wine after a
hearty supper.