Planet Mail (6 page)

She tried to sound casual. “What about the king’s previous consorts? Does he chop off their heads if they don’t produce a child?”

“That is a vicious rumor, consort.” Sven growled.

Bron
took the towel away from her and started sorting through her tangled hair with careful fingers. “The king has never taken a consort before. You are the first.”

Douglass closed her eyes as
Bron
kissed her throat. Should that make her feel better or worse? Speculation that the king might be infertile didn’t completely rule out the threat of pregnancy. Could she hold out until UPPS came to rescue her? Surely she wouldn’t be here that long and she had three guys to make it up to her in other ways. Too tired to think, she smothered a yawn as the food settled in her stomach. Sven got off the bed.

“Harlan and I will leave you to sleep with
Bron
.”

Harlan kissed her fingertips and then wrapped his silk loincloth around his hips.
Bron
persuaded her to lie down beside him. His hand settled over her breast.

Sven spoke from the door, his voice oddly distorted. “Make sure she is ready to receive the king when he returns. He likes her wet.”

Douglass winced. “He makes me sound like a fish.”

Bron’s
chuckle was smothered against her shoulder. “My lady, go to sleep. The king will expect you at dinner tonight and you must be ready for him.”

* * * * *

Douglass sat at the king’s right in the Great Hall. Despite her protests, she’d only been allowed to drape a skimpy piece of cloth across her hips. The rest of her remained bare to the gaze of the hundred men who ate with them. The concentration of stares on her breasts felt almost physical, especially as Marcus continually caressed her breasts and nipples making them taut and tight.

As the only woman there, she should’ve felt vulnerable but she found the men respectful and almost worshipful. She felt like a goddess. Beneath the scrap of silk, her sex grew warm and wanting as Marcus stroked her skin and fed her morsels from his plate.

“The men would probably like me to display you to them again.”

Douglass almost choked. “What do you mean?”

He gave her a sidelong glance that shouted sex. “I think you know. Sit you on my knees and open your legs wide so that they can see your pussy. Work my fingers deep inside you until you come and then thrust my cock into you.”

Douglass suppressed an urge to cross her legs. “Surely if you are the king, you can decide how much of me you want them to see?”

He slid his hand up the inside of her leg, stopped at the edge of the damp silk. “I like them to see you wet and ready for sex. I don’t want them to see your face when I fuck you and you come for me. That’s between us.”

“Thank goodness for that,” Douglass muttered. Thinking to change the subject she asked, “How long have your people populated this planet?”

“If you believe the tales of our bards, for many hundreds of years.”
Marcus signaled to a harp player to move closer. “Our legends tell of men who conquered both Earth and space.”

Douglass listened to the unfamiliar language of the harpist’s song. Even her translator couldn’t decipher it. She was glad Marcus’ people had reverted to the common interplanetary language of English. “There was an ancient race on Earth called the Vikings who were legendary seafarers and discoverers of new lands. Your language and culture reminds me of them.”

Marcus nodded his head. “Aye, I have heard that from other travelers.” He raised his cup to her. “Perhaps there is some truth in it.” He paused to feed her some bread. “Your name sounds like that of a man.”

“Douglass?” She smiled. “It can be used for either sex. Although you are right, it’s more usually a guy’s name. I’m called after an ancestor of mine who traveled from Scotland to America in the nineteenth century.”

“I’ve read of those times. Traveling across continents was once as perilous as traveling through space. Your ancestor must have been a brave and courageous woman.”

She checked his expression and could see no hint of amusement. “She was a brave lady. She married and had ten children.” His smile disappeared. Too late she remembered his childless state. “But that wasn’t unusual in those days…”

“Douglass, there is no need to explain yourself.” He brought her hand to his lips. “I’m not so desperate for a child that I can’t bear to have them spoken about.”

He released her fingers and got to his feet.

“Would you like to take a walk with me around the palace? I can explain the areas which are safe for you to visit.”

Douglass reclaimed his hand. “I was beginning to worry that you intended to keep me in my bedroom for the rest of my time here.”

“Don’t give me ideas, consort.”

Marcus patted her arm as they progressed down the hall. When they exited, high sandstone walls rose on either side of them, shutting out what remained of the natural light. The floor was covered with blue and red mosaic tiles. Shaded oil lamps threw out muted pink shadows as they passed.

“You will need to keep within the palace precincts,” Marcus said. “A fertile woman is considered a great prize and there are men who would do anything to get hold of you.”

“How do you know I am fertile?”

Douglass faced Marcus as they passed into a more shadowed walkway. He shrugged and slipped his finger between her legs. She shivered at the brush of his calloused finger pad against her waiting sex.
“Because while you recovered from your injuries, you bled from here.”

Annoyed at herself for blushing, Douglass kept walking. She hadn’t bothered to use artificial contraception methods to completely stop her periods. They’d always been irregular anyway. Chemicals never seemed to agree with her and it wasn’t as if she was in a stable long-term relationship anymore. The patch she wore when she flew off planet was designed to work with her body’s natural biorhythms to avoid pregnancy and still allow her to menstruate.

Desperate to avoid Marcus’ amused gaze she noticed Sven and Harlan hovering a discreet distance away. Marcus smoothed his hand over her buttocks.

“It is nothing to be embarrassed about, my consort. It is a great gift. Many of the women on this planet no longer bleed.”

Douglass had never thought about the rhythm of her monthly cycle as anything other than a nuisance before. For a people threatened with extinction, she was sure it was different. Marcus settled his arm low around her hips and turned her to the left. A shower of white petals rained down on her unprotected head as they passed through a corridor of living rambling plants which crisscrossed the ceiling and hugged the walls.

She inhaled the soft perfume, delighting in the velvet-soft brush of the petals against her aroused skin. Marcus bent his head and licked at a petal stuck to her breast.

“You are beautiful, my consort. Your skin is as soft as the petals of the
ozan
tree.” He eased a finger between her legs and slid inside her. His thumb settled over her clit. Unhurriedly he tasted her mouth as his finger slid in and out at a steady regular pace. She grew wet, the sound of her juices loud as he pleasured her.

Just when she was close to coming he moved away. “There is something I want to show you at the end of this passageway.” Douglass allowed Marcus to take her hand and lead her out of the semi-darkness.

The sound of water beckoned as they came out into the brightly lit circle. A life-sized statue stood in the center of a pool. It looked as if it had been carved from ice and was tinted a delicate pink which made it seem alive.

“These are my parents.”

Douglass studied the huge muscular warrior and the woman he held in his arms. The warrior’s head was thrown back as if he were caught in the throes of passion. He held the woman in front of him, one hand kneaded her breasts,
the
other rested on her belly. As Douglass moved closer she realized the woman was impaled on the man’s huge cock, her eyes closed in ecstasy.

Marcus moved up behind her, the heavy shaft of his erection poked at the small of her back. “Do you like it?”

“I’m not sure if I’d like to see my parents at such an intimate moment but it is a beautiful sculpture.”

Marcus chuckled and brought his hand around to torment her breast. “My father was a lusty man. As a child, it was impossible to avoid their lovemaking. I was always popping up at the wrong moment.”

“And it didn’t frighten you?”

“Why should it?
To worship a woman, to be loved in return.
It’s the most natural thing in the world.”

She bit back a smile. Danny had never seen her have sex with a man. Possibly because she hadn’t had sex with anyone since he was born. It was probably why she was enjoying Marcus and her servers so much.

He took her hands and placed them on the low marble wall surrounding the pond and sculpture. His knee nudged between her thighs widening her legs, forcing her weight outward and onto her hands.

“I’ve always dreamed of bringing my consort here and making love to her.” He tested her readiness, found her wide open. She felt his cock slide into her from behind. “They would have liked you. You are everything a consort should be, warm, willing and wet.” He rocked gently into her, wrapping his arm low across her belly to ease her back into his thrusts.

Douglass allowed
herself
to be drawn into his rhythm, felt her climax build and clenched around him with strong, slow, voluptuous ease.
Dammit
. She couldn’t allow this. With all her strength, she pushed away from him. With a curse, he came against her buttocks. His teeth nipped her neck as he gave a final shudder. The erotic image of his parents gazed down at her as the fountain continued to pour water over their shining forms.

“Why did you pull away?”

“I just remembered I can’t have sex with you.”

“Yet you took your pleasure before you denied me mine.” He frowned down at her. “You are my consort. You agreed to mate with me.”

Douglass pushed her hair out of her eyes. “But I didn’t understand what that meant to you. And I thought I was protected.”

“In your culture it is acceptable for a woman to have sex with a man and not give him children?”

She forced herself to meet his gaze. “Of course it is. Women choose who fathers their children. They are the ones who have to bear them, after all.”

“You do not want my children?”

From the quietness of his question, Douglass realized her answer was important.

“At the moment, I do not want any man’s children. It’s nothing personal.”

Marcus didn’t seem mollified. “My lovemaking offends you?”

“No, it’s perfect, it’s out of this world, it’s…”

He smiled at her. “Then I will wait until you are desperate for me as you were last night. Perhaps you will change your mind and beg me to make love to you again. Perhaps you will learn to welcome my seed.”

Douglass simply stared at him as he held out his hand. His arrogance was unbelievable.

“Marcus, do you understand what I just said?”

“I understand, consort.”

He took her hand, tucked it into his and started walking again. “This area is safe for you to visit as are all the levels above it. It is dangerous to go any lower. The kitchens, guard rooms and storage facilities are below. There is no reason for you to visit them.”

Wary of his sudden acquiescence, and still primed for a fight, Douglass frowned. “What about going outside? I couldn’t stand being cooped up here until the rescue ship arrives.”

Marcus turned to face her, hands on his hips. “That could take many cycles. And why would you wish to go out? Most women prefer to stay quietly in their homes.”

“Maybe they do here, but where I come from, women have a perfect right to go wherever they want.”

He sighed. “I understand that our ways are different to those you have known. But to venture outside without an escort could risk your life.”

Douglass lifted her chin and stared right back at him. “I need exercise. I need to feel the sun on my face and the wind in my hair.”

“If I promise to look into the matter, will you promise to remain inside the palace?”

His gaze shifted from her face to her legs and stayed there. In the soft candlelight, Douglass guessed he could see the wetness of his seed trickling down the back of her leg. He gave a soft exclamation and knelt at her feet. He touched her inner thigh with the tip of his finger.

“I like seeing you wet with my come. Although I would prefer it if my seed was buried deep inside you busy creating a child. If I had my way, you’d be chained to my bed and wet like this all the time.” He leaned forward, kissed her flesh,
licked
his way up to her clit. “I’d leave you like this in the morning, have you all day and by the evening you’d be covered in my seed and still wanting more.” He caught her around the back of the knees as she staggered against him and lifted her into his arms.

“What a shame that we live in such civilized times and that you no longer want me.”

Chapter Five

God, she was so frustrated. Douglass slid out of bed and walked across to the window. A week had passed since her last conversation with Marcus and true to his
word,
he hadn’t tried to have sex with her. The trouble was, he hadn’t stopped Sven, Harlan and
Bron
from visiting her every day and priming her for his lovemaking either.

She glared at the bed where
Bron
still slept, his face hidden in the tangled sheets. Endless foreplay was not enough. She wanted a real man between her thighs, a real cock thrusting deep into her sheath making her come again and again. Correction, she wanted Marcus. With a stifled sound she hugged herself. There was no way she was going to beg him to make love to her.

To her surprise, she found she missed his presence in other ways. Despite the lack of lovemaking, he spent plenty of time with her. From the many conversations they shared she’d discovered he was an intelligent, thoughtful man who obviously cared deeply about the welfare of his people. Okay, he had a massive blind spot about women, but she could even understand that if she tried really hard.