Secrets of a Reckless Princess (2 page)
Read Secrets of a Reckless Princess Online
Authors: Annabel Wolfe
The supple warm weight in his hand was everything he’d ever imagined—and he had, many, many times. Full, firm yet yielding, with a soft pink nipple that tightened as he stroked it so he knew she wasn’t immune either…
The door swooshed open, shattering the moment. Jayla gave a convincing cry of dismay and pulled away, jerking her gown back up to cover that luscious perfect breast. The red spots high on her delicate cheekbones weren’t feigned as she whirled to face the doorway. She wasn’t alone in being exposed, Damon thought with ironic humor, for the loose-fitting, lightweight pants they’d issued him when he was imprisoned didn’t do much to hide his erection.
He sure as hell hoped Jayla’s plan, whatever it might be, worked. Not only did he have an aching hard-on now with no promise of sexual relief on his horizon, but half the planet knew it.
“Princess.” Kale, the head of the palace security force, spoke with deference and authority at the same time. “You should not be here.”
Damon had known the chief officer since childhood and briefly their eyes locked. As fiercely loyal as Kale was to the governing house of Anasta, Damon saw a glimmer of sympathy there, but also disapproval. Over what was viewed as subversive activities, or for daring an intimate embrace with the princess, he wasn’t sure.
“I have to say you have one hell of a sense of timing, Kale,” Damon drawled, folding his arms in what he hoped looked like nonchalance across his chest.
“Your monitor for some reason is broadcasting all across the palace,” Kale responded mildly, but his gaze was razor sharp. “Maybe you should be grateful I interrupted when I did.”
“What?” Jayla put her hands to her scarlet cheeks, and Damon had to give her points for an effective performance. “Everyone saw us?”
“Her Highness is likely to request an interview. Someone will escort you to her quarters.”
Her Highness probably wanted to cut off his balls, Damon thought, but he didn’t envy Jayla that interview either.
Looking effectively chastened, she glanced at him one last time before she nodded, adjusted her gown again and walked out of the room. It was hard to know what to read into that quick look, but he thought a small secret smile curved her lips for a moment.
Kale stepped back to let her pass, inclining his head respectfully. Then he turned back to Damon and spoke less formally, with the ease of long acquaintance. “This isn’t going to make your father any happier, you know.”
“If you ever figure out what
does
make him happy, could you let me know?” He was only half-joking. Then he said with a conviction that surprised even him, “I’ve been in love with her my whole life.”
Kale sighed and rubbed his jaw. “I know.”
He did? Until he’d said it right at that moment, Damon wasn’t aware of it himself. He thought about her all too often, she filled his dreams with erotic titillation, but he really hadn’t been aware of much more than the friendship they’d shared since they were children and the combustible attraction between male and female.
Love.
He walked over to the bed and sat down, his knees a little weak.
Considering how much trouble he was in, the timing for this revelation wasn’t exactly perfect.
“Up until now,” Kale said in that same even voice, “though we’ve kept a close eye on you, for someone who has a tendency to disregard the rules you’ve been circumspect in your relationship with Princess Jayla.”
Of course he had. Whatever his flaws, and Damon was aware he had quite a few, he wasn’t stupid.
“Now, that has all changed,” Kale informed him and, on that enigmatic note, left the room, the door ominously shutting behind him with a sound that signaled finality.
Chapter Two
Marc Kartel poured a cool glass of golden wine and tried to decide if he should be amused or furious. He said sardonically, “Well, at least I know she has nice tits.”
His envoy, Chas, laughed, his dark eyes glimmering. “I agree. Very nice. I might even say spectacular—”
“That’s enough, thanks.”
“Touchy, aren’t we?”
He wasn’t, at least to the extent he’d never even met the lovely Jayla yet, so it wasn’t personal, but then again, he’d come all the way from Minoa at the royal family’s request. “I think the queen failed to impart to my father the nature of the princess’s relationship with the son of Raphael Le Clerc. That was not a casual kiss.”
“So you have a rival…you’re up for it.” Chas strolled over and poured a glass of wine for himself. “Besides, though it is ironic, you came here to meet the younger Le Clerc as much as the princess. Think of it this way, you now know you and he have two common interests. Your political views and one beautiful aristocratic female. Not a bad start to a possible political alliance.”
“True enough.” Marc took a drink and looked at the monitor on the wall. It now showed the area outside the door of his quarters. Just what it was supposed to show, instead of a male and a female entwined in an erotic embrace. “It sounds like Le Clerc is in trouble up to his neck right now. He may be of no use.”
“That article was inflammatory. It caused a major public protest in front of the palace and spurred on similar movements on other planets.” Chas, tall and wide-shouldered, dropped back into a chair in a careless masculine sprawl, wine glass in hand. “But damn, it was compelling. He has some ideas that have real merit, not just for Anasta, but applicable to quite a few other colonies if we can get the Universal Council to listen.”
“He has three different degrees in Political Science, including a doctorate in military tactics.” Marc mused out loud, “If we can somehow direct that brilliance toward policies that involve compromise instead of anarchy, he’d make one hell of an advisor to people like my father.”
“Or you,” his friend said with a lifted brow. “The only way to the throne of Anasta currently is inheritance. That’s why the queen extended you this invitation. Her sheltered young daughter is next in line but needs a strong male at her side, preferably one with dynastic ties to other powerful colonies.”
It was true. Marc’s father, Ran Kartel, was Governor of the dominant colony in the Federation, Minoa. Like Anasta, Minoa had started out as an Earth colony, formed back when the human race expanded to a point they needed more room than Earth. Genetic engineering had enabled colonies to be settled because the enhanced humans, or Superhumans, generally known as S-species, had much better survival skills. They had superior intelligence, improved health, were taller, and better-looking than the race they evolved from, and as a result, Earth was now completely under S-species rule.
“I wonder how ambitious he is, or if Le Clerc just has a rabble-rousing mentality.” Marc rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. “I was hoping to ask to interview him right after my arrival, but then he and the princess put on that interesting show and the queen didn’t look any too inclined to discuss him in any way.”
“I am not sure I’d like to be Princess Jayla right now. The queen looked ice cold and calm, but I sensed she was furious.”
Marc had been dressed down by his own mother a time or two, and even though he towered over her and was twice her weight, he still didn’t care to stumble and incur a scathing lecture. He adored her, but she was a formidable force. “Yes, I imagine the princess isn’t enjoying herself too much at the moment.”
“What are you going to do?”
“About Princess Jayla?” Marc shrugged. “Go on and continue my visit as planned, I suppose. Just because she has a relationship with Le Clerc doesn’t mean we can’t still contemplate an alliance. Actually, she might be able to give me more information on where his loyalties really lie. I’d bet from what we saw, she has some influence over him.”
“You really want to court him for the diplomatic service? His recent article was anything but diplomatic, Marc.”
“I know, but if he can be reined in, he’d be valuable. Have you read his dissertation on the exponential effects of military action on interstellar economics?”
“No,” Chas admitted with interest flickering in his dark eyes. “Should I?”
“It’s brilliant.”
“I see.”
“To answer the question, yes. If this alliance works out and I find myself consort of Anasta, I’d like to have someone like Le Clerc to help reform policy, and quite frankly, there is no one else with his qualifications and progressive insight. My father is interested, also, in presenting general universal reforms for some of the colonies that need it, including Minoa.”
“Ambitious, but I agree, well-needed.” Chas quirked a brow. “The moment you accept and it’s recorded and communicated to Minoa and the Universal Council, you’ll have sexual rights to Princess Jayla. That’s not going to endear you to Le Clerc from what I saw.”
“You know I’m not possessive of females.” It was true that as S-species evolved, the enhanced sex drive in the males made females more valued, and it was acceptable—encouraged even—for a woman to have more than one lover. Sexually satisfied males were in general less aggressive.
“I know you aren’t. I wasn’t worried so much about you, but more so him. Did you see his face when she left the room?”
He had. Marc prowled restlessly across the room, sipping his wine. When the first contact had been made from the royal family with his father, he’d been resistant, preferring to choose his own mate. But the more he’d thought about it, the more appealing it became. He’d been raised to govern—served in the military, undertaken diplomatic missions, administered in different cabinets on Minoa—and this was an opportunity of a lifetime. His father had told him to make his own decision, but he knew an ally as strong as Anasta appealed to not just the Minoan government, but the Universal Council wanted someone they trusted ruling such a powerful planet.
And it didn’t hurt either that he’d now seen the princess. All that shimmering pale hair and the slender grace of her form tantalized, and even if his first glimpse of her had been in another male’s arms, he wasn’t personally offended for he didn’t know her.
Yet.
He preferred passionate females and she certainly had looked as if she was enjoying that dramatic, public kiss. He gazed around the luxurious quarters he’d been assigned. The walls were a soft sheen of gold, the floor polished, strewn with woven rugs in muted shades, and low divans invited casual relaxation. The bed in the sleeping room was huge, soft and comfortable, the linens a fine material that caressed the skin. An enormous window overlooked the central courtyard of the palace, a glimmering fountain made of beryl in the middle, the jeweled effect of the flowing water soothing. Everywhere there were frescoes, inlays of precious materials in gorgeous patterns, exotic plants. The symbolic wealth wasn’t contained just to the royal residence either. The main city was prosperous and busy, the outlying colony villages supporting important agrarian products which were exported across the galaxy.
And, no small thing, Anasta commanded one of the finest and fiercest military forces in the Interstellar Federation.
He turned to Chas. “When Princess Jayla is done with the queen, arrange for me to see her.”
* * * *
The room was utterly quiet.
Jayla stood and waited for the lecture she knew was coming—one she no doubt deserved, but if her reckless actions would free Damon, it was all to the good.
To her surprise, when her mother finally did look up, her expression was more resigned than angry. Regal even in the setting of her personal office, her pale hair swept back in a sleek style, her fine-boned face showing only a few faint lines, she only said in a neutral tone, “That was quite a demonstration, darling.”
It was against her scruples to lie, so Jayla didn’t protest she had no idea the monitor would broadcast that devastating kiss all over the palace. Instead she blushed, for she could still recall the feel of Damon cradling her bare breast. “Yes, I imagine it was.”
“Are you aware Governor Kartel’s son and his envoy arrived just in time to see it?”