Her Every Pleasure Part 21

Lady Alexa opened the door for him with a giggle and watched him appreciatively as he brushed past her.

"One moment, Colonel! Make yourself at home," Sophia called from an adjoining chamber that opened off the left wall of her sprawling suite, up a few, wide, shallow, marble steps.

To his right, as he sauntered in, a dainty cl.u.s.ter of striped satin couches and chairs were arranged around the white fireplace in elegant informality. But then, he stopped, for straight ahead at the far end of the room stood a huge canopied bed. Oh, G.o.d. He was standing in her bedroom.

He tried hard not to look at her bed, for his thoughts went instantly where they should not. Desires teased awake by her ninny-headed friend bloomed into fullblown l.u.s.t by the true object of his obsession.

Especially when she emerged from her dressing room just then, clad in a long, wispy negligee of black silk with a matching robe. Gabriel's breath rushed from his lungs at the sight of her-long, soft, midnight curls flowing back over her shoulders, unbound, the black silk of her nightdress wafting over her lithe curves and trailing along the marble steps as she strode toward him.

"Leave us," Sophia ordered Lady Alexa, while Gabriel stared, transfixed.

"Good night, Colonel," Alexa squeaked.

He glanced over in dazed distraction, barely seeing the blonde before she slipped out of the room. As soon as he caught his breath, his pulse began to pound.

"Hullo, my friend!" Sophia greeted him with breezy confidence, lifting her gla.s.s of dark, ruby-red wine to her lips with an air of sophistication as she joined him. "I think our ploy went smas.h.i.+ngly, don't you? What was your verdict? Tell me yours and then I'll tell you mine. Sit, please. Do you want some wine?"

"Uh." Not knowing where to look, he opted for the floor, but even with his gaze downcast, he could still see her lovely feet in high-heeled mules of matching black silk. The ebony gauze of her negligee was also transparent enough to show him the trim, sleek lines of her beautiful legs. He could still feel them wrapped around his hips. The memory flooded his mind of the way she had arched beneath him that night in his bed, begging him to take her.

He swallowed hard, cursing his body for the tingling sensations rus.h.i.+ng into his groin. No, no. Now, there would be none of that. He redirected his stare toward a safer location, namely, the painted ceiling.

Clasping his hands politely behind his back, he tried like h.e.l.l to remember why he'd come before she had stunned his male brain.

"Here." She stepped closer to him. "Taste this."

"What?" he croaked.

"This," she informed him, lifting her gla.s.s to him, "is a proper gla.s.s of wine."

"I am on duty," he responded stiffly.

She laughed at him. "Iron man! I order you to try this wine. It's Greek. Besides, we must celebrate our victory."

"What victory is that?"

"The Ottomans aren't trying to kill me! At least I think they're not. What was your conclusion?"

"I-concur."

She frowned at him. "Is something wrong?"

"No, of course not," he replied like a very wooden soldier.

"Gabriel," she chided with the smile of a queen and the mesmerizing eyes of a sorceress.

He licked his lips and studied the ceiling again. "Your dishabille...distracts me."

"Oh, goodness me, I'm terribly sorry," she said in a delicious purr. Moving closer, she fingered the edge of her robe and whispered, "Would you rather I take this off?"

He quivered, looking into her eyes; the sparkle there told him she knew exactly what he was feeling, so what was the point in trying to hide it?

Succ.u.mbing to a smile, he reached out and captured her elbow. "You wicked temptress," he murmured as he drew her near. "You think you can get away with teasing me?"

"Just a bit."

"Two can play that game, love. Yes, then, take it off. I will help you." He slipped his fingers under the paperthin layer of black silk where it draped her collarbone. He brushed it back softly, baring her shoulder.

With a soft moan, she turned her head, offering the shoulder for his kiss. He stared at the exquisite stretch of skin that she presented. His heart pounding, he could not resist. He did not even bother to try, but lowered his head and pressed his lips against the pale cream satin of her skin. He closed his eyes in tortured yearning, savoring the scent of her, the tender sweetness of her warm flesh.

He dragged his glazed eyes open again and touched her cheek, tipping her head back so that he could taste her mouth once more. But Sophia stopped him, laying her hand gently on his chest, and angling her mouth away from his.

Gabriel looked at her in question.

She stepped back, holding him at bay despite the smolder in her dark eyes.

"No, Gabriel," she whispered in regret. "We can't. I'm sorry."

"Why?" He moved closer. "I'm starving for you."

"You know why."

"I don't care." He clutched at her silken robe, trying to pull her near, but she refused him. "A bullet would be worth it."

"Oh, darling, not to me." With a slight tremble, she slipped free from his light hold, pivoted, and glided away from him.

On the other side of the room, she set her winegla.s.s down and pulled on a loose banyan robe of dark ruby damask to cover herself. Gabriel lowered his head, trying to regret the momentary lapse of self-restraint.

But he could not.

"I'm sorry," he murmured when she returned.

"Please don't apologize," she said earnestly. "It's my fault-I shouldn't have done it." Head down, redcheeked, she avoided his gaze and cinched the cloth belt around her slim waist. "I should've worn something proper."

"I'm not a boy, Sophia. I should hope I could control myself. Besides," he eyed her warily, "I've already seen you in less."

He noticed his words made her quiver. Then she changed the subject with a determined air. "Come, let's take a seat and you can tell me what happened after I left." As she showed him over to the furniture grouping by the fireplace, the caress she ran down his back was of the caring variety rather than seductive.

Any way she wanted to touch him was fine with Gabriel.

"I'm so glad you came up with that ruse. I thought we were splendid!"

"Of course we were," he said in amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Was Lord Griffith cross? Did the amba.s.sador know anything about that knife?"

Gabriel dropped onto the couch and draped his arm over the back of it. Sophia perched on the cus.h.i.+oned arm of the sofa across from him. He proceeded to answer her questions, succinctly briefing her on what had transpired after she had made her exit.

Taking it all in, Sophia mulled it over for a second, then she let out a sigh and smiled.

"Lord, it's been a long day, hasn't it? You must be tired. You've been working since sunup. How is your scar after that long ride? Any strain?"

"I'm fine." Other than a deepening state of s.e.xual frustration. He dragged his hand through his hair with a ragged sigh.

"Have you had dinner?"

"Not yet.

"Let me send down to the kitchens for you. On my orders, they'll make you whatever you like. What will you have?"

His stare traveled over her luscious body. He looked away. "Nothing, thanks. I don't intend to stay long. Here. Sit with me." He patted the sofa's cus.h.i.+on beside him. "I need to talk to you."

"Yes, you mentioned earlier you wanted to speak to me about something," she said as she came over and joined him on the love seat.

"I'm afraid you're not going to like it."

"Oh." She furrowed her brow and nodded, appearing to brace herself. "All right. What is it?"

Gabriel paused, glancing around at her apartments. His past diplomatic security missions had taught him that in palaces like this, the very walls had ears. "Come, sit closer to me. What I want to say to you, no one else must hear."

She eyed him with a skeptical smile. "Is it something naughty, Colonel?"

He scowled and tugged her onto his lap. She laughed rather than protesting as another adorable blush crept into her cheeks.

He wrapped his arm around her waist, electrified by the feel of her warm body on his lap, but as Gabriel bent his lips toward her dainty earlobe, he wished that all he had to whisper were sweet nothings. And not the grim possibility of treachery close by.

Demetrius captured her hand as Alexa pa.s.sed by him in the hallway outside the royal apartments. He was on duty there with three of the other men. She smiled at him imperturbably as he tugged her near.

His lips dipped toward her earlobe. "Watch him for us," he ordered her in Greek.

She pulled back a small s.p.a.ce and glanced at him in question.

"Go," he urged. "Hurry."

Alexa gave him a cool nod in answer, then she prowled down the hallway, pausing when she came to the maids' entrance.

Glancing back at her occasional lovers, she saw Demetrius urge her on with a firm nod.

With the guards watching the corridor for her, she turned the doork.n.o.b silently by degrees and then, without a sound, slipped in through the little door that the staff used to service the royal apartments.

It was an easy matter to take a position spying through the crack in the service door. To her surprise, Sophia and Colonel Knight were not in the bed, but instead, were cooing at each other like a silly pair of virgins on the couch.

She smirked.

Bad princess, she thought, spying her mistress on the colonel's lap. You must be spending too much time with me!

Receiving this stallion of a warrior alone in a state of dishabille? Tsk, tsk, very scandalous.

Leon had always said she was a bad influence.

The thought of Leon pained Alexa.

She could not think about that. She pushed his ghost out of her mind, for the more pressing complication was his replacement, this stranger in their midst.

Colonel Knight worried them all, especially her. Alexa knew he must be handled carefully.

The men didn't trust him, and apparently their fear that Her Highness had only hired him for her own pleasure was well founded, after all. Naturally, he had a brilliant military record, but the real reason for the handsome stud's appointment as the new security chief was plainly visible from Alexa's closeted post.

No one was quite sure what he wanted out of all this. The British might have tasked him with seducing the princess as a means of achieving their own unstated ends.

But whatever the colonel's motivation, one thing was very clear as she watched them fawning on each other: Her Royal Highness was in love.

Alexa raised a brow, wondering what pretty bits of rakish naughtiness the handsome warrior had just suggested, for Sophia pulled back just then with an angry, "No! Are you out of your wits?"

"Won't you please just try to keep an open mind?"

"But what you're suggesting is impossible!"

Alexa perked up. Some positions were a challenge to one's stamina and flexibility, but nothing was impossible if one had the will, and perhaps a bit of scented oil...

"Shh." The colonel pulled Sophia close again, once more whispering in her ear.

Alexa watched them, musing. If Sophia lacked the adventurous spirit to indulge his wildest imaginings, she was certainly willing to volunteer herself.

Across the room, Sophia suddenly pulled out of his arms. "No more! I will not listen to you! Not another word!" Sophia clapped her hands over her ears. "I want no part of this! Do you understand me?"

He pulled her hands down gently from her ears. "Darling, I'm not trying to upset you-"

"Please, stop. That's very wrong of you." She was shaking her head at his words, looking very upset.

Alexa frowned, wondering if she should go back in and try to help. After all, some of these seemingly proper Englishmen had tastes quite beyond the pale, even by her standards.

"Just think about it," he cajoled her.

"There's nothing to think about. You're wrong on this, Gabriel. Trust me. Do you think I'm that much of a fool? You don't know what you are talking about."

Alexa shook her head in sympathy and some confusion. Poor Sophia. The pain her chosen lover had inflicted on her heart was written all over her face.

What b.a.s.t.a.r.ds all men were, she mused. That was all falling in love brought a person, which was why she wanted no part of it.

"I think it's time for you to leave," the princess told her pet Englishman.

Colonel Knight clenched his square jaw, but rose obediently and heaved a sigh, holding his hands out at his sides. "I'm sorry."

Sophia just shook her head again and looked away, her arms folded tightly across her bosom. "I know you mean well, but just please-go."

He did, taking leave of her with an impeccable bow. Sophia's refusal of his proposition appeared to have upset him, as well.

When he had left the room, Her Highness buried her face in her hands and lowered herself to the couch behind her. She remained like that, motionless.