Pursued by the Imperial Prince (Imperial Princes Book 1) Read online

  “Hey hey, sweetheart, I’m not going to hurt you.”

  She struggled against him, her body rigid with panic. He soothed her with soft murmurs, holding her tightly against him to quell her struggles. It didn’t take much. Within thirty seconds she whimpered and turned toward him.

  He leaned back against the wall at the back of the bunk and cradled her in his lap. His hand stroked down her back as she cried, his lips against her hair as he sang half-remembered lullabies from his childhood. Eventually her sobs slowed, and then stopped, leaving just the occasional hiccup.

  After a while, Seth lifted his head. Her breathing had deepened and leveled out. A soft smile curved his lips. She was asleep. With careful movements, he shifted their positions on the narrow bunk, tucking her along the back wall still wrapped in the blanket. He left her to set the shuttle into a parallel orbit pattern with the asteroid belt and radio in.

  Less than four minutes later, he slid into the bunk next to her and gathered her into his arms again. This time, even in sleep, she came willingly and nestled against him with a sigh. A deep sense of contentment stole over Seth, and he closed his eyes.

  He was home.

  SHE WAS DREAMING. Again. It was a dream that got trotted out with alarming regularity, so she recognized it as soon as she slipped into it. It was always the same, waking up to find herself held against a broad male chest and feeling safe. Feeling like nothing in the galaxy could hurt her because he loved her. He, of course, was never defined. In her dream she never opened her eyes. She preferred to dwell in the fantasy, and try to hold onto it as long as possible.

  As dreams went it wasn’t particularly ambitious, just a strong pair of arms to hold her, attached to a man who loved her and cared for her. For Jaida it was the one thing she could never have, and she knew it. Seth had pursued her across the length and breadth of the galaxy. She feared what he’d do to her when he caught her, so what he’d do to any man she’d taken up with was something she didn’t like to think about.

  She nestled closer and took a deep breath. The alluring scent of the man she was wrapped around filled her senses. The clean, sharp scent of a citrus-based shower gel, the heavier musk of Altarian sandalwood, all combined with an earthy deep fragrance that had to be the man himself. She murmured happily and buried her nose against a chest that felt like satin stretched over carved granite.

  It wasn’t just the fact Seth would most likely kill any guy she was with, though. In the safety of her dreams, she could admit the secret yearnings of her heart, even if she couldn’t admit them while awake. The reason she’d never so much as looked at another guy was because Jaida was like her father; once she’d fallen in love, it had been for life.

  She sighed as a large hand stroked her back. She was in love with Seth. She could even admit that here in the sanctuary of her dreams. His response last night when he realized she was crying was like something straight out of one of her dreams.

  She ignored the fact he’d made her cry in the first place The fact that he’d stopped when he did, as angry as he was, meant everything to her. As much as he seemed to hate her, there had to be something there—even if it was just the common decency of one sentient being to another.

  She must have drifted off to sleep again in her dream, because the next thing she knew, warm lips were trailing down her throat. She froze, then relaxed as the familiar scent of her dream man assaulted her senses again. It was okay, this was just part of her dream. Admittedly a new and—she shivered in delight—intriguing part of the dream, but still a dream.

  Warm lips whispered over her skin, finding all the spots that made her whimper in delight. Murmuring softly she turned her head to allow him better access. It felt so good, so right, she couldn’t resist. Couldn’t do anything but urge her dream lover on as a large, callused hand slid under the warm blankets and encountered her naked skin beneath.

  His hand stroked up her ribcage inch by slow inch. Her back arched in welcome, her breasts tightening and firming, and her nipples puckering into tight buds as though to invite his touch. He cupped one of them, full despite her slenderness, and rolled the nipple between his fingers.

  She gasped, not expecting that. Always in her dreams before, her lover had been romantic and…old-fashioned to a fault. A whimper escaped her lips as he trailed a line of hot kisses down her neck and farther. Leaning down, he swirled a hot tongue over her nipple, and then sucked it into his mouth. Her gasp was nearer a keen this time. Her eyes rolled back in her head as he sucked hard on the engorged bud. Fire drew a line directly between the warmth of his mouth on her sensitive flesh and the ache building in her pussy. With each tug on her nipple, her inner channel contracted tightly. Wanting, no aching, to be filled.

  He swept his tongue over her nipple again then moved down. The warmth of his breath whispered over her stomach as he left a trail of butterfly kisses over her quivering skin. Normally she was ticklish, but not here, not now. The muscles of her stomach tightened in arousal as he paid homage to the slight indentation of her belly button, then moved on to nibble along the blade of her hipbone.

  She bit her lip to contain the moan that welled up from her soul. She couldn’t bear this much longer. His lips hovered for a moment over the small triangle of hair at her mons. Twitching in anticipation her clit grew full and heavy as she imagined his warm, wet mouth closing over her.

  His tongue swept over her folds, tentative at first. An exploratory sweep. He stilled for a moment as his tongue encountered the smooth skin of her labia, the hair shaved as per the more intimate preparations in the harem chambers. Why that bit had carried over into her dream she didn’t know, but right at this moment, she didn’t care.

  He rumbled in approval, the low noise from deep within his chest. The next pass of his tongue parted the outer lips and sought the sweetness inside. Sweeping lightly from her cunt upwards he found the small nubbin of flesh aching for his touch and closed over it.

  He sucked it into his mouth and suckled. She swore as her hips bucked, the curse straight off the dockyard, the touch of his tongue like an electric shock that made her back arch in response.

  His hand spread over her stomach to hold her in place for the attentions of his mouth. He didn’t just taste her, gathering the juices of her arousal from the entrance to her pussy with another rumble. No, he feasted on her.

  Holding her clit between his teeth he flicked rapidly over it with his tongue then alternated with suckling hard. Her head thrashed on the pillow as pressure built into a tight coil within her. She tried to deny the need gathering force inside.

  “Oh my lady…”

  Her dreams had never been this vivid and graphic before. Ever. Everything was sharper and more focused than the vaguely romantic and safe cuddling-in-bed dream she was used to. His tongue flicked over her again then stabbed deep into her pussy, a hard thrust that had her whimpering aloud.

  The knowledge that this wasn’t a dream hovered at the edge of her mind for a while before Jaida allowed herself to process the information. She opened her eyes, looking up at the metal ceiling of Seth’s shuttle.

  Seth. Who else could possibly bring her this much pleasure? What other man had brought her body to life, could bring her body to life in this way? What other man would have been the faceless lover of her dreams? Too close to the edge to stop him, even though she knew she should, Jaida surrendered to the pleasure he was giving her. Surrendered to the inevitable.

  His lips pulled on her clit again and then he circled with his tongue. Her breath came in short pants as her world focused solely on the sensations he was creating. Another lick and she was there. Her climax rose up, roaring in her ears like the thunder of a waterfall. Everything slowed as she hovered on the very edge. Just waiting for one more lick, one more touch.

  He pulled away. She whimpered in distress and shoved her hips up toward him. He couldn’t leave her like this, not on the very edge of release. His chuckle was soft, but he didn’t make her wait long. His tongue swept over h
er clit again at the same instant he drove two thick fingers inside her.

  “Oh…mmm…” she moaned as an orgasm closed around her, wrapping her in its white-hot embrace. Her hips pumped mechanically as waves of pleasures rolled through her. Her pussy clenched tight around his invading fingers as she rode them, too mindless to think of anything else but her own release at the moment.

  LADY, she was going to be the death of him. Seth bit back his own moan as Jaida came apart under his hands and lips. The sweet scent of her release surrounded him like the finest perfume. Her tight inner channel clenching around his fingers was pure torture. All he could think about was ripping his pants open, freeing his cock and driving into her to reach heaven.

  She was his addiction and his cure all rolled into one. It figured she would be the one woman who hated his guts. Bitter amusement twisted Seth’s lips. The goddess had a mean streak, that was for sure.

  Sitting back on his heels, he watched her. Spread out over the bunk in front of him, just on the edge of sleep with the ship-suit open to reveal her voluptuous figure, she was an image straight out of any red-blooded male’s fantasy.

  She was the only image in his, so when he’d woken with her in his arms, he hadn’t been able to resist kissing her. For years he’d fantasized about this, about what would happen when he finally got her back. His mind had conjured up all sorts of fantasies. Everything from a romantic reconciliation with her declaring she was wrong, to nastier scenes where he had her tied, bound, and gagged as he screwed her.

  Trouble was, he mused as his fingers stroked gently over her G-spot, he couldn’t just fuck her. Not ever. He’d always had to make love to her, even if she didn’t realize it. There had never been any other way for him. Not with Jaida.

  She came down slowly. With a flush on her cheeks, she opened her eyes and looked at him. Her eyes were midnight velvet, warm and unfocused from her pleasure. Seth bit back a groan as he nearly came there and then. Goddess, she was beautiful.

  Gently he pulled his fingers from her. With shaking fingers he released himself. The thick shaft of his cock leapt from its fabric confinement into his hand. Seth stroked himself a couple of times, long slow movements as he watched her, looking for some sign she didn’t want this. Precum leaked from the slit at the tip of his cock. Sweeping a finger over the broad head, he spread it around.

  Gaze riveted on her flushed body he moved forward. His cock in hand, he angled it to press against the slick entrance to her body. He rotated his hips and teased her, gratified when she moaned again, the breathy sounds filling the cabin and driving him mad.

  If there was any doubt about how much she wanted this, they were all swept away as she bit her lip and pushed against him. Seth’s breath caught in his chest as he slipped inside her just half an inch.

  He was in heaven.

  A low moan tore from his chest as he slid deep inside her, a slow, long, wet ride of unbelievable pleasure. She was as tight and hot as he remembered. Her pussy closed around him and accepted him in a tight embrace that had him swelling impossibly further. He was painfully hard, his balls drawn up tightly as he resisted the urge just to plunge into her and fuck her with hard strokes until he came roaring her name.

  No, he schooled himself. Slow and gentle was the name of the game. He was no fool. He’d overridden her higher decision-making powers by seducing her while she was half asleep. She was a strong woman. Seth realized she was possibly stronger than he was.

  He had one shot at this, one chance to get under her skin and make sure she was as addicted to him as he was with her.

  His balls hit her ass, and then he was in her all the way. Seth rolled his hips against hers, grinding against her and catching her clit between them. She whimpered. It was a sound he loved, so he did it again.

  She was tightness, heat, and smooth silk all combined into one. Seth’s senses retracted from the world around him and expanded into a maelstrom of physical sensation. He felt every millimeter of his cock as he pulled out of her, then worked himself back in with short fast strokes. Each jerk caused a delicious friction that threatened to topple him over the edge but, his tenacity was legendary. He wouldn’t let something as minor as his own needs stop him from pleasuring his woman until she was mindless and begging him for completion.

  His breathing grew faster as he moved in a rhythm. His hips set up a steady pace, his cock sliding into her with an eagerness he hadn’t felt since…well, since her.

  Then it happened. Her body moved under his and his heart leaped as she started to respond. Her lips parted, her breath coming in pants, as around him, her pussy tightened in small flutters, flutters that threatened his tenuous control as he pushed her closer and closer to another climax. He wanted her to come, wanted to feel her come all over his cock as he brought her pleasure.

  Just the idea of her coming over him raised his blood pressure to boiling. A bead of sweat rolled down the center of his spine.

  He pushed harder, faster, unable to stop himself. He grabbed her thigh and pulled it up over his hip and drove back into her. Nothing mattered as his body, his instincts, took over. She was his, she’d always been his, and he didn’t care who he had to fight to prove that, even her.

  Triumph surged through him as she wrapped her legs around his hips and hooked her ankles together in the small of his back. Seth grunted as electricity built at the base of his cock and expanded. A white-hot knot twisted and turned on itself, growing and growing until, with a roar, his body went rigid and the most intense orgasm he’d ever felt ripped through him.

  7

  An insistent chirp drew Seth out of sleep. He snapped awake, his arms tightening around the sleeping woman on his chest. He felt his expression soften as he juggled her in his embrace and reached for his communications tag in the tangled mess of clothing on the floor.His fingers closed on the triangular tab of metal and dragged it free.

  “Yeah. I’m here,” he grunted, knowing the only person who would call him would be Jareth.

  “Ah, good. Back in the land of the living now, are we?”

  Seth threaded a hand through his hair and blinked sleep out of his eyes. “You know, we’re really going to have to do something about your attitude. The way you speak to your Prince is deplorable.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” Jareth’s voice was dismissive, the respect he showed in public replaced with an easy banter. “Listen, we’ve held off bothering you two love birds, but we just received a distress call from the base at Jenarlis Three, so we need to use the jump-field. We’re gonna lock onto you with a tractor and tow you with us as we head in.”

  “Go for it, we’re done here anyway.” Seth sat up with Jaida in his lap, feeling the slight lurch as Jareth locked the battle cruiser’s tractor beam onto the shuttle.

  Jaida murmured sleepily and burrowed closer to him. He smiled and laid her down on the bunk as gently as he could. He reached out and brushed a few strands of her hair from her brow. Her eyelashes fluttered in perfect half-moons on her cheeks as she sighed.

  She was his. Even now he couldn’t quite believe it. Far from the fight he’d been expecting last night she’d given herself to him so sweetly, so trustingly it made his soul ache. That she was capable of that after how badly he’d treated her truly humbled him. And the sex…no, it hadn’t been merely sex. He had made love to her, and he knew the difference.

  Her skin had always been as pale as starlight, so close to translucent he could see the throb of the veins under the skin in her neck. He frowned. There were dark circles under her eyes and she was too thin. Even though he hadn’t seen her for years, Seth could tell she hadn’t been eating right. Whether from the stress of being on the run or lack of funds, he didn’t know.

  “Computer, schedule Lady Jaida into the med bay for a check-up and physical profiling.” Dragging his clothes back on, he headed for the pilot’s station in the cockpit.

  Seth breathed in as he flicked his long hair back over his shoulders and started to braid it. The small cabin
was filled with the heady scent of her perfume, and underneath it, a smell that was pure Jaida. That was what he’d missed. He’d bought a bottle of the perfume she wore, just to try and be close to her. It had never been right, though. The essential component, the bit that had been missing, was the woman herself.

  He settled into the pilot’s chair as they entered the jump field. It was a smooth transition, but Seth hadn’t expected anything else, not with Jareth running the show on the Vengeance. The opalescence of the field surrounded them. Seth leaned his head back against the seat. All he wanted to do was crawl back into bed.

  But he had a thousand and one things to do, especially if there was pirate activity around Jenarlis Three. The last thing the Princedom needed on one of the major trade routes was an attack that would cost lives and revenue. He sighed and sat up. His hands were swift and efficient on the controls as he started the engines in preparation for dropping out of the warp field. The tractor beam could pull them in on automatic docking but it would be faster for him to fly them in. And time would be an important consideration if they had to go into combat immediately.

  “This is the Prince’s Dream to ISS Vengeance. We’re prepped and ready for manual flight when we drop out of the jump-field. Release the beam three seconds after we drop out and open up the docking bay doors. I’ll bring us in.”

  The comm crackled, a slight interference that would have let Seth know they were in a jump-field even if he hadn’t already known, and then a cool, female voice answered. “Aye sir, approaching exit point in T minus thirty seconds. Ready to release tractor beam in T minus thirty-three. Vengeance out.”

  He looked over his shoulder at the slumbering form on the bed. She was still wrapped up as snug as a bug in the blanket. A small smile curved Seth’s lips as a sense of peace washed over him. He had her back where she belonged; everything was going to be okay.

  The shuttle lurched to the side. His attention momentarily off the controls, Seth was thrown sideways against the console. “What the fuck?”