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‘Let me warm you,’ he whispered against her lips.
‘Yes.’ Her answer was lost as he covered her mouth with his and kissed her beneath the stars.
Eirik lifted Arielle into his arms and carried her through the frosty garden. She rested her head on his shoulder and he breathed in her seductive perfume. Soon she would be his. The thought caused his pulse to accelerate, and he quickened his steps.
He had left a side door unlocked and there were no guards on duty, meaning that he could enter the palace unseen. This was not how he’d anticipated the evening would end, although in truth he had fantasised about making love to Arielle. He felt a stab of guilt as he acknowledged his failure to do what was expected of him by the Crown Prince and Princess, and by the entire population of Fjernland, it seemed. He was no closer to deciding who to marry, but he’d been aware that there would be fevered speculation at the ball about who might be his future bride.
Unfortunately, he’d taken one look at a green-eyed siren, as sexy as hell in a gown that showed off her gorgeous curves, and his blood had rushed to his groin. He had been certain that he could control his lust for Arielle, but he’d failed spectacularly, and he did not care.
No doubt tomorrow, in the cold light of day, he would question what it was about this woman that made him desperate to strip her naked and explore every inch of her creamy skin with his hands and mouth until she begged for his possession. Not that she would have to beg very hard, Eirik thought self-derisively. The truth was that he needed to be inside Arielle as quickly as possible.
He took the back staircase and corridors up to his private suite of rooms. There was no risk of being spotted by the staff, who would all be downstairs to begin clearing up after the ball had finished and assisting the guests to their cars.
‘I can walk,’ Arielle protested. ‘I’m too heavy for you to carry me up the stairs.’
‘Nonsense.’ His heart was thundering, but not from physical exertion. He could have carried Arielle to the top of the highest mountain in Fjernland. Desire pulsed in his blood and in his sex. He was descended from Vikings, and he was impatient to claim his shield maiden. Shouldering the door to his apartment, he carried her through to the bedroom and set her down on her feet next to the bed.
‘Wow, this is amazing.’ Arielle’s eyes widened when she looked around the room that was as ornate as the rest of the Winter Palace. The four-poster bed with its gold brocade drapes was not to Eirik’s taste, but he had inherited the palace and soon he would inherit the crown and, somehow, he would have to make his peace with the life that awaited him.
But tonight he would not think about the future. The huge bed was a perfect playground for what he had in mind, and he felt his body tauten as he pictured Arielle sprawled on the satin sheets.
‘I did not bring you here to admire the decor,’ he muttered against her mouth before he kissed her again and again. Her eager response as she parted her lips and kissed him back stoked the fire in his belly. ‘I want to see you naked.’
He eased away from her a fraction and stared at the soft flush on her lovely face and those sea green eyes, which right now were glazed with desire. The sirens of ancient legends had sung an intoxicating song that lured men to their doom. Arielle’s soft moans of delight as he cradled her breasts in his hands might well be the end of him, Eirik thought. But he did not care, and that in itself should trouble him. With other women he had always remained in control of his sexual urges, but his hunger for Arielle was a voracious beast that demanded to be appeased.
He stood behind her and pushed her glossy hair over her shoulder to expose the slender column of her neck. She tasted of honey and roses when he pressed his lips to her spine and kissed his way down her bare back. His fingers deftly unzipped her dress before he turned her to face him and slid the velvet gown from her shoulders.
Eirik had spent an unseemly amount of time during the ball wondering if Arielle could have worn some sort of bra beneath the backless dress. Now he had his answer and his body clenched.
Her breasts were perfect, round handfuls, tipped with dusky pink nipples that swelled against his tongue when he closed his lips around one taut peak and then the other. The sound of her swiftly indrawn breath delighted him, for it told him that Arielle was as much at the mercy of this inconvenient desire as he was.
With increasing urgency, he tugged the clingy velvet over her hips, and the dress fell to the floor, leaving her in a pair of tiny knickers and gossamer-fine stockings with bands of lace around her thighs.
‘Have you any idea what you do to me?’ he growled, enjoying her reaction when he traced the top of one stocking before moving his fingers higher to caress the creamy skin of her inner thigh.
‘Eirik?’ She whispered his name and he laughed softly at her husky plea.
‘Tell me what you want,skatta.’
‘I can’t.’ She blushed and seemed suddenly vulnerable, dropping her gaze from his. ‘I told you that I’m not very good at this.’
He remembered the ex-boyfriend who Arielle had said hadn’t satisfied her. She had told him she wasn’t a virgin, but Eirik suspected she was not very experienced.
He slid his hand beneath her chin and tilted her face up, forcing her to meet his gaze. ‘I am very good at sex,’ he murmured. It was not a boast—he had a high sex drive and enjoyed giving his lovers pleasure as much as he enjoyed receiving it. The idea that her ex had not taken the time to ensure that sex was good for Arielle, and from the sound of it had made her feel that it was her failure, made Eirik determined to show her how pleasurable love-making could be. They had all night, and he intended to satiate his damnable desire for her by the morning.
‘Why don’t we begin with me touching you, and you tell me if you like what I am doing, or if you want me to stop? Does that sound okay?’
She nodded but still looked uncertain. He could not resist kissing the tense line of her mouth until her lips softened beneath his. At the same time, he cradled her breast in his palm and rubbed his thumb across her nipple, eliciting a husky moan from Arielle.
‘Do you like it when I do that?’
‘Y-yes.’
‘What about when I do this?’ His other hand was still resting on her stocking top. He felt her thigh quiver when he skimmed his fingers over her sensitive flesh, higher and higher until he pressed his thumb against the moist panel of her panties.
‘Yes,’ she said in a breathy whisper that made Eirik even harder. ‘I...like that.’
‘And now?’ He slipped his fingers beneath her knickers and his heart gave a kick when he discovered that she was wet down there. Wet for him. The sweet scent of her feminine arousal inflamed his desire. He gently parted her and pushed a finger between her silken folds. ‘Do you like what I am doing to you now,skatta?’
