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The low growl he made sounded as primitive as a lion’s mating call, and molten heat pooled between Arielle’s thighs. She cleared her throat and tried to concentrate on reading out her report. The sooner she got on with it, the quicker she could leave the penthouse before her resistance to Eirik’s potency crumbled.
After a nervous start, she got into her stride and gave the speech. ‘Did I sound okay?’ she asked as Eirik stood up and walked towards her.
‘You were brilliant. I mean it,’ he said when she looked doubtful. ‘Your enthusiasm for marine conservation is obvious.’ He halted in front of her, and Arielle breathed in the intoxicating scent of his aftershave.
‘I should go,’ she mumbled. ‘I want to get to bed early.’
‘It’s seven thirty.’ His slow smile sent a tremor through her. ‘But an early night is an excellent idea.’
‘Eirik...’ Her half-hearted protest was lost in his kiss as he angled his mouth over hers and teased her lips apart with his tongue. She would not deny herself this one final time to make love with him, Arielle decided, knowing that she was weak, but unable to resist him. Even though he was not going to marry Ida Lundberg, he must choose an aristocratic bride for the sake of the principality he would soon rule. But tonight he was hers. She pushed his mother’s threats to the back of her mind. Tonight she would show Eirik with her body what she could not tell him in words.
Eirik lifted her into his arms and carried her through to the bedroom. She rested her head on his shoulder and brushed her lips over his stubbled jaw. He turned his head and their mouths fused in a slow, sensual kiss that left them both breathless.
‘You are so beautiful,’ he said thickly.
‘So are you.’ She studied his face to imprint his chiselled cheekbones and the seductive curve of his mouth on her mind.
He set her down on her feet and untied the belt of her dressing gown before he pushed the robe off her shoulders and skimmed his hands over her naked body, finding each pleasure point with his fingers and then his mouth. She moaned when he closed his lips around one nipple and sucked the tender peak before he moved across to her other breast to do the same.
Desire swept hot and urgent through her veins when he slipped his hand between her legs and brushed his thumb over her sensitive upper thigh. Higher he went, until he found her wet heat and pushed his finger inside her. She rocked her hips against his hand, needing more, desperate for him to possess her fully.
Arielle reminded herself that she wanted their last night of lovemaking to be a memorable experience for Eirik. She did not belong in his world, but she was determined he would never forget her. He groaned when she slipped her hands beneath his sweater and roamed them over his chest. She felt the erratic thud of his heart beneath her fingertips and wished she could tell him that her heart belonged to him.
Sadness would come later. Now there was only the brush of skin against skin when he pulled his sweater over his head and drew her close to him. His chest hairs were silky beneath her cheek. She ran his zip down, and he kicked off his jeans and underwear to stand before her, naked and magnificently aroused. In the light from the bedside lamp he was a golden god, her prince. No other man would ever come close to him.
When he pulled her down onto the bed, she leaned over him and scattered kisses over his chest, following the arrowing of dark blond hairs down to his groin where his erection was jutting proudly.
‘Do you have any idea what you do to me?’ he growled, his thighs tensing as she ran her tongue along his swollen length before taking him into her mouth.
She loved to give him pleasure, and his unsteady breaths emboldened her to become even more inventive with her caresses. Eirik speared his fingers into her hair and shifted his hips restlessly. Having him completely at her mercy evoked a fierce tenderness in Arielle. He was so strong, this man, but she had glimpsed a vulnerability in him that made her love him even more.
Moving back up his body, she clasped his face in her hands and kissed his mouth before she took the condom he’d left on the bedside table and slid it over his manhood.
‘Arielle.’ He spoke her name like a prayer as he rolled them both over and settled himself between her spread thighs. His eyes blazed with an emotion she dared not try to define. With infinite care he entered her and sank deeper and deeper until he filled her, and they were one.
There was no need for words. Their bodies moved together in an age-old dance, and yet each touch and caress felt new and breathtaking. She arched her hips to meet his thrusts as he set a devastating rhythm and every powerful stroke sent her closer to the edge. He held her there and bent his head to claim her lips in a lingering kiss that was utterly beguiling.
She sensed his urgency and locked her ankles around his hips as he increased his pace and drove into her faster, harder, until they both toppled over the edge. Eirik let out a savage groan and Arielle pressed her lips to his throat and tasted sweat on his skin.
How could something that felt so right be wrong? she wondered. Princess Hulda’s coldly condemning expression came into Arielle’s mind and reminded her of why she must leave Fjernland.
She looked good. Arielle did a slow twirl in front of the mirror. The woman who looked back at her was dressed in an elegant dark blue suit. Beneath the buttonless jacket she was wearing a crisp white blouse. Three-quarter-length trousers made the most of her long legs that were further complemented by nude-coloured stiletto-heeled shoes. Her curls had been tamed into a sleek style and she looked professional and self-confident. The soft flush on her cheeks was the only telltale sign that she was a woman in love, and a closer inspection revealed shadows in her eyes.
But no one at the National Council’s assembly would guess that her heart was breaking, Arielle told herself as she picked up her handbag and the report she was to give and exited the cloakroom to make her way to the conference suite. She walked to the front of the assembly room and sat on a chair at the side of the dais as an official had instructed her to do. The rows of seats facing the dais quickly filled, and everyone stood up when Prince Eirik strode into the room and walked down the central aisle to take his seat in the front row.
The last time Arielle had seen him, he had been naked and sprawled on the bed at the penthouse, his blond hair falling across his brow and an indolent smile on his lips after they’d enjoyed early morning sex. Now he was impeccably dressed in a light grey suit, and his expression was enigmatic.
Valdemar hurried over to the dais and sat down next to Arielle. ‘The baby was sick on my jacket just before I left home,’ he said under his breath. ‘I wiped off most of it, but I thinks it’s left a stain.’
‘It’s not too bad,’ she whispered, trying not to giggle. The flash of normality eased her tension. Valdemar stood and walked to the centre of the dais to explain to the audience about the role of the marine research institute. When he introduced Arielle, she walked up to the lectern and arranged her notes in front of her. She glanced at Eirik, and her heart lifted when he winked at her. Without him, she would not have had the courage to speak in public. He had helped her to find her voice that her father had silenced. Taking a deep breath, she started to speak.
‘In summary,’ she told the assembly some twenty minutes later, ‘the marine research institute needs your support to help in the fight against plastic pollution. Education, advocacy, and science will allow us to start to create changes in consumer and corporate behaviour that will benefit the world’s oceans and ecosystems.’
Loud applause rang out in the assembly room when Arielle finished her report. She sensed that she had made a real connection with the audience and felt quietly proud of herself. Valdemar gave her a thumbs-up sign. She looked over at Eirik, but at that moment a commotion at the back of the room made everyone turn their heads.
The doors to the conference room were opened by two security guards and Princess Hulda walked into the room. A sense of foreboding snaked through Arielle when the Princess directed her haughty gaze at her.
‘Arielle,’ Valdemar said in a loud whisper from the side of the stage. ‘It’s time for you to answer questions from the audience.’
