Desert Princes Bundle Read online

  Men could just enjoy sex for what it was—so why couldn’t a woman? Lots of her friends did.

  And, silencing the doubts which began to bubble to the surface of her mind, Laura gave in to her heart’s desire. She stood up and walked straight into his waiting arms.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  UNSEEN in the half-light, Xavier’s lips curved into a hard smile—his desire briefly dominated by triumph as he took Laura’s soft body into his arms. Yet even as he thrilled at the very touch of her was he not aware of a faint trace of disappointment?

  It had been as easy as it always was! Ah, if only she knew how much her uncertainty had turned him on—how the short wait had tantalised him—then might not she have made him wait a little longer?

  His thumb skated down over her peaking breast and he felt her shudder. ‘Do you know how long I have wanted to touch your breasts like this?’ he questioned idily.

  Laura closed her eyes with pleasure. ‘No.’

  ‘Well, you should. From the moment you walked into my office I wanted to take your clothes off.’

  ‘Do you…do you think like that about all women?’ she asked shakily, aware that this line of questioning might take her into dangerous waters.

  ‘All women? Non. But a woman as beautiful as you—ah, oui—then it is certain!’

  Laura stiffened. So don’t ask him stuff if you can’t bear to hear the answer!

  ‘Relax, cherie,’ he urged softly. ‘Don’t think about the others—for it is you who are here with me now.’ And then he bent his head close to her ear, so that she could feel his breath warm on her neck. ‘Do you know that I could continue to touch you like this until the end of time? Do you?’

  Tracing a soft line over her nipple, his thumb circled a featherlight path of pleasure so intense that it was easy to let the troublesome thoughts just slip away. Laura closed her eyes in a delirious mixture of shock and pleasure. This was supposed to be just sex, so why did it feel like getting on a fast train to paradise? Already!

  ‘Xavier,’ she breathed in disbelief.

  He moved his hand to cup the other. How completely she capitulated. And what a contradiction—the buttoned-up lawyer with the soft siren beneath. He bent his head to brush his lips against the sensitised mound, his tongue teasing her nipple so that his voice was muffled. ‘I could take it into my mouth and lick you there until you cried out your pleasure. Has a man ever made you come from sucking your breast alone, cherie?’

  Something in the erotic boast unnerved her—despite Laura’s vow to just enjoy this for what it was without reading anything else into it. Xavier must have known some of the greatest lovers in the world—so how could she possibly compete?

  ‘Have they?’ he prompted silkily.

  Suddenly, she was scared. The man whose dark head was bent over her breast was intent on pleasure but what if she couldn’t pleasure him back? What if he thought she was some racy, experienced type? How would he react when he discovered the truth of her relative inexperience?

  ‘Kiss me, Xavier,’ she whispered nervously, as she clutched his shoulders with her trembling hands. ‘Just kiss me!’

  Her unsophisicated little plea startled him, and he straightened up to look down into her face, lifting her chin with the tip of his finger. Her green eyes were like two huge, glittering emeralds in her pale, heart-shaped face, with her glorious red hair tumbling free.

  How wild and beautiful she looked, he thought, as he drove his mouth hungrily down on hers. But something in the breathless wonder of that first touch affected him, and the kiss became something other than what he had been expecting. Hard and hungry became soft and caressing, and then a sweet melding, and then—like the most glorious intimacy—the meeting and exploration of two mouths.

  On and on the kiss went, as her arms reached up to entwine themselves around him like delicate vines, and Xavier felt weak with the intensity of it—forcing himself to concentrate on the hot, urgent shaft of his erection. But he felt he was fighting on so many fronts. His startling paternity. The way she made him feel. Himself.

  ‘Laura,’ he groaned.

  He spoke the word into her open mouth and Laura trembled. ‘What is it?’ she whispered.

  He wanted to say Don’t kiss me like that. He wanted her to act dirty—that was how he liked his women to behave in the bedroom. Not like…like…

  With ruthless erotic efficiency he began to stroke her. ‘How can I play with you when you make me want to rip this exquisite nightgown from your body, push you up against the wall and take you like I was a teenage boy?’ he demanded unsteadily. ‘Tell me, is that how you like it? Hot and fast? Or slow and sweet?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ she whispered, wondering what a man of the world would like best.

  At another time and in another place her submissive reply might have been one of the most erotic things anyone had ever said to him. But coming on top of the emotional impact of the evening and his subsequent unburdening to her, Xavier felt exposed—as if the dry, gritty sand of the desert was being buffeted against his naked body.

  ‘You don’t know?’ he repeated sarcastically.

  She was going to mess up; she knew it. Josh had been right. ‘Show me.’

  Show her? He tensed as the unbelievable flew into his head. ‘Mon Dieu,’ he breathed. ‘You’re not a virgin?’

  Was that how she appeared—as fumbling and inexperienced as if she had no knowledge of men? ‘Of course not.’

  What the hell was he thinking of—asking a question which risked making a fool of him? Since he had been transported to this exotic and unknown land he had started inventing fairytales—was that it? As if a woman of her age who looked like she did would be a virgin!

  Oh, yes—he would show her, all right. He began to slide the slippery silk up her leg, splaying his hands and stroking his fingertips along the soft surface of her inner thigh until she gasped.

  ‘Unbutton my shirt,’ he instructed unevenly.

  Laura complied, silently willing her fingers not to fumble, but she was so eaten up with nerves and excitement that it wasn’t easy. Please make this everything I think it could be and want it to be. Or was that asking too much? ‘My hands are trembling,’ she admitted.

  ‘So I see,’ he said drily.

  ‘Xavier!’ she gasped, just as his mouth dipped to kiss the curve between neck and shoulder, just as his hand slipped down between her legs to where the heat was most intense.

  ‘Shall I make you come first with my finger?’ he mused. ‘And then my tongue? And then with…this?’

  He guided her hand down to where he was exquisitely hard. Just let go, she told herself. If this is the only night you have with him, then why not give in to your every fantasy? ‘No,’ she whispered as she touched the rocky ridge of him. ‘I want to feel you inside me.’

  ‘Mon Dieu!’ he moaned. ‘You drive me crazy! You touch me and you talk to me like…’ Like what? Not like a virgin, no. But with some quality which made it feel special, different. As if she was speaking from the heart.

  He was used to worldly lovers who used polished and erotic skills to pleasure him—but there was something so unaffected about the way Laura reacted to him. As if it really mattered. Xavier tensed. And it didn’t matter.

  Who cared if she was unworldly? She was a woman he had been foolish enough to confide in—but that was done now, and this was the perfect opportunity to wipe that memory away and replace it with something else.

  In that second, something in Xavier’s resolve changed, and he felt it in the almost imperceptible hardening of his body. It was time to demonstrate his finesse, to make love to her in such a way that every man who followed would provide just a pale imitation of the pleasure she had known with him.

  Without warning, he lifted her up into his arms.

  ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘What do you think? I am taking you to bed because I want to enjoy you in comfort,’ he ground out, as he began to carry her towards his bedroom.

&n
bsp; Enjoy you in comfort.

  She couldn’t work out whether that was sexy or insulting. But her craven body told her that it was too late to back out now, and she just leaned back against his hard chest as he carried her into his bedroom.

  Her first thought was that this room was on a much more lavish scale than hers, but then he was laying her down on the bed and towering over her like a dark statue—his black eyes gleaming as they swept over her in sensual assessment.

  ‘I think that I am wearing a little too much, don’t you?’ he observed, as he peeled his shirt off and tossed it aside.

  Laura swallowed. His torso was rock-hard and honed with muscle, and the sprinkling of dark hair on his chest arrowed enticingly down to where he began to unbuckle his belt.

  He saw her emerald eyes widen as he began to slide the zip down, and he smiled, because this was how he liked it.

  This was Xavier in control. Xavier about to pleasure a woman and then walk away, as he always did. Maybe not today, or even tomorrow—but walk he would eventually, without a backward glance or a single doubt.

  ‘Xavier,’ Laura whispered, because as he slid his trousers off she became suddenly daunted by the sheer magnificence of his body. Those tensile thighs, like iron itself, and narrow hips, and…Laura closed her eyes.

  ‘Open your eyes,’ he said softly, as he moved onto the bed and pulled her into his arms, a frown creasing his brow. ‘Why do you shiver so? You are frightened? Because I am so big?’

  ‘Daunted.’

  He gave a cool laugh. ‘You have the lawyer’s precision with words—but this is no time for them, and you are wearing far too many clothes. Viens ici.’

  He slid her negligee off, and the matching nightgown—until she was as naked as he was. He groaned as he looked at the lush breasts and the enticing triangle of dark red hair between her thighs.

  ‘Later I shall feast my eyes on you,’ he murmured. ‘But first we shall feast on each other, because my hunger is too great to wait any longer.’ Xavier bent his dark head to take the puckered rosy tip of her nipple into his mouth, his tongue flicking around it, his teeth gently grazing.

  A shaft of desire shot through her. ‘Oh!’ gasped Laura, her head falling back against the pillow. ‘Oh, Xavier!’

  Xavier lifted his head and murmured his appreciation as the dark red hair tumbled into a fiery waterfall down her back. He let his tongue move between her breasts, roving to the dip of her navel, then continuing on an inexorable path downwards. Laura caught hold of his shoulders.

  ‘No!’ she cried. ‘Xavier, please.’

  He heard the raw appeal in her voice and something touched him through the slow burn of desire. He lifted his head again, ebony eyes narrowed. ‘You don’t like that?’

  She wasn’t really sure, because Josh had never been a big fan—and it suddenly seemed just too matter-of-fact to discuss their erotic preferences like this. Like going shopping in some sort of sexual supermarket, and she didn’t want it to be like that.

  Laura had convinced herself that this was never going to be anything more than great sex—but she was only human, and wasn’t there also the very romantic side which no woman could ever quite suppress? That dreamed of hearts and flowers and happy-ever-after when she was intimate with a man? And even if they didn’t mean it, then surely they could pretend?

  ‘What is it that you want, cherie?’ he questioned, sensing her doubts.

  ‘I want you. Properly.’ She didn’t want him to perform a million of his clever little variations on a theme, for she was terrified that she wouldn’t know how to respond to half of them, terrified that he might compare her to other women he had known who did.

  ‘Tell me,’ he murmured, and put his face very close to hers.

  ‘I want you to fill me. I want…I want…’

  ‘Want what, Little Miss Lawyer?’ he teased, even though he was aching in a way he had never ached before. ‘Don’t tell me that a word has escaped you.’

  ‘I want to feel you,’ she said boldly. ‘Inside me.’

  Xavier could not see her blush, but he could feel it in the warmth of her cheek against his, and suddenly he felt more than a little overwhelmed. Was it because a blush was something a woman couldn’t fake? Because it was a true glimpse into the way she was feeling—and Laura was feeling shy about making a request that had sounded so delightful to his ears.

  ‘Then feel me you will,’ he said starkly. ‘Right…now.’

  He moved over her, bending his head to kiss her as he thrust into her and set about making love to her as if it was a masterclass. He loved to take women to the edge over and over again, until they were begging him to put an end to their sweet torment. But Laura was different.

  She kissed him a lot. She touched his face a lot. She ruffled his hair with her fingers and traced light little patterns across his skin with her fingertips until he shuddered—and he couldn’t work out why. But she made love as if it was important—and even though it wasn’t it didn’t seem to affect his response to her.

  So that for once it was Xavier who was lost—swept away on a wave of something so…so delicious that it defied description.

  Afterwards he lay looking up at the moon-dappled ceiling, telling himself that it was just an incredible orgasm. But Laura’s head was leaning against the crook of his arm and her hair was spread all over his chest, and he fell asleep with a much deeper feeling of contentment than usual.

  CHAPTER NINE

  MOLTEN gold morning sun flooded over her bare skin and Laura blinked as her eyes accustomed themselves to the light. Someone must have opened the shutters. She yawned, still disorientated in the aftermath of a fitful night spent…

  Her eyes snapped open as she turned her head to see the empty rumpled space beside her.

  A night spent making love with Xavier de Maistre!

  ‘Good morning,’ came a soft voice from the other side of the room. And there was Xavier. He was naked, except for a tiny towel wrapped around his hips, and his hair was still damp from the shower. And he was watching her as a wary biologist might observe a newly discovered species.

  ‘Did you sleep well?’

  ‘I…’ She met his eyes. He had woken her three times in the night to make love to her. It had been the best night of her life, and at one point she thought she might have told him so. Had he forgotten all that—or did things you said while you were having sex simply not count? Was this the language of sophisticated lovers—that next morning you acted as if nothing had happened? Or was he using a subtle code to warn her not to make it into something it wasn’t—not to come out with gushing words of praise for his undeniable sexual prowess or—worse—to tell him how easy it would be to fall in love with him?

  Well, she would take her cue from him. They were both adults—she wasn’t going to play coy or cringing or regretful or anything else negative. She had enjoyed every second of it—and so, presumably, had he.

  ‘No, I feel great this morning,’ she murmured back.

  He walked over to the bed and kissed her hair. ‘You smell great, too.’

  ‘So…so do you.’

  Their eyes met as he slipped his hand between her legs, and suddenly Laura felt shy without the concealment of darkness and kind shadows cloaking expressions and hiding any tell-tale signs of vulnerability or insecurity.

  ‘Xavier.’

  ‘Mmm?’

  ‘I think I ought to be getting up.’

  ‘Shh, that’s my job. Take the towel off,’ he instructed on a sultry whisper.

  Had she thought she needed darkness to feel liberated? Well, that just went to prove how wrong she could be—because with him touching her in that light, teasing way Laura was suddenly overwhelmed with desire, and she pulled the towel from him and tossed it away.

  ‘Like that?’

  ‘D’ accord. Just like that!’ He shuddered and closed his eyes as she encircled him. ‘Mmm—that is so good, cherie.’

  ‘Is it?’ Made bold by his murmured praise, Laura rubb
ed her hand up and down him in a wanton way which seemed both alien to her and yet utterly right. Or was that just the Xavier effect? Making a relatively inexperienced woman suddenly feel as if she would like to work her way through the entire Kama Sutra? ‘How good?’

  ‘Too good,’ he groaned, and, snatching her hand away, lifted her up and slowly lowered her onto him instead, placing his hands on either side of her hips and moving her up and down on his body, while he pierced her honeyed sweetness with his thick shaft. It was unbearably erotic to see the contrast of her pale skin with the thick curtain of dark red hair which spilled down over her rose-tipped breasts. But her eyes were closed. ‘Look at me,’ he urged. ‘Laura, look at me.’

  Laura did—feeling suddenly shy. For it seemed the most intimate act of all for their eyes to meet and hold while he thrust into her. She felt her pleasure suddenly escalating out of control—her heart contracting along with her body as a great whooshing wave of emotion began to carry her away.

  ‘I can’t wait,’ she cried out as spasms of profound pleasure began to pull her under.

  Xavier’s felt her tighten around him. ‘Then don’t,’ he urged, helpless himself when, minutes later, he let go and was sent shooting into orbit by another orgasm of such intensity that his heart seemed to stop for a brief moment. And when the waves of pleasure had died away he was shaken as that feeling stole over him again—the lazy contentment which made minutes drift into hours, so that he must have slept.

  When he awoke it was to find Laura lying watching him—and as he stretched luxuriously he wondered if they could get away with spending the whole day in bed.

  ‘Hello, again,’ he said, and stretched lazily.

  Laura knew she had to pull herself together. She had been lying there watching him while he was sleeping—the two thick black arcs of his lashes feathering the dark olive skin. Mainly, she’d been feeling a kind of dazed bliss.

  In sleep he looked softer—almost vulnerable. Yet hadn’t there been traces of that same vulnerability when he had been telling her about his reaction upon meeting the man who had sired him? Or was that just Laura projecting what Laura wanted to see?