Born of Shadows (48 page)
Authors: Sherrilyn Kenyon
Tags: #Romance, #General, #Fiction, #Soldiers of fortune, #Fantasy, #Contemporary, #Imaginary places, #Bodyguards
Six Months Later
Bogimir danced around Caillen’s desk in silent aggravation as he screwed up the paperwork he was supposed to be filling out. “Boggi, I swear to the gods if you don’t stop doing that, I will shoot you where you prance.”
Huffing and puffing in indignation, Bogimir made a hasty retreat to the safety of Evzen’s office. Whatever. Caillen had actually learned to enjoy his father’s lectures. Better to be yelled out than to stand over the man’s grave.
Sometimes you just had to suffer for your family.
Like right now. He wanted to burn all the crap on his desk. He felt like he was drowning in it.
Or worse, going snow blind.
Yes, he still had a small itch to climb into his ship and return to his old life. But all he had to do was think of Desideria in harm’s way and it quelled his desire immediately. Nothing was worth risking even a hair on her head.
Kasen still wasn’t happy with the arrangement. However, Desideria’s sister Gwen was more than grateful that Desideria had decided to live on Exeter as his wife.
He glanced to the wedding band on his hand and smiled. It still felt weird to have it there, but it served as a reminder of all she’d brought into his world. Every day they had together was better than the one before it.
A knock sounded on his door.
No doubt it was his father to bitch at him. “Come in.”
To his delight, it was Desideria. Dressed in a cream gown that highlighted her dark complexion, she had a lovely blush on her cheeks that made him instantly hard.
Yesterday when she’d disturbed him, they’d had a hot interlude on his desk that had sent papers flying everywhere. It’d taken him hours to resort them, but he was more than ready for it again.
“What’s up?”
She frowned. “I have a strange question.”
“No, I’m not the one who ate your candy. It was Darling. I swear.”
Laughing, she rolled her eyes at him. “It was both of you. I saw it on playback from the security monitors.”
“Damn. I should have erased that.” He pulled her down to sit in his lap so that he could feel her warmth.
“But that wasn’t my question.” She looked at the door and scowled. “Are you sure Darling’s gay?”
“Yeah, why?”
She bit her lip before she answered. “I swear I just caught him ogling Maris’s new female secretary.”
Caillen scoffed at the mere thought. “You must have been mistaken. He’s my best bud in the universe. I’d know if he wasn’t.”
“If you say so, but I know what I saw. Maybe he’s bisexual.”
“Again, I’d know.”
She held her hands up in surrender as she straddled his waist. Oh yeah, this was what he needed.
“Fine. That wasn’t what I wanted to talk to you about anyway.”
His blood heating at the thought of tasting her, he slid his hand under the hem of her dress and skimmed it over he soft skin so that he could cup her bare bottom. “No?”
She slid closer to him until she pressed against his hard cock in a way that drove him insane. “No. Do you know what was six weeks ago?”
He searched his memory, but couldn’t place it. “Baby, I barely remember what I had for dinner last night. Was it important?”
She leaned down to whisper words in his ear that hit him like ice water. “My birthday.”
Caillen cursed at his stupidity. He’d wanted to remember it so that he could make it extra special for her.
How could he have forgotten?
I’m such an asshole.
“I am so sorry, Desideria. I can’t believe I forgot. I swear I’ll make it up to you. Tell me what you want and I’ll get it. Anything.”
She placed her soft hand over his lips to stop him from speaking. “It’s all right. I promise I won’t hold it against you. Besides you did give me the best present of all time.”
Again, he tried to think of what he’d done six weeks ago. “What?”
She reached out and took his hand into hers, then led it to her stomach. “A baby.”
His breath caught in his throat as those two words hung in the air between them.
A baby.
“Are you serious?”
Biting her lip, she nodded.
Caillen pulled her against him and held her close. Sheer ecstasy pounded through him. He was going to be a father. And the de Orczys would have a new heir.
Desideria smiled at the happiness she saw mirrored in his eyes. Strange, she’d always known she’d be queen one day. She just hadn’t thought it would be on a world not her own. Caillen had given her everything she’d ever wanted.
But never the way she’d envisioned it.
That was his gift. He was unpredictable and wonderful… at least most of the time.
Still that was all right by her. As her father had so often said… Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live. So long as she had Caillen and their baby, she knew she’d be laughing constantly.
And loving, and, most importantly, being loved forever.
Contents
Prologue
In just two years
New York Times
bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon has claimed the #1 spot fourteen times. This extraordinary author continues to soar to the top of every genre she writes, including manga and graphic novels. With more than twenty-three million copies of her books in print in over thirty countries, her series include The League, Dark-Hunter, Lords of Avalon, and Chronicles of Nick.
Since 2004, she has placed over fifty novels on the
New York Times
bestseller list and her manga is an international bestseller.
Proclaimed the preeminent voice in paranormal fiction by critics, Kenyon continues to blaze new trails thaur traditional genre lines.
BORN OF NIGHT
BORN OF FIRE
BORN OF ICE
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2011 by Sherrilyn Kenyon
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
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First eBook Edition: April 2011
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ISBN: 978-0-446-57324-5
Table of Contents