She reached for his vest and worked the clasp open. He shrugged it off and yanked off his shirt. As he pulled the fabric over his head, she unbuckled his belt and slipped her hand inside, pulling his shaft free. He groaned, his body tight, the muscles on his chest and stomach hard, strained bulges.
He was beautiful.
Audrey stroked him again, running her hand up and down his hard shaft, and he slipped his hand under her skirt, up her thigh. He pulled off her panties. His fingers dipped into her, right into the center of the aching pressure.
Oh God.
She almost cried out, and he kissed her. “Shh, love. Shh.”
He slid his fingers higher and touched the sensitive mound just above her ache. A thrilling jolt shot through her, so intense she jerked back, then immediately leaned into him, eager for more. He kissed her neck, sending small shivers down her spine. His fingers made small, slippery circles, sliding, hot, clever, touching just right. Pleasure spiked inside her, the pressure rolling, concentrating down, toward that spot and his hands, each touch bringing the rush of euphoria closer, as if it spiraled down. Her breath was coming in short, rapid gasps. The tension built and built. She felt as if she were flying, her brain flooded by bliss and Kaldar.
The pressure came together into a single tight knot. She couldn’t stand it any longer. It peaked, and a wave of exquisite, intense pleasure swept through her, quick and followed by spasms.
He thrust into her, his shaft a hot hardness inside her. She locked her legs behind him. They moved in a steady rhythm. She kissed him, winding herself around his body, echoing every thrust, feeling every movement he made inside her. A steady ache began to build in her again, that same insistent, exhilarating pressure.
Someone tried the door handle. She clamped her hand on Kaldar’s mouth. They froze. If they got busted, she would say . . .
To hell with it.
She didn’t care.
On the other side of the door, a woman made an irritated “Hmm” noise. Kaldar pulled out of her—she’d almost gasped in frustration—and moved across the carpet to the door.
Another “Hmm.”
The sound of retreating steps seeped through the door.
Yes!
Audrey slid off the desk. Her gown had to go. She wanted to feel him, all of him, without too many annoying layers of fabric between the two of them. Audrey pulled the dress off and dropped it to the floor.
Kaldar crossed the distance between them. She turned her back to him. His hands closed about her, cupping her breasts.
“I want you,” she whispered.
“Marry me,” he told her.
“No.” He just kept asking and asking. What if he kept asking for the rest of her life? What then? “Why does it have to be marriage?”
“Because I want to be with you forever, and that’s the only way I can prove it. I want to stand there in front of everyone and promise to love you. It’s a promise you can’t break.”
His hand slipped down on her thigh, pushing her legs wider. He thrust into her, sliding in, harder and harder, in a possessive rapid rhythm. She braced her hands against the desk. He wrapped one arm around her waist, clamping her to him, his fingers hot on her skin. His right hand slipped down, over her hip, over her stomach . . . She tensed in anticipation. His fingers found that same sensitive spot, stroking her back to the edge, where the bliss waited. She pushed against the desk.
The pressure inside her crested.
Kaldar released her waist and leaned back, thrusting fast, deep, hard.
Joy drowned her, radiating through her in waves. They came and came, flooding her, overloading her senses. She felt weightless, exhausted, and happy.
He shuddered behind her. A second later, he pulled her up and wrapped his arms around her. She sagged against him, so thoroughly tired and completely content. She didn’t want to move. She didn’t want to speak. She just wanted to stand there, wrapped in him.
He kissed her cheek.
She was so happy.
Footsteps sounded down the hallway. Probably one of the Texas sharpshooters—the boot had a heel by the sound of it.
They couldn’t stay like that forever. Sooner rather than later, someone in the ballroom would notice they were gone. No matter how much she loved being held like that, they had to clean up, get dressed, and go on with their plan before their absence drew enough attention to put them all in danger. Audrey gently pushed at Kaldar’s arms, and he let go.
A bottle of water stood on the desk. Audrey swiped it, wet a handkerchief, and wiped her breasts, her waist, and then her thighs. She smelled like Kaldar. She wished she could curl up just like that, with his scent on her, and fall asleep while he held her.
She tossed the handkerchief to Kaldar.
“I told you you would like it.”
“You are so humble.” She brushed a quick kiss on his lips and pulled on her gown.
“Wedding at the end of the month, then?”
She pulled the clasp out of her hair and shifted it back into a decent hairstyle. She wanted the wedding. She wanted him whichever way she could get him. “Maybe.”
“Is that a yes?”
“I’ll think about it.” She was in love with Kaldar. She knew it. Their sex wasn’t just sex—it was making love. The way he looked at her made her shiver. But something inside her kept her from saying yes. It wasn’t pride. Fear, she realized. She was afraid that if she told him yes, he would lose interest.
He wanted to marry her. “For men like you, ‘marriage’ sounds a lot like ‘sentenced to forced labor in the mines.’”
“I never wanted to marry anyone before,” he said. “When two people marry, they surrender a small part of themselves. They become more like each other. I never met a woman who was better than me at things I take pride in, and I never wanted to be like them. I always knew that whoever I was with was temporary. There was always a new woman around the corner. I’ve seen marriages shatter. Twice. My mother left, then Richard’s wife. It almost broke my brother.”
“So how do I know that you won’t move on and leave me broken?”
“Because you are the one. You are better than me in some things, and I am better than you in others.” He drew her into his arms. “I don’t mind being a bit like you. I hope you don’t mind being a bit like me.”
He said exactly what she would have said if he had asked her why she wanted him.
Another set of footsteps echoed through the hallway. Kaldar glanced at the door.
If someone burst through that door and killed him, her life would be over. The realization rocked her, and she looked away.
“Audrey.” He turned her to him.
She couldn’t keep stringing him along. It wasn’t fair.
He was dead serious. His eyes searched her face. He was terrified that she would shoot him down. He hid it, but she knew his face so well by now. It was the face of a man she loved, and his eyes could no longer keep a secret from her.
“Different entrances,” he said. “We can’t go back into the ballroom together.”
“Of course I will marry you, you fool,” Audrey told him.
KALDAR slipped through the arched entrance into the ballroom. Morell seemed preoccupied with some older man. A few moments later, Audrey arrived. She didn’t look ruffled or disheveled. She certainly didn’t seem like she had just had scorching sex. As far as he could tell, their disappearance and return had gone unnoticed by anyone except for Cerise, who was observing him with a very concerned look.
Audrey had said yes. The elation filled him, and he had to maintain an iron grip on his face to keep from grinning.
The butler strode through the double doors and cleared his throat. “The Marquise of Amry and Tuanin, Peer of the Realm, Veteran of the Ten-Month War, Recipient of the Gaulish Shield, Bearer of the Triple Seal of the Golden Throne, Defender of the Gaulish Empire of Third Rank, Captain Helena d’Amry. And associates.”
Shit.
A servant deposited the invitation into Morell’s hand. The baron glanced at it. “I see Kaleb Green will not be joining our auction this time around.”
The butler stepped aside, and Helena strode into the ballroom. She wore the midnight blue uniform of the Gaulish Empire. Her green eyes searched the crowd unerringly and found Kaldar.
Helena d’Amry smiled.
GEORGE closed his eyes. Kaldar paced back and forth. He’d been trying to raise Audrey via the transmitter, but she didn’t respond. George and his birds were his only hope. He stopped and peered out of the open window. Their quarters were luxurious and tightly guarded. Their windows presented a beautiful panorama of the mountains, and below them was a thousand-foot drop straight to the distant woods below.
“I’m there.” George opened his eyes.
“Is Audrey there?”
“Yes.”
“Tell her to activate the barrette.”
“She says she doesn’t have it. It must’ve fallen out. During the dancing.”
No, she’d had it during the dancing. It must’ve been during their other dancing. He recalled her raising her hair. He couldn’t remember the barrette being there. Kaldar almost slapped himself. Such a simple thing, and they had both missed it.
“Tell her we have to take the diffusers tonight.”
George whispered and turned to him. “She says you are crazy.”
“Tell her the auction is tomorrow. If we bid, Helena will outbid us, and we never intended to bid in the first place anyway. We have to retrieve them tonight.”
George whispered and paused.
“She says what do you think will happen when Morell discovers that they are gone? All the wyverns are grounded, and the giant men with very sharp swords will mince us into tiny pieces.”
“Tell her I had a replacement made. We substitute the replacement for the real thing.” He’d had the Mirror make the replicas before he had ever set out for California. They were real gold, just like the bracelets themselves.
“She says we did that once, and let her think, oh, it didn’t go very well, did it?”
“Tell her we have no choice. Tomorrow it will be all over.”
“You suck. Do you even know where the vault is?”
“Yes, I do. It’s in the northern turret on top of the keep. I looked at it from the balcony. It’s full of guards, it’s warded, and if the castle were to fall, its contents could be quickly moved by landing a wyvern on the roof next to it.”
George looked at him. “She is walking around the room mumbling to herself.”
“Tell her to mumble faster; we’re short on time.”
“Ummm, I’m not going to do that,” George said.
George frowned. “She says when?”
“Half an hour. And tell Cerise to give Audrey her claws. I know she packed some.”
KALDAR stood by the window. The Mirror’s night suit clung to his frame, turning him all but invisible in the darkness. He checked the pack on his back. Secure. The claws came next: thick solid bands of steel and leather, laced with veins of wires, they clasped his palms, extending up his arms to wrap around his shoulders. His shins sported the second pair. A small coin powered each claw. He pressed the coins one by one. They flashed silver, sending thin currents of magic through the wires.
“What are those?” Jack asked.
“Climbing claws.”
Kaldar pressed his hand to the side of the window. Barbs shot out from the claws, biting into the stone. He hung on it with his full weight, testing. It held. He pulled his hand away, and the claw automatically retracted the blades.
“Make sure the door stays locked,” he whispered.
The boys nodded.
“If someone knocks, don’t open it. Let them break it down if they have to. If it comes to that, send a bird to William and Cerise for help. George, keep a bird on me at all times. If I die, go to William right away.”
“Understood,” George said.
Kaldar leaned out the window. Audrey was in Cerise’s room, two windows to the right. Below him, the sheer drop yawned. No guts, no glory.
He climbed onto the windowsill and planted his right-hand claw on the wall. The blades clicked. He pressed his right shin against the stone. Claws pierced the wall. Climbing was never his favorite. In fact, heights weren’t his favorite altogether. Swimming, that he could do.
Kaldar exhaled and stepped off the window.
The claws held.
He planted his left shin, then his left claw, and began crawling up the wall, slowly, like some sort of insect. His heart hammered against his ribs. He knew not to look down, but he didn’t have to. In his mind, his claws failed. He slid down the wall, hopelessly scrambling to find purchase and failing. The wall ended, and he plummeted down, turning in the air as he fell, and smashed down on the sharp rocks below with a wet thud.
Sometimes, an overactive imagination was a curse.
A shadow crawled out of the window to the right and began making its way to him. Audrey.
Kaldar hung in place, waiting for her.
She drew even with him, her eyes thrilled, and whispered. “This is fun! The Mirror has all the best toys.”
“You’re scared to fly on a wyvern, but this is fun?”
“When I’m on the wyvern, it’s out of my hands. I can’t do anything about crashing. I can control this.” She leaned closer. “Are you okay? You’re looking green.”
“Bet me something that we can make it up this wall.”
She detached her right claw and fished a coin out of her pocket. “I bet you this coin we can’t make it.”
“You brought money on the heist?”
“It’s small and easy to bet in case we get in trouble.”
He really did love this woman. He swiped the coin and slid it under the collar of his suit next to his skin. The familiar surge of magic burst through him, snapped to Audrey, and returned to him. Kaldar began climbing.
“So how does this betting thing work, anyway?” Audrey asked, climbing next to him.
“It has to be physically possible. If it’s something continuous like this or walking through a minefield, it works best if I hold the object I’m betting on. If it’s a bet on other people, it works about a third of the time, and I don’t have to hold anything.”