The Prefect's Baby
by Marteeka Karland
When Astra meets a mysterious, handsome stranger at a ball in honor of her father’s honored guests, she lives in the moment. A lifetime of sheltering makes her reckless. The sexy stranger makes her long for something... more.Unfortunately “more” leaves her in a delicate condition. And her handsome stranger turns out to be the very Prefect her father needs an alliance with.
Galen is taken with the beautiful daughter of the king. The alliance he came to form with this planet could rest with his ability to control his wayward feelings. Astra’s pull, however, is more than he wants to resist.
Now he just has to convince her family he’s the one for her...
EXCERPT!
Astra’s
heart pounded, the intimate feeling unfamiliar but not unwelcome. The combined
scents of the thick carpet of grasses under the coverlet, the night blooming
wildflowers, and fresh sea air mingled with the wild, woodsy scent of the man
with her were potent. She’d never been so drawn to a man. It was terrifying,
yet exhilarating.
They
lay there for a long while, Astra pointing out her favorite sights. The nearby
nebula seemed to paint the sky in brilliant reds, blues, and purples. Why she
kept talking to this man, this stranger, like she’d known him all her life, she
didn’t know, but he seemed genuinely interested in the sights she showed him,
asking questions and sharing his favorites with her.
A
meteor streaked across the sky, followed closely by another. Then several more
until the sky seemed dotted with shooting stars. With the colorful background
of the nebula and the thin slivers of Stratan’s two moons as a backdrop, the
sight was unexpectedly beautiful.
Astra’s
breath caught. Several times a year, the skies opened up like this and showed
off in a spectacular display. With this gorgeous man at her side, holding her
as if they lay together like this every night watching the sky, the scene
seemed amazingly intimate.
“Beautiful...”
His voice was husky, low, a thread of something woven into the deep timbre of
sound. When she turned to look at him, he wasn’t looking at the sky.
Then
she was falling into him, seeking his lips with hers. He didn’t move, but she
couldn’t seem to stop. At the first touch of his mouth on hers, Astra
whimpered, trembling uncontrollably. Something inside her stretched, waking
from a long slumber.
She lay
half over him, kissing him tentatively, loving the feel of his lips moving
under hers. His arms closed securely around her, but other than that, he let
her lead the pace. Astra was grateful because this was the longest she’d ever
been alone with a man not her relative. Overprotective men in her family made
sure she was never alone with a man long enough for anything to happen. She was
a princess, after all. She was expected to abstain from sex until she had
committed her life to a proper match.
Most
prospective mates wouldn’t care one way or the other, but there were a handful
who would expect her to be untouched when she came to their wedding bed. One
thing she knew for sure--after tonight, she would not be a virgin. She was
giving herself to this man, for good or ill. The thing was, she couldn’t find
it in herself to regret her decision. No guilt gnawed at her, no hesitation,
other than her lack of experience, seized her. She wanted this with everything
woman inside her.
“Are
you sure this is what you want?” he asked gently, still kissing her between
words. Astra whimpered, her need great, her body tingling and pulsing with
every beat of her heart.
“I do,”
she managed. “More than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life.” Her answer was
more truthful than she’d have liked to admit, but there was no way to filter
her responses. Her body had tuned itself to his and she didn’t even know his
name.
She
desperately wanted to ask, but doing so would mean she’d have to admit her
name, and anyone would be able to figure out her royal heritage after that.
Instead, she concentrated on pulling at his clothes, trying to get to warm
skin.
He
helped her remove her own clothing before rolling them over so she was beneath
him. Astra thought he’d simply take her then, but she was oh, so very wrong.
This man was definitely an expert at pleasuring a woman. There wasn’t an inch
of her skin he didn’t claim. Even to the point of turning her on her stomach to
let his lips roam over her back and buttocks before finally pulling her to her
knees and nuzzling her cunt with his mouth.
Astra screamed, unable to check her responses. The sensation was
somewhere between pleasure and tickling, his chin and cheeks, rough with
stubble, scruffing over her tender skin. She arched her back instinctively,
needing him to stop, not to stop. She wasn’t sure. All she knew was this was
the most intense experience of her life, and they hadn’t even really done
anything.
