...in which Prince Evan Sinclair decides to marry Lady Nicole Knightley....
SFR Brigade Showcase: Excerpt from Evan's Ladies, Book 6.5 of the To Be Sinclair series by Eva Caye
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Evan's Ladies on Amazon
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“Well, whatever you need, just let me know.”
He kissed the crown of her head and cuddled her tight, holding one of her
hands.
After a moment, Nicole stirred. “Evan?” He
could hear the hesitancy in her voice. “There is something I need, but I… I
fear to voice it to you.” She was motionless under his arm, barely breathing.
“What is that, my love?” As she remained
silent, Evan’s mind ratcheted down several lines of thought. She had never
asked him for anything important before. Something she feared to voice? It
sounded serious, like a political favor.
Get her name jumped to the head of a queue
for the position she wanted? Easy enough to do, but she would suffer nine kinds
of resentment from coworkers if he did so. Get her thesis professor changed, or
interfere with University procedure in some other way? The same would apply. “Why
would you fear to say anything to me?”
Nicole bit her lip. “Because I fear you
would think less of me. Your good opinion of me matters above all else.”
Oh God, this did sound severe. It had to be
a major political favor, then. Something he would have to petition Father
about, or given that she was the Imperial Science Liaison, Mother. Could it
even be something illegal? This was no good; he was tense, and he could feel
her tension increasing from that alone.
He gathered her up into his lap. She clung
to him, clutching his clothes, then trying to relax, then clutching them again.
Her head was tilted down, but he could see she was biting her lower lip once
more.
“Is this about something illegal?” At her
explosive bark of laughter, he explained, “I would really get upset about
something like that, but otherwise, I would hope I have an open enough mind to
hear your concerns and your explanations.” He stroked her hair and kissed her
head again. When she finally looked into his face, he could tell she was near
tears. “What is it, dearest heart?”
She gazed wide-eyed at him between heavy
blinks. “Are you sure you won’t think badly of me if I say something…
unexpected?”
“Well, I’m pretty alarmed right now that
you feel so terrible about something you are afraid to even confide in me. I
promise you I will try my very best to keep an open mind.” He cupped her face.
“Okay. I know this is going to sound bad. But
I’m so strung-out right now, and frustrated, and you are holding me so very
gently, and you have been gone for three days. But what I need right now is… a
good, hard f***."
Evan’s eyes flew wide in surprise before
his heart restarted and he managed to regain his breath again. “Ah. Ah. I see.”
Seeing the apprehension in her face, he feigned objectivity as he tried not to
smile too broadly. “As in, how hard of a f***?”
As all her energetic tension of a moment
before flared into a dramatic, anticipatory intent at his clear acceptance, she
growled, “Hard. A demonically hot f***.” She put her hand to the top button of
his shirt, open at the collar, and yanked down so fast that three buttons
popped off. She stared at his exposed chest before reaching into his shirt to
run her hand over his torso, then she crushed her mouth against his....
A good hour later, Evan began to laugh and
rolled over to face her once more. “Okay, now you have to marry me.”
“Yeah? Why’s that?” She looped a few lazy
caresses around his shoulder.
“Because I can’t let you get away. I would
rather have you than food, water, or air.
"And every time we have sex, it’s
always different. It’s like I can love you and still get to sleep with a
different woman every night. We’ve been lovers over a year, and you’ve
completely spoiled me for any other woman. I haven’t even looked at another
lady with desire since I visited you and met your parents.
“Plus, our children will be gorgeous, wealthy
geniuses. The ones who don’t become stargate scientists can be caretakers of
the planet. Hell, I’ll build a stargate to a new star system, and we can have
our own planet, hey, what do you think?”
Nicole laughed and laughed, eventually
settling down and growing thoughtful. “I’d love to marry you, but I really miss
the wilderness. Being tied to the capital has been pretty stressful for me. But
your mother doesn’t let the stargate work out of the labs, so it’s not like we
can live in some far-flung duchy.”
“You’re right, but there are four of us. I
only seem to be so busy with it because Anne is living in Encino Duchy to be
with her children for their first, most important years, and otherwise we had a
hell of a mess to clean up after the Atticans bombed the Palace. Now that the
South Wing is almost finished, Anne and Andrés will move in again, and she can
take on her share of the work.
“We had three stargate contracts last year
and three this year between me, Stefan, and Josef, but one or two is the more
usual number. I can time the majority of my production work during your
excursions, which would only be perhaps three or four weeks of analysis and
construction and another five or six weeks to actually travel and fire up a
stargate. Eight to ten weeks a year, say, with a few days on occasion to go to
the experiment station. This can be our home base, but we can live and travel
wherever we want.”
Her half-closed eyes popped open, curiosity
evident as she peered at his face. “Are you saying you want to learn to do
field work with me?”
Evan
moved to lean over her once more, running his hand up her side before massaging
her breast. “I would love it.”
Evan's Ladies on Amazon
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3 comments:
Travel where they want, eh? Somehow I suspect things might get in the way!
You know how these things go!!! Watch out -- I might hit you right in the feels...!
Busy people!
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