A Kiss of Fire (A Kiss of Magic #2)(99)

“And I you,” Ariana said with a smile. “Your calm wisdom is a balm for a troubled soul.”

“And is your soul troubled?”

“It is in turmoil. There is much to be done and I hope I am not overwhelmed by it all.”

“I have faith that you will rise to the challenge. If you can make my son happy, then you can do anything.”

She hugged Ariana once more and then turned to lead her into the temple.





Chapter Twenty-Eight


Sin sent runners to every corner of his land to drum up troops for the defense of the temple. There were some there, but not enough to repel an invading army. Now the race was on, to see if Sin could garrison the temple before Vich could arrive and lay siege. Sin’s first instinct was to send Ariana away.

“No. My place is here with you,” she said stubbornly. “I will not leave when you need me most.”

“I would protect you,” Sin said, equally as stubborn. “Think of our child if nothing else.”

“I am not made of glass,” she said with exasperation.

Sin had been uncommonly gentle in his treatment of her. That included their lovemaking. Not that she minded gentility, but she was missing the desperate fire with which he had wanted her in the past. The trouble was, no matter what she did, she could not coax the beast out to play. Apparently her well-being trumped his animal passion for her. But at least he had not stopped making love with her altogether. He had threatened as much already and only a consultation with both a midwife and a doctor had assured him that it was safe to have coital relations while she was pregnant.

A very good thing too or she would have been hard pressed to seduce her husband beyond his limits every night…and then he would have felt guilty for it in the morning. She wondered if he still did in spite of the doctor’s reassurances.

Sin had also ordered the best Saren doctor be delivered to the temple with all haste. He realized that the Sarens had far more advanced skills in medicine than the Kiltians did and he wanted the best available at all times.

Just in case.

This kid glove treatment meant he was being overbearing in all other ways as well, all in the name of protecting her or caring for her. Until finally she threw up her hands in exasperation.

“I am not leaving and that is my final word on the matter.”

“You are leaving,” he argued adamantly.

“Don’t you think I would be safer here? Protected by a large amount of troops, rather than traveling about with an under-protected household?”

This gave him pause. She leapt on his hesitation.

“Don’t you think I would be better off under your watchful and protective eye rather than out of sight where you cannot know from one moment to the next if I am being properly cared for?”

He gave her a mean look.

“You’re playing me,” he accused her.

“Is it working?” she asked playfully.

“Yes, damn it, it is. And don’t look so victorious about it. You won’t like being under my protection if you do stay. I will positively suffocate you.”

“I would expect nothing less,” she said. “Now won’t you come take your poor, lonely wife to bed?”

Sin growled. “I know that look,” he said hotly.

“Good. Then you know I am not wanting to go to bed because I am tired.”

He ringed an arm about her waist and yanked her up against himself. His hand splayed across her fanny and he fondled her in a heated slide of his fingers.

“Damn but you smell good,” he said, his voice low and rough as he put his nose to her neck and took in a deep breath through it.

“I smell good in other places too,” she said silkily.

She ran her hands up his chest, then back down again, her fingertips skimming down the buttoned fly of his breeches. She then cupped him through the gloving material. “I like the way you smell too,” she said, touching her nose to his chest and taking in a deep breath of his clean, masculine scent. “And I really like the way you feel.”

“And I like the way you feel me,” he said with a chuckle. Then he sighed. “But I have to do a few things before I can come to bed.”

“I must be losing my touch,” she said, fondling him again, feeling him grow harder in her hand. She began to unbutton his fly and then slid her hand inside so she could wrap him up in her fist.

He groaned and thrust his hips into her touch for a brief, glorious minute. But then he cursed and grabbed hold of her wrist, removing her hand from him. “We can finish this later,” he said. He pressed a heated kiss to her frowning lips. “I promise.”

She pouted as he stepped away from her and he released a blue expletive at the expression. “Don’t make me feel guilty,” he begged her.

“I don’t want you to feel guilty,” she assured him before grabbing him up into a hot kiss. “I want you to feel lonely. So lonely that seeking out your wife is the only comfort you can have. That way you will rush into my arms all the quicker.”

“There is nowhere I’d rather be but in your arms,” he promised her.

“Tell me where you are going and what is so important. Perhaps I can help.”

He looked doubtful and she narrowed her eyes on him. “Barely married a fortnight and you are already forgetting to treat me as your equal in your rule? I won’t be mollycoddled or treated like a pretty figurehead. I will be useful or I will be going back to Saren where I am needed and respected.”