The Mad, Bad Duke (Nvengaria #2)(75)
Meagan fought for breath. “Alexander, what—”
Alexander closed his eyes, and his body shimmered again. Then he was the panther, playfully butting her face. Meagan tried to twist away, and he dropped to all fours and twined his long body around hers.
“What is happening?” Meagan demanded breathlessly. “Tell me at once.”
Alexander rose up, human once more, and gathered Meagan against him—he was plenty warm. “I have discovered what I am. Myn showed me. I am logosh, Meagan.”
“But …” Meagan pushed against his shoulders, trying to take in what he was saying. “Logosh are demons.”
“We can show any face to the human world we choose,” Alexander said, sounding pleased. “I thought you would be less frightened if you saw the panther first.”
“Except I was frightened of the panther. Why are you suddenly logosh?” Meagan asked, dazed. “Surely you would have noticed before.”
He laughed again, his voice rumbling like the panther’s growl. “My mother was logosh, but I never knew. The human side of me was so controlled that the demon had no chance to come forth. Myn showed me what to do, how I can live with both sides—so I can be with you.”
Meagan touched his face, which was rough with unshaved beard. “Does anyone else know?”
“Outside the family, no.”
Meagan’s stunned mind tried to process this new knowledge, her body not certain it shouldn’t be terrified. “This must mean that Alex is logosh too.”
“The inheritance will be a bit more diluted in him, but yes. I will explain it to him.”
Meagan wondered whether the small boy would be frightened or fascinated. Probably a little of both.
“You seem happy about this,” she said.
Alexander rubbed his hands up and down her arms, as though trying to warm her. “It explains much about what I feel inside me. Myn taught me not to fear it. It is a relief to give into it and be—what I am.”
Meagan laughed shakily. “You are explaining to me that I have married a demon.”
“Half demon. Logosh are magical creatures, not evil ones.”
She shivered. “I remember meeting Penelope’s pet logosh who terrified me, and he was just a boy. And Myn unnerves me something fierce.”
Alexander traced her cheek. “I will teach you not to be afraid. I will teach you so much, Meagan.”
Meagan balled her hands against him, trying to still her trembling. She did not want to show him her fear. She wanted … well, she was not quite certain she had not fallen asleep and was dreaming all this.
“I am still getting used to being married to a Grand Duke,” she said, marveling. “And now a logosh Grand Duke.”
“I will help you. I promise you, love.”
Alexander spoke with surety, the powerful Grand Duke reasonably telling his subject that the ordeal she faced would be simple.
Wind blew across the top of the maze, dipping down into the hedges. Meagan shivered once more, this time with cold. “Must we discuss this out here in the garden? Couldn’t you have told me this in a nice warm bedchamber?”
Alexander’s eyes flickered, the blue almost glowing. “An excellent idea.”
Now Meagan felt the tendrils of the love spell spill over her. She touched Alexander’s face, tracing his warm lips. The idea of being with him and this sudden, newfound madness, the danger, made her hot with longing. “Perhaps we should go up now. It will be only be a few hours before we’re awakened for breakfast.”
Alexander kissed her fingers. “A most excellent idea.”
The kiss on her lips promised heat and excitement to come. Meagan pulled away with great reluctance. “Remember to put on your clothes first,” she said. “Lest Mrs. Caldwell catch sight of you and faint dead away.”
* * *
This lovemaking was the most intense Alexander had experienced since being with Meagan the first time. Alexander knelt behind her on the bed while she leaned back against him. Meagan had twisted her red hair into a simple knot, the better for him to lean and kiss her very kissable neck.
Her apricot silk dress lay in a crumple on the floor, his sash of office a slash of gold and blue across it. Candles flickering around the bed bathed them in a golden glow, Alexander having shut the curtains against the coming morning.
He cupped her breasts with firm hands, his entire being alive to the feeling of her. His cock nestled beneath her, between her thighs—not in her, just brushing her as he kissed and touched, her eyes half closing in pleasure.
Alexander needed this—slow pleasure until they were both more than ready for fulfillment. He’d promised Meagan he’d teach her everything about sensual lovemaking, if only she’d marry him and ease the burning inside him.
If Black Annie hadn’t made the ridiculous spell, Alexander would never have met this beautiful, enticing woman. Perhaps someone would have pointed her out to him, or even introduced her as Princess Penelope’s dearest friend, but Alexander never would have touched her. Unwed English maidens weren’t for Nvengarian overly sensual liaisons. Alexander would have busied himself with courtesans used to such things and left Meagan Tavistock strictly alone.
Unthinkable.
Slow care. That’s what he’d learned in the cult of Eros, gentle caressing without eroticism, deliberately avoiding intimate places until the body was on fire with yearning.