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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

One month later...

JASMINE WAS EXHAUSTED. Her feet ached and a headache throbbed behind her left ear. Relaxing in the air-conditioned car that was taking her back to the palace, she massaged her nape.

The four hours she’d been scheduled to teach her mediation class at Santo Sierra’s municipal college had stretched to six. Not because her students were dying to learn everything she could teach them about mediation.

No. She’d been delayed because her young students had been fascinated about what it was like to be Queen.

Hysteria rose in her chest. She’d been Crown Princess for a pathetically short time before the King’s sudden decline in health and subsequent death had propelled Reyes onto the throne and her into being Queen.

Beyond that, nothing had changed in her world. Jasmine had wanted to rip the rose-coloured glasses from her students’ eyes. Tell them to find and settle for unconditional love and nothing else.

They wouldn’t have believed her, though, even if she’d managed to utter the words. They all believed she’d captured the world’s most eligible man and brought him to his knees after a whirlwind romance. Just as she, Reyes and his councillors had planned in San Estrela what felt like a lifetime ago.

What they didn’t know was that she hadn’t seen her husband for two weeks and she hadn’t shared his bed since the night they’d spent at the wedding-cake house.

He’d spent the days leading up to his father’s death in a vigil by King Carlos’s bed with Isabella. Jasmine had berated herself for feeling left out.

Then, after the King’s passing, they’d had to deal with the arduous protocol of the coronation. Reyes had accepted his duties as King with gravity and pride, but the result had been an even greater distance between them as he’d dived headlong into securing economic ties he’d fought so hard for.

Jasmine understood the duties that being King demanded. And yet she couldn’t help but think her husband was using them as a perfect excuse to stay away from her.

She had woken up one night two weeks ago to find him in bed with her, his hand spread over her flat belly. Choking back tears, she’d placed her hand over his and gone back to sleep, her heart lifting with the hope that maybe they’d turned a corner.

She’d awakened hours later to an empty, cold half of the bed.

Jasmine hadn’t thought a heart could shatter into tinier pieces until that moment.

The limo turned onto the mile-long drive leading to the palace.

Unable to face the palace and her lonely suite, she pressed the intercom on the armrest that connected to the driver. ‘Can you take me round to the other house, please?’

Her driver glanced sharply at her. ‘But, Your Majesty, it’s Thursday today, not Friday.’

Jasmine nodded. ‘I know, Raul. Take me there anyway.’

‘Of course. As you wish, Your Majesty,’ he replied deferentially.

She’d started going to the small house every Friday and staying the night. If she’d had a choice, Jasmine would’ve moved into the adorable little house. But considering she needed an armed escort wherever she went, she couldn’t subject her guards to nightly patrols in the cold. So she’d restricted her visits to once a week. But this week, she might make it two nights...

Reyes was off hammering out the last terms of the new trade treaty, and Isabella had left for Milan this morning to consult over her autumn/winter wardrobe.

She’d urged Jasmine to go along with her, but she hadn’t been in the mood. Besides, by the time winter rolled around she would be in the late stages of pregnancy.

Leaning her head back, she rubbed her hand over her belly. The morning sickness had finally waned and, according to the team of doctors tending her, both she and the baby were healthy.

In a way, she understood how anyone on the outside would believe her world was rosy. She had everything her heart could wish for...

Except a husband who loved her even a fraction as hopelessly as she loved him.

They arrived at the house. Her door opened and Raul helped her out. She smiled and stepped out. ‘Don’t worry about informing the palace. I’ll let them know when I get inside.’

‘Yes, Your Majesty.’

She wanted to ask him to call her Jasmine. But protocol was protocol. She could go inside her little house, pretend she was at her flat in London for a while, but the palace, the Santo Sierran people who’d welcomed her wholeheartedly, and her absentee husband would still be her reality when she stepped out again.

Jasmine climbed the steps into the house and shut the door behind her. Ten minutes later, clutching a bowl of warm popcorn and a bottle of water, she plopped herself down in front of the TV and activated the chess game she’d started last week.

She was in the middle of checkmating GrandChessMaster231 when the door burst open.

Her heart somersaulted, then banged against her ribs. ‘Reyes!’

‘Do you know how long the staff have been looking for you?’ he burst out.

She rose on shaky feet, the unexpected sight of him rendering her senses stupid. ‘But I...Raul knew where I was. I told him...’ She stopped and grimaced.

‘You told him what?’ he demanded.

‘I told him not to bother telling the palace staff where I was because I would ring them. I forgot.’

He kicked the door shut and clawed both hands through his hair. ‘Raul discovered a slow puncture after he dropped you off so he went straight to the garage without stopping at the palace. The staff have been searching for you for the past four hours, Jasmine.’

‘I’m sorry, I didn’t think... I just wanted to be on my own for a little while.’

He dropped his hands, took a good look around the room, before he zeroed in on her again. This time, his gaze travelled from her head to her toes and back again. His hands slowly curled and uncurled at his sides.

‘I’ve been told you spend a lot of time in here.’

She shrugged and considered sitting back down before her weak knees gave way. But sitting down would make Reyes’s presence more overwhelming. So she settled for propping herself on the armrest.

‘When did you get back?’

‘This afternoon.’

They stared at each other a full minute before she managed to tear her gaze away. ‘How was your trip?’

He scowled. ‘I don’t want to talk about my trip. Why have you not been sleeping in our bed?’

The bitter laugh escaped before she could stop it. ‘It’s not our bed, Reyes. I sleep in it alone, even when you’re in Santo Sierra...even when we’re under the same roof, I sleep alone. I’m sorry I worried the staff but you know where I am now, so you can go back to...wherever you came from.’

He looked stunned at her outburst. Jasmine wanted to laugh again, but she couldn’t trust that it wouldn’t emerge a sob.

She plopped herself down on the sofa and released the pause button.

After several minutes, he sat down beside her. Awareness of him crawled all over her body. But she didn’t dare look at him or she was afraid she’d beg him to stay. Beg him to love her. While she wasn’t afraid of begging, she was terrified of the rejection.

Was it her imagination or had he moved closer?

‘Jasmine, we need to talk.’

Her hands shook. ‘So talk.’

He shifted his gaze from her face to the screen. Or so she thought until his breath caressed her ear. ‘Can I make a wager, por favor?’ he asked, his tone rough.

‘Can I stop you?’

‘Ditch GrandChessMaster231. Play me. For every game I win, you stop and listen to me for three minutes.’

Her pulse tripped over itself. Her head started to turn, but she snapped her gaze back to the screen. ‘Okay.’

He beat her at the first game in less than five minutes.

‘What did you—’

His lips took hers. It was thorough, hungry, incandescent. Even as her mind reeled Jasmine’s lips clung to his, already desperate for the pleasure only he could provide. The pleasure she’d missed more than breathing. Her nerveless fingers let go when he tugged the control from her grasp and dropped it on the floor, all without taking his mouth from hers.

He pulled away from her, his breathing ragged. ‘I have two minutes remaining. Why do you not sleep in our bed, mi corazón?’ he rasped.

‘Because...because you’re not in it,’ she choked out. ‘It’s cold and lonely without you, and I can’t stand it.’

He nodded solemnly, then captured her lips in another scorching kiss. Freeing her when his time was up, he picked up the control and handed it back to her.

He won the next game, too. Another bone-melting kiss, followed by a long look into her eyes. ‘If I told you I missed you every day I was away from you, would you believe me?’ His voice was low, deep. Almost prayerful.

‘No.’

The hand in her hair trembled. ‘I deserve that. I know I’ve behaved badly, have approached things the wrong way—’

‘Your time’s up.’ She handed him his control.

She had burning questions of her own, so Jasmine put all her effort into winning the next level.

Her control fell from her fingers. ‘You scheduled sex with your other candidates. But you left me, your wife—’

‘My queen,’ he growled.

‘Your queen, to sleep in our marriage bed alone. Why? Am I so unlovable?’

He squeezed his eyes shut for a split second. ‘You are far from unlovable, querida. It was me. I was afraid.’

She looked at him, stunned. ‘Afraid of what?’

‘The last time we were in this house together, you tried to get out of marrying me. I was afraid you’d change your mind about staying with me. We didn’t have to get married in three days. I rushed it because I didn’t want to let you go. I couldn’t see past the fact that you’d woken up in the middle of the night determined to leave me. I’d already jumped on the pregnancy to make you my bride—’

She gasped. ‘You wanted to marry me before you knew I was pregnant?’

‘I dismissed perfectly good candidates because they were not you. I didn’t want to admit it to myself, but I couldn’t see any of them as my wife. None of them touched me the way you did. When the pregnancy presented itself as an option for me keeping you, I took it.’

The timer on the screen beeped. They both ignored it.

Tears filled her eyes. He brushed them away with his fingers.

‘I thought you were only with me because of the baby.’

He looked down at her belly, then back at her. ‘I love our child more than I can adequately put into words. I was overwhelmed with terror that you’d wake up in the middle of the night and ask for your freedom.’

Her mouth wobbled before she pursed her lips. ‘And the night you came to me?’

‘I came to tell you that Joaquin Esteban had been arrested.’

She gasped. ‘What?’

‘Mendez handed him over as part of our agreement. If I have anything to do with it, Esteban won’t see the light of day again.’

Tears threatened. She blinked them away. ‘So you came to tell me...and?’

‘You looked so beautiful. I couldn’t stay away. I missed you so much I couldn’t breathe, never mind sleep. I planned to leave a note and be gone before you realised I was there. Leaving you ripped me apart. After that I didn’t want to put myself through it again...so I used my duties as an excuse to stay away.’

A deep tremble shook her. ‘Oh, Reyes.’

The timer beeped again.

She asked the question burning its way through her heart. ‘Why are you here now, Reyes?’

‘Because staying away from you is killing me. I need to be with you. With our baby. Loving you, protecting you both.’ He started to reach for her.

She pulled back. ‘Loving me?’

He closed his eyes. ‘Dios. This wasn’t how I intended it to go—’

‘Stop trying to wrap everything perfectly and just tell me how you feel!’

‘I love you.’ He exhaled, then struggled to catch his breath again. ‘You blew me away that first night in Rio. I went to sleep thinking I could have found the one, even though I wasn’t looking for you or even dreaming that the overwhelming feelings I felt for you existed. I let how I felt about my mother and Anaïs cloud my judgement so I could hate you for what you did. Even after I understood your motivation I was too scared to let you in.

‘But you wormed your way in anyway. I admire your courage, your intelligence. My people love you already and it’s been mere weeks since you entered their lives.’

Jasmine smiled. ‘I love Santo Sierra. I’ve loved your home and its people since I stepped off the plane, Reyes. And I adore its king. When he’s not breaking my heart by staying away from me for weeks on end.’

He caught her to him and smothered her with long, breath-stealing kisses. ‘Your king is back. He will never leave your side again.’ He spread his hand over her belly again the way he’d done, painfully briefly, weeks ago. ‘He will never leave either of you. Ever again.’

With a flick of his finger, he turned the screen off. When he pulled his shirt over his head, she could barely keep from crying with joy. ‘Reyes...’

‘I’m here, querida,’ he rasped.

Strong hands reached for her, lifting her up and carrying her into the bedroom. About to kiss him back, she paused. ‘Did you bring any guards with you?’

A look, almost of regret, passed over his face. ‘Sí, it’s protocol. But they know not to disturb us, even when you scream with passion. Now, where was I?’

The look in his eyes set off spirals of excitement through her. Feeling almost wanton, she slowly licked her tongue over her upper lip. ‘Somewhere here, I think.’

She expected his customary growl, a sound she’d become accustomed to when he was fully aroused. Not this time. His eyes fixed on hers, he slowly inhaled, taking in her scent, imprinting her on his senses.

Jasmine found that even more enthralling than his growl and she watched, fascinated, as his chest expanded on his breath. Slowly he breathed out. ‘I don’t know what it is about you, Jasmine Navarre, but you captivate me. I might even go as far as to say I’m completely obsessed by you.’

Her breath stalled in her throat. ‘Stay that way, and we won’t have a problem at all.’

‘I love you, my queen.’

‘I love you, Reyes.’

His eyes misted. Then he cleared his throat. ‘No more talking.’

His kiss was hard, possessive, sucking out every last ounce of sanity from her as he unleashed the raw power of his arousal. He broke from her mouth to let her inhale a mere breath before he was back again, demanding. And receiving the unfettered response she couldn’t hide.

Jasmine touched. Stroked. Nearly wept with delight at the sheer pleasure touching Reyes brought her. And everywhere she touched his skin seemed to react, to heat, bunch and flex, as if his every nerve ending was attuned to her.

That thought only served to increase her bliss. He pulled away for a moment. ‘I know you’ll berate me if I ruin your precious shirt, so I’ll let you take it off.’

She wanted to tell him she didn’t care if he ripped her shirt to shreds! But no way would she be able to articulate those words, not when her brain was too busy devouring the solid, sculpted lines of his naked torso. With shaking fingers, she divested herself of her shirt, letting it fall to the ground unheeded.

She arched her back, reached for her bra.

He growled low in his throat.

‘I love that sound.’

‘I growl only for you, mi amor. Always and for ever.’

* * * * *

Read on for an extract from RUSSIAN’S RUTHLESS DEMAND by Michelle Conder.