Possessing Allura by Reese Gabriel Read Free Book Online

challenge.’
    â€˜The only challenge you pose for me is finding a means of extermination for so large a rat.’
    â€˜You pain me deeply. Wine, my dear?’ The baron leaned across to fill her glass without letting her accept or decline.
    â€˜If you think getting me drunk will allow you to—’
    â€˜What fragrance is that?’ the baron cut her off, making a show of sniffing the air. ‘It seems strikingly familiar.’
    Allura clenched her legs in horror. There was no way his olfactory glands could be that sensitive. She’d bathed afterwards, for goodness sake.
    â€˜Yes,’ he wrinkled his nose, inhaling again. ‘I’m sure I’m smelling something quite distinct from the fragrances of our dinner.’
    â€˜And I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she said, without conviction. It had only been a brief dalliance – although highly arousing – before her bath.
    â€˜Give me your hand.’
    â€˜Let go of me.’
    â€˜Aha,’ his nostrils flared, her fingertips just under his nose. ‘As I suspected, you’ve been masturbating.’
    â€˜Quiet,’ she hissed fiercely. ‘Do you want to mortify me in front of half the nobles in the realm?’
    He appeared to consider the matter. ‘Perhaps. Unless you’re prepared to provide me with some greater thrill later tonight?’
    â€˜Montreico, I beg you, do not shame me this way.’
    â€˜So now you are begging, are you? Fine, I give you my terms, take them or leave them. I shall not reveal your secret, so long as you agree to meet with me later, at a time and place of my choosing.’
    â€˜How can I trust you?’ she asked.
    He laughed. ‘More to the point, how can I trust you?’
    Oh, how this man infuriated her. ‘You have my word. Now can we be done with this sordid discussion?’
    â€˜Cheers…’ He smugly raised his glass, and Allura touched her own against it, trying to draw as little attention as possible to their private exchange, greatly relieved to see the first course being brought. The more distractions the less likely he’d be to say or do anything stupid.
    â€˜Admiral Plico,’ said the baron, slipping a hand unseen over Allura’s thigh. ‘My congratulations on your latest victory over the Nasians. The fewer of those scum scouring the high seas the better, I say.’
    The white-suited admiral across from them turned bright red, looking as though he’d swallowed an apple.
    â€˜Montreico,’ Allura whispered fiercely, trying to dislodge his hand at the same time, ‘the Nasian ambassador is sitting right next to you.’
    â€˜What? By the demons, so he is. You mean to say you’ve made peace already?’ The baron pushed his hand down between Allura’s thighs. ‘Why am I always the last to know?’
    Because, thought Allura, clamping her thighs tight, he was a pompous, ignorant oaf without a smidgeon of worldly understanding.
    â€˜Princess, were you aware of this development?’
    â€˜Yes,’ she replied curtly, trying not to squirm. He was attempting to stimulate her through the material of her complicated dress.
    â€˜I’m from the backwater,’ explained the baron. ‘But I do know what I like.’ And at the moment that would be her sex, and it was all Allura could do to keep from jumping up. She had no idea it would feel like this – a man’s fingers seeking and probing. It was so different than when she did it herself.
    â€˜If you resist me in any way,’ he leaned over to whisper in her ear, ‘I will expose you… fully.’
    â€˜But you promised not to shame me,’ she breathed.
    â€˜And I won’t. If you obey.’
    Obey. That terrible, charged word; a word for slaves and servants and wives, not for princesses and queens.
    â€˜Personally I think it important to open all trade routes,’ the