Winterland Destiny by Jaci Burton Read Free Book Online Page B

something so intimate with all these people around? And yet, she felt compelled to answer. “Yes.”
    “I, too, think about it. Your pussy will be hot, a tight sheath surrounding me. I look forward to consummation eve.”
    Instinctively, she began to rub his shaft, wishing they were alone, wishing she could open his breeches and take his hard cock in her hands, stroke him until he spilled his seed over her fingers or in her mouth.
    She wanted to offer him the same release as she had enjoyed earlier, but didn’t dare do anything in a public place such as this.
    “I want your mouth on my cock.”
    She stilled, her entire body shifting from this public arena to a time when the two of them would have privacy. “I’d…I’d like that.”
    “I’ll dismiss the room. We can be alone. After our marriage tomorrow, we won’t—”
    “My king, a word with you in private, if I may?”
    Noele quickly moved her hand from Garick’s lap and turned her attention to the guard standing before them.
    “Now?” he asked, his voice gruff.
    Noele allowed a small smile, knowing why he sounded so irritated.
    “It is urgent, my king.”
    With a sigh, Garick adjusted his breeches and stood, turning to Noele. “I trust you can find you way back to your chambers?”
    “Aye, that I can.”
    “I will see you in the morn, then.” He turned and walked off with the guard.
    What had he been about to say? After tomorrow he wouldn’t what? He wouldn’t be her lover, her husband? Would he turn her over to Roarke?
    It was clear where his duty lay…with his people. It seemed to occupy his mind completely. Perhaps he did not have time for a wife and did not want to be burdened with her.
    Then again, there were times when he looked at her or said something that led her to believe he wanted her, not simply for the required consummation, but for always.
    She was reading too much into his body language, his eyes. He felt nothing for her and had already hinted at not wanting to keep her.
    It shouldn’t matter which man she ended up with. She didn’t know Garick any more than she knew Roarke. Both were well pleasing to the eye, and while Roarke had not yet pleasured her, she imagined he would not leave her wanting.

    Why couldn’t she make the choice? Why was it that her entire future lay in Garick’s hands?
    Suddenly realizing she was alone in the great hall, she stood and flew up the stairs to her room. She looked out the window, across the barren fields to the rich green forest of D’Naath.
    Never before had she stopped to think how unfair this situation was. Not until the full impact hit her. Her very future was at the mercy of someone else’s whims.
    And that someone else had made it quite clear he had no use for her, other than sexually.
    Tomorrow she would marry. By the next day, she would know her future. A future she would have no part in deciding.
    With a wistful sigh she stared at the forests, for the first time in her life feeling utterly alone.

Chapter Five
    Garick paced his chambers, grumbling orders at his assembled warriors, wanting to ensure all steps were taken to insure the wizards would not appear during the mating ceremony today.
    After he’d cursed them all and ordered them out, Roarke approached him.
    “You have a burr up your ass this morning?”
    He would only allow Roarke, his life protector, to speak to him that way. “I slept very little last eve.”
    “Difficult to sleep when your cock’s hard?”
    Garick glared at his friend, who only smirked. Unfortunately, Roarke was right. He’d not slept at all, his shaft pulsing with need for the faerie who was to become his bride today. Many times throughout the wakeful hours he’d wanted to stroke himself to release. Instead, he forced himself to wait, knowing what pleasures he would have today with Noele.
    It had taken great will to pull himself away from her and walk out of the room yesterday. What he had wanted to do was sink his shaft deep inside her and make her