Tiffany Clare - The Surrender of a Lady

Griffin thumbed the tears off her high cheekbones. “Shh,” he said, hoping she was reassured in some way, and then he lowered his lips to where his thumbs had just pressed.

“I’m sorry.” Her soft voice whispered out over his Adam’s apple.

“You have nothing to be sorry about. I’m just sorry I didn’t find you sooner. I should have tried harder to find you. But I didn’t. I am the only one who should be sorry.”

He pressed feather-light touches of his lips against her damp skin, up into her hairline. “I love you. Do you know that? I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember.”

“Rothburn . ”

“Say you will stay with me.”

“And what of Jonathan?”

“He is yours, Jinan. I wouldn’t ask you to part with him after all you’ve been through to keep him at your side. I never planned to separate you once I finally got you out of the harem. Had I known of your son initially I wouldn’t have done what I did.”

“I can’t go back to England. I can’t face the ton and the gossip. My husband was not well liked. He did not succeed in making friends. He had a great deal of enemies after his many bouts with unlucky gambling and carousing.”

“I won’t ask you to return there. Just stay with me here. With your son. I’ll do whatever I can to name him my heir if you wish.”

“That is not his place.”

He put his finger over her lips. “We have the rest of our lives to figure that out. I’d say it’s about time you called me Griffin.”

Her lips trembled beneath his finger, then tilted up in a smile. “Griff . yes, I like this name.”

He lowered his mouth to hers, capturing it in a kiss to seal their words. He tasted the plumpness of her lips, not going further, not wanting to stop whatever confessions she still must make to free her of her old life.

When she broke away, they both breathed hard for air. His fingers were wrapped tightly in the coils of her hair, the pins loosening as he searched them out.

“Say you will stay with me, Jinan. Nothing else matters but that.”

“I once thought you above my station, Griffin. Out of my reach. You are not. I know this now.”

“Never have you been out of my reach. I’m sorry to have let you down. I’ll never stop telling you that.”

“I ask two things, as your mistress. Amir has given me provisions . I ask this: You must help my son inherit his rightful title because I can never reveal the truth of who I am, and you must remain faithful to me. This last one is a lot for me to ask because you are in need of an heir.”

“Jinan . ”

“You must hear me out. I cannot stay in your shadow and watch you raise a family.”

“I do not want to marry another.”

Whatever she was about to say was stopped in mid-word. Then, “What of an heir?”

“I have a cousin that will fill the seat just as well as I. Possibly better.”

“So you promise me these things?”

“Of course I do. But I never wanted you as my mistress. I want you as my wife.”

She pulled from his grasp, staring at him with her arms slack at her sides. “I cannot marry you. Not after everything I’ve done.”

“We will marry. Any children from our union will have a right to my name! I do not care how we came to be together in the end or what hardships you’ve lived through. Just say you are mine. Please, Jinan.”

She clenched her fist over her heart, and he held her hands tight. “Say yes, Jinan. Please say yes, I can’t bear to let you go again. We can live here. Move somewhere else . anywhere but England, which has only scorned you. Just stay with me.”

A gasp of surprise escaped her.

“I love you.” And with that she flung herself into his open arms. She squeezed him as tightly as she could, holding him in a great hug. He held her just as tight. So this was it, the start of their life.

They’d found each other after being lost from each other for so long.

This was the beginning of paradise.

Griffin looked up when a soft knock landed on his study door. Jinan slipped into the room, giving him a pointed look, lips pouting for only a second before she hid it.

He smiled. “Peters, we’ll resume this discussion tomorrow.”

Peters turned around, seeing Griffin’s wife, and bowed on his way out.

“Felicitations, my lady.”

He watched his sweet wife duck her head, a blush infusing her cheeks and neck.

“Thank you, Peters.”

She walked toward him and around to where he sat in his desk chair.

Griffin pushed his chair out and pulled her gently down into his lap. He lowered his head and kissed her distended belly. “What brings you here in the middle of the morning?”

“Jonathan went off to the pond with Ceci and Ally. It had me thinking. We’re all alone and we have the house to ourselves before the baby comes in a few short months.”

She turned her head to him, pressing a light kiss against his cheek as her fingers pulled his necktie loose.

“If you start that, love, I’m going to keep you in bed for the rest of the day.” He groaned into her mouth as her fingers slipped free the buttons of his shirt.

“Maybe I’ve been a little ill all day, and you need to nurse me in our bedchamber.”

“That sounds decidedly delicious. I’m afraid we won’t be able to leave this room with any decency now.”

Her hand lowered to his raging stiffness. He picked her up, stalking over to the chaise in five quick strides. Setting her down carefully, he went to turn the key in the study doors. He disrobed as he walked back around to his wife, then helped her out of her loose shirt and trousers. “I like that you’ve pulled out some of your old clothes. So much easier to undress you.”

She laughed, and the husky deepness had his cock jerking to attention. “I do not like English clothes when I’m so fattened by your baby. These are more comfortable.”

“Mmm, I’m not complaining. Now lean back.” He knelt between her open thighs, kissing her naked belly, her heavy, swollen breasts, and sucked the peaked tips into his mouth.

“Griff, I’m so over the moon I might find my crisis this way. Touch me.” He lowered his hand to the bare folds of her sex, flicking his thumb over the distended pearl.

It pleased him that she still kept up this particular harem tradition, for he was loath to see the hair grow back—he loved her like this. They’d had to hire a companion who could meet her many needs, but Jinan had taken the woman under her wing, welcoming her like a long-lost sister. The two were damn near inseparable, unless Jinan was with him, of course.

When he looked up, it was to see her head thrown back, biting her plump lower lip, as she moaned something unintelligible. Her fingers dug into his shoulders. He stood and kissed her mouth. “Will you kneel over the bench?”

Her smile was sultry, seductive, and too damned much for his sanity. She pushed off the chaise, kneeling on the pillows he threw down on the floor. She gave him her rear and a look that said, I dare you,  over her shoulder. He was on her in seconds, his cock slipping into the welcome warmth of her cunt. They both came within a few strokes. He liked how sensitive she was during this time of her pregnancy.

He pulled out of her and sat on his haunches, bringing her down onto his lap.

“Is that what you needed, love?”

“Yes,” she said, trying to catch her breath, her breasts heaving in his grasp.

“How come you didn’t go down to swim with Jonathan? There aren’t any djinn this time of day.” He gave a low chuckle as he said it, earning him an elbow in the ribs.

“I really do need you to attend me in bed . for the rest of the day, my lord.”

“What did I say about the ‘my lords,’ my lady?”

She slid off his lap; the feel of her wet slit sliding down his thigh inflamed his cock to stand fully erect again. “God, woman, you’re killing me.”

“I can’t help it. It’s not as if I expected to have any relations in this state.” She faced him on her knees. He didn’t like her kneeling on the hard floor, so he gave her a hand up, retrieved her shirt and slipped it over her head.

“I like that you need me, Jinan. I’ve needed you all my damned life and felt lost without you. I don’t want you to feel that way.”

He held the trousers out to her, but she didn’t take them. Jinan stepped close enough to place a kiss on his lips, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, her belly a strange, welcome bulge between them.

“I’ve loved you all my life, Griff. Don’t forget that. At least we found each other in the end. Now come to bed and nurse me for the rest of the day. I think the doctor prescribed a good gamahuche to relieve this excess feeling trembling through my veins.”

He smiled at his wife, bending down so she could put her legs in her opened trousers. “I do recall something about that in the doctor’s orders. Shall I carry you upstairs or are you able to flee before I can pounce again?”

She laughed and raced for the door. He gave her enough time to unlock it before he was hot on her trail. Life really couldn’t be better than this. He had the wife he’d always wanted, a son, and another baby on the way. He caught her just as she reached the bedchamber, slipped in behind her, locked the door, and did exactly what the doctor had prescribed.