J.R. Ward the Black Dagger Brotherhood Novels 5-8 - J. R. Ward [511]
Not that he’d ever checked—but come on, the guy was not exactly a paragon of testosterone.
The princess moved around the cabin as if she were showing off her grace, but there was a purpose as she went from window to window and looked out.
Damn it to hell, always with the windows.
“Where is your watchdog tonight?” she said.
“I always come alone.”
“You lie to your love.”
“Why ever would I want anyone to see this?”
“Because I am beautiful.” She stopped in front of the panes closest to the door. “He is over to the right, by the pine.”
Rehv didn’t need to lean to one side and look out to know she was right. Of course she could sense Trez; she just couldn’t be exactly sure where or what he was.
Still, he said, “There is nothing but trees.”
“Untrue.”
“Afraid of shadows, Princess?”
As she looked over her shoulder, the albino scorpion hanging from her earlobe made eye contact with him as well. “Fear is not the issue. Disloyalty is. I do not abide by disloyalty.”
“Unless you’re practicing it, of course.”
“Oh, I am quite faithful to you, my love. Except for our father’s brother, as you know.” She turned and lifted her shoulders to her full height. “My mate is the only one apart from you. And I come here alone.”
“Your virtues abound, although as I’ve said, please take more into your bed. Take a hundred other males.”
“None would compare to you.”
Rehv wanted to throw up every time she paid him a false compliment, and she knew it. Which naturally was why she insisted on saying shit like that.
“Tell me,” he said to change the subject, “since you brought up our uncle, how does the motherfucker fare?”
“He still believes you dead. So my half of our relationship remains honored.”
Rehv put his hand in the pocket of his sable coat and took out the two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in cut rubies. He tossed the happy little packy onto the floor at the hem of her robe and removed his fur. His suit jacket and his loafers were next. Then it was his silk socks and his slacks and his shirt. No boxers to take off. Why bother.
Rehvenge stood before her fully erect, feet planted, breath easing in and out of his heavy chest. “And I’m ready to complete our transaction.”
Her ruby eyes went down his body and stopped at his sex, her mouth parting, her split tongue running over her lower lip. The scorpions in her ears twirled their clawed limbs in anticipation, like they were responding to her sexual flush.
She pointed to the velvet bag. “Pick this up and give it to me properly.”
“No.”
“Pick it up.”
“You like to bend over in front of me. Why should I rob you of your favorite hobby.”
The princess tucked her hands into the long sleeves of her robe and came to him in the smooth manner of symphaths, all but floating over the wooden floor. As she approached, he held his ground, because he would be dead and decayed before he took a step back for the likes of her.
They stared at each other, and in the deep, vicious silence, he felt a terrible communion with her. They were like of like, and though he hated it, there was a relief in being his true self.
“Pick it—”
“No.”
Her crossed arms unfurled and one of her six-fingered hands came tearing through the air at his face,