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CHAPTER 8
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Her first glimpse of Carpathia stole her breath. The island was a jewel set in the bright Mediterranean Sea. Gleaming white rock faces houses dotted the pale sanded coastline. The beach faded into lush greenery, and set into the tallest visible mountainside was a stone castle with masculine angles that gleamed gold in the late-afternoon light.
“Oh, God… This place is absolutely magnificent.”
Magnificent, and yet untamed. Sort of like its master. For all of Maxim’s urbane sophistication, there was something about him that was raw and almost primitive. It appealed to her on a basic level she’d hardly been aware of before she’d seen him descending the stairs of his elegant mansion.
The entire flight had been thick with tension, at least on her end. Maxim seemed total
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She ignored Maxim, thrusting her chin up and trying to look unaffected by him, his presence, and his insinuations. Maxim gripped her hand and stopped her from walking, drawing her close to him. Her heart began to pound so hard she was certain he must be able to hear it. Standing this close to him, Michaela could feel the heat coming from his body, smell the intoxicating, masculine scent that was one hundred percent raw, sexual man. One hundred percent Maxim, the man, not Maxim, the prince. Michaela slightly shook her head. Since when had she noticed how a man smelled? Unless she was at the gym and it was in a negative connotation, she didn’t think she ever had. So why did Maxim’s smell appeal to her like this? Why did it make her puls
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“I don’t need you to put me up. I’m perfectly capable of getting my own accommodations.” There you have it, mister! Michaela smiled slightly. He was so arrogant… Being supremely confident and used to hear only yes, Maxim thought he could convince Michaela to change her mind.“I have no doubt, Michaela” he replied, flashing her a wry smile. “I imagine your extensive education has left you more than capable of booking your own room. But you’re pregnant with my child and I don’t want you staying at some hotel by yourself.”“I was under the impression that are no shabby hotels in Carpathia…” she continued in a sarcastic tone.“There are not,” Maxim established, dismissing her statement with a wave of his hand. “But that doesn’t mean I will allow you to…”
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“Your what?” Her head was still fuzzy from the kiss, her limbs heavy with arousal, and she was certain she must have heard him wrong.“My wife. I have thought it through and it’s the only thing to be done.” Maxim had said it so pragmatically, as though anyone should be able to see his point.“I’m not going to marry you,” Michaela concluded, trying to match his tone. If he wanted to try to have an insane discussion as calmly as if they were talking about the weather then she was more than up to the challenge. She certainly wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of rattling her self-control more than once in a five-minute time span.“Michaela, you’re a very intelligent woman. And given your career choice, it&rsquo
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Maxim tried to maintain control over his body, but the vision sleeping in the bed was making it very difficult.“Michaela... tesoro…” He reached out and touched her bare arm and desire raced through him like a shot of pure liquor into his system. She was so beautiful. So different from any other woman he’d been with or even wanted to be with. She was slender, her waist small, but she had a woman’s curves. Her hips were rounded, her breasts enticingly full. Unlike the extremely fashionable women he’d preferred in the past, Michaela seemed to dress simply to stay warm, or to avoid indecent exposure. There was nothing unflattering about her wardrobe, but there was nothing especially flattering about it, either.&nbs
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A sense of triumph, along with a compressing sensation in his throat that felt suspiciously like the tightening of a noose, assaulted Maxim. It was necessary. It was the only thing that could be done. The only way for him to truly claim his child, make him his heir. And the only way to claim sweet, feisty Michaela. A heavy pulse throbbed in his groin at the thought of claiming Michaela in the most basic, elemental way. He wanted her with a kind of passionate ferocity that was so strange to him. Maxim would have wanted her no matter what would’ve desired her had he passed her when she was walking down the street. But the intense, bone-deep need to take her, to enter her sweet body and join himself to her… that had to be connected to the pregnancy because it was outside anything in his experience. &
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Maxim gave Michaela a long look. “And you wouldn’t mind if I were having sex with other women?” he asked, his words obviously chosen to provoke a response from her. “I wouldn’t care either way. If we aren’t sleeping together, then there isn’t a relationship to be faithful to.” “You may feel differently once we speak our vows.” “I doubt that I will. What we have in common is the desire to do what’s right for our child. Nothing more. We didn’t even conceive in the way most couples do.” “But we very easily could have.” It wasn’t true, Michaela knew it wasn’t, and yet it was far too easy to visualize the image, a picture of her meeting Maxim in a bar, a restaurant, on the street… Of them talking, smiling, laughing, or having dinner together… Going home together and making love all night long… &
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The smile on his face while holding that woman was so bright, so breathtaking and it made her feel extremely overjealous. “Michaela,” Maxim said, tightening his hold on her waist, “this is my younger sister, Princess Alessandra Catarina Lucrezia known as Sandra.” The suspicious knot that had been tightening in her stomach released its hold on her as soon as Maxim announced his relationship to the very beautiful Alessandra. She was relieved, Michaela realized, to find out that she was his sister and not… She cut off that train of thought before it could go any further. It wouldn’t have mattered if she were a lover or a former lover. It wasn’t her business. And there was no reason for her to care. “Nice to meet you,” Sandra said and dropped a light kiss on Michaela’s cheek. “I’m so pleased t
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“That went well,” she said trying not to look bothered by his gesture.“As well as I expected. My mother loved Antonia like a daughter. This is difficult for her.”“Then wouldn’t it be better if they knew how I got pregnant instead of assuming that…”“Antonia didn’t wish for my mother to know. She didn’t want my parents to see her as a failure.” Maxim began to walk back toward his quarters, and Michaela had to take short, quick steps to keep up with his long strides.“That’s ridiculous. Not being able to have children doesn’t make a failure out of a woman.”“It felt that way to my wife.” He paused for a moment.“My mother introduced us. It was her opinion that Antonia was absolutely perfect for me. Her fami
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The desire hadn’t gone away. Not even for a moment. She could see from the molten heat in his eyes that he felt the same. “I’ve never been playing with you,” Maxim replied, his voice intense. “Please know that. I’ve handled things badly, but hurting you was the last thing I wanted.” “Still, you did hurt me,” Michaela concluded. “We promised we were going to talk about things, but we didn’t. You just shut me out, and I have no idea what happened to cause it.” He raised his eyes and met hers… the stark, raw emotion in them shocked her. “I know,” he said roughly. “You can’t imagine how sorry I am. Please come with me, Michaela.” She nodded slowly and let him lead her from the villa. When she realized where they were headed, Michaela stopped. “Maxim... No… I can’t…” “Tr
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He backed her across the room and turned her so that she was facing away from him before bending her gently over the surface of the dresser that was positioned up against the wall. “Maxim…” Michaela asked tremulously. “Trust me again, Misha,” he grated. Maxim moved his hands up her still-slender waist, around to her stomach, and over the little bump that housed their baby. His heart jumped and he curled his hands into fists before opening them again and palming her breasts, releasing the front clasp on her bra and letting it fall open. He covered them, squeezed her sensitized nipples, drawing a low, desperate moan from her lips. Maxim abandoned her breasts to push her skirt down her hips, taking her tiny pair of panties with it. He pressed his hand against her mound, pushing one finger thr
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Michaela was more than thankful for having an opportunity to get out of the palace later that day. The meeting with the men and women she was working with to organize the Carpathian branch of the MD Foundation had gone well. It had provided some much-needed distraction from the anxiety of waiting for the test results, from the stifling solitude that came from being in a huge building surrounded by people who basically never talked to her. But most of all, she needed a distraction from her earlier revelation. She didn’t want to be in love with Maxim. She was saving all her love for their child. She didn’t want to have her emotions tangled up in loving him, not when he was only going to hurt her. She didn’t want to be like her parents. Didn’t wa
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Michaela ran her soft hand over his abs, and Maxim’s stomach tightened, his whole body aching, ready for her again. If it was only his body that was affected it wouldn’t be so dangerous, but his chest felt too full when he looked at her when he touched her. It was too much. It wasn’t what this was supposed to be about. Maxim thought about what his father had said. About the paternity test. Michaela had even commented that if they’d made a mix-up at the lab in the first place, it was possible they had made a mistake and that he wasn’t the father. If that were true, Michaela would be free to go back home. They wouldn’t even have to get married. He’d imagined that thought might make him feel free, that the prospect of escaping marriage might make the tightness in his chest lessen. Instead, it sent an intense
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Looking at his expression, Michaela realized this was more intimate for him than making love. Maxim was sharing something with her that he had not shared with any other woman, any other person, period. Not even with Antonia, his wife of seven years. That did something to her. It made the most bittersweet pain twist her heart, made her stomach tighten with longing. “I would like that…” Maxim put an arm around her and took Michaela’s chin in his hand, tilting her face up so that their eyes met. “Misha… I want to paint ALL of you. No clothes, no barriers… I want to capture only you and our child.” Realization of what that meant dawned slowly. “Oh… I can’t do that, Maxim!” she protested, her cheeks heating at the idea of getting naked in such
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“Your belly is starting to show, Misha.” Maxim put his arms around Michaela from behind and caressed her bare midsection. She had been examining herself in the mirror in the master suite, sucking in her expanding stomach. She gently smacked his hand. “Thank you, Maxim… Just what every woman wants to hear from her man!” “It’s sexy… You’re so sexy…” He nuzzled her neck and kissed the hollow just beneath her ear. “You must know how incredibly sexy I think you are.” Michaela knew. Maxim had spent all night showing her just how sexy he thought she was. It had been such a wonderful revelation. She’d discovered a whole, huge part of herself she hadn’t even known existed. A part of herself she’d spent far too long suppressing.
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Michaela fought to regain some control, some kind of command over her senses. Impossible when she felt as if all of the feelings inside her were too big to be contained by her skin. So difficult when she was certain she might shatter into a million pieces. A needy moan escaped her lips and her body trembled as he moved closer to the place where she was wet and aching for him. She didn’t have control anymore… she felt as if she might fall from the earth and float away as if there was nothing holding her to the bed. She gripped the sheets, tried to focus, tried to find some shred of sanity, because this, what he was doing to her, making her feel, was terrifying. Michaela couldn’t temper it, couldn’t lead it, or plan it. But she felt her hold slipping, felt herself ready to plunge over the edge, and if that
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For a second, his dark eyes focused on the blank space in front of him, trying to remember his life before Michaela, before this whole baby situation, before the unhappiness of the last years. He was trying to remember Antonia… not because he was so attached to her memory, but because nothing about it had been worth the pain he’d endured. Maxim had lost Antonia several times over. In the end, an impenetrable wall had gone up between them, and he hadn’t been able to reach her anymore. He hadn’t been able to protect her, from her grief, from death. At this point, all Maxim knew was that he had no desire to ever go through that kind of hell again. “So, you’re absolutely sure you’re going to meet someone else?” Michaela asked, her copper eyes deadly serious. “I’m marrying you, Michaela… You’re the only
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Maxim got off the phone with the casino manager and cursed. Not because the problem at the casino hadn’t been easy to solve - that issue had been handled in only a few minutes - but because of the unsatisfied desire that was still raging through him. He couldn’t believe he’d almost had sex with Michaela outside by his pool, with all of the speed and finesse of a very horny schoolboy. Maxim had never, EVER lost control with a woman like that before. He had always taken the time when romancing a woman. Antonia had never wanted it any other way. She had always needed candles, a dimly lit room. He had always spent at least an hour arousing her body before he’d even considered taking things to their natural conclusion. But with Michaela, there had
