Free A Queen for the Taking? by Kate Hewitt Page A

she’d stayed and repeated the vows that would bind her to this man for life. She’d promised to love and honour and obey him, traditional vows for a traditional marriage, and she’d wished she’d considered how different it would feel, to fill her mouth full of lies.
    She didn’t love this man. She hadn’t honoured him. And as for obedience...
    Sandro placed a hand on her elbow, and despite every intention not to feel anything for him, just that simple touch set sparks racing up her arm, exploding in her heart. She hated how much he affected her. Hated how weak and vulnerable he made her feel, how he made her want things she knew he would never give her.
    ‘We will say our goodbyes in a few minutes,’ he said in a low voice, and Liana stiffened.
    ‘Goodbyes? But we’re not going anywhere.’
    Sandro’s mouth curved in a humourless smile. His eyes were as hard as metal. ‘We’re going to our honeymoon suite, Liana. To go to bed.’
    She pulled her arm away from his light touch, realisation icing her veins. Of course. Their wedding night. They would have to consummate their marriage now. It was a duty she’d known she would have to perform, even if she hadn’t let herself think too much about it. Now it loomed large and incredibly immediate, incredibly intimate , and even as dread pooled in her stomach she couldn’t keep a contrary excitement from leaping low in her belly—fear and fascination, desire and dread all mixed together. She hated the maelstrom this man created within her.
    ‘You aren’t going to steal away yet, are you?’ Alyse approached them, Leo by her side. ‘I haven’t even had a chance to talk with Liana yet, not properly.’
    Liana offered a sick smile, her mind still on the night ahead, alone with Sandro.
    ‘You’ll have plenty of opportunity later,’ Sandro answered, his fingers closing once more over Liana’s elbow. ‘But for now I want my bride to myself.’ He smiled as he said it, but to Liana it felt like the smile of a predator, intent on devouring its prey.
    And that was how intimacy with Sandro felt. Like being devoured. Like losing herself, everything she’d ever clung to.
    Alyse glanced uncertainly at Sandro before turning back to Liana. ‘We’ll have to have a proper chat soon,’ she said, and Liana nodded jerkily.
    ‘Yes, I look forward to getting to know both of you,’ she said with as much warmth as she could inject into her voice, although she feared it wasn’t all that much. ‘You both seem very happy in your marriage.’
    ‘And you will be in yours, Queen Liana,’ Leo said quietly, ‘if you just give Sandro some time to get used to the idea.’
    Liana watched as he slipped his hand into his wife’s, his fingers squeezing hers gently. Something in her ached at the sight of that small yet meaningful touch. When had she last been touched like that?
    It had been years. Decades. She’d found it so hard to give and receive affection after Chiara’s death. For a second she could almost feel her sister’s skinny arms hook around her neck as she pressed her cheek next to hers. She could feel her silky hair, her warm breath as she whispered in her ear. She’d always had secrets, Chiara, silly secrets. She’d whisper her nonsense in Liana’s ear and then giggle, squeezing her tight.
    Liana swallowed and looked away. She couldn’t think of Chiara now or she’d fall apart completely. And she didn’t want to think about the yearning that had opened up inside her, an overwhelming desire for the kind of intimacy she’d closed herself off from for so long. To give and receive. To know and be known. To love and be loved.
    None of it possible, not with this man. Her husband.
    She might be leaving this room for her wedding night, but that kind of intimacy, with love as its sure foundation, was not something she was about to experience. Something she didn’t want to experience, even if everything in her protested otherwise.
    Love opened you up to all sorts of