Private Melody (17 page)

“I told her no press…” Kianti grumbled while her fingers curved deeper into the sleeve of Therin's eggshell jacket.

“You're a renowned pianist and I'm…practically royalty.” He repeated her mother's words and grunted when she elbowed him.

“Ex,” Kianti retorted.

“Anyway, we're world renowned. Press is a part of it.”

“Hmph. Even if they want to grill you about everything that happened?”

“They don't know enough yet to grill me.” Therin's easy expression tightened some as he studied the heavy crowd. “Besides—” he stroked the satiny brown skin between her shoulder blades bared by the V-cut back of her wine-colored dress “—they'll have a tough time getting anything out of me since I plan on kissing my fiancée on the dance floor all night.”

“Why, Mr. Rucker, are you asking me to dance?” she drawled intentionally, laughing when he offered his arm.

 

“What do you think our chances are of talking my mom into a small wedding?” Kianti was asking once they were surrounded by a sea of slow dancers.

“World renowned…” Therin sang.

“Elopement…” she countered.

“Stop.” He flexed his arm about her waist. “You'd break their hearts. You're their only child—only daughter at that. Don't you think Mr. Donald would want to give you away?”

She rolled her eyes. “Damn you for reminding me of that.”

“Let me make it up to you.”

The couple forgot all else and lost themselves in the dance and the sweet kisses that followed. Almost ten minutes passed before they were interrupted by one of the servers. Francina Lawrence wanted them for pictures.

“Is this a part of the only daughter's duty?” Kianti asked through her aggravation.

Therin shrugged. “I'm pretty sure it's in the good daughter's handbook.”

The photo op lasted about twenty minutes. It seemed more like an hour to Kianti. The sight of familiar faces however, took her mind off any frustration.

“Lookin' good, Mrs. Ambassador,” Cube was saying as he tugged her into a bear hug.

“We aren't married yet.” Her voice was muffled against the sleeve of his dark jacket.

“Close enough,” Khan said while pulling her back and kissing her cheek.

“You guys had better be there. No last-minute business,” she ordered, poking a finger to the handkerchief peeking out of Winton's front pocket when he kissed her other cheek.

“We've waited a long time to find someone suitable to take you off our hands.” Brody turned her to face him. “No way are we missin' this.” He hugged her while the rest of the guys crowded around.

Therin chuckled at the scene they made. As he stood there watching the huddled group, an idea formed.

 

Kianti wanted to purr in response to the kisses showering her back. Content, she stretched against the covers, turned to her back and smiled up at Therin.

“What's up?” She took note of his clothing. “Great suit.”

He smirked and brushed the edge of the mocha silk tie against her arm. “Just can't go to city hall lookin' shabby, you know?”

“City hall?” Her voice was a whisper and then she followed his bright gaze to the closet door. A gorgeous white suit hung there beneath a sheet of clear plastic. “For me?”

“Get dressed.”

Kianti squealed, flung herself against his chest and planted a hard kiss to his mouth.

 

“Therin?” It was some time later when Kianti made her way toward the living room. She gasped, taking in the transformation of the corridor. “Therin?” Her voice had lost a bit of its strength.

He appeared then at the end of the lily-lined hallway. “Like I said, you just can't go to city hall looking shabby. But right about now, I'm thinkin' we look too damned good for city hall.”

“What is all this?” she asked while he escorted her into the living room. Her second squeal of the morning carried across the room when she saw the guys there along with Vernon and Wren Shay.

“I was thinking,” Therin spoke low as he hugged her close, “I'm a diplomat. I, of all people, should be able to come up with a solution that'd be pleasing to everyone, right?” With that said, he turned Kianti toward her parents.

Tears sparkled in Kianti's eyes when she saw them. Unashamed, she cried heavily into her father's suit coat when he tugged her close.

“You knew I'd have to give my baby away, didn't you, Kibbie?”

“I'm sorry, Daddy.” She blinked away her tears
when he shushed her with a kiss. She looked over at her mother then. “Mommy, I—”

“Shh…it's time for
me
to apologize and, baby, I am sorry.” Francina smiled adoringly while toying with the dark tendrils that hung in curls outside the high chignon atop Kianti's head. “I've never been very good at seeing what was right in front of me. So focused on that fragile, beautiful, gifted baby girl of mine, I almost missed out on seeing the beautiful, gifted woman she'd become. And she's strong as hell, too.”

Kianti laughed amidst her tears.

“You think you can give your old lady another chance?” Francina's laughter resounded when her daughter pulled her into a powerful embrace.

“I've got quite a son-in-law here.” Francina smiled over at Therin while she and Kianti hugged. “He's definitely got a talent for making people see the light.”

Donald Lawrence leaned close and kissed his wife's cheek. “He's not our son-in-law yet, Franki,” he playfully reminded her, and then straightened and offered his arm.

“Shall we?” he asked and then led Kianti to her fiancé.

The ceremony was quiet and lovely. Wren and Francina could be heard throughout the nuptials softly laughing or crying in happiness as the couple spoke their vows and were pronounced husband and wife.

 

The newlyweds spent their wedding night in Pacifica. The next morning they were scheduled to head out to begin their honeymoon. First stop: an uncharted island in the South Pacific.

Kianti left the bathroom to find her husband asleep in the armchair near the bed.

“A sign of things to come?” she asked, watching him fidget at the sound of her voice.

Therin yawned, but tuned in fast when he saw his wife standing naked before him. Her hair hung loose and thick about her like a dark frame.

Before he could leave the chair, she was settling down over him.

“Mmm-mmm…” She denied his attempts to lift her and squeezed his hands where they curved about her hips. She smiled when her nibbles to his earlobe and the graze of her breast against his chest caused him to melt beneath her. Only one area remained hard and unyielding. She took full advantage. Torturing him slow, she rubbed her bare sex against the cottony soft fabric of his sleep pants. Impossibly, his shaft seemed to firm even more.

Therin moved to free himself, but Kianti pressed his hands to her chest instead. She moved seductively against him, arching her breasts into his palms and moaning soft when the nipples grazed there.

Mere seconds passed and then Therin was including his provocative mouth in the foreplay. Cupping one breast, he captured a nipple and suckled it into a glistening, firm nub of sensation. His thumb encircling the other nipple produced almost the same result. A few seconds of suckling and it produced the same glistening quality.

Kianti was in danger of melting then herself. Preferring to save a lengthier scene for later, she helped
herself to what lay beneath Therin's pants. Tugging on a few snaps freed him instantly.

Therin let his forehead rest on her shoulder when she took him inside her and began to ride him slow. Kianti eased up and down the throbbing length of him, a sense of empowerment welling inside her each time he moaned in response. His nose trailed a path from her shoulder to the seductive rise of her bosom.

Massaging strokes to her back brought her closer to his mouth, nudging her nipples against the provocative curve of his lips. When he captured one, she ceased moving up and down his rigid shaft and rotated herself upon it.

Therin muttered a curse and captured her bottom in an unbreakable grip. Kianti threw back her head and let him take her as he would. He chanted her name harshly near the valley between her bosom. Every savage thrust stoked a groan from each of them. Kianti's hands fell away from Therin's broad muscular shoulders and she braced them to either arm of the chair while adding more force behind the surge of her hips.

Beautifully, they reached the plateau of satisfaction in unison. Content and in love, they shared the chair for a long time still intimately connected.

“Thank you,” she murmured later as they cuddled in bed.

“For what?” Therin's deep voice was heavier against the desire she roused by gliding her mouth across his abs, which flexed gorgeously from the contact.

“For everything. Especially saving my life.”

He smiled, eyes still closed in contentment. “I think you've got that backward.”

“No,” she moved over him. “No,” she repeated when he opened his eyes. “In every way that matters, you saved my life. You gave me my mother.” Her gaze faltered against the pressure of unexpected tears. “My entire life I don't think she ever saw me—never
really
saw me until this morning.” Playful suspicion narrowed her tilting dark stare then. “What'd you say to them?”

Therin's mouth twisted into a lazy smirk. “The truth. What
really
happened in Neche. Told them about your pill strike.” He tugged her hair when she looked away. “But I think it was what I shared about all of our stolen moments that gave them the truest insight into their little girl.”

“Stolen moments,” Kianti sighed. “Will our lives be made up of a series of those, I wonder?”

“Considering who we are…I'd say there's a serious chance of it.” He nudged her chin with his fist. “Is that a deal breaker for you, Mrs. Rucker?”

Kianti grazed her lips along his jaw and then fixed him with a look that was both dazzling and devoted. “Nothing's gonna break this deal, Mr. Ambassador.”