Page 43 of Trial of Deceit

Jediah looked at her eyes.“What?”he asked in disbelief.

“I’ll marry you.Under one condition.”

“What?”

“I don’t want you to lock me up in the estate again.”

He stared at her for a moment.“If I allow you that freedom, and find out that you’re contacting those people…”

“You’ll kill me, I know.”

Jediah smirked, then brought his face closer.Ashari’s heart raced as his light breathing fanned her face.A woodsy scent of tobacco wafted up her nostrils, its hints of spice muddling her senses.

“No, Ashari.I can’t kill you.Do you know why?”

“W-why?”she whispered, breathing hard.

“Because you’re my Queen,” Jediah replied, then his lips met hers.

Chapter ten

Ashari’slipsweresofterthan he remembered.He pressed his mouth harder onto hers, causing her to gasp.He stuck his tongue into her mouth, savoring her sweet taste of strawberries, until she bit him.

Jediah yanked himself away, a sting running along his tongue as he glared at Ashari.She huffed, wiping across her mouth with the back of her hand.

“You’re sickening, Jediah!”Ashari yelled, shoving out her tongue and wiping her fingers over it.

He licked his bottom lip as he watched her.The faint sting was subsiding.“You make me so hard, Ashari,” he said, and she froze, her eyes darting to below his belt before she looked away.His smirk widened, and he stepped closer to her.He held her by the waist again, and she stiffened even more than he thought was humanly possible.He lowered his head to her ear and allowed his lips to graze it while he whispered, “You want me, Ashari.You know it, and I know it.And I won’t stop until you admit it to yourself.”He placed a light kiss against the shell of her ear, and she sucked in a breath.Jediah smirked, pulling away from her as the door opened.He looked at Dimitri, who glanced between them.“The car clean?”Jediah asked, and Dimitri nodded.“Ah…” He looked at Ashari, who was yet to move a muscle.He extended a hand toward her, raising a brow as she glared at him.

A second passed before she placed her hand in his, and he brushed his thumb across the ring on her finger.The hairs on her skin rose, amusing Jediah as he locked their hands and led them out of the building, then into a different car.Dimitri hopped into the car that Jediah drove there.

Ashari attached herself to the door as Jediah drove back to the estate.The ride was quiet.With her brows furrowed, Ashari stared at the ring the entire time.Jediah wanted to reach over and rub his thumb against the creases on her forehead until she was at ease and as beautiful as she was when he first laid eyes on her, but he resisted the urge.

Ashari was fun to tease, but he couldn’t allow himself to yield to the feelings that stirred in him from the night she’d dared to use him.

In another life, where she wasn’t an agent, and he wasn’t a criminal, they’d be free of familial obligations, with the ability to be and love whoever they wanted to.But that wasn’t possible.Not right now.Not in this life.

And until then, he had to make good use of her.

Jediah smirked as he drove around the fountain at the center of the driveway and before the stairs that led into the main house.He exited the car and took a step toward the house, pausing when he didn’t hear Ashari exit.He walked back to the car and opened the door.“Ashari?”

She looked from the ring to him.Her lips parted, then she closed her mouth and scowled.She pushed him away from the door and stomped away.He slammed the door shut and caught up to her.Stopping in the foyer, he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her against him.Her hand with the ring landed against his chest.The gleam from the sunlight reflected off it and momentarily blinded his vision.

“Ash,” he whispered.“Be on your best behavior, or else…”

“Else what?”she dared.

His eyes narrowed on her, but she didn’t cower.He was about to issue a stern warning when footsteps came into the foyer.

They looked and Bryony came into view.Ashari pulled away from him.

Jediah grabbed a cigar from his travel case.He rested it in his mouth and lit it, blowing fumes away before looking at Bryony.“Miss B, show her to my room.”

Bryony’s brows furrowed.“Who’s this, Jediah?”

He looked at Ashari, who was silently fuming.Jediah smirked.“My wife.”

“Wife?”Bryony repeated, and Jediah looked at her.“The Majors—”

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