He crossed dimensions to claim her as his queen—but her reign may destroy his world.

Excerpt 1

Adrienne

© 2007 D. Reneé Bagby


http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/adrienne

Adrienne Backett wants two simple little things this spring break: rest and relaxation. After nearly four years of slaving away for her college education, she deserves a holiday. What she gets is pulled into another dimension by a man who claims she's his rightful queen.

Malik, King of Ulan, has until his birthday to find his bride before he must forfeit his throne. When a spell reveals her location, he will do anything, even cross dimensions, to claim her as his own.

As if fending off a lusty king isn't enough of a headache, Adrienne finds herself a pawn in a rival monarch's plot to bring Malik's world to its knees. But is the real danger being stuck in the middle of a power struggle between rival kingdoms? Or the damage Malik could do to her heart?

A Bron Universe Novel

Enjoy the following excerpt for Adrienne:

Malik lowered to his haunches in front of his bride. With a thought, he ended the shielding spell he’d erected around her before his attack started. Little droplets of the assailants’ blood fell to the ground—blood he hadn’t wanted to taint his bride’s skin.

The suffocating chill of her fear continued enveloping his body. He had caused that fear. Killing the two men while she watched showed poor judgment on his part. He would make it up to her at a later date. His priority was her freedom.

Once she saw that he meant her no harm, she would stop being scared of him. And he could regain a measure of his original warmth. Malik remembered his father telling him that he would feel his mate’s emotions and she would feel his. He hadn’t known this was what his father meant.

He reached out with the intention of removing her gag. Instead he brushed his fingers across her cheek. She flinched away from him.

Her reaction made him focus. There would be time to get to know her feel later.

He removed her gag, then cupped her bound hands in both of his. She tried to pull away but he held her.

“Don’t hurt me,” she rasped.

“I do not plan to, my lady,” Malik soothed in a low, soft voice. Her language, while remarkably similar to Oteino’s, felt cumbersome in his mouth. He wanted to use his own but decided the magicks needed to bridge the communication gap could be better used elsewhere.

With a single thought, he melted her chains. His bride’s earlier struggles had torn the skin around her wrists. Blood seeped from her wounds and coated her hands.

It was simple enough to heal her the way he had melted her chains, but Malik couldn’t help but make the act more intimate. He brought her wrists to his lips and breathed the healing magicks over her skin.

His bride opened her eyes and watched him. He smiled at her. She looked confused.

Correction, she was confused. The emotion felt like itself instead of a temperature. Malik knew he wasn’t confused, so the emotion belonged to her.

The chill of her fear started ebbing away. He took that as a good sign. With slow movements, he rose to his feet and pulled his bride to stand next to him.

She snatched her hands from him and rubbed her wrists. The feeling of her confusion intensified. She looked down at her hands, then back up at him.

“What?”

“I am Malik of Ulan, my lady. Your servant,” he said with a bow.

“My… Huh?”

“And your name?”

“Ad…Adrienne. Adrienne Backett.”

Malik told himself to stop staring at her so intently. The feel of her fear had returned and she looked ready to run. He reached for her hand to hold her at his side.

“I should go home now,” she said with a tug of her hand.

“Would you leave in such a state of disarray?”

Adrienne looked down at herself and gave a cry of shock. She snatched her hand away from his and pulled her shredded shirt together over her naked breasts.

Malik swept out his hand. A cloak appeared out of nowhere and he placed it over Adrienne’s shoulders. He brought the ends of it together in front of her. She grabbed the edges of the cloak with a murmured thank you.

He smiled at her bowed head. “Such as this is my pleasure, my lady, as I would do anything to make you happy.” He stepped closer to her, which forced her to look up at him. He asked softly, “Shall we return?”

“Return? Yes, I need to go home. My parents will be worried. If you tell me your address, I’ll mail this cloak back to you.”

“You misunderstand.” His voice remained low and soothing. “I meant my home.” He slid his hand around her waist and pulled her close. The action indulged his baser needs. He recognized the lust he felt. What he didn’t understand was his urgency.

Even when he was new to sex he had never felt this anxious to be with a woman. Something about Adrienne made him want to forget all the rules and have her now.

“Let go of me. I’m not going anywhere with you.”

Malik bent to place his other hand under her legs and lifted her effortlessly against his chest.

“I’ll scream.”

“You could, as it is your right. I do not see the merit in it and think you would be better served with rest rather than theatrics.”

“I’m not…I…” Her words stumbled to a halt as sleep claimed her.

He smiled at his sweet burden. She would understand once he explained the entire situation to her. He laid a feather-light kiss on her temple before starting back the way he had come.

His fingers brushed over the hilt of his discarded sword when he passed it. The sword faded and disappeared. It would return when Malik needed it.

“Freeze!”

Malik looked back at the man who pointed a light, and what seemed to be a weapon, in his direction. It wasn’t every day someone dared command him to do anything—or threatened him. The sheer novelty of it made him obey.

“Okay, buddy, put the girl down nice and slow and back away.”

“Are you the guardian of this place?”

“Yeah. I’m the ‘guardian’, buddy,” agreed the security guard in a humoring tone. He pointed the flashlight at Adrienne. “I want you to put the girl down.”

“No. I would not leave her to such an incompetent guardian. Your aid has come too late, as I have done your job for you,” Malik said. He moved his gaze to the two bodies the guard had overlooked.

The guard glanced quickly in the direction Malik looked. “Holy Jesus,” he yelled.

“I leave the rest to you, then, guardian. You shall leave the girl to me.” Malik walked back to the portal. The guard yelled for him to come back, but the novelty had worn off so Malik ignored the man.

The guard ran to catch up. He would be too late.

Malik closed the portal after himself.

A soft sigh from Adrienne made Malik pause and look down at her. For the first time in a long time, Malik felt the burden of his rage alleviating. He had his bride. Everything else would fall into place from this moment forth.

He crossed dimensions to claim her as his queen—but her reign may destroy his world.

Excerpt 2

Adrienne

© 2007 D. Reneé Bagby

Adrienne Backett wants two simple little things this spring break: rest and relaxation. After nearly four years of slaving away for her college education, she deserves a holiday. What she gets is pulled into another dimension by a man who claims she's his rightful queen.

Malik, King of Ulan, has until his birthday to find his bride before he must forfeit his throne. When a spell reveals her location, he will do anything, even cross dimensions, to claim her as his own.

As if fending off a lusty king isn't enough of a headache, Adrienne finds herself a pawn in a rival monarch's plot to bring Malik's world to its knees. But is the real danger being stuck in the middle of a power struggle between rival kingdoms? Or the damage Malik could do to her heart?

A Bron Universe Novel

Enjoy the following excerpt for Adrienne:

“Impressive.” He came forward and placed his hand on Adrienne’s cheek. He smiled. “I would expect no less from my future queen.”

Proud. Adrienne felt proud. Her annoyance with Malik’s presence changed the second he touched her. She could have pulled away but decided not to, a small concession since he’d given in to her the day before—albeit to save his palace.

His touch was light and it didn’t seem like he would do more. She looked up at him. His eyes mirrored the pride she felt.

Malik was proud.

The emotion she felt was his. Knowing he was pleased with her tiny accomplishment made her happy—in a little kid kind of way. Any praise was good praise, no matter whom it came from.

Malik cupped her chin and moved closer. Her breathing sped up. Lust replaced pride. It slunk along her skin, leaving a trail of goose bumps on her arms.

A muted crash made Adrienne jump in surprise. She stepped away from Malik, then looked around for the source of the sound. A three-feet-tall vase in the farthest corner of the room sat at a diagonal because the base had cracked when it hit the ground.

“I didn’t mean to break that one. It was actually kind of pretty.” Adrienne had forgotten about it. Floating the tiny blue vase for hours on end bored her so she had decided to split her attention between the blue one and the three-foot one without letting Mushira know. Hani had noticed but kept quiet.

Though Adrienne’s concentration had slipped, the blue vase continued to float. That made her feel a little better.

“That is why I said to limit your activities, Highness,” Mushira scolded lightly.

“The damage is minimal. A construction mage can fix it easily,” Hani said.

“I don’t want to bother them.”

“It is no bother for them to do their job, my lady,” Malik said. “Nimat, see to it.”

Nimat curtsied, then left the room.

“Speaking of bothering people…” Adrienne said, looking at Malik. She plucked the small vase out of the air before it became a victim of her wayward concentration. Its muffled laughter grew louder. The joke started off cute, now how did she shut it off?

“I promise you will only have to suffer my presence for a short time,” Malik said. He smiled when she rolled her eyes at him.

Adrienne sat in the window seat, then continued with her levitation practice. “I’d rather not be bothered at all. I’d also rather be back on Earth.” She spared him a glance, then turned her attention back to the vase. “But we both know what I want isn’t your first concern.”

Malik had prepared for this. He joined Adrienne on the window seat. It was wide enough to accommodate them both without him touching her, and he knew she wanted it that way.

“Your life here will not be as fearsome as you think, my lady. Beyond myself and our personal guards, there are many mages and warriors who are prepared to stand between you and harm.”

“Were these the same mages and warriors who stood between your parents and harm?”

Malik didn’t take offense. He knew Adrienne would lash out at him. He had prepared for physical, magickal and verbal abuse before he decided to visit her.

“No. Those charged with my parents’ protection were executed for failing in their task.”

“Makes you take your job more seriously when your life is hanging in the balance, too, huh?”

“Exactly, my lady,” Malik agreed in a cold voice.

Adrienne tapped the small vase. An identical vase appeared next to it, but this one darker. She plucked the lid off and it started to cry. Water dripped over the rim. She replaced the lid quickly, then asked, “How about I make everyone’s job simpler and never leave my room? Protecting me would be much easier if I’m always in one place.”

“So would attacking you,” he snapped. Malik regretted his words the second they left his mouth. Adrienne’s control on the vases faltered. He caught them—one in each hand—before they hit the ground. “I did not mean to say that, my lady. Forgive me.”

He held out the vases. He wanted to tell Adrienne how proud he was of her ability to not only animate the vases but to conjure another into being. She had no formal training and yet wielded magicks most mages had to spend decades learning to control. Only her imagination limited her abilities, the same as him.

Knowing she wouldn’t want his compliments stayed his praise. She wanted his absence. He couldn’t give it to her. “There is no danger here,” he offered, instead. “I have learned from my parents’ mistakes and do not rely solely on magicks. I have endeavored, in my years as ruler, to make this palace as safe as possible for your arrival.”

“So what? Even if the palace is safe, what about the rest of the world? I’m a prisoner here. If you really want to keep me safe, send me home, Malik.” She took the vases from him, then bent to place them on the floor.

Malik’s eyes narrowed. He kept his silence until Adrienne straightened and looked at him. “Need I remind you of your attack, my lady? I had not thought you would forget it so easily,” he said in a cool voice.

“Yes,” she agreed, “let’s talk about that. Because, God knows, when you aren’t winning an argument, bringing up the stupidity of the other party is a sure-fire way to win.” She held up a hand. “Spare me.”

She looked out the window.

“Then allow me to speak of more pleasant things.”

Malik smiled when she gave him a dismissive wave. She may not wish to be a queen, but she already conducted herself like one. In time, she would realize what Malik already knew. They were two of a kind and meant to be together.