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  PRAISE FOR

Maya Banks

"A must-read author…her [stories] are always full of emotional situations, lovable characters and kicking-barrel story lines."

—Romance Junkies

"Heated…romantic suspense…Intense, transfixing."

—Midwest Book Review

"Grabbed me from page one and refused to permit get until I read the last word…When a volume still affects me hours later reading it, I tin't aid but Joyfully Recommend it!"

—Joyfully Reviewed

"An excellent read that I but did non put down…A fantastic adventure…covers all the emotional range."

—The Route to Romance

"Searingly sexy and highly believable."

—RT Book Reviews

PRAISE FOR

Lauren Dane

"Delicious eroticism."

—Anya Bast, New York Times bestselling author

"Scorching hot [and] suspenseful."

—Fallen Affections Reviews

"[It] simply might fry your circuits."

—The Best Reviews

"Sexy, pulse-pounding adventure…that'll go out you weak in the knees."

—Jaci Burton, New York Times bestselling writer

Berkley titles by Maya Banks

FOR HER PLEASURE

Sugariness SURRENDER

BE WITH ME

SWEET PERSUASION

SWEET SEDUCTION

Sweet TEMPTATION

SWEET POSSESSION

Sweetness Addiction

COLTERS' PROMISE

ECHOES AT DAWN

Anthologies

4 PLAY

(with Shayla Black)

MEN OUT OF Uniform

(with Karin Tabke and Sylvia Day)

eSpecials

"PILLOW TALK" from FOUR PLAY

Berkley titles by Lauren Dane

UNDERCOVER

RELENTLESS

LAID Blank

COMING UNDONE

INSATIABLE

INSIDE OUT

MESMERIZED

THREE TO TANGO

(with Emma Holly, Megan Hart, and Bethany Kane)

NEVER Plenty

Center OF DARKNESS

Captivated

CHAOS Called-for

Cherished

MAYA BANKS

LAUREN DANE

HEAT | NEW YORK

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING Grouping

Published past the Penguin Grouping

Penguin Group (U.s.) Inc.

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, Us

Penguin Group (Canada), xc Eglinton Artery Due east, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a sectionalization of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) • Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England • Penguin Group Republic of ireland, 25 St. Stephen's Dark-green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) • Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) • Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India • Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) • Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

This book is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously, and whatever resemblance to bodily persons, living or dead, business concern establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have whatever control over and does not assume any responsibleness for writer or tertiary-political party websites or their content.

"Exiled" past Maya Banks copyright © 2012 past Maya Banks.

"Sway" by Lauren Dane copyright © 2012 by Lauren Dane.

Encompass art by Coka / Shutterstock.

Embrace blueprint past Rita Frangie.

Text pattern by Kristin del Rosario.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please practise not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors' rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

HEAT and the HEAT blueprint are trademarks of Penguin Group (U.s.a.) Inc.

PUBLISHING HISTORY

Oestrus merchandise paperback edition / Baronial 2012

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Banks, Maya.

Cherished / Maya Banks, Lauren Dane.—Heat merchandise paperback ed.

p. cm.

ISBN: 978-ane-101-61068-8

I. Dane, Lauren. Ii. Championship.

PS3602.A643C48 2012

813'half dozen—dc23

2012011792

PRINTED IN THE United states of america OF AMERICA

10 9 viii 7 half dozen 5 4 3 2 i

ALWAYS LEARNING

PEARSON

CONTENTS

Exiled

MAYA BANKS

Sway

LAUREN DANE

Exiled

MAYA BANKS

Huge thank-y'all to Cindy Hwang

for her patience with this story and for going the extra mile

to make it much meliorate. And for listening to my endless whining!

And thank you to Lauren Dane

for like-minded to do this anthology with me.

Prologue

Prince Alexander Carrera stared at the photo of the beautiful, smile girl and his middle was seized by panic. Time was not on his side. Not his friend. Indeed, it was his worst enemy.

Merely four years before, he'd met Talia Montforte, or rather she'd been thrust into his life, a whirlwind from which he'd never really recovered. But she'd only been a girl of eighteen and he could not take her, no thing how much he was enchanted by her. She was too young, too innocent. His allure was inappropriate. He couldn't deed then.

Now she was a young woman of twenty-two, and newly graduated from university in Paris. A immature adult female poised to start her life, a woman who had no thought how he felt virtually her or that he'd guided every aspect of her life for the final four years. That he'd waited patiently for the 24-hour interval he could claim her.

He turned when he heard his door open up. Standing in the doorway were Sebastien, Garon and Nico, his closest friends. Men charged with his safety and security. The only people he trusted implicitly in a world where he could beget to trust no one.

His country was in turmoil. His hereafter was uncertain.

Simply he knew one thing.

He could non lose Talia to another human being. Another life. He could non stand up by and watch her move away, never knowing that she held his very heart in her hands.

"It'southward time," he said in a low voice to the others.

He could see their gazes focused on the glossy photo in his paw. They knew of Talia. Knew what was to come up, what his expectations of her were and what his expectations of them were.

"Send for her at present," he ordered. "I cannot wait another day."

Garon frowned. "Now, Highness?"

Xander nodded. "Before it's too late. I will not lose her."

Affiliate 1

There will be a time when I call for you, Talia. I'll expect you lot to come. Until then, you're needed here. Remain with your mother until she is strong and salubrious again.

Talia Montforte shivered as the long-ago said words slid through her mind. Words she'd never forgotten, though at that place were times she'd wondered if the prince had truly meant them. She'd gotten her answer a mere week agone when the royal summons had arrived.

Now, every bit she stared out the window

of the individual jet, the island grew bigger as they closed in. She was most there, and Prince Alexander "Xander" Carrera waited somewhere on that island. For her.

Feet clutched at her breadbasket. She flipped her long, nighttime hair back over her shoulder and thought non for the first time that she should take pinned it upwardly. But his instructions had been explicit. What to wear. How to manner her pilus. Everything to the letter of the alphabet had been dictated in the summons.

And God, had it been lengthy. Her cheeks nonetheless buzzed with oestrus over the details. The questions. The medical exam. Her entire globe had been upended the moment the messenger bearing the royal seal had appeared at her mother's domicile.

It was time, the message had said. There would be care provided for Talia's mother, but Talia was to come at once.

The last years had been turbulent years for her country. Xander's male parent had been assassinated. Talia had feared the worst for the royal family unit, but word had been leaked that they'd escaped safely.

The rebellion even so raged and at that place was yet hope that the usurpers to the throne would be ousted and then that the royal family could be welcomed back. The state waited. Talia had waited, never expecting that she would exist summoned to him in exile.

Information technology had been difficult to leave the life she'd resigned herself to. Only in the kickoff had she had fifty-fifty a whisper of regret that things wouldn't plough out the way she'd planned. She'd wanted to nourish university. Travel the globe. Somewhen come back to her country to contribute to the growing industry and economic system of the small-scale island nation off Espana'south coast.

Instead her mother had been diagnosed with cancer and, faced with the inability to pay for the mounting costs, Talia had sworn off university and taken whatsoever odd job she was able to land. Until the twenty-four hours Prince Alexander—or Xander, equally he insisted she address him—had arrived at her small cottage past the body of water.

He'd swept in, issued orders for her mother to exist transferred to a eye in France that specialized in treating the form of cancer Talia'south mother suffered. He'd and then insisted that Talia attend university in Paris. He'd put her up in an apartment that was close in proximity to where her mother's care was being overseen and the schoolhouse where she studied. He'd even given her a monthly assart and made sure that all her living expenses had been paid.

And why?

She nevertheless didn't know why.

The only thing he'd ever said to her was that one day he'd summon her and she was to come at one time. Of form she'd agreed. What person wouldn't? When faced with her mother'due south bloodshed and being able to ensure her mother's wellness and take her dream of attending university, the hope hadn't seemed likewise much to requite.

Now she wasn't sure, because at present she had no idea only what she'd traded in her bargain with the prince.

She shook her head as the aeroplane touched down. Oh, she knew. Or at least now she had a very proficient thought. And information technology was no matter, because if faced with the same situation all once more, she'd do it without reservation.

Her pride. Her body. Her very soul. None of it was too precious a thing to sacrifice for her mother.

And, if she was completely honest, she was intrigued by the asking.

The cannonball had been short and to the bespeak. But what had come up later had opened her eyes to exactly what it was the prince was expecting of her.

Mistress. Lover. Concubine. Whore?

No matter what word she put on it, goose egg changed the stark reality of her presence on this isle sanctuary.

She was a toy. A thing. She was for his amusement, his entertainment. His desire. His whim.

The plane rolled to a stop and every bit she looked out her window, all she saw was the sparkling waters of the Caribbean area.

"Y'all may remove your seat chugalug and come with me, Miss Montforte."

She unfastened herself with trembling fingers, and so looked upward to the staid-looking, greyness-haired man who stood in the aisle waiting to aid her. She grabbed her handbag like it was a security blanket and slowly stood.

When she stepped onto the platform outside the airplane, the bright wash of sunshine had her reaching for the sunglasses she'd stuffed in the pocket of her bag. For a moment she paused, soaking up her environment. The h2o sparkled in the distance and all around her was rugged landscape, mountainous toward the center and w and flatter to the east. The sky was as bright as the water itself, and not a single puff of white marred the perfect sheet of blue.

A paw touched her elbow and she started, jerking from her silent cess of her temporary new home. Six months. For half-dozen months she'd agreed to alive in this place. To be whatsoever the prince wanted her to be.

The man who'd escorted her out of the car and onto the aeroplane in Paris was now profitable her down the steps toward a blackness Mercedes parked just a curt distance away.

She smoothed the wrinkles from the silk brim, a gift from Prince Alex—no, she must remember that he was to be addressed equally Xander. He'd been very specific on that thing. He'd purchased her an entire new wardrobe, and baffling was the fact that he'd chosen the verbal sizes she wore. Everything from underwear to shoes.

The lingerie was to die for. Sinfully sexy and yet ultrafeminine. Putting it on made her want to purr in delight and yet roar similar a sultry seductress. She didn't even want to entertain what it all had cost. It would likely have paid for her mother's treatment twice over.

"His Highness awaits," the homo said as he handed her into the backseat of the machine.

In the front, another man wearing night sunglasses glanced at her in the rearview mirror.

"Are you lot ready, miss?"

She nodded and and so the door airtight and the machine immediately pulled away from the small jet.

They pulled onto a roughly paved stretch of road, but the farther they traveled it, the smoother information technology became. She glanced curiously effectually, wondering at the inhabitants. If there was a town. She hadn't been able to run across anything on the flight in. It had all looked frighteningly barren of any sort of human activity, but it certainly didn't suffer from lack of vibrancy of nature.

Lush, green. Sparkling sands. Rugged mountains. She'd even seen a waterfall as the plane had made its descent.

The road meandered effectually a bend and so turned out onto a signal on the eastern edge of the island. She leaned forwards, spotting formidable gates that opened as if by magic as they approached.

They connected in and she gasped softly at the private paradise that existed across those imposing gates.

There weren't words to describe the grounds. Immaculately rendered. Flowers, so many that the burst of color was a daze to her eyes. Plants, foliage. Fruit copse. Palms. Flowering vines and bushes.

And nestled among information technology all was a deluxe villa with a huge water feature in front of the sprawling entrance. She couldn't call it a fountain exactly. It wasn't i fountain, but a huge serial of them, intricately designed. It looked like the villa'southward ain private waterfall and haven.

Every bit the car pulled to a stop, she was gripped by sudden nerves that almost paralyzed her. Finding solace that at to the lowest degree her eyes were hidden by the sunglasses she'd donned, she turned to see a tall human being striding toward the automobile. He reached for the handle equally the driver stepped out and opened her door.

"Miss Montforte," he said smoothly. "His Royal Highness bids yous welcome to his home."

"And then she came," Xander murmured equally he stared down at Talia gracefully exiting the car he'd sent to choice her up at the airstrip.

"Did you lot doubt she would?" Garon asked dryly.

Xander's gaze never left Talia as Sebastien took her arm to escort her into the villa.

"Who knows the heed of a adult female?" Xander said. "I've seen nothing to incertitude that she would always get dorsum on her word, only when faced with my expectations, it's only logical to presume that any woman in her position would have second thoughts."

Garon's lips twitched in amusement. "Indeed."

"She's nevertheless a virgin," Xander said, unable to continue the satisfaction from

his voice.

"That pleases yous."

Xander lifted an imperious forehead. "Of course information technology does. I may not be her only, but I'll damn well be the first."

"Some might debate that what you program to subject her to is a bit much for an innocent."

Xander could no longer run across Talia. Sebastien had escorted her into the front end where she would await him in the sitting room. He twitched with impatience to get to her, but it wouldn't do for him to seem eager.

He wanted this to be on his terms. She would never know just how long he'd waited for this time to come up. She was his now.

"You lot're a damn hypocrite," Xander said with no heat. "You lot're dying to fuck her every bit as much every bit I am."

Garon'south lip lifted one time more. The slight arch at the corner of his mouth was the closest he got most days to actually smiling.

"I don't have the taste for innocents that you seem to have."

"She won't exist so damn innocent when I'm finished with her," Xavier murmured. "Besides, I don't take a proclivity for virgins. But ane virgin. Her. I observe I'm very possessive when information technology comes to Talia."

Garon gave a snort. "And yet you lot'll share her with your most trusted men."

Xander shrugged. "It's who I am. Information technology'south what I practice. I haven't heard you mutter once."

Garon seemed to ponder the matter a moment and then his expression grew more serious. "No, I've not complained. Simply the adult female in question has never been someone of import to you. Talia obviously is. Call back about what you do, Xander. Sexual practice is sex. Kink is kink. I like a good time and a beautiful adult female as well as the next man. But I would hate to lose trust or a friendship because emotions got involved."

"And so encounter that yours don't."

Garon shook his head but as Sebastien entered the library. He inclined his head in respect toward Xander. "Talia waits below equally y'all requested."

"Tell me, Sebastien, do yous observe her beautiful?"

Sebastien lifted i eyebrow and and so his eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "I'm uncertain of the signal of your question, Your Highness. Of course she is a cute woman. Time has been more kind to her. She's no longer a daughter of eighteen but a lovely woman of twenty-two."

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