Kylie woke up, startled and looking around her. She was alone in the bed, but she was furious about that status! Okay, so she was mostly furious with Tarek but she’d go with whatever jumped into her brain first. She’d work her way up to being angry with Tarek in a moment. Being left alone in bed was a good start, she thought with a rising temper. And then other issues started to enter into her brain.
He’d made love to her? She moved slowly, her body aching from using muscles she didn’t know she had. And she wasn’t exactly sure she wanted to know about these muscles, especially if it made her subservient to Tarek.
She shifted out of the bed, her mind going a mile a minute while her body crept along, her inner thighs straining against the movement, protesting every step. How could he have done this to her?
Well, to be fair, she’d been a pretty active participant last night. But as she stepped into the warm shower, she decided that she wasn’t in the mood to be fair. Tarek wasn’t playing fair either. He thought that making love would force her to accept marriage. He had to adjust his strategy though because she wasn’t….
Kylie shook her head and tried that thought again. She wasn’t the kind of woman who wanted only one man, she told herself firmly. Okay, so maybe she’d wanted her first time to be with her husband. That wasn’t on the table any longer and she pretended that the thought didn’t bother her.
But she definitely didn’t want her first time to be with a man like Tarek. At least that was what she was telling herself at this moment. And it sounded really good inside her brain until she thought of the pleasure she’d experienced at his hands last night.
No, no no! She admonished herself for being so weak. She didn’t want Tarek and all that came along with a man in his position. She could walk away, even after last night. It had just been sex, she reminded herself. It had meant nothing.
Kylie sighed as she stepped under the warm water of the shower. Because that was a complete lie. She’d wanted her first time to be with Tarek. Throughout her entire childhood and teen years, any time she thought about kissing or any romantic inclination, Tarek had always been the leading man in those dreams.
It was just because of the way her dreams had come true she was bothered. She didn’t want to be the woman he settled for. She wanted her husband to be madly, crazy in love with her and she wanted to return that feeling. She wanted the dream. This was turning into her nightmare.
Kylie let the warm water wash away her tears as she tried to reconcile herself to the fact that she’d just had sex with the man of her dreams, but in a nightmare situation.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She washed and conditioned her hair and, only once she was done, did she notice that this was her own shampoo and conditioner. She leaned her head against the cold stone of the shower walls, breathing deeply to try and calm down. Even the palace servants knew that she’d slept with Tarek last night! She couldn’t believe how deep the humiliation could go!
She turned off the water with a furious snap. Drying off, she realized that she didn’t have clothes here in this bedroom. They were all back in the suite she’d changed in earlier yesterday!
Oh good grief, now she was going to have to do the walk of shame, wearing the clothes from yesterday to her suite. Could this day get any worse?
She found her jeans and underwear in the bedroom but it took her several minutes to remember where her tee-shirt had come off. She found it draped over by a chair near the doors and she blushed as she remembered how uninhibited she’d been right there, up against the wall. For a moment, Kylie hid her face in her hands, remembering how she’d ordered Tarek to stand still so that she could…oh, goodness!
She whipped open the doors, prepared to race back to her suite and find something different to wear before anyone saw her. Unfortunately, that plan failed miserably because two guards, new ones this time, were standing just outside the door. And not only those two men, but a female servant was pushing a coffee cart, about to enter Tarek’s suite. Kylie’s eyes locked onto hers, there was no surprise there. The woman obviously knew that she’d spent the night in their ruler’s bed.
“I um…have to go…” she muttered, ignoring the delicious smell of coffee.
She hurried down the hallway to her suite and closed the doors, breathing hard as she tried to temper the panic that was welling up inside of her. The guards were still outside of her door, but she felt better now that she was alone.
She walked to the closet and was relieved to find her clothes all still hanging there. At least the servants hadn’t moved her into Tarek’s suite just yet. That was something, she thought. She pulled down a pretty flowered skirt and a light shirt, then put it back. She’d thought about making a statement towards who she was and how she wouldn’t be trapped into the role of queen. The bohemian skirt and shirt would send that message loud and clear, but perhaps a more stern outfit might send a better message.
When she pulled on the straight skirt and silk blouse, she felt better. More professional looking. He would have to take her seriously in this outfit, she told herself, trying to take deep breaths in an effort to get her temper under control. It was hard though. All she wanted to do was yell and scream at the man for what they’d done last night.
But the moment she stepped out of the suite, those two guards flanked both sides of her and she felt as if she was being imprisoned instead of protected.
This was ridiculous!
It was time she visited a certain too-handsome and too-muscular not to mention too-arrogant and too-annoying sheik and tell him that she was absolutely, no-way, going to marry him.
When his assistant told her to just go on into his office, she slammed the heavy door open, too angry and hurt not to mention confused to be even the slightest bit polite or diplomatic. The time for diplomacy was long gone and all she wanted was for the man in question to stop touching her, stop making love to her and stop ignoring her when she said she wasn’t going to marry him!
When she spotted the man in question, her brown eyes fired up. “How could you do that to me?” She wanted to yell at him but the question came out as a furious whisper.
Tarek had obviously been forewarned of her arrival because he wasn’t surprised. He leaned back in his leather chair, looking relaxed and elegant and in an unperturbed mood that only intensified her already furious temper. “Good morning, Kylie. You look amazingly lovely this afternoon.”
That last word stunned her and she looked around. “It isn’t afternoon! I just woke up!”
Tarek chuckled, not surprised that she didn’t realize what time it was. “Ah, but we were very active last night. You were thoroughly worn out by our nocturnal explorations of each other, so you needed some extra time in bed, didn’t you?”
Kylie blushed and fisted her hands by her sides so that she didn’t rush over to him and take her anger out on his overly muscular chest. “That’s not the point. I came here to tell you that it isn’t going to work.”
“What my dear?” he asked, standing up and moving closer, unable to stay away from her. He found that even her anger was a turn-on for him. Her fiery eyes and trembling body had him already hard and ready for her despite the numerous times he’d buried himself into her heat the previous night. Memories of their passionate evening, not to mention all of the new ideas he’d like to show her, made his body ache to once again possess her slender body. He wasn’t fooled by her anger either. His Kylie had been just as ravenous for him as he had been for her so he understood that her temper was only a hiding place for her embarrassment now. He intended to show her that it was more than okay to release her inhibitions in his arms.
Kylie was distracted by the way he was looking at her and she had to think hard to remember what they’d been discussing. Oh, her future! Her hand pressed against her forehead. “Last night! Your plan failed.”
His eyes moved back up to her face, noticing that she truly was upset. “And what do you perceive as my plan?” he asked, moving behind her, his hand sliding sensuously up her bare arm, enjoying the way her trembling increased and goose bumps formed across her soft, pale skin.
She closed her eyes, trying to block out the impact his touch was having on her concentration. And her willpower! Goodness, she just wanted to swing around and throw her arms around his neck, beg him to make love to her once again. That would be wrong! So very, very wrong! And self-destructive not to mention self-defeating. She was here to tell him in no uncertain terms that she would not marry him. “You had sex with me last night to force me into marriage. It won’t work.”
He chuckled. “You think last night was all about a master plan? I thought it was a simple matter of two people enjoying each other’s bodies.”
She shook her head, trying to fight the temptation to press her back against his chest. She remembered sleeping just like that last night. And the mistake she’d made in pressing herself against him, pushing her bottom against the…
Kylie shook her head to try and get her brain to focus, rubbing her forehead.
“What were you trying to say, my love?” he asked. That treacherous hand moved along her waist, skimming intimately along her hip.
She opened her eyes and stared at the huge desk. Get away from him, she told herself. She tried to step forward, but his hands stopped her, kept her inches from his large, warm body. Her hands were gripping the leather chair in front of her and her knees were threatening to give out on her.
“Marriage,” she whispered, trying to concentrate on something other than his hands. And the way they were moving sensuously along her bottom now, sending delicious tingles up her overly sensitive back. She arched her spine, her head falling backwards as she gasped with his touch. She’d never thought of her back as an erogenous zone but with his fingers, it seemed that her whole body was a zone destined to send her into a sensual haze.
His head was bent low, low enough that his lips grazed the delicate shell of her ear. “What about it? We need to set a date.”
“No date,” she mumbled. And then she gasped, his hand moving up underneath her silk blouse, touching bare skin. She jerked out of his embrace and turned around to face him, her hands gripping the leather chair behind her. “No date, no marriage. We’re not getting married. You had sex with me last night to trap me, but it didn’t work.”
His dark eyes moved down over her now-disheveled clothing, enjoying the way she was fighting him because he knew that it wouldn’t work. She was a sensuous being and he was going to enjoy that part of their relationship. “Seemed like we worked pretty well together last night. Do you need another demonstration?” he suggested, his eyes dropping to her breasts, noticing the hard nipples already showing through the thin silk of her delicate blouse. Damn, he loved silk, he thought. Nothing could hide from silk. It was the perfect material and he wanted to drape her in it from her head to her pretty toes. And then slide it off of her so he could feast his eyes on the satin of her skin.
She shook her head. “No. I’m not marrying you because of last night.”
“Of course not.”
She blinked, feeling the tension increase suddenly with his agreement. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she demanded. Then she realized what he was doing. His eyes were wandering down her figure and she didn’t like it. Especially since his glance made her want to take her clothes off so that he could do more than just look.
She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter,” she snapped. “We’re not getting married. There’s nothing you can do to convince me that marriage to you would be a good idea.” With that, she skittered around the large leather chairs and hurried over to the office doorway. She knew that confronting him here in his private office had been a bad idea. Better to get out of here. Fast!
She’d just made it to the doorway, her hand on the knob when a flat hand appeared just above her head. “You entered the lion’s den,” he said softly to her ear.
Kylie gasped when his hard body pressed against her back. “Oh no,” she whispered, closing her eyes again, trying hard to fight the need. But it was impossible! She wanted him! So badly!
“Oh yes,” he growled, taking a nip of her ear even while his hand moved around her waist. He didn’t stop this time. His hand was determined and rough as he cupped her breast and Kylie loved it. She wasn’t even aware of how she bent slightly, needing contact with his body. Her bottom unconsciously pressed into his hips, feeling his hardness and reveling in what she could do to him.
And then his thumb flicked against her nipple and she was lost. “Tarek,” she groaned.
“Yes, Kylie,” he said as his other hand moved up, grabbing her wrist and placing both of her hands flat against the doorway. “I’m here.”
She wiggled against him, pressing harder, needing his touch. He slid his hands down her body, shifting underneath the silk of her blouse. His hands pulled the cups of her bra away so that his fingers could tweak her nipples and she hissed as the pleasure ripped through her body. She shook her head, not sure what to think or to do. Last night he’d been a soft, generous lover. Demanding yes, but this was different. And she loved it. She wanted more but wasn’t sure how to tell him what more should be.
When his fingers moved away from tormenting her breasts, she cried out, her head thrown back. She reached one hand out to grab his hand and bring it back but he only took her wrist in his hand, placing it back on the door. “Keep your hands right there or I will stop.”
She moaned in frustration, but then made the same sound when his hand moved under her skirt. The material was lifted up in a very undignified tangle now, bunching up at her waist. She heard something tear but wasn’t aware that he’d just ripped her underwear off of her body. All she knew was that his fingers, those wicked, talented fingers were touching her down there, right where she needed it the most.
“You’re so hot for me, Kylie,” he growled, nipping her shoulder then kissing it before moving to her back to do it again. All the while, his fingers were moving along her tender folds, sliding inside of her and she cried out. It wasn’t his fingers that she wanted inside of her but she didn’t know how to tell him that. “Please,” was all she could mutter. Her eyes were closed and her body was throbbing with need. Everything inside of her tightened, ready for that amazing release and the way only he could make her feel.
“Please what, Kylie?” he demanded. “Tell me what you want.”
She pressed her body against his fingers desperately. “Inside me. You!” she came back, her eyes still closed.
“Kylie,” he said, making her name sound like a caress. “Bend more and spread your legs,” he commanded.
Kylie didn’t understand but she moved when he pressed his hands against the small of her back. Her legs were more than a little unstable but when she felt his erection press against her, she moved so that he could press into her and she threw her head back when he filled her up, loving the fullness, the way he made her feel complete.
He wrapped his hand in her hair as they stood just like that. “You can scream all you want, my love. The doors are thick and the office is soundproofed.” A moment later, he moved inside of her and she couldn’t hold back the cry of delight at the way this new position felt.
Too soon, she was careening over the edge, straight into a powerful, mind-blowing orgasm and she was glad for the door where her hands could hold her up. When he exploded inside of her body moments later, she felt as if she were floating on air instead of standing against the door.
His hands gentled, stroking her back and arms. She smiled when she felt him softly kiss her shoulder and wished she didn’t have any clothes on.
When that thought hit her, she opened her eyes and looked around. “What just happened?” she whispered.
Tarek’s chuckle revived her anger. A little less intense, but she still struggled to stand up. “No, this didn’t happen,” she said, mainly to herself.
“Oh, it happened, my love.” His arms wrapped around her as she turned around, trying to push her skirt back down and regain some dignity. “And I eagerly anticipate the next time you come to visit my office.”
“I didn’t come here for this!” she cried in response, her hands shaking as she tried to quickly straighten her clothing. It was an awkward process, made harder with his hands in the way.
Tarek laughed, delighted with her confused and sated expression. “I didn’t think you had. That doesn’t mean we didn’t enjoy the time though.”
She sighed and hid her face in her hands. “We can’t keep doing this,” she almost sobbed. “It is crazy.”
He pulled her back into his arms and she let him, her body fitting against his perfectly. He held her until the trembling slowed a bit. “It just means we need to set the date. Quickly. There will be no long engagement Kylie,” he told her sternly. He was about to move back to his desk but he stopped and picked something up off of the floor.
“That’s my underwear!” she gasped, staring hard at his hand that was lifting a torn piece of silk in his long, strong fingers.
He looked down at the scrap of lace. “So it is,” he replied and stuffed it into his pocket with a wink.
“Give me back my underwear,” she demanded through gritted teeth.
He looked down at her, surprised that he was once again hard and ready for her. How could just a slip of a woman make him this painfully turned on so effortlessly? He didn’t know and he didn’t care. All he knew was that he was enjoying this woman more than he had any other woman before her. And he was going to enjoy their marriage as well. In fact, he was going to make it an extra-long honeymoon, thinking he was going to need the additional time to get their reactions to each other under control. He suspected that two or three weeks of uninterrupted time in a bed might do the trick.
He fingered the silky lace in his pocket, thinking how much he liked the fact that she was au naturale at the moment. “No,” he replied.
Kylie couldn’t believe he was holding her underwear hostage! Her hands slid down over her panty-less bottom self-consciously. Stomping her foot, she wished she were wearing heavy boots instead of the delicate heels. “Tarek, this is completely unacceptable. Give me back my underwear! I can’t walk around the palace without underwear.”
He slid his hands deeper into his pockets. “I don’t see a problem with that.” He moved quickly around his desk. “We will be wed next week. I see no point in waiting. And a long engagement just creates the potential for an unexplainable pregnancy.”
Kylie gasped. “Pregnancy?” she asked, her hand moving to her stomach. “That’s impossible.”
Tarek grimaced. “Not only is it possible, but, after last night, I’m afraid it might even be probable.”
She shook her head. “Tarek, we can’t…” She noticed the grim expression in his eyes and her stomach twisted into a knot of anxiety.
“I’m sorry, Kylie. I should have been more careful but to be honest, when you are near me, I don’t ever think about contraception. I can only think about your lovely body and how I can make you cry out with passion.” He hesitated, not sure how to help her feel better about their actions. “If it makes you feel any better, you’re the only woman who has ever had that effect on me. I’ve always been extremely careful about contraception before last night.”
Her eyes glazed over with his words and some of the heat of her anger dissipated. “I don’t want to marry you,” she said, trying to get him to understand.
Something closed behind those dark eyes, she thought. And she didn’t like it.
Tarek crossed his arms over his muscular chest, looking across his desk at her unfazed by her protestations. “I have heard that several times,” he countered. “And yet, we still can’t seem to stay out of each other’s arms. We will be married.”
Kylie stared at him with that anger rising up again. “No!” she yelled. She spun on her heel and, this time, she ran for the door, opening it with a backwards glare at the man who was driving her crazy!
She ran down the hallway, not sure where she was going. She just knew that she had to get away from him. Away from everything he made her feel and all the crazy thoughts spinning through her mind. She simply couldn’t understand why he could touch her and she’d just lose all of her resistance to him. It wasn’t fair that he had that kind of control over her.
She saw the exit to the palace and turned around. Sure enough, the two guards were standing there, watching her diligently. “I’d like to go for a drive. Is that possible or has His Highness,” she said that with a great deal of sarcasm “given the order that I am to remain a prisoner here until he deems me worthy of…” she sighed, rubbing her forehead. “I’m sorry, Raulf. That was rude of me. I just…” she looked up at him, her blue eyes pleading with him. “I’d like to just get out of the palace for a bit. Would that be possible or would it put too much of a burden on you and your team?”
Raulf bowed slightly. “We will arrange it,” he told her, already lifting his hand to speak into the microphone of his radio.
Fifteen minutes later, a trio of black SUVs pulled up outside of the palace portico. “Do we really need three cars?” she asked as Raulf opened the door to the first one.
“Security will be tight until after the wedding, my lady,” he explained.
Kylie looked back at all of the men, her mind thinking that this was overkill. “Maybe it would be better if I just stayed in the palace,” she said softly, feeling miserably selfish for requesting to leave. Perhaps it would be easier on everyone if she just stayed put.
Raulf understood what was going on, that this woman needed a break from the tension of the palace for a few hours. He shook his head gently to reassure her. “We will take care of you.”
She thought about it for a long moment, then decided that she really did need to get out of there, if only for a little while to clear her head. She wasn’t really even sure where she wanted to go. Kylie just needed to get out of the palace, to see normal people and know that the world wasn’t reduced down to her struggle with an autocratic, arrogant ruler who turned her mind to mush and made her body quiver with just an erotic glance.
“Where to, ma’am?” the driver and guard asked, looking at her in the rearview mirror.
Kylie thought for a long moment. “Can you drive me along the Tedbo River? There are a series of pathways along the banks that I’d love to just walk along,” she told him, then held her breath, hoping that she would be allowed. She’d heard about the security measures that had to be taken when Tarek leaves the palace and she was hoping that they wouldn’t apply to her immediately. She suspected that, if she couldn’t convince Tarek to find another woman and she became pregnant, she would be under the same strict security measures that he had to endure, but until that point, and she was still hoping that she could avoid that, she was going to enjoy her freedom. As much as possible, she thought as she looked at all of the guards stepping into the vehicles.
The man hesitated for a moment as if he had to consider her request, but eventually he nodded his head, gave several orders to the other guards that she didn’t exactly understand because they were in some sort of code, and started the vehicle. They drove for about twenty minutes and Kylie slowly relaxed. She felt better almost as soon as they were outside the gates of the palace, but the longer they drove and the more distance she put between herself and the man who confused her so completely, the more relaxed she became. As the tension drained out of her shoulders and back, she found it easier to put the whole debacle into perspective as well. Surely, she was making too much of this, wasn’t she? Just staying out of Tarek’s path might be a better solution. Once she was out of his way, he might start to think more reasonably. He might start looking at the other women, realize that Kylie really wasn’t the ideal candidate.
Okay, yes, they had some sizzling chemistry that was burning them up whenever they were close to each other. But that was really all they had going for them. Tarek needed someone who understood his role, was willing to stand beside him and work with him. Kylie wanted her own career. She wanted to push her own agenda for her life, not someone else’s.
Perhaps that was an unrealistic dream, she thought as the river came into view. Even working for another company, which she’d like to do with her business degree, she would still be building someone else’s empire. But she would be more in control. With Tarek, she always felt like she was out of control, that she was sliding down a crazy, whirling spiral of sensuality or anger. And confusion. Embarrassment.
She sighed, rubbing her forehead. All of the emotions that Tarek engendered within her felt wrong, negative. She wasn’t this person. So many years ago, she’d pictured him doting on her, loving her as much as she loved him. This craziness that came over her was not in her fantasy.
She was normally a very temperate person. She rarely got angry and she had never, ever, reacted to any man the way Tarek could make her react with just a touch. It was astonishing, the personality change that came over her when he walked into a room and she didn’t like it.
“Can you stop here?” she asked, looking at the kids playing in the school yard across the river. The SUV immediately stopped and she watched, smiling at the kids. Some were playing hopscotch, others were on the playground equipment just being silly and acting like carefree kids, climbing and yelling to their friends. All of them were laughing and having fun, apparently with no worries while they enjoyed the sunshine.
She watched a soccer game for several minutes, wishing she could join in the game. She didn’t even like soccer. She just wanted to run and be free, to enjoy the idea of no responsibilities and no problems.
The crisis happened as she watched that one of the kids kicked the ball really well. She thought that the ball was going to go into the net but, at the last minute, the goalie blocked the kick, keeping the opposite team from scoring. Kylie smiled, almost laughing out loud at the boisterous excitement of both teams. She was impressed with how well the kids all took the block. There was neither gloating from the blocking team nor resentment from the team trying to score. It was just a fun game enjoyed by everyone.
But that was also when she saw the ball head down to the bank of the river – and then into the quickly flowing water. Two of the boys stood at the top of the embankment, talking casually while another boy was already skipping down the hill, holding onto a branch to try and lean over the water so he could retrieve the ball that had been caught in the tangle of branches just out of his reach.
“Oh no,” she whispered. Her mind was already seeing the catastrophe that was about to happen. But she couldn’t stop the tumble. She couldn’t even call to the boy in an attempt to stop him because she was still inside the vehicle.
It all happened so fast and she didn’t have time to consider her actions. All she knew was that the boy was in danger and she was the only one that was watching. The guards were looking around at the trees, looking for danger of another sort. She had to act!
Jumping out of the SUV, she didn’t even hear the calls from her guards. All she heard was the splash as the little boy fell into the water. Her mind was focused only on the boy, on the way his arms were flailing above the water and his head kept dunking down below the surface.
Without thinking, she dove into the water, swimming out and catching the boy just as he was about to pass by. He clamped onto her neck, gasping for breath. Kylie wrapped her arm around his back, trying to reassure him. But in the act of trying to save him, she lost her footing and was swept down the river. She tried to grab onto the branches, but the boy was so scared, his arms were hindering her ability to move her own arms.
She latched onto one branch and held on with all her might, ignoring the pain of the rough wood scouring her hand, tearing at the tender flesh. “It’s okay,” she told the terrified boy who was almost choking her with his arms now. “Just relax, we’re okay.” She wasn’t completely sure if they were okay or not, but she wasn’t releasing either that branch or the boy for anything. She heard noises above her on the grass, but she couldn’t push her hair out of her eyes enough to find out what was going on. “Can you relax?” she asked, coaxing the boy who was crying now as his fear overwhelmed him. “I won’t let you go.”
But there was nothing that would convince the little boy to relax his hold on her neck. A moment later, the boy was yanked out of her arms and then strong arms were lifting her out of the water as well. Her guards had saved her and she clung to Raulf for several moments while she regained control of herself.
“Thank you,” she said and took Raulf’s hand, shaking it with an enormous amount of gratitude. Looking up at him, she suddenly realized that Raulf was furious. “What’s wrong?”
Raulf looked over at the other side of the river. Everyone was cheering for her. A woman was racing across the bridge and coming towards them, tears in her eyes before she picked the still shaking boy into her arms and crying. She then took Kylie’s hand and kissed it. “Thank you!” she cried to Kylie. “Thank you! I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t jumped in to save him!”
Her guards were surrounding her, not sure whether to urge her back or to allow her to stay close and let the woman thank their protectee. They’d never been in this kind of a situation before.
A moment later, the woman was racing back across the bridge, carrying the boy who was clinging to her but still smiling over his shoulder, waving to Kylie in thanks. Kylie waved back, glad that the shaking was starting to subside. She was still wet and must look a mess, but she felt good.
“It’s all over, guys,” she said to the guards who were standing around her. Two of them were wet and she smiled her thanks. “I appreciate your timely assistance, gentlemen. I wasn’t sure how long my hands might have lasted during that scary episode.”
The men both bowed and Raulf urged her to go back to the truck. “His Highness is not going to like what happened today,” he muttered under his breath as he ensured that she put on her seatbelt.
Kylie suspected that he was right. She could imagine Tarek being one of those overly protective types that might not appreciate the spur of the moment decision that she’d made today. “Well, first of all, Tarek doesn’t need to know anything about this. And secondly, he might have felt even worse if that boy had drowned. What he doesn’t know, he can’t be bothered about, right?”
Raulf’s lips compressed and Kylie didn’t think he agreed with her plan to keep this information from their ruler. He was probably one of those really honest guards that would head right to Tarek and ‘fess all to. “Let’s head back to the palace along the long route, shall we?” she suggested, still not ready to see Tarek again. She really didn’t want to deal with him just yet. Her hands were aching and the muscles in her back and shoulders were starting to hurt. She must have pulled a muscle or two while trying to grab onto the branches. Not good, she thought with an internal cringe.
Raulf slammed the door closed and called out orders to his men. Seconds later, they were heading back. No, they weren’t taking the long, leisurely way back to the dratted palace. And even worse, they had their irritating sirens whirling. Police had even been dispatched to stop traffic so their progress was even speedier.
As she stepped out of the SUV, she shook her head at Raulf. “Thanks. Remind me…”
A deep voice interrupted whatever she’d been about to say. “Kylie? What the hell were you thinking?” Tarek called out, his furious face angrier than she’d ever thought possible.
He looked over at Raulf and the other guard, all three of them still wet from the river. He nodded curtly to the men. “You saved her,” he told them. A look passed between the three of them and Kylie glanced at them, not sure what was being said, but pretty sure she didn’t like the message. “I’m fine,” she told him.
Tarek’s dark gaze turned to her. “You put your life in danger!” he snapped. “Don’t you…You shouldn’t….” he pressed his lips closed. He gave her a fulminating glare while he tried to figure out what to say, how to convey his fury at her actions this afternoon. But after several moments, he gave up communicating verbally. Instead of saying something to her, he swung her up into his arms and carried her into the palace.
Kylie struggled for a few moments before she gave in and put her arms around his neck. “Tarek…”
“Don’t say a word!” he growled to her as he continued walking.
When he slammed the door to his suite closed with his foot and put her down, she figured she might be allowed to defend herself. “Nothing happened! I got too close to the river but I was fine.”
He stopped his furious pacing in the middle of his suite and glared at her. “Nothing happened?” he roared. “Nothing happened?” His arm swung up into the air as if he couldn’t really believe what she was trying to tell him.
He took her arm and pulled her over towards the sitting area, grabbing the remote control. “Don’t you dare ever lie to me, Kylie!” he yelled. He pressed a few buttons and a hidden television came out of a cabinet. He pressed another button and the television came on to one of the news channels with a man describing the very incident she was trying to make light of. Apparently, one of the teachers had recorded the incident with her cell phone. It perfectly captured the boy’s flailing arms and Kylie’s timely rescue as well as her tenuous grip on the tree branch, not to mention the guards who had to fish her out of the rapidly flowing water.
After she watched it once through, she read the tag lines at the bottom. The reporter continued talking while the incident replayed once more. Kylie didn’t hear the description the second time around because her eyes were focused on the bottom of the screen with growing horror. The words described her as the fiancée to Sheik bin Faisal who had saved the little boy.
She wasn’t sure which she should be more nervous about, the fact that Tarek knew about the incident or the fact that he’d already announced their wedding. She stuck with the least controversial. “How could that already be on the television?” she asked in amazement. Then turned to Tarek. “It wasn’t what it looked like,” she told him, trying desperately to soothe him because he looked like his head was about to explode with his fury.
In answer, he grabbed her wrist and turned her hand over, his eyes slashing to the scrapes that she’d forgotten about in the face of his anger. But with that one touch, all the pain resurfaced and she cringed.
Kylie had been trying to ignore the pain in her hand but when he looked down at the lacerations, a muscle in his jaw started to tick. “Don’t you dare tell me that the incident was nothing,” he said and his voice was deadly calm. This tone scared her more than his yelling ever could.
Going on the defensive, she lifted her chin, trying to appear unconcerned by his anger. She’d done what was right! She shouldn’t have to defend her actions to him! “Why do you even care?” she demanded.
“You are going to be my wife!” he emphatically replied back to her with his gravelly voice.
She shrugged her shoulders, pulling her wrist out of his hand. “So what? If something were to happen to me, you could just pick another woman just as easily as you selected me,” she challenged, her chin going up another notch in order to fight the tears that threatened with the idea of Tarek marrying another woman. She didn’t care, she told herself. She would be thrilled if he would find another woman!
“You are my fiancée,” he told her furiously.
“I’m expendable,” she countered.
“You are not!” he roared even louder.
That declaration stopped her cold. She looked up at him, something occurring to her as she looked into his eyes. “Why would you care?” she asked him.
He paused for a long moment, not exactly sure what to say. She was beautiful and caring and he loved the way she felt in his arms. Losing her would be….unacceptable, he thought. But anything more, he wasn’t going to investigate. “I would care.”
She paused, her anger dissipating. She hesitated to say the words, but the possibility was just too enticing. “Do you love me?” she asked. “Even a little?”
The surprise in his eyes was wonderful. Could he really care? Could she be more than just a convenient woman to produce an heir and stand by his side during parades? Her heart soared with the possibility.
But then his eyes hardened once more and his body stiffened. It was almost as if the idea of love was a surprise, but in the end, it was also not permitted to him. “I don’t allow love,” he told her, but there was a surprising heat in his eyes that she couldn’t ignore.
Her body softened as his words hit her. “Love doesn’t hurt, you know.”
He shook his head. “Love is for weak men and women. You will love me, Kylie. I do not love.”
And with that, her heart ached. But as she continued to look at him, there was that strange light in his eyes. It was there, she just wasn’t sure she was willing to trust what she was thinking. Surely his anger over her afternoon brush with danger meant something, didn’t it? It had to mean something more than simple possessiveness and inconvenience in starting the search for a suitable bride all over again.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to get an answer to that question. As much as it needed to be answered, the silent moment was interrupted. The door was opened up as one of the guards admitted a man with wire rimmed glasses, then closed behind him. “I’m at your service, Your Highness,” he said and bowed.
“My fiancée needs some help with her hands,” he explained succinctly. “Her heroism did not go without pain.”
The man, obviously a doctor, looked down at her hands and tsked with his tongue. “Oh dear. That looks bad.” He brought her over to the sitting area and they were both seated on a sofa before he gently took Kylie’s wrist in his hands and started to clean out the scrapes and cuts, ignoring Tarek as he paced furiously back and forth behind him.
After the cuts were cleaned up, he put some antibiotic ointment on the wounds, then tenderly wrapped her palm in clean gauze. “She should be okay now,” he said, patting her hand. “But if she has any pain tonight,” he took out a bottle of pills, “just take one every four hours.”
Tarek took the pills in his hands, staring at the label. He then lifted his eyes to the doctor. “She might be pregnant,” he told the shorter man, ignoring Kylie’s gasp of horror.
“I’m not!” she asserted, but the doctor ignored her and beamed. “Excellent!” he clapped his hands. “Oh, goodness, it will be wonderful to be useful around the palace once again. You and your men are just too healthy,” the good doctor chuckled with obvious glee. “I will contact one of the best obstetricians in the world and will be delighted to assist the doctor during your pregnancy,” he bowed to Kylie. “But no, you’re right to be cautious of the pain pills early in the pregnancy.”
“I’m not pregnant!” she said once again, more emphatically this time, but still no one paid the slightest attention to her.
“Shall I do a pregnancy test?” the doctor asked Tarek.
Tarek glanced behind the man and chuckled at Kylie’s livid eyes and tense stance. “I don’t think that will be necessary at the moment. But I’ll let you know as soon as the early indications start to arrive.”
The doctor clapped his hands together with obvious anticipation. “A baby!” And he walked out of the suite, his little black bag in his hands and a delighted smile on his face with a spring in his step that hadn’t been there when he walked into the suite earlier.
When the man was gone, Kylie turned to face Tarek. “I’m not pregnant and how dare you spread rumors like that!” she said as calmly as possible but her teeth were still gritting together with anger at his arrogance.
“Are you sure?” he asked, moving closer, ignoring her anger. Just as he ignored all of her other protests. He loved the way she stood up to him. She’d been back in the palace for only two days and already he was finding more things about this woman that he liked, admired and lo…thought would make her a perfect queen.
She opened her mouth to say that yes, she was sure. But she couldn’t be sure. They had been having unprotected sex and it was an optimal time for her to get pregnant. As she looked up into his eyes, she pressed her lips closed. There was no way she was going to admit that to him.
Of course, she didn’t need to and he chuckled, his eyes lighting up with the idea. “Why don’t you go take a shower and we’ll have some dinner? I know you didn’t have any breakfast or lunch so you must be famished.”
She wanted to argue with him, but the truth was, she was uncomfortably wet, she suddenly realized that she still wasn’t wearing any underwear and she was starving. “Fine!” she snapped, “But only because I want to and not because you suggested it.”
With that, she stormed into the bathroom, slamming the door shut on his laughter.
She was careful not to get her hand wet but it was hard to shower and wash her hair with one hand. She should have asked the doctor to leave some extra gauze. Or even better, she should have showered before he had wrapped up her hand. Which only made her angrier since it had been Tarek who had ordered her hand to be bandaged in the first place.
“Looks like you need some help,” Tarek said from right behind her.
Kylie spun around, so surprised to find him in the shower area that she almost slipped on the wet tiles. If he hadn’t grabbed her around her waist and hauled her up against him at that moment, she might have needed the good doctor once again tonight. And goodness, what would the man think if he had to come right back to Tarek’s suite only to find her once again wet but also naked? The man would be skipping around the palace in anticipation of a baby.
“Get out,” she snapped at him, trying to resist the allure of his hard, naked body.
Unfortunately, that was impossible. His hands were already gliding up her slick body and she was lost the moment his lips covered hers. “You’re doing it again,’ she mumbled in between kisses.
“Yes. And I’m going to do it again and again and again,” he promised.
Kylie just about passed out with that promise but the shivers won out instead of blackness. They didn’t get around to eating very quickly. But she didn’t mind. Kylie’s mind was on other things than food for the next few hours.