Yasin could hear his brother moving toward them and he knew Omar would not hesitate to barge into the bedroom. One look at Lily’s blue eyes filled with apprehension and he drew back, his cock slipping from her warmth.

“I am coming out, Omar.” Yasin stood up, his cock long and hard.

Lily pulled the covers tight around her as he grabbed a robe from the closet, then strode toward the door.

Yasin exited the bedroom and closed the door firmly behind him. Omar sat in the large armchair dominating the living room, watching Yasin with eyes sharp as a hawk’s.

“Sit,” Omar said in an even voice.

Yasin narrowed his eyes as he obeyed.

“What were you thinking?” Omar asked, his dark eyebrow arched.

Yasin knew Omar must be spitting mad at him leaving the events early last evening. But Yasin was tired of simply accepting his brother’s actions without question. It was time to push back.

“What was I thinking?” Yasin scowled, “What were you thinking? You knew I would not approve of you kidnapping Lily and bringing her here as a slave.”

“Your approval is not my primary concern when I do a thing.”

“That has always been perfectly clear,” Yasin said. “And last night I chose not to concern myself with your approval.”

Omar compressed his lips as he gazed at Yasin, considering.

“I am willing to overlook your rudeness last night. I understood your leaving. You wanted the woman alone in your bed. That was clear.” Omar leaned forward. “What has me concerned is the look that was in your eyes. As if the woman had bewitched you.” He narrowed his eyes. “And that look is there even now. Are you in love with her?”

Yasin did not want to admit his feelings to Omar, who would not respect them. He would try to twist them into something else. Would try to convince Yasin that keeping her as his slave would give him what he truly wanted, allowing him to marry a woman the family would approve of.

The unfairness of the situation caused his stomach to clench.

“Don’t tell me you’re thinking of keeping this woman? Of marrying her?” Omar demanded.

“I know that since you stripped her naked in front of our brother and cousins that she will never be accepted by the family as my wife,” Yasin said bitterly.

“Yasin,” Omar said, “you must know that what I truly want is your happiness. That’s why I brought her here in the first place.” He shook his head. “But marriage to this woman... you must know that is foolhardy. She is not the right kind of woman for you.”

“Why? Because she’s not from Marjah? Because she doesn’t grovel at my feet?”

“Everything in the way you’ve behaved around her tells me she will not meet your needs. And more, that you yourself know that she will not be happy with you.”

Yasin’s eyes narrowed. “Explain.”

“You obviously care about her. And you have become her protector while she’s here, trying to shield her from our ways. But we both know that with how you were raised... how we both were raised... and with the blood you carry in your veins... you will want to dominate her. Force her to surrender to your will. So...” Omar arched his eyebrow. “How will you protect her from yourself?”

Yasin’s gut twisted. As much as he hated himself for it, he knew what Omar said was true. He had revered Lily in college and, to be totally honest with himself, a big reason he had held off being with her was because he knew when he was with a woman, he wanted to hold her down and take her. To feel her struggle. To make her surrender to him.

The urge had overcome him only moments ago.

As much as he hated himself for it, that wasn’t going to go away.

* * *

Lily waited impatiently in bed for Yasin to return. Last night had been sweet and poignant, and her heart had soared at his tenderness and passion. This morning, however, when Yasin had held her down and insisted she struggle against him, it had driven her desire to a fever pitch. The memory of his big cockhead pressing into her as he restrained her wrists, his chest pinning her to the bed, kept her hot and needy.

She stroked her breasts, her fingers teasing the hard nubs. Her heart pounded in her chest.

Finally, Yasin opened the door and stepped inside, his face grim.

After speaking to his brother, probably being scolded for last night, she knew he must not be in the best of moods. But she would try to turn that around.

She pushed back the covers, revealing her naked body, and opened her arms.

His gaze locked on her, but instead of sizzling embers of heat, his dark brown eyes were solemn. And detached.

A shiver raced down her spine.

He stepped toward the bed, but instead of joining her, he pulled the covers over her again.

Then he dropped a cloth bag on the bed.

“Your clothes are in there. Get dressed, then go and wait for me in the living room.”

Then he turned and went into the en suite bathroom.

* * *

Lily sat in the private jet, Yasin silent beside her.

After Yasin had returned from his shower, he’d told her curtly that he was taking her home.

She had smiled and thanked him, rising from the couch to throw her arms around him, but before she’d gotten the chance, he’d turned and strode to the door. She’d followed and he’d led her outside to a waiting car which carried them to the small airport on the island. Within an hour of leaving his brother’s vacation house, they were airborne.

She sipped her drink, wishing he would speak. She was glad he’d stood up to his brother and gotten her away from that place, but she wasn’t sure what this meant for the two of them. She had so many questions she wanted to ask. So many things she wanted to know about what he was thinking and where he saw their relationship going.

She remembered him mentioning a ring and, knowing he was in love with her, she wondered if maybe... Could it be he’d intended to propose all those years ago?

Maybe his silence was because he didn’t know what should happen next. Maybe he was considering how to proceed. Whether they should date for a while, then when the time was right, he would propose.

The very thought filled her with joy.

But he looked so very distant.

Finally, the stewardess came and told them they would be landing in ten minutes. Lily and Yasin buckled up and soon the jet was taxiing to the gate.

Yasin turned to her.

“Before we disembark, there is something we should discuss.”

“Yes, Yasin.”

“You will probably want to press charges against Omar for kidnapping you.”

She frowned. This was not the discussion she’d been expecting.

“As much as you may want justice,” he continued, “pursuing this will get you nowhere. I’m sure it will be frustrating to be left with no recourse in this matter, but there is nothing to be done. You could try prosecuting me as an accessory, but the best you could hope for given my family status would be that I be deported. If you wish to do that, however, I will bid you no ill will. In fact, if there is any kind of reparation I can make on behalf of my family, I will do so.”

“Reparation?” She stared at him dumbfounded, totally taken aback at his suggestion that she might want him punished.

He sighed. “Lily, I know this whole experience was traumatic for you.”

She rested her hand on his cheek. “Yes, it was. But some good came of it because it brought us together again.”

He grasped her hand, his eyes growing stone cold, and drew it away. Then he stood up.

Her stomached clenched because she suddenly realized that he was ending it with her.

“I will give you a number where you can contact my people. You should seek counseling, which I will pay for, of course. And anything else that you need to help you over this experience.”

He walked toward the door and she followed him. They went down the stairs to the tarmac where a limousine waited. The driver opened the door and Yasin gestured for her to get in.

She turned to him, shaking her head. “That’s it? After what we shared, you’re just sending me away?”

“I’m returning you to your home. I am sorry for what my family put you through, but now it is time for you to get back to your life. To move forward as if this never happened.”

She grasped his arm, blinking back tears. “But... I love you.”

He shook his head solemnly. “No, Lily, you only think you love me. Once you’re away from me, you’ll realize that.”

Then he disengaged her arm and guided her into the vehicle. Once she was inside, he closed the door, then the car carried her away from him.