Royal Affairs: Desert Princes & Defiant Virgins

Reminding herself that this was not the time to lose her cool, she allowed herself a small sip of wine.

William gave her a sympathetic smile. ‘Talking of qualities, most of yours are displayed over the front page of today’s newspapers. I think the headline read something like, “rebel princess hot for the harem?” I mean, really—’ he gave a weary shake of his head ‘—newspapers have no sense of moral restraint. Always digging up the past when it should be forgotten. We just have to hope for your sake that the Sultan isn’t expecting a virgin bride. Perhaps his reputation is way off the mark and he’s one of those rare men who values experience over innocence. I’m so sorry, Alexa.’

So was she.

Under no illusions as to why the papers had chosen to reprint those pictures, anger suddenly burst through her usual cautious restraint. ‘When the time comes, I intend to tell the Sultan the truth about my life. The whole truth, Uncle William. And he will believe me.’ She caught Karim’s astonished glance and saw the deadly gleam light her uncle’s eyes.

The emotion drained out of her, and she started to shake.

Why had she said that?

She’d gained nothing by that remark. Nothing at all. And she could have lost everything.

This was not the time to antagonize a man as dangerous as her uncle, and she knew that. Since when had she allowed anger to incinerate common sense?

‘You’re my niece,’ William said smoothly. ‘I only want what is best for you, and Zangrar is such a terribly long way away. I’m so afraid that something dreadful might happen to you on your journey. You know how accident prone you are.’

Alexa felt her heart stumble and her palms grow damp. He was threatening her.

‘Karim will ensure my safety,’ she said in a clear voice, hoping desperately that Karim wouldn’t choose this moment to mention the fact that she’d tried to dispense with his services.

William gently dabbed his mouth with his napkin. ‘If anything were to happen to you, I don’t know what I’d do.’

He would have achieved his lifelong ambition.

He would finally have destroyed her family.

Suddenly Alexa felt bitterly cold. ‘Your care and concern is always touching, Uncle William. My father would have become quite emotional, had he been able to see everything you’ve done for me since his death.’ Unable to share his table a moment longer, she rose to her feet. ‘We leave in the morning. I need my passport.’ And this was the moment she’d been dreading.

For sixteen years he’d held her passport.

Would he finally return it to her?

William was silent for a long moment, and then he gave a gentle smile. ‘You are such a featherbrain. I will give it to Karim for safekeeping.’

No, no, no!

Her stomach turned over. She had to have her passport. And the fact that William was prepared to give it to Karim was of no use to her at all, because she knew that he had no intention of allowing her to leave in the morning.

Which was why she had no intention of waiting until morning.

Alexa felt a great weight in her chest. So much depended on the next few hours. If she couldn’t gain possession of her passport, then she couldn’t take the next step and everything would have been for nothing.

Trying to think her way through the dark mists of panic, she tried to look relaxed. ‘That’s fine. Give my passport to Karim.’

One way or another she would just have to find a way of retrieving it.

She just hoped the bodyguard was a heavy sleeper.

The room was dark but she could see the faint outline of his body lying under the covers. He was asleep, thank goodness. She’d been relying on that fact.

Where was he likely to have put her passport?

Seeing his jacket on the back of a chair, she moved towards it with the stealth of a burglar, her bare feet making no sound on the carpet. She reached out a hand, and then gasped with shock as someone caught her from behind, unbalanced her and pushed her down hard onto the bed. Flattened against the mattress and panicking, Alexa fought like an animal in a trap, using all the skills she’d learned to defend herself. She twisted, bit and punched, but as her fist connected with solid muscle she realized desperately that this was a hopelessly uneven contest, and she was going to lose.

No! This wasn’t going to happen to her. Not when she was so close to her final goal. Driven by desperation, she managed to free one leg and kicked hard.

With a grunt of pain, her assailant shifted his body over hers, caught her wrists in a vice-like grip and muttered something in a foreign language.

She recognized the voice. ‘Karim?’

She felt him still, and then he pinned her to the bed with his powerful body and reached out a hand to flick on the light.

Alexa found herself staring into dark pools of anger and went limp with relief. ‘I thought—’

‘You thought what? You were expecting someone else?’ He stared down at her with incredulous disbelief. ‘This is my bedroom.’

‘Yes, I know that.’ The weight of his body made it hard for her to breathe. ‘But I saw the lump in the bed and assumed you were asleep. Then someone grabbed me from behind so I thought it was—’ She broke off, unwilling to betray more than she had to.

‘The lump in the bed was the pillow. I heard you outside the door. I wanted to see who was so keen to enter my bedroom unannounced. What is this, Your Highness—you are now testing me in unarmed combat, or did you have an entirely different reason for visiting me in my bedroom in the middle of the night?’ His meaning was clear enough, and suddenly she was breathlessly aware of the strength in his bare shoulders, of the intimate pressure of his body against hers.

‘I need my passport. That is why I was in your bedroom.’

‘Why would you need your passport at three in the morning? Are you planning a trip?’

She tried to wriggle free, but his weight held her pinned to the mattress. ‘It’s none of your business.’

‘If it involves your passport, then it’s my business.’

Alexa tried a different tack. ‘The Sultan would not want you lying on top of his bride!’

‘Given that I’m apparently just one in a long line of men who have adopted this exact position, I think it’s a little late for that argument to be useful.’ His soft tone was faintly mocking. ‘My job is to escort you safely to him. If you’re intending to vanish in the middle of the night, then your travel plans are of considerable interest to me. Start talking, Your Highness.’

The weight of his body was impossibly distracting, and Alexa suddenly found that she couldn’t say a word. Trapped by his virile strength and the fire in his eyes, she just gazed at him, her body paralyzed by a shockingly powerful explosion of sexual excitement.

And perhaps he detected her feelings, because he shifted slightly above her, his attitude softening from aggressor to seducer.

Alexa pressed her hand to his chest intending to push him away, but her fingertips registered warm, naked flesh. Male body-hair and hard muscle singed her nerve endings, but instead of pushing or even drawing her hand away, her fingers made their own decision and slid upwards, exploring the latent power of his physique with unconscious feminine fascination.

Karim inhaled sharply and growled something that she didn’t understand.

And then they were kissing.

His mouth was demanding and fiercely possessive, and her body ignited like a dry forest in the heat of summer as every single part of her was sucked in by the ferocious heat generated by that kiss.

She felt the hot slide of his tongue against hers, and the erotic intimacy of that connection drained her body of strength and purpose. She forgot what she was doing in his room. She forgot everything as her body was filled with a languorous, dangerous warmth, and his kiss transformed her from a thinking woman to someone only capable of feeling.

Dimly, she registered the hardness of his body against hers and the steady thud of his heartbeat under her clinging fingers.

And then suddenly he dragged his mouth from hers and lifted his head, his breathing uneven and his eyes angry. ‘What do you think you are doing?’

Dizzy and drugged, it took a moment to focus. ‘You kissed me.’’

‘Your hands were on my body.’

Unable to defend herself from the accusation, Alexa lay there in shock, trying to work out what had happened. Kissing Karim had been like stepping into sexual quicksand—one move in the wrong place and she hadn’t been able to free herself. Every subtle movement of his mouth had just drawn her down deeper until she’d drowned, swallowed up by pleasure and sensation.

Why was that?

Had the agonizing loneliness of her situation finally affected her mind? Was she so desperate for human comfort that she was ready to cling to any man who touched her?

‘Please, let me go. I just want my passport.’ Her voice was shaking. How had she allowed herself to become so distracted from her task? The clock was ticking. Every moment that passed made her task more dangerous. ‘Let me leave tonight without you. You will not be blamed.’

Karim studied her face for a moment and then sprang to his feet in a lithe, athletic movement, relieving her of his weight so suddenly that she felt unaccountably bereft.

Ignoring the confusion in her brain and body, Alexa sat up and than gave a gulp of shock she realized that he was completely naked—gloriously, proudly naked, and unashamedly aroused.

She knew she should look away but she couldn’t move. Confronted by her first ever vision of a naked man, her eyes remained fixed on this impromptu display of rampant masculinity, and only when she heard his sharply indrawn breath did she finally manage to drag her eyes upwards. But, instead of respite, she was offered just another angle on impressive manhood—wide, powerful shoulders, curving muscles honed by hard physical exercise and a broad, strong chest hazed by curling dark hairs. He was aggressively, imposingly masculine, and it took all her willpower to look away from such physical perfection. Her cheeks were burning, and she honestly didn’t know what to say or do to move on from here. Her head had emptied itself of all thoughts that weren’t related to sex with this man.

No wonder she hadn’t been able to resist his kiss.

‘The blushing is sweet, but a little over the top given the kiss we just shared.’ Karim’s tone was icy cold as he reached for the robe that was flung carelessly over the chair. Without any obvious sign of haste, he slid his arms into the sleeves and belted it loosely, as relaxed and cool as she was embarrassed. ‘And your display of shyness is a little out of place in a woman who began exploring her sexuality at such a young age—but if you want to play that game then I’m happy to oblige. It’s safe to look, Your Highness.’

Safe?

Part of her knew that this man was anything but safe, and the knowledge unsettled her more than she cared to admit. She’d lived with the threat of danger all her life, but this was entirely different. Normally she was completely in control of her reactions, but with Karim she wasn’t in control at all and the thought terrified her. She couldn’t afford to be distracted. She didn’t need this confusion. Her mind needed to be sharp and focused.

Her future depended on it.

The future of Rovina depended on it.

Her cheeks still flaming with embarrassment, Alexa struggled to find some of her old, rational self. Part of her wanted to melt from the room and never see him again, but another part wanted to …

‘None of that is important,’ she said hoarsely, saying it for her own benefit as much as his. ‘I—’

‘You what?’ He folded his arms and fixed her with his hard, unsympathetic gaze. ‘The Sultan would not approve of the conduct of his prospective bride. He’s an extremely possessive man.’

‘We both know that the Sultan is unlikely to care what happens to me.’

Since when had anyone cared what happened to her? She’d been surviving on her own for so long that it was impossible to imagine a scenario where she mattered to someone.

‘You’re wrong.’ Karim studied her with grim contemplation. ‘If you marry him then you become his possession, and he’s ruthlessly protective of anything and everything that is his. The ability to share nicely is not a virtue to which he aspires.’

She stood up, because sitting down made him all the more intimidating and she couldn’t think straight when she was facing him. ‘You’ve stumbled into a situation that you know nothing about. Believe me, if you’d known the facts, there is no way you would have signed up for this job. Just let me go and perhaps we’ll meet up in Zangrar one day.’ If she survived the journey. She turned and caught the narrowing of his eyes.

‘So, your uncle kept your passport from you. Presumably for your own good. You’re clearly something of a handful to manage, Your Highness. I don’t envy him.’

Alexa straightened her shoulders. ‘Your role is not to pass judgement on a situation of which you know nothing. It’s not your business.’

‘If you’re planning to sneak away then it becomes my business. If I wake up tomorrow and you have gone then I will have to answer to the Sultan. His Excellency isn’t exactly renowned for tolerating the mistakes of others.’

‘Coming with me would be a bigger mistake than you can possibly imagine.’

‘If you believe that then you clearly know nothing about the Sultan.’ He walked towards her, his expression unreadable. ‘If you disappear while under my protection then it is entirely my responsibility.’

‘The Sultan wouldn’t care. He doesn’t want this marriage.’

‘Nor does he want an international incident,’ Karim said dryly. ‘Make no mistake, the Sultan is going ahead with this marriage. The plans for the wedding are already underway. You marry him on the day of your twenty-fourth birthday.’

‘Yes, but I intend to travel alone. If you refuse to let me go, then you will regret it.’

A muscle worked in his lean jaw, and his eyes were faintly amused as he surveyed her with disturbing thoroughness. ‘Never before have I been threatened by a woman who barely reaches my shoulder.’

Alexa felt exhaustion wash over her. As if it wasn’t enough to constantly be trying to outwit William, she now had another fight on her hands. Utterly defeated by the constant obstacles that faced her, she sank back onto the edge of the bed, and then noticed something glinting under the edge of the pillow.

Puzzled, she reached out a hand, lifted the pillow and gave a soft gasp. ‘You sleep with a gun and a knife?’

‘I’m a cautious man.’ He walked over to the bed and gently prised her fingers from the pillow before dragging her back to her feet. ‘And I want to know why you feel the need to leave the palace in the middle of the night.’

She tried to ignore the fact that his hand still held hers. ‘Because it’s imperative that I reach Zangrar safely.’

He watched her for a long moment. ‘You’re that desperate to marry the Sultan?’

‘I prefer determined to desperate.’ Although desperate was probably much closer to the truth.

‘And you believe that your uncle is going to try and stop you?’

‘If I wait until morning—yes.’ Alexa hesitated but decided that she had no choice but to tell him at least part of the truth.

‘William feels very strongly that this wedding shouldn’t go ahead. Strongly enough to use physical means to prevent it.’

Karim was silent for a moment as he digested that piece of information. ‘He must love you very much to have such strong concerns for your well-being. And yet you choose to ignore that love?’

Alexa stared at him for a moment and then gave a short laugh. ‘He doesn’t love me. He hates me. He has always hated me.’

‘You’re young. Sometimes, when someone else’s wishes for you are in contrast to your own, it can be hard to hear what they are saying.’

‘There’s nothing wrong with my hearing. My uncle isn’t interested in what’s best for me.’ She eyed the door, knowing that she was wasting precious minutes that she didn’t have. ‘I have to go.’

‘If you leave, then I leave. Make no mistake about that. I’m your bodyguard.’

‘Haven’t you listened to a word I’ve said? I don’t need you.’

‘Why not, if you think you’re at risk?’

‘I don’t trust you.’

Karim frowned. ‘What possible reason could there be for you not to trust me?’

‘I don’t trust anyone. And if you insist on coming on this journey then I certainly can’t guarantee your safety.’

One dark eyebrow lifted in mockery. ‘I rather thought that I was supposed to guarantee your safety.’

She sighed and rubbed her aching head with the tips of her fingers. ‘Karim, I’m not a good person to travel with. It is going to be dangerous.’

‘Don’t you think you’re being a little melodramatic?’

He had no idea. Alexa let her hands drop to her sides and gave a resigned shrug. She’d already wasted too much time on this. She’d warned him. If he chose to ignore the warning, then that was up to him. ‘I’m leaving now, whether you come or not is up to you,’

she said wearily. ‘But, if you wait until the morning, then I’ll be gone, with or without the passport. And, if I wait until morning, I’ll be dead. In case you haven’t heard, I’m very accident-prone.’

She heard his sharp intake of breath as she walked across the room. At the door she paused and turned to look at him. ‘If you’re coming with me then bring the gun and the knife—and I just hope you’re as good as you say you are, because you’re about to need every survival skill you’ve ever learned.’

CHAPTER THREE

KARIM slid into the tiny car, wondering at precisely which point in the past twenty-four hours he’d relinquished grip on his judgement.

He brushed the tips of his fingers over his lower lip, trying to erase the delicious taste of her mouth and the memory of that searing kiss, but the gesture did nothing to alleviate the nagging ache of lust that now gripped his body.

Intensely irritated by his own response, he let his hand fall to his thigh.

She was the most hotly sexual woman he’d ever met, and her behaviour was every bit as shocking as he’d been led to believe.

The fact that she was prepared to kiss another man days before her wedding confirmed everything he already knew about her, and that kiss had obviously shorted his mental circuits because he was behaving in a way that was entirely uncharacteristic. Instead of being fully in control of the situation, he was now on his way to a mystery destination with a princess who gave new meaning to the term drama queen.

Dead. Dead?

What did she mean that if she waited until morning she’d be dead?

Clearly, she thought a little exaggeration on her part would help urge him into action, or perhaps she’d just been aiming for the sympathy vote. It was a pity for her that he had vast experience of a woman’s ability to manipulate a tricky situation to her advantage, especially where money was involved. Obviously the Princess Alexandra was afraid that her uncle might step in and prevent the wedding. And it didn’t need a genius to work out why she would go to any lengths to prevent that happening.

Money had an appalling effect on people. He’d seen it firsthand, and her determination to creep away from the palace in the middle of the night in order to protect her prize, had left him with no obvious alternative but to join her. Until she changed her mind about the marriage, his mission was not complete, and his mission stood no chance of being completed if she travelled to Zangrar alone and unaccompanied.

He needed time with her.

Wincing as his shoulders brushed the door and his head banged the roof, Karim tried to shift himself into a more comfortable position, but it proved impossible. ‘I’m surprised you didn’t opt for a more luxurious mode of transport,’ he muttered, but she didn’t even glance in his direction.

‘I’m not interested in luxury. I’m interested in anonymity.’

Well aware that that both those statements were in direct contrast to everything he knew about the Princess Alexandra’s public displays of extravagance, Karim wondered what she was trying to prove by making him journey in the smallest car available to mankind.

A road-sign flashed past and he frowned. ‘You took the wrong road. The airport is the other way.’

She didn’t respond. Instead her eyes were fixed on the road, and her hands gripped the wheel of the car so tightly that her knuckles whitened under the pressure. ‘We’re not using that airport.’

‘The Sultan’s private jet awaits you at Rovina Airport.’

‘I know. Which makes it the first place they’ll look when they realize that we’ve gone.’ She glanced in her rear-view mirror and then turned left down a road without indicating. Tyres screeched in protest, and Karim’s shoulder thudded hard against the window.

Watching his life flash before his eyes, he inhaled sharply. ‘Stop the car! I will drive.’

‘No way. For a start, you don’t know where we’re going.’

‘True. But, wherever it is, I would like to reach there alive.’ He adjusted his balance as she took sharp right that virtually flung him on top of her.

‘You chose to come, Karim.’ She changed gears like a racing driver. ‘Are you a nervous passenger?’

‘That depends on the driver.’

‘I’m an excellent driver.’

‘And yet you have crawled from the wreckage of two car accidents in the past year.’

‘Precisely. A less skilled driver than me would have been killed.’

‘A more skilled driver than you wouldn’t have crashed in the first place. Why do you keep looking in the mirror? It’s pitch-dark out there. There is nothing to see.’

‘So far. I need to make sure that no one is following us.’

‘Who would be following us?’ Karim felt a flicker of irritation. ‘Some women are incredibly aroused by drama, I know, but you are taking it to new levels. Stop the car.’

‘No. There’s a chance that my uncle may have discovered that we’ve left. If I stop, then I risk losing the advantage we have.’

‘Has it ever occurred to you that your uncle may have your best interests at heart?’

‘Has it ever occurred to you that he hasn’t? Don’t lecture me, Karim. You’re the one who insisted that I needed a bodyguard. I wanted to leave you behind.’ She changed gears smoothly and accelerated fast up a dark road. There were no lights at all, but she seemed to know every bend and curve. ‘You chose to come with me. That means that you go where I go.’

‘And where is that, precisely?’

‘I’m going to the Sultan. By my own route.’

‘I hope that you will not have cause to regret that decision.’ Her determination exasperated him. Why was it that women became so focused when faced with an increase in their fortunes?

‘My father wanted me to marry the Sultan.’

‘Your father had never met the present Sultan.’

‘True. But he knew his father.’

Karim felt something dark and dangerous curl inside him. ‘Perhaps I should inform you that you might find that the present Sultan is not such a soft touch when it comes to a pretty face.’

‘It doesn’t matter. We both know that the Sultan cannot break the contract that exists between us.’

‘I’m sure the Sultan will find your eagerness to wed him most flattering.’

‘There’s no need for sarcasm. We’ve already established that I’m not pretending to be in love with him, and from what I’ve read that should be a pleasant change for the man,’ she muttered, crunching the gears as she slowed fractionally to take a corner. ‘He seems to spend his life fending off over-eager women. It must be very frustrating for him.’