Bound to Her Desert Captor

‘I think you’re needed elsewhere, Tarik,’ Jag informed him, not at all in the mood to hear any more. ‘I’m quite sure I can await my fiancée’s reappearance on my own.’

‘Of course, Your Majesty.’

As soon as the older man departed the room Jag felt like a heel. It wasn’t Tarik’s fault that the woman was tying him up in knots.

And where the hell was his sister? If she was putting him through this for nothing he’d be furious.

‘Okay.’ A breathless Regan appeared in the doorway in record time. ‘I hope I look all right. Since you’re only wearing a suit and tie, I opted for something less formal than last night.’ Her hands brushed over the waist of her sleeveless all-in-one trouser suit that faithfully followed the feminine curves of her body, accentuating her toned arms. Her face looked as if it was almost bare of make-up, and her hair fell around her shoulders in a silky russet cloud. ‘I didn’t have time to put my hair up,’ she said, raising a hand to self-consciously pat it into place. ‘If you think I should then I can—’

‘It’s fine.’ He cut off her chatter, aware that this was something she did when she was really nervous. ‘You look...’ incredible. Stunning. Beddable ‘...very elegant.’

Sexual chemistry arced in the space between them, pulling him towards her as if by an invisible pulley system.

She fiddled with her engagement ring and Jag had to forcibly stop himself from reaching for her and wrapping those slender fingers around another part of his anatomy. A stranger to fighting desires as strong as this, Jag found himself growing increasingly frustrated. ‘Let’s go,’ he growled, appalled at how she could arouse him without even trying.

‘Okay. Oh, wait.’ She stopped beside him at the door and smiled up at him. ‘In all the rush before, I forgot to ask—how was your day?’

How was his day?

Shock made him go so still he could have been nailed to the spot. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been asked that question. Usually people were too busy reeling off a litany of complaints, or asking him to solve problems, to even consider asking him how his day had been.

A lengthy silence filled the room. How was it that this woman managed to uncover weaknesses in him he thought he’d long got over. ‘My day was fine.’

‘Sorry.’ She gave him a faint smile. ‘I’ve upset you again. I always seem to say the wrong thing around you.’

‘I’m not upset,’ he denied, ‘I was just...’ He took a deep breath. Let it out. ‘Actually my day went very well.’

‘Great, then we both had a good day, only...’ Her brow scrunched and she paused to look up at him. ‘Are you sure everything’s okay? You’ve gone a little pale.’

No, everything was not okay. He was fighting with a very strong instinct to lock her up and throw away the key. And not in the palace this time but some distant location he couldn’t get to.

He thought about last night. The roundness of her bottom against his palms, her arms locked around his neck. The chemistry between them had been explosive but he’d possessed enough sanity at the time to know that doing anything about it would produce a list of regrets that would rival his inbox.

He felt his insides coil tight as the need to have her tried to edge out logic and reason.

As if she sensed the direction of his thoughts her throat bobbed as she swallowed, her eyes wary. As they should be. Because nothing good could come of constantly thinking about how much he wanted her and so he ruthlessly clamped down on emotions that he didn’t want to

feel, and needs he didn’t want to have, and focused on his duties for the night. ‘Everything’s fine,’ he finally said, directing her towards the door. ‘Let’s not keep my chef waiting any longer. His retribution isn’t worth it.’

CHAPTER EIGHT

STANDING ON THE back steps of the palace balcony as the last of the summit delegates boarded a helicopter, Regan let out a long sigh. Presumably her duties as the king’s escort would be over now that the four days were up, and she wondered why she didn’t feel better about that.

For the past two days she had barely seen Jaeger. They had crossed paths only at social functions when he required her company, but always he seemed distantly polite and at the end of the evening he had done little more than bid her goodnight before heading to his office to do even more work.

She couldn’t escape the feeling that he had been avoiding her a little, which had suited her fine. Spending time with him only gave her a false sense of connection with him that she didn’t want to feel. Already all he had to do was look at her to make her burn, and she hated the fact that her senses had been awakened by a man who couldn’t make it any plainer that he didn’t want her. And why would he want her when she was merely a means to an end for him?

Wondering what would happen next given that their missing siblings had not yet returned she steeled her spine when he detached himself from the small party he was speaking with to approach her, his expression serious.

‘I know the summit is officially over,’ he began, ‘and that our deal only extended to today, however there is one more obligation that is required of you.’

‘Obligation?’ She forced herself to sound as composed as he did. ‘Is this to do with Milena and Chad? Have you located them?’

Yesterday the security detail searching for Milena had reported that there might have been a sighting of her and Chad in a hiking store in Bhutan five days ago. It had eased Regan’s mind because Chad was an avid hiker, but it still begged the question that if the two of them were merely hiking why hadn’t they been more open about the whole thing?

‘No I have no new information on our missing siblings,’ Jag said grimly. ‘This is a business obligation. The President of Spain is thinking about investing in our agricultural infrastructure. He wishes to see how he might utilise it in his own country and I have organised a short trip to the interior of Santara. As his wife is accompanying us, it would seem strange if you stayed behind. Particularly since she tells me that you have bonded over the past few days.’

‘Yes, she’s lovely.’