The Sheikh's Ransomed Bride

His scowl disappeared, and now his face was unreadable. His eyes gave nothing away, but he watched her with an unnerving intensity that made her breath catch.

Surely she was imagining things. He wouldn’t threaten the future of the expedition if she refused to stay in the palace. Would he?

No, that would be ludicrous.

`Come.’ Abruptly he stood, and held out his hand. `We’ll discuss this later, and I’ll explain in as much detail as you require. In the meantime you need rest.’

Ridiculous to feel so weak after days in bed, but her head swam as she stood up. His hand, warm and strong at her elbow, held her steady and she was grateful for his support. Nevertheless, she refused to be railroaded into such an arrangement. She tilted her chin up and met his eyes. `Thank you for your kind offer, Your Highness-‘

`But you want to argue about it?’ There was a glimmer of something that might have been humor in his cool eyes as he slid his hand down to hers. `Never mind. We can debate it all you wish in the morning.’

He smiled then, and she stared, dazzled by the instant transformation in him. From scowling autocrat to sexy, mesmerizing flesh and blood man simply with a curve of his lips.

And his eyes: they smiled down at her as if inviting her to enjoy some intimate shared jest. His thumb stroked across her hand in a gesture that sent ripples of longing through her. She felt herself sway towards him, and prayed it was fatigue that made her unsteady on her feet.

`Ms Winters,’ he said at last, his voice low and coaxing, his eyes hooded. `Would you do me the honor of staying as my guest here tonight? It would be some small recompense for the ordeal you’ve been through to let us offer you some true Q’aroumi hospitality.’

When he put it like that…

Ì…’ Her voice was a hoarse croak. Did this man have any idea of the sheer sexual appeal he generated when he put his mind to it?

`That would be very pleasant,’ she said at last in a choked voice.

She’d been out maneuvered and there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. `Thank you for the invitation.’

`Good.’ His strong fingers closed tight around hers, generating a flare of heat that burned right through her defenses. She stared into his eyes and felt herself falling, like a diver entering unknown waters.

Ànd in the morning,’ he said with a satisfied smile, `we will discuss the rest of your stay.’

The sun was high in the sky when Belle woke in the wide, low, luxurious bed. She listened to the cascading notes of an unfamiliar songbird somewhere outside, watched the filtered light play across the delicate wall paintings of fruit and flowers.

She was alive. She was safe.

She was in Rafiq’s home.

The realization brought her instantly awake as fleeting snatches of her dreams swirled in her mind. They’d been dominated yet again by a tall, fatally attractive pirate. An arrogant prince who’d demanded she obey his every command.

She squirmed as she recalled how intimate some of those commands had been, and how eagerly her dream self had complied. How she’d reveled in his dominance. She, who’d never let any man control her!

Abruptly she flung off the light silk coverlet and swung her legs out of bed.

She should be thankful her subconscious mind had focused on something other than the mind numbing terror that had haunted her for days. Amazingly, terror hadn’t stalked her sleep. Yet the alternative taunting, erotic dreams featuring Rafiq as her lover was untenable.

She’d lived a nun like existence for the past couple of years every waking hour committed to her work, much of the time on location in isolated areas with no time for socializing, for romance. Maybe the dreams were the natural reaction of a young, healthy body to prolonged sexual abstinence.

She shook her head. Abstinence was something she’d learned to live with, especially after two short lived attempts at what she’d hoped might become serious relationships. Men just weren’t attracted by her absorption in her work, her travel or her independent mindset. She’d come to accept that romance would never figure prominently in her life. Or sex.

So what was happening to her? How did she explain the way she’d responded last night to Rafiq’s smile? To the touch of his hand on hers? She’d felt as if the cyclone they’d weathered together had somehow lodged inside her, found its epicenter deep in the hidden feminine core of her, pulverizing her defenses and her inhibitions.

Belle shook her head. Last night she’d been exhausted. And she was vulnerable after all she’d endured, off balance after her terrifying ordeal. The counselor had warned her she wouldn’t feel the full effects of the trauma straight away.