Desert Prince's Stolen Bride

‘I’m hardly laughing,’ she answered levelly. ‘You’re the one who took me from the palace, Prince Zayed. You’re the one who—’ Her breath rushed out. Seduced me. She couldn’t say the words. She’d been so stupidly willing, so eager, to be seduced. It beggared belief now, but only moments ago she’d been putty in his arms, wanting only to be moulded to whatever shape he chose. Still she met his gaze. ‘I didn’t ask for any of this.’

‘Not at first, perhaps.’ He took a step towards her, a different kind of fire in his eyes, one Olivia recognised, and it made her catch her breath. Even now, he could feel it. She could. The banked heat in his eyes flared to life and she felt its answer scorch through her. ‘But later, Olivia,’ he said, his voice low and menacing. ‘Later you weren’t asking. You were begging.’

She hated him. Officially, she hated him. Even as she felt the pulse of desire go through her, an insistent throb, she hated him. Damn her treacherous body. She knew Zayed saw it too, from the way his lip curled and his eyes travelled down her body, raking her in one scathing glance. A short while ago he’d made her feel cherished and important, and now he was making her feel tawdry and cheap, more than she ever had before. Everything about this was awful.

‘I regret everything that happened between us this evening,’ she said stiffly. ‘More than you can possibly imagine.’

‘You cannot regret it more than I do,’ Zayed snapped. He swore again, turning away from her. ‘Dear heaven, do you know what this is going to cost? Everything.’ His voice choked and for a second he covered his face with his hands. ‘Everything.’

Watching him, Olivia saw a man in torment and she didn’t fully understand it. She had a bizarre yet deep-seated urge to comfort him, to make it better. ‘Is it because you—you have been unfaithful to Halina? I don’t think she expects such fidelity until you’re wed. You haven’t even met. She’ll understand.’ She probably wouldn’t care. She hadn’t wanted to marry Zayed in the first place.

‘Unfaithful?’ He dropped his hands and let out a bark of humourless laughter. ‘I have not merely been unfaithful.’

‘You mean because you kidnapped me,’ she said slowly, as reality caught up with her. ‘And Sultan Hassan will know you meant to kidnap his daughter. He might call the engagement off.’ He would be angry, she supposed, but that angry? She liked her employer, found him to be generous and carelessly affectionate, but she knew he had a strong and unwavering core of honour and dignity. She had no idea how he’d react to what Zayed had done.

‘Might?’ Zayed turned around to face her, his expression one of weary scorn. ‘There is no might. He most certainly will. He will be furious that I dared to try to take his precious daughter. That I slipped through his defences.’

‘How did you? Why were the gates open when we left?’

Zayed shrugged. ‘A cousin of a cousin is one of the guards. He has been my spy for years. He made sure the gates were open to me.’

No, Sultan Hassan would not like that. He would be furious that someone had breached his security, and also threatened and maybe even a little scared by how seemingly easily it had been done. Unless...

‘They might not even know I’m gone,’ Olivia said slowly. She could hardly believe she was trying to help him, this man whom had taken so much from her, whom she had told herself she hated. Perhaps it was simply that ever-present urge she had to be helpful. Needed. Or perhaps it was the connection they shared, whether they wanted to or not. They’d been lovers. It was not something she would forget easily, or ever. ‘If no one saw your men come or go...’

‘How would they not know you’re gone?’ Zayed demanded. ‘You were in the next room from the Princess. Someone would come looking for you.’

‘Not necessarily.’ It hurt a little to admit it, but Olivia ploughed on. ‘I’m the governess, Prince Zayed, not one of the Princesses, and it was late. Princess Halina might be annoyed that I didn’t say goodnight to her, but she would have assumed I’d gone to bed. No one will miss me till morning.’

Outside the tent silvery-pink light streaked the sky. It was just coming on to dawn and they were several hours’ ride from the palace. ‘You could return me,’ she pressed, surprised and a little alarmed by the weird shaft of disappointment that went through her at that prospect. Surely this was the best solution, what she wanted? What she had to want? No other option made sense. ‘And no one would be the wiser,’ she added.

‘And you wouldn’t say anything?’ He looked disbelieving. ‘You wouldn’t tell your employer of your kidnapping?’

‘I do not wish people to know what has happened as much as you,’ Olivia returned. The thought of Halina learning what she’d done with her fiancé... Olivia’s stomach swooped. How could she have been so stupid? So utterly reckless? She’d never acted like that before in her life. ‘Surely you can understand that?’ she challenged Zayed, her voice rising a little.

‘Yes, of course, but...’

For a second Zayed looked tempted. Torn. To make this all go away...they both wanted that. Of course they did. But yet again she felt that inexplicable disappointment flickering through her. Zayed shook his head. ‘No, it is impossible.’

‘Why?’ The word burst out of Olivia and that flicker of disappointment faded away. She couldn’t turn back the clock, but returning to Abkar was the next best thing, especially if her abduction hadn’t yet been remarked upon. In a few hours she could be in her own bed and she could put the memory of this night completely behind her as if it had never happened...even if she knew she would never, ever forget it, or the feel of being in Zayed’s arms.

‘For many reasons,’ Zayed said shortly. ‘None of which you seem to have taken into consideration.’

‘Then perhaps you could enlighten me,’ Olivia snapped as her patience started to fray. She never spoke out like this, but some strange courage seemed to have taken hold of her. ‘Instead of treating me like some sort of imbecile.’

* * *

Zayed stared at the woman he’d wed—his bride—with a mixture of frustration and despair. This was a complete disaster, one he was still reeling from. And yet, reeling as he was, a leaden weight had settled in his stomach, making him realise this could not be undone as easily as Olivia seemed to think. Of course it couldn’t.

‘Because too many people know. The Sultan’s soldiers, my own people, the imam.’ Who, at his instruction, would have shared the news throughout Kal

idar that he had wedded and bedded Princess Halina. He had wanted the news to spread to strengthen his claim. He had never envisioned something like this happening.

‘The imam?’ She stared at him, stormy eyes narrowing. ‘What imam?’

Impatience bit at him, chasing the fury and fear. ‘The man who married us, of course.’

Olivia’s mouth dropped open in wordless shock. ‘Married? But...’