A Bride for the Taking

Dorian sighed. Actually, hers hadn’t been too dependable lately. Kadar, by the looks of things, was certainly more than a couple of hours’ walk. And if she’d waited for the search party she’d been sure was coming, those men would have found her by now.

But staying behind hadn’t been an option. Jake had come back prepared to take her off the plane by force, if necessary. Would he have done that? she wondered. Her gaze moved over him as he strode along the road ahead of her. Yes. Yes, he would have. He would have tossed her over his shoulder or tied her and gagged her: he would have done whatever he damned well had to do to get what he wanted. For all that earlier sophisticated polish, Jake Prince was a man clearly in his element. Dorian smiled a little, remembering that she’d thought he might be Jack Alexander.

He wasn’t, of course; she knew that now. Not just because he’d denied it—if Jack Alexander had been travelling incognito, he’d never admit it to a reporter—but because the last few hours had been convincing proof. The head of Barovnian Exports would be a man at home in skyscrapers and penthouses, a man used to the power of the boardroom and the pleasures of the bedroom, and the thought of him enduring in surroundings such as these was almost enough to make her laugh out loud.

But Jake—Jake was at home here. Not that she wasn’t damned sure he was as familiar with the boardroom as Jack Alexander. That air of cool authority could only belong to a man accustomed to being in charge.

As for women—Dorian’s gaze moved over him again. The afternoon had grown warm, and he’d taken off his leather jacket and stuffed it into the sack he carried. His shirt, damp with sweat, clung to his body, moulding itself to his shoulders and back so that it accentuated the play of muscle beneath his skin.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, she remembered how it had felt to be in his arms, to taste his mouth, to feel his heart beating against hers…

‘…what you’re feeling, Dorian.’

She looked up, startled. Jake was standing dead ahead, his hands on his hips, watching her with a narrow-eyed intensity that sent her pulse rocketing.

‘What?’

‘I said, if you don’t answer my questions and let me know how you’re feeling, you won’t be able to blame me for pushing you too hard.’

The breath puffed from her lungs. ‘Did you—did you ask me a question?’

He nodded. ‘I asked if you wanted to take a five-minute break.’

Tell him you don’t need to, she thought—but what was the sense in being stupid? She nodded, and Jake pointed to some flat rocks off to the side of the road.

‘Are you all right?’ he said when he sank down beside her.

She wasn’t. There was a persistent ache in her right foot, but somehow the thought of admitting weakness to Jake was worse than enduring the growing discomfort.

‘Fine,’ she said with a quick smile.

She watched as he slipped the sack from his shoulder and unzipped it. Water, she thought, please, let there be a Thermos of water inside.

Jake held his hand. ‘Have a piece of chocolate.’

She shook her head and opted for honesty. ‘I’d rather have something to drink.’

‘Later. For now, eat the chocolate.’

She had a sudden vision of that moment when he’d packed the sack. ‘Soda,’ she said. He looked up. ‘There are some cans of Coke in there. I saw you put them in.’

He nodded as he unwrapped the chocolate. ‘Yes. Maybe we’ll open one later.’

‘Why? I mean, if we’re thirsty now—’

‘We are not thirsty now,’ he said coldly.

Dorian drew in her breath. ‘OK,’ she said, ‘OK, we’re not. I am. Do you want me to—to prostrate myself for a miserable drink?’

His expression grew very still. ‘That’s the second time you’ve accused me of being a petty dictator,’ he said softly.

Her eyes met his. ‘If the shoe fits…’

‘The fact is, we may have a better use for those cans.’

She laughed tiredly. ‘Be sure and let me know what it is when you figure it out, will you?’

‘There’s a village just ahead,’ he said, ignoring her gibe. ‘I want to be long past it by nightfall.’

‘Nightfall?’

‘Yes. We’ll camp in the foothills.’

‘But—but…’

‘But what?’ He smiled unpleasantly. ‘Surely you didn’t think we’d cross those mountains and reach Kadar today?’

She hadn’t thought, and she didn’t want to, even now. A night, spent in this desolate place? A night alone, just she and Jake? A tremor went through her, of fear and of something more.

‘Tomorrow, then. We’ll be at Kadar tomorrow,’ she said quickly. ‘Right?’

Jake gave her a long, steady look, and then he zipped the sack shut and stood up.

‘Ready to go?’

‘No…’

Dorian sighed. He was already striding down the narrow road. She rose slowly and dusted off the seat of her trousers with her hand. ‘If you don’t answer my questions…you won’t be able to blame me for pushing you too hard,’ he’d said, but he hadn’t meant it. She stared after him, tempted, for the moment, to call him back and tell him she needed a longer rest.

But she had no wish to show any signs of vulnerability to a man as unfeeling as Jake Prince. Instead, she firmed her jaw and fell in behind him.

* * *

She was debating whether it would be better to take off the miserable shoe and go barefoot by the time Jake announced another halt. She smothered a groan as she collapsed to the ground and kicked off the offending shoe.

‘What’s wrong?’

His voice was sharp. With concern, she thought in surprise—but then she looked up and saw the way he was watching her. It wasn’t concern at all. Not for her, anyway. He was just worried that she’d put them off schedule.

‘Nothing,’ she said, defiance glinting in her eyes.

Jake cursed as he dropped the sack to the ground and squatted beside her.

‘Let me see your foot,’ he said angrily, pushing her hand aside.

She caught her breath when he touched his fingers lightly to the tender flesh, and then he sat back on his heels and glared at her.

‘When did this happen?’ he demanded.

‘Don’t worry about it.’

‘I asked you a question, dammit.’

‘You asked me one before, too. “Are you ready to go?” you said, but you didn’t wait around to hear my answer.’

Jake looked at her in silence, then got to his feet. ‘Get up.’

She moaned softly. ‘Not yet. Please, let me just—’ She gasped as he swung her up into his arms. ‘What are you doing? I can walk.’

‘And you will,’ he growled as he strode into the trees that grew beside the road, ‘after we take care of your foot. The village I told you about is just over that rise. I’m going to leave you for a while and go on ahead.’

‘Leave me?’ The thought was terrifying. ‘No. Don’t do that.’

He shifted her weight in his arms. ‘I won’t be gone long.’

‘Jake, please—let me go with you.’

‘It’s out of the question.’

‘Why?’ Her gaze swept across his face, taking in the grim set to his mouth, the harsh thrust of jaw, and those cold, determined eyes. ‘Just give me one good reas—’

‘OK. One, your foot hurts and you might as well rest now as later, and—’

‘But I’ll manage.’

‘And two,’ he said, ducking his head as he made his way through a thicket of flowering wild cherry, ‘we made a deal, you and I. I said I’d take you with me to Kadar—and you promised to do as you were told.’

‘I did not. I said I’d do what seemed sensible,’ she said quickly. ‘And it isn’t sensible to leave me alone here.’

He came to a stop and looked down at her, his eyes steady on her face.

‘Are you afraid?’ he asked softly.

‘No,’ she said quickly. ‘No, of

course not. I just—I just…’

‘Nothing will happen to you here, Dorian.’

‘You can’t guarantee that, Jake. Anyone might—’

‘I’ll check the area thoroughly.’

‘But why must you leave me here?’

He smiled. ‘Do you speak Pragavic?’

She shook her head. ‘No.’

He smiled again. ‘I didn’t think so.’

‘Yes, but—but I could keep still. I wouldn’t have to say anything.’

His smile became a grin. ‘You? Somehow, that’s hard to imagine.’

‘I would, though. They’d never suspect that—’