Slightly winded from the way he tossed her onto the ground, Farah twisted away from him to scream, but the back of her head hit the dirt as his large hand clamped over her mouth. ‘Oh, no, you don’t. There will be no calling the cavalry just yet, sweetheart.’
Farah squirmed beneath the weight of his upper body and knew it was futile to push against him. He was too strong. And it wasn’t just from lean, hard-packed muscle either. One look into his furious face and she could see that he’d leashed his rage so successfully she hadn’t realised how deep it ran. Although she should have, and perhaps she would have, if she hadn’t been stupidly distracted by his masculinity and her own rioting hormones.
Knowing she could never throw him from this angle, she tried desperately to get her hands beneath her tunic to her hidden dagger that had saved her skin a few times in the past. Admittedly those times had been from snakes and scorpions, but hadn’t she already noted that this man was just as dangerous as any predator? Having learnt how to use a dagger and to fight with a sword when she was younger, Farah knew just where to threaten him with it so that he’d let her go. But it was as if he could read her mind because he caught her wandering hand in his and brought it over her head.
Frantic at the ease with which he contained her, she desperately curled her fingers towards his skin in the hope of causing some damage but he pressed the hand against her mouth more firmly and brought her eyes to his.
‘Scratch me, little cat, and I’ll scratch you back,’ he growled close to her ear.
Farah paused at the menace in those words but then she realised that he would have to let her go to scratch her so she didn’t care. She kicked out, catching his shin with the solid point of one boot, and scratched at his wrists at the same time.
‘Damn it to hell!’ He cursed softly and stretched her arms high to breaking point, pinning her legs down with one of his. Farah moaned behind his hand. She was struggling to draw oxygen into her lungs and was thankful when he adjusted his palm a little to ease her growing dizziness.
‘Follow my instructions and I won’t hurt you,’ he promised.
Ha! As if she believed that. His family had been hurting the people of Bakaan for centuries and tyranny ran in his veins as surely as the blood she’d just drawn on his wrist.
The weight of him felt like an anvil slowly crushing her chest and Farah was just wondering how she could lever her legs to help dislodge him when she felt him go still above her.
‘Damn it, keep still.’
His rough tone compelled her to stop fighting him and she was completely unprepared when he flipped her onto her stomach. Before she could pull in another breath, he had her hands wrapped in the same rope that should still have bound his own.
Sand coated her eyelashes and filled her nose and she tried to turn her head before she suffocated. It was then that she felt his hand smoothing over her bottom and fear turned her as cold as stone. Surely he wasn’t going to...going to...?
‘Easy, little spitfire.’ He brought his hand up to the side of her face and she felt the cool blade of her dagger flat against her cheek. ‘Quite a nice little piece. I could have used this a couple of days ago,’ he said mockingly. ‘Do you even know how to use it?’
Trust him to think that she wouldn’t be able to handle a knife. Her eyes flashed with annoyance but she wasn’t going to tell him anything. Not that she could with his hand pressed against her mouth. But she could still make sounds, she realised, and although she couldn’t hear anyone walking outside she knew there was a guard nearby. If he heard something, he’d come running.
Squirming beneath him, she tugged against the rope and screamed behind his hand.
Immediately his thumb and forefinger pinched her nose and her ears popped as she tried to force the sound out of her lungs. She thrashed her head from side to side even though she knew it was futile.
‘This is how it’s going to go,’ he murmured when she finally exhausted herself. ‘I’m going to take my hand away from your mouth and you’re going to stay quiet.’
Farah listened but she knew there was no way she was going to follow his orders.
‘If you don’t, you’ll surely bring the guard in from outside and I’ll be forced to kill him with your dagger.’
Fear kept her immobile. It was one thing to risk her own life but she’d never risk another person’s.
Roughly he pulled her to her feet. ‘Nod if you’re going to comply.’
CHAPTER FOUR