The Sheik’s Captured Princess (The Samara Royal Family Series Book 4) (12 page)

Ciala laid her head back against his shoulder.  “I’m going to smother you because I’m too tired to move.”

His hands slid up her skin, cupping her breasts and teasing her nipples.  “Hmmm…you don’t seem to be too tired,” he commented. 

Ciala closed her eyes as those same feelings swelled up once again.  It was a lot later when they finally flew to his winter fortress.   And he hadn’t completely lied to her about keeping her naked for two weeks.  They did get dressed and he took her out occasionally to see his favorite places in the desert or to go hiking up one of the mountains.  But most of their time, they stayed alone, in bed, completely naked. 

By the time they flew back to the capital city, Ciala was well and truly in love with her husband.  And well and truly confused about how he felt about her.  Yes, he wanted her.  She knew that.  And for the two weeks they were alone with each other, he was attentive and tender, passionate and dared her to new heights of sensuality. 

But as soon as they stepped off the plane, Jurar was pulled into meetings.  Ciala discovered her new staff, they toured the palace, she was introduced to her new quarters, the kitchen staff, the housekeeping director and the security personnel.  She was relieved to discover that Jurar had convinced Ramzi to let her keep her own team of body guards. Most of them had been with her since she was small.  Jurar’s private apartment was nice, airy, spacious and decorated in soothing colors.  The bedroom she already knew about, and she loved the courtyard.  Just looking at the hot tub in the middle made her body throb with an ache she was getting used to feeling, having been around Jurar for two weeks now. 

At the end of that first day back, she looked around, startled by all of the people she’d met.  Unfortunately, she was instantly lonely.  Jurar was in meetings all day long and she was lonely. 

She felt silly for even thinking such thoughts.  She’d had two full weeks with her husband.  She had no right to feel lonely now. 

But she did. 

Taking a deep breath, she turned to the woman Jurar had hired to be her assistant.  “I guess we need to figure out an agenda,” she said to the woman with a smile.

At that moment, she remembered all of her research.  That’s what she really wanted to do, Ciala thought as she went through various issues she would deal with as Jurar’s wife.  There were numerous appearance requests, sponsorships and a staggering number of letters to respond to.  Ciala couldn’t believe the tedium that she was facing when all she wanted to do was find her camera, go out into the desert and take more pictures.  She didn’t even need to find religious sites at this point. She wanted to capture the world with her lens, to see the world and frame it perfectly.

But instead, she dug down into the details and worked out a plan of action with her assistant.  They worked throughout the day, stopping only for a light lunch. 

By the time she walked into their private suite that night, the suite that still felt like Jurar’s and not her own, she was exhausted.  Not because she’d been horrendously busy during the day, although she and her assistant had accomplished a great deal.  But mostly because she was just brain numb from the lack of anything interesting to do. 

Jurar didn’t come to dinner that night and she sat at the table, eating her solitary meal before finally just pushing her plate away and getting ready for bed.  She was asleep by the time Jurar came to her that night.  He woke her up and made love to her but by the time morning winked everyone awake, he was gone.  In fact, it was almost as if he hadn’t really been there with her! 

For the next four days, it was the same pattern.  By the time the weekend rolled around, she was sick of it!  She hadn’t seen nor spoken to Jurar since they’d returned from their honeymoon except for when he pulled her into his arms at night.  And even then, it wasn’t a real conversation. 

So when Saturday came around and she couldn’t find Jurar, she was done!  No more responding to letters, no more menus to approve.  She was done!  The palace staff had handled all of these issues before she’d arrived, they could take up the mantle again.  She was tossing it off and going back to doing what she loved. 

The trick was finding a way out of the palace.  So for the next two days, she moved around the palace, finding out the security patterns, knowing where the cameras were, when she could sneak by the maintenance or the cleaning staff.  It was all very exciting and she reveled in trying to figure things out. 

The first day she exited the palace, she snuck out and purchased a new camera.  This one was similar to the one she’d had before but even better.  She wasn’t giving up on finding her old research, but she needed to get moving, to do something she loved.  She wasn’t a paper pusher, never had been.  She was a historian, had published several papers in respected journals, under a different name though, and she was going to get right back into it. 

It took another three days before she was able to successfully get everything ready for her next adventure.  Her first day exploring, she only wandered around the markets, taking pictures of the various vendors and people, getting to know the streets and the city.  She was gone for only a few hours but when she returned, she felt hugely better.

Jurar sat through another tedious meeting and wondered what Ciala was doing today.  He knew that she was bogged down in letters and papers that he would have trashed long ago.  He didn’t understand why she was interested in things like that, but if the work made her feel important, he wasn’t going to hinder her from doing it. 

He wished he could get away, just for an hour, and have a conversation with her.  He hadn’t realized how inept some of his staff was.  They had made some major blunders while he was away and now it was time to clean up the mistakes.  It was actually taking much longer to fix the issues than he’d anticipated. 

And then there were the meetings, the contracts to review, the idiots that demanded more of his time.  He’d kicked out several pompous jerks who thought they had the right to his time.  He was quick to disabuse them of that perception. 

The only thing that got him through the day was the nights with his wife.  He still couldn’t believe that such a beautiful, sensuous woman was his wife.  Every time he looked at her, he felt something inside of him loosen up, feel free.  She was his wife, his woman!   

He loved pulling Ciala into his arms.  Every night, he tried hard to just hold her close, to let her sleep.  But she was too beautiful and too soft.  And he couldn’t keep his hands off of her. 

Hell, he wanted dinners with her too.  He wanted to just sit across the table from her and revel in her smile, to talk to her about her day and find out what she was thinking. 

That thought startled him and he jerked slightly, unaware that the people around him had gone silent for a moment. 

Since when had the woman gotten to him so completely?  He looked around, startled to realize how much he wanted to see his wife instead of the men sitting around this table, arguing about the most ridiculous issues.  He didn’t give a damn if the tariffs for carrots rose a half a percentage, but he sure as hell cared if Ciala was bored or happy.  Or if she was homesick. 

He should give her back her pictures and camera.  Why hadn’t he?  Well, he knew the answer to that.  He didn’t want to give her back her camera because he knew she’d sneak out of the palace and go off doing more research.  He should work with her body guards to figure out a way to let her do that.  Surely they could formulate a plan of protection when she wanted to venture out and get first-hand knowledge of her religious research.  He’d task his security director to get that done and then he’d skip out on this evening’s meetings so that he could have dinner with her tonight.  Between the two of them, he was sure they could figure out a way to make sure she was safe but still able to do her research.  He didn’t want her mind to be bored and she was too brilliant at her analysis to not go out into the world and research her issues. 

Six hours later, walking into their suite, he found a smiling Ciala and his body relaxed.  “You look lovely,” he said as he pulled her into his arms.

“Jurar?” she asked, surprised to see him, and slightly out of breath since she’d been running through the streets, hurrying to get back before the changing of the palace guard took place.  It had been a close call just a few minutes ago.  Thankfully, she’d had the foresight to hide her camera in the closet out of sight.  “Aren’t you in meetings tonight?”

She knew his schedule because she’d checked it before she’d ventured out on her own today.  It had been thrilling, the freedom and the excitement of just being out on her own.  But now she worried that Jurar had caught her!

“I was supposed to be in meetings, but I wanted to spend some time with you.”

She was stunned for a long moment, but then his sweet gesture hit her and she smiled up at him.  “And what did you have planned?” she asked, moving closer to him.  All the love she felt for this man was shining in her eyes.  Gone was her resentment at being left alone in a strange place, all of her loneliness.  She was just excited to be with him, to have a chance to talk with him. 

She would love to spend a few minutes telling him what she’d discovered today, but she instinctively knew that he wouldn’t appreciate her stealth at sneaking out from underneath he heavy palace security system. 

Jurar watched her for a long moment, wondering what was going on.  She wasn’t telling him something.  He had no idea what, but he knew she was hiding something. 

As they ate dinner together, she seemed to relax more and more.  By the end of the meal, he supposed he was only imagining her earlier nervousness.  And when he took her into his arms, she came willingly.  Eager, in fact.  And he was once again reminded how thrilling it was to have such an incredible, giving lover. 

The man burst into the room, his eyes frantic as he searched for the one man he needed.  When he saw the sheik at the head of the table, looking as angry as a thundercloud, he ignored his fears and raced over to the man, handing him the note.

Jurar read the words and muttered a curse under his breath even as he stood up so quickly that his chair fell backwards.  “Find her!” he snapped and headed out of the meeting to do exactly the same thing.  “Call her guards!  Find out all they can tell you.”

The man was already nodding even as he rushed down the hallway. 

Jurar was walking fast but his gut-churning fear forced his feet to move faster.  By the time he reached Ciala’s office doorway, he was sprinting. 

When he burst into the room, he came to a sliding halt when he saw Ciala look up from her computer. 

Her surprised smile faded to concern and confusion when she looked at his features.  “Jurar?  Are you okay?” she asked softly even as she pulled her headphones out of one ear.  When she realized that he was truly upset about something, she stood up and came over to him.  She wanted to lay her hand on his chest, but she…

“Woman!  What you do to me!” he growled and lifted her into his arms.  “Tell my aide that she’s still here,” he said to her bodyguards who were looking confused. 

“Jurar?” Ciala asked, not sure what those words meant.  “Who is still here?  Who did you think had gone out?” Ciala thought back to two days ago when she’d snuck out of the palace, only to return moments before he’d come out of meetings to have dinner with her.  That had been too close and she hadn’t had the courage to venture out again. 

He didn’t answer her until they were behind the doors to their bedroom.  There he let her feet fall to the floor.  “You!” he told her a split second before his mouth claimed hers. 

Ciala couldn’t believe the passion behind the kiss.  It was like he was desperate to hold her, to feel her.  And then she was shocked by her mirroring response.  Within moments, they were naked and moving towards the bed but even as his hands moved over her body, she was just as ravenous as he was. 

“You don’t leave this palace!” he growled with a tone she’d never heard before and it would have frightened her if she’d had a moment to think about it. 

He lifted her up again and placed her in the center of the bed, coming down right over her and capturing her nipple with his mouth, sucking hard, biting the sensitive flesh and, when she was screaming out with the passion his nibbles inspired within her, he soothed the mark with his tongue and his lips.  Even as she was recovering from that onslaught, he moved down her stomach, spreading her legs and moving in to devour her. 

Ciala couldn’t believe how needy she was at this moment.  When his mouth closed over her heat, she arched out, screaming his name as his tongue lashed her flesh while his fingers moved inside of her.  He didn’t relent until she was throbbing out with a screaming climax.  But even then, he wasn’t finished with her.  As her body was still throbbing with pleasure, he moved over her and impaled her on his erection. 

Ciala gasped and tried to catch up, but he wasn’t giving her time to breathe.  And just as her body had started to slow down and recover, his movements were making her body pulse once again with yet another climax.  This one, so close to the other, made her throat hoarse as she screamed out, clinging to him as she soared with the intense pleasure. 

When she floated back to reality, her arms shaking from the effort of holding onto him, she could barely catch her breath.  Never before had he been this adamant in his lovemaking and she shook her head, silently pleading with him for a moment to recover but he wasn’t giving it to her.  In and out, he moved into her body, shifting and sliding and pressing against the swollen nub of her body.  Before she knew what was happening, she was climbing that cliff once more.  This time, all she could do was cling to him as he pounded into her and the waves of intense pleasure washed over her, throbbing to a crescendo so glorious, she could barely even speak. 

In the back of her mind, she knew that Jurar had found his own climax as well but she couldn’t even lift her arms to hold him.  She was too weak and too drained from that kind of passion. 

She was barely conscious but she felt him shift away from her, leaving her cold for a long moment.  She rolled to her side, almost as if she needed to hide from him but was too weak to do anything more than just lift her arm to cover her face.  But then he was back and she felt his warmth behind her, pulling her against his body. 

Ciala could sense something was wrong, but she was too weak to ask him what had happened.  She wanted to comfort him, but her limbs were like cooked spaghetti.  All she could do was curl her body into his and smile as his strong arms wrapped her tightly in his embrace as she fell asleep. 

She had no idea how long she was out, but she woke up to him kissing her back, her arms, her shoulders.  “Are you awake yet?” he asked gently.  But then his fingers tweaked her nipples and she groaned.  The whole whirlwind started over again and she wanted to tell him no, but he’d already started touching her so the no quickly turned to a yes. 

When the latest tornado was all over, she rolled to her stomach and looked over at him.  “What’s going on?” she asked carefully, sliding her hand up to his rough cheek. 

He shook his head even as he turned his head, pressing his skin against her touch.  “I love it when you touch me,” he told her and kissed the center of her palm. 

His words were a surprise because it had never occurred to her to touch him.  Possibly because he overwhelmed her whenever he came close to her and possibly because he was too busy touching her for her to do anything for him.  Either way, she tucked that piece of information into the back of her head.

Why that was important, she didn’t want to examine.  All she knew was that she savored any tidbit about himself that he was willing to share with her. 

“Are you going to tell me what spurred this afternoon’s activities?” she asked.

Jurar thought about how crazed he’d been when he’d thought she was kidnapped.  Shaking his head, he slipped out of the bed.  “I have some things to work on,” he told her and walked into the bathroom to shower. 

As the water sluiced over his body, he felt guilty for the way he’d taken her this afternoon.  Damn, this love business was going to be the death of him, he thought.  She hadn’t deserved the desperate way he’d made love to her and he’d have to make it up to her somehow.  He still couldn’t believe how terrified he’d been at the thought that Ciala had been in danger.  He couldn’t even remember the subject of the meeting he’d left, his whole focus all afternoon had been Ciala. 

He had to get a grip, he told himself. 

Ciala watched him with hungry eyes, slightly ashamed that she could still want him with such an intensity even after all the hours they’d been in this bed.  But there it was.  She wanted him.  She wanted her husband even though he was such a closed off mystery to her. 

Stepping into the bathroom, she tied her silk robe around her waist and stood outside the shower, debating her next move.  She had to gain some independence.  Somehow, she had to break free from this hold he had over her.  He wouldn’t share things with her and she wanted to know him, but every time he revealed a small part of himself, she felt shut down in other areas. 

Making a snap decision, she knew what she had to do.  She loved this man to distraction but he probably wouldn’t ever return those feelings.  It was time, she told herself.  It was time to re-discover herself.  She needed to get back to her own work.