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

“I apologize, but would you excuse me for a moment?” she asked the man, but she stepped away from him before he could reply. 

She stepped away, pretending to confer with the kitchen staff but even as she walked through the doors into the kitchen area, she felt numb with fear and horror. 

What was she thinking?  That man had been horrible yesterday!  And if he ever realized where he’d seen her before today, he would go immediately to her brothers, letting them know that she’d not only been out of the palace, but that she’d been in danger!  She’d been in the middle of a gunfight! 

She breathed heavily and closed her eyes.  Okay, think!  He hadn’t recognized her.  Not yet, anyway.  She’d worn a disguise during most of their interactions yesterday so maybe he wouldn’t ever connect the woman from the jail cell to the princess he’d just met. 

She peered back through the doors at the man who was now talking with Ramzi and Turk.  He was startlingly tall, just like her brothers.  And he was incredibly strong, too agile for a man his size and intimidating beyond anything she’d ever experienced before. 

Ciala paced back and forth in the kitchen area, unaware of the waiters and chefs looking at her strangely.  She was too focused on the fact that she’d just run into the one man she’d vowed to avoid for the rest of her life! 

Jurar barely listened to the conversation raging around him.  He was standing back, letting his chief negotiator handle this part of the conversation.  The man was doing an outstanding job and Jurar preferred giving talented people control of situations.  He wasn’t the kind of leader who micromanaged his agenda. 

Besides, his mind was focused on the woman.  Princess Ciala…he knew he’d seen her somewhere but for the life of him, he couldn’t place where he could possibly have met her. 

He went through all of the social events he’d been to over the recent years.  There had been too many to count, but he knew that she must have been at one of them. 

His mind focused on her eyes, on the long lashes, flashing through all of the women he’d come into contact with.  Still nothing.  But he couldn’t get rid of that niggling sensation that he’d seen her somewhere. 

He stopped trying to picture her features and focused only on those eyes.  They were incredible.  Where had he seen those eyes?  Perhaps in an ad campaign?  Had the lovely Ciala done some modeling in the past?  It was certainly possible.  She was lovely enough to outshine most of the women on the covers of the magazines…but then again, she was too curvy and possibly too short to be a model.  No, it wasn’t in any sort of advertising, he thought to himself. 

With the kind of patience he was renowned for, Jurar went through all of his memories.  Flashing back and forth, placing those eyes in various settings.  He went through each of the countries he’d visited recently but when nothing clicked, he went further back.  Maybe it had been when she was younger?  He considered that possibility, played with her incredibly lovely features and tried to make them more youthful.  But no, that wasn’t it.  Something, a niggling notion, was telling him that their meeting had been more recent.  And it wasn’t a normal….

When it came to him, he jerked upright, immediately in battle mode.  The woman!  At the police station!  What had she been doing there?  Princess Ciala…in Drakar…with a digital camera…taking pictures and…

Oh hell!  That woman was a spy!  She was working with the rebels!  His eyes snapped over to Sheik Samara, immediately wondering if he was in on the effort as well.  It wouldn’t be the first time that neighbors spied on each other.  Nor would it be the last.  Even he had several spies working within Kilar but they damn well weren’t aiding rebels, trying to overthrow Sheik Samara! 

“I need to make a phone call,” he said abruptly, interrupting a discussion on farming tariffs. 

Without another word, he stepped out of the room.

Ciala was pacing back and forth in front of the conference room door.  She was working out the words to confess what she’d been doing to her brother.  He’d have to know!  She had to tell him that Sheik al Tinora might recognize her!

Maybe he wouldn’t!  Maybe her disguise had confused him enough to help her escape notice! 

She thought about the man’s reputation and then that look before he’d walked into the lunch buffet.  He was trying to place her!  She just knew it!  And the man wasn’t an idiot!  Far from it, actually.  He would remember.  And he would go to her brother! 

Oh, what a mess! 

She had to tell Ramzi about her project.  Ciala knew that it was better to confess something first, to get her story in ahead of anyone who might misunderstand her project.  Yes, she’d just tell him.  She’d be perfectly honest, up front and explain what she’d been doing and why.  She’d just go to his office tonight, tell him that she had been….

Ciala stopped and leaned her forehead against the ornately decorated wall.  Defeat! 

How in the world did one tell her oldest, most protective brother, that she was sneaking out of the palace on a regular basis, away from her protective detail and…well, she’d been lying to him for years!  He would be furious!

And it wasn’t just Ramzi she was afraid of.  Turk would be livid as well!  He prided himself on keeping his family and Kilar safe and…goodness, she’d never tell them that she’d been captured!  If they ever discovered that she’d been hauled off to a police station and…interrogated by the leader of their neighboring country…! 

She shivered at the possible repercussions of this mess! 

She heard a door slam shut but the sound didn’t penetrate her consciousness because she was so sick with worry over her brother’s reactions.  Well, she shouldn’t single out only Ramzi’s fury.  Both Turk and Rais would be livid as well.  In fact, she wasn’t sure which of her older brothers would be more furious. 

When a strong hand grabbed her upper arm, swinging her around and right into a rock hard chest, she was pretty sure that the gig was up.  Her secret had been revealed.  She gasped and looked up, thinking that her brother had finally discovered her secret. 

But this wasn’t Ramzi!  It wasn’t Turk or Rais either.

In fact, the hands gripping both of her upper arms were none other than the man she’d hoped never to see again. 

Jurar looked down at the woman who had escaped, who had beaten his soldiers and somehow snuck out of his country despite all of his efforts to recapture her.  Those dark, penetrating eyes moved over her features as his mind absorbed the details.  Slowly, his hand came up and pulled the scarf down, revealing the bruising on her neck.  With a muttered curse, he grabbed her hand and lifted it.  Not the right one which she’d offered in greeting earlier, but the left one, realizing that it was bandaged over the palm.  “It’s you,” he grumbled.

Ciala knew that she should say something, but she had no idea what to say, how to explain or apologize.  She didn’t think an apology was in order, but this man was livid and he terrified her.  Flashes of their time together yesterday whipped through her mind and she was startled with the way her body instantly reacted just to the memory of those strong hands touching her body so intimately.  Her fear intensified with those memories but there was no getting away from this man.  His hands were holding her securely and even the smallest resistance caused his grip to tighten. 

“We’re going to talk, princess.  And you’re going to explain exactly how much information you gave to the rebels yesterday.”

Ciala gasped.  Rebels?  What rebels?  What was he talking about?  “Wait…” she’d thought he was going to berate her for….She remembered him saying something about the rebels yesterday in the jail cell but she’d been too terrified to really process everything.  She’d been so careful in the past, never even coming close to being captured.  “What are you saying?”

Jurar looked behind her and noticed another door.  He didn’t want to have this conversation in the hallway.  Especially not in a hallway where she was familiar with all of the escape routes.  Better to get her into an enclosed area where he had a bit more control.  This particular princess had proven that she was very adept at escaping. 

“This way,” he snapped and took her wrist in his iron fist, pulling her behind him into the privacy of the next room.  When he had her behind closed doors, he spun around, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring down at the beautiful woman who, even though he knew her to be a spy, was still making his body harden with an aching need to possess her.  And he resented that!  He resented that this woman, who was undermining his government even while her brothers were trying to forge a relationship, could turn him on. 

Well, he wasn’t falling for her Mata Hari role!

“What information did you give to the rebels?” And then another thought hit him.  “Are your brothers directing the infiltration?” he demanded. 

“What?” she gasped.  “I don’t understand!  What are you talking about?”

Jurar’s teeth clenched with fury.  She definitely had the innocent look perfected, he thought.  Those long, dark lashes kept fluttering over her soft, brown eyes.  And her lips!  Damn, those full, red lips made him want to kiss her instead of…

He would not be distracted!  She was good but he wasn’t falling for her tricks! 

“The rebels!  Yesterday you were caught before you could give them information.  I want to know what you were trying to tell them.  What’s in those pictures on your camera?  Do you have a list of bombing sites already picked out or were you scouting for possible locations that would cause the most damage?”

Ciala listened to his words, her mind frantically trying to grasp his meaning.  “Are you insane?”

He moved even closer to her, smelling the sweet perfume that she wore and wishing he didn’t like it so much.  Damn but she was beautiful.  “You use your feminine wiles to get into places, don’t you?”  His hand came up and pulled her closer, pressing her softness against his hard body.  “Okay, so ‘wile’ me, my lovely little princess!  Why don’t you seduce me and get information about the negotiations?  If you’re very good, maybe I’ll give you some good intel to pass on to your brothers.”

She wiggled against him, furious that he could have so completely misunderstood her work.  “You’re disgusting!” she snapped at him, turning her head away so the lips that were descending towards her landed on her cheek.  But the man was diabolical!  Instead of her cheek, he went for her neck and…oh my!  Her whole body shivered when those lips teased the tender skin on her neck.  Never had she felt anything so…wonderful!

His tone softened, his grip on her waist and arms changed slightly but Ciala instantly knew that he was more dangerous now.  “So what information did you pass along yesterday, princess?” he asked softly, his body shifting slightly so that she was pressed against him more thoroughly. 

Ciala gasped when he moved his mouth against her skin.  She felt her breasts swell and the heat…that embarrassing heat stole through her body once more, pooling down low in her belly.  Lower still and she tried to push against him, to escape.  This was outside of her experience.  She normally had no trouble keeping the males she met at a distance.  Every man she encountered knew that she was off limits and she perpetuated that stay-away aura.  She’d never wanted a man to touch her, never even had an inkling of desire for another male before. 

So why was she shifting?  Why was she reacting to this man’s touch even though she knew he was manipulating her? 

Jurar watched the play of emotions race across her lovely features.  Never before had he seen such perfect skin and he hated the way her long lashes shielded her eyes from his view.  Those eyes were…fascinating! 

Shaking himself, he pulled back from her spell.  She was doing it even as he fought against her allure!  Never had any woman been so successful at distracting him before. 

He figured if she could play the seduction game to get information, so could he.  Besides, she fit against him perfectly.  Her soft breasts against his chest were exactly what his body wanted right at this moment.  Well, almost exactly what he wanted.  He’d prefer it if her breasts were uncovered, that he had the freedom to taste them, to tease them and hear her cry out when she felt his teeth gently nibble.  He wanted to bury himself in her heat, to find out all of this woman’s other secrets, the secrets that…

He pulled away, looking down at her and saw that she was just as affected as he was.  Once again, he shook himself, trying to regain control.  “What did you tell them?” he asked, sliding his hand upwards, cupping that perfect breast in his hand. 

“Tell them…” she whispered back, so shocked and excited by the way his hand was touching her that she couldn’t even think.  A part of her mind knew that something was wrong, but his hand, the way he was holding her and the way he was touching her was so right, so wonderful, she didn’t want that sensation to stop. 

Jurar moved his hips, pressing his rock hard erection against her more perfectly.  His hand moved higher, feeling her breast, cupping the fullness.  His thumb searched out and easily found the peak, torturing the nub through the silk of her blouse.  He could even feel the lace of her bra underneath and his body throbbed to tear the silk away so that he could see that perfect breast with just the lace covering. 

“Tell me what you told them, princess,” he urged, his thumb moving once again and her hard nubbin seemed to become even more prominent.  Damn, he wanted to rip her clothes off of her and make love to her right here.  She was good, he thought as his body hardened to a painful throb.  His lips moved back to her neck, nibbling and finding all of the places that made her squirm. 

When his hand slipped underneath her silk blouse, she shuddered at her first experience with a man’s hand on her skin.  It was better than incredible she thought, wishing he would move those fingers on her skin. 

And then he did!  There were rough calluses on his palms and fingers but that only made his touch better!  She could feel his hand moving against her stomach, against her ribs.  Then it moved around to her back and she tensed in anticipation.  When those fingers deftly unlatched her bra, she was so shocked she jerked out of his arms. 

Ciala didn’t realize that she was breathing hard, or that evidence of her arousal was pressing against the silk of her blouse.  All she knew was that this man had…he’d actually…good grief, she’d let this man…

Her hand reached out and slapped his face. 

For a long moment, they just stared at each other, her palm stinging, her eyes wide and the only sound in the room was her rapid breathing. 

Then the horror of what she’d just done hit her and her hands flew up to her mouth.  “I can’t believe I just did that!”