Taken by the Sheikh Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  TAKEN BY THE SHEIKH

  Hostage to the Sheikh

  Mel Teshco

  Copyright 2014 Mel Teshco

  Cover Art by Kellie Dennis at Book Cover by Design

  www.bookcoverbydesign.co.uk

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy.

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you Cathleen Ross and Christina Phillips for holding my hand through this whole process, I’m certain we helped get the best out of each other to write some damn fine sheikh stories! A big cheers to our editor and friend, Tracey O’Hara for her structural genius, you’re the best! As always, to my husband and beautiful girls for their patience and understanding toward my creative process, I love you guys forever.

  Table of Contents

  TAKEN BY THE SHEIKH

  Hostage to the Sheikh

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  The Sheikh’s Mistaken Bride

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Sold to the Sheikh

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter One

  Lexi Galvin stifled yet another yawn. The monotone voice of the university professor who rambled on and on would soon have her in a coma. She glanced at the wall clock and squirmed. Tonight was the night, and she could barely wait. But although it was the last class of the day, it seemed as though the lecture would never end.

  In every school and university she’d attended—and there’d been many—she’d never been a top-of-the-class student or ever really fitted in. Her short attention span incapacitated her at the best of times and she just wasn’t equipped to care too much beyond the next week.

  She was a live-in-the-moment kind of girl and right then all that filled her mind was the fact that today she was twenty-one and would never see that milestone again. She should be out celebrating, not pretending to care about the psychology of top sports stars.

  Her mother despaired over Lexi’s wild side. But Lexi figured since she’d stayed at a number of universities these last four years to please her, even though it felt as if something slowly withered within at the restriction, then she’d more than compromised.

  The professor had barely ended his lecture when Lexi swiped up her unopened textbooks and bounded to her booted feet, the other students following suit.

  “Lexi, may I have a moment of your time?” the professor asked drily, one sandy-colored brow arching.

  She gritted her teeth in what she hoped passed for a smile, before thrusting aside a wayward strand of her upswept hair. Guess she shouldn’t have expected brunette warmth or blonde coolness when her untamable, fiery red-gold hair matched her temperament perfectly.

  She resisted hopping from foot to foot while other students surged past, chattering about the coming night’s activities. Damn. She wanted nothing more than to share in their excitement. It wasn’t just her birthday, it was the end of the week. Friday night was party night, but that wasn’t the only reason her whole body quivered with anticipation.

  Harley would be meeting her later and she was determined she wouldn’t put off his advances any longer. She was twenty-one and wanted to be a woman in every way. He could have just about any girl he wanted, Lord only knew they threw themselves at him at any opportunity. His blond Adonis good looks along with his family’s money and a future career in law were apparently irresistible.

  Guess she’d taken a little longer to see his appeal.

  But he’d had enough of her flirting and she didn’t really blame him. Tonight her teasing would progress into foreplay and then…

  She shivered. Tonight, she’d discover just what passion she was capable of.

  Even her mother would be surprised to know she was still a virgin.

  Deep down Lexi had harbored the hope her first lover would be someone truly amazing. As much as she enjoyed Harley’s company, she wasn’t convinced the world would shift the moment she was underneath him. But she’d come to the conclusion that what she yearned for wasn’t probable and it was beyond time to let go of her dreams and embrace reality.

  “Is everything all right with you, Lexi?”

  The professor’s now husky voice dragged her out of her daydream. “Everything is fine,” she said, before blinking and adding sweetly, “or will be once I get out of here and let my hair down.”

  He frowned at her, though he was anything but intimidating. He was no more than a decade older than she and yet to master the arrogance he was clearly gunning for, despite the fact he was also the football coach and could bench press weights with the best of his team. “I hate that I’m taking up your valuable social time, but I’ve wanted to catch up with you for some time now.”

  Despite her frustration at being kept back, her inner vixen broke into a purr. “Oh?”

  It was strange how attuned she was with her body since deciding to take the final step and give up her innocence. Her every thought centered on sex, as though her brain was hardwired to some late night porn channel.

  The professor’s blue eyes flared. “I want to get to the bottom of why you’re having so much trouble with this subject.”

  Just this subject?

  She couldn’t resist an inelegant snort. “I’m sure I’m not the only student to raise a red flag.”

  “No, you’re not. But I care about you…your grades,” he said hoarsely, as though the fact pained him. “You’re a shining light, far brighter than you pretend.”

  Oh, she knew she wasn’t stupid. Her mind raced a million miles an hour at its most placid. It’s why sleep had never come easy. It was another reason she loved to party and expend at least a little of her energy.


  She sucked in a shaky breath, her body heating up from the inside out. Soon she’d find out if sharing a bed would be the solution to her insomnia.

  “Why professor, I believe you really do care.” She stepped toward him with a little smile, pushed onto her tiptoes and slanted her mouth across his in a kiss that was nothing short of chaste. It didn’t stop his whole body from stiffening, most especially his cock going by the sudden bulge pressing against her belly.

  She pulled back with a hot, tingling face. Dear god, what had gotten into her? She’d barely even kissed Harley let alone one of her lecturers. Never mind that half the girls in the professor’s psychology class had wet panties when he so much as looked their way, she wouldn’t be the one doing extra curriculum workouts between the sheets.

  “I’m sorry.” She pressed a shaky hand to her mouth, even as she resisted tugging down her cut-off top that bared her midriff. “It might be my birthday but I…I shouldn’t have done that.”

  Heaven help her, she was a fool. She’d instigated something forbidden, something not even close to what she wanted.

  But once again she’d acted on impulse, and once again she had no doubt it’d get her into trouble. The professor’s interest might well develop into something far more invested now she’d made the first move.

  The professor’s eyes didn’t leave her mouth. “Happy birthday, Lexi.”

  “Thanks.” She cleared her throat. “And, um, thanks too for looking out for me. But I really have to go.” She swung away and headed for the nearest set of doors.

  “Lexi, wait.” The professor’s voice cracked with need.

  She walked faster, feeling his eyes on her every step of the way. It was just a little, spontaneous kiss, she told herself, nothing to feel guilty about.

  Yeah, right.

  She scraped a hand over her face. Was she already subconsciously trying to sabotage her night ahead?

  She shivered, but it was no longer guilt or even the professor’s stare that caused the reaction. She rubbed at her arms and glanced around the empty lecture hall. Her imagination must be getting the better of her, though Lord only knew this wasn’t the first time she’d experienced the prickling sensation of being watched.

  This past week in particular she’d had a heightened awareness of something not quite right and she’d been feeling a little more restless and on edge than usual.

  Still, she’d managed to brush the feeling aside. This time though, her senses screamed danger. She sucked in a breath and turned back to the professor, searching for him with quiet desperation. Fuck. He was gone now too, evidently taking the side door allotted to the lecturers.

  That was when she heard the lightest footfall.

  Too late.

  A hand clapped over her mouth as impossibly strong arms held her still. Her textbooks crashed to the ground and her heart raced in a frantic gallop as she fought to breathe through her nose. Though each of her breaths was shallow, the man’s rich, exotic scent permeated the air and filled her entire being.

  Every instinct told her that he wasn’t British. But even as dread filled her from the inside out, she knew better than to fight. The man was foreign and dangerous, and she had a frightening suspicion he was about as unpredictable as a man could get.

  “Scream and I’ll make sure you don’t wake until the desert dust fills your nostrils.”

  What the fuck?

  Another thought formed. Although he spoke fluent English, his accent was pronounced and not quite definable. Definitely not British.

  She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, her mind racing. She had to find a way to escape. But her captor didn’t need to know that. She forced her neck muscles to unlock and relax so that she could nod in reply.

  His deep and husky chuckle sent a wave of heat to her face and into other shameless parts of her anatomy. Her belly constricted and she clenched her teeth. She’d sell her soul before sharing more than a punch to the balls of this madman.

  His hand loosened slightly over her mouth, but not enough for her to do more than suck in a little extra air.

  His voice tickled her ear, sending skitters down her spine and even more heat into her most intimate area. “Habibi. I’m pleased to make your acquaintance at last,” he murmured.

  Her breath hissed between his fingers. Thankfully she’d paid more attention to her language lectures than she did her psychology ones. Habibi was an Arabic word. She searched her memory banks and closed her eyes with despair.

  My beloved.

  So she hadn’t been imagining things when she’d thought someone had recently been stalking her. It meant this man had been watching her for—

  “It’s been a long week,” he said in a deeply accented drawl.

  Her heart plummeted even as nausea swept through her and twisted her belly into knots. It seemed impossible to believe, and yet she’d sensed this man all too often over the past days. Never again would she put her suspicions down to an overactive imagination.

  Holy shit, she’d masturbated alone in her bed while imagining someone watched her. But her sick little fantasy had been just that—a fantasy! Now she was facing real life, and being captured by a foreigner from some barbaric, far away land.

  It didn’t add up. Why her? What did she have that a thousand other women on campus didn’t?

  Evidently expecting her to speak, his hand loosened some more over her mouth. "What do you want from me?” she managed to croak.

  His grip around her waist tightened. “I want you, Habibi.”

  So he’d seen her partying and flirting, and imagined the worst. She kicked her chin up a notch—or at least as far as her head was able to move under his hold. She was free to do whatever she wanted with her life, whenever she wanted. This man wasn’t anything to her and she wouldn’t be explaining herself to him any time soon.

  At her silence, he tugged her back a little, aligning her spine to his chest and her back against his groin.

  She gasped. His cock was ginormous, or at least it seemed to be in comparison to the professor’s arousal. “What? You need to rape a woman to get what you want?” she hissed between his fingers.

  His chuckle that brushed her ear and sent chills to her toes held no warmth. There were distinct undertones of savagery she’d rather not think about. Except all her senses discerned that this was a man who’d seen much violence in his life, a man whose upbringing hadn’t been easy.

  A man who wouldn’t be afraid to act on his threats.

  “There’ll be little need for force. Not when your passion seems so easily ignited.”

  Tears stung at the back of her eyes. The boys she’d teased had all been just that…boys. Unlike the brute holding her.

  “Just let me go and I promise I won’t say a word to anyone.” God, she hated how her voice trembled, revealing her state of mind.

  “You ask the impossible. The dice has already rolled, your future mapped out from the moment you were born.”

  “What?” Her heart thudded harder, her mouth drying. “I don’t understand?”

  “You, Habibi, are my promised bride.”

  There was no way to stop the hysterical gasp of laughter that burst from her throat. “Are you serious? I mean…of course you are, but—you’ve got the wrong woman!”

  “Believe me, you are my chosen one.”

  She tried to twist in his arms, but he held her as though she was little more than a wriggling puppy. She gritted her teeth, and then consciously relaxed her jaw. She had to make this madman understand. “My name is Lexi Galvin. My father abandoned me before I was born and my mother is single and not likely to date anyone any time soon.”

  He didn’t seem one bit shocked by that piece of news; in fact he seemed quite aware of her background. What the hell? It didn’t make any sense? He had her confused with someone else!

  “I’m Shahzad Salah al Din, ruler of Omana. I’m a desert sheikh, just like your father.”

  Shock kept her momentarily speechless. “Liar!” she spat.
Her father was no sheikh, he was a lowlife who’d stopped having any rights the moment he’d deserted his own family.

  “One thing you’ll come to learn about me,” he said softly, “is that I don’t lie.”

  He mightn’t lie, but he was very misled in thinking he had his future bride. She shook her head. “But kidnapping is okay?”

  One of his hands dropped a little, outspread fingers covering her bared midriff and his thumb drawing lazily back and forth across the base of her covered breast. She sucked in a breath, disturbed by the shivering sensations that feathered through her T-shirt and deep into her flesh.

  His voice thrummed with undercurrents of emotion. “My parents are dead. The customary period of mourning is over.”

  For perhaps half a second she spared a pang of sympathy for him.

  Then he added, “It’s beyond time I take control of my kingdom and say my vows. Beyond time I finally claim what’s rightfully mine.”

  She stifled an unladylike curse, opened her mouth and bit down hard on his hand. His breath whistled out as the metallic tang of blood hit her tongue. She released his flesh and let loose with a shrill scream.

  He swore and clapped a hand over her mouth. Except this time he held a cloth. She breathed in a sharp chemical scent. Then all she could manage was a half-hearted moan as her whole body went numb. The room spun, before darkness descended.

  Chapter Two

  Lexi woke slowly to the high-pitched whine of a motor and something damp pressed against her brow.

  She blinked, groggy and disorientated. A man’s head swam into view. Beautiful near black eyes, a hawkish nose, dark eyebrows and even darker hair that was tied back.

  She swallowed past her dust-dry throat, her heart a loud drumming in her ears as fear and an unwelcome desire washed over her.

  His dangerous darkness was in complete contrast to Harley’s blond civility.

  He smiled broadly, white teeth glinting in his smooth, tanned face. “Habibi, you gave me quite the fright.”

  She frowned, her mind clicking over far too slowly. Habibi? She knew she’d learned such a word in class and yet the endearment stirred some vague and deep memory. But everything seemed so foggy and surreal, and impossible to pin down in her head.