Taken by the Sheikh Read online

  She’d never escape. He’d make sure of that.

  Chapter Three

  She woke abruptly, air whooshing from her lungs and anxiety pressing like a brick on her chest.

  The sleeping drug Shahzad had forced her to inhale back on campus no longer addled her mind. This time she was fully aware of her dire situation.

  She dug her teeth in her bottom lip. She was in deep shit with no feasible way out.

  As the jet’s engines hummed smoothly, taking her farther and farther away from London and everything she knew, panic escalated. A feeling not helped in any way when she climbed out of bed and noted the wispy bits of clothing laid out on the bed.

  She picked up the slippery, diaphanous fabric with a frown. Long pants, a beaded bra, lacy panties and an over-shirt. Although the outerwear would swathe the length of her arms and legs, it wouldn’t hide anything. A silk negligee would conceal more.

  Anger bit deep. Is this what he expected her to wear in public?

  Flinging the garments onto the bed, she marched into the bathroom, where a large mirror and bright lights reflected her bedraggled appearance. Despite the benefit of possibly the most sleep she’d had in a very long time, shadows underscored her green eyes. Her topknot was askew and wisps of untidy hair stuck out as though she’d jammed a finger into an electric socket.

  She pulled out a clip to release her hair. The long, bright spirals fell halfway down her back and swirled around her face, heightening her pallid color. She lifted a hand, brushing some wisps away from her brow. She paused, her hand then dropping back to her side.

  If Shahzad found her ugly this once, then all the better. At least he might leave her the hell alone.

  Movement caught her eye. She froze as Shahzad stepped into view behind her, his reflection so dark and forbidding it was all she could do not to stare as though a rabbit hypnotized by a cobra.

  His gaze lingered on her unrestrained hair. “I’ve wanted to do that from the moment I held you in my arms.”

  She snapped out of her trance-like state, repelling his words that were strangely too intoxicating for her peace of mind. “You mean, since you forcibly kidnapped me?”

  His teeth glinted behind the shadowed stubble of his face. “According to your father’s decree and Omana rule, I’ve committed no crime.”

  She stiffened, beyond trying to be reasonable. “My father doesn’t exist as far as I’m concerned, and neither does this heartless country that doesn’t have a problem with kidnapping!”

  If she’d been any other woman she would have shrank from the sudden fire in his eyes. Except she wasn’t any other woman and she had nowhere to go even if she’d wanted to run.

  He stepped toward her, closing the distance in a heartbeat, his big body looming over hers, yet not quite touching. He bit out his words carefully. “I will say this only once. As my future bride and the soon-to-be sheikha of my country, you will never again blacken the name of Omana.”

  Her eyes narrowed and her voice came out strangled. “I never asked to be queen…or sheikah!”

  His stare burned impossibly brighter. “It’s your birthright. Ruling is in your blood. Omana and its people are yours.” His lashes swept down, as if to conceal his deepest thoughts before he added, “Though others may have assumed you’re like every other woman on campus who waste their lives on countless parties and men nowhere near their worth, I know better. You were seeking a higher calling.”

  So he believed she’d instinctively known there was something bigger out there for her? Even as it sounded crazy she couldn’t help but feel he was right. Perhaps a part of her had known she was meant for greater things? She bit into her bottom lip. How did Shahzad perceive so much about her? She might have been flattered if it wasn’t for the belief her privacy had been ripped wide apart.

  She tried to get a grip of the emotions that threatened to bubble over once again, except he’d be blind not to notice her erratic breaths. She pressed her fisted hands onto the porcelain sink, hating him almost as much as she was aware of every taut line of his physique.

  Her body throbbed with neglected needs too long denied, needs so strong that her fears seemed to melt away. She ground out the last of her scorn. “So you’re saying every woman should be with a man of your high standing?”

  “No. Only one woman is perfectly matched to me. And I’m looking at her.”

  Her breaths came harsher. If her identity hadn’t been mixed up she would have been his one and only lover and wife. The thought alone weakened her resolve even as warmth flooded through her veins and recklessness poured from her lips. “Prove it.”

  She’d barely said the words when his big hands landed on her shoulders and he spun her around. “You really do live in the moment, don’t you?” he said thickly, his whole body rigid and his stare burning into hers.

  Before she could answer his mouth crashed onto hers, hard and ruthless, and so gloriously practiced and adept it was all she could do not to moan against his lips.

  Anxiety, desire, anger and confusion imploded into a white flash of burning heat. It was as if her body, mind and soul had been yearning for this moment, as though somewhere deep inside she’d known to wait for him.

  Lord help her, right then she was hard pressed to even remember Harley.

  All or nothing had been her motto her entire life and Shahzad was most definitely all.

  His hands moved to cup her face and draw her even closer, the rasp of his shadowed jaw and his exotic scent intoxicating her senses. His tongue slipped inside her mouth and swept along her soft inner tissue, and this time she didn’t try to stop the moan rising from deep within.

  Her passion had been in slumber for so long, and now this man, this sheikh, had awakened the hungry beast within.

  He growled something unintelligible before his mouth left hers and he bent to lift her into his arms, as though she was as light as a child. But there was nothing chaste about their coming together, nothing pure about her wanting him.

  She wound her arms around his nape, her fear of being kidnapped fading in the instinctive knowledge this alpha male wouldn’t hurt her. She gloried in his passion and need that matched, maybe even surpassed, her own.

  He strode into the bedroom and laid her onto the bed, his eyes glittering as he dragged off her clothes with deft, well-practiced hands. Only when she was bared to his gaze did he speak, his words hushed and almost reverent. “You’re so much more than I’d ever hoped.”

  And god help her, Shahzad was so much more than any of the men she’d known. She wriggled, desperate for his body, for him. “Don’t stop,” she gasped. “I need you.”

  He smiled. “Just as I need you, Habibi.”

  Deep down she knew he meant it more than just physically—for crying out loud he wanted her to be his country’s queen! But that was information overload in her brain when all she could think about was the burning needs building inside her, needs that weren’t going to go away and that only Shahzad could sate.

  Right then he stoked her inner fire, making her hotter and more feverish than she’d ever been in her life.

  He bent his head and she arched her back with a startled gasp when he took one of her breasts in his mouth, suckling it until her nipple tightened and her breast ached, heavy and full.

  When he released it to capture the tip of her other breast and favor it with attention, she clasped his head and pressed him closer still. His teeth grazed the underside of her tender flesh and she gasped, needing more. So much more.

  He drew back. “Habibi. My little firecracker. We are well matched, are we not?”

  She licked her lips, too worked up to respond, too enthralled to care, too in the moment to stop and think with any semblance of logic.

  His husky laugh sent shivers into her most intimate places even before he moved his head downward. He kissed her torso and flicked his tongue around the indent of her navel until every one of her sensitized nerve endings pulsed with life.

  All breath caught in
her throat when he moved further south, around her mound and along her inner thigh. She parted her legs, her pussy already sticky and hot. Ready for him.

  Shahzad’s nostrils flared as he opened her outer lips to his hungry stare. He growled approval and leaned in. One long, slow swipe of his tongue along her slit took the breath right out of her lungs. His next swipe pressed deeper into her and lifted her hips right off the bed.

  She needed more. Needed his clever tongue on the swollen bud of her clit. Needed him inside her. All of him. Filling her. Taking her. Making her his in every way that counted to take her from girl to woman.

  She craned her neck to watch him. Oh, hell. His dark head between her thighs was almost as erotic as his tongue on her pussy. His head stayed poised at her mound as his tongue and lips continued to work her into a mindless state. But it was only when his smoldering stare connected with hers that her eyelashes fluttered, reflexively concealing her inner turmoil.

  But her eyes didn’t stay shut for long. She wanted to brand the view onto her retinas and in her memory bank, because in effect she was stealing this one pleasure from another woman; the rightful woman, and soon enough Lexi would be sent back home, probably never to experience such profound bliss again.

  But she couldn’t feel bad when every part of her body felt so damn good, couldn’t register even an ounce of guilt knowing that none of this had been her fault. Hell, if this was the only good thing to happen from his taking her, then so be it.

  He flicked his tongue over her tight clit. She gasped and all thought dissolved as he continued to lick and suck the tight bundle of nerves without mercy. Yet the climax still took her by surprise when it hit, dragging her under in a wave of bliss as he lapped and stroked her clit and flesh, until she nearly drowned in pleasure before her shudders finally subsided.

  He lifted his head, his lips moist and his stare a blaze of need. “I knew you’d taste like heaven. I could lick you all night long.”

  “I’m not sure I could bear it,” she conceded breathlessly.

  Surely so much pleasure was illegal?

  His mouth compressed, right along with his stare. “Your boyfriend didn’t enjoy oral sex?”

  Her boyfriend? Had Harley ever really been that? It didn’t seem even remotely possible right then. It was as if this arrogant Arab had stolen away any token interest in other men. Still, she couldn’t resist a wry smile. Shahzad with all his money didn’t know everything about her life.

  Or had he just assumed the worst?

  Her elation took a nose dive. She clapped her legs shut, her voice cooling. “Maybe his cock was his best instrument of pleasure.”

  The damn sheikh didn’t need to know she’d lied, he’d learn soon enough just how little she’d been pleasured by a man…any man.

  Shahzad’s face became impenetrable stone. “Or perhaps he was too busy focusing on his own pleasure?”

  A knock sounded on the door. Shahzad’s eyes narrowed and he swore softly. He didn’t take his eyes off her when he barked, “Yes?”

  “Your Highness. The pilot wishes you to know we will start descent in ten minutes.”

  “Thank you. We will be out shortly.”

  Lexi watched with a scalding stare as Shahzad moved lithely off the bed, fully suited and with a prominent bulge in his tailored pants. He stared down at her naked form, his glittering eyes revealing a passion that had yet to be slaked.

  “We shall continue where we left off…later.” He nodded at the garments on the bed that were no longer laid out neatly, but rumpled and twisted. “Get dressed. This is your new attire for whenever we’re alone.”

  She almost choked. “I am not wearing those—“

  “You will. Don’t defy me in this Habibi or you will come to learn of my wrath.”

  She snapped her mouth shut. He wasn’t kidding. He expected her to obey.

  Bastard.

  The wondrous joy of oral sex quickly faded. “If that is your command, Oh Great One, then how can I refuse?”

  His lips twisted, as though some darker part of him enjoyed her sarcasm. “If it makes you feel any better, you’ll be wearing more demure clothes for your duties as sheikha. This outfit is purely for my own pleasure.”

  “Of course it is,” she ground out, despite the fact some distant part of her gloried in his admiration of her body. At least she wouldn’t be paraded around in public in the sheer clothes.

  He cleared his throat, his tone neutral. “I considered a coat to cover you in the closet, along with a selection of sandals. You have less than ten minutes. Do try and hurry.”

  She watched his broad back and shoulders disappear through the doorway before she sat and looked at the garments with disdain. Her pussy throbbed with the aftereffects of her climax and there was a sticky residue clinging to the tender skin of her inner thighs.

  She pushed to her feet and moved swiftly into the bathroom. Turning on the shower taps she stepped under the hot water, soaping herself quickly and rinsing herself off. Not even a minute later she stepped out and dried herself before walking into the bedroom and pulling on the garments.

  There was something blatantly sensual about the feel of the fabric and the way she imagined it highlighted rather than concealed her body. But she didn’t have time to survey the results in the bathroom mirror. Shahzad would just have to be happy she’d acquiesced to his demand.

  She wouldn’t be giving in so easily the next time.

  Re-pinning her hair in what she hoped was a passable topknot, she then opened the closet door and selected the nearest, lightweight jacket. She thrust her arms in its long sleeves and belted it tight, reassured that it covered her from neck to ankles.

  A dozen or more sandals, all in her size, had been placed on shoe racks. Her grin was wry when she discovered the ugliest and probably most sturdy pair—they’d look all kinds of wrong with her diaphanous outfit once she slipped off her jacket. She grabbed the sandals and stalked out of the bedroom into the jet’s cabin.

  It was pitch black outside the windows, and the overhead down-lights had been muted to a gentle glow. Shahzad gave no appearance to having slept before their…encounter, instead he focused on the screen of his laptop, a stack of paperwork clipped together on the seat beside him.

  She chose the aisle seat next to him that’d been kept free of paraphernalia. Her seat, obviously. Being stiff and stilted was an unfamiliar sensation, but she’d never felt more uptight and uncertain, most especially in regards to him and their complex relationship.

  Dropping the sandals onto the floor, she closed her eyes. She’d allowed him to go down on her—a stranger at best and a kidnapper at worst—and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. He hadn’t even needed to coax.

  His seducing her had been achieved with laughable ease.

  Her face burned at the thought even as her entire body clenched. She looked down at her hands. Not so much because she was ashamed of what had already transpired between them, but because she wanted it to happen again, this time with more than his mouth taking possession of her.

  She’d had a taste of sex—well, Shahzad had been doing all the tasting—and now she wanted the whole explicit works. She mightn’t have ever been with a man before but she trusted in her senses, and she wanted to experience the best lovemaking of her life.

  Shahzad closed his laptop and put it into a holder on the seat in front. “Try not to worry, Habibi. Our culture and our ways might be a shock to you at first, but I have no doubt you will take on the role as sheikha admirably.”

  She blinked. “Then you don’t know me very well at all.”

  Responsibilities were her Achilles heel. A burden to be rid of immediately.

  “I know you’re headstrong, fiery and passionate. Qualities that will only benefit you in the days that come.”

  She twisted to face him fully, glaring. “And if I hate being a sheikha?”

  Good god…was she really starting to believe his story?

  His eyes stroked over her body in
its outfit, before he said huskily, “Then I will ensure that you learn to love it.”

  Chapter Four

  They didn’t exchange another word for the next twenty or so minutes it took the pilot to land the jet and taxi along the runway. Lexi squinted into the darkness outside until she finally viewed a well-lit terminal that appeared to be small but very modern.

  Shahzad broke the silence first. “This is my most isolated airstrip. I had my team put precautions into place to keep the press at bay and give you some breathing room until you’ve had time to acclimatize to your role.”

  The press? Holy shit. She’d gone from an obscure nobody to a prominent sheikha-to-be-somebody in the space of a day. The media would have a field day.

  Thank god Shahzad had ensured she’d go incognito and avoid any publicity until such time he realized his mistake—or she was somehow fully convinced she really was of royal Arab lineage.

  The jet coasted to a stop near the terminal. Out the window robed men scurried to secure portable steps at the ready. A limousine pulled beside the jet not even a minute later, no doubt timed to perfection.

  Shahzad smiled. “Good. Everything is in place.” He unsnapped his belt. “Give me a moment and then we can leave.”

  She nodded. It wasn’t as if she had any say in the matter.

  He moved past her and then disappeared into the bedroom. She unsnapped her own harness, slid on her clunky sandals before she too, stood. She frowned when she saw a small group of people approach from the terminal, most in traditional Arab clothing and all with either cameras or microphones.

  The paparazzi.

  She bit into her lip, her mind spinning. Was it possible, after all, that this whole unexpected scenario was her good fortune? The sheikh’s precautions clearly hadn’t been effective, and this could be her one chance. The escape she’d all but given up on.

  She waivered for a moment, caught between Shahzad and her freedom.

  One of the security men moved past her to retrieve the sheikh’s laptop, before his attention too was diverted by the media circus outside the jet. It was enough to break her out of the spell Shahzad had clearly woven over her.