The Sheik and the Runaway Princess (9 page)

“I know what you mean,” he said.

Sabrina shuffled her papers. “Are you sure about this?” she asked.
“About me?
Isn’t there someone better qualified to handle these arrangements?”

“You do not want the job?”

“No. I’m happy to help. I just don’t want to make any mistakes.”

He touched her arm. She felt the contact all the way to her thighs. It was as if fire flickered inside of her.

“You are the one I want,” he said.

She knew how he meant the words. She was the one he wanted to prepare for King Givon’s visit. But for one heartbeat, she took his statement a different way.
A more personal way.
Her chest tightened, as did her throat. In that split second, she wondered what it would be like to hear those words from Kardal and having the meaning be romantic. What would it be like to be wanted by this man?

But she would never know. She was betrothed to another. It was her duty to guard her innocence to present to her husband on their wedding night. Oddly enough, she’d never been tempted before. She’d never thought about being with a man. Why did Kardal change all that?

A knock on her bedroom door made them both look up.

“Come,” Kardal called.

Rafe stepped into the room. He nodded at Sabrina,
then
turned his attention to his employer. “It’s nearly time for the conference call.”

Kardal nodded. “Ordering a dozen jets is not as simple as one might imagine,” he told Sabrina as he rose. “Thank you for your assistance.”

Then, in an act that surprised her more than anything since her capture, he bent down and lightly brushed her mouth with his. He was gone before she could do more than open her eyes and wonder if the kiss had even occurred.

Why had he done that?
she
wondered when she could finally drag herself out of her chair. Did it mean anything? She knew it was possible he’d reacted without thinking, but for some reason, she wanted the brief kiss to be significant. She wanted it to matter.

Feeling both silly and unexplainably happy, she put away the text she’d been reading when Kardal had arrived. She would spend the afternoon planning the king’s visit. She would need to tour the guest rooms and pick one for King Givon. She would also have to find out how many were in his party.
Which would probably mean speaking with Princess Cala.

Sabrina wondered why Kardal’s mother had invited Givon to the City of
Thieves
after all this time. What did she think about the man who had seduced her when she’d been barely eighteen? Tradition might demand that he do his duty, but Cala had been five years younger than Sabrina was today. She didn’t think she would be very happy about sleeping with a stranger.

And what about King Givon?
He’d been married at the time, with two sons of his own. She frowned as she tried to remember the age of his youngest. Was it possible his wife had been pregnant while he’d been staying in the City of
Thieves
? Why would he have agreed to such a thing?

Still mulling over the question, Sabrina picked up Kardal’s cloak from the bed and walked over to her closet. She would keep it here until she next saw him and could return it.

As she walked, something banged against her leg.
Something small and square.
Curious, she put her hand in the pocket and drew out a cellular telephone. What on earth? She stared at the flip phone, running her fingers along the cover. What was he doing with one of these out here in the middle of the desert? It couldn’t possibly work…could it?

She hung the cloak,
then
turned her attention to the cell phone. Her fingers trembled as she opened it and pressed the on button. The phone screen lit and beeped softly. The screen flashed several messages, including the name of the service provider and the cell phone’s telephone number. She blinked. There was a small D in the upper left corner indicating there was digital phone service, and the lit bars showed she had full reception. How was that possible?

Then she remembered what Kardal had said about the oil fields and using technology to protect them. Her bedroom in the palace might still be from the fourteenth century, but obviously there was modern life elsewhere in the castle.

Without thinking, she pushed the numbers for her father’s office. Seconds later, his assistant answered the phone.

“This is Princess Sabra,” she said hesitantly. “May I speak with my father?”

“Yes,
Your
Highness. One moment please.”

There was a click, followed by silence. Sabrina bit her lower lip. Was she doing the right thing by calling? What was she going to say? Was she ready to return to Bahania? Would Kardal be in trouble for kidnapping her?

She grimaced. There was a silly question. Of course he would be. Her father might not think the sun rose and set because of her but he was hardly going to condone someone abducting her.

But was that what she wanted? What about the joint air force? Would this ruin everything? And if her father did indeed come to her rescue was she prepared—

“Sabrina?”

She jumped at the sound of the familiar voice. “Yes, Father. It’s me. I’m—”

“I know where you are,” the king said, cutting her off. “I’ve known since you arrived. I’m not surprised Kardal wants to get rid of you so quickly. I had hoped it would be different.” He sighed heavily. “You’re not much use to anyone, are you? Well, I’m not taking you back. Stay in the City of
Thieves
until you’ve learned your lesson.”

The phone clicked in her ear as her father hung up.

Sabrina walked to the bed and sat on the mattress. She didn’t remember releasing the phone, but suddenly it was on the nightstand and her hands were curling into tight balls that she pressed into her stomach. Pain filled her. Ugly, dark, humiliating pain that made the rising sobs stick in her throat.

Her own father didn’t care about her. Kardal was playing his own game with the kidnapping, but what if he was being cruel to her? What if he’d attacked her? Obviously her father didn’t care. He never had.

She’d known, she thought rolling onto the bed and drawing her knees up to her chest. She pressed her face into the pillow and didn’t bother fighting the hot tears that spilled onto her cheeks. She’d known that she didn’t matter. Or at least she’d believed, but had hoped she’d been wrong. But now she couldn’t deny the truth. Not anymore.

Her body shook with the intensity of her sobs. Her mother had made it clear that Sabrina was no longer welcome. Sabrina no longer looked like a young girl, which made it more difficult for her mother to lie about her own age. Now her father didn’t want her around, either.

Emptiness filled her, making her feel sick. She closed her eyes and wondered what she was supposed to do now.

Unexpectedly, something warm brushed against her cheek and the mattress dipped. She opened her eyes in time to see Kardal sit on the edge of her bed.

“What’s all this?” he asked, his voice low and gentle.

She tried to answer but instead cried harder. He didn’t rebuke her or complain. Instead he drew her into his arms and held her tight.

“Everything will be fine,” he promised.

Sabrina couldn’t believe how desperately she wanted his words to be true.

Kardal pulled Sabrina into his arms. She resisted at first,
then
allowed him to raise her into a sitting position. Her body shook with the force of her sobs and he freed one hand so that he could stroke her hair.

“I am here,” he told her quietly.

She didn’t respond right away and he was content to wait for her to calm before speaking. Her tears should have bothered him. His mother had never cried in front of him, so his only experience with females and tears had come from the women in his life. It had seemed to him that tears were often a way to manipulate him into giving them what they wanted. But he didn’t think that of Sabrina. She’d had no way of knowing he would enter her quarters at that particular moment.

He also felt strangely protective of her, wanting to keep her close until he knew what was wrong,
then
leave only to take care of the problem. He frowned. Why would he care about what made her cry? She was a woman and the complaints of her life should be of little consequence to him. And yet he did not feel impatient, nor did he want to tell her that she needed to deal with whatever it was on her own.

Gradually her tears lessened. Eventually she raised her head and wiped her face. He pulled a handkerchief from his trouser pocket and handed it to her. She gave him a wavering smile of thanks, then unfolded the neatly pressed square of cotton and touched it to her eyes.

“I f-found your phone,” she said, her voice shaking slightly.

When she turned and pointed, he noticed the small cellular telephone on the nightstand by her bed. He swore silently. “I left it in my cloak.”

She nodded. “I wasn’t looking through your pockets. I went to hang it up in the closet so that it wouldn’t wrinkle. As I carried it across the room, something bumped against my leg. I was curious. Then I found the phone.” She sniffed. “I didn’t think it would work, but it did. I called my father.”

Kardal tensed. What had Hassan said? Had he mentioned the betrothal? Did Sabrina now wish to leave?

Fresh tears spilled from her eyes. She tried to shift away, but he kept his arms around her, hugging her to him.

“Tell me,” he instructed. “What happened?”

“I c-called my father,” she whispered hoarsely. “You had said you were waiting for ransom and I thought if I spoke to him…” Her voice trailed off. “I thought he would be worried about me. I was wrong.”

Kardal felt uncomfortable. “I did not mean to
cause
you distress.”

“You didn’t. I don’t want to know what my father said when you called him.” She raised her chin and looked at him. “I don’t think he’s going to pay any ransom. He told me that he wasn’t surprised you wanted to get rid of me so quickly and that he wasn’t going to take me back. He said I had to stay here and learn my lesson.”

She ducked her head as more tears filled her eyes. Kardal swore under his breath and hugged her tight.

He understood that the king was disappointed with his daughter, but Hassan had no right to treat Sabrina so heartlessly. Not only was she the child of his loins, but she was not all the newspapers made her out to be. Kardal had been just as guilty of judging her based on the words of others. As he got to know her better, he found that most of his assumptions were incorrect. Surely
her own
father knew that as well. But he wasn’t convinced Hassan had ever bothered to spend enough time with her to find out for himself.

“What is he waiting for me to learn?” she asked. “What lesson? Does he want me to become a good slave?” She shook her head. “I’m his daughter. Why doesn’t that matter to him?”

“Both our fathers are idiots,” he announced. “What is it they say in the west? They need attitude adjustments.”

She gave him a tiny smile,
then
swiped at her tears. “I always knew I wasn’t very important to him. My brothers were what mattered, and his cats, of course. I thought I’d made peace with that, but it still hurts to find out he doesn’t care about me at all.”

Kardal smoothed her hair away from her face. The thick red curls wrapped themselves around his fingers. He drew his thumbs under her eyes, brushing away her tears.

“King Hassan doesn’t know what he’s missing by not getting to know you better,” he told her. “In just a week I have learned that you are nothing like the young woman in the tabloid stories. You are intelligent and stubborn. Despite the lack of amusements, you seem very content here in the city. You have a vast understanding of our history, you even read ancient Bahanian.”

“Not very well.”

He smiled. “I don’t read it at all.”

Some of the pain left her eyes. “Thank you,” she told him. “Your words mean a lot to me. I just wish my father shared your opinion. Maybe then he wouldn’t have betrothed me to a man I’ve never met.”

Kardal stiffened. “Did you discuss that when you spoke with him on the phone?”

“No. There wasn’t time.” She eased away and shrugged. “Besides, what is there to say? I doubt we’ll ever like each other, let alone fall in love. How could I possibly be happy marrying a stranger?” She blinked back tears. “For all I know he’s a disgusting old man and has three wives.”

“The troll prince.”

She nodded.”

“Your father would not permit such a union,” he told her.

“If it offered political gain, I believe he would subject me to anything.”

Sabrina sat in the center of the bed, her spine straight, her chin held high. Despite her swollen eyes and damp cheeks, she looked regal.
Every inch the princess.
Kardal wanted to tell her that her fate wasn’t to be as horrible as she imagined. That he had no other wives, nor was he that old.
Barely thirty-one.
But he was not yet ready to reveal the fact that he was her betrothed. Not before he was sure.

“All I wanted was to find someone who cared about me.
Someone who wanted me.”
She twisted the handkerchief in her hands. “No one ever has,” she said softly.
“Neither of my parents, my brothers.
No one.”

He thought of telling her that he wanted her very much, but he did not speak the words. The desire he felt was not what she meant. Sabrina wanted a longing of the heart. Why did women care so much about love? Didn’t they realize that respect and shared goals mattered so much more?

“Besides,” she said, “it’s the twenty-first century. Arranged marriages are barbaric.”

“You are of royal blood,” he reminded her. “Arranged marriages are a fact of life. You have a duty to your country.”

“What about you? Will you go easily to the slaughter?”

“Of course.
Tradition states that my marriage be advantageous to my people.”

Her eyes widened. “You can’t be serious. You’ll agree to an arranged marriage?”

“Within certain parameters.
I will meet my prospective wife first and see if I think we can have a productive marriage with many sons.”

“What? You want to make sure she’ll only have sons? You do understand the biology of pregnancy, don’t you? It’s not the woman who decides gender.”

Her combination of outrage and earnestness made him smile. “Yes, Sabrina. I know where babies come from and how their sex is determined. By productive I didn’t just mean having children. I need a woman who can rule at my side, understand my people and be a part of the rhythm of the city.”

She glanced down at the handkerchief in her hands. “I might be willing to go through with an arranged marriage if I got to pick all that, too,” she muttered. “You get Princess Charming and I get the troll prince. It’s hardly fair.”

“Perhaps he’s not so very horrible,” he teased, thinking that the more he learned about Sabrina, the more he found her appealing. He could tell her the truth and ease her fears, but he found himself reluctant to change their current relationship.

“Do you think I should do my duty and just agree to the betrothal?” she asked.

Kardal hesitated. “Duty is always important.”

“Whatever the circumstances?”

“I have already said that I will agree to an arranged marriage.”

She returned her attention to him. “That’s not what I meant. King Givon was only doing his duty when he came to the City of
Thieves
. He was only doing his duty by fathering you.”

Kardal started to protest,
then
stopped. “You have a valid point,” he said grudgingly. “I will consider it. However, it will be some time before I can reconcile duty with the fact that my father turned his back on his bastard son.”

Unexpected tears returned to Sabrina’s eyes. She leaned toward him and touched him arm. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to bring up something so unpleasant. Believe
me,
I know what it’s like to be rejected by a parent. For what it’s worth, I think King Givon is an idiot for not wanting to know you and being proud that you’re his son. You’re a really good prince, Kardal.”

Her words touched him more than he could have imagined. Kardal wouldn’t have thought the opinion of a spoiled, wayward princess would have mattered, but now that he knew the truth about Sabrina, he found he respected her view of the world.

“Thank you,” he said, reaching out to touch her face. “I know that you do understand. I’m sorry your parents have treated you this way. You deserve more.”

“Really?”

Sabrina couldn’t keep the surprise out of her voice. No one had ever seen her side before. When she’d dared to confront her father about him ignoring her, he always told her about his responsibilities as king. He made it sound as if he barely had time to sleep an hour a night and that she was a selfish child for demanding his attention. Her mother never stayed in one place long enough to listen at all. But Kardal understood.

In a way she supposed it made perfect sense. Who else had lived with a foot in each world?

He swept his thumbs across her cheeks again. “No more crying,” he told her. “Your eyes are much too pretty to be filled with tears.”

He thought her eyes were pretty?

Before she could ask, or even revel in the compliment, Kardal moved closer. She suddenly realized they were alone in her room, on her bed. But instead of getting scared, she found herself filled with anticipation. Was he going to kiss her again? Heat flared inside of her at the thought.

He wrapped his arms around her and eased her back onto the mattress.

“Sabrina.”

He breathed her name before he touched his lips to hers. The shivers began as he lowered himself next to her. There was a tiny flicker of fear, but she ignored it. Need and curiosity were much greater.

His mouth brushed against hers, moving back and forth. The movement was familiar—he’d done it before—and allowed her to relax slightly. The pillow was soft beneath her head. Her hair fanned out across the white cloth. Kardal twisted his fingers in her curls, tugging slightly, making her feel as if she wouldn’t be allowed to escape. The thought should have terrified her. Instead it made her reach up and rest her hands on his shoulders.

The pressure of his mouth increased. She tilted her head to the left,
then
parted her lips, allowing him entrance. But instead of dipping inside and touching her intimately, he nibbled on her bottom lip.

Fire shot through her. Intense flames licked at her breasts, making them swell,
then
moved lower, between her tightly clenched thighs. One of her hands moved to his head where she ran her fingers through his silky, dark hair. Her other hand moved to his back where she felt the thick strength of his muscles.

He gently bit down on the fullest part of her lower lip,
then
rubbed her with the tip of his tongue, as if easing some imagined pain. His teasing made her want more. She wanted the deep kisses from their previous encounter. She wanted to feel herself melting again.

Restless energy filled her as he continued to nibble and kiss. Finally she couldn’t stand it anymore and she grabbed his hair to hold him still. She was the one who thrust her tongue into his mouth. She stroked him, circled and danced.

She felt his chest rumble as he groaned. One of his legs slipped over hers, pinning her to the bed. His hand came to rest on her shoulder.

“You seek to tame me?” he asked, drawing back slightly.

Sabrina was embarrassed by her boldness. She wouldn’t meet his gaze. “No.
Of course not.
I just…”

He touched her chin, forcing her to look at him. “Don’t be ashamed. I am excited by your desire. Your passion fuels my own until we are in danger of going up in flames.” He smiled slightly. “Perhaps it is because I’ve never kissed a princess before.”

“I haven’t kissed a prince.”

“Then let me show you how wonderful that can be.”

She thought about pointing out that she knew from their last kiss, but already his mouth was claiming hers and she found she didn’t want to interrupt the experience with something as boring as words.

This time he swept his tongue inside her mouth, discovering her, making her strain against him. The heat grew until her bones nearly melted. But as parts of her relaxed to the point of being unable to move, tension filled other places. Her breasts swelled and ached. Her bra seemed uncomfortable. Between her legs there was an odd pressure that made her want to shift on the mattress.