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Authors: Elizabeth Lennox

Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #Contemporary, #General

Fighting With the Infuriating Prince (3 page)

BOOK: Fighting With the Infuriating Prince
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If he was the enemy, how could he so easily make her feel like this?

She opened her mouth to try and tell him why this was such a bad idea but instead of the words coming out, his mouth covered hers. She felt his tongue invade her mouth, and then a moan escaped from deep inside of her. When her arms released his wrists and wrapped around his neck, Jalayla had no idea that she’d actually moved her arms. All she knew was that his hands were now gripping her hips, pulling her closer. He wouldn’t stand for her attempts at keeping her legs closed.  At the same time that she felt his large, strong hands on her hips, his own hips had already moved between her legs. There was an unfamiliar hardness pressing against her heat that she’d never felt before. There was also an inexplicable sense of urgency, an ache that she couldn’t seem to ease no matter how much she shifted against that hardness. In fact the more she shifted, the more intense the ache became.

She heard some strange sounds, but had no idea that she was actually the one making the noises. All she knew was that she needed to assuage this driving need that was centered right down in her core, right where that hardness was pressing against her.

One moment, she had been arguing with this man and the next moment she was in his arms, her fingers fisting in his hair while his hands moved slowly over her body. That ever-increasing ache was driving her crazy. Every cell in her body was shifting, trembling, shivering in an effort to find a way to stop this ache. So when that strong hand moved from her bottom up underneath her nightgown to discover her breast, she was shocked by what she was feeling. Fortunately, she didn’t have enough time to become concerned or stop his hand. His experienced fingers quickly found her nipple. When that thumb and forefinger started exploring the sensitive nub, her entire body exploded into a swirl of pleasure unlike anything she’d ever experienced in her entire life.

The waves of pleasure surrounded her, pulsed around her body, centered at that secret part of her that no man had ever touched before. She couldn’t believe how amazing the sensations felt and didn’t want to open her eyes for fear that the feelings would stop. But eventually, they slowed down and finally the muscles in her body felt like molten lava, her limbs unable to hold herself upright any longer and she faded to the countertop.

When she opened her eyes, she found Tasir staring down at her with a look in his eyes that made her whole body start to tremble again.

“What just happened?” She asked with a voice that she didn’t recognize.

Tasir’s hand slid down her body enjoying the way that she shifted against him. Watching her come apart in his hands was almost worth the pain that he was feeling with the unsatisfied ache of his erection.

“I believe that you have just experienced your first orgasm.”

Jalayla jerked against him, pulling away from his body. She would have fallen off of the counter if he hadn’t caught her and placed her on her feet. Tasir’s hands held her until she regained her balance. But when she could see straight once again, she stepped backwards out of his arms.

With as much dignity as she could muster, she smoothed her hands down the sides of her robe, ensuring that she was adequately covered.  “No, that couldn’t have happened,” she said and quickly retied the silk of her robe back around her. “I have to go.”

She literally ran out of the kitchen and down the hallways back to her room. Slamming the door closed behind her, she leaned against the heavy wood and closed her eyes. Embarrassment and humiliation swept over her as she thought back to what she had just done in his arms.

Her shaking hands covered her face as the tears started to flow. Never in her life had she ever done anything as crazy and promiscuous as what she’d just experienced in the arms of a man that she thought she disliked so intensely.

Jalayla crawled into bed and pulled the covers up over her head. Hugging the pillow against her, she let the tears of humiliation flow, knowing that no one else would see her shame.

Chapter 3

 

Jalayla loosened the reins, allowing the horse underneath her to gallop across the desert. She’d woken up late this morning, missing breakfast with her father.  She knew that she had done something so horribly wrong – something that she could never take back.

Her only objective this morning was to get away, to ride out into the desert so that she could try and put last night’s activities into perspective.

She would have to go home. There was absolutely no way that she could ever face Tasir again. Not after what he had done to her last night. He knew secrets about her, about her body, that she never wanted anyone else to know about. He had so easily changed her from a cool, intelligent, respectable lady into a wanton woman with no scruples, no inhibitions, no moral code.

That was not who she was. That was not even who she wanted to be.

She felt the horse’s energy start to dissipate and slowed him down. Looking out into the desert, she knew that she had done something wrong. That didn’t mean that her whole life had been ruined though. Last night, things hadn’t gone far enough for that to have happened. She definitely didn’t wanted to run into him again, but she sighed as she accepted that no real damage had been done.  Except to her pride.

The man was diabolical. He had done things to her that she’d never thought were possible.

She turned the horse around and started walking back towards the fortress. Not that she was going to go back there. Oh no, there was no way that she could face her father right now – not to mention the man who had created those feelings inside of her.

She walked her horse around the fortress, ignoring the guards who stood sentry at the gates. She waved to them and indicated that she was going around the perimeter and they nodded their understanding.

At a trot, she rode from the desert around to the rear of the fortress where the terrain changed from sand to shrubs and then into short trees and finally, to taller trees. As she climbed higher up into the mountains, the terrain turned into a lush, evergreen environment. The mountains created such a high terrain that the trees were able to get a small amount of moisture from the clouds, so it was only evergreens that grew. Deciduous trees couldn’t grow in this kind of harsh environment because they couldn’t retain enough water. But the strong, drought resistant evergreens created a forest of color that was different from almost anywhere else in this area.

She followed the pathway that would lead her to her favorite place. And when she found it, she released the reins of the horse and let him wander over to a small crop of grass where he could nibble.

The cool stream formed a pool here that was surrounded by the trees, creating a little oasis, although with evergreens instead of palm trees.  She’d come here whenever she could as a kid, swimming and laughing in the water, playing hide and seek in the trees or just lying on the ground, staring up at the clouds.  Those had been halcyon days, when her biggest worry was learning to sit still during diplomatic dinners. 

Taking off her boots, she let her feet dangle into the cool water. Almost no one knew about this area. She and Princess Ciara had discovered it a long time ago.

She reached down and let her fingers trail in the cool water. But it still wasn’t enough. As her face flamed with color and she remembered what she’d done last night with Tasir, she wondered if she could just strip off all of her clothes and swim in the cool water. It seemed like such a great idea, to just purify herself in the water. She knew that it was a silly thought because nothing could cleanse her soul or get rid of the memories of how Tasir had made her feel. But the idea of swimming in the water, of releasing all of the strict rules that had been put upon her as she’d grown up, all of the etiquette that had been drilled into her over the years, gave her a sense of freedom.

She and Ciara had often smuggled bathing suits to this place, swimming in the cool water on the hot afternoons when they’d spent weeks here during the summers.

What would be the harm? No one else knew about this place.

Surely it was safe. Wasn’t it?

Jalayla stood up and looked around. She felt a little silly because, really, who else would be here? The only people that were around the fortress were her father, the Sheik of Lurasa, and Tasir. Well, and all of the servants. But there would be no reason for them to be stepping out of the fortress at this point during the day. Besides, none of them would actually come up into the mountains like this. This was a hidden trail, and a hidden water area.

She was being ridiculous. If she wanted to go swimming, she should just take off her clothes and go swimming. There was really no reason why anyone would see her up here. And even if someone had a pair of high-powered binoculars, no one could see through the trees to this point.

Again, she felt silly and decided to just go for it. It was a scorching hot day and she wanted to swim. She wanted to be free of her guilt over what she had done last night and her shame at how glorious it had felt.

She resolutely stood up and started unbuttoning her shirt. Dropping it to the ground, she slithered out of her riding pants and folded them up on top of her shirt. Looking around one more time, just to be sure, she reached behind herself and unfastened the clasp of her bra. Down it fluttered to the growing pile of clothes and then her underwear as well.

She didn’t stand on the rock too long, knowing that she was completely naked. Even though she had assured herself that no one was around, and no one could look at or see her, she still moved quickly into the water. As the cool liquid surrounded her overheated body, she felt the tension of the past twelve hours seep out of her. It felt so wonderful to just slide into the water, not having a care in the world.  At least for the moment.

She swam back and forth, enjoying the water and splashing about. She remembered so many times sliding down into the water with Ciara, talking about what their futures were going to be like when they grew up. Never in her wildest imagination would she have thought that she would come to a point in her life where she was hiding from a man with whom she had done such intimate things and felt so ashamed.

She was floating on her back, slowly kicking her feet as she stared up into the sky, peering at the clouds through the tops of the trees. Jalayla was completely unaware of the man standing on the rock right next to her clothes, watching her and enjoying the spectacle.

“Are you doing this to torment me again?” Tasir demanded in a deceptively lazy tone of voice.

Jalayla twirled about, sputtering as she flung her body around, trying to find the owner of that deep voice, praying that it wasn’t the one man she’d been avoiding all day even as she tried to hide her nakedness, all at the same time.  Not an easy feat, she realized as she accidentally swallowed a large mouthful of water.

It couldn’t be.

She simply wasn’t that unlucky in life, was she?

She searched the edge of the water, her eyes widening as she took in the man standing right next to her clothes.

“Go away. You’re not supposed to be here.”

Tasir continued to watch her. Well, he continued to watch her breasts underneath the crystal waters of the stream. He had watched those breasts, wondered about the color and size of her nipples last night over and over as they’d argued about so many subjects. It was astonishing to realize that he’d enjoyed talking and arguing with this woman as much as he’d enjoyed watching her melt in his arms.  Her eyes flashed when she was climaxing just as they did when she was heatedly arguing her point.  And she had several valid arguments too.  She wasn’t just a pretty face.  A rare combination that incited his lust. 

His fingers had felt those nipples for only a brief moment before she had pulled away from him. Now, he was feasting on the view of those perfect, pink nipples underneath the water. And there was no way that he was going to look away.

“I didn’t know that you had any ownership of the stream,” he retorted.

She crossed her arms over her chest, forcing his eyes to move upwards and focus only on her eyes. “You’re not welcome here,” she almost yelled at him. “Go away.”

Even from this distance she saw the sardonic eyebrow rise at her command and knew that he was going to ignore her words. That same sensation that she’d experienced last night started tingling low in her belly, moving downwards to that secret place between her legs that she was so mortified of.

“Under the circumstances, you can’t really expect me to follow that order, can you?”

Jalayla gritted her teeth at his continued refusal to back away. “Fine!  You can have the stream.  Just turn around so I can dry off and get dressed.”

He shook his head, telling her in no uncertain terms that he was not moving. “Give me one good reason why I should.”

Under other circumstances, perhaps when his heated gaze wasn’t searching through the water as he tried to see her nakedness, Jalayla knew that her brain would be able to function properly.  But as he stood there, his feet planted firmly apart in an aggressive stance, she shivered with all of those embarrassing, terrifying feelings she knew she should ignore.  So her brain wasn’t functioning at full capacity and the combination of her nakedness, his look, and those annoyingly broad shoulders was bringing whatever brain efficiency she normally had to rock bottom levels. “Because you’re a gentleman.”

Once again, that irritating man simply shook his head.

Her mouth fell open in shock at his response.  “Are you seriously telling me that you’re not a gentleman?”

Those firm lips that had been set in a straight line, slowly quirked upwards into a smile that tightened the muscles in her stomach. “At what point during our short relationship have you ever mistakenly thought of me a gentleman?”

He had a valid point. Jalayla wanted to stomp her feet in frustration, but she was in the water and stomping wasn’t as effective. Besides, it was childish and pointless. She had to focus all of her energy on getting out of this situation.

Unfortunately, she didn’t have a chance to focus on anything except Tasir.  Because, a moment later, her startled eyes caught him starting to unbutton his own shirt. “What are you doing?” she demanded nervously.

He shrugged out of his shirt and she couldn’t stop her eyes as they drifted down to that amazing chest that she’d seen last night. A part of her wished that she had explored that magnificent expanse of muscle and skin but she had been too overwhelmed with all of the other sensations that had been ripping through her and she hadn’t taken advantage of that opportunity.

When his fingers moved to his belt she gasped and actually took a step backwards. “What are you doing?” She had to use her arms to regain her balance because she’d stumbled over a hidden rock in the water. But as soon as she had reestablished herself, she pulled her arms back around her body and re-covered her breasts.

“Did you do that on purpose?” she demanded.

Tasir chuckled, the sound deep and sexy. “I wish that I had been able to anticipate that movement because I would have had a better look. But no worries,” he said as his fingers moved to his riding boots. He pulled them off and set them next to her own riding boots. Jalayla couldn’t stop the comparison of his extremely large boots right next to her smaller ones. And then her eyes moved back to his body and the comparison was even more pronounced.

“You don’t want to do this,” she told him in a quivering voice.

“Oh, yes I do. It’s a hot day and the water looks very refreshing. Very inviting.”

She gasped as he moved his fingers back to his belt buckle, unhooked it, and deftly slid the zipper down. “At least leave your pants on,” she begged.

“You didn’t,” he replied. And in a whoosh his pants were discarded, boxers and all. “What are you doing?” she demanded with a gasp of horror.  Or was it fascination?

“What does it look like I’m doing?” he asked. “Why would you even question something like this? The water is more inviting today than I’ve ever seen it in my entire life.”

“You know about this place?” she asked

“Of course I know about this place. I’ve swum here many times – whenever I came to the fortress.”

There went her assumption that she was the only one, besides Ciara, who knew about it. Apparently, it wasn’t as secret as she’d thought it was.

For each step that he took closer to her, she took a step backwards. She was unaware that her mouth was hanging open in amazement and awareness. But Tasir was painfully aware of those soft, beautiful, brown eyes moving down his body. Her eyes were almost a caress as she looked at each part of his chest. When he noticed her eyes pausing at his erection, he stopped and waited, letting her look her fill.

He didn’t want to scare her, but the more she looked, the more his body ached to take her into his arms and make her his woman. It was an insane thought to have, but he couldn’t get it out of his mind. His eyes moved down her body and noticed that her hands and arms were relaxing. Before, her hands had been covering those beautiful breasts that he so wanted to see. But now they were falling lower. He still wasn’t able to see the perfect, pink nipples but soon – very, very soon.

As she continued to watch, he moved into the water, his eyes never leaving her face.  Slowly, he walked into the water and, when she could no longer see that fascinating part of him, her eyes rose up to his and she almost stumbled backwards again on the rock that was determined to foil her plans to stay out of this man’s arms. 

BOOK: Fighting With the Infuriating Prince
6.31Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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