The Duke's Runaway Princess (Love By Accident) (16 page)

“I’m not going to leave it there. You need to come home immediately. This ridiculous adventure of yours is not worthy of your status in Tasain. You know your responsibilities. We all have been fully aware since we were children.”

Zarah closed her eyes and thought of Derrick. “I am aware of what is expected of me,” she said, then took a deep breath. “And I’m not going to follow through Rashid. I’m not marrying any random man you pick out in the hopes that I’ll have some tepid feelings for him as we grow old together. I’m not having a stranger touch me or bearing his children. I’m done, Rashid.”

There was a long moment of silence while Zarah leaned against a tree nervously. The longer the silence lasted, the more tense she became. “This is not an appropriate attitude for someone of your station, Zarah. Come home and we’ll discuss options, but I’m not going to do this over the phone.”

She was already shaking her head. “No. I’ll be home soon, possibly sooner than the twelve months I’d originally gave you,” she replied, thinking of Derrick and how long his past affairs had lasted. She had maybe three months with him if she was lucky, according to the village gossip. But he would eventually move on to another woman. Zarah was aware of his track record and, even though it hurt her painfully to think of him moving on to another woman, she was still going to enjoy as much time as possible with him while it lasted. That sounded a bit pathetic, but she didn’t care at this point. “But even when I come back to Tasain, I’m not going to marry a stranger. I’ll do something else to help the people and live up to my position in the royal family, but marriage is out of the equation.”

Another long, tense moment while Zarah waited for her brother’s response. Finally, she heard his sigh and he said, “What’s happened, Zarah?” he asked, his tone much more gentle. “Are you okay?”

Zarah could have taken the anger or commands. But this new, gentle tone broke through her control. She was already weepy from thinking about the limited time she had with Derrick so his words caused the tears to flow unchecked. “Oh, Rashid,” she said with a sob, covering her face with her free hand as her shoulders drooped with the overwhelming sadness she was feeling now. “I’ve done something stupid, but I don’t regret it.”

“Have you been with a man?”

“Yes. I love him, Rashid. He’s wonder…..” Zarah felt the hand on her upper arms and looked around, shocked and suddenly terrified. “What….?”

The men were tall and bulky with dark suits and stern expressions. Within moments, the three men had her hands and feet tied and a soft piece of material placed over her mouth. It wouldn’t have mattered if they’d left the gag off because Zarah had stupidly chosen a parking lot with almost no one near because of the early morning hour to make the phone call this week. No one was around to witness her kidnapping and her cell phone, which might have been used to beg Rashid for help, was dropped from her terrified hands.

She tried desperately to get out of their hold, thinking back to the limited defense moves she’d been taught as she’d grown up. But the men were too strong and there were too many of them. They didn’t hurt her, and seemed to be working hard to make sure she didn’t hurt herself, but within moments, they had her in the back seat of a black Mercedes with dark, tinted windows.

One of the men retrieved her cell phone and said something into the receiver, nodded and folded it shut before tucking it into his pocket. Two of the men got into the vehicle beside her and two were in front. They all looked painfully serious and Zarah had no idea how to get out of this terrifying situation.

The driver, obviously the leader, turned around to face Zarah and in Arabic said, “We are here from Tasain. His Highness sent us to retrieve you and bring you home so please don’t be afraid. We will be airborne in less than two hours. I apologize for the harsh treatment, Your Highness, but your brother felt it was necessary under the circumstances.”

With that, he turned around in his seat and started the engine, ignoring the muffled pleas from Zarah as she tried to speak to them, to tell them that she wasn’t in need of rescuing. When they simply ignored her, and why wouldn’t they since she couldn’t make any intelligent sound with this horrible gag in her mouth, she stopped struggling, her head bowing once again as the tears flowed down her cheeks. The thought of Derrick wondering where she was occurred to her. She’d had such wonderful plans for the day, all surrounding being with him and laughing. Now he would think she’d just left him.

Would he worry? Would he even care?

Of course he would, she told herself sternly. Derrick might be a playboy but he had always treated her with respect and concern. He might not be as emotionally invested as she was, but he would worry and that made her even more distraught.

How could Rashid have done this to her? She wasn’t a recalcitrant child that he needed to punish! She was a grown woman who deserved to be treated with respect for the decisions she’d made in her life. She’d proven that she was a capable, intelligent woman. She couldn’t wait to get back to Tasain and give Rashid a piece of her mind for doing something so retched!

And Derrick! He’s going to be so worried! She had to find a way to get word back to him. She needed to reassure him that she was okay and he didn’t need to worry.

What a mess, she thought as the black vehicle drove into the airport. The man in front drove right up to a private plane, one with the royal seal of Tasain on it so she knew she’d never be stopped or questioned by the airport authorities.

Her legs were untied but two men escorted her, with a firm grip on each arm, to the stairs of the plane. She thought about shoving the men off of her at the stairway. If they all fell to the ground, she would have to be up first but she could use the hand rail as leverage, kick her feet out at the two men and make a run for it. But these were her brother’s security guards. First of all, she would never treat them like that, even as she shifted her hands in the flexi cuffs they’d put on her wrists. But also, she wanted to prove to her brother that he didn’t need to go through such ridiculous lengths to get her home. She would rise above this indignity and wait until she was standing in front of her brother before she let go of all of this anger she felt for his tactics.

As the guards helped her into the plane, even assisting her to a plush, leather chair and latching her seat belt over her for safety, she bided her time and held her shoulders back with as much dignity as she could muster under the circumstances.

When the doors to the plane were closed, one of the guards moved over and untied her gag, looking almost apologetic as he pulled the cotton away from her mouth.

“Thank you,” she said softly, nodding her head to emphasize the words. “Would you mind if I made one phone call before takeoff?”

The leader turned in his chair and shook his head. “His Highness ordered no communication until we have landed in Tasain.”

She should have expected that, but Zarah only became angrier. Her brother definitely had some explaining to do. This kidnapping was beyond anything she could have imagined. She knew that, if her brother had found out where she was, there was always the risk that he would show up and demand that she return with him. But making her come back to Tasain by force? This scenario had never occurred to her. Not in a million years had she thought that Rashid would be so ridiculous.

She stared out the window as the plane taxied down the runway. When the plane was airborne and headed back to Tasain, Zarah couldn’t stop the tears from flowing or the heaving, desolate sobs that wracked her body as she realized she would never see Derrick again.

Chapter 10

Derrick woke up and rolled over, his hand unconsciously searching for Zarah to pull her closer. He knew that she’d snuggled close to him all night because he remembered making love to her several times throughout the dark hours.

When his hand couldn’t find her, he opened one eye for a closer inspection. But when he still didn’t see her, he sat up in bed, looking around his bedroom and letting the sheet fall to his waist. He stopped moving, assuming she was in the shower already but there was only silence and her soft, sweet perfume still in the air and on his sheets.

As his mind started functioning more efficiently, he realized that it was Saturday. The day she went into London to make her mysterious phone call.

With a curse, he threw off the sheets and stomped into the shower. He was sick of the secrets now. They’d been with each other for the past week, spending every available moment with each other and he was dammed if she was going to hide something like this from him. Didn’t she understand that she should share something like this with him? He loved her and he damn well knew that she loved him.

It took him less than ten minutes to shower and change. Before he left the bedroom, he grabbed the diamond ring in the small case he’d been carrying around for the past two days. He knew it was insane to ask someone to marry after such a short period of time, but he knew what he wanted. He’d been in many relationships and what he felt for this particular mysterious woman was not going away. In fact, the more time he spent with her, the deeper this feeling went.

As soon as he found her, he was going to shove this ring on her finger and demand that she marry him. Fast so that she wouldn’t have to go back and forth to her apartment every day to get new clothes. They were spending every night together so as soon as she agreed to marry him, he was moving her belongings into his bedroom. He wanted this back and forth business between her place and his to stop. He wanted her in his house, in his bedroom and at his table all the time.

At the door to the apartment she shared with her friend, Derrick banged loudly on the wood, uncaring that he was waking up Suzanne. He needed answers, and he had a funny feeling that had been bothering him the whole drive into town. Something just didn’t feel right, he thought to himself.

Suzanne opened the door a moment later, pulling on a blue, fluffy robe and pushing her blond hair out of her eyes. When she spied who was at her door, she woke up much more quickly. “Your Grace!” she gasped and pulled the robe tighter. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting you. I thought Zarah was at the castle.”

Derrick tried to smile, but suspected it came out as more of a grimace than a friendly gesture. “I’m looking for Zarah. Is she here?”

Suzanne’s eyes widened but she pulled herself together quickly. “Um, I don’t think so,” she said and looked around. “It’s Saturday and she usually borrows my keys for a personal trip.”

Derrick was already aware of this trip and was the reason he was feeling uneasy. “Do you know where she went this week to make the phone call?”

Suzanne actually stumbled as she stepped back into the apartment. “How do you know she makes a phone call?” she asked carefully.

Derrick stepped inside, looking around in the hopes that the roommate was wrong and Zarah would just appear out of her bedroom with a bag filled with clothes so she didn’t have to come back and forth. But as he took in the bright, cheerful room, Zarah didn’t come out. In fact, it was eerily quiet except for Suzanne’s breathing at the moment.

Derrick looked around and quickly spotted the note left on the counter. “Do you mind?” he asked, but the words were only to be polite because he didn’t care if Suzanne minded if he read her note or not. That bad feeling was intensifying and his gut was telling him to find Zarah fast. He read through the note but all it said was she was making the trip to call her brother.

“Why would she need to drive into London to communicate with her brother? Does he live there or something?”

He could tell that Suzanne was trying to come up with a lie and he stepped forward, trying to convey the urgency he was feeling over finding Zarah. “Please tell me the truth,” he said with a tone that was as gentle as he could muster at the moment. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I have a feeling that she might be in trouble.”

Suzanne immediately shook her head. “She’s fine. She just goes into London so that her brother can’t track her phone calls.”

“Why would he even try?”

Suzanne bit her lower lip, unsure how to handle this tall, intimidating man that her best friend had fallen in love with. She made a snap decision, knowing how the rest of the people in the village protected and cared for this man. He wouldn’t hurt her friend, she told herself. And if he thought she was in trouble, he might know something she didn’t.

“Zarah isn’t normal like the rest of us. Her brother is Rashid Samara Busain, Sheik of Tasain and she’s Princess Zarah Andromeda Bussain. She’s the youngest sister and she ran away from her brother seven months ago so she could find a job and live a normal life.”

Derrick crushed the note in his hands. “Was I….”

“No!” Suzanne quickly replied, instantly knowing where he was going with those two words. “Absolutely not! You weren’t an experiment. In fact, just the opposite. She tried to stay away from you, knowing that she would have to marry someone her brother chose for her at the end of her year here in Great Britain.” She should feel like she was betraying her friend, but there was something in his eyes that made her think he might be right, that Zarah could be in trouble. As she glanced at the clock on the wall, she realized that it was later than she’d thought. “Zarah should be back by now,” she said softly, warily.

“Where does she go?” he demanded.

Suzanne shrugged her shoulders. “She tries to vary the place each time so that her brother can’t track her cell phone. She even takes the battery out when she’s finished so he can’t find her. She’s very careful so I’m sure she’s fine, just running a little late.”

Zarah’s resistance to their relationship finally made sense to him. He almost smiled at how she’d tried to ignore him and avoid him but she should have realized the inevitability of their relationship. There was no way they could have kept that kind of passion silent. He’d experienced lust before, but what they had between them was something altogether different. It was love, dammit! She should know that by now!