The Duke's Runaway Princess (Love By Accident) (9 page)

Everyone saw it. And the current favorite topic of conversation was why Zarah didn’t embrace the attention of the Duke. He was different with her. And all of them hoped that Zarah would be different, that she would heal their Duke’s damaged heart. Mary suspected that the Duke thought his heart was broken beyond repair, that he was a man without a soul after all the horrible things his father put him through and did to him. But Mary could see the kindness and generosity that was obvious when he spoke with anyone. The Duke wasn’t broken. Damaged a bit but nothing a tender touch like Zarah’s couldn’t finally heal.

“Those classes you’re teaching are fabulous,” Mary said, pretending to change the subject. “Betty thinks you should give more of them once the festival is finished. She even suggested that maybe we could have a Christmas Festival as well, along the same lines as this Summer Festival but with a Christmas theme,” she explained, the last part a bit obvious, but Mary wanted to try and entice Zarah to start talking. And more importantly, to think about staying beyond the year she keeps mentioning. Mary wanted Zarah to think of Willingham as her home, not as some stop over. And she wanted the Duke to marry her and have a fairy tale wedding with everyone in the village attending and smiling over what they’d accomplished with these two.

Zarah’s hand stilled on a blue dress with a gold chain circling the hangar. “I think a Christmas Festival would be a great idea.”

Mary sighed with happiness. “Great! I’ll let her know that you’ll bring all the lessons learned to the table for that event so we can do it up better than this one!”

Zarah heard the words and knew that something wasn’t right about what Mary was saying, but it took several minutes before she could grasp their meaning. Mary was almost to the door of the store room when Zarah called back to her. “I can’t organize that one, Mary.”

Mary turned with a surprised look. “But you’re doing such a wonderful job organizing this one,” she stated with encouragement.

“I appreciate that. As well as the vote of confidence that I can recreate the effort over the winter season. But I won’t be here this winter. I told my brother I would be home in a year. I only have five more months with all of you.” Zarah was more depressed at that realization than she’d ever thought she could be. She didn’t want to leave this village. She suddenly realized that she genuinely loved these people. She’d come in as a stranger to everyone but now they all felt as if they were her aunts and uncles, cousins and long, lost friends.

She turned away, her eyes suddenly filling with tears and she wiped them away angrily. She should be excited to return home and see her nieces and nephews, not to mention Rashid and Sidra. She missed her sister so much it almost hurt and even Isla’s husband, Hussan, had turned out to be a great guy. But this village with all its warm, gentle inhabitants, felt more like home than anything she’d ever thought of. Even the palace where she’d grown up and spent most of her life didn’t feel this warm and welcoming.

“Well then,” Mary said with an upbeat tone. “We have five months to change your mind then, don’t we?” she said and disappeared into the back before Zarah could argue with her.

There wasn’t anything Zarah could say anyway. She had five months before she had to return to Rashid and face her future. She had five months of freedom.

And she wasn’t going to waste them being sad, she told herself sternly. She had five month and she could do so much in that time!

Chapter 6

Zarah wiped the sheen of sweat from her forehead and trudged on, stepping over the long grass and avoiding any of the daisies that popped up throughout the field. She needed to view this field Derrick had suggested for the site. He’d offered the field on the other side of the village for additional parking and Zarah had to agree that it was ideal for the task. The trees were wide enough apart to allow for rows of parking and it was far enough away from the village so it wouldn’t cause traffic problems. Derrick had even offered to pay for a shuttle bus service so that people could park here and ride comfortably to the village, making access easier.

Unfortunately, it was a painfully hot day and she’d worn long pants thinking to keep the bugs off. There was little shade but she still needed to measure three more areas to make sure that they would fit in with the parking regulations she’d found online.

She was walking through the last of the trees when she came to an abrupt stop. Right in front of her was the most perfect pond, almost a small lake, with willow trees hanging their long branches down to the water and day lilies as well as pussy willows basking in the hot, afternoon sunshine along the banks. On one side, there was a field of daisies smiling into the sunshine and on the other, a dock that was ideal for swimming.

Quickly, she slipped her shoes off and traipsed out to the end of the dock. She rolled her khaki slacks up and sat down, letting her feet dangle into the water. It felt heavenly! The cool water was the perfect temperature to refresh the body down but not so frigid that it would create a problem.

Wouldn’t it be nice to just jump in? To feel the water surround her and pull all the miserable heat out of her body? She loved swimming and had done it almost every day growing up. She loved being out in the sunshine with the water swishing around her body, making her feel decadent and free from restrictions.

Zarah bit her lower lip, looking around at the surrounding area. There wasn’t anyone near this pond and she couldn’t even hear the traffic from the main road from this distance. It was pretty far back from everything.

She looked around again, then stared into the cool, dark water. Could she do it?

Shaking her head, she sighed and scooted closer to the edge. Sticking her feet into the water was just fine, she told herself.

The lower her leg got into the water, the more tempting it was to just slide her slacks and blouse off and slip into the water.

What an outrageous idea, she thought with relish. It was such a quiet afternoon, surely no one would be walking by here, would they? It was far enough from the main road so people wouldn’t casually walk by and completely hidden with trees. She couldn’t even hear the traffic sounds from this distance.

Deciding to be brave and crazy, she stood up and shimmied out of her slacks, folding them neatly to the side. She unbuttoned her blouse and did the same, then stood standing at the end of the dock while she looked down into the inviting water.

Her eyes drifted up briefly to check the surroundings before she took the risk and jumped into the alluring, enticing water. As her hot body was enveloped by the cool, refreshing water, she was thrilled at how daring this was. She couldn’t believe that she was actually skinny dipping!

Well, not completely. She was still wearing her bra and underwear, but she felt decadent and so refreshed. The cool water completely renewed her energy level that had been depleted by the hot sunshine and tedious task of ensuring enough parking for the anticipated festival crowds. She swam out across the tiny lake, her arms and legs taking her through the water quickly. She went back and forth, enjoying the invigorating exercise and the sunshine on the top of her head. When she was finally out of breath, she swam over to the dock and pulled herself up the ladder, then laid down on the hot wooden slats, letting the sun and the wood warm her up.

She was almost asleep when she heard the voice and her sluggish mind went into overdrive.

Derrick was leaning against an old, oak tree while he watched the bathing beauty sun herself on his dock. He couldn’t count the number of times he’d escaped to this little lake, feeling the water pull away all of the tension from his sore muscles. He came here often in the early mornings to cool down after one of his workouts and did exactly the same thing she was currently doing. Although he generally took off everything whereas this little lady thought she was being demure by leaving on those transparent pieces of nothing. Her bra and underwear left little to the imagination and as he walked down the soft grass to the dock, he took in her dark pink nipples and the enticing curve of her hip, her slender waist and that luscious V at the juncture of her thighs that was pulling him towards her like a magnet.

“You’re going to get burned,” Derrick said as he crouched down low. He was only a few inches from her and she still hadn’t heard him approach.

As soon as he spoke though, she jumped up, immediately trying to cover herself as her head swung around to see who had discovered her brief time in the sunshine.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded, one arm covering her breasts while the other hand tried to cover that V that he wanted so desperately to explore with his hands and his mouth.

Derrick smiled slightly, his eyes traveling down her long, slender neck to view those lovely breasts that were too large for her arm to adequately hide from his experienced eyes. “I came down here to do exactly what you’re doing,” he replied and stood up. His fingers moved to the bottom of his shirt and he quickly pulled it off, tossing it to the side so that it landed on top of her own clothes.

She watched her clothes become buried by his larger ones and was fascinated despite her brain telling her to look away. When he was almost naked, she snapped out of her focus on his rapidly appearing dark skin and shook her head. “You can’t do that!” she gasped, but then her eyes feasted on his bare chest, amazed at the rippling muscles and tanned skin. She licked her lips, her mind going blank.

“Why not? It’s my lake. I wanted to swim but feel free to join me.”

She shook her head, more in automatic mode versus an actual understanding of what he was saying. “Can’t,” she said, then gasped when his hands moved to the buttons of his khaki shorts. “Stop!” she cried out.

Derrick stopped and looked at her beautiful face, almost chuckling at the blush that stole across her high cheekbones. Damn, he wanted to kiss that mouth again, to feel that full, lower lip and taste her nectar. But not just her mouth. He wanted to taste all of her. He was fascinated by this woman and wanted to figure out what could be so alluring about this particular woman that he couldn’t seem to get her out of his mind.

At first, he’d thought it was just the chase. She didn’t run after him like the other women he’d had in his life. They were aggressive, knowing what they wanted and determined to get it. He’d give them his attention, for as long as they amused him, but none had reached the level of fascination that this woman achieved in so short a time. Ever since she’d arrived at the village he’d heard stories about her. He’d been busy at the time with a takeover, but as soon as he was able to get away, he had come to town to investigate. Elise had been a good excuse, but the moment he’d laid eyes on this fascinating creature, he hadn’t been able to let her go.

And after the kiss the other day, he’d been dreaming about her, waking up hard and aching, desperate to have her in his bed so he could finally rid himself of his obsession with her. She smelled good, she looked incredible, and now that he’d seen almost all of her, he was more determined than ever to get her into his bed and have his way with her.

“Don’t what?” he asked softly, even though he knew exactly what she was telling him. He continued to unbutton his shorts, noting that her eyes never left his hands. When he pulled the zipper down, she watched, her breath catching in her throat. He normally swam completely naked, but because she appeared so nervous, he left his boxers on for her benefit, even though there was no way to hide her affect on him. Nor was he even trying to hide. He wanted her to know what she did to him. He wanted her to think about it, to fantasize about it and know that she turned him on like no other woman ever had. “Swim with me?” he suggested and moved towards her, towards the end of the dock.

“No, I really can’t,” she said and stepped back a step.

“You should be careful,” he warned, seeing that she was less than a foot away from the end of the dock and still backing up.

He tried to reach out and grab her, to stop her from falling, but she jerked away, only adding more force to her backwards momentum. In the end, he tried to be the gentleman as much as the situation would allow by grabbing her waist. Although he couldn’t stop her from falling, at least he could twist enough so that he fell into the water first, taking the brunt of the splash while his arms wrapped around her waist to hold her steady.

Even as the water enveloped their bodies, his mind couldn’t help but notice how amazing she felt pressed against him. And then he had to focus on keeping them above water. Even that he didn’t mind because the water swirled around them and he pulled her against him while they came up for air, her tiny hands on his shoulders and the water plastering that sexy lingerie against her breasts once again.

This time, there wasn’t any way for him to be gentlemanly about the situation. Those breasts were just too perfect and he was only a man. He couldn’t keep his eyes from looking nor his hands from moving up her waist to her rib cage. He was finally able to stop them there, but as he pulled her against him, he couldn’t hide his body’s reaction.

Zarah wished that she could have acted appropriately and pulled her hands away. But instead of pushing against his shoulders so she could make more space between their bodies, her arms found their way around his neck, her fingers tangling in the hair at the nape of his neck, testing the texture and feeling the softness. She was amazed at how incredibly strong he looked. Then his hands moved to her waist, sliding up and down her back and she shifted her stomach closer to his, the water lapping against her heated body that only increased in temperature when his hands moved around, his thumbs stopped along the outside of her rib cage.

“You’re beautiful,” Derrick said, wanting to press her softness against his chest, but knowing he had to take things slowly. She was skittish, he knew. He suspected that she hadn’t had very many lovers in her past but he wasn’t going to let this beauty go. He wanted her and he knew that she felt the same way towards him.

She didn’t respond to his compliment, too interested in looking at all of that bare skin that was right in front of her. “It’s pretty hot today,” she finally said while her fingers moved through his hair. Without hesitation, they moved across his shoulders, feeling the muscles, reveling in his strength.