The Sheik's Rebellious Mistress (17 page)

With a stealth she hadn"t felt since she was twelve years old, she walked casually over to the open SUV and stepped inside. The keys were gone, but old memories about hotwiring quickly came back to her. Pulling the wires out from underneath the dashboard, she quickly determined which wires would work. Her fingers were shaking violently and she was breathing so rapidly, she wasn"t sure if she"d be able to ever catch her breath again. But surprisingly, within moments, she was able to tap the correct wires together, sparking the ignition into start.

Slamming the door shut behind her, she glanced back. Amazingly, all was still clear, the guards were milling about quickly while the crowd watched in confusion. Shifting the truck into gear, she pulled away from the curb with as little panic as possible.

Electra was still watching in her rear view mirror a half hour later, wondering how she"d been so successful this time when she"d failed miserably all her teen years. She continued to drive, relieved that the tank was full of gas. That meant she"d be able to drive without having to stop and figure out how to purchase gas. Since she had little money, she wasn"t sure how that would be accomplished. By the time night fell, she was hungry, but still too terrified of being caught to stop and purchase food at some of the smaller villages. She kept driving, not even becoming sleepy since the adrenaline was still pumping through her body.

By midnight, after twelve hours of driving, she made it to the border. She saw the signs but no guards. Pulling over to the side of the road, she paused. In Great Britain, the borders were all water but she"d heard of how protective other countries were of their borders. If she drove over that line, would guards come racing up to arrest her? Would she be instantly identified?

Electra remembered reading about the American and Canadian borders. There were electronic devices that alerted the border guards that someone was crossing. If the car didn"t arrive at the guard station, they would come out and find the culprit. Looking around her, she didn"t see any potential devices, nor were there any signs directing her to check in with a border guard.

Taking a deep breath, she pressed the accelerator and moved forward. As her tires crossed over the border, her body tensed, her ears came alert, trying to sense the slightest movement which would alert her to border guards coming down on her.

As her back tires crossed the border, she waited, actually breaking, prepared at any moment for someone to stop, for machine guns to be pointed in her direction and swarms of sirens to go off.

Still nothing.

It was odd, she thought. Where was everyone?

She pressed the accelerator again and drove toward an unknown destination. She had only a little cash left after filling the tank up about four hours ago. So she kept driving, worried that she"d be stopped at any point.

Still, nothing happened. She was fifty miles passed the border when she finally allowed herself to think she"d gotten away with her escape. Well, not completely, she told herself. She was still in a foreign country where she didn"t speak the language, she had very little cash, but thankfully still had her passport with her. That was one obstacle she didn"t have to overcome she thought gratefully.

Food was her next crisis. Once she had something to eat, she"d be able to think through the next step. Airport, security, finding a place to hide while she figured out what she was going to do with her life. Electra shut off her mind. It was too much and she needed to think only of the next step. Everything else would fall into place once she had some sleep and found some food.
Chapter 10

Three days later, Electra put the truck into park, she simply laid her head down on the steering wheel, unable to move for several long minutes. The only reason she was able to move her sleep deprived body was the knowledge that a comfortable bed with warm blankets waiting for her less than ten yards away.

Since she had no luggage, she shut off the motor and walked up the pathway to the beach house. Her mind absently noted the sea scented air but her limbs could barely carry her up the wooden stairs to the front door. Since it was early fall, the area was basically deserted except for the birds flying overhead on the lookout for late season clams and fish.

Thankfully, the key was under the mat where her friend had told her it would be and she unlocked the door. Electra wanted to cry and bang her fists against the injustice of the whole situation, but she was just too tired to do anything other than find the bedroom and curl up. She didn"t even have the strength to make the bed. Instead, she kicked off the dime storeshoes she"d been wearing for the past two days, then just curled up, wrapping the blanket around her. Her last thought before closing her eyes was how much she missed Dharr and wanted his arms around her as she slept.

Electra slept for over twenty-four hours. That was partly due to the lack of familiar sounds that would alert her that a new day was starting, but it was mostly due to her lack of sleep for so many days.

When she finally did wake up, she looked around and sighed with relief. She was still alone, still in the beach house and still unmarried. That was the most important part, she reminded herself. She had to avoid marriage to Dharr. That would be the ultimate defeat of who she was.

She"d already lived under his author ity all her life. The body guards and lack of normalcy had been completely unfair and he"d never accept that she had been perfectly safe without the guards. Oh, Electra knew she might have done some stupid things, but that was part of growing up. One had to learn to walk and run, take a few scrapes in the knees, possibly a few broken bones, to know how to live and become an adult.

And now he wanted her to bind her life to him, be simply a part of his palace accessories. She"d be taken out when the need was appropriate and bear his children but that would be her role for the rest of her life.

She wanted more than that. She deserved more. She"d been denied so much all her life; first her mother, then her father, then her freedom, then a job where she could find self worth, identity and accomplishment. But she wouldn"t fall into a marriage with a man who didn"t love her.

No matter how much she loved him, she thought sadly. Pushing the blankets away, she walked stiffly to the bathroom. When she saw her reflection in the mirror, she gasped in horror. The dark circles under her eyes were just the beginning. Her skin was pale, her eyes were swollen and her lips were almost white with the stress of the past week.

Turning away from her image with a grimace, she turned on the hot shower, determined to start to turn her life around and decide what she was going to do. But instead of making decisions, she simply stood under the warm water and cried, terrified of never seeing Dharr again, terrified of him finding her and every scenario in between.

But how could he find her? She"d never spoken of her friends before and if he made the odd connection to the woman who had given her the job and the beach house, then she"d be surprised. Would someone at the school talk? Could someone possibly know about her friend"s beach house? It was small and Lori said she rarely rented it out because it was so isolated. Not many people wanted to holiday in this remote part of the beach. It was too far from the restaurants and bars, dance clubs and night life.

She bit her lip as she made a pot of coffee, wrapped in a fluffy white robe her friend had left in a closet. There were a few other clothes she"d borrow until she could get to the store but for right now, all she wanted to do was snuggle down into the terry cloth, drink coffee and try to feel alive again.

The day turned into a week and she found herself falling into a rhythm during the days. She"d wake up with the birds chirping outside her window, shower and make coffee. Then she"d take her coffee and a blanket out onto the wooden deck to slowly come alive. She bought several books to read, but by the end of the week, she hadn"t even read the first chapter of the first one. She"d simply stare out to sea, wondering what she was going to do with her life now.

By the early evening, when she realized that she"d accomplished nothing during the day, she"d angrily pull out the note paper from an old, worn desk and start making lists. They weren"t complicated lists, just things that occurred to her. One was a list of the things she"d like to learn, another was all the personality traits she hated in Dharr. They were harsh things like his arrogance, egotism, selfishness, high handed way he"d just dumped her into the assigned suite at the palace and ignored her. When that list was finished, she started another that listed all the character traits she wanted in her ideal man. This one was more comprehensive and started off with the ideal that the man she married would love her completely. He would also be kind, considerate, tolerant, treat her with respect and would never assume she"d become his mistress! The last one was underlined several times.

When the second list was finished, she realized it was just more of the first list but she stuck it up on the refrigerator anyway.
On the morning of the seventh day, she decided that she had to do something more than just drink coffee, then write about how angry she was with Dharr. Perhaps it had just taken her the week to overcome the exhaustion, both physical and mental, that had overwhelmed her during her escape, but she woke that morning feeling much better.

And then it struck her. Today was her wedding day! Would Dharr have called off the wedding? Or had he simply postponed it, assuming that he would have found her by now? Her fingers twitched slightly over the remote that would turn on the television, but in the end, she decided against listening to the news. She didn"t want to know. That wasn"t her life. She didn"t know what her life was anymore, but she"d figure it out somehow.
Chapter 11

Dharr prowled the London penthouse, snapping orders at anyone who dared to come into his presence without word of Electra"s presence. He was out of control of a situation for the first time in his life and he didn"t know how to handle it. Usually, he would discuss the situation, form a plan and battle all the obstacles in order to achieve the desired goal. But in this case, the goal was the obstacle.

When her guards had first reported her missing, his stomach had fallen out of his body. The worry that had eaten at him during that horrible twenty-four hours had been the worst period in his life, bar none. He"d even been able to handle his father"s death with more composure than the thought of losing Electra.

And when the reports finally came through that she was fine but had escaped, simply driven away in one of the guard vehicles, he"d been furious. He honestly couldn"t imagine feeling that furious before and if she"d shown up at that moment, he would have happily rung her pretty little neck.

How dare she run from him? From what they have together? She loved him, dammit! He knew she did. So what was the problem? They were to be married. Today in fact!

Of course, he"d postponed the wedding last week when no reports of her whereabouts had surfaced after the last sighting in Heathrow Airport. He"d told the eager reporters and well wishers seven days ago that Electra was too nervous of disappointing the people and had requested a delay so she could learn their culture more. Everyone had loved that excuse, loving her even more for that. Of course there were rumors that she"d run away but he"d quashed them quickly. But if he didn"t get her back soon, some people were going to start to wonder.

Hell, he was starting to wonder.

“Are you okay?” Edna Knight asked softly.

Dharr"s angry eyes looked across the room at the one woman who had been his saving grace during this whole ordeal. Electra"s grandmother was sensible and realistic and he"d gone to her several times over the past week, asking her for more information about Electra, trying to gain some insight into why she"d run away.

He thought he understood now, but until he found her and spoke to her, he would never be sure. And not being absolutely sure of anything tore Dharr up. He"d been raised to be sure, to analyze every situation and come to a realistic solution.

“Where is she?” he growled, prowling around the breakf ast room as if he could tear open the walls and search for her with his bare hands.
Edna sighed, angry herself with her granddaughter but showing that frustration and disappointment wouldn"t help this situation. “I would guess someplace quiet so she can think.”

“Yes, you"ve said that. How much time does she need to think?” he demanded.

Edna laughed. “It will take her a while just to see how silly she"s being. But don"t give up.”

His eyes burned into the older woman"s and he lit upon the one thing he thought he was confident about. “You know she loves me too, don"t you?”

Edna nodded sagely. “Yes. And she probably knows it as well.”

“Then why the hell did she run?” he asked for the millionth time. “And how can you be sure she hasn"t been kidnapped?”

“Two reasons. The only reasons she would be kidnapped is to be ransomed for money or influence. Neither of those probabilities havecome to light, have they?”

She only waited a moment for the shake to confirm her point before continuing. “Besides, if I know you, and I"m starting to if just a little, then I"d wager you"ve already tested the kidnapping waters and no one is claiming responsibility. Am I correct with that assumption?”

Dharr had indeed had his agents out searching for possible ransom activists but none were even aware that his fiancée had slipped away. There were no worries in that front. At least no political worries, he clarified.

“Since that"s not the case, and you"ve mentioned seeing Electra in London, then she probablyis hidden away somewhere trying to work out of being in love with you.”

“Is that a possibility?” he demanded, walking towards her with fury in his eyes.

Edna held up her hand gently to slow his progress. “No. Not with my granddaughter. Once she gives her heart, it is well and truly in love. She has loyalty down to a science.”