The Dare Collection April 2019. Nicola Marsh
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and who didn’t mind getting rough with it, not a wide-eyed virgin like this one.
I dismissed the thoughts. Right now, getting her out of here with the minimum of fuss was my priority.
‘W-where are my bodyguards?’ Her voice was clear with an inexplicably sexy roughness to it.
‘I dealt with them.’ I stepped away from the doorframe and straightened to my full height, her gaze following every move I made.
The shock had begun to drain from her pale face, leaving behind it an expression I didn’t recognise. ‘Both of them?’ She sounded incredulous, as if I’d done something incredibly difficult.
‘Yes. They’re in the men’s room with the door locked.’ I took a step towards her. ‘They’re not coming to save you, little one.’
She didn’t move. ‘You’re Ajax King.’
‘You’ve heard of me.’ I took another step.
‘Of course. My dad hates you.’
‘The feeling’s mutual.’ I was close now, standing right behind her, watching her face in the mirror.
Her lashes lowered. Then she turned around, her head tipping back, looking straight up at me.
She was very small, the top of her head barely reaching my shoulders, and the pale skin of her cheeks had gone pink, deepening the vivid green of her eyes. They were glowing. They were full-on fucking glowing.
Maybe that’s when I recognised her expression, the one that wasn’t fear or shock or anger, or any of the other emotions I’d expected when I’d first stepped inside.
No. What I saw in her face was unconcealed awe.
Not the reaction I normally got. People were either afraid of me or they loathed me. But not this green-eyed virginal Princess. She looked at me like I was the second coming of Christ.
For some reason, my cock liked that very much indeed.
Fuck. That was all I needed. Desire wasn’t supposed to be part of this plan and I didn’t want it to be. The goal was protecting my city and my brothers, not screwing a wide-eyed little ingénue.
Ignoring my disreputable dick, I gave her the stare I usually gave to those who thought they could argue with my decisions. ‘Okay, here’s the deal,’ I began. ‘You’re going to need to—’
‘Why are you here?’
I blinked at her interruption. Another thing that people knew better than to do. ‘What?’
‘I mean, why are you here? In the women’s bathroom?’
‘Well, I—’
‘You do know it’s the women’s bathroom, don’t you?’
‘Yeah, I know it’s the—’
‘Are you here for me?’
I gritted my teeth. ‘You’re going to have to stop interrupting me.’
A line appeared between her pale silky brows, the electric energy of her intensifying somehow. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to. I just really need to know.’
Hell, what was I doing, standing here letting her pepper me with pointless questions? I was supposed to be kidnapping her, for fuck’s sake.
‘Yeah,’ I growled, taking another step closer, looming over her, hoping she’d get the idea she was supposed to be scared and not keep looking at me like I was Captain fucking America. ‘I’m here for you.’
Her eyes glowed even more and she’d gone even pinker, as if I was the man of her dreams and I’d just asked her out.
‘Don’t look so fucking pleased,’ I said harshly. ‘I’m not asking you to dance. I’m here to kidnap you.’
That gorgeous mouth of hers dropped open. ‘Kidnap me?’ she echoed, looking astonished. Then, before I could speak, she grinned. ‘Oh, my God, that’s excellent!’
Imogen
‘WHAT DO YOU MEAN, “excellent”?’ Ajax King’s mesmerising blue eyes had narrowed into shards of ice and there was offence in his deep, rough voice.
Weird. You’d have thought he’d be happy that I wanted to go with him without making a screaming fuss.
Obviously not.
Then again, I didn’t have time to be thinking about whether he’d be offended or not. All I was conscious of was finally—freaking finally!—here was the opportunity I’d been searching more than two years for.
The opportunity to get away from my bloody father.
My shuddering heartbeat was going hell for leather, adrenaline pulsing through me.
‘There’s no time,’ I said hurriedly, tilting my head to the side so I could see past his massive, broad figure to the door. ‘Dad’s other guys will notice I haven’t come back and they’ll come after me. So if we’re going to leave, we have to leave now.’
‘Now wait just a fucking minute—’
But I had no fucking minutes to waste.
I reached for his hand and pulled him over to the door. Or at least I tried to. Bit difficult when he wouldn’t let himself be pulled.
Dammit.
I turned back, fear beginning to thread through my excitement. ‘Please. If you’re going to kidnap me then you have to do it now. Come on!’ I tugged on his hand again.
He didn’t move, only pinned me with those icy blue eyes. ‘You actually want me to kidnap you?’
Seriously? He was asking me stupid questions now?
‘Would I be asking you to do it if I didn’t want you to?’ I pulled on his hand yet again. ‘Come on.’
But it was like trying to pull on a mountain. The damn man wouldn’t budge.
Fear tightened inside me. If we didn’t leave now the rest of my bodyguards were going to come looking and they’d find me. And then they’d try to stop me, and my chance of escape would be gone.
I’d be back to living in my gilded cage, where I couldn’t move a muscle without five guards springing into action. Where I had to watch my behaviour so assiduously that it was easier to stay in than go out. It was a cage I hadn’t noticed get smaller and smaller as the years progressed. Not until the day I’d realised exactly what kind of man my father was and that if I stayed in the cage any longer I was going to get crushed.
I’d go back to being powerless. Back to being used. Back to being so lonely it made my soul ache.
No, I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t.
Right here was my opportunity to escape and I was taking it.
Ajax King was my father’s greatest enemy so who better to help me? He’d been watching me all evening—I’d noticed since I’d nothing else to do—and now I knew why.
It couldn’t have been more perfect.
Right then, someone knocked on the door and I froze, fear an iceberg floating in the centre of my chest.
‘Miss White?’ a male voice asked. ‘Are you in there?’
Shit. It was Colin, one of my guards.
I turned back to Ajax, standing near the vanity unit, so tall his head almost brushed the ceiling. He stared at me from underneath the cap he wore, his expression impassive. His rough features were intensely compelling. A sharp, hard jaw and strong blade of a nose.