The Royal House Of Karedes Collection Books 1-12. Кейт Хьюит
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always been honest with him? More honest than any of his court would ever have dared be—but then sometimes he thought she was more courageous and more daring than the lot of them put together.
And yet she was strong enough to admit that she would be unable to resist him—and, oh, how he was tempted to prove her right. To begin a slow and merciless seduction and have her crying out her orgasm. To feel her tremble with surrender beneath him. But suddenly Kaliq realised that such a victory would be an empty one, which would leave no lasting satisfaction. That he did not want only part of Eleni—the physical part—he wanted her. All of her. The all which she gave to him so generously every time they came together.
An unknown and unexpected pain ripped through him and he clenched his fists as if trying to fight the uncomfortable emotions which were pricking at his skin. Emotions which had begun to wither when his brother’s birth had resulted in the death of their mother and which had died completely when that same brother had disappeared off the face of the earth.
Since then Kaliq had blocked out people as ruthlessly as he had blocked out emotion and now he understood why. Because this was what happened when you allowed someone to get too close—you started to feel things. You opened yourself up to hurt. And life was easier without that hurt.
He pulled away from her, his voice sounding harsh. ‘So now you play the games of the mistress, do you, Eleni? Using sex as a weapon?’
Registering his cruel taunt with disbelief, Eleni watched as he got up from the bed, his critical assessment ringing in her ears. And yet she had pushed him to this, hadn’t she? She had no one to blame but herself for the fact that he was now walking towards the door. And just as he opened it he turned back—his black eyes as flinty and as unreadable as on that first day when he had galloped out of the desert sunset and into her life.
‘How well you have learnt your lesson, my beauty,’ he said softly. And then he was gone.
Eleni stared at the connecting bedroom door as it closed implacably behind him. He didn’t slam it; perhaps it might have made her feel better if he had—a final show of passion rather than a quiet, dispiriting click.
And then reaction set in. Even though she could hear him moving around in the next room, Kaliq was gone. Gone from her life for ever—and a tearing pain made her want to howl aloud, like an animal left wounded in the desert. But she did not dare make a sound—for fear that he might hear her. Because her heart might be broken and her future uncertain—but she would conduct herself with dignity.
For a while she just lay on the bed where he had left her, trying to still her quickened breathing, trying to tell herself that everything was going to be all right—even if she didn’t really believe it. She could hear the tick of the clock, feel the stickiness of the humid air, and Eleni realised that she was as trapped as she had ever been in her father’s house. Alone in a strange room within a strange world—with a long and probably sleepless night ahead of her. And who knew what the morning and the future would bring?
And glancing down at her watch, she saw that only twenty minutes had passed! She felt the tears begin to well up behind her eyelids and she longed to cry, to drum at the walls with the fists of her hands. To let out some of this terrible, tearing pain which was clutching at her heart.
Her breath was tight in her dry throat, the sensation of choking as believable as the one which made her feel as if the walls were closing in on her—and Eleni knew that she had to get out of there, out into the space and fresh air of the gardens. At least there she could give into the tears which were welling up in her eyes without Kaliq having the satisfaction of knowing that he had made her cry. And his security guards would be patrolling the grounds—she would be safe enough.
Pulling on a tunic and trousers, she wrapped a soft cashmere shawl tightly around her shoulders because she was shivering—though more from emotional exhaustion than from cold. And then she slid her feet into a pair of embroidered slippers and crept from the room, closing the door softly behind her.
Listening for a moment but hearing only silence, Eleni slipped down the large and shadowed staircase, leaving by the front door and out into the night.
The sky was thick with clouds which were obscuring the dull light of the moon and the atmosphere felt still and heavy. Glancing upwards, she could see that Kaliq’s light was still on and she saw his shadowy silhouette appear. A fierce pain ripped through her heart and she began to stumble away from the lights as the first drops of rain fell onto her bare head.
And somewhere in the distance, she heard the sound of dogs beginning to bark.
KALIQ stilled as the raucous barking of the dogs set his senses jangling—though they had been alerted to danger minutes before. Even in the midst of his troubled thoughts he had thought he’d heard a sound which was something out of the ordinary.
Striding across the vast master bedroom, he pushed open the interconnecting door to Eleni’s bedroom, but as soon as his eyes scoured the room the rumpled sheets and the silence told him what he already knew. She was gone.
The barking of the dogs increased and he began to hurry from the room, down the stairs, hitting the alert button which he always carried and dragging the mobile phone from his pocket as he attempted to make contact with the bodyguards. But there was no reply and he suspected that they heard neither. That they were all caught up with investigating what had alerted the dogs—not knowing that it was Eleni. He’d even purposefully dismissed his personal bodyguards because he had been expecting to spend the night in the blissful anonymity of his lover’s arms.
He ran outside as the heavy drops of rain began splashing against his head and Kaliq threw his head back and shouted out her name.
‘Eleni!’
But there was no sound from her. Nothing. His heart was pumping fit to burst, his stomach acid with fear. It was like being catapulted back to a time he had kept strictly off limits but he felt it again as if it were yesterday. The terror and dismay when he and his twin had discovered young Zafir missing. Those feelings of hopelessness and despair. The sensation of powerlessness—that he was too late to save the child from an unknown fate.
What if he was too late to save Eleni?
He could see the flash of something pale against the trees on the far side of the lawns. Was that her? Sheltering against the frightening prospect of attacking dogs—or sheltering from the harshness of her cruel and thoughtless lover?
Instinct took over as he dashed across the slippery grass with the increasingly heavy rains pelting down and soaking him to the skin. From within the murky depths of the heavy clouds he thought he caught the ominous rumble of thunder and his heart flared with a renewed fear. What if lightning struck the tree beneath which his lover was sheltering!
‘Eleni!’ The distraught word was torn from his lips as he ran towards the woods and now he could definitely see the pale shape of a figure. The barking was increasing and, although Kaliq had competed and won many races during his time in the Navy, never had he run as fast as he did just then. Instinct powered his body just as surely as it drew him towards her. And now he could see more clearly… because yes, yes—it was her! His frightened and soaking Eleni huddled beneath a tree—her eyes huge with disbelief as he ran towards her.
He reached her in seconds—gathering her into his arms just as the barking of the dogs reached a crescendo.
And then everything went crazy.
There were spotlights and searchlights as figures and animals circled them—the light picking out the gleaming teeth of highly trained guard-dogs as they strained against the leashes of the powerful men who restrained them.
Eleni thought that she saw the barrel of a gun pointing at her but her shaking fears were quelled—if only temporarily—by the protective warmth of Kaliq as he pulled her close into his body and wrapped