The Sheik's Furious Bride (Love By Accident) (9 page)

Her hands, which had been fisted by her sides, were now clinging to his jacket, wrinkling the material as she held on for dear life while he invaded her mouth and her mind with the things he was doing, just with his mouth and
his
tongue!  She tilted her head up to get more, to taste him better and get that feeling once again.  The more she kissed him, the stronger that feeling became until she thought she might explode with the frustration that was building inside her. 

Hussan
lifted his head and looked
down
at the budding beauty in his arms.  She probably didn’t even realize that she’d moved against him, that she was holding him like this.  He was trying to control the lust surging through his body for this woman who had the smallest waist but was perfectly shaped in all the other areas.  She wasn’t helping him maintain control though.  As he watched, her eyes were still closed and she took a deep, shuddering breath as she absorbed the sensations he’d given her with that kiss. 

She was sexy and beautiful and, from the way she’d started off that kiss, she was also painfully inexperienced.  He doubted she’d ever even been kissed before.  She was all his, he thought with relish and anticipation. 

How he was going to control himself until the wedding was beyond him, but he’d do it somehow. 

“We’ll be married next week.  Your brother and sister may come, but the celebration will need to be small and
low key
.  I’ll talk to my advisors and there will need to be a public announcement and a parade, but nothing too elaborate
.” 

Isla’s eyes snapped open and she looked up into the hard, demanding eyes of the man who had just kissed her so tenderly and sweetly.  Where had that man gone?  Why had this tyrant come back? 

She looked down and realized that her hands were still gripping the lapels of this suit.  She quickly released them and stepped back, almost tripping in her eagerness to get away from him. 

His words slowly started to penetrate her fogged mind and she bit her lower lip.  What had he said about the wedding? 
Low key?
  No problem.  “Next week?” she gasped. 

“Your brother was married within a day of bringing his fiancée back.  I’m giving you ample time.  There’s no need for anything lavish.  It will be very small with pictures sent to the press the next day to avoid any kind of pressure.”

“But won’t your people want to celebrate with you?  Isn’t this what they’ve been waiting for?” she asked.

He quickly shook his head and moved back to his desk.  “
Yes.  They deserve to celebrate our nuptials, but we still need to keep it contained. 
They
need a celebration, something to break the monotony of daily life but they also
need roads
and hospitals
. 
We can have a parade because I’m finally getting married, but it needs to remain simple
.”  He was sifting through the files on his desk and found the one he was looking for, bringing it to her.  “Here is a list of the issues we’re facing.  This should give you a better idea of why we’re not having an elaborate wedding.”  He glanced at his watch then.  “I have a meeting.  I’ll see you at dinner.”

A moment later, Isla was standing alone in the barren office, her body still shaking from reaction as she held the file he’d
placed
in her numb fingers. 

What had she gotten herself into?  Or more specifically, w
hat had Rashid tossed her into?  This palace was nothing like
what
she was expecting, the man himself definitely wasn’t what she was prepared for and the people she’d seen were not what she’d known in the border villages. 

Had she jumped into the rabbit hole at some point in the last few hours? 

She walked out of the office
in a slight daze
and found two guards standing sentry outside the door.  “Could you tell me where I might find my quarters?” she asked politely. 

Both men bowed.  “This way, Your Highness,” one of them said and turned on his heel.  The second man fell in behind her and Isla wondered if they were here to protect her from people coming into the palace, or if they were here to keep her from leaving the palace. 
It suddenly occurred to her that
Hussan
knew that she slipped out of Rashid’s palace whenever she wanted, but he didn’t know how she’d done it.  Nor had he asked her, she thought.  That was a curious point.  One she’d have to ask him about
in the future, once she knew him a little better
.  She didn’t dare mention it now, not sure what his reaction might be. 

She vowed she’d never give up her work, knowing that too many people suffered from violence in this world.  She could make a difference, she knew.  She’d just have to figure out a way to sneak out of this palace, just like she’d done for the past several years. 

Or would the security surrounding her be more intense than what she was used to at home?  She’d be the mother of the future ruler of Silaria.  Maybe she’d have more diligent guards?  If the two men surrounding her were any indication, she might be in trouble. 

She’d find a way though.  Things generally had a way of working themselves out.  At least, that’s what she was going with today.  Anything else was just to
o
terrifying to consider. 

The man led her through long, elaborate hallways that at one time had been beautiful with elaborate designs and mosaics.  Now, the pictures that had been there previously were torn up or bullet marked.  Isla thought it was a shame to have such beautiful history desecrated in such a way, but she understood why
Hussan
hadn’t spent the money or time to fix these hallways.  He was right about the people needing roads and infrastructure first. 
In fact, a part of her, only a small part though, actually admired the man for his selflessness in trying to fix the country’s infrastructure before seeing to the creature comforts of the palace. 

The room to which she was led was actually one of the most beautiful she’d ever seen.  It was elaborately decorated with wispy curtains that screened out the worst of the light from enormous windows that allowed one to look out into a quaint little courtyard that was filled with flowers and pretty trees shading a lovely little fountain.  The bathroom had all of the latest amenities but with what looked like solid gold faucets on the sinks and
in the
shower
area.  The bathroom even
included an enormous sunken bathtub larger than she’d ever seen in her life.  She’d lived in luxury since her birth, but this truly was lovely.  Even the large, round bed was covered in fluffy pillows and a comforter that looked to be down filled and puffed up about a foot. 

Despite herself, she was impressed.  But as she looked around, she had no idea what to do.  She had no clothes so she couldn’t unpack.  She had no makeup so she couldn’t freshen up and look more presentable.  She didn’t even have a book
to read that would
occupy her time.

“I’m not staying here like a prisoner,” she snapped to the empty room.  She tossed the file down onto the bed and turned around, heading right back for her body guards.  She found both of them outside of the suite they’d led her to, standing at attention of course. 

“
I’m sorry, but I don’t really know what to do with myself at the moment.  This change has all been extremely sudden so I’m a bit out of my element. 
Could either of you take me on a tour of the city?
  Just so I can get to know the area and see what Silaria is like? 
” she asked carefully and with a smile. 
She hated being bored and couldn’t stand inactivity.  She needed to get out and do something and the best way, in her mind, was to see what needed to be done. 

Both of them looked at the other,
then
one reached behind him.  Isla was initially alarmed that he was about to pull a gun and force her back into her room, but he pulled out a radio and pressed a button, speaking into the receiver.  He quickly relayed the question to what Isla assumed was his commander.

Apparently, she received permission and the two men nodded back to her.  “This way,” the older one said.
  He was very serious about the mission, looking grim at the possibility of something happening but
he was willing, which was a very nice surprise.  She had to give the guard credit for a spur of the moment request like this.  She knew the dangers he was facing but considered them to be minimal at the current time since not many people knew that she was even in the country, and even fewer might suspect her future role with Hussan. 

Good grief, even she wasn’t sure she believed what her future role would be. 

It had been a confusing day, she thought with a sigh. 

Isla followed them through the hallways once again and was surprised when she was led through an exit and then right into a large, black SUV.  There were actually three of them and she was led to the first one.  She climbed into the back of the truck and made herself comfortable, wondering what
she was going to see.
She braced herself for the worst, but remembered the sights from the helicopter.  Hopefully, she was wrong about her impressions.  But how could she be?  Too often, she’d tended to those who had been having problems with the local authority figures, most of whom weren’t legitimate officers but simply thugs who had taken over in the power vacuum. 

Unbidden, Isla’s mind tripped to the picture of Hussan as a sort of superhero who flies out of the sky and knocks the thugs out of the picture.  She shook her head, wondering where that
crazy
idea had come from.  One kiss and she was smitten?  Not by a long shot!  The man might not be as ugly as she’d thought, or as bad as the older pictures portrayed him to be, but that didn’t mean she liked him.  Or that he wasn’t one of the bad guys.  Lucifer was supposed to be a lovely chap, but there wasn’t any getting around the fact that he was the devil. 

Although, she had to admit that the man knew how to kiss. 

She put her forehead in her palm in order to hide her face, wishing she could stop the blush that formed on her cheeks just at the memory of how that kiss had affected her body.  Dammit, she wished she’d never done that.  Or at a minimum, she wished she could stop her reaction to his touch or his kiss. 

As they drove through the city, she noticed the same thing she’d seen from the air.  Everyone was working hard, some were laughing, many people cleaning up, but there was a general sense of diligence with everyone
milling about and going around the city
,
efficiently
doing their business
.  “Can you t
ake me to a school?” she asked.  The schools were the heart of a country’s future.  She’d seen the conditions of a few schools, but they weren’t the main focus of her team’s work.  She tried very hard to stay out of politics, but now that she was going to marry the man, or so he says since she still hadn’t wrapped her mind around that nightmare, she wanted to see what was happening inside the schools in the capital city. 

The
body guards
looked back at her
with their blank stares which probably meant that they thought she’d just made a crazy request
,
then
respectfully
nodded once again. 
She wasn’t sure if they were reluctant to drive her to her desired location, or just doing what she asked because they had absolutely no expression on their faces while she asked, nor when they replied. 

She was driven to the nearest
grade
school and told to wait
in the car.  One of the
guards
entered the school
with menacing strides
and a moment later, what Isla assumed was the school administrator came rushing out of the building, the guard behind her
looking to his right and left as if he were constantly scanning the perimeter
.

As the administrator approached, Isla assumed that it was safe to get out of the vehicle.  Since no one stopped her as she reached for the door handle, she took that to mean she was okay to proceed. 
Isla stepped out of the truck and greeted the woman warmly.

The administrator was in her mid
fifties
with salt and pepper hair, sparkling brown eyes and a grandmotherly figure that was encased in a loose fitting, all black dress with almost no accessories.  There were small, pearl earrings on her earlobes, but the softening effect was negated with her no-nonsense, robber soled shoes. 
“
Your
Highness!  This is such an honor.  We had no idea you would be arriving today.  Goodness!  We didn’t even know that our Sheik was getting married so this is so exciting!
  Very exciting, indeed!
” the woman gushed.

Isla took the woman’s hand, lifting her up when she tried to
awkwardly
curtsy.  “Please don’t be alarmed.  And if this is a bad time, I can appreciate your
busy
schedule. 
The children’s schedule and education are much more important than my unannounced visit. 
This was a spur of the moment trip and I just wanted to see what the people were up to.  But I don’t want to disrupt the children’s schedule so please let me know if this time is inconvenient.”