The Sheik's Sensuous Trap (18 page)

Rashid’s glass stopped midway to his mouth, hesitated, then continued on.  He took a sip, then raised one eyebrow.  “Anything else?” he asked. 

Alea took that as acceptance but for some reason she didn’t understand, that only angered her more.  Pursing her lips, she started pacing again.  “I don’t want to have this tight of a schedule.  I don’t know why
it’s
so packed but I don’t have time to breathe.”

“I agree.  I was going to talk with you about that earlier today but you didn’t meet me after you requested an interview.”  He stopped for a moment and then continued, “I never set your schedule and you can do whatever you’d like during the day, within reason.”

Those last two words set fire to her simmering temper.  “That’s ridiculous!  I should be able to do whatever I deem necessary!  And I don’t need your permission to do it,” she snapped.  “I hate the fact that you even think you have the right to control my activities.”

He smothered his smile as he said,
“Of course I do.  I’m the
sheik
.  What else do you think I do all day but tell people what they can and can’t do?”

She balled her fists at her side as she growled,
“You’re so irritating!”  She wanted to yell and scream but knew that the guards would come running
if she did that. 
 

Rashid was delighted
with her response
.  He definitely liked this woman better than the one who had sat next to him at dinner tonight, ignoring him completely.  He should have done something about it earlier, but sen
sed the anger inside her and di
d
n
’t want it to come out when others could witness it.  He didn’t mind if others saw her sweet, graceful side.  The newspapers were filled with articles about how nice she was, how princess-like her behavior and how kind she was to others.  Let the public have the image.  He wanted the spitfire!

He sat down in his large, leather chair, propping his feet up on his desk and watched her reactions. 
“What are you going to do about it?” he challenged, taking another sip of brandy. 

“Nothing!  I’m going to leave you to your irritating self and go to bed.”

He raised an eyebrow at her response, disappointed. 
“Want some company?” he asked
, but he already knew what she would say
.
Too bad she didn’t tell him what she really felt, he thought. 

“No!  Go get your ex-
fiancée
to warm your bed,” she said and turned on her heel to leave, glad that she’d gotten the last word in. 

Well, almost, she thought when her hand touched the door handle less than a second before Rashid’s steel hand grabbed her arm and spun her around.  “What’s that comment supposed to mean?” he asked, towering over her.

Alea ducked under his arm, afraid to be that close to him.  She couldn’t leave since he was leaning against the
door with his palms but she didn
’t have to be cornered by him.  “I’m not stupid, Rashid.  I have eyes.”

He counted to three before replying. 
“Okay, so tell me what you think you saw.” 

“I didn’t miss our meeting earlier today,” she
admitted
, turning around and rubbing her upper arms with her hands as if she was cold.  She wasn’t, but it made her feel somewhat protected to push him psychologically away in this manner.  “I saw you and your ex-
fiancée
as she cried on your shoulder.  No doubt meeting for
an early morning
rendezvous
.  But please, spare me the humiliation and at least be discreet
,”
she said, forcing out the last five words.  She didn’t want to say them.  She wanted to yell an
d scream and tell him he couldn’t
have sex with anyone but her.  But since she wasn’t going to have sex with him, then no sex at all might be a little unrealistic.  “I don’t think her father would appreciate the fact that you’re having an affair with his daughter.  I thought she was important in some way in this country.  Or at least her father is.  Women aren’t considered important, are they?”

Rashid turned around and leaned his shoulders against the doors and crossed his arms over his chest.  “There are several accusations in that statement, but I’ll deal with the most obvious first.”  He raised one eyebrow before continuing as if to ask her permission to proceed. “First of all, I’ve never been engaged before.  I’m assuming you mean
Batima.  Her father would have loved to form an alliance with the palace but Batima and I would never suit.  She was too needy.  I want a woman who is strong and knows her own place in the world.  Not someone who finds her place through me.”

Alea didn’t acknowledge his statement.  She said simply, “And instead you
’re going to marry
someone who would provide a good political move and eliminate an irritant.”

“You don’t think of yourself as an independent thinker?”

“Yes.  But I thought you just said I’d have to clear things through you.”

He rolled his eyes, then looked back at her, praying for patience in his dealings with her.  He wasn’t sure why, but she was extremely touchy lately. 
“I was teasing you.”

That knocked the wind out of her argument.  “Well, then I can do whatever I want?”

Rashid shrugged.  “Within reason.”  Before she could spew more of her angry words, he held up his hand and said, “The same is true of me.  I can’t just go around the country pursuing my own interests and pleasure.  I have a country to run, people to protect.  I know your history, Alea and you want to protect them as well as you
r own.  You used to adopt stray animals
off the street as a child just to make sure they were safe.  I think you even got into trouble for sneaking them into the palace, didn’t you?”

“How did you hear about that?” she asked, neither confirming nor denying the statement. 

“I talked to your mother and father about you.”

She bristled at what she thought of as an invasion of her privacy.  “You had no right!” she said. 

“You’re right.  I should have asked you,” he said.  A moment later, he pushed himself away from the door and walked over to the phone on his desk.  He spoke quickly but too softly for Alea to hear what he said.  When he put the phone back, he turned to face her.  “Come with me,” he said and walked out the door, not looking back to see if she followed.

Alea watched him, wondering what he was doing.  She wished she could read his mind, but since that was impossible, there was only one avenue left that would satisfy her curiosity.  She walked down the hallway behind him. 

If she’d hesitated a moment longer, she would have missed the direction he took.  As it was, she had to run down the hallway to catch up to him.

“Where are we going?” she asked when she reached his side, slightly out of breath since she’d had to almost run. 

“Do you trust me?” he asked.

“No,” she answered immediately and wondered about the smile that formed on his handsome mouth. 

“Good,” he replied.  “Come this way,” he said and took her upper arm to guide her to the left, down a new hallway she’d never seen before. 

She stopped in the middle of the hallway, crossing her arms over her chest.  “Rashid, if you don’t tell me where we are going, I’m not taking another step.”

He stopped at her words, one hand on a steel door and his other on his hip.  “Is that a fact?” he asked.

Alea should have seen the amusement in his eyes but he was a little too far away.  Besides, she was trying to look around her to figure out where they were.  They’d gone through several different hallways and stairways, always going down.  But she was completely lost.  Looking back at him, her chin went up a notch in challenge.  “Yes.  That’s a fact.”

“Because you don’t trust me?” he asked.

“Exactly,” she replied. 

“So be it,” he said and shrugged slightly.  He took his hand off the steel door and walked over to her.  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he cautioned only moments before she was tossed over his shoulder and carried down the hallway. 

“Rashid, you can’t do this every time I don’t do what you want,” she shrieked, pushing her hair out of her eyes so she could see where they were going.  When he didn’t even hesitate, she punched him in the back.  “Rashid, put me down right now!” she demanded.

“What happened the last time you ordered me to do that?” he asked, then spanked her bottom gently but with enough sting to have her rearing up on his shoulder. 

“Please tell me you did not just spank me
,”
she asked, horrified.

In response, he spanked her again.  “Be quiet,” he said.  “People are sleeping.”

“So should I,” she growled and tried to wiggle off his shoulder but to no avail.  A moment later, he burst through another steel door and Alea realized they were in the garage surrounded by limousines and beautiful, expensive cars, some of them collector’s pieces. 

Unfortunately, he didn’t give her a chance to see more than just the initial cars before he placed her into the passenger seat of a Land Rover and buckled her in, slamming the door when he was done. 

Alea was too shocked to do more than stare at him as he came around the hood of the truck.  “Where are we going?” she asked, when he put the already running engine into drive. 

She watched in amazement as steel doors opened up at the far end of the garage.  “Be quiet,” he said and waited for the doors to open fully before driving out into the night. 

After an hour, Alea was bored and getting tired.  It was almost two o’clock in the morning and Rashid wasn’t giving her any indication of where they were going or how much longer it would take to get there.  It seemed as if they were just driving around in the desert towards an unseen goal. Giving up trying to read the man’s mind, she leaned her head back against the head rest and fell asleep. 

Chapter
10

She woke the following morning to bright sunshine streaming ac
ross her face.  She was warm against her back but cold everywhere else.  Turning into the warmth, she snuggled deeper into the heat.  It took her several minutes to realize that the heat source was Rashid and they were in bed together,
and she wasn’t wearing many clothes
. 

“Good morning,” he said softly, chuckling at her surprised reaction. 

“Where are we?” she asked, sitting up and looking around.  Thankfully, she was still in her T-shirt although her jeans were draped over a rustic looking chair in the corner of a very small bedroom. 

“We’re in my mountain cabin,” he said and rolled over onto his back.  “And you sleep like the dead,” he admonished. 

“I do not,” she countered and slipped out of bed, pulling her jeans on over her cotton, bikini underwear.  “And how did I get in here?” she asked.

“I carried you, of course.  It was almost three o’clock in the morning when we arrived and no
thing I did could wake you up.”

“Did you even try?” she snapped and zipped up her jeans, glaring at him. 

“Not very hard,” he said, chuckling at her bristly attitude.  “But then, I was tired and wanted sleep so I wasn’t in much of a mood to wake you up.”

Alea looked down at him in exasperation.  “Where are we?” she asked, looking out the window but all she could see were bushes and trees.  “I don’t recognize anything outside.”

“I hope not,” he said and threw off the sheet. 
He was completely naked and magnificently erect. 
Alea gasped when he walked into what she assumed was a bathroom and closed the door, but he stuck his head out a moment later and said, “You might want to try and start the coffee.”

Alea blinked at the closed door in confusion.  “Start the coffee?” she repeated.