Maisey Yates - Heir To A Dark Inheritance

He felt as if something was going to burst inside him. As if he was suddenly aware that there was a dam inside him—a great stone wall holding back the potential for torrential destruction.

And he had to stop it. Had to shore it up with something. Something simple. Something he understood. He stood, his hand shaking, his heart thundering.

Jada looked at Alik and froze. She realized in that moment what it was like to be a gazelle, stalked by a predator. Except she wasn’t going to run. She didn’t know why, only that she wouldn’t.

Alik was looking at her as if he wanted her. More than wanted. As if he needed her. There was something dark and deadly in his eyes now. Something desperate. And she liked it, responded to it. It was different than the flat nothingness she usually saw there, different than that blasted false, shallow front he usually put on.

In that moment, as his eyes met hers, everything fell away. Her present, her past. There was nothing but Alik, nothing but the intense, terrible ache he made her feel.

This was frightening. This was real. And it was enticing. A black flame dancing in front of her. So beautiful she couldn’t look away, so dangerous she knew she had to. But she wouldn’t.

Instead she reached out her hand and prepared to touch the fire.

Their command is about to be challenged!

Sheikh Sayid al Kadar and Alik Vasin

might not be related by blood, but these

brothers-in-arms forged an unbreakable bond

in the line of duty.

They’ve fought for their countries,

for their lives, but has that readied their hearts

for what could be the biggest battle of them all…?

HEIR TO A DESERT LEGACYApril 2013

Sheikh Sayid discovers that his brother

is survived by a son, and he’ll do anything to

recover the true heir to the throne. Even if it means

taking on the child’s aunt; she’s like a lioness

who insists on fighting him every step of the way!

HEIR TO A DARK INHERITANCEMay 2013

When Alik’s wayward past comes back to haunt him,

he’ll ensure that his young daughter will grow up

with a childhood nothing like his own.

But one woman is standing in his way,

and there may be only one solution…to marry her!

MAISEY YATESwas an avid Mills & Boon ®Modern ™Romance reader before she began to write them. She still can’t quite believe she’s lucky enough to get to create her very own sexy alpha heroes and feisty heroines. Seeing her name on one of those lovely covers is a dream come true.

Maisey lives with her handsome, wonderful, diaper-changing husband and three small children across the street from her extremely supportive parents and the home she grew up in, in the wilds of Southern Oregon, USA. She enjoys the contrast of living in a place where you might wake up to find a bear on your back porch and then heading into the home office to write stories that take place in exotic urban locales.

Recent titles by the same author:

HEIR TO A DESERT LEGACY

(Secret Heirs of Powerful Men) HER LITTLE WHITE LIE AT HIS MAJESTY’S COMMAND (The Call of Duty) A GAME OF VOWS

Did you know these are also available as eBooks? Visit www.millsandboon.co.uk

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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To Jackie Ashenden,

my writing lifeline and lover of my dark heroes.

Thank you for always encouraging me.

ALIK VASIN DOWNED the last of the vodka in his glass and waited for the buzz to make it to his brain. Nothing. It was going to take a lot more alcohol tonight. To have some fun. To feel something.

Either that, or it was going to take a woman. And since that was next on his agenda, he figured he might as well skip the alcohol.

Alik pushed away from the bar and wove through the crush of bodies on the dance floor. The music was so loud there, the bass so heavy he could feel it in his blood. There would be no way to have a conversation with anyone in here. Which was fine by him. He wasn’t looking for a talk.

It didn’t take long for him to spot a woman who wasn’t looking to talk, either.

He approached the blonde skirting the edges of the dance floor. She smiled. Ah yes, he’d found the evening’s entertainment. No doubt about it.

He moved closer and she extended her hand, her fingers brushing his chest. Forward. He liked that. She might even be the kind who wouldn’t want to wait to get to the hotel room.

His pocket buzzed and he reached inside and wrapped his hand around his phone. In his experience, women didn’t like being thrown over for a phone call, but if his checking it chased her off, another one would come along in just a few moments. If he didn’t want to go to bed alone tonight, he wouldn’t.

He took the phone from his pocket and saw a number he didn’t recognize. Anyone who managed to contact him from a number he didn’t know was important.

He held his finger up, an indicator he wanted the woman to wait. She might. She might not. He didn’t really care.

He answered the call just before pushing the door open and put the phone up to his ear as he stepped out onto a crowded street in downtown Brussels. A group of women walked by and offered him inviting looks. He might keep an eye out for which club they went to, rather than going back to the blonde waiting for him inside.

He put the phone up to his ear. “Vasin.”

And suddenly the cobblestones didn’t feel so steady under his feet. He had to wonder if the vodka had finally started working. If it was the cause of the buildings appearing to close in around him. Of the tightness in his chest. If it was making him hear things. If he was imagining what the woman on the other end of the line was saying.

But no. He wasn’t. Yes, he was Alik Vasin. Yes, he had been in that region of the United States more than a year earlier.

He stood still for a moment, waited for the earth to right itself beneath his feet. Everything fell away in pieces. The clubs. The women. And he could no longer remember why he was there, on a dark street in Brussels.

There was only the phone call.

Adrenaline shot through his veins. The jolt he’d been missing all night. He would not freeze up. He was not that kind of man. He acted.

Alik hung up and stuffed his hands in his pockets, walking quickly away from the club, his steps heavy and loud on the cobblestone. He had to get to the airport. Had to get to a lab so he could get confirmation.

He took his phone out of his pocket, searching for Sayid’s number. His friend would know what to say. Would know what to tell him.

Because it wasn’t the vodka. It was just the truth. He knew it, deep in his bones.