Sarah Morgan - Royal Affairs - Desert Princes & Defiant Virgins - The Sheikh's Virgin Princess / The Sheikh and the Virgin Secretary / Desert Prince, Defiant Virgin

She tried to ignore the fact that his hand still held hers. ‘Because it’s imperative that I reach Zangrar safely.’

He watched her for a long moment. ‘You’re that desperate to marry the Sultan?’

‘I prefer determined to desperate .’ Although desperate was probably much closer to the truth .

‘And you believe that your uncle is going to try and stop you?’

‘If I wait until morning—yes.’ Alexa hesitated but decided that she had no choice but to tell him at least part of the truth.

‘William feels very strongly that this wedding shouldn’t go ahead. Strongly enough to use physical means to prevent it.’

Karim was silent for a moment as he digested that piece of information. ‘He must love you very much to have such strong concerns for your well-being. And yet you choose to ignore that love?’

Alexa stared at him for a moment and then gave a short laugh. ‘He doesn’t love me. He hates me. He has always hated me.’

‘You’re young. Sometimes, when someone else’s wishes for you are in contrast to your own, it can be hard to hear what they are saying.’

‘There’s nothing wrong with my hearing. My uncle isn’t interested in what’s best for me.’ She eyed the door, knowing that she was wasting precious minutes that she didn’t have. ‘I have to go.’

‘If you leave, then I leave. Make no mistake about that. I’m your bodyguard.’

‘Haven’t you listened to a word I’ve said? I don’t need you.’

‘Why not, if you think you’re at risk?’

‘I don’t trust you.’

Karim frowned. ‘What possible reason could there be for you not to trust me?’

‘I don’t trust anyone. And if you insist on coming on this journey then I certainly can’t guarantee your safety.’

One dark eyebrow lifted in mockery. ‘I rather thought that I was supposed to guarantee your safety.’

She sighed and rubbed her aching head with the tips of her fingers. ‘Karim, I’m not a good person to travel with. It is going to be dangerous.’

‘Don’t you think you’re being a little melodramatic?’

He had no idea . Alexa let her hands drop to her sides and gave a resigned shrug. She’d already wasted too much time on this. She’d warned him. If he chose to ignore the warning, then that was up to him. ‘I’m leaving now, whether you come or not is up to you,’

she said wearily. ‘But, if you wait until the morning, then I’ll be gone, with or without the passport. And, if I wait until morning, I’ll be dead. In case you haven’t heard, I’m very accident-prone.’

She heard his sharp intake of breath as she walked across the room. At the door she paused and turned to look at him. ‘If you’re coming with me then bring the gun and the knife—and I just hope you’re as good as you say you are, because you’re about to need every survival skill you’ve ever learned.’

KARIM slid into the tiny car, wondering at precisely which point in the past twenty-four hours he’d relinquished grip on his judgement.

He brushed the tips of his fingers over his lower lip, trying to erase the delicious taste of her mouth and the memory of that searing kiss, but the gesture did nothing to alleviate the nagging ache of lust that now gripped his body.

Intensely irritated by his own response, he let his hand fall to his thigh.

She was the most hotly sexual woman he’d ever met, and her behaviour was every bit as shocking as he’d been led to believe.

The fact that she was prepared to kiss another man days before her wedding confirmed everything he already knew about her, and that kiss had obviously shorted his mental circuits because he was behaving in a way that was entirely uncharacteristic. Instead of being fully in control of the situation, he was now on his way to a mystery destination with a princess who gave new meaning to the term drama queen .

Dead. Dead?

What did she mean that if she waited until morning she’d be dead?

Clearly, she thought a little exaggeration on her part would help urge him into action, or perhaps she’d just been aiming for the sympathy vote. It was a pity for her that he had vast experience of a woman’s ability to manipulate a tricky situation to her advantage, especially where money was involved. Obviously the Princess Alexandra was afraid that her uncle might step in and prevent the wedding. And it didn’t need a genius to work out why she would go to any lengths to prevent that happening.

Money had an appalling effect on people. He’d seen it firsthand, and her determination to creep away from the palace in the middle of the night in order to protect her prize, had left him with no obvious alternative but to join her. Until she changed her mind about the marriage, his mission was not complete, and his mission stood no chance of being completed if she travelled to Zangrar alone and unaccompanied.

He needed time with her.

Wincing as his shoulders brushed the door and his head banged the roof, Karim tried to shift himself into a more comfortable position, but it proved impossible. ‘I’m surprised you didn’t opt for a more luxurious mode of transport,’ he muttered, but she didn’t even glance in his direction.

‘I’m not interested in luxury. I’m interested in anonymity.’

Well aware that that both those statements were in direct contrast to everything he knew about the Princess Alexandra’s public displays of extravagance, Karim wondered what she was trying to prove by making him journey in the smallest car available to mankind.

A road-sign flashed past and he frowned. ‘You took the wrong road. The airport is the other way.’

She didn’t respond. Instead her eyes were fixed on the road, and her hands gripped the wheel of the car so tightly that her knuckles whitened under the pressure. ‘We’re not using that airport.’

‘The Sultan’s private jet awaits you at Rovina Airport.’

‘I know. Which makes it the first place they’ll look when they realize that we’ve gone.’ She glanced in her rear-view mirror and then turned left down a road without indicating. Tyres screeched in protest, and Karim’s shoulder thudded hard against the window.

Watching his life flash before his eyes, he inhaled sharply. ‘Stop the car! I will drive.’

‘No way. For a start, you don’t know where we’re going.’

‘True. But, wherever it is, I would like to reach there alive.’ He adjusted his balance as she took sharp right that virtually flung him on top of her.

‘You chose to come, Karim.’ She changed gears like a racing driver. ‘Are you a nervous passenger?’

‘That depends on the driver.’

‘I’m an excellent driver.’

‘And yet you have crawled from the wreckage of two car accidents in the past year.’

‘Precisely. A less skilled driver than me would have been killed.’

‘A more skilled driver than you wouldn’t have crashed in the first place. Why do you keep looking in the mirror? It’s pitch-dark out there. There is nothing to see.’

‘So far. I need to make sure that no one is following us.’

‘Who would be following us?’ Karim felt a flicker of irritation. ‘Some women are incredibly aroused by drama, I know, but you are taking it to new levels. Stop the car.’

‘No. There’s a chance that my uncle may have discovered that we’ve left. If I stop, then I risk losing the advantage we have.’

‘Has it ever occurred to you that your uncle may have your best interests at heart?’

‘Has it ever occurred to you that he hasn’t? Don’t lecture me, Karim. You’re the one who insisted that I needed a bodyguard. I wanted to leave you behind.’ She changed gears smoothly and accelerated fast up a dark road. There were no lights at all, but she seemed to know every bend and curve. ‘You chose to come with me. That means that you go where I go.’