Page 31 of The Sheik's Embrace

Tara didn’t argue, even though the rough treatment made her hackles rise. She doubted Zayed’s bodyguards treated him in the same manner! Then she smiled, crossing her arms over her stomach as she pictured Zayed’s guards struggling to lift the man.

“Tara?” Zayed called out a moment after he burst into the suite. He looked her over carefully, obviously looking for damage. “Are you okay? I heard that the man you’ve been running from broke into the palace.”

“Mighthave broken in,” Tara clarified. “I don’t know if Elijah is inside the palace. My sister got in after being hired by the palace wait staff manager.”

Zayed looked around. “Your sister is here? I’d love to meet her.”

Tara turned, unconsciously wringing her hands. She walked over to the window, then turned back to him. “I’d like to see her again as well, but she’s gone.”

“Gone? Where did she go?”

“I don’t know. And worse, I don’t know why she hid from me again.”

“Why would she hide from you?”

Tara shook her head, closing her eyes again with a heavy sigh. When she opened them again, she explained, “Kaia wouldn’t ever hide from me unless she knew that her presence near me was dangerous.”

“Why do you say it like that?”

Tara smiled, but there was bitter sadness and resentment in her eyes. “Kaia was my savior, remember? She’s the one that snuck me out of Elijah’s bedroom on the night of the wedding ceremony. She’s the one that hid me away, hid both of us away, until she knew it was safe to move on to a new location.” She lifted her hand, shaking her head. “Don’t ask me how Kaia knew. She never told me how she did it. But I suspect that she uses technology these days to monitor Elijah and Ethan’s movements and conversations.”

“Good for her,” Zayed replied, sitting down. “So what’s next? Where will she go now that she knows you are safe?”

“I don’t know,” Tara replied, lacing her fingers together as she stood nervously in front of him. “But I…um…have a request of you.”

“Anything,” Zayed replied, leaning forward so that his elbows were braced on his knees. “Tell me and I will make it happen.”

Tara stood in front of the man that intrigued her more than any man ever had. But could she truly ask for this? Did she dare?

That’s when she remembered the card game last night. He hadn’t even tried to win. He’d wanted to kiss her just as much as she’d wanted to kiss him.

Tara straightened her shoulders, lifted her chin, and asked, “Would you…make love with me?”

Zayed stared at her for a long moment and she thought that he was going to reject her request. So before he could do that, she stepped forward. “It’s just that…well, if something happens and Elijah finds me, and if he discovers that I’m still a…” she swallowed, hating to have to admit this next part to Zayed, “…if he somehow finds out that I’m still a virgin,” good grief, she hated that word! It was such a ridiculous term! “He will force me back to his home and will take what he considers his rights as a husband.” She was shaking now. She needed him to understand. Zayed had to grasp what she was telling him! “He will rape me, over and over. Then he will beat me, claiming that it’s my just and righteous punishment, that his divine right commands that he discipline me with a whip or a cane, then he will rape me again.” She was violently shaking now, images of Elijah’s furious face flashing through her mind.

“He’s not going to get to you,” Zayed declared firmly, standing up and wrapping his arms around her. “I won’t allow that to happen.”

“But…if he does, I’d rather be safe from him.” She buried her face against the warmth of his chest. “He won’t rape me if I’m…no longer pure.”

Zayed looked down at her, confusion and disgust in his eyes for a brief moment. But then his handsome features cleared. His touch gentled.

“Tara, I will make love to you, but not because you need to become a sullied woman.” He tightened his arms around her when she started to pull away. “I will make love with you because I want to give you so much damn pleasure that you are wild with it. I want to make love with you so that you never think of this pedophile ever again. So that you think only of me.”

“That’s…!” she tried to speak, but the trembling was too intense.

He pulled away, but kept his hands on her waist. “You’re scared. Will you tell me why?”

She shrugged, staring at his chest. “I could give you dozens of reasons.”

“Do any of them include a fear of what might happen between us?”

Tara considered that question carefully. “Yes.” She felt him tense, but put a reassuring hand on his chest. “But not in the same way that I would be afraid of another man touching me.”

“Can you explain a bit more?”

Her fingers trembled as she pressed her hand against his chest. “You…the way you make me feel…is scary, Your…Zayed.”

“In what way?” he asked, his voice rough but his hands were gentle as they stroked her back.

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