Page 30 of Forty Days and One Knight
“It was my pleasure, Your Highness.”
As Semira left the room, Tahira yawned. She’d dozed on and off in fits since they’d boarded the jet in Argentina. She’d expected some insomnia in the hospital—no one ever slept comfortably in those places—but she still hadn’t gotten more than a few hours of sleep at a time even after arriving at the beach house. Each time her body and mind lapsed into the REM phase, her nightmares surfaced. And each time, it felt the same. A heavy weight was pressed down on her chest, making it difficult to breathe. Perspiration coated her skin, causing goosebumps to appear all over her body. A putrid aroma of sweat and cigarettes would taunt her sense of smell until she thought she would vomit. Grunts that seemed to come from a feral animal resounded in her ears. Flashes of sharp pain between her legs had caused her to awaken more than once with a scream pursed on her lips, ready to be released for everyone in the house to hear. Somehow, she’d always managed to swallow it back down before it pierced the air. Once fully awake, she would realize she was panting and crying quietly, and the images would fade, almost as if they had never existed. But they had—and they continued to exist—and Tahira was desperate to put them behind her.
Tomorrow, she would be meeting with Dr. Trudy Dunbar. Hopefully, the psychologist would be able to help Tahira to get past her nightmares. While much of that awful night was still a blur, her body remembered its responses to it. Would they eventually fade, or would she begin to recall all the horrible details that were locked away somewhere in the far recesses of her mind?
Getting to her feet, Tahira strode to the door and headed toward the kitchen for some herbal tea. She’d always found the brew soothing, but she suspected that would not be the case tonight. If she could only force herself to stay awake forever, never to relive the horrors of her attack again, but that wasn’t an option.
Passing the door to the library, which was ajar, she paused when Darius’s deep, rumbling voice filled the air. He was talking on his cell phone, but other than the name “Levi” she couldn’t hear what he was saying due to the distance between them and his back facing her. A shiver went down her spine while her gaze caressed his broad shoulders, strong back, narrow waist, and very fine backside. Her hands itched to touch every inch of him, as she remembered how he’d whispered in her ear, leading up to their first kiss.
... we’re doing this my way ... relax and just feel.
Oh, she’d definitely done just that. She hoped she hadn’t been imagining the way her body had seemed to surrender to Darius. How he’d taken possession of her mouth like it was his to own and do with it as he pleased. How every nerve in her body had come alive at his touch and begged for more. Part of her couldn’t wait to experience all that again, while the other part was terrified about what would happen if they became even more intimate. How would she react? Would her nightmares attack her conscious mind? Would she panic and force Darius away? She didn’t want to disappoint him if he wanted to have sex with her on their wedding night, as was his right to expect.
She knew their marriage would only be temporary and one of convenience, but she wanted to reward him for helping her, for rescuing her. What better reward could a woman give the man who was her husband than to offer him her mind, body, and soul?
24
Darius fiddled with his cell phone, trying to figure out the right wording for the call he was about to make. He had to tell his siblings about his “engagement” before the news became public. If he was going to pull this off, he would have to make everyone believe he and Tahira had fallen for each other. One slip up and the media would be all over it, desperate to figure out what the couple was hiding. He was still trying to decide the best way to avoid having the press going after his father—it wouldn’t go over well for any reporter who tried to step on the man’s property. Darius would have to make sure his brother and sister did extra sweeps for the shotgun shells their father always seemed to find a way to get ahold of and hide in the double-wide trailer he lived in. Once a week wouldn’t cut it after the media frenzy started. The last thing they needed was for the old man to kill a trespassing reporter.
Hitting one of the speed-dial buttons, Darius placed the first call. When his brother picked up, Darius said, “Hey, Levi—let me get Barrie on the other line.” The siblings often had three-way phone chats with each other; it was easier than having to repeat things twice.
“Don’t bother,” his brother responded, sounding like he had a mouthful of food. There was a pause when he must have swallowed because afterward his voice was back to normal. “She’s right here. Hang on, I’ll put you on speaker.”
There was a click and then his sister came on the line. “Hey, big brother! What’s up?”
Darius couldn’t help the grin that appeared on his face. He loved his younger siblings and missed them at times like this. They’d grown up close, huddling together in one of their bedrooms while their parents fought about everything under the sun. While the mismatched couple had never hit each other, sometimes their words had been worse than fists. Surprisingly, Phillip and Jacqueline Knight had only taken their frustrations over their unhappy marriage out on each other. Darius had wondered at times if the doting affection they’d lavished on their children had been a sort of one-upmanship to see who could earn the title of “favorite parent.” He would never understand why they hadn’t divorced. Darius and his siblings hadn’t thought things could get any worse, but they’d been wrong. One night had changed everything.
Darius would never forget the call he’d received from his brother five years ago. A drunk driver had run a red light, killing Jacqueline instantly. In a way, she’d been far luckier than her husband. His head injury had robbed him of ten years of his life leading up to the accident. The last thing he remembered was one of the fights he’d had with his wife when she’d stormed out of the house, threatening to never come back. While she had returned a few hours later, as she’d always done, in his mind, she’d abandoned him. Now, Phil thought his children were fifteen years younger than they were. Paranoia had also set in. He rarely left the trailer he insisted on living in on the outskirts of Brookford, a small town dwarfed by the Smoky Blue Mountains in Tennessee. The townspeople knew well enough by now not to disturb the old man who would rant and rave and threaten anyone who stepped on his small half-acre of property. The only reason he hadn’t been arrested for making threats was Levi was the town’s police chief. Barrie, a midwife, and Levi would check on their father, making certain he had food and supplies and hadn’t hidden any shotgun shells he could use to hurt someone. They still hadn’t figured out where he was getting the damn things every few months, but at least they’d managed to find most, if not all, of his hiding spots. They would just convince the old man he’d done some target practice recently whenever he discovered his new ammo missing. Yeah, they were conning him, but whatever worked.
“Hey, sis. What’d you make for dinner?” Once or twice a week, Barrie and Levi had dinner together. With both their busy jobs, they sometimes sat down for the meal later than most people did. Barrie loved to cook, and Levi liked to reap the benefits of letting her use the spacious kitchen that had come with the house he’d purchased a few years ago.
“Momma’s beef stew.”
That was all she had to say to get Darius’s stomach grumbling. Their mother had been an accomplished cook and left behind a well-used box filled with all her favorite comfort-food recipes handwritten on index cards. Barrie treasured the box and its contents, often recreating their mother’s culinary masterpieces.
“One of these days I’m going to convince you to make a pot of that and ship it overnight to me.” He paused. “How’s Dad doing?”
“Ornery as ever,” Levi responded. “I was out there yesterday because a few teenagers wanted to see who was brave enough to poke the bear. Thank God I confiscated Dad’s new stash of shells the day before. He scared the crap out of those kids with an empty shotgun. I doubt they’ll try to take him on again. I think two of them pissed their pants when he circled around and snuck up on them.”
“Who called it in?” Darius couldn’t see the kids calling 9-1-1. That was the type of stuff you kept under your hat in their neck of the woods—messing with the local loon. Not that Phil Knight, a former lumberjack, had always been crazy and paranoid, but after the past five years, that was how he’d be remembered by many people when he passed away.
“No one had to. I was on the phone with him when the Russians invaded.”
“Oh, jeez.” This time it had been the Russians in their father’s mind. The last time it had been the North Koreans, and before that it had been the Viet Cong, not that Phil had fought any of them during his four years in the Army after enlisting at eighteen. As far as his kids knew, the man had served all his time stateside.
“Yup. I hightailed it over there with two of my deputies. You think these stupid kids would learn.” They wouldn’t, and both brothers knew it, so Levi changed the subject. “So, are you back in the Sunshine State?”
“Yeah, got back a couple of days ago but had to deal with a debriefing and stuff.” Darius’s brother and sister had learned and accepted long ago there were many things about his work in the SEALs and Trident Security that he couldn’t discuss with them. While sometimes their curiosity got the better of them, and they asked questions he wasn’t always able to answer, they were used to him saying “no comment.” “Listen, I’ve got something to tell you ... I’m ... uh ... getting married.”
Levi’s shocked “holy shit” was barely audible over Barrie’s squeal of excitement. “O.M.G.! Get out of here! I didn’t even know you were dating anyone. What’s her name? Where’s she from? What does she do? How did you meet her? When doweget to meet her?”
Chuckling, Darius shook his head. Barrie had always had a habit of rattling off a string of questions without waiting for an answer to any of them until she ran out of things to ask. Once there was a break in the interrogation, Darius responded, “Her name is Tahira. She’s from a small country in North Africa called Timasur, and she’s a ... um ... a princess.” Damn, that sounded so weird, even to him.
There was silence over the phone, and Darius pulled it from his ear to check the screen and see if he’d gotten disconnected. Nope. They were still there. “Guys, say something.”
A roar of laughter came from Levi. “Good joke, big brother. A princess? Right, like you could ever hook a princess. Maybe in a fairy tale.”
“Darius, damn it! I was all ready to start planning a wedding. That was mean.”
