Page 43 of Her Irresistible Sheik
“Ease up on the string.”He touched her fingers softly.“Shift more pressure to your front hand—like this.”
He demonstrated, adjusting her grip and stance.Over the next thirty minutes, she shot again and again, and to her immense satisfaction, her aim steadily improved.Two out of ten arrows actually hit the target.The rest… well, at least none of them crashed into windows or ricocheted off stone.That one rogue arrow from earlier was best left unspoken.
“Try again,” Mikail murmured.This time, he stepped closer, his chest brushing lightly against her back.
Nahla tensed slightly, hyper-aware of his warmth and strength as he wrapped his arms around her and helped guide her posture.His hand over hers, they pulled the string together.
She released—and the arrow hit dead center with a satisfyingthunk!
Nahla gasped.“I did it!”She spun around and threw her arms around him in excitement.“I actually did it!”
Then she stepped back quickly, laughing.“Okay,wedid it.But still, that was incredibly satisfying!”
Mikail stood frozen, staring at her.His brain registered nothing except the bounce of her breasts under her T-shirt and the sparkle in her eyes.
When she bent down to grab another arrow, he took a very strategic step backward—because if she leaned back even an inch, things were about to get far more complicated.
From a safer distance, he watched her fire again—and land another solid shot near the center ring.
She squealed with triumph, bouncing slightly on her toes, and he nearly groaned.
“Seems like you’ve figured it out,” Mikail said, clearing his throat.“I’ll let you get back to it.I have work to do.”
He turned, walking briskly toward the doorway.But halfway across the courtyard, he paused to ask one of the servants to bring Nahla an umbrella to shield her from the sun.
An hour later, sitting in a stuffy council meeting, Mikail had no recollection of anything that had been discussed.His mind kept returning to the feeling of her soft body against his chest… and the wild joy in her eyes when she’d struck her target.
Chapter 24
Clyde muttered several expletives as silently as possible.Limping away, he had to drag his left leg because the bitch had shot an arrow right into his ass!His left butt cheek throbbed and he suspected the arrow had lodged deeper than he thought.Still, he needed to get the hell away from that damned courtyard before the stupid bitch realized that she was missing an arrow because it was stuck in his ass!
He made it all the way to another closet and slammed the door closed, in too much pain to pay attention to the security cameras or the sounds of his groans.Reaching behind him, he grabbed the shaft of the arrow and, inhaling while also holding his breath, he yanked the arrow free.It took three tries and he knew that he was tearing more flesh, but he finally got the damn arrow out.
Leaning against the wall, he took several deep breaths, working through the pain.Now that the arrow was out, the pain wasn’t as intense, but his ass still throbbed.
How the hell had she managed to shoot him?The woman was one of the worst archers he’d ever seen.Her arrows were flying everywhere except at the target, without enough force behind them to even lodge the tips into a tree branch or the trunk of a tree!
When the sheik had come out and given her a few tips, the arrows had been only slightly more accurate.So, how the hell had she shot him?
He’d followed her to the courtyard, intending to just shoot her.But her bodyguards and the vegetation had kept him from getting a good angle on her.
Now, he looked down at his right hand, the thumb encased in a splint.He also had a wad of cotton stuffed into his mouth because the tooth he’d knocked out while trying to eat that scone still occasionally bled.
And now he had another wound from her damned arrow!The indignities kept piling up.
For a moment, he considered just walking away, finding a place to heal and regroup.But as soon as he shifted his weight, pain shot through him.
“No!”he groaned, shaking his head.“I’ll never give up.She needs to be taught a lesson!”
Stepping out of the closet, he peered around, cognizant of the other palace staff members that moved efficiently through the halls.He wore the uniform of a palace custodian today, which was yet another insult.He was a freaking assassin, feared by people all over the world!Now he was reduced to a wounded, limping, broken thumbed moron with an arrow wound in his ass!
He’d show her what he was capable of, Clyde thought as he limped his way down the hall.
Chapter 25
“Your Highness, we have a situation,” Tom announced, barely pausing to knock before striding into Mikail’s office.In one hand, he held a bloodied arrow.In the other, a tablet.
“What’s going on?”Mikail demanded, rising from behind his desk.His eyes narrowed, his brow furrowed.The arrow alone was enough to signal a problem—presumably one involving Nahla.
