Bound to Her Desert Captor

by Michelle Conder

  ‘I suppose in hindsight agreeing to pose as his fiancée was really naive,’ Regan admitted. ‘I thought there would be less fallout from that but there’s been more.’

  ‘That’s because it’s a romance story for the ages. Everyone wants it to be true.’ She took a long sip of coffee. ‘Whatever happened to the press release you said you signed?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ Regan frowned; the lack of a press release had continued to perturb her. ‘He must have only put it out locally.’

  ‘It wouldn’t matter if he’d put it out in the palace toilets...the world would still know about it by now.’

  Regan gave Penny a faint smile. Having her by her side the past week had been a godsend. Penny had taken one look at her face the first day back at work and shuffled her into the staffroom and closed the door behind them, giving her a hug. Having been through heartache herself, she understood the signs.

  The other teachers at the school hadn’t been so understanding, some asking her intimate questions about what the King was like, obviously looking for some insider’s scoop, and others upset because she had brought a cavalcade of media to the school gates and it just wasn’t done.

  ‘Have you had another look online?’ Penny asked.

  Regan didn’t want to look online. When she did she was bombarded with photo after photo of herself and the King. It was too painful to look at.

  ‘At least if you called the palace you could ask about it,’ Penny persisted. ‘Regan, you have a right to live your life without being harassed.’ She slapped her mug on the counter. ‘Give me the number. If you’re not going to call, I will. It’s not as if they’ll put me through to the King or anything.’

  ‘Penny, I love you for wanting to help but I don’t think it will. I—’

  A hard rap at the door brought both their heads around. ‘How did they get up here? You have a security door downstairs.’

  ‘Maybe one of the neighbours accidentally let them through,’ Regan whispered.

  Penny went to the window again and peered outside. ‘Well, don’t answer the door whatever you do—I can’t see a single photographer outside, which means that they’re all piled up against your front door.’

  Regan groaned. ‘What am I going to do?’

  ‘Regan! I know you’re in there. Open the door.’

  Regan froze, her eyes flying to Penny’s.

  ‘Damn, but whoever that is they have a yummy voice,’ Penny said. ‘Pity they’re probably scum as well.’

  ‘It’s him.’

  Penny frowned. ‘Who?’

  Regan had to swallow before she could get the words out. ‘The King,’ she whispered.

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Regan!’

  Regan nodded. ‘I’d know his voice anywhere.’

  ‘Good lord...what do you think he wants?’

  ‘I have no idea.’

  ‘Regan, please open the door.’

  Penny raised a brow. ‘He said please that time. Do you want me to get it?’

  Regan shook her head. ‘I will.’

  On legs that felt like overcooked spaghetti, Regan walked to the door and opened it. As soon as she did her heart stopped beating. When it started again it jumped into her mouth.

  Jag stood on her doorstep with what looked like two paratroopers behind him, a dark scowl on his face. ‘You’re lucky you answered it when you did. I was just about to break it down.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘I thought something had happened to you. You haven’t answered a single call I’ve made in the last ten hours.’

  ‘Oh.’ Still trying to take in the fact that he was here, in New York, on her doorstep, she stared at him blankly. ‘I’ve stopped carrying my phone around with me because it never stops ringing.’

  ‘Do you know how dangerous that is?’

  ‘At the minute I go from work to home and back again. Anything else is impossible.’

  ‘That’s because you didn’t take the security detail I organised for you. That was not a good call.’

  ‘You’re not responsible for me.’

  ‘The hell I’m not.’ His blue eyes turned fierce. ‘Didn’t you think something like this would happen? That the paparazzi would want your story?’

  ‘No. I told you my world is usually a lot smaller than yours. I didn’t know what to expect until I got here and then...’

  ‘You should have called me to tell me!’

  ‘I wasn’t sure you’d take my call.’ And she couldn’t have lived with that. ‘Listen, I’m fine. I appreciate your concern but... I can cope.’

  He ran his eyes over her and she felt terribly exposed in her cut-off shorts and worn T-shirt.

  ‘I know you can cope. You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever met.’ He dragged a hand through his hair and her pulse rocketed at the memory of how it had felt on her fingers.

  The air between them seemed to throb as it usually did when he was this close, and she saw him swallow heavily.

  ‘We’re not having this conversation out here, Regan.’ He strode past her into her flat and Regan felt helpless to stop him.

  She nearly ran smack into the back of him when he stopped in the doorway to her living room.

  ‘Who are you?’

  ‘I’m ah... I’m ah... Penny, Regan’s friend.’

  ‘Well, Penny, Regan’s friend, I’m King Jaeger of Santara, Regan’s fiancée, and I’d really like to talk to her alone.’

  ‘Oh, sure. Of course.’ Penny seemed to visibly pull herself together at being confronted by royalty. ‘Well, that is, if it’s okay with Regan.’

  Regan was still trying to process what he had just announced. ‘You’re not still my fiancée.’

  He turned his piercing blue eyes on her. ‘Actually I am. I haven’t officially ended things between us yet.’

  ‘You haven’t...’ She frowned. ‘I gave you back the ring and Milena is home. The deal ended then.’

  ‘I’m changing the terms of it.’

  ‘You can’t do that.’

  He looked at her with patient exasperation. ‘Will you please give your friend permission to leave? Unless you want an audience for the rest of this conversation.’

  ‘Oh, sorry. Yes, Penny, I’m fine. He won’t hurt me.’

  At least he wouldn’t intentionally hurt her, but looking at him, being this close to him... Her chest felt tight with the strain of holding her emotions inside.

  ‘I’ll call you,’ Penny promised before slipping out of the door. When it clicked closed behind her Regan had to place her hand over her chest to keep her emotions back. It was only then that she noticed how dishevelled and tired he looked.

  ‘Look, I know you feel responsible about the paparazzi,’ she began, ‘but I don’t know how you can fix it. I don’t want to walk around town swamped by security guards. It will only make things worse. Did you release the press statement yet? Penny thinks that will make it easier.’ She pulled a face. ‘Even without the ring, they refuse to believe we’re not still together. They think I’m trying to play coy.’

  She plonked herself down on her favourite armchair and remembered the shelling of questions she’d received ever since landing back in New York.

  ‘Where’s the King? When is he planning to visit you?’

  ‘Have you set a wedding date yet?’

  ‘Give us a smile, Regan. Tell us how you met.’

  She’d even been invited on a talk show.

  ‘I didn’t release the statement,’ he said, pacing around her small flat and dwarfing it with his superior size.

  ‘Why not? And what do you mean, you’re changing the terms of our deal? Why would you want to do that?’

  ‘Because I was wrong, and that’s not easy for me to admit.’ He came to stand in front of her. ‘You were right when you said that Milen
a didn’t want to marry the Prince of Toran. She doesn’t. At least, she doesn’t yet. You’ll be happy to know that I spoke to her on my way over here and the wedding has been postponed for a year. I’ve also agreed that she can resume her job at GeoTech and keep working with your brother.’

  ‘That’s really nice of you. But you know you’re not responsible for Milena’s actions, don’t you?’

  ‘Not completely no, but after her health scare a few years back I stopped listening to what she wanted and thought I knew best. A mistake I don’t want to make with you.’

  ‘How could you make that mistake with me?’

  ‘By presuming you want the same thing that I do.’ He squatted down in front of her so they were at eye level.

  Regan’s heart leapt into her throat. ‘What is it you want?’

  ‘You.’

  ‘Me?’

  He gave her a small smile. ‘When you left, habiba, you took a part of me with you. A part of me I wasn’t even aware existed.’

  The bleak look in his eyes made her feel suddenly hot and cold all over. ‘What did I take?’

  ‘My heart, habiba; you took my heart.’

  A bubble of something that felt faintly like hope swelled inside her chest. ‘What are you saying?’

  He released a heavy sigh, his eyes full of emotion when they met hers. ‘I’m saying that I love you.’

  ‘But that’s impossible.’

  ‘You doubt it?’ He gave a self-deprecating laugh. ‘I detained you. I bound you to my side by making you my fiancée.’

  ‘For your sister.’

  ‘I told myself that too, but the truth is you got under my skin from the first moment I saw you in that shisha bar, and every decision I made from then on defied logic and reason. That should have been my first clue.’

  Regan felt dazed. Dizzy. ‘But you don’t believe in love.’

  ‘That’s not strictly true, ya amar.’ He gave her a small smile. ‘I do believe in it. I just didn’t think I needed it.’ He took her trembling hands and drew her to her feet. ‘The thing is, Regan, I’m hopeless when it comes to emotions. All my life it’s been easier to shut down than to expose myself to pain. If you don’t feel anything you don’t hurt.’ He gave a sharp laugh as if the concept was ludicrous to him now. ‘It was that simple. I thought it made me stronger. I convinced myself a long time ago that I didn’t need love in my life—I even thought I wasn’t able to feel it—but I was wrong. I just didn’t realise how wrong until I lost you.’

  ‘You didn’t lose me,’ Regan said softly, stepping closer to him. ‘I only left because I thought you didn’t want me.’

  He shook his head. ‘Not want you? I can’t stop wanting you.’

  ‘Then why did you always find it so easy to turn away from me?’

  ‘Practice. But I’m sick of practising walking away. It’s what both my parents did my whole life and I didn’t even know I’d taken on that part of them until you left. Now I want to practise staying put. I want to practise being open. I want to practise being in love. With you.’

  Regan smiled so wide her cheeks hurt. ‘You do?’

  ‘I do.’ A slow smile started on his face. ‘Will you have me, habiba, flaws and all?’

  ‘Only if you’ll have me, flaws and all.’

  ‘You have none.’

  Regan laughed. ‘Now I know you really do love me because I have loads.’

  He swung her into his arms, his head coming down to hers for a desperate, heated kiss. ‘I’ve missed you, habiba. Tell me you’ve missed me too.’

  ‘Oh, Jag, I have.’ Happiness swelled inside her chest. ‘I really have.’

  ‘Regan, ya amar...’ He kissed her again. Harder. Deeper. ‘I love you, so much.’

  Regan stared at him dreamily. ‘I can’t really believe it.’

  ‘Believe it, habiba. Do you remember that photo you took of me with Arrow? The one in the desert?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘You asked me what I was thinking when you took it and I told you that I didn’t remember.’ He smoothed her hair back from her face. ‘Ask me again.’

  ‘What were you thinking?’ she asked dreamily.

  ‘I was thinking how happy I was being in the desert with you. I was thinking that I couldn’t remember ever being that happy before.’

  Regan couldn’t contain her joy and didn’t try. ‘I was thinking the exact same thing. You looked so magnificent I couldn’t take my eyes off you.’

  Jag dragged her mouth back to his, his hands skating over her back, holding her tightly. Finally he lifted his head, groaning with the effort. ‘I want forever with you, habiba. Can you give me that, even though it means you’ll be the centre of everyone’s attention for ever and a day?’

  ‘Jag, I could give you anything at all as long as I’m the centre of your attention.’

  ‘Habiba, you already are. You’re the centre of my world.’

  EPILOGUE

  MILENA STOOD BEHIND Regan and adjusted the train on her ivory wedding dress.

  ‘You look so beautiful,’ she murmured, misty-eyed.

  Regan smiled, unable to believe that today was her wedding day. ‘Thank you. I feel so nervous and I don’t know why.’

  ‘Bridal nerves,’ Milena said, smoothing down her own rose-gold gown. ‘But you don’t have to worry about my brother. You’ve transformed him. I’ve never seen him so happy and it fills my heart with joy.’

  ‘He makes me happy too. These past three months of being with him have given me more happiness than I could have ever hoped to feel.’

  More than she had ever expected to feel. For so many years she had put her own needs aside and, although she would never regret any of those years, being with Jag had made her truly blossom. She gazed at the solid-gold bracelet on her wrist that he had given her as a pre-wedding present. The jeweller had inlaid a photo of her parents on their wedding day and she stroked a finger across their smiling faces. ‘Thank you,’ she murmured. ‘For loving me and in the process showing me how to love in turn.’

  Tears formed behind her eyes and she blinked them back. Jag had given it as a token of his love, asking that she be patient with him if he ever forgot how to express his feelings towards her, but she hadn’t needed to be. He told her he loved her every time he looked at her, his eyes alight with emotion.

  Milena stopped fussing with her veil. ‘You already feel like the sister I never had, and I want you to know that I’m well aware that you’re the reason my brother is allowing me to go and study in London later in the year.’

  ‘You’ll always be his little sister, and he’ll always worry about you. But I think you’re doing the right thing.’

  ‘I do too. And I can’t believe the Crown Prince is still willing to marry me even though I’m postponing things. But I want what you and my brother have and I’m determined not to settle for anything less.’

  Regan smiled. ‘Good for you. I can promise you that it’s worth the wait.’

  Brimming with happiness, Regan turned when Penny poked her head around the corner. ‘You’d better get out here,’ she said, stern-faced. ‘Your King isn’t going to wait for ever, Reggie. He looks like he’s about to come tearing down the aisle and drag you to the altar himself.’

  Regan grinned. She wouldn’t put it past him and she wouldn’t mind a bit. All her life she’d dreamed of finding a love that could rival her parents’ and she had. Feeling her nerves finally settle, she took a deep breath. ‘Where’s Chad?’

  ‘Waiting.’

  Regan nodded and stepped onto the red carpet. The assembled crowd gave a collective gasp as they saw her. Chad stepped forward. ‘You look beautiful, sis.’ His eyes, the same shade of brown as her own, sparkled into hers.

  ‘I love you, you know that, right?’ she said softly.

  He gave her a tiny smile. ‘I love y
ou too. Now, let’s move before your possessive fiancé accuses me of holding up the wedding proceedings.’

  Regan laughed, and placed her hand in the crook of his arm. ‘Then let’s go,’ she said, turning to lock eyes with the man of her dreams waiting with barely leashed patience for her to join him at the end of the aisle.

  * * * * *

  If you enjoyed BOUND TO HER DESERT CAPTOR

  why not explore these other Michelle Conder stories?

  THE ITALIAN’S VIRGIN ACQUISITION

  DEFYING THE BILLIONAIRE’S COMMAND

  HIDDEN IN THE SHEIKH’S HAREM

  RUSSIAN’S RUTHLESS DEMAND

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  Keep reading for an excerpt from A MISTRESS, A SCANDAL, A RING by Angela Bissell.

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