The horse’s hooves thudded patiently against the rocky dunes as they rose over a hill. An oasis came into view in the valley below. The horse picked its way down the slope as sure-footed as a cat. The mirrored expanse of water reflected the dying red of the sunset, palm trees and plants grew in profusion around the water’s edge. The rasp of her kidnapper’s breathing echoed in her ears, making her heart thunder against her ribs.
Was that arousal she could hear in his rough breathing? How would she know? She’d never been in a man’s arms before when he was aroused.
Not the point, Kasia. Focus. For goodness’ sake.
The numbness in her fingers as she gripped the saddle horn tingled, her thighs quivered and burned, sore from what had to have been several hours on horseback. She became aware of the stinging pain where the sandstorm had abraded her exposed skin and got into her eyes.
She gulped, trying to force her tired mind to come up with a plan.
If he’d saved her from the storm, maybe he wasn’t planning to hurt her, now would be a good time to start talking to him.
‘Thank you for saving me from the sandstorm,’ she said, with as much authority as she could muster with her throat raw and her body brutally aware of the solid chest imprinted on her back. ‘I’m a close friend of the Queen. She will pay you handsomely for returning me to the palace now.’ The words flowed out, sounding impossibly loud in the quiet night.
But he didn’t reply, his body pressing heavily against her as the horse approached the water. She spotted a large tent erected in a copse of palm trees. The horse loped to a stop in front of the tent, and her heartbeat careered into her throat.
The scent of fresh water dispelled the fetid odour of horse and the salty scent of the man. She pushed his chest with her shoulder, freeing her arms from their confinement.
He grunted again, the sound trailing off into a moan, but strangely the panic from earlier didn’t return.
He was big and clearly very strong, having ridden for miles to escape the storm, but the way he was holding her didn’t feel threatening. It felt protective.
Unless that was just her cockeyed optimism taking another trip to Stockholm.
But he’d made no move to hurt her. So she clung onto her optimism—cockeyed or not—and repeated her promise of riches again in Narabian, but still got no response.
They sat together on the horse in silence, her whole body brutally aware of each subtle shift in his.
She could feel the thigh muscles that cupped her hips flex, sending a shaft of something hot and fluid through her. The wave of arousal shocked her. How could she be turned on? When she didn’t even know if this man was a good guy or not?
He shifted again, his moan shivering down her spine. But then the arm around her waist loosened. And his body began to slide to one side.
What the…? Was he dismounting?
She squeezed the horse’s sides with her knees and grasped the saddle horn. The rush of air at her back as his hot weight slid away was followed by a loud thud.
She gazed down to see the man lying on the ground beneath the horse.
‘Whoa, boy,’ she whispered frantically, scared the horse might bolt. But after stamping its hooves far too close to the man’s head, it settled, its tail swishing.
How could he have fallen off the horse? Was he asleep? Was that why he hadn’t replied? He had to be even more exhausted than she was after their ride.
The questions whipped around her brain. Relief and confusion tangled in her belly.
Leaning over the horse’s neck, she grasped the dangling reins. She hadn’t ridden a horse since leaving Narabia for the UK, and certainly never one this enormous, but as she went to kick the horse with her heels, she glanced down at the man again. He hadn’t moved, the lump of his body just lying there on the ground. Her legs relaxed and, instead of spurring the horse on, she found herself scrambling down from the huge beast.
Perhaps she was nuts—a cockeyed optimist with a side order of starry-eyed romantic—but she just couldn’t bring herself to ride away and leave him lying there. Not after spending what had to have been several hours sleeping in his arms while he’d ridden them both to safety.
Landing on the other side, she grasped the reins and drew the animal further away from the rider’s inert form.
She tried to lead the horse to the tent in the trees, but it wouldn’t budge, simply snuffling and lifting its muzzle. ‘You don’t want to leave him, is that it?’
The horse bounced its head as if it was nodding.
Oh, for… Get a grip, Kasia. Horses don’t speak English—especially not Narabian bandit horses.
Eventually she gave up trying to coax the horse away. And stepped closer to the man’s prone figure. He hadn’t moved, but still she approached him with caution. He’d looked enormous on the horse, and being flat on his back didn’t seem to diminish his stature much.
A shooting star lit up the dark sky, and she gasped as bright light exploded above her, shedding its glow over the man at her feet. The black headdress covering his head and his nose and mouth had fallen off. He had wavy, dark hair, which stood up in sweaty tufts, but it was his strikingly handsome face that stole her breath.