He shook his head. “Once, maybe. But now you are the woman I love and intend to make my wife.”
“Love? Love?” she repeated, incredulous. “Is this how you treat someone you love?”
He took a step toward her and she had to fight not to step away. To do that would be to show weakness and she knew that never worked. “It’s how I treat someone who I need to claim.” He leered at her closely. “And I will make you mine. I’ll keep you here for as long as it takes to make you pregnant. And then you would be too humiliated to do anything other than make me your husband.”
“You are wrong.”
“No, I’m not wrong. You are too proud for anyone to imagine you have been humbled as I intend to humble you.”
Think, Elaheh, think. She had only her brains to protect her now. He was too big and too strong and she wasn’t trained in self defense to handle him. The only way out was the car and he had the keys in his pocket.
“You’re right, of course, Abzari,” she said, forcing her voice low and submissive.
His frown lifted and a sickening smile spread over his face. “I knew you’d see reason.” He gripped her shoulder and pulled her to him. It was what she wanted but she still had to force herself not to be repelled by everything about him—his sweating body, his odor, and the forceful grip of him. “Now, kiss me.”
That was going too far. She knew she couldn’t do it without retching. She tried to smile but his mouth was open on hers, open and wet, his tongue pushing into her mouth. She cried out, as at the same time her hand groped him, trying to find the keys. He seemed to take this as encouragement and pressed his hard erection against her, his hands bunching up her skirts, trying to draw them up her legs.
Just as his bear-like hands gripped her naked thigh she found the keys, pulled away from him and with all the force she could muster, kneed him in the groin. He doubled up with an oomph of air and an agonizing cry.
She ran around toward the door, yanked it open and then made a mistake. She turned to him, still bent double.
“I am not too proud to protect myself… in any way I can,” she said between gritted teeth. But, to her horror, he roared and threw himself at her and knocked her against the adobe wall, her head striking it and making the world spin. He slapped her face with his open hand and she tasted the metallic tang of blood, as the room turned upside down and she fell to the floor.
Elaheh lay on the beaten earth floor and spat blood out from her mouth. Her cheek pounded where he’d hit her. A roar filled her ears. At first she’d thought it was the blood pounding in her confused head, combined with the frenzied roar of Abzari. It was only when the table exploded into splinters as Abzari’s body fell onto it, that she realized, in her confusion that there was someone else in the room, someone else who was roaring.
Elaheh tried to roll over to see what was happening but the pain was too much on her arm. Lights suddenly exploded all around her, beaming into the room through previously black windows. She wondered if she’d died and had gone to hell—the pain, the screams and the fiery lights. The thought faded as her world suddenly turned black.
Chapter 11
“Ela, Ela,” the gentle voice repeated, over and over. She was reminded of her mother, not least because she felt as if she were being rocked to sleep, the gentle touch of a hand upon her cheek. Perhaps it wasn’t hell she’d landed in, but heaven. A promised land where she could forget her pain and sorrows and be reunited with her mother.
She sighed and tried to turn over but a blast of pain shot through her. No, not heaven then. This was the pain of the living. She opened her eyes to find Xander’s tender gaze upon her.
“Thank God you’ve awoken.”
She struggled to sit up but winced as they were thrown around.
“We’re just leaving the desert, there’s an ambulance waiting. Sit back. Your arm is broken.”
She did as he said, finding his own arm was cradling her. He held her against him, softening the bouncing of the vehicle, and she turned her face to his body, needing his comfort, as his hand stroked over her back.
“I have you now, Ela. I have you. You’re safe.”
She didn’t want to move, but she had to know. With all the effort she could, she looked up at him. “What about Abzari? What happened to him?”
“He’s dead. Killed by his own hand rather than face the consequences of his actions. He had a knife on him but he turned it on himself, rather than me, or you.”
She closed her eyes briefly as the image of self-inflicted violence slammed into her mind. “I don’t know what happened to him. For years he watched out for me, protected me. And all the while…” She couldn’t bear to express what it was she now knew he’d been thinking.
“All the while he was hiding his true thoughts and feelings. He wanted you, and he wanted your kingdom. And he was determined to have both, no matter what it took.”
“You know, he might have succeeded, if it weren’t for you, Xander.”
“I came along just in time.”
“No.” She held her finger against his cheek. “I don’t mean that. I mean that you taught me how to be strong.”
“You were always strong.”