“Anyway…” she said, feeling awkward as she pushed the hair out of her eyes. “I’ll just…”
She backed away, unable to look at him. She didn’t want to see what was in his eyes, not wanting to feel anything more for this man. He’d been kind but she was also somewhat ashamed of her status. What kind of woman was still a virgin at twenty-five? Either a woman who no one wanted, or a woman afraid of life. She was neither of those things, she reminded herself.
“So now that you know the truth, I imagine that you don’t really need me to stay here any longer. I’m not experienced, I can’t do fabulous sexual tricks that will blow your mind away and I won’t have casual sex with you. So that just about eliminates all of your needs.”
Nazar stared at her, not comprehending what she was talking about. Was she crazy? She was even more important to him now! He suddenly realized that Nikki was the woman he’d been waiting for.
Previous to this conversation, he’d wanted her. Quite desperately. More desperately than any other woman he’d ever run into. But now, knowing that she had never been touched by any man…well, he was enough of an old fashioned man to like the idea of being her only lover. Really like it. If he were a better man, a more enlightened man, he would be ashamed of his feelings. But he didn’t care. All he cared about now was getting her to trust him enough so that all his other plans could fall into place, plans that were expanding even as the two of them stood in the earthy stables.
She spun around and started walking into the palace and for several seconds, he enjoyed the gentle sway of her hips, the feminine curve of her bottom and her slender, muscular legs. His Nicole wasn’t one of those skinny women who starved themselves to stay thin. He realized that she was strong and muscular. She worked hard to maintain her figure. Not too thin though, which he liked. A lot. But those thighs had long, strong muscles underneath the smooth skin.
And he also realized that he hadn’t responded to her comment about her leaving. No way in hell!
“Nikki!” he called out to her, almost smiling when he saw her shoulders tense with his voice. He moved closer to her, towering over her once again and he almost laughed at those nervous, beautiful eyes. “That only makes you more beautiful in my eyes, Nicole.” He waited for his words to hit her then he said, “And you aren’t going anywhere.”
Her eyes widened with that declaration. “But…”
“No but’s Nicole. We will be together. You need to accept that.”
She shook her head, so confused she thought her head might explode. Or was that anger? She wasn’t completely sure.
With a screech of fury, she swung around and raced away, running as fast as her legs could carry her. She didn’t care where she was going and didn’t really have a destination in mind other than just getting away from him. She couldn’t believe how arrogant he was! How conceited. Why did he think he could simply keep a person in his dreary, old palace without her consent? It was kidnapping! Okay, so she’d snuck in here by herself but that didn’t mean she had to stay! It didn’t give him the right to keep her here!
Shoot! She hated being reasonable but there was the sticky little issue that he probably did have the right. In fact, he probably was being extremely generous in not throwing her in prison and forgetting about her. But goodness! At this point, she might prefer prison to what she could anticipate from him.
When she reached an empty room, she threw open the doors and slipped inside, grateful for the solitude so she could stomp around and get out all her frustrations. This situation was completely her fault. She’d come here, knowing what he was about, just trying to find her friend and she’d completely messed everything up. She didn’t know where Brianna was other than some vague reassurance from Nazar that she was okay. She didn’t have any way out. She had no way of contacting anyone and, she opened the doors to the room she’d just stumbled into, peering out into the hallway. Sure enough, the body guards were standing outside the door, neither one appeared to be even slightly out of breath from chasing after her.
How had they caught up with her? She’d been running fast and she hadn’t seen them when she’d sprinted out of the stables. Well, maybe she hadn’t been looking, but that was because Nazar had said things….she shook her head and slammed the door shut once again, pacing back and forth in the enormous room.
She shouldn’t have told him about her sexual status, she thought. Maybe he thought of it simply as a challenge. In the past, other men had thought she just needed “to be touched in the right way” and had done all they could to convince her to let him be her first. She’d been repulsed by their efforts, irritated that they’d thought she just hadn’t found the right guy.
Well, maybe that was true enough. No man affected her like Nazar did with just a simple touch. But that didn’t mean she wanted him to be her first. Definitely not! No, she’d much rather find a man who was more sensitive. Someone who at least respected her right to not be kidnapped! Or kept prisoner!
Ugh! She’d really messed up.
She sat down in one of the comfortable sofas, absently impressed with how nice it really felt. But foremost in her mind was trying to push aside her anger and come up with a plan. So she’d messed up. She’d gotten herself into a pickle like no other pickle jar had ever seen. But what was she going to do to fix it? How was she going to get out of the pickle jar without falling into…fire? Brine?
Even she had to shake her head at how ridiculous her analogy had gotten. But the point was, she had to figure out what to do to get out of this mess. She was creative and resourceful. Somehow, someway, she had to leave this palace.
Chapter 7
Nikki pressed her ear to the door and listened, noting the silence. That didn’t mean that the guards weren’t there. It just meant they weren’t chatting like she would be. Of course they would be more disciplined than she was. The memory of her and Brianna trying to sneak out of their foster home one night so they could meet Rachel at the school dance came to mind. They’d almost been caught simply because Nikki had been chattering on and on about something to Brianna.
Of course, Brianna had thought it was only because Nikki was fearless, that Nikki was chattering away as if to snub her nose at their foster home parents. In fact, the complete opposite was the case. When she was nervous about getting caught, the filter in her brain that would normally close her mouth just opened up and all the thoughts she was thinking simply jumped out.