Rashid blew a breath out of his nose, his expression fierce. Had she oversold it? Would he now accuse her of trying to help the princess escape?
He clamped his hand around her arm and pulled her down the hall into a darker part of the building. Too late, Regina realized they were up here completely alone—no guests and no guards. Rashid had wanted complete privacy. Was it so they could be intimate, or did he want no witnesses when he had her kidnapped for betraying him?
He made a sharp turn down another short hall and threw open a door. He flung Regina in ahead of him and closed it behind them. At least he wasn’t locking her up alone—for now.
She stumbled and struggled to regain her balance in her heels. She blinked and quickly took in the room, searching for anything that could be used as a weapon. He’d taken her to some sort of small parlor with a wide couch covered in pillows. Maybe she could use the cut glass decanter on a table beside it to conk him on the head. It looked solid enough. Now she knew where he’d stashed his bourbon. Little chance this was to be her prison. Which left the other option.
Regina turned to see Rashid staring at her with lust-filled eyes.
“You called me your lover. Is that what you want, little queen?”
Oh, shit. I did, didn’t I? Think fast.
“Not like this,” she snapped. “Not like a common whore.” She marched up to him, shocked at how quickly the lust in his eyes turned to confusion laced with…was that fear?
No way! She pressed her lips together to keep from grinning.
“How could you ever call me a queen after that?No.” She shook her head and raised her hand as if to slap him and he flinched. She lowered it again, holding his gaze. She lowered her voice. “When you take me you will do so as your wife, as a queen beside you. And in return, I will give you everything you’ve ever wanted, things your other wives could never give you.” She narrowed her eyes, filling them with a look of smoky lust. “We are alike in what we want. What weneed. If you take me now, you will destroy that and you will never find it again. So, let me show you how I can be instead.”
To her utter shock, he dropped to his knees in front of her.
“What can I give you besides my soul?”
Whoa. Really?
She reached under his ghutra and stroked his hair. “Let me show you that I am your match. Let me punishher.” She didn’t think she needed to say Sana’s name. “Let me punish her while you watch, and know my loyalty for you goes to my soul.”
He looked down at the garishly patterned carpet. “Little queen. I?—”
A loud banging on the door behind them made him jump to his feet, his eyes wide. He looked for all the world like a teenager caught with a girl in his room.
That’s when she knew. Any other woman and he wouldn’t have cared to get caught. She would have been little more than furniture. But he didn’t want to be caught with Regina. She meant something more to him. Which made all of this even more dangerous.
He held up a finger that saidwaitwhile he went to the door. Regina backed away, out of direct view. She listened in as a man speaking Arabic told Rashid his son was requesting his presence and that the formal party was about to begin. Rashid begged him off, told him to wait in the hall, he was almost ready.
Rashid spared one look at Regina.
“My little queen, you shall have everything you want.”
Then he was gone.
Regina sprinted to the closed door and listened to two sets of footsteps moving away down the hall. No way was she staying one minute longer than she had to in this room now that she’d secured a meeting with Sana. Resisting a victory dance, Regina grabbed the doorknob.
It wouldn’t turn. And there was no lock on this side.
“Son of a bitch.” Had he locked her in here on purpose or by accident? Was she stupid enough to have fallen for his act? No, she couldn’t be locked in. She was just high on adrenaline and not seeing a way out. She tried again as if the door would open. She jiggled the handle in case it was stuck, throwing her weight against the door.
It didn’t budge.
No use yelling. No one was up here. No one would hear her.
I’m not going to panic. Panicking is stupid. He believes me. This was an accident.
Regina looked around the room again. Maybe it was connected to another one like a hotel suite. Nope.
But there was a window, or at least heavy, drawn curtains promising one behind them.
She crossed the room, thinking to turn off the table lamp beside the decanter at the last second. She had no idea what or who might be below the window and she didn’t want to be seen. The room plunged into darkness but light seeped back in when she threw the curtain aside.
