Forbidden Seduction (The Diamond Club Book 12)

by Elizabeth Lennox

  Forbidden Seduction

  The Diamond Club Series

  By Elizabeth Lennox

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  Copyright 2020

  ISBN13: 9781950451203

  All rights reserved

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Any duplication of this material, either electronic or any other format, either currently in use or a future invention, is strictly prohibited, unless you have the direct consent of the author.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  The Burling School

  A Note from Elizabeth:

  Whitney’s Arrival

  Tamara’s Arrival

  Lana’s Arrival

  Ella’s Arrival

  Willow’s Arrival

  Naya’s Arrival

  Cassy’s Arrival

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  A bit of insight into the ladies you’re about to get to know:

  Excerpt from “Her Enemy, Her Lover”

  Chapter 1

  The moon was brighter tonight, creating deep shadows against the ground and rocks. But the unwanted moonlight couldn’t be helped. There could be no more waiting, her team had to move, now! Avi pulled the black scarf up over her mouth, and glanced at the group of men and women behind her, nodding confirmation that the operation was a “Go”.

  With a trained eye, Princess Aviera bin Saldira watched with approval as her team slipped around the rocks and buildings of the small compound. She’d recruited and trained this group over the past several years and they were impressively effective. Avi just hoped that this mission would go as smoothly as the others. Unfortunately, she had a bad feeling about tonight. Avi couldn’t quite put her finger on what was off. She just…felt the danger in the air. For a moment, she paused, looking around at the dark buildings, trying to figure out what was bothering her. Nothing moved. There were no sounds. She neither saw nor heard anything that would indicate that something was wrong and yet, Avi sensed a strange sort of danger.

  Still, her information warned her that tonight was the only night left. It had to be done!

  She pressed the button on her headset, indicating that her team should move in. Silently and with impressive stealth, the group stayed low and close to the buildings until they had everything in place. The truck was in place, the back gate carefully lowered.

  With nimble fingers, Avi worked the lock on the door. There was a small sound as the metal door groaned on its hinges and her team froze, listening intently, eyes alert for anything. When there was no response, Avi pressed the button on her radio again.

  Yes, something was desperately wrong, she decided as her team moved into the warehouse. And it wasn’t just that the dogs in this warehouse were oddly silent. Moving along the rows of cages, Avi looked at the too-still animals, her heart breaking. Most of them were asleep, some listlessly lifting their heads to stare blankly at Avi. But they didn’t jump up in greeting or bark or even wag their tails.

  “Get them out,” she whispered into her microphone. Quickly, the team moved all twenty dogs out of the disgusting, hot warehouse and into the waiting truck where nutritious food and clean water were waiting for them. She didn’t think any of the dogs were hurt, but suspected that they’d been drugged to keep them quiet, which infuriated her. Animals should be treasured, not drugged! This was abuse of the worst kind!

  Her team got the dogs loaded onto the truck but…something was still not right.

  “Let’s go,” her second in command whispered. The rest of the team slipped out of the warehouse, careful to be silent, all of them keeping an eye out for the guards. They’d watched this area for several days now, noting the time tables of the guards. Normally, the guards arrived in the morning and evening, but this small compound was abandoned during the night and during the daylight hours.

  Carefully, Avi scanned the area again. Standing against the wall of the warehouse, she peered at the second building. It was smaller than the warehouse, but still larger than the two guard houses. Normally, she would rescue her animals and get out of the area as fast as possible. But for some reason, her eyes wouldn’t move away from that second building.

  Something was in that building. Something bad. Something…!

  “Avi, we need to go!” her second in command hissed from the side of the building.

  “Just a second. I want to look in that other building,” she told him through the head set they all wore to keep in contact with each other. “Get back to the truck and get the rest of the team out of here. My motorcycle is hidden down the road, I can get to it by foot.”

  There was a long pause. “We’re not leaving you,” her friend warned. “Just hurry up.”

  Avi could still sense the danger and she wanted her team long gone, just in case anything went wrong. “No, get the dogs out of here. We don’t know what they were going to do with the dogs, but I want them safe. They need medical attention, so take care of them.”

  Avi would have smiled at her friend’s groan in her ear if she hadn’t been so worried about whatever was in that other building.

  Was she being careless, sending her team away? Making a snap decision, she pressed the button on her headset again. “Mark, on second thought, stay close. I have a bad feeling and I can’t put my finger on why.”

  Avi felt more than heard her whole team freeze as her words came over the radio. Her dark eyes scanned the area and, with determination and stealth, she moved to the door of the second building. The windows were high up on the cinderblock walls, but she found an old oil drum pushed up against the side of the building. Thankfully, she didn’t have to shift it in order to climb up onto it. Avi climbed up onto the drum, ignoring the dirt and rust, balancing carefully as she kept her hands on the wall. With the tips of her fingers, she reached up and peered through the wire windows into the building.

  It took a moment, her eyes adjusting to the darkness inside the building, but when she realized what she was staring at, her stomach lurched with horror. “Dear heaven!” she whispered softly.

  Tapping her radio button, she turned so that her back was against the wall. “Everyone, we have a problem,” she announced in a whisper as she climbed down from the empty, rusted out oil drum. “This building is filled with…” she didn’t finish, feeling a sense of urgency gnawing at her. “Open the back of the truck again and see if you can move it closer to the…”

  She didn’t hesitate. Moving around the building, she found the door and used her lock pick set, working on the deadbolt that had secured the door. This one was heavier and harder to open than the building holding the dogs, indicating that the contents of this building was more valuable to whoever was in charge. She was just about to call someone on her team for help when a strong hand cu
rled around her mouth, stopping the squeak.

  “Stay silent!” the voice whispered in her ear.

  Avi froze, terror almost choking her. But she’d trained for this and, with a swift jab, elbowed the person holding her. Unfortunately, her movement caused barely a grunt and resulted in an arm wrapping around her body. “Silence!” the rough voice hissed again.

  Avi was lifted out of the doorway by powerful arms and she watched in horror as several more black-clad, heavily armed men slipped through the doorway.

  When she struggled, desperate to get to the women in the building despite being outnumbered, those arms simply tightened. Not hurting her, but she could not move or call out.

  “We’re on the same side, little one,” the voice whispered, low and raspy. Not believing him, she tried to jerk out of his arms, but he only shifted his hold.

  The men, ten in all, moved into the building. Avi watched as each man gently lifted one of the naked women into his arms, wrapped her in a blanket, and carried her out of the building. They were loaded into a van that Avi hadn’t noticed, since it had been hidden behind a large boulder.

  When all of the women were out of the building, Avi jerked away from the man. It was only because he allowed it that she was able to break free.

  “Who are you?” she demanded in a low whisper, glaring up at the man. She could barely see him because of the black mask covering most of his face, but she saw one thing. A crooked nose and, when he turned, watching his men, the moonlight revealed a jagged scar along the man’s left eye.

  “Doesn’t matter,” he told her. “Don’t come back here. The women will be safe, I promise. Get the animals to safety.” He pushed her in the direction where he obviously knew her team was waiting. “We’ll take care of the guns and ammunition still inside.”

  Only because of the gentle way that his team had carried the women out of the building, Avi nodded, feeling oddly reassured. Her anger and outrage dissipated, but she could still feel the tension in her body.

  “Thank you for getting the women out of there,” she whispered. She wasn’t sure why she trusted him. He was nearly a foot taller than she was, but he hadn’t hurt her. In fact, while he’d been immobilizing her, he’d taken great care not to squeeze her too hard. He could have crushed her or shot her or…done any number of things. But he’d simply kept her from calling out while his team moved in and rescued the women.

  Without waiting for a response, she slipped into the darkness, moving along the wall of the first building. Her body felt…alive…vibrating with energy and a strange, unfamiliar tension. It wasn’t nervousness exactly, but similar. She was just about to slide around the corner of the building when she stopped and looked back at him.

  “They need medical care,” she whispered, staring into the darkness. Somehow, she knew that he was still there, watching her.

  “I’ll take care of it,” a rough whisper came back from the shadows, confirming her suspicion that the man was still there. Still watching. “Go!”

  Despite the danger of the situation, she felt…comforted.

  She swung around and sprinted towards her team, proud of them for staying out of the fray. She jumped into the truck and, a fraction of a second later, the truck pulled out with a deafening roar into the night.

  Chapter 2

  Lugar shifted in his seat and looked around, impatient with today’s schedule. He deeply respected the United Nations and the agency’s mission, but right at the moment, he had other important issues to deal with. There were rumblings back home that his security team was concerned about and he wanted to deal with those problems.

  But here he was, sitting in the hallowed General Assembly of The United Nations, preparing to listen to his enemy’s speech on…whatever. As Sheik of Shadir, Lugar’s presence at the United Nations over the next few days was merely symbolic. He was attending several meetings, specifically this speech, prepared to glare at the speaker, wanting the government of Cordaire to know that he still hated their country and everything they stood for.

  In reality, he didn’t really hate Cordaire. In fact, he respected the leader. Sheik Girad bin Saldira, the current ruler of Cordaire, was a bastard of the first order, but he was a good bastard. He’d guided his country through some difficult problems over the past several years.

  Unfortunately, there was a bit of tense history between Cordaire and Shadir. Animosity ran deep in his people’s hearts. There had been some sort of scuffle about a hundred years ago, something about a princess being stolen from Shadir and trade agreements that each country considered unfair. At some point during his education, he’d learned about the issues, but he didn’t remember them now. They all seemed ridiculous a hundred-plus years later.

  How could the people of both sides still hate each other? It seemed petty, especially since no one who had been around during the initial problems was still alive. But Lugar understood that, after a certain period of time, hatred became a habit, the enmity passed from one generation to the next. It wasn’t the first time that a population had continued to retain the animosity long beyond when it seemed reasonable, and it wouldn’t be the last. Humanity tended to hang on to emotions long after they were useful.

  Hence, his presence here today. His job here was to glare and have the cameras capture his facial expressions, demonstrating that he wasn’t going to like anything that the speaker from Cordaire discussed.

  “The speaker is the sister of…” his ambassador to the United Nations started to whisper into his ear. But at that moment, a hush fell over the room. A woman moved towards the podium and Lugar’s angry, irritated expression smoothed out to one of…shock.

  This wasn’t the bastard Sheik of Cordaire, he realized. This was…an angel! A dark haired, chocolate-eyed vision of beauty and elegance. His eyes followed her as she walked gracefully up the stairs, moving to the podium with a poise that caused everyone to sit up straighter in their leather chairs. For a protracted moment, the angel in a soft, brown suit shuffled her papers and everyone in the room fell silent, politely waiting for her to speak.

  When he heard her voice, Lugar was stunned by melodic sounds and the sweet tones, the crisp accent that captured his attention in a way no other speaker ever had.

  Unfortunately, he had no idea what she was saying, instead focusing on her features, her eyes, and her lips, wondering what they would feel like if he kissed them.

  In an odd way, Lugar was relieved to have her interrupt the almost constant fantasies that had plagued him over the past two weeks. Ever since that dark night when he’d held a soft, curvy woman in his arms, felt her lips against the palm of his hand when she’d tried to speak while he’d attempted to keep her silent as his men rescued the kidnapped women.

  He’d been obsessed about that stranger, dreamed about her at night, thought about her during meetings instead of focusing on getting things done. The sensations of her body pressed against his interrupted his focus during the most inopportune moments.

  But now he had a new woman to…hell!

  Lugar brutally stopped his thoughts from going in that direction. He didn’t have time to dream about a woman! Especially not a woman from Cordaire! He didn’t know who this woman was, but if she was from Cordaire, she was the enemy.

  And yet, he couldn’t seem to pull his gaze away from her. She never once looked in his direction, but that was to be expected. The animosity between his country and hers was well known. Just as he should be glaring at her, this lovely woman couldn’t be seen looking in his direction. It might appear that she was talking to him, at him, or…some other twisted perception that the media might create.

  There was a thundering of applause, which finally broke the spell surrounding Lugar. Everyone stood and clapped, obviously in full agreement with whatever she’d just said to the members of the United Nations.

  “Get me a transcript of her speech,” he murmured to his ambassador, then headed out of the auditorium. He didn’t clap, not wanting to appear to be in agreement wi
th a speech that he hadn’t heard. This was all a show, a series of scenes in which everyone played their part.

  Heading out, he checked his watch as his aide handed him notes for his next meeting. He was here in New York for three days, meeting with various representatives from other countries. He knew what he needed to do, what he needed to accomplish during these three days. Still, the image of that dark haired beauty lingered in his mind.

  Avi smothered a sigh as she stepped out of the meeting. She’d needed a bathroom break for the past hour, but after her speech in front of the General Assembly, several people had rushed to speak with her. Then she’d been late to the next meeting and, well, one thing after another had kept her from sneaking off to the bathroom! Now, it was more of a crisis, and she wasn’t going to stop until she got there. Yes, she knew that she should wait for her guards, but…well, this was an emergency!

  The ladies’ restroom was down the hall and to the right, so she rushed into the facilities, blocking out everything else.

  Five minutes later, after struggling back into her control top pantyhose…surely a sadist had invented these…she glanced in the mirror to ensure that she looked presentable. No lipstick on her teeth. Hair in place. Cream silk blouse tucked neatly into her brown skirt, the matching brown jacket in place and, thankfully, no coffee stains anywhere to be seen, even though she’d been so nervous about her speech today that her fingers had trembled when she’d lifted her coffee cup.

  Thankfully, that was over and she could relax. Speaking in front of that crowd had been a miserable, horrible experience, but it was part of her job as ambassador for Shadir. It was her job to show the people of her country that women could lead and be in positions of responsibility. She’d been making progress at changing the ultra-conservative views of her people, but it was a painfully slow effort. Her only solace was the knowledge that other countries in her region were struggling with the same issues. Good grief, even her grandfather had owned a harem of over one hundred women! And yes, “owned” was the correct term since many of the women in his harem had been bought and paid for, then restricted to the palace and “protected” by guards. Thankfully, her father hadn’t owned a harem during her lifetime, a prelude to the changes that needed to be made in Cordaire.