The Princess's Forbidden Lover

by Clare Connelly

  “I think I must have a poisoned line,” she murmured.

  “You’ll catch one.” He studied the gently lapping surface. “Men like Abdim are very dangerous people, honey.” Again the word caused pleasure to gush through her bones. “Only soldiers of the UAC bore that tattoo. And in order to become a soldier they had to prove themselves capable of the most lethal violence.”

  Lilah shuddered. “But the UAC was a problem in other countries, far more so than ours. Why would he target me? If indeed that is the case.”

  “Off the record?” He prompted, scanning her face thoughtfully.

  She nodded.

  “When I met Ki, he was the would-be target of men like Abdim.”

  “What?” She blinked, her face paper-white suddenly. “What do you mean?”

  “He didn’t tell you.” Will said with a slow nod. “I’m not surprised, I guess. After all, the threat was dispensed with and perhaps he didn’t want to worry you.”

  “What happened?”

  He wanted to tell her everything. She was cracking open his mind and heart and it was such a relief to feel that again. He was hooked on everything she said.

  “I was doing a piece on the treaty and I … happened upon some information. Quite by accident, though I guess I’d been sniffing around for something of more interest than the treaty itself.” He grinned and her heart flipped over. He lay his line down on the bank beside him and reached his hand over to hers. He pulled on it gently brushing his arm against Lilah’s knee. Even through the insulation of the snow-suit she felt the warmth of his contact. “Your brother would have been the target of a massive terrorist attack. Apparently the stability of Delani is an ongoing frustration to those in your region who would seek to destabilize your government for their own ends.”

  “Yes. We have been blessed with peace and prosperity while many of our regional neighbours are not so lucky. It is one of the reasons the marriage between my brother and Melania is so vital.” She shook her head. “But I can’t believe anyone would ever try to harm Kiral.”

  “He’s the ruler of your country. Why do you think his security is so intense? Yours too, for that matter.”

  “And it was these people?”

  “Yes.” His face ghosted with memories he had spent two years trying to process. “It wasn’t the last encounter I had with the UAC. I was embedded with a unit in the northern tip of Delani. The mountain ranges provided excellent cover for their organization.”

  She would have dropped the line if he hadn’t responded so quickly. He caught hold of it as she spun to face him properly. “Will? What happened?”

  “We were attacked. The unit I was travelling with. Somehow they must have got intel that we were in the area. It was a shi- a bun fight,” he corrected jerkily. “Most of us made it out, but only with the grace of God. I don’t know how, actually. We were surrounded.”

  A shiver ran down Lilah’s back.

  “All of the bodies we found had that same tattoo.”

  “What did the tattoo say? What does it mean?”

  His lips twisted in disgust. “We are equal.”

  “We are equal?” The words sent a shiver down her spine. “This idea …this notion … it would be anathema to my people.”

  “Would it?” He studied her thoughtfully. And though he would have loved to get into a discussion of the socio-political climate of Delani, the time scarcely felt right.

  “Absolutely. My people believe in our family because of legends that tie our very existence to the land’s prosperity. The idea of removing this house from power would plunge my people into despair. Our economy would never survive even if our land could endure it.”

  He buried the objections that were natural to a man such as him, yet she understood them. “You can’t possibly understand,” she pushed. “There are legends that have wrapped around us for centuries. For millennia. To dispense with these at the hands of madmen would be a disaster. If their aim was to dispose of Kiral and me…” an idea occurred to her and though it was unpalatable she spoke it aloud. “And heaven forbid, if my parents were sacrificed to these lunatics’ cause, then we have all the more reason to fight for our birthright. To remain as we are. Yesterday you said my people worship me. I am no God, Will, but my blood is sacred. At least to my people. It cannot be spilled for their cause.”

  He swallowed her words with an aftertaste of bitterness. Was it because her declaration forever set them at odds? He denied it and yet, there was a grip of truth wrapping around him as a vice.

  “The group had dubious credibility anyway, but shortly afterwards there was an agreement between neighbouring countries that they were completely outlawed. Most of the soldiers were imprisoned. Some fled. My guess is Abdim is one of the men who escaped.”

  “I cannot believe he had me so completely fooled.”

  “They are clever men, Lilah, simply drawn to an idiotic cause.”

  “Yet how could he have passed the stringent tests and found employment? It seems too bold.”

  “The tattoo is not widely known of. There are not many people who would recognize it for what it is, and I suspect he kept it reasonably concealed.”

  “You saw it,” she said pointedly.

  “Perhaps having seen it in its original context I was more on the lookout for it,” he supposed.

  She expelled an angry breath. “I wonder if he has been arrested already?”

  Will did too, but there was no way he’d risk contacting anyone yet. It was still too soon. “Your brother was sending Alain here.”

  Confidence burgeoned in her gut. “Good. Alain will resolve it.”

  He handed the line back to Lilah. Almost as soon as she’d gripped it, she felt a tug on its end.

  “You have the magic touch,” she said with an assumed crossness. “Only because you held it have I now got a fish on the end of the line!”

  “That’s great. Reel it in.”

  “I can’t… what do you …”

  He came to crouch behind her, enveloping her with his arms so that she could hold the line while he reeled the fish in. “It’s a big one,” he murmured, as though he was capable on focusing on anything other than how great she felt in a bear hug.

  “Is it?” She was exhilarated by the experience. She held the rod as Will turned the wheel until finally the fish came clear out of the water, its body flipping this way and that in the cold air. She brought it in and then let Will dangle the line closer and closer until he could ensnare the fish and lay it with the others.

  Lilah stood up, her face shining and her lips curled into an enormous smile. “I can’t believe I caught a fish! Me! I have never done anything so … primeval.”

  He laughed. “Congratulations, honey.”

  “Is that all?” She laughed, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Do I not even get a congratulatory hug?”

  It would be churlish to refuse. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around her waist and brought her against his body. “Congratulations.”

  She pressed her head against his chest, smiling at the way she could hear his heart even through the snow-suits.

  “I’m glad it was you who rescued me,” she said, breaking away from him.

  He nodded, though he wasn’t sure who had actually rescued whom.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  A bird flew overhead and Lilah watched its progress against the inky grey sky. The sound of the waterfall glistened in the background, and the trees seemed to whisper ancient secrets to one another. The smell of pine needles was strong; almost strong enough to overpower the fishy smell emanating from Will as he worked to fillet their catch.

  His catch, she reminded herself, for he had pulled most of the slippery little beasts out of the lake.

  She wrapped her hands more tightly around the chipped mug of tea and sipped it gratefully. He was still wearing his ski-suit, but that didn’t matter. Lilah could picture his body beneath. The firmness of his musculature. The strength of his arms and legs, the breadth of his chest. />
  She felt everything inside of her clench with anticipation of an act they could never enjoy.

  If she weren’t a princess, hiding from a dangerous madman, what would she have done differently? Could she have spoken with him and laughed with him?

  A frown tugged at her lips. They had been doing that. Their interaction had sparked this attraction she felt for him.

  No, the only difference in Lilah’s hypothetical fantasies was that she would act on her desire unashamedly. And he would be free to act back.

  “It’s hardly royal fare,” he said, his voice gravelly out here in the wilderness.

  Lilah nodded, distracted by the direction her thoughts had been taking. She knew for a fact that Kiral had enjoyed affairs. He was discreet, but his romances had been talked about in hushed whispers that had occasionally reached Lilah’s ears.

  But while such behavior was expected of a man like Kiral, it would be completely unacceptable for Lilah to indulge in it.

  At least, it would be if it were discovered.

  And how could she have ever kept a relationship secret? With her constant army of servants, her security detail ever-watchful, and attendants employed to aid her in dressing, doing her hair and make up? Lilah was very rarely alone for any real stretch of time.

  Even her friendships were conducted in those stifling conditions. Conversations were polite and considered, always appropriately skirting around the edges of true feelings.

  A sense of suffocation surrounded her as she thought now of the life she’d fled only the night before.

  Relationships in that life had been impossible. Only marriage to a suitable man would have allowed her to explore these feelings that were burning deep inside of her.

  Except out here.

  With Will, in this cabin, they were totally alone.

  There would be no one who could observe their behavior. No one who would report it. No servants to speculate or disapprove, no assistants to counsel her to be careful.

  She could be with Will, she realized triumphantly. For the short time they were here in the woods, she could forget the strictures of her palace life and simply be a woman who wanted a man.

  Her cheeks flushed as she imagined what it would be like to sleep with him. Could she do that? Would she do it? Would she go so far, knowing that it could only ever be a physical connection in this remote landscape?

  And would he ever go along with it?

  He was a principled man, and he had been entrusted with her protection by Ki.

  Would he refuse to listen to the desire that threatened to engulf them, simply because he felt a loyalty to a faraway King? And why didn’t she feel that same sense of loyalty?

  Because it shouldn’t matter.

  Because she should be able to like whomever she wished to like. And she did like Will. No, that was far too lukewarm a description for what she felt for him.

  She needed, in the blood-curdling sense of the word, to feel more of his kisses. To be in his arms. To be under his body. It was no insipid fancy that had simply occurred to her. It was a biological instinct as strong as she’d ever felt. As strong as a need to breathe or a toddler’s inclination to take their first unsteady steps.

  Something was inciting her to pursue him and she knew herself well enough to know that she wouldn’t be strong enough to resist it. She had curbed so many of her own desires over the years.

  Not this time.

  Not now; and not with Will.

  Not when they were alone in the woods and they could do whatever they wished without anyone ever having to know.

  Lilah sipped her tea thoughtfully. She would need to be subtle. She would need to entice him gently; to make it impossible for Will to resist her.

  And though she had no experience with men, she understood Will innately. Getting under his skin would be easy.

  It would have to be brief. A fling that would end just as soon as they left this beautiful haven.

  This safe-haven.

  “I imagine you’re used to five-star dining at every meal.”

  She nodded distractedly.

  “Michelin chefs at your beck and call?”

  Her eyes lifted from the murky brown of her tea and clashed straight into his. She saw Will swallow and then turn his focus back to the fish. His hands moved deftly over the scales, then with the knife as he slid it easily along their spines.

  “Well,” his voice was sheened with a forced attempt at complacency. “These won’t be what you’re used to, but they’ll be better than soup.”

  Lilah wondered at what point she should tell him that she didn’t routinely eat fish. Something about the texture and scent was always off-putting, and her chefs had long ago learned not to prepare it.

  “They’ll be great.” She lifted her eyes to the canopy. “Where shall we put the bird’s nest?”

  He laughed. “You were serious about that?”

  “Of course! We can’t leave a little bird homeless.”

  He grinned as he filleted another fish, placing the pieces of pale pink flesh onto a plate he’d pulled out of the kitchen. “You’re a constant enigma, your highness.”

  “Am I? You think I shouldn’t care about the bird?”

  “Frankly, no. I’m surprised that you do.”

  She narrowed her gaze speculatively. “I think there’s a lot about me that would surprise you.”

  Something in the seductive tone of her voice had him lifting his gaze back to her face. What he saw there should have been a warning. With hindsight, he would wish he’d heeded it. But his body saw only the marked interest in her features; it was a look of searing intention and he answered it with a flicker of a smile.

  “Your brother is very proud of you,” he said, in a lame attempt to remind them both of the reasons they should ignore their bodies’ insistence.

  “And I of him,” she agreed.

  “So? What’s so surprising about you, princess?”

  She lifted her brows.

  “You said that a lot about you would surprise me. I’m asking you to expand.”

  “You mean beyond the fact I’m so clueless when it comes to men?”

  “Your inexperience is understandable. But, believe me, you’re anything but clueless.”

  “Why do you say that?” She prompted silkily.

  He wiped his hands on the cloth by his side then prowled slowly towards her. He took a seat on the steps, close enough that she could almost touch him.

  “Because I think you are completely cognizant of the effect you have on men. Whether they’re servants. Hapless journalists. Or me, here with you now.” His eyes dropped to her lips. They were parted a little on her gasp of surprise. “I think you know exactly what it does to me when you look at me like this. Not having kissed a man doesn’t mean you haven’t had a lot of fun making men want to kiss you.”

  “Will,” she said with a shake of her head. “That makes me sound … calculated somehow.”

  “Seduction is calculated.” He lifted a thumb and padded it over her lower lip, feeling himself stiffen in instant response. “For example, I know that right now you want me to kiss you.”

  Her skin flushed with goosebumps. “How do you know that?”

  “Because your pupils are enormous and your cheeks are flushed; the warm breath I can feel on my hand is rushed and urgent. You want me to kiss you. And the fact that I won’t is going to make your blood simmer all day. So that tonight, if I were to ask you to kiss me, it wouldn’t even occur to you to do the smart thing and say no. That’s seduction.”

  He was right. Her breath was labored. Her lungs felt as though a thousand tiny fires were burning. She swept her lashes down, so that they formed two perfect black fans against her cheeks. “That’s cruelty,” she corrected, opening her mouth a little and nipped the fleshy pad of his thumb.

  He made a noise of complaint. “You’re dancing with fire.”

  “I’m burning up,” she whispered slowly.

  He swallowed. “You’re
a beautiful woman, Jalilah, but I can’t touch you and you know it.”

  “You can’t touch me again?” She prompted, thinking back to the passionate kiss they’d shared only hours earlier.

  “Right.” He stood abruptly and ran a hand over his thick blonde hair. “Why don’t you head inside? No sense both of us sitting out in the cold.”

  “I’m fine,” she promised, smiling into his eyes.

  Will nodded and moved back to the fish. There was only one more to deal with and then they’d be alone together, in a cabin that was crackling with sexual tension and the light of the fire.

  He moved slowly, but the whole time he was aware of her eyes on him and his sense of panic deepened. He’d slept with lots of women in his time.

  In fact, after losing Maddie, sating his body with strangers he’d met in dusty bars had seemed like the only way he could feel anything. But it had always been fleeting.

  As it would be with Jalilah Mazroui.

  It was the allure of her unavailability that was making him desperate to the point of distraction.

  “The water should have heated up by now. Why don’t you take a bath?”

  She smiled a little. “Would you draw it for me?”

  “Draw it …” He turned around slowly, a look of casual disbelief on his handsome features. “Darlin’, you can turn taps on, can’t you?”

  She laughed softly and arrows of attraction speared sharply along his spine.

  “I’ve never had to before.”

  “Fine.” He nodded. “I’ll be done here in a minute.”

  Lilah crossed one leg over the other and leaned back against the porch. “I’ll wait.”

  He made a clicking sound of disapproval as he finished scraping the fish remains into the bag. He turned to face her. “So long as you’re here you can make yourself useful.”

  “Can I?” She walked towards him with a seductive purpose. “How?”

  “Carry this plate inside.” He lifted the fish towards her but Lilah instantly felt nauseous.

  She paled under his watchful gaze and Will was quick to react. He put the plate down and moved closer, putting his hands on her hips. “Lilah? What is it? You looked like you were about to pass out.”