Page 26

T ahira stirred in the warmth cocooning her. This time when she awoke, it wasn't in fear and hysterics, but in safety and contentment. Before she opened her eyes, she inhaled and a familiar male scent she'd grown used to over the past few days, tickled her nose.

Darius.

His arm was curled around her waist, and she wondered if it had moved at all since she'd drifted off to sleep.

Turning her head slightly, Tahira felt his steady breaths against her cheek.

She wanted very much to turn over and watch him sleep, to study his handsome face, but she knew that much movement would have him waking instantly.

When he'd arrived after her nightmare, one of the first things she'd noticed was he'd shaved.

The coarse, heavy beard was gone, and in its place was soft, smooth skin over his firm jawline.

She'd wanted to reach out and see what it felt like against her palm, but she'd held back.

It would have been far too intimate, something she still wasn't ready for, even with the man who would soon be her husband.

Relief warred with dread in her stomach.

She should relieve him of his promise to marry her, but having anyone find out she wasn't a virgin on her wedding night scared her almost as much as the thought of being sold in a slave auction.

She and Darius could make the farce a success.

Since he lived and worked in Florida, it wouldn't seem odd to anyone when she moved there permanently to be near him.

They'd live in the Clearwater Beach estate and pretend to be a happily married couple.

Whether or not they ever consummated their marriage would only be between the two of them.

She trusted Darius to keep his word. He was a man of honor, something she'd known the first time she'd met him and the others on his team.

Once an appropriate amount of time passed, the palace would announce the couple decided to divorce and remain friends.

She wouldn't have to worry about her virginity after that.

The muscles in Darius's arm tensed, and he pulled her closer to his chest. One would think that after her sexual assault, Tahira would be afraid to be in a man's arms this way, but Darius would never hurt her, of that she was certain.

She was about to close her eyes again and relax into his embrace once more when the door to the hallway opened and one of the nurses walked in.

Behind Tahira, Darius was instantly awake.

He rolled away from her and stood, stepping back from the bed.

She immediately missed the heat, strength, and safety of his body.

She was also grateful it had been a nurse who’d walked in on them in bed together and not her parents.

That wouldn’t have gone over well—engaged or not.

A flash of jealousy coursed through her when the pretty nurse smiled brilliantly at Darius, her eyes filling with interest at the sight of the handsome man. "No worries. I could tell you stories of things I’ve walked in on while working on this floor."

While the woman's words seemed kind, she was clearly flirting with Darius, and Tahira felt the need to subtly stake her claim. "My fiancé was comforting me. I sleep better when he is by my side."

Okay, maybe not so subtly.

Sad to say, that seemed to backfire when the nurse's gaze blatantly roamed Darius's lean, muscular body. "I don't blame you. I'd sleep better with him by my side too."

Tahira's eyes narrowed, and a tone of disapproval crept into her voice.

It was one she'd learned from her mother when dealing with those who were rude to others or didn't remember to follow proper protocol in the presence of royalty.

Neither Tahira nor her mother used it often, but it came in handy now.

"Unfortunately, for you, I do not share.

Please leave and have another nurse assigned to me—one who will give her full attention to me, her patient, and not my fiancé. "

Her words had the desired effect when the blonde woman's mouth fell open and her spine stiffened.

Her gaze flittered back and forth between Tahira and Darius.

The princess had to fight back a smile when Darius cleared his throat and said, "I suggest you do as Her Royal Highness says.

I really don't want to go over your head and get a supervisor, but I will.”

The nurse's eyes widened, but then her jaw tensed.

She spun on her heel and stormed out the door, pulling it shut behind her.

She must have said or done something in the hallway because one of the guards knocked a second before he pushed the door open again and stuck his head in.

"Your Highness, is everything all right? "

Sighing, Tahira nodded. "Thank you, Zareb. I am fine. Please do not allow that nurse to return. I would prefer someone else."

"Understood, Your Highness." The man ducked back out into the hallway and shut the door.

Rolling on her back, Tahira stared at Darius, who was now leaning against the wall next to the window. "I am sorry."

His brow furrowed. "Sorry? For what?"

"For behaving like a bitch."

He snorted and chuckled. "You had every right to tell her off. I was pretty shocked by her forwardness myself."

He ran his hand through his longish hair.

Her parents would probably want him to get it trimmed for an official engagement photo, but she kind of liked it this way.

He was incredibly handsome and could easily grace the cover of one of the novels Devon's wife wrote.

After finding out Kristen Anders-Sawyer was a romance author, Tahira had purchased one of her books.

She loved the woman's style, and after finishing that first one, she'd quickly downloaded and devoured the rest of them.

Kristen's debut series had been ... tamer—Tahira guessed that was the right word to use—than her Seductive Sensations series, which had the BDSM lifestyle as a backdrop in the story lines. Even though she'd been a twenty-five-year-old virgin before her assault, Tahira was far from na?ve. She loved reading romance novels—going through ten to fifteen in a month—in every genre except for dark erotica; she’d tried reading it once but had found she didn’t care for it.

A thought occurred to her. She'd once overheard Brody Evans and Marco DeAngelis discussing a club the Sawyer brothers had founded that was apparently on the same property as their security business.

She'd been surprised when she realized it was a BDSM club they'd been talking about as she eavesdropped on their conversation at her family's beach estate.

But then she'd realized the original TS team members were very much like the alpha heroes written by her favorite authors like Kristen, Cherise Sinclair, Avery Gale, Lexi Blake, Kallypso Masters, and more.

She could easily picture the former SEALs as Doms. Now, she wondered if any of the members of the Omega team were in the lifestyle—specifically Darius.

"Princess, are you all right?"

She hadn’t realized she’d zoned out for a moment.

Lifting her gaze from her lap, she looked at him.

She didn’t correct his use of “Princess” in private because, for the first time in her life, it sounded more like an endearment than a title to her.

It was probably just wishful thinking on her part, but she liked to think it was true.

His soft, moss-colored eyes stared at her in concern, and she gave him a small smile.

"Yes, I am, but I would very much like to be discharged and spend the rest of my recovery at the beach house.

Could you please find my doctor and ask if that is possible? "

The corners of his mouth ticked upward. "Sure, I think we can arrange that. Anything else?”

“No, thank you.”

She watched as he strode to the door, opened it, and turned the corner into the hallway.

Part of her was sorry she'd interrupted his sleep in the middle of the night, but she was also grateful he'd come quickly.

He hadn't asked for the details of her nightmare.

Instead, he'd held her hand and then her body when she'd asked him to.

As soon as his arm had wrapped around her waist, she'd felt safe enough to fall back into slumber, knowing he would watch over her.

But the more she got to know her hero, and relied on him to keep her safe, the more she wondered who was going to protect her heart from falling in love with the man.

Tahira wished she could read Darius’s aura better, but the colors surrounding him were mixed, and the ones that stood out the most said he was guarding himself.

The real Darius was hiding behind a mask—not an evil one, but one that kept the rest of the world at bay.

Would he ever let down the walls he’d erected around himself?

And if he did, was Tahira ready to discover who he really was?