Modern Romance Collection: May 2018 Books 5 - 8. Кейт Хьюит

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       CHAPTER ONE

      HE CAME IN through the window.

      Olivia Taylor looked up from the blanket she’d been folding, her mouth dropping open in wordless shock. She was too surprised to be scared. Yet. He was dressed all in black, his body underneath the loose garments tall, lithe and powerful. A turban covered his hair but beneath it Olivia saw his face and the determination blazing in his steel-coloured eyes.

      She drew a breath to scream when he moved swiftly towards her and slipped a hand over her mouth. ‘I won’t hurt you,’ he said in Arabic, his tone brusque and yet also strangely gentle. It took her a moment to make out the words; she’d learned some Arabic living in the Amari household, but it was still of the schoolgirl variety. She’d been hired to speak only English to the three youngest Princesses.

      He continued speaking and her shocked mind struggled to understand. ‘That is my solemn vow, and I will never break it. Just do what I say and no harm shall ever come to you. I swear it on my life.’

      Olivia stood there rigidly, his hand on her mouth, the scent of his skin in her nostrils. He smelled of horse and sand and sweat and musk...and, strangely, it was not unpleasing. Her mind was spinning with terrifying numbness, around and around, unable to latch onto any coherent thought. She couldn’t think. She could barely breathe. Shock gave way to fear, making her dizzy. It was as if everything were happening underwater or in slow motion, yet far too fast, because already the man was propelling her to the window, and somehow she was going, going, her legs weak as water, her insides sliding around like jelly, her mind a blank canvas of fear and shock.

      Halina was in the next room. The door wasn’t even closed, not properly. She could hear her friend humming under her breath. How could this be happening? She’d only come in here, to Halina’s bedroom, to put away her evening gown and tidy up a bit. Halina had just returned from what she’d claimed was an interminable dinner with her parents to discuss her future. Her fiancé. Olivia knew Halina didn’t want to get married, and СКАЧАТЬ