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Except she wasn’t his. He was sending her home in a few days. And the only reason this had happened was because the palace staff seemed to have their own agenda, which had nothing to do with what Karim wanted.
She let out a guttered breath, tried to keep a firm grip on the sinking sadness in her heart.
She shouldn’t stay in his bed, shouldn’t encourage any more intimacy between them. This was about self-preservation now, because she was very much afraid she was falling in love with this taciturn, intense, unattainable man, who also happened to be her husband.
And all that would lead to was devastation.
But as she scooted to the edge of the bed, she heard movement behind her and then a muscular arm banded around her waist and drew her back into the cradle of his big body. She found herself anchored to him, his hot chest pressing against her back, his thighs cradling hers.
He buried his face in her hair, his arm tightening as he held her close—possessive, protective, unyielding.
‘Don’t…’ The gruff words were groggy with exhaustion but no less demanding. ‘I need you… Tonight.’
Just like that her heart tumbled into the abyss. And the tears of misery she had shed earlier turned to tears of tenderness as his breathing descended again into the rhythm of exhausted sleep.
After what felt like for ever, the emotion clogging her throat finally cleared enough that all she could hear was the strong steady beat of his heart at her back—safe, secure, all-consuming—beckoning her into oblivion too.
‘No… No… Don’t.’
Orla woke with a start, to see dawn lightening the sky outside the bed chamber. The gruff shouts—so full of pain—were echoing in her ear.
Karim.
The events of the night came flooding back, as she became aware of the soreness in her sex, the reddened skin where he had touched and suckled her. And his arm still wrapped around her midriff.
‘No… Don’t… Don’t hurt her.’
She shifted round, breaking his hold. He was still asleep, his eyes squeezed tightly shut, his face a mask of pain, his body rigid with the effort to fight off the dream.
The tenderness that had felled her the night before returned. Bringing with it the deep need to save him from whatever terror was chasing him.
‘
Karim, it’s okay…’ She cupped his cheeks. The stubble abraded her palms as he shook his head, attempting to chase away the pain. ‘Wake up, Karim,’ she whispered fiercely, desperate to free him from the nightmare.
‘No…’ He gasped, and a tear leaked from his tightly closed eyes. ‘Don’t. She’s crying… You’re hurting her.’ His voice was raw, deep, but beneath the man’s anguish she could hear a child’s fear.
This was more than a nightmare. What had happened to him? Who was he trying to protect? Was this why he had needed her so badly the night before, to keep him safe from this?
‘Karim, I’m here, you’re safe, she’s safe, it’s okay…’ She raised her voice, clung onto his cheeks as his hands curled into fists and she watched him fight to escape the dream.
‘No… No…’ He tossed his head, the struggle so real and painful, tears rolled down Orla’s cheeks too. ‘I can’t…’
‘Yes… You can. It’s okay, you can wake up now. Karim?’
His eyelids jerked open, the jagged breaths as he fought to wake making his chest lift and fall in tortured gasps. The shattered depths of his eyes were so full of anguish as he wrenched himself back to the present, a sob caught in her throat. He couldn’t see her, not at first. All he could see was the painful memory.
‘Karim, it’s okay, it’s me, Orla. I’m here.’ She stroked his cheek, to soothe the hard muscles bunched there. The straining sinews in his neck softened and she saw the moment when he registered where he was, and who he was with, the terror in his gaze becoming shuttered, wary, guarded.
He clasped her wrist, to draw her hand away from his face, then ran his thumb under her eye to capture the last of her tears.
‘Why are you crying?’ he said, the roughened whisper raw with confusion.
‘You… You had a nightmare,’ she said, her throat still thick with emotion.
He blinked, and the last of the vulnerability disappeared. To be replaced by something that looked like horror.
He rolled away from her, covered his eyes with his forearm, then swore.
