Читать книгу The Royal House Of Karedes Collection Books 1-12 - Кейт Хьюит, Шантель Шоу - Страница 39

KALIQ stilled as the raucous barking of the dogs set his senses jangling—though they had been alerted to danger minutes before. Even in the midst of his troubled thoughts he had thought he’d heard a sound which was something out of the ordinary.

Striding across the vast master bedroom, he pushed open the interconnecting door to Eleni’s bedroom, but as soon as his eyes scoured the room the rumpled sheets and the silence told him what he already knew. She was gone.

The barking of the dogs increased and he began to hurry from the room, down the stairs, hitting the alert button which he always carried and dragging the mobile phone from his pocket as he attempted to make contact with the bodyguards. But there was no reply and he suspected that they heard neither. That they were all caught up with investigating what had alerted the dogs—not knowing that it was Eleni. He’d even purposefully dismissed his personal bodyguards because he had been expecting to spend the night in the blissful anonymity of his lover’s arms.

He ran outside as the heavy drops of rain began splashing against his head and Kaliq threw his head back and shouted out her name.

‘Eleni!’

But there was no sound from her. Nothing. His heart was pumping fit to burst, his stomach acid with fear. It was like being catapulted back to a time he had kept strictly off limits but he felt it again as if it were yesterday. The terror and dismay when he and his twin had discovered young Zafir missing. Those feelings of hopelessness and despair. The sensation of powerlessness—that he was too late to save the child from an unknown fate.

What if he was too late to save Eleni?

He could see the flash of something pale against the trees on the far side of the lawns. Was that her? Sheltering against the frightening prospect of attacking dogs—or sheltering from the harshness of her cruel and thoughtless lover?

Instinct took over as he dashed across the slippery grass with the increasingly heavy rains pelting down and soaking him to the skin. From within the murky depths of the heavy clouds he thought he caught the ominous rumble of thunder and his heart flared with a renewed fear. What if lightning struck the tree beneath which his lover was sheltering!

‘Eleni!’ The distraught word was torn from his lips as he ran towards the woods and now he could definitely see the pale shape of a figure. The barking was increasing and, although Kaliq had competed and won many races during his time in the Navy, never had he run as fast as he did just then. Instinct powered his body just as surely as it drew him towards her. And now he could see more clearly… because yes, yes—it was her! His frightened and soaking Eleni huddled beneath a tree—her eyes huge with disbelief as he ran towards her.

He reached her in seconds—gathering her into his arms just as the barking of the dogs reached a crescendo.

And then everything went crazy.

There were spotlights and searchlights as figures and animals circled them—the light picking out the gleaming teeth of highly trained guard-dogs as they strained against the leashes of the powerful men who restrained them.

Eleni thought that she saw the barrel of a gun pointing at her but her shaking fears were quelled—if only temporarily—by the protective warmth of Kaliq as he pulled her close into his body and wrapped his arms around her and started yelling.

‘Stop!’ His imperious command rang out and at the same moment someone must have recognised just who it was who spoke for the dogs were silenced as if by magic, and the most senior of the bodyguards stepped forwards and bowed deeply.

‘Highness—’

But Kaliq cut him short with an impatient and furious interrogation. Were the dogs and the guards so stupid not to have realised that they were threatening his guest?

Eleni listened to the bodyguard’s stumbled explanation, which was again cut short by a furious dismissal, and as the sodden and dispirited men and dogs crept away she actually felt a little sorry for them. Until she realised that maybe it was easier to feel sorry for total strangers than to feel sorry for herself. Or have to face the awful reality. The real reason why she had come running out here in the first place—as if that would help her escape the terrible inevitability of her situation. She stared at the ground, determined that Kaliq would not feel burdened by her heartbreak as she prepared to thank him for saving her.

‘And now…’Kaliq was undeterred by the drops of rain which were continuing to drip through the leaves. His mouth curved at the corners—for wasn’t this like stepping back in time to when he had first met her? ‘Look at me, Eleni.’

Eleni thought that his voice was oddly gentle, more gentle than she had ever heard him before—expect perhaps when he was speaking to a horse—and, slowly, she raised her eyes to his.

Kaliq sucked in a breath—because even in the darkness he could see the bright beauty which had first so entranced him. A prince ensnared by a stable girl. It should never have happened—but it had. Had the great, guiding hand of fate been at work? he wondered dazedly. Because somewhere along the way she had forced him to confront his deepest fears, and, in so doing, to defeat them. He had done all he could to save Zafir, he realised—and now he must move on and accept that. Live in the here and now and take what was staring at him so beautifully in the face.

He suddenly realised that he felt light. Lighter than he had done in years. A burden lifted from his heart and his mind and all because of this one woman—his loyal and true, his feisty and determined Eleni.

He had planned to tell her that she should never have run away. Never have put herself in danger like that—but those words did not come. Others did. Strange, unfamiliar words which he felt as if he had waited all his life to say.

‘I love you, Eleni,’ he said simply. ‘And I want you to be my bride.’

It was perhaps auspicious that the moon chose just that moment to appear from behind the fast-scudding clouds—which meant that Eleni could see from the shining clarity in her prince’s eyes that he meant everything he said. But even if it had been pitch-black she would have believed him. Because Kaliq Al’Farisi was reckless, yes, but never with words.

Her heart was beating faster than when she had fled from the sound of the barking dogs and she lifted her hands to cup his dear, sweet face, swallowing down her tears of joy and offering him her tremulous smile.

‘I love you, too, my darling. My darling, darling Kaliq,’ she whispered as his face came down to blot out the pain of the past.