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Tasain on it so she knew she’d never be stopped or questioned by the airport authorities.
Her legs were untied but two men escorted her, with a firm grip on each arm, to the stairs of the plane. She thought about shoving the men off of her at the stairway. If they all fell to the ground, she would have to be up first but she could use the hand rail as leverage, kick her feet out at the two men and make a run for it. But these were her brother’s security guards. First of all, she would never treat them like that, even as she shifted her hands in the flexi cuffs they’d put on her wrists. But also, she wanted to prove to her brother that he didn’t need to go through such ridiculous lengths to get her home. She would rise above this indignity and wait until she was standing in front of her brother before she let go of all of this anger she felt for his tactics.
As the guards helped her into the plane, even assisting her to a plush, leather chair and latching her seat belt over her for safety, she bided her time and held her shoulders back with as much dignity as she could muster under the circumstances.
When the doors to the plane were closed, one of the guards moved over and untied her gag, looking almost apologetic as he pulled the cotton away from her mouth.
“Thank you,” she said softly, nodding her head to emphasize the words. “Would you mind if I made one phone call before takeoff?”
The leader turned in his chair and shook his head. “His Highness ordered no communication until we have landed in Tasain.”
She should have expected that, but Zarah only became angrier. Her brother definitely had some explaining to do. This kidnapping was beyond anything she could have imagined. She knew that, if her brother had found out where she was, there was always the risk that he would show up and demand that she return with him. But making her come back to Tasain by force? This scenario had never occurred to her. Not in a million years had she thought that Rashid would be so ridiculous.
She stared out the window as the plane taxied down the runway. When the plane was airborne and headed back to Tasain, Zarah couldn’t stop the tears from flowing or the heaving, desolate sobs that wracked her body as she realized she would never see Derrick again.
Chapter 10
Derrick woke up and rolled over, his hand unconsciously searching for Zarah to pull her closer. He knew that she’d snuggled close to him all night because he remembered making love to her several times throughout the dark hours.
When his hand couldn’t find her, he opened one eye for a closer inspection. But when he still didn’t see her, he sat up in bed, looking around his bedroom and letting the sheet fall to his waist. He stopped moving, assuming she was in the shower already but there was only silence and her soft, sweet perfume still in the air and on his sheets.
As his mind started functioning more efficiently, he realized that it was Saturday. The day she went into London to make her mysterious phone call.
With a curse, he threw off the sheets and stomped into the shower. He was sick of the secrets now. They’d been with each other for the past week, spending every available moment with each other and he was dammed if she was going to hide something like this from him. Didn’t she understand that she should share something like this with him? He loved her and he damn well knew that she loved him.
It took him less than ten minutes to shower and change. Before he left the bedroom, he grabbed the diamond ring in the small case he’d been carrying around for the past two days. He knew it was insane to ask someone to marry after such a short period of time, but he knew what he wanted. He’d been in many relationships and what he felt for this particular mysterious woman was not going away. In fact, the more time he spent with her, the deeper this feeling went.
As soon as he found her, he was going to shove this ring on her finger and demand that she marry him. Fast so that she wouldn’t have to go back and forth to her apartment every day to get new clothes. They