Free Sheikh's Purchased Princess by Sophia Lynn Page A

kiss, opening her mouth so that he could slide his tongue inside. She expected a nearly violent desire, something that would break over her like a thunderstorm. Instead this was soft and sweet, something with a powerful fire, but restrained.
    After a moment of hesitation, Emily gave herself up to the kiss, resting her body against his…and that was when she felt the bandage.
    “Oh god, you're hurt!” she exclaimed, leaping back. He reached for her but missed, and that alone told her how much they had drugged him.
    “A scratch and nothing more,” he said magnanimously. “The damned doctor refused to listen when I told him that there were others who needed his aid far more than I did.”
    Emily snorted. “I have known plenty of men who would say similar things, and I know that they think that they can walk off broken legs.”
    He started to answer, but then her hands were on his shirt buttons, undoing them with a sure speed. She might have been a virgin, but when it came to injuries, there was no time for shyness.
    “I could get used to this,” he said with a grin, but she was already looking at the large wad of gauze taped securely to his shoulder.
    “Were you shot?” she asked, her voice soft and horrified. She was relieved when he shook his head, but his next words removed that relief entirely.
    “No. Big bastard came at me with a knife. I turned right into it—he was going to stab me in the back.”
    Emily wanted to cover her face with her hands. It was too horrible to be real, but all too easy to imagine. The dark figure coming up behind Adnan, his sudden spin which saved his life but gave him this wound.
    “You should be resting,” she murmured, and he shrugged. Despite his good humor, however, she could tell that he was slower than he should have been, far less alert. Whatever was going to happen between them, it could not happen now.
    “Time to rest when I am dead,” he said, but at least he didn't fight her when she led him to the bedroom. If Emily were being honest with herself, she would have had literally no options if he had decided to fight her.
    He watched her with a grin as she took off his shirt, leaving him bare chested. Then she paused, unsure of how to proceed.
    “You will be more comfortable in nothing at all, I think,” she stated, and his grin, despite the haze of the painkillers, became slightly more predatory.
    “You're welcome to remove whatever you like,” he said. “I certainly won't stop you.”
    A rational woman might have told him that that was fine—he would simply be sleeping in his pants that evening. When she had come so close to losing him, however, she wasn't sure that she could bear to say that.
    Emily knew it wasn't just that. When she went to remove his shoes and socks before tugging his pants down, she could feel her hands shake. With every inch of bronze skin she revealed, Emily wanted more. Finally, when he was stripped down to his silk boxers, she forced herself to back away.
    “There,” she said, aware that her face was pink with far more than exertion. “Now lie down.”
    He quirked an eyebrow at her, and it was painfully obvious that even in his weakened state, there was no way for her to force him at all.
    “Only if you lie down with me,” he retorted, and she bit her lip.
    “If I lie down with you, do you promise to try to sleep?” she asked. “And it's…not…not just a ploy to…”
    “Ravish your innocence?” he asked. “I have thought about it…a great deal, but no. If you lie down next to me, I will, in good faith, try to get some rest.”
    That seemed rational enough, and Emily was just crawling into bed when he spoke again.
    “Provided, of course, that you get undressed as well. I am sorry, I would undress you myself…”
    “That's quite enough,” she said, and for a moment, she simply looked at him. Just twenty-four hours ago, she would have felt a thrill of danger go through her. She had known this man for such a short amount of