Free SEDUCING HIS PRINCESS by Olivia Gates

“I’m not good at letting go.”
    “Sure. Do you have a bridge to sell me with that? So what was it, really? You forgot to call off my surveillance detail and reports kept hitting your desk?”
    At his raised eyebrow, she took a furious step toward him. “We’re in full-disclosure mode, aren’t we? So how about you not pretend you didn’t have my every move documented before you approached me? It’s evident you formulated a plan to entrap me in the most time-efficient manner based on my character analysis. But after you ended my supposed threat to your crown prince, what purpose did keeping tabs on me serve? Was it to make sure I didn’t go after another of your kingdom’s princes after you made sure Najeeb found me ‘ineligible’ to be his future queen?”
    Wincing at the words that had haunted him with shame, he shook his head. “I didn’t tell Najeeb anything.”
    “I don’t believe you.”
    Her instantaneous rejection was what he deserved. Not only had he threatened to do just that, Najeeb had cut off all relations with her, proving to her that Mohab had carried out his threat.
    But he hadn’t. He’d lived dreading news of her impending marriage to Najeeb. When that had never come to pass, he’d found out why. His uncle had told Najeeb that Mohab had fulfilled his mission in proving that Jala was dissolute, but if Najeeb desired her, he could enjoy her, as Mohab once had.
    Even though he’d been hurt and jealous, believed she’d chosen Najeeb over him, he’d also come to admit that she’d had every right to change her mind about marrying him. And he’d been furious that Najeeb had ended what he’d professed to be a strong friendship based on hearsay, or even the truth of their relationship. If that made her dissolute in Najeeb’s eyes, when the man hadn’t staked a prior claim, it made him despicable.
    He’d been unable to abide his uncle’s defamation and his cousin’s desertion of her. In a gesture of ultimate contempt, he’d resigned his job and left their and Saraya’s service.
    He exhaled. “Ask Najeeb. He’ll tell you I haven’t talked to him since that night. You had every right to leave me, and I’ll be forever ashamed I threatened to slander you for it.”
    Her glare wavered only to harden again. “Even if I believe that, you have other transgressions waiting in line. How dare you have me followed?”
    Savoring the bewitching sight she made in her fury, he said, “As long as I’m already damned, and I have no hope of having the extenuating circumstances sanctioned, I might as well tell you that I’ve been keeping tabs on you far longer than you think. I started right after I first saw you attending a conference with your oldest brother Farooq in Washington.”
    Her eyes rounded. “That was ten years ago!”
    “ Aih. You were only eighteen and the most incredible thing I’d ever seen. I felt the chemistry that sizzles between us singe me even then, even when you didn’t see me.”
    Her disbelief was almost palpable. “It’s not possible I didn’t see you.”
    “You do remember what I do for a living, don’t you? If I want to stay out of sight, that’s where I remain.”
    But he’d been unable to stop following her after that first sighting. He’d known he’d never approach her, but she’d become his fantasy when he’d never had one before.
    Then that hostage crisis had happened. Her name had been the only thing he’d seen on that hostage list before he’d stormed in, and he’d made the decision to save her first right then. Facing that had made him more enraged at himself, his anger mounting the more he found himself struggling not to go after her, and to hell with all the reasons to stay away.
    “And you expect me to believe you were enthralled at first sight? A sight I didn’t even reciprocate?”
    “Seems you never looked in the mirror.”
    “C’mon...you have tons of gorgeous women littering your path, and I’m not even that. I’m