The Prince's Intimate Abduction (The Samara Royal Family Series Book 2) (13 page)

Sure enough, as soon as she went slack, the disgusting guy lost his grip and cursed, trying to flop her back up into his arms.  Unfortunately, he dropped her completely and she felt to the hard concrete, scraping her knees and the palms of her hands.  But it also gave her enough time to regroup. 

As soon as her whole body was on the ground, she rolled over and swung out with her leg.  First one, then the other, she kicked him as hard as she could.  It took a second swing, this one hitting him hard in the gut, but the man finally went down. 

Not wasting a moment, she jumped up and hurried over to the prone man and ripped open his shirt, trying to find the wound.  But there was no blood, no indication of anything except…a bullet proof vest? 

She’d just started to wonder about that when her arm was grabbed and she was pulled to her feet.  A split second later, before she could even realize what was going on, she felt a fist slam against her chin and her head whipped backwards.  Once more, she was down on the ground, her head spinning with the force of that punch. 

Trying to maintain consciousness, she shook her head as she looked at the concrete, her hands and knees holding her up.  The disgusting assailant made a mistake though.  He wrapped his hands around her waist and lifted her up into the air.  That allowed her arms and legs to be free and she came out swinging. 

No way was a nauseating drug addict going to take her down, she told herself.  Waiting until she was at the right angle, she used her own and the man’s momentum to swing her elbow into his head. 

“Ow!” the man screamed, and Raven was pretty sure she’d connected perfectly with his nose.  That meant that he was out for a few seconds.  She didn’t hesitate.  Spinning around, she used everything inside of her to round-kick the man in the stomach, causing him to gasp and fall to his knees. 

She spotted the shining handcuffs on the ground by the man’s knees and grabbed them up fast.  Slapping the handcuffs on the bad man’s wrists, she then pushed him over so that he was further incapacitated.  It was very hard for a person to get up off of the ground when they didn’t have use of their arms. 

Turning back to the man who was shot, she hurried to his side.  He was moaning, but still not moving yet.  Time to get him out of danger, she told herself.  She had no idea what was going on but the streets here obviously weren’t safe. 

“Come on, buddy.  I don’t know who you are, but I’ve got to get you out of here.”  She lifted him into a sitting position and, thankfully, he was conscious enough but still woozy.  “Can you stand up?”

The man looked into her eyes and nodded.  But as she tried to get under his arm, he did the oddest thing.  Instead of accepting her help in standing, it was almost as if he were trying to protect her.  This entire night was starting to seem surreal but she had to hurry him off of the sidewalk, not sure if there might be more culprits just waiting for the bad man to give a signal. 

Surely the man wasn’t operating alone, was he?  That would be seriously stupid.  A robbery?  Yes, she could understand a robber acting alone.  But that man had been trying to kidnap her! 

That didn’t make sense, except if the guy thought to hold her for ransom.  Those things happened in other parts of the world, but she hadn’t read anywhere that it was an issue here in Kilar.  There was very little crime here which was one of the reasons she’d chosen this country.  She liked the desert areas, the low crime rate and the friendliness of the people. 

She wasn’t overly enamored of the friendliness at the moment, especially the local man now handcuffed and kneeling on the sidewalk, she thought as she put her arm under the other man’s shoulder.  “If you can walk a block back this way, we can get to the clinic.  We’ll be safe there,” she told him. 

He shook his head.  “Palace,” he told her, then cringed as his head obviously throbbed.  He also had trouble breathing.  She suspected that he’d hit his head on the fall and the bullet had cracked a few ribs.  He really needed to get to a hospital, but she’d deal with safety first. 

The man stumbled as he walked a few steps but she reached out to steady him.  She could only imagine the kind of pain he must be in, but she needed to get him to safety.  “Come on, buddy.  It’s only a little walk.  You can do it.  I can call the police once we’re out of this area.”

The man mumbled something again that sounded vaguely like “palace” but she wasn’t listening so much as encouraging the man to move.  It was slow going, slower than she would have preferred, but finally, she reached the doorway to the clinic.  She leaned the man up against the wall while she pulled her keys out and unlocked the door. 

It was odd to think that she’d just left here about fifteen minutes ago.  It felt as if her whole world had changed in those fifteen minutes.  She really was going to have to put a stop to all of this stress in her life.  Just as soon as she got through her current mess! 

She finally got the doors unlocked and she moved back to the man who was looking better now.  She wasn’t sure what was going on, but she helped him into the building and locked the doors again once they were safely inside. 

“Okay, just lay here and let me take a look at you,” she said when they were protected from further gunfire by the furniture in the waiting room. 

The man shook his head and tried to get her attention, but she was fast with her hands and pulled the material away.  “You’re wearing a bulletproof vest, so that stopped most of the damage,” she said, almost talking to herself, more relieved than she wanted to admit.  Bullets and chests were a bad combination.  Those two things should never intermingle.  “You’re fine!”  And then she leaned in again, pressing gently against his ribs.  “I bet you have a hellacious bruise though, don’t you?”

The man nodded, gesturing to his chest.  “Palace.  I called the palace.”

Her eyes narrowed and she had a sneaking suspicion that…

Well, she didn’t have time for that suspicion to fully form because Turk was walking into the clinic that moment, his eyes filled with a fury unlike any she’d ever witnessed before.  Even when he’d found her on the battlefield, he hadn’t been like this. 

“Turk!  What are…?”

Her words were muffled when his mouth closed over hers.  She was lifted into his arms and carried to a separate room and he was kissing her the whole time.  Raven initially wanted to pull away from him, to demand answers, but everything was just too intense and she’d craved his kiss, his touch, for so long.

She moaned, her hands sliding down his body, feeling all of those delicious muscles that she dreamed about whenever she finally got to sleep at night lately.  “You’re here,” she sighed when he lifted his mouth from hers, moving down her body. 

“And you are in so much trouble, lady,” he told her even as his teeth nipped at her earlobe. 

Raven laughed, delighted with him at this particular moment.  She’d forgotten all of the reasons why she’d left him, just glorying in the way he felt right now.  It was as if she were finally whole, as if her world was finally right again. 

Lifting his mouth from hers, he leaned his forehead against her head.  “Damn it, Raven, you can’t be outside the palace.  I should have stopped you before you’d left.”  His hands slid along her waist and she shivered.  “You’re coming back to the palace where I can make sure you’re safe.”

And just that quickly, his words splashed cold water over her happiness.  “Turk, you know I can’t do that.”

He pulled her closer, his erection pressing against her stomach.  “I know that you and I belong together.  I know you haven’t been eating or sleeping which means that you’re just as miserable as I am.  I also know that you’re a stubborn, irritating woman who needs to practice medicine and you left the palace before we had a chance to discuss the issue.  You will not do that again, Raven.”

“Yes but…”

He shook his head.  “No buts, Raven.  You left me and didn’t talk to me.  You didn’t believe we could work this out.  And look what happened?  The men who had…”

He stopped whatever he’d been about to say but Raven caught onto his words and looked up into his dark eyes.  “The men who had what?” she asked softly, her body tense and waiting. 

His large hands trapped her head gently.  “Raven, you’re my woman!  I won’t let anything happen to you.”

She put her hands on his wrists.  “Turk, what men?” she demanded again, more firmly this time. 

He sighed and looked up at the ceiling.  “Because you helped me escape from the rebels, there was an enormous reward put out for your capture,” he finally admitted.  “The man you saved was one of your bodyguards.  He was meant to protect you.  Obviously, he failed.”

Raven pulled back, startled by this revelation.  “And when were you going to tell me about this price on my head?” she demanded, furious now. 

He pulled back and glared down at her.  “Never.  You’re my woman and I protect my family.  You will be my wife very soon.  We’ve been slowly getting the word out that you aren’t a good target for anyone to try and capture and there wouldn’t be a payout anyway since the rebels have been captured.”  He grabbed her hands and pulled them behind her back.  “It isn’t like there’s an e-mail we can send out that announces your changed status, letting everyone know that you shouldn’t be kidnapped.”

Raven yanked her hands out from his grip and pushed away from him.  “Let me get this straight,” she said, pushing her hair out of her eyes.  “There has been a contract out on my head for…who knows how long and you haven’t said anything to me.  Then I leave because you don’t accept me and you assign a bodyguard to trail me, without my knowledge.  Add to that the fact that you have some sort of message being sent out about me – again without my knowledge – and you think that we’re okay?”

He crossed his arms over his chest, glaring down at her as she glared right back up at him.  He was un-phased by her anger.  Soon she would understand that he protected his woman.  She was new to this.  He had to have patience with her, get her into the real world and then he could explain how they are going to go on in the future.  “I have something to show you,” he told her and grabbed her arm to pull her out of the clinic.

She pulled back, unwilling to go anywhere with him after all that she’d learned tonight.  “Oh no!  You’re not going to drag me back to the palace where you can keep me coddled and protected.  I’m not a swooning damsel in distress!  I’m a competent woman who wants answers.  And I want answers before they interfere with my life, Turk!”

He towered over her, still glaring down at her silver eyes that were shooting darts right back at him.  He wanted to laugh with delight, but her anger only sparked his lust.  He needed to get her back to the palace where he could show her what he’d been doing for the past week. 

Once she saw his efforts, she would understand more about him.  “Raven, you know me.  You know by now that I’m stronger and meaner than you are.  You will come with me even if I have to toss you over my shoulder.  So you can walk out of here with dignity and listen to what I have to say or I will pick you up in my arms and carry you out.  Understood?”

Her trembling increased with those words because she knew that he would do exactly that!  “You’re just a big, annoying bully,” she fired right back.

He smiled slightly.  “Yeah, a big, annoying bully that you love.”

As had happened in the past, Raven opened her mouth to argue with him, but the denial just wouldn’t come.  When she snapped her mouth closed once again but maintained her glare, he nodded succinctly.  “Just as I thought,” he said but his tone was gentler, as if he were feeling the joy of that love himself.  “We’re going back to the palace now, Raven.  And you’re going to listen to me.  We’re going to talk and we’re going to figure out a good solution to the issues facing us.  Because you’re going to be my wife, love.  From the first moment I saw you back in that small clinic, I knew this was going to be our future.”

“You didn’t know me back then.  You didn’t even know my name,” she replied, confusion slipping into her voice.  Goodness, she loved what he was saying but she didn’t see how they could overcome the biggest issue of all between them.  Not to mention the way he’d kept information from her, vital information.  That wasn’t good either. 

“Turk,” she started to say but he once again silenced her.  His lips moved over hers and she was amazed at the beauty of his kiss.  He lifted his head and she stared up at him. 

She sighed and rested her forehead against his chest.  Conceding that she’d have to have one more conversation with him, she took a deep breath and braced herself.  “Show me,” she finally said, deciding that she’d better get this out of the way before she lost her nerve.

“Come,” he said and took her hand, leading her out the door of the exam room.  When she stepped back into the lobby of the clinic, she was once again reminded of the bodyguard.  He was sitting in a chair and Doctor Timerook was examining the poor man’s chest, which was turning purple from the bruise caused by the bullet. 

“Any broken ribs?” she asked even as she paused beside the good doctor and his newest patient.

Doctor Timerook smiled and shook his head.  “No.  Just bruising.”

Raven was relieved, not wanting anyone to be hurt even if they were protecting her.  Especially when they were protecting her, actually.  She could take care of herself, and she’d have to prove that to Turk so he didn’t go behind her back and assign people to protect her again.