The Sheik's Rebellious Mistress (14 page)

She but wasn"t surprised when the car pulled up outside Dharr"s London building. Gerrard held the door open and she noticed Micha and Sam standing sentry beside the private elevator, their eyes surveying the surroundings, alert to any potential threats. She shook her head as she gazed out from the darkened interior of the limousine. “I"m not going in there,” she said, angrily wiping away the tears that started to fall more heavily.

“Your grandmother is upstairs,” Gerrard said carefully. “And it is not safe out here. Not anymore.”

Her eyes widened with his comments. “What do you mean? Why „not anymore"?” she demanded. “What"s happened between yesterday and now besides me looking like a fool?”

Gerrard"s eyes clouded over with concern and he shook his head sadly. “You must come inside,” he repeated. “You will understand once His Highness explains. It is not my place to discuss this situation with you.”

Electra"s heart contracted slightly when she heard Gerrard refer to Dharr with a royal title. This wasn"t fair! None of it was fair! But it wasn"t real, was it? She wasn"t really having an affair with her guardian, who just happened to be a king, who just happened to also be the man who had made her life so miserable for years. This is all some horrible dream that would disappear as soon as she could wake up.
Huddling in the corner of the large, luxurious vehicle, she stared into the depths of nothing. Her grief over the loss of her relationship, or what she thought of as a relationship, was deep and painful. “Please tell me all of this isn"t really happening,” she whispered desperately. “I don"t want to go up there, Gerrard. Couldn"t you please just take me somewhere else? I promise I"ll hide until all this mess is cleared up.”

G errard didn"t even hesitate before shaking his head adamantly. “I cannot disobey orders from the King,” he explained. In a more gentle tone he said, “You must confront him and demand answers yourself.”

Those were the only words that could have gotten her out of the car. Gerrard was right. She did need to demand answers. And she deserved them. She could explain her own deceit easily. What was a name, anyway? Ellie was short for Electra and all of her friends, even her grandmother, calls her Ellie. It had never occurred to her to tell him her real name, or even her last name so the confusion was innocent.

But he"d lied by not telling her about his title, his responsibilities even when she"d asked him about what he did for a living and asked repeatedly about his daily activities. All those things were who he was, what made him the man she….Electra didn"t finish that thought. With steely determination, she rode up the elevator in silence, trying to figure out how things had gone so wrong when everything had looked so perfect when she"d woken this morning.

When the elevator opened up, she looked across the room, memories of their first night together flooding back to her. She"d been standing in this exact spot, the green, strapless dress making her feel daring and beautiful. And just as she had that night, she stood staring out at the view, but this time, she wasn"t really seeing it, the hurt of his betrayal too much to endure at this point.

When she spotted him standing off to the side of the living room, she lashed out at him, her hurt and feelings of betrayal were too deep. “You!” she almost yelled. “I can"t believe I"ve been sleeping with
you
of all people.”

Dharr"s calm expression didn"t change with her outburst. He turned to Edna and bowed slightly. “If you don"t mind, I believe your granddaughter and I have some things to discuss. They might be better said in private.”

Edna nodded her head politely, hiding her smile from her furious granddaughter. “Absolutely. I"ll be in the kitchen asking your cook for the recipe to the delicious scones,” she said and walked quickly toward what Electra assumed was the kitchen.

When they were alone again, Dharr turned to face her. “You were saying?” he prompted , his eyebrows raised in polite inquiry. He didn"t seem phased by Electra"s anger or embarrassed by her personal outburst.
She persevered despite his patronizing attitude. “Don"t patronize me you egotistical, arrogant bastard!”

He smiled slightly as if amused by her fury which only made her grit her teeth as her anger inched up several notches.

“I can guarantee that my parents were legitimately married at the time of my conception and birth. But feel free to toss any other insults my way if it will make you feel better.”

Crossing her arms over her chest, she glared at him from across the room. “I hate you!”

He chuckled and shook his head. “Yes, I can see that. I"m not exactly sure why since I believe you"ve been lying to me about your identity this whole time. Perhaps you could enlighten me on the reason for that?” he asked.

Electra saw the chink in his armor. It was small, but she could see that he was furious at her deception. She didn"t care. “You made my life miserable you jerk!”

One eyebrow lifted at that accusation. “And how, exactly, did I do that?”

Her arms dropped and she walked forward, one hand poking him in the chest to punctuate her anger. “Those guards you sicced on me when I turned twelve. They were there, all through my teen years, never leaving me alone. I had a warped childhood and adolescence because they were always there, intimidating my friends, terrifying any man who worked up the courage to ask me out on a date. I had never even kissed a man until you came around! Isn"t that pathetic?”

Dharr watched the elegant beauty as she lashed out at him. When he"d first seen the article that told him his mystery woman was actually his ward, the woman he"d been duty bound to protect, he"d been livid. Then the realization that he"d slept with the woman he was supposed to be protecting hit him like a razor, shredding his pride and his sense of honor. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. This tiny woman with soft, green eyes and a body any man would kill for had somehow broken through his legendary control and he was angrier than he"d ever been in his life.

When he"d read the words that condemned him and irrevocably changed his future, he"d wanted to throttle her for what she"d done and her lies. His conscience had beaten him up several times over throughout the flight to London. For the past several months, she"d continuously disobeyed him, flaunted his rules, ignored him, berated him, tempted him beyond any other woman"s ability to lure himand then he"d discovered that she"d lied to him. That she was not who she"d portrayed herself to be was the ultimate insult.

Now, hearing her explanation and realizing what impact the guards had had on her life before he"d met her, his conscience was slightly appeased. It also helpedwhen she"d told him that no other man had ever kissed her. He was undeniably a sexist that liked…no was proud…of the fact that no other man had even touched her before him. This beauty was completely his in every sense of the word.

He had no regrets for her upbringing for he realized at that moment, that the guards she"d stated had made her life so miserable, had only protected her for him all these years. Knowing that, he knew exactly what he wanted. And she"d just inadvertently handed him the wayon a silver platter although she didn"t know it.

“So you didn"t lie to me deliberately?” he asked.

Electra stormed over to him and punched him in the chest. Unfortunately, he had so much muscle, it hurt her and barely even registered on his arrogantface. “You jerk! Didn"t you listen to anything I said? All I wanted was a normal life! I wanted what my friends had.”

“And what was that?” he asked, reaching down to take her hand and massage the fist he could tell was aching from her angry outburst.

She tried to pull her hand from his grasp but he held her firmly, kneading the flesh gently to ease the pain. “I wanted a boyfriend, freedom to get into trouble and figure out life for myself. I wanted to date and be excited about my first kiss and my first lover. I wanted to get a job and have all the struggles and victories other people have.”

“Ah, but you aren"t normal, Electra,” he said. “By the way, I like that name much better than Ellie. What made you come up with such a commonplace, calm name like Ellie anyway? It never suited you.”

She pulled her hand away and stepped back but she was only mildly irritated that he didn"t like her assumed name. “I like that name. It made me feel normal.”

He sighed heavily and turned to face her, leaning back against the sofa and sliding his hands into his pockets as he surveyed her with new eyes. Eyes that saw more than she wanted him to see. “Therein lies the problem. You are not normal. You are special.”

She rolled her eyes at his comments, immediately dismissing it as just tripe he was trying to dish out to her to appease her anger. “Oh, pish.” She paced back and forth in front of the sofa, her agitation making her movements jerky. “Flattery will get you no where with me. I have all the normal feelings of any other female. Probably a lot more insecurities though since I never was able to chase boys or see if they really liked me.”

“And that"s all my fault?” he asked, hiding his amusement on his face but she could see it in his eyes.

Her han ds balled into fists by her side but she didn"t take another swing at him, knowing it would hurt her more than him. “Yes, you arrogant jerk! And don"t you dare laugh at me. You don"t know what it"s like to be guarded all the time…” she started to say but then stopped and caught herself. “Well, okay, perhaps you do know what it"s like. But you always had women around you. You never knew what it was like to be the only female in the school where the boys were afraid to approach. I didn"t go to my prom or any of the school dances. I never went to the movies and had sweaty palms, in anticipation of that first kiss with your new boyfriend. I wanted it so desperately but each time I tried to contact you, to beg you to pull back the body guards who were destroying my life, you ignored me.”

“I was willing to meet you several weeks ago. In fact, I made time in my schedule just to speak with you.”

Electra blushed at the memory of their first meeting. “I hate you for bringing that up,” she countered, not sure what argument she could have for missing her meeting with him, since she was actually meeting with him. It was too convoluted to figure out.

Dharr laughed again. “You"re not going to make me feel guilty for protecting you all your life. The only thing I am feeling guilty about is taking advantage of you. But that can be quickly resolved,” he said calmly. “Jamil,” he called out and immediately, his aide appeared at the door to the living room. “Is the plane ready to take off?” he asked.

“It is, Your Highness,” he replied, bowing slightly, his ever present notebook tucked under his arm.

“Good. We"ll leave immediately,” Dharr said and took Electra"s hand in his own, guiding her out of the room. “Your grandmother will accompany us. Everything has already been announced,” he said.

Electra tried to pull her hand out of his but, just as before, he held it firmly. It was as if he had anticipated what she would do and she didn"t like that one bit. It indicated he understood her and she wanted to hate him. Understanding implied something she wasn"t willing to accept. “Where are we going?” she asked but wasn"t too worried since her grandmother would be there with her.

“You"ll see,” he said and pressed the code to make the elevator move.

“And there"s nothing I can do to make you tell me, is there?” she asked, her anger ramping up a notch at his high handedness. Were there no end to the sins this man could impose on her?

“Not really,” he said absently as his phone rang. He lifted it out of his pocket and answered it, speaking a different language she couldn"t identify. They slipped into the limousine with her grandmother calmly sitting next to her and they drove to the airport. Electra was only mildly concerned when the police escorted their entourage through the streets and directly onto the tarmac of the airport. They boarded the plane under heavy security and as soon as they were seated, the plane taxied down the runway. Electra sat in her seat next to her grandmother, discussing the latest village gossip but not really paying attention to anything she said. She knew some of her answers seemed a little ridiculous when she caught a few curious glances from the elderly lady.

Electra sighed and leaned her head back against the back of the chair, closing her eyes in frustration and exhaustion. “I"m sorry, Gram. I know I"m not making any sense, am I?”

Her grandmother laughed softly and patted her granddaughter"s hand gently. “No. But I can understand why you don"t really care about Betty"s pregnancy or Jennifer"s blueberry pie when you have a few other things on your mind. This is all very new and exciting for you and I can understand why you"re a little overwhelmed by all the fuss.”

Electra bit her lower lip slightly and looke d down at her hands. “I don"t understand, Gram. And I don"t want to be here. This isn"t just new, it"s different and I just want to be normal. Why can"t I ever have that?” she asked.

Edna chuckled softly and shook her head. “Electra, dear, you"ve never been normal. And I hate to break it to you but you probably never will be. I know it is one of your fondest hopes, but it just isn"t in you to be part of the crowd.”

“That"s not true, Gram. I am normal. I just need everyone to back away and leave me alone. Then I can blend in.” Electra fought the tears once again, hating the small sign of weakness.

Edna shook her head in denial. “No, my dear. I hate to be the one to break this to you but you"re special. And the reason you"ll never blend in is because people perceive that special quality within you. When you were in kindergarten, you used to pack the toy trucks with sticks and mud then made little log cabins.”

Electra pulled back slightly, confused. “What"s wrong with log cabins? I liked building those.”

Edna smiled fondly . “Nothing was wrong with them. In fact, they were very creative. I was impressed that you were building a little village, even naming it and making a wall around to protect the villagers. You were very careful to make sure they had everything they needed. But the other kids would put sand in the trucks and move the sand from one spot to another.”