Maria felt as if she’d been kissed by lightning. A devastating shudder that left goosebumps in its wake shot down from her lips to the tips of her fingers. Her heart beat a staccato; she thought she would expire on the spot. Her mind had gone completely numb. All she could think about was that she was being kissed by Zain. His kiss was brutal, punishing; it chaffed her lips. Hungrily, he devoured her mouth, sending jolt after jolt throughout her body. His tongue flicked out to lick her bottom lip, then the upper one just as his kiss softened. She shuddered against him again.

She was being kissed by Sheikh Zain.

Her eyes slowly widened as the realisation dawned on her. His grip on her had loosened. She pulled her arm free, threw

back her hand with every ounce of strength she could muster and struck the side of his face with her open palm. A crack, not unlike the crackling of a whip, echoed in the alleyway. He froze. Thinking this was her chance to tear free, she shoved at his chest with all her might. The arm wrapped around her waist did not budge.

Slowly, Zain turned his face to look at her. As he did, he released her leg, but wrapped his other arm around her waist as well, holding her prisoner. The expression on his face made her heart skip a beat. It chilled her to the bone.

Zain took in her swollen rose lips that he’d slightly chaffed. He noted her ragged breathing. Her hair was in disarray. She looked absolutely gorgeous. His desire roared.

The entire left side of his face suddenly throbbed. He winced. He met her eyes. “That’s one hell of a slap you gave me, little girl.”

“Do not call me that.” she spat, her eyes flaring. He couldn’t remember meeting a bolder and more daring female before. In her azure eyes, he saw rebellion. A strong-willed female indeed.

Grinning, he said, “So what should I call you, then?” She remained silent. Was she going to withhold her name from him? The thought irked him for some reason. “Well?” Zain raised an eyebrow at her expectantly. Still, she did not say.

No matter, he thought. He would find out soon enough. Once she was securely in his mansion, he could take his sweet time prying it out of her. She’d be begging him to; he’d make sure of it. He looked forward to the seduction with great anticipation and eagerness. He grinned.

He flashed her his perfect white teeth. She felt her pulse quicken in response. The kiss had awakened something deep within Maria that she’d never known existed. Her entire body tingled underneath her clothes where he touched her. She was aware –too aware—of the rising and falling of his muscled, broad chest, the warmth his body emitted, and the powerful aura he exuded. It hung around him like a cape.

“Where are my manners, questioning you out in the street like this? Come, my peahen.” With an arm still snaked around her waist, he gripped her forearm with the other and started to guide her out of the alley.

Alarmed, she dug her feet into the ground. “Where are you taking me?” Her voice sounded high-pitched even to her own ears.

“To my home, of course, where we can sit down and talk as custom dictates.”

Maria nearly had a heart attack. She made a strange wheezing sound as she struggled to breathe some air into her lungs. He started to pull her along with him again.

“As if I’d let you!” She protested, shoving back against him. With her free arm, she fisted her hands and pounded his arm and neck and whatever body part in sight. He didn’t so much as flinch. Frustrated, she hit him harder until it was she who was getting hurt.

The streets were completely devoid of people. By then, it was most likely the afternoon and people -merchants and peddlers included- had already retired for their afternoon nap. And even if people were loitering around, she highly doubted anyone would come to her aid. For it was none other than the Sheikh she’d been captured by.

The full gravity of her situation crashed down on her. If he succeeded in imprisoning her in his mansion, she would be ruined. It would’ve all been for nothing.

“Stop! Stop, I say! Let me go! I hope you know this is kidnap! Let me go!” He was deaf to all her cries of protest. “Why are you taking me?” Even as she asked that of him, Maria already knew why, yet she still dreaded his answer.

She bit his upper arm. Her teeth closed around hard steel. When she felt her entire skull ache, she pulled back, grimacing in pain.

His laugh was deep and melodious. The sound of it made warmth pool in the pit of her stomach.

Maria’s hackles rose, and she bristled. “What?” She growled. She glared up at the side of his face. Even his noble profile was awe-inspiring.

The look he gave her made her shiver. It smouldered; the sheer strength of it.

“You reminded me of a kitten, biting and scratching like that.” She, a kitten?!

Maria’s legs folded from underneath her. On purpose.

One minute they were walking –well, Zain had been half-dragging her- side by side, and the next minute she’d buckled her legs on purpose!) and he was now completely dragging her on the ground like a sack of potatoes. Zain immediately stopped and stared down, wide-eyed, at her. He laughed. And laughed.

From his peripheral vision, he spotted a curious elderly woman peer out her window at them.

“I refuse to go anywhere with you.” she all but spat the words up at him, sounding just about ready to murder him.

Zain was not unattractive. Most women found him agreeable. Especially more so since he’s become Sheikh. Yet this woman acted with him as if he had the plague. It was as if his very touch repulsed her.

He would soon change that.

He slung her over his shoulder before she could utter a word of protest.