Her Royal Bed by Laura Wright Read Free Book Online

seemed…close.”
    Her sister-in-law’s words ripped at her heart. They had been, in a crazy, short time, oddly connected. By a mutual desire, a steady interest and a similar pain. “We met at the Turnbolts’ charity function.”
    â€œAnd?”
    â€œAnd what?”
    A soft, knowing smile touched Rita’s lips.
    Jane laughed half heartedly, shook her head. “You’re very good at this.”
    Leaning in, Rita whispered, “I have a sister. Ava can never keep a secret from me, either.”
    Jane looked out over the crowd, tried to spot Bobby Callahan, but he was nowhere to be found. Odds were good that he’d already taken off. When Jane found Rita’s gaze once again, she studied the woman. “How good is our friendship?”
    A warm smile touched Rita’s mouth. “Well, I’d say we’re sisters now.”
    Jane nodded, then lowered her voice and said, “Bobby and I were together at the Turnbolts’ charity do.”
    â€œTogether?” Rita repeated.
    Jane raised her brows suggestively.
    â€œOh,” Rita said, surprised.
    â€œIt was one night, amazing, wonderful…” She put her head in her hands and groaned.
    â€œI understand,” Rita said comfortingly.
    â€œSakir can’t know this,” Jane said gravely.
    â€œSakir doesn’t need to know this,” Rita assured her. “It’s your business, your relationship.”
    Jane looked up and heaved a sigh, tracing the edges of the white china plate before her. “Well, I think any chance of a relationship was just—”
    â€œTossed out the window?” Rita supplied.
    Feeling overwhelmingly grievous, Jane shook her head. “Try catapulted.”
    Â 
    He could go to hell for thoughts like this.
    But as Bobby Callahan rode like the devil over his land, he felt defiantly resolute.
    Finally, he would have his revenge on Sakir Al-Nayhal. Finally, he would honor the memory of his father.
    On Josiah Callahan’s deathbed, he’d asked just two things of his son, to take care of his sister, Kimmy, and to pay back the man who had stolen so much from them. There was nothing Bobby wouldn’t do for his father, for the man who had felt honored to be the parent of a handicapped daughter, the man who had considered his life to be the easiest and most rewarding a man could have.
    The part of Bobby that felt angry at his dad for giving up and leaving him and Kimmy alone, would forever be buried in his heart.
    He hauled back the reins in his fist, brought his horse to a stop just inches from the property line he’d spent years memorizing. The line that separated his land from the land Sakir Al-Nayhal had stolen. For the first three years after his father’s death, Bobby had sat on this imaginary line, his butt in the dirt, his heart and soul wrecked. He’d imagined all sorts of ways to get his revenge. He’d fantasized about getting even with Sakir Al-Nayhal. Making him pay, making him realize what pain really was.
    The woman who’d called herself Jane Hefner entered his mind with a quick shot of desire. Bobby wasn’t altogether sure if she’d lied to him or not, if she’d known who he was all along and had been playing him—after all, he wouldn’t put anything past that family.
    But he almost didn’t care.
    Jane Hefner Al-Nayhal was going to be the answer to his eight-year quest. She liked him, he knew it, and he was going to make her fall in love with him, desperately in love with him, then toss her back into the arms of her brother, rejected and shattered. Then her brother would see what it was like to watch someone he loved fall apart.
    Sakir Al-Nayhal had destroyed Bobby’s family.
    Now Bobby was going to destroy Al-Nayhal’s.

Four
    J ane hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol the night before. She hadn’t danced into the wee hours with her heels in one hand and the palm of a gorgeous man in the other.