Sheikh's Purchased Princess by Sophia Lynn Read Free Book Online Page B

her. She was a lost girl far from home, one who needed his help and needed it immediately. He had thought her pretty enough.
    Then when she bit him, spat at his threats, fled and fought, something had changed. She wasn't just a victim that he needed to help. She became a vital fighter, one who refused to go down quietly and whose meekness was at best a facade to survive. The slave he had bought, he pitied. The woman he woke up to, he desired.
    When Adnan thought about his seduction that morning, the way he’d enjoyed her, he felt as low as a snake's belly. No matter how strong or how brave she was, she was still terrified. It felt wrong to be impossibly aroused by her shivering body. It felt wrong to desire the woman who had been stolen away from everything she had ever known.
    No matter how wrong it was, however, he wanted her. He wasn't sure if he had ever wanted a woman more. He had assumed last night, in the dimness of the room, that her eyes were blue, given her coloring. Now that he had seen them in good light, he could see that they were a pure gray, a color that made him think of rivers and rain.
    Even in the short time he had known her, he had become incredibly impressed with her resourcefulness and her will. He wasn't sure he had ever met a woman like her before, one that was so passionate even while she was being as brave as she could be.
    He knew that he couldn't take advantage of her. Not like this, not now. Perhaps in a few days, when it was all over…
    He shook his head. He needed to stay focused. He needed to make sure that he kept her safe. Then, and only then, they could find out what was possible between them.

Chapter Six
    Emily ran through her options. For a little while, she entertained a fantasy of overpowering the guards, running out, setting a fire and screaming for help. The more she thought about it, however, the more she realized that it was nothing more than a pleasant fantasy. She could try to escape, but she knew that not only would she never make it out, she would likely be punished for her efforts.
    For a brief moment, she thought of Oma, and she wondered if life was like this for her as well. Would it only be a matter of time until her attention shifted from escape to sheer survival? Oma had told her to simply look down at her feet, to count every step taken as one more survived. She took a deep breath, and she told herself that for now, that was what she had to do.
    The room was bereft of ways to contact the outside world. The ridiculously out-of-date computer couldn't connect to the Internet, and the flat screen television showed nothing but shows in Arabic. A large bookcase held books in various languages.
    The hours wore on, and Adnan still didn't return. When her thoughts turned to him, they became strange and fractured things. She didn't understand herself when it came to him, but there was more than that. Sometimes, when she was quiet, the thought came to her that she had known him before. Something about him was so familiar that she grew increasingly frustrated when the memory darted away again and again.
    Emily told herself that it was nothing more than a firing of synapses, a strange and erroneous connection of memory, but some part of her refused to believe it. No matter how hard she looked or what she considered, however, there was no way to fit a man like that into her previous life, and she had to let it go.
    She wandered the room, wondering if noble prisoners in times gone by felt the same way. Every need was met. One of the guards at the door had told her that he could order food if she wished. She wasn't going to be starved. She wasn't going to be hurt, as far as she could see. The only thing that she was going to be denied was her freedom.
    She tentatively asked for a grilled cheese sandwich and was slightly amused to get a sandwich filled with some kind of cheese she had never had before, along with a dish of bitter greens in lemon juice. The cheese was strong but not