Of course, he probably wouldn’t be furious. The man didn’t have any emotions underneath that handsome façade, she suspected. Oh, he was intelligent enough. Probably too intelligent! The man didn’t have a heart. He had a calculator where his heart was supposed to be! One that continuously calculated the profits or cost of one thing or another. The man could spout facts and figures unlike anyone she’d ever known! Some might even call the man brilliant.

  She called him a bore!

  Except for that one, damn kiss!

  Smothering yet another sigh, she shifted her clutch purse from her hands so that it was now tucked under one arm. She tried to take the weight off of one foot, but the pressure on the second foot was too much. She really shouldn’t have worn these heels today. She should have worn the other pair that was more broken in. Now she’d have a blister because these shoes were too tight at the toes. Darn it, when was the man going to shut up?! Couldn’t he delegate the talking points to one of his subordinates? Why did Sheik Goran have to answer all of the reporters’ questions?!

  Maybe he’d shut up if she flipped one of her shoes towards his head.

  Calista banished the thought, because all of her shoes were specially made. Unfortunately, her mental efforts worked for about five seconds. But then Sheik Goran, her “beloved” fiancé, took yet another question from the group of reporters and the image popped back into her mind. What would he do if she just…flipped her foot up? Maybe that was something she’d have to practice at home for future use. She could draw a target on one of the walls in her suite and practice flipping the shoe from her foot to the circle. Of course, she’d have to be careful about which shoes she flipped. She had several “special” shoes, including the pair she was currently wearing. It wouldn’t do to have her special shoes going astray of her target!

  The man in question turned and…stared at her. Calista stared back, not sure why he had that startled look on his features but…for some silly reason, the look caused her heart rate to accelerate. She didn’t want that. Calista really didn’t want to feel…anything…for Sheik Goran. All she wanted was to leave this crowded place, have a brief but polite dinner with the man where she gave him the news of their breakup, then drive to the airport where a plane was on standby for her. She’d climb on board, wave to whatever intrepid reporters followed her all the way to the airport, then step into the cool interior of the plane. She knew that her favorite flight attendant, John, would have a chilled glass of white wine ready for her. He’d hand it to her seconds before the pilot started down the runway for takeoff. God bless Johnny! He always knew what she needed!

  Unlike some men!

  Feeling strange, almost nervous, Calista’s chin went up a notch. Unknowingly, one dark eyebrow lifted as well.

  “Your Highness?”

  Calista turned, trying to dismiss Goran’s odd reaction, but focused on the nervous woman standing in front of her.

  “Yes?” she asked, relieved to have something to do other than stand here alone feeling awkward.

  “I’m sorry to disturb you,” she said in a low voice, then she paused to glance nervously at the body guards that were glaring at her. “I just…” she sighed, clenching her hand tightly together. “I was just wondering if you could mention to…” she tilted her head slightly, indicating Goran. “We’re…I…” she stumbled, sighing in frustration.

  “Go ahead,” Calista urged, gently touching the woman’s arm.

  The woman smiled briefly. “Thank you. You’re very kind.” She seemed to pause long enough to pull herself together. “It’s just that…well, strange things are happening near my town. There are lots of strange noises at night and bit trucks. After what happened in Silar, with the town collapsing and all, I was wondering if…maybe someone could look into the issue?”

  Calista tried to hide her surprise with an encouraging smile and nodded. “Of course. Strange nighttime noises doesn’t sound very savory.” Her smile widened towards the woman. “I’ll whisper in a few people’s ears.”

  The woman’s relief was apparent on her features and she gushed out, “Oh, thank you Your Highness!” And then she was gone! The woman simply spun around on her heel and hurried out through a side door.

  Calista watched, confused because…well, what town? Did the woman live here in Skyla or in Silar? Was the woman asking for Calista to mention the issue to Astir or Goran? And…how many trucks? What kinds of sounds? She glanced at her guards, both of whom shrugged, obviously equally confused.

  Calista almost asked one of the guards to go after the woman and get more information, but Goran’s conversation had ended and he was shaking the other man’s hand.

  He walked over to her, his towering height causing him to look down at her even though she was wearing four-inch heels. Never mind that those heels might have been tossed against the back of his head. Or that they were now hurting her feet. These heels gave her the much needed height so she didn’t feel so painfully short while standing next to him.

  “Are you ready to leave?” he asked, his tone one of sardonic…amusement? What the hell did he have to be amused about?

  Calista dismissed the strange woman, wondering if she’d just been punked. “Only if you’ve finished all of your business,” she replied, her voice saccharine sweet. Calista added an overly bright smile, batting her eye lashes for effect.

  “I’m ready,” he said. Without another word, he shifted so that she could precede him out the door to the waiting limousines. Calista ducked into the back of the limousine and scooted over, leaving at least two feet of space so that there was no risk that he might inadvertently touch her.

  Goran gritted his teeth, wishing that he could figure Calista out. When he’d turned around a moment ago to find her smiling, a soft, gentle look to her eyes and a softness around her mouth, he’d been…enchanted once again.

  Unfortunately, the lovely expression was fleeting. The blank look quickly descended back into place, but this time, she added in that sarcastic lift of her eyebrow.

  He watched as Calista ducked into the back of the limousine and he couldn’t stop his eyes from looking at her derriere. He might not like her personality, but Goran had no issues with her ass! Princess Calista had a damn fine ass! One that he’d like to spank. Hard! He’d love to teach her a lesson, to show her that he wasn’t going to endure those blank facial expressions.

  Sighing, he paused before he followed her into the limousine. Goran wanted to growl when he noticed her sitting so far away, but instead, his phone rang and he answered the call.

  For the next fifteen minutes, he dealt with the numerous issues that his assistant needed to go over with him. He really was going to have to find a new assistant because Samir seemed to struggle to make any kind of decision on his own. Plus, too many of the problems weren’t getting filtered. Ninety percent of the questions Samir had for Goran should have been diverted to someone else on the staff and Samir should know these issues already.

  When Goran finally ended the call, he turned to face Calista, determined to start the conversation, gently, that would end their relationship.

  “I apologize for the phone call,” he said to her, tucking the phone into his pocket, but he turned it off so that he could focus on her.

  “It seems that you have many issues to handle,” she commented. Goran got the impression that she wasn’t very interested.

  “Yes, but I shouldn’t need to handle most of them. I’m going to have to find a new assistant. Samir has been with me for six months. I thought he had more potential, but apparently, he hasn’t picked up the various nuances of his job yet.”

  Goran clenched his teeth when the lovely, cold-hearted woman simply turned her head and said, “That’s a shame. Hopefully, you can find a different position for him in…”

  She wasn’t able to finish that sentence because a loud explosion erupted, ending not just the conversation, but also his consciousness. A searing pain traveled up the back of his neck and then…nothing!

  Chapter 3

  “Wake up!”

  Goran groaned and tried to lift his head but a searing pain stopped his efforts. He felt heavy and…someone kept kicking him.

  “Wake up, you monster-sized human!”

  He would have laughed at that ridiculous insult if his head wasn’t throbbing so painfully. His mouth felt dry and his arms…why couldn’t he move his arms? What the hell was going on? And what was that god-awful smell?!

  “Ugh!” The voice sounded like Calista’s, but Goran couldn’t imagine her being so angry. Anger implied emotions and passions! Princess Calista was one of the most lifeless women he’d ever had the misery of knowing. Although, “knowing” wasn’t possible. Calista was too diplomatically polite and too introverted for anyone to really “know” her. So who the hell was muttering a series of expletives that would make a sailor blush?

  Another kick, this time to his hips, startled him enough so that he lifted his head. Unfortunately, his eyes felt as if they were glued shut. He forced his eyelids to open, just a crack, because the bright light burned the retinas. Quickly, he closed his eyes again, using his other senses to try and figure out what was going on.

  Ties. His hands were tied behind his back. That would explain why he couldn’t move his arms. It would also explain the burning sensation in his shoulders.

  “Darn it, Goran! You’d think that someone of your size would have a bit more resiliency!”

  Was she still complaining about his size? He wanted to laugh, since Calista…and yeah, he knew that it was his lovely, cold fiancée now that he recognized her voice as well as the sweet scent of her perfume…was berating him for his size? He hadn’t realized that his size was something that she’d hated about him. He’d thought she’d liked his height! Contrary woman!

  “Will you please shake it off and wake up?”

  That’s when he heard the panic in her voice. Reacting to that, he once again lifted his head, forcing his eyelids to open so that he could see her and give her some small measure of reassurance. They’d be fine, he wanted to tell her, but his mouth was too dry. And he couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on.

  “Where are we?”

  Calista’s head swiveled around, her big, brown eyes panicked and she shifted her adorable ass along the rough wood of…where the hell were they?

  “Pretend you’re not awake!” she hissed, shifting her body again. “Do it now!”

  Reacting not just to the panic, but also the heavy footsteps outside of the doorway, he let his head bob downwards again. It wasn’t hard to fake being “out” since his whole body ached and his head felt as if it might explode from the pain jabbing at every corner of his brain.

  A fraction of a second after he let his head flop back down, the heavy, wooden door opened up.

  “Who are you talking to?” a male voice demanded.

  “Him!” she snapped to whoever was standing in the doorway.

  More shuffling footsteps and Goran concentrated on appearing unconscious. “He is awake?”

  A long sigh followed that question. “I wish. But whatever was in that syringe was too much for him. He still hasn’t moved even when I kick him.”

  The male voice laughed, but a second later, the door slammed shut. Goran waited for Calista to give him the signal that he could lift his head again. But slowly, as he waited for her signal, he realized several things. First, his hands were tied with one of those plastic zip ties. His feet were bound as well and they’d taken his shoes. Also, one of his ribs might be broken. But other than that, he was fine. Well, besides the splitting headache! Which was a pretty significant issue.

  Goran waited another several beats, then lifted his head and forced his eyes to open once again. “What the hell is going on?” he whispered, not wanting the guards to come back and find him awake.

  Calista rolled her eyes and he once again had the insane desire to pull her over his lap and spank her sexy ass! How dare she roll her eyes at him!

  He would have done it, too. If his damn hands weren’t bound behind his back!

  “Take my shoe,” she whispered, thrusting an ivory shod foot towards him. The stiletto heel was quite nice, but…!

  “I’m not in the mood to play footsie at the moment, Calista,” he growled, wishing he could shove her pretty foot off of his lap. Again, the bound hands were really pissing him off!

  “Don’t be an ass!” she hissed at him. “Take the heel and pull!”

  “Why the hell would I do that?”

  Calista sighed, the sound coming out as if she was reaching for her last reserves of patience. “Look, Goran. I know that there isn’t any love lost between us. If we are perfectly honest with each other, we probably hate each other. But right now, we’re in a bit of a bind, literally and figuratively. And at this particular moment, I need you to pull the blade out of the heel of my shoe, then hand it to me so that I can cut through these stupid plastic ties.” She paused there, staring at him with fury radiating from every fiber of her body. “After we get out of this mess, then we can figure out a way to extricate ourselves from the most tedious engagement two people have ever had to deal with. Okay?”

  Goran wanted to argue about the tedious description, but at the moment, he really wanted to get out of the bindings. “Give me the damn shoe,” he snapped, then shifted his body so that her foot reached behind him where his hands were bound. It took mere seconds for him to get to the shoe and a moment later, he pulled at the heel to discover that there really was a knife hidden inside. “There are hidden depths to you,” he commented, then immediately started to saw away at the plastic ties. “I never knew that.”

  She rolled her eyes, again, before snapping, “If you weren’t such a…!” She stopped abruptly, pressing her lips together as if that was the only thing holding back her angry words.

  “What?” he demanded a second after the plastic tie broke under the knife’s blade. “I’d love to hear what you think of me.” He shifted around, sliced through the plastic tie around his ankles, then rolled to his feet. Walking behind her, he used the blade and, with a brisk snap, her hands were freed as well.

  “No, you really don’t,” she grumbled, then reached out to take the knife back from him.

  “I’ll hold onto this until we’re out of here,” he told her, pulling the knife from her reach.

  She glared at him and, once again, he had the almost uncontrollable urge to flip her over so he could spank her! Where the hell had the quiet, complacent…boring…woman gone? And who the hell was this angry, spitting tiger?

  Granted, the fire in her eyes was actually turning him on, even though this was the worst time to realize that the woman wasn’t quite the boring ice princess he’d originally thought. Perhaps there was a fire underneath that beautifully cold exterior.

  “Give me my knife!” she snapped. “You probably don’t know how to use it. But I do! I’ve been trained in several forms of fighting. If you’ll just stand behind me, then I can get us out of here.”

  Stand behind her? What the hell was she talking about?

  “Calista, if you could…” He stopped when she lifted a hand to halt whatever he’d been about to spew next. “Quiet!”

  Heavy footsteps came down the hallway and Goran moved swiftly and quietly in sock-feet around the small space, placing himself behind the door.

  It opened swiftly and, after checking through the crack in the doorway and the door frame to make sure there wasn’t another guard waiting, Goran shifted on the balls of his feet, turning, grabbing the man’s arm and twisting until the guard’s arm pulled out of his shoulder socket. Before the man could scream, Goran’s fingers pressed against the muscles and nerve endings on his shoulder, creating a dual reaction of absolute silence as well as knocking the man unconscious. He fell heavily to the floor, with Goran guiding him so that he didn’t make too much noise.

  “Close the door,” he ordered softly, then quickly began undressing the man, starting with his boots. Looking at them carefully, Goran acknowledged that they were a bit smaller than he’d prefer, but slightly small boots were better than nothing at all. Goran was fully aware that kidnappers generally took a person’s shoes in order to deter them from escaping as well as to slow them down if they tried. In this instance, the kidnappers were stupid to have left Calista with her shoes. But even he had to admit that he wouldn’t have thought that a pair of heels would be a threat. Heels that high would definitely slow a woman down. It was very difficult to run in a pair of stilettos. He made a mental note to tell his guards that all women’s heels should be examined in the future for potential weapons.

  “That was…” When Calista paused, he lifted his head, looking down at her stunned eyes.

  “What?” he prompted, enjoying her surprise after her previous command that he simply stay back so she could do the rough stuff.

  Calista shook her head and stepped back. “Just…I didn’t know that…”

  “That I could fight?” he asked, then flipped the knife around, handing it to her so that he could reach down to lace up the boots. “Why don’t you take his clothes off and put them on? Your ivory suit is nice but…”

  “Right,” she whispered, hesitated for another moment, then bent down, pulling at snaps and buttons. “Ivory suit and a frantic escape through the hot, humid, sticky jungle. Probably not a good combination.”

  She had the guard’s shirt off while Goran tugged at the guard’s pants. When the man was down to his skivvies, he tossed the pants over to Calista. “Hurry.”

  Calista was already contorting in an effort to reach the zipper at the back of her dress. Goran sighed and moved swiftly behind her. “Hold still,” he snapped, then lifted his hand and pulled down the zipper. Underneath, Goran was surprised to find himself looking at the beautiful skin revealed when the ivory material of her dress slipped away. And a pink bra. A pretty pink bra. With silver thread shot through it.