Read Online Sold to the Sheikh by Chloe Cox - Free Book Online Page B

to each other?
    “Now how much?” Creighton sneered, standing over her.
    “Please don’t hurt me,” was all Stella could say.
    But she was certain he would.
    Or would have . They both turned at the sound of the sliding doors opening: Sheikh Bashir stood at the other end of the room, his eyes burning.
    “Did he hurt you?” he said, very quietly.
    “Not really,” Stella said. “But I think he was going to.” She’d be damned if she would lie for Creighton. She would knock him out herself if she could.
    Like he could read her thoughts, Sheikh Bashir turned on Creighton, a nimbus of pure malevolence swirling around him. He looked positively murderous. Creighton fell back, away from Stella, as if he could somehow wash his hands of it.
    “Bashir—”
    “Shut up,” Sheikh Bashir said, and then he pounced.
    Creighton dashed behind a side table, but Sheikh Bashir simply tossed it aside. Stella covered her ears and her head against the flying books and glass and alcohol, and when she looked up, Sheikh Bashir had Creighton by the wrist and throat.
    The Sheikh forced the cretin to his knees.
    “You are scum, Creighton,” he said. “You are entitled scum, and you are not fit to be in the same room with her. That I allowed this to happen…”
    Sheikh Bashir inhaled deeply, and twisted Creighton’s wrist away from his body. Creighton blubbered, unable to cry out through his strangled throat.
    “Apologize, Creighton. Crawl, on your hands and knees, and apologize. And if she accepts, I’ll let you leave here in one piece.”
    “Sheikh Bashir,” Stella said.
    Startled, the Sheikh relaxed his grip on Creighton’s throat, and let the drunken, would-be assailant fall to the floor, choking. The Sheikh himself lurched sideways, his face twisted with emotion as he tried to switch gears.
    “Stella,” he said, and stopped. It seemed the first time Stella had seen him at a loss for words. He looked at her blankly, his helplessness here in stark contrast to the way he physically dominated the room.
    “I just want him to leave,” she said quietly.
    Slowly he nodded. “As you wish,” he said, and he bent down to grab Creighton by the back of the neck. The Sheikh dragged the still-blubbering Creighton to the doors, pausing only to say something Stella couldn’t quite hear. Whatever it was, Creighton nodded visibly—gratefully, even. And then he fled from the room.
    Sheikh Bashir closed the doors after him. He took a deep breath, his broad shoulders rounding under his silk suit, and turned around. His handsome face was stricken.
    “There is no apology I can make for having failed you so completely,” he said.
    What?
    Stella was almost annoyed at him. Pretty much every stress hormone in her body was bouncing around chaotically inside her, and she felt like a shaken grab bag of emotion, but she was still pretty sure that none of things she was feeling was anger towards Sheikh Bashir. In fact, she was feeling pretty damn grateful to the tall, incredibly strong, gorgeous man who’d just defended her.
    “You didn’t do anything wrong,” she said.
    He shook his head. “I left you alone,” he said, crossing the room in a few long strides. “I showed you off to a man I didn’t know well, and then I left you alone and unprotected. It is unforgiveable.”
    He stood so close, and yet, he seemed lost in himself. In a kind of self-loathing. The sight of him, standing before her, opening and closing his fists, jaw clenching, full of recrimination and regret, pushed every panic button Stella had. This was what people looked like just before things got bad. Just before they wanted to leave. All she wanted to do was make it better.
    She said, “Really, it’s fine.” But even to her, it sounded shrill, brittle, fragile. Maybe I’m more shaken up than I thought . But why would Sheikh Bashir want anything to do with someone who was so much trouble? Wasn’t this supposed to be a fun weekend?
    “Be still.” He interrupted her