Seduced (The Lottery Winners Book 8) Read online

  “But Daddy!” she wailed, then giggled when he tilted her upside down, her curls going every which way. Tony grabbed a bottle of lotion, and continued on his way.

  “Did you want to argue with me?” he asked, turning her right side up and plopping her down on his shoulders. She grabbed his hair, laughing when he leaned forward to duck under the doorway, causing her to slide every which way.

  By the time Tony walked into the kitchen, she was a giggling mess.

  “Good morning,” he announced, walking over to Julia who was holding their two year old son, Jonas, in her arms while she poured orange juice into glasses.

  “Good morning,” she replied. “You know you’re going to have to make something fast. These two have been circling the Christmas tree for the past twenty minutes.”

  He looked at her soft skin, a smile forming. “Your skin is red.” He handed her the lotion. “Any other place that needs some tlc?”

  Julia took the bottle of lotion, blushing. “I’ll take care of it.”

  “Happy to help,” he grinned rakishly.

  Julia rolled her eyes and pointed to the stove. “Cook! We have two wiggle worms who want to open presents and they aren’t the patient sort,” and she tickled Maddy’s tummy.

  Julia watched with love and amazement as Tony held Maddy and Jonas in his arms, directing them to do all the work. She sat back, sipping her coffee and just enjoying the show.

  Amazing how life turned out, she thought. She and Tony fought and argued, but never, not even slightly, had he raised his hand to her in anger. Six years of marriage plus four more restaurants. And yet, she was happiest here in LowPoint where all of her friends were. It was an amazing life, she thought.

  Excerpt from The Desert Prince’s Bride

  Book 2, The Sheiks of Altair (Jaffri’s Story)

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  The gorgeous, sexy…crazy woman was dancing in the palace hallway.

  Prince Jaffri watched, amused by the woman’s enticing figure as it swayed from right to left. Unfortunately, there was no grace or elegance, absolutely no coordination, to the way she was dancing.

  Perhaps “dancing” would be too strong of a word for what the enticing woman was doing. She was moving and…well, she was wiggling and moving and doing odd things with her adorable butt although it would be a stretch to call it dancing.

  It was so outside the scope of normal palace protocol that it stopped Prince Jaffri in his tracks. It took less than half a second for his mind to move away from the lack of decorum and focus on the adorable butt displayed by the dancing staff member. Short, curly black hair bounced right along with the long, denim-clad legs and the enticing back end. Jaffri stopped to enjoy the view, entranced by the image in front of him. Crossing his arms over his chest, he simply stood in the middle of the hallway, taking a moment to appreciate the simplicity of a gorgeous woman who was joyously “dancing” down the hallway.

  The normal hushed urgency at this end of the administrative offices was silenced, everyone home for the holiday weekend. It was one of those rare moments in time when he wasn’t ambushed by aides, questions, phone calls or an international crisis. There was just the silence of the palace broken only by the dissonant humming that accompanied her adorable, gyrating movements.

  It was Saturday morning and the administrative offices were empty other than this dancing beauty. Well, and himself, his body guards, probably ten or fifteen other staff members that were required to be in the palace during all moments of the day and night. But the raven-haired beauty didn’t know that. She was in her own world, her eyes closed, earbuds in her ears and a serenely happy expression lighting her delicate features. It was one of those moments that happened only in his imagination – a woman delighting in the moment and no one to interrupt, no one to call his attention away from the almost peaceful enjoyment of the woman and nothing else.

  He watched, amazed as she boogied left and right. When she slid across the marble floor, Jaffri realized that she had taken off her shoes so that her socks would slide across the polished floor more effectively. He almost laughed out loud when she shuffled to the left and lost her balance slightly. Good recovery though. This woman was a very experienced hallway-dancer. Her moves were a bit…odd, but her jubilation was evident. And amusing.

  At that particular moment, she spun around…both of them locking eyes and…there was perhaps half a second as their gazes clashed, hers startled and his amused. After that fraction of a moment, he heard a yelp and the papers she’d been holding against her body flew into the air, arms flayed and…if he hadn’t reacted quickly, his lovely dancer would have hit the hard, marble floor.

  With lightning fast moves refined from years of military training and stealthy missions where silence and quick reactions were the only thing between life and death, he reached out, grabbing her arms as soon as she started to tumble.

  Pulling her into his arms, he was amazed at all of the papers floating down around him as well as her soft curves pressing against his hard chest. The floating papers drifted around both of them, like a movie that had suddenly shifted into slow motion. They landed noiselessly around the two of them as their eyes locked together, hearts beating almost as one.

  Another thought struck him suddenly. He’d originally thought she was younger, but this woman staring up at him with shock in her gorgeous green eyes was in her mid to late twenties. And startlingly lovely! Cute nose, full, gloriously-wide lips, long, black lashes and a sexy tongue that snuck out slightly, taunting him as she licked those sin-inducing wide lips that he suspected would be delicious once he kissed them.

  “Oh!” she whispered, her fingers gripping his upper arms.

  He felt her breath, smelled the soft, flowery scent of her hair and wanted to bury his nose in the dark, almost black mass of curls. Not a good reaction, he thought to himself. He could picture her naked. In his bed.

  Instantly, he tamped down on that image and suppressed his natural instincts when around a beautiful woman, almost laughing as he imagined her face turning from shock to horror.

  “Are you okay?”

  Jaffri noticed instantly that she was holding her breath. In the next instant, he was painfully aware of her fingers sliding along his arms, those tentative touches exploring, her delicate fingers sending sharp sensations throughout his body, every one of them ending sharply in his groin. He should pull back, he thought, not wanting to frighten her again. Unfortunately, his body wasn’t listening to common sense at the moment. Her body was lush in all the right places and those eyes! Damn, her green eyes against the pale skin and black hair was his undoing. He couldn’t have stopped his body from responding to hers even if he’d wanted to.

  At this particular moment, he didn’t give a damn if she knew how much he wanted her. There was no hiding it anyway and he detested dishonesty. She was a beautiful woman and he was only human.

  “I’m fine,” she whispered. “I can stand on my own now.”

  Jaffri agreed. She was extremely fine.

  But he understood that she was suggesting that they not stand in the middle of the hallway like this. He released her reluctantly, putting his hands on her waist to ensure that she was steady. Well, and because he didn’t want to break the connection between them.

  The slight pressure on his arms indicated that she was a bit less reticent. Stepping backwards, he looked down at the woman. She was a bit taller than average, but still short compared to his six foot, four inch height. When those green eyes blinked up at him, all he wanted to do was bend down and taste those rosy lips.

  Then her green eyes widened and he braced himself for whatever she was about to say next. It always happened and he smothered the frustration, the anger. Recognition hit her and he almost sighed with weariness.

  “You’re the prince!” she gasped. Immediately stepping back, she moved to curtsy but her lack of shoes, not to mention her obvious horror at the shocking breach in palace protocol, caused her socks to slip along
the polished marble. He caught her once again, chuckling this time.

  “No need to curtsy,” he commented. “What’s your name and why are you working on a Saturday?” he asked.

  Giselle stared up at the huge man, her fingers curling into fists so she didn’t “accidentally” reach out and explore more of those muscles. He was tall and strong, with deliciously broad shoulders and tapered waist. He reminded her of a tall, sleek Hulk-like Goliath. Goodness, he was possibly the hottest man she’d ever seen in her life! Except for the laughter lurking there in those startling blue eyes, he was…yummy!

  But he was royalty! And not just any old prince one might accidentally run into on the street or palace hallway. Oh no! This was THE royal guy. The head honcho royal guy. Giselle mentally chided herself because a royal sheik really should never be referred to as a “honcho” or anything else so casual. “You’re the crown prince!” she announced, cursing herself for blurting out something so ridiculous.

  Realizing what she’s just said, Giselle closed her eyes and shook her head slightly. “You already know that you’re the prince,” and she opened her eyes, muttering another curse under her breath. “I mean, you know you’re the prince. Since you were born a prince and…” more stammering and she pressed her lips closed.

  She sighed and shifted slightly, wishing she had just a few subservient bones inside of her horrified body right about now. She looked up into his blue eyes and smiled sheepishly. “How about if we just ignore the past several moments and we’ll both go on our way, pretending that this embarrassing interlude never happened, okay?”

  She stood there, her eyebrows lifted in the hopes that he would agree to just move on. But those startling blue eyes continued to watch her and, unfortunately, his amusement only increased. He wasn’t moving on. He wasn’t doing anything other than looking down at her as if she were some sort of amusing pet!

  “You’re just staring at me.” She waved her hand in between them. “You’re supposed to keep on going, pretending that this didn’t happen, remember?”

  He didn’t move away. In fact, he chuckled and moved closer, towering over her. If she were a weaker woman, Giselle thought she might be intimidated by his move. But she wasn’t weak.

  Okay, yeah, she was completely intimidated. This guy was a prince!

  She stopped herself before she could start in with the mental prince-since-birth speech in her mind again because, good grief, the way he was staring at her, anything was possible. Even stupid mental lectures at this point.

  With a huff, she crossed her arms over her stomach, unaware of how the movement lifted her breasts, creating an intriguing shadow in the V of her tee-shirt. “You’re not very good at following instructions are you? I’m guessing that has to do with the prince-speech?”

  The man chuckled and…he actually moved closer!

  “You haven’t answered my questions,” was all he said.

  Giselle thought back, trying to remember what he’d asked. It was hard because…well, this guy was a prince! On an exciting day here at the palace, she might run into a security guard. Once she’d discovered she was talking to a cook from the palace kitchen. But nope, never a prince! Not even the youngest prince and this wasn’t…

  She was doing it again!

  He’d asked a question and she unconsciously bit her lip, trying to remember the question. When she looked into his eyes, one dark eyebrow lifting in inquiry, the answer…or the question…finally came to her. “Saturday! Why am I here!” she exclaimed, feeling brilliant for finally remembering what he’d asked…oh, maybe thirty seconds ago.

  In response…well, he didn’t really move. And yet, something changed in his features. She stared at him curiously, trying to figure out what had just gone through his mind. She wasn’t sure but…was that a flicker of amusement? Was he…?

  Oh no he wasn’t! The man was…he was laughing at her! Again!

  “Um…” Why was she here? On a Saturday. Good question! And if he would stop looking at her like that, then maybe she could answer him.

  “Tough question?” he teased.

  Giselle’s lips pressed together and her fists tightened. Not a good idea to punch a prince, she thought. Bad career move. And since she’d just started here, and liked it so far, she should refrain from punching. Refrain from all physical assaults in general. Having grown up with brothers, it was her natural instinct to simply lash out before one of her brothers pounded on her. But…well, that prince-thing popped into her mind.

  “I’m working,” she finally blurted out. Pulling her eyes away, she noticed the papers that were now spread out, sprinkled all over the floor. “Darn it!” she muttered, bending down to start gathering up the papers. “Sorry to get in your way, Your Highness.”

  Shockingly, the big guy bent down and helped her collect all of the papers. “You don’t have to do that,” she told him, although her heart warmed that he wasn’t so pompous that he couldn’t help someone out.

  “I’m the one who caused the chaos, I can help pick up the results. What’s your name?” he asked as he handed a stack of what looked like lists to her.

  “I’m Giselle Jones,” she said and stood up, the gathered papers pressed against her chest and stomach. She awkwardly stuck her hand out, then realized what she was doing, grabbed the falling papers and tried once again to curtsy. “Sorry,” she mumbled as she grabbed the papers again.

  Unfortunately, there were too many of them and the big guy reached out to catch the ones that escaped. When his knuckles accidentally touched her breast, she gasped and stepped back. Unfortunately, that created a bigger problem…she was still in her socks!

  Socks slipped, grace vanished and dignity was demolished. Giselle closed her eyes, bracing for a painful impact and inevitable humiliation. But…no pain just…heat and fire and…oh my! Once more, those incredibly strong arms reached out to stop her fall.

  Opening her eyes once again, she stared up into those strange, blue eyes. It was there, in his eyes too. The heat was intense and she trembled as she tried to think.

  “Careful,” he said, the rough timbre of his voice causing additional shivers to race throughout her whole body. As she stared up into his eyes, Giselle knew that he’d felt her reaction as well. Double darn!

  “I really need to put some shoes on,” she whispered, feeling foolish and awkward. “I’m not normally this clumsy.”

  “My pleasure,” he replied, his fingers tightening on her waist.

  “Thanks,” she whispered, staring up at him once more. “I think I’m okay now.” Goodness, he was hard! He was hard and…hard…everywhere! “Oh!” and her fingers curled into fists as she realized that he was fully erect and…Woah! Impressively erect! Was that even real? Giselle knew that, if she hadn’t still been in his arms, she would have embarrassed herself further by looking down to verify that what she was feeling against her stomach was real or…whatever.

  “Um, I’m sorry to bother you, Your Highness.” Quickly, she pulled out of his arms and took several steps backwards, still looking up at him and praying that there wasn’t any obstacle behind her that might cause her to trip once more. Then her eyes moved over his equally impressive shoulders and bulging muscles. Maybe an obstacle could be a good thing, if it meant she could…No! Falling bad! Dignity good!

  Taking a deep breath, she refocused her mind

  He laughed softly, obviously amused by her embarrassment. “No bother at all. What’s your name?”

  Giselle looked up into his blue eyes and, for the life of her, she couldn’t remember the answer to his question. When a dark eyebrow lifted in amusement, she closed her eyes and focused. Name. Name? “Giselle!” she gasped when the answer finally came to her. When she opened her eyes, she saw that the giant man with all of the yummy muscles was no longer trying to suppress his amusement. He was openly smiling down at her. “Giselle Jones.” She stood up a bit straighter, trying to regain a modicum of professionalism.

  “What are all of these lists about?”
he asked as he turned the papers over.

  She was so embarrassed and…well, so fascinated, she had a hard time pulling her eyes away from him. But his body was…well, it was…she realized his body was doing…that… and Giselle had to shake her head in order to remember why she’d been carrying around a bunch of lists. Glancing down, she tried to make her mind function properly. But this man…he was…hot! And a prince! She had to focus on the “prince” part and not the “hot” part.

  It was tough, but she eventually lifted her eyes up to his, not allowing herself to glance at those broad, muscular shoulders or…He was a prince! Darn it! She was not allowed to be attracted to THE PRINCE!

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