King's Ransom. Jackie Ashenden

side so I could see past his massive, broad figure to the door. ‘Dad’s other guys will notice I haven’t come back and they’ll come after me. So if we’re going to leave, we have to leave now.’

      ‘Now wait just a fucking minute—’

      But I had no fucking minutes to waste.

      I reached for his hand and pulled him over to the door. Or at least I tried to. Bit difficult when he wouldn’t let himself be pulled.

      Dammit.

      I turned back, fear beginning to thread through my excitement. ‘Please. If you’re going to kidnap me then you have to do it now. Come on!’ I tugged on his hand again.

      He didn’t move, only pinned me with those icy blue eyes. ‘You actually want me to kidnap you?’

      Seriously? He was asking me stupid questions now?

      ‘Would I be asking you to do it if I didn’t want you to?’ I pulled on his hand yet again. ‘Come on.’

      But it was like trying to pull on a mountain. The damn man wouldn’t budge.

      Fear tightened inside me. If we didn’t leave now the rest of my bodyguards were going to come looking and they’d find me. And then they’d try to stop me, and my chance of escape would be gone.

      I’d be back to living in my gilded cage, where I couldn’t move a muscle without five guards springing into action. Where I had to watch my behaviour so assiduously that it was easier to stay in than go out. It was a cage I hadn’t noticed get smaller and smaller as the years progressed. Not until the day I’d realised exactly what kind of man my father was and that if I stayed in the cage any longer I was going to get crushed.

      I’d go back to being powerless. Back to being used. Back to being so lonely it made my soul ache.

      No, I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t.

      Right here was my opportunity to escape and I was taking it.

      Ajax King was my father’s greatest enemy so who better to help me? He’d been watching me all evening—I’d noticed since I’d nothing else to do—and now I knew why.

      It couldn’t have been more perfect.

      Right then, someone knocked on the door and I froze, fear an iceberg floating in the centre of my chest.

      ‘Miss White?’ a male voice asked. ‘Are you in there?’

      Shit. It was Colin, one of my guards.

      I turned back to Ajax, standing near the vanity unit, so tall his head almost brushed the ceiling. He stared at me from underneath the cap he wore, his expression impassive. His rough features were intensely compelling. A sharp, hard jaw and strong blade of a nose. High cheekbones. Those deep set, amazing blue eyes. Not typically handsome. Very, very masculine, and the look he was giving me...

      I felt an odd flash of something. A crackle over my skin, like electricity. It was unexpected and strange so I ignored it, too worried about what he was going to do to pay attention to it.

      Would he change his mind? Give me back to them?

      I swallowed, my mouth dry, and I gave him a pleading look. Please help me. Please.

      ‘Miss White?’ Colin asked again, sharper this time. ‘Are you in there?’

      Ajax shot a glance at the door then back at me.

      Then suddenly he pulled me towards him so I was only inches away from his massive, muscular figure. He lowered his head, his mouth near my ear. ‘Do as I say,’ he murmured. ‘And I’ll get you out of here.’

      I blinked at the wall of white cotton in front of me. I hadn’t been this close to a man in years. Possibly I hadn’t been this close to a man ever.

      It was weird. He was very, very warm and he smelled good. A spicy, woody scent that for some reason made the iceberg in my chest start to melt and calmed my rising panic.

      ‘Now, put your arms out. And don’t say a word.’

      His breath on my skin made goosebumps rise along my neck and shoulders, that crackling sensation getting more intense.

      I didn’t have time to think about it so I put my arms out obediently. Quickly, he shrugged out of his black suit jacket and, before I could figure out what he was going to do with it, he’d put it on me.

      Nearly forgetting that I wasn’t supposed to speak, I opened my mouth to ask him what he was doing. But he whipped the cap off his head and put it on mine, then, with surprising skill for a guy, he coiled my hair up underneath so it wasn’t showing.

      I blinked up at him. Way, way up at him.

      His eyes were the most incredible blue. The pupils had a dark ring of midnight around them before lightening up towards the iris, a shade that was exactly the same as the sky on a perfect winter’s day. They were made even more noticeable by the straight black brows and thick black lashes that framed them.

      My heart gave a weird thump.

      I didn’t know much about him, only that my father hated his guts because Dad and Augustus King had been rivals until Augustus had finally gone to jail. Dad had been hoping that once Augustus had gone he’d be able to grab what was left of his empire and take it for himself—he was nothing if not opportunistic.

      But apparently Ajax King kept getting in the way.

      Maybe that was why I hadn’t screamed when Ajax had appeared in the bathroom. Why I’d believed him when he said he wouldn’t hurt me.

      He might have once been the heir to the biggest crime empire in Sydney, but he wasn’t now and any enemy of my father was a friend of mine.

      Of course, I hadn’t been thinking straight when he’d appeared in the doorway and clearly I wasn’t thinking straight now if all it took to make my heart thump was one look into his eyes.

      Forgetting that I’d promised not to speak, I opened my mouth to ask him what was going on but, before I could, he bent and picked me up in his arms.

      My stomach dropped away, the world lurching around me; every question I’d been going to ask vanished from my head.

      I’d never been held by a man. Couldn’t remember the last time I’d been held, full stop.

      Had it been this hot? Because that’s all I was conscious of. An intense, stunning heat surrounding me. From the hard torso I was lying against and the strong arms locked around me. It made something restless and antsy inside me go utterly still.

      I caught my breath.

      ‘Hide your face against my chest,’ Ajax murmured before heading straight to the door.

      My brain didn’t seem able to process the instruction. Hide my face? Why? And what was he doing? Didn’t he know that—

      There was a sudden crash as he kicked the door open and I caught one glimpse of Colin and the other guy—a new guard whose name I could never remember—and instinctively I turned away, hiding my face against Ajax’s broad chest, just like he’d told me to.

      The cotton of his shirt had been warmed by the hot skin beneath it and his scent filled my senses. Sandalwood, maybe, and...cedar? I’d taught myself about perfumes once and remembered the scents. Anyway, it was amazing. I pressed my cheek against the fabric, feeling firm muscle beneath it, and inhaled, the smell of him going straight to my head.

      ‘What?’ Ajax demanded, his deep voice making his chest vibrate against my cheek. ‘Get the fuck out of my way.’

      Silence.

      I should have been paying attention to what was happening, but being in his arms was way too distracting.

      The warmth of his body was soaking through the stupid white cocktail frock Dad had insisted I wear tonight, and I was conscious of how hard he was. Like he’d