CHAPTER 1
Always the same dream. He called to her. “Princess Dayanara.” His voice was like rich, silky caramel, floating down her mound of ice cream. It did strange things to her insides. She yearned to hear him say her name again and again.
It was so hot and he was so sexy. Hot. God, she was hot. She kicked the blanket off her leg. But he was just a dream. A fantasy.
Something…someone…touched her leg. This wasn’t a dream! The hand she felt hot against her skin was real. She jolted awake. The warmth she felt in her dream turned to a cold sweat.
A man stood beside her bed. Not just any man, but the man from her dreams. Tall, dark, with chiseled features. Handsome with broad shoulders and abs to die for. His face came into focus and his eyes captured hers. Color of the deepest ocean, so blue as to seem almost black in the faint light that surrounded him, she struggled to look away.
Sitting bolt upright, she screamed, then scrambled backward over and off the bed, landing with a thump. That hurt! She hit her back and shoulder. There would surely be a bruise tomorrow.
The man leaned over the bed, his large size looming down over her, blocking the light from the window. He looked down at her sprawled form. “Are you injured?” His voice washed over her. Even with frazzled nerves at a strange man in her room, she recognized his voice. From her dreams.
He came around the bed and she bounded over it to the other side. Dreams or not, he was real, and he was in her room. As he closed on her she glanced quickly around and looked for a weapon, any weapon. Her hand landed on a small pink lamp. It had sat next to her bed since she was five, keeping her safe from the boogeyman. Now, she grabbed it, pulling the cord from the wall and held it in front of her like a sword, hoping it would continue to keep her safe. “Who the hell are you? Get out of here before I call the police.” Her voice was rough from sleep, edgy from fear
He moved closer to her, reaching out a hand. Not with malice, but with something else. Concern? “Princess you’re going to hurt someone. May I assist you?” he asked, chivalrous. Did this man mean her no harm? She didn’t dare assume anything.
“Stop.” Her voice shook, though she tried to steady it. “Don’t come any closer.”
“You must listen. You must come with me.”
She screamed at the top of her lungs. “Fire! Fire! Fire!” She’d read that people will respond to it if you scream Fire! and walk away if you scream Rape! “Help me. Fire!” What was wrong with the people in this building? Were they all deaf?
“Princess.” His voice washed over her like warm chocolate, comforting her. That wasn’t right. Why wasn’t he attacking her? The soothing voice didn’t stop her. He was a stranger. In her bedroom. “Help! Help!” she screamed, keeping the pink lamp aimed at him.
She lunged across the bed, reaching for the telephone.
“Now, Princess, please calm down.” He reached for the phone, and ripped it from the wall. “I mean you no harm, but we must talk and there is little time.” He fell to one knee, bowing in front of her.
Her eyes wide, she swung the pink lamp at him at him. He deflected the blow with his forearm as he stood, denting the lampshade in the process.
“Princess. Someone is going to get hurt if you do not allow me to speak.” He wrestled the mangled lamp from her. “Hear what I have to say. Please,” he implored. “You must return home. Immediately.”
