Tempted by the Prince (The Raminar Family Book 4) Elizabeth Lennox (little bear else holmelund minarik TXT) 📖

dream job, but she gained a great deal of satisfaction in doing her job, in managing the details, and ensuring that projects came together smoothly.

It wasn’t dancing, but it paid a whole lot better!

Chapter 7

Rachel couldn’t believe her ears!

For the second morning in a row, she’d awoken to someone pounding on her door.

Pushing the blankets back, she peered out at the window.  It was still dark outside.  Another hard knock and she rolled over to check the time on her cell phone which was propped up next to her on the nightstand.

It was only five o’clock in the morning.  Much too early to get up, she decided, and pulled the covers up over her head.

She’d been asleep for perhaps three seconds when she heard the door open.  She sat up and looked around, trying to figure out what was happening.

“Rise and shine, beautiful!”

Rachel pushed the hair out of her eyes, trying to figure out if she was awake or not.  Since she’d been dreaming about Tarin all night, his presence in her bedroom was confusing, to say the least.

“Tarin?”

His soft, husky laughter sent a thrill through her already dream-charged body.

“At least you call me by my first name when you’re half asleep.  But it’s time to wake up, honey.”

“I’m awake!” she yelped.  Rachel continued to sit there, looking around as if she wasn’t quite sure what was going on.  Blinking, she looked at the dimly lit room, trying to make sense of the world.  Unfortunately, her brain was too tired and wasn’t cooperating.  “But…why am I awake?”

“Because you’re coming with me.  Don’t worry about showering yet.  Put on some exercise clothes and come on out.”  Then he was gone and she was alone in the dark, cozy room.

She stared at the closed door, running the words over in her mind again.  No shower.  Exercise clothes.  “Why would I do that?” she asked rhetorically.

Out of curiosity, she pushed the covers off and slipped out of bed.  Grabbing her silk robe, she padded barefoot down the hallway to the large living room of the hotel suite.

Thinking she’d only dreamed about Tarin coming into her room, she blinked, trying to adjust to the brighter lights out here.  Sure enough, Tarin stood in the living room, drinking a cup of coffee and reading a newspaper, pacing back and forth.  He looked up when she entered, his gaze moving over her figure and she knew that she’d made a mistake.

“You’re going to work out in that?” he teased. “I like it. Might not be too practical though.”

She blinked owlishly at his teasing grin, still trying to make sense of this.  “What’s going on?  My alarm doesn’t go off for another hour.”

He walked over to her, tossing the newspaper onto a table.  “I’m teaching you self-defense this morning.”

“Self-defense?”

“Yes.  But only if you get dressed in something that you can move easily in.  As much as I like the robe, I don’t think it will stay on once you start trying to flip me over your shoulder.”

Rachel had been eyeing the steaming coffee mug in his hand, but with that news, she looked lower, her gaze devouring his chest and arms and all of those muscles.  “Um…will I get to do that?”

“Eventually,” he teased.

Now what did that mean?

“Do you have any sweatpants or leggings that you can work out in?”

She did, but did she want to wear them around him!  “Yes, but….”

“Good.  Go put them on.  Hurry up, we only have an hour before we need to get ready for our first meeting.”

For some reason, Rachel blindly turned around and headed back into her room.  She pulled on the leggings and, because she would be around Tarin, she brushed her hair and brushed her teeth, pulling her hair up into a tight ponytail to keep her mop of frizzy curls out of the way.  Just for good measure, she swished with mouthwash, not wanting even a hint of morning breath.

She grabbed a sports bra and a tee shirt, pulling both on over her head, then hurried back out to the main room.

“Will this work?” she asked, then regretted asking as his gaze moved up and down her figure, pausing on her breasts, which immediately started tingling, just as they had last night in her dream.  But Rachel knew better than to look down to check.  She was fairly sure that he was aware of anything going on in her chest area.  Looking at herself would only bring more attention to the problem.

“Yes.  That will work,” he turned towards the door. “Let’s go.”

“Where are we going?” she asked, jogging to catch up with him.

“To the hotel gym.  There’s more room down there and we don’t have to worry about you throwing me into anything,” he teased.

She laughed, rolling her eyes.  “Right.”

“You never know,” he pressed the button on the elevator.  “I’m a pretty good teacher.”

A half hour later, Rachel had to agree.  “Keep your stance loose,” he repeated.  “Don’t tense up in a dangerous situation.”  He moved closer, circling her.  “Okay, come at me.”

“No,” she groaned, shaking her head for emphasis.

“Rachel, you’re never going to learn to take down someone bigger than you if you don’t keep practicing.”

She’d been practicing.  For the past thirty plus minutes, she’d been trying to take him down with the arm-twisting method he’d shown her.  But he was a foot taller than her and probably more than a hundred pounds heavier, all of it muscle.  Now that she was with him and he wasn’t in one of his yummy, sexy business suits, she could more clearly see each and every one of those hard-packed muscles.  And…wow!  Just wow!

“Come on, Rachel, you’re not concentrating.”

She sighed.  She was concentrating all right.  Just not on trying to take him down.

Suddenly, he stood up.