Fighting With the Infuriating Prince Read Online Free Page B

kitchen and down the hallways back to her room. Slamming the door closed behind her, she leaned against the heavy wood and closed her eyes. Embarrassment and humiliation swept over her as she thought back to what she had just done in his arms.
    Her shaking hands covered her face as the tears started to flow. Never in her life had she ever done anything as crazy and promiscuous as what she’d just experienced in the arms of a man that she thought she disliked so intensely.
    Jalayla crawled into bed and pulled the covers up over her head. Hugging the pillow against her, she let the tears of humiliation flow, knowing that no one else would see her shame.

Chapter 3
     
    Jalayla loosened the reins, allowing the horse underneath her to gallop across the desert. She’d woken up late this morning, missing breakfast with her father.  She knew that she had done something so horribly wrong – something that she could never take back.
    Her only objective this morning was to get away, to ride out into the desert so that she could try and put last night’s activities into perspective.
    She would have to go home. There was absolutely no way that she could ever face Tasir again. Not after what he had done to her last night. He knew secrets about her, about her body, that she never wanted anyone else to know about. He had so easily changed her from a cool, intelligent, respectable lady into a wanton woman with no scruples, no inhibitions, no moral code.
    That was not who she was. That was not even who she wanted to be.
    She felt the horse’s energy start to dissipate and slowed him down. Looking out into the desert, she knew that she had done something wrong. That didn’t mean that her whole life had been ruined though. Last night, things hadn’t gone far enough for that to have happened. She definitely didn’t wanted to run into him again, but she sighed as she accepted that no real damage had been done.  Except to her pride.
    The man was diabolical. He had done things to her that she’d never thought were possible.
    She turned the horse around and started walking back towards the fortress. Not that she was going to go back there. Oh no, there was no way that she could face her father right now – not to mention the man who had created those feelings inside of her.
    She walked her horse around the fortress, ignoring the guards who stood sentry at the gates. She waved to them and indicated that she was going around the perimeter and they nodded their understanding.
    At a trot, she rode from the desert around to the rear of the fortress where the terrain changed from sand to shrubs and then into short trees and finally, to taller trees. As she climbed higher up into the mountains, the terrain turned into a lush, evergreen environment. The mountains created such a high terrain that the trees were able to get a small amount of moisture from the clouds, so it was only evergreens that grew. Deciduous trees couldn’t grow in this kind of harsh environment because they couldn’t retain enough water. But the strong, drought resistant evergreens created a forest of color that was different from almost anywhere else in this area.
    She followed the pathway that would lead her to her favorite place. And when she found it, she released the reins of the horse and let him wander over to a small crop of grass where he could nibble.
    The cool stream formed a pool here that was surrounded by the trees, creating a little oasis, although with evergreens instead of palm trees.  She’d come here whenever she could as a kid, swimming and laughing in the water, playing hide and seek in the trees or just lying on the ground, staring up at the clouds.  Those had been halcyon days, when her biggest worry was learning to sit still during diplomatic dinners. 
    Taking off her boots, she let her feet dangle into the cool water. Almost no one knew about this area. She and Princess Ciara had discovered it a long time ago.
    She reached down and let her