The Sheik's Rebellious Mistress Page 0,2

met, either frustration, irritation or outright anger. She liked that one the best. People"s guard comes down when they are angry and she could get away with more things.

“You may call me Micka.”

Electra eyed the man carefully for a long moment. “You work for me?”

“In a sense,” he responded. “Good,” she brightened, her face breaking out into a bright smile. “Then head on upstairs and wait for me there. I"ll be up in a while.”

The man didn"t return her smile. He simply stood his ground, unblinking as he watched her.

Her hands dropped and she waved them forward as if he were a heard of sheep she was trying to get out of the road. “Go on! Get out! I don"t want you down here,” she said, becoming embarrassed that the man was intimidating her friends, and more importantly, Danny. When he didn"t move, she got angry. “What? Are you some sort of baboon? Get out of here! This isn"t your house. You can"t be here like this.”

Her best friend cleared her throat. “Ellie, maybe we should all head home,” she suggested from behind Electra.

That only roused her temper more. She"d probably missed her opportunity to experience her first kiss, but there were always other opportunities and she meant to make one here, tonight, with Danny! “No. This is ridiculous. This man shouldn"t be here. I have no need of his protection so he should go. Not us.”

The other boys and two other girls laughed selfconsciously. One of them said, “Electra, I"m not sure how you"re going to get that man to move, but I"d better head home. I have homework to do.”

The others chimed in with similar excuses and Micka moved slightly to the right, allowing them to ascend the bare, wooden stairs to the main level of the house.

“Fine,” Electra spat out. “I"d better get home as well.” She walked around the man, unsure of what he would do to follow her. She pulled her keys out of her purse and offered a wan smile to her friend. “I"m sorry about this. I"ll get it straightened out with Gran.”

Electra walked up the stairs sadly, knowing that her chance with Danny was gone. There might be others, but this one was lost and it was painfully embarrassing.

Out in the cool, autumn evening, she looked back at Micka and smiled secretly. With her keys in her hands, she unlocked her dilapidated car and dove inside. Slamming the keys into the ignition, she turned it over and sped away as quickly as possible.

Racing through the drowsy streets, she sped along, eager to lose the man who had ruined her kiss with Danny, the man of her dreams.

Unfortunately, luck was not on her side. As soon as she turned the corner, the sirens and lights started flashing in her rear view mirror. “Oh, no!” she said to the darkness. Pulling over, sheknew it wouldn"t be a good idea to try and out-race the police. Adding insult to injury, the black Land Rover pulled up behind the police officer. Without letting her into the conversation, Micka and the police officer spoke softly. Electra tried to hear the conversation with her window rolled down but nothing came along. She was hoping Micka was convincingthe officer that she shouldn"t get a ticket. Could he? Would he?

No luck.

“May I see your license and registration, Miss?” the officer said sternly.

Fifteen minutes later, the officer came forward again, handing her the ticket for reckless driving. A moment later, Micka was opening the door to her car and pushing her into the passenger seat. “I"ll drive,” he said and started the engine, waving to the officer who immediately laughed before getting back into his cruiser.

“What are you doing?” Electra demanded.

“Put your seatbelt on,” was Micka"s only reply.

First the lost kiss, the not-lost ticket, the shoving aside and now an order?“No!” she said adamantly.

He didn"t even shrug as he said calmly, “Then we sit here until you do.”

Electra"s mouth dropped open. “You can"t do that!”

Micka did not respond. He simply waited, staring out the front window with teeth grinding patience.

The battle of wills was soon won that night, but Electra was unwilling to accept defeat in the war. Unfortunately, she didn"t know that twenty-four hour surveillance had been posted on her. She discovered that night that sneaking out of her window was a pointless endeavor. As she climbed out the window and shimmied down the tree, strong arms reached up and simply plucked her from the lowest branch, then tossed her