The Desert Rogues Part 1

by Susan Mallery

  “Yes. And I frequently found it.”

  Humor darkened his eyes. Humor and something else. Something almost angry.

  “I would have thought you’d enjoy growing up here.”

  “Much of the time I did. But there were occasions when I chafed at the rules. My grandfather was loving, but also stern.”

  “How did he feel about the slavery issue?” she muttered.

  “He would not have approved.”

  “Really?” She dropped the washcloth. “I don’t suppose he’s still around.”

  “No. He passed away five years ago.”

  Sabrina touched his damp arm. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful.”

  “I understand. There’s no need to apologize. I often wish he was still with us. Until his death, I was merely the heir to the city. I had more freedom. Now I have a greater responsibility.”

  She knelt on the floor. “What’s the governmental structure here? Is there a parliament of some kind?”

  “A tribal council that advises me. However, they do not have power unless I grant it to them. The city is a complete monarchy.”

  “Just my luck.”

  “You could always appeal to my mother. She has much influence with me.”

  Sabrina gestured to herself, then to him in the tub. “This might not be the time. She would get the wrong idea.”

  “Actually she would understand exactly what I was after.”

  His voice had turned low and seductive. Sabrina swallowed. “Yes, well, perhaps later when I’m more formally dressed.”

  He took her hand and placed it on his chest. “I would prefer you not to be dressed at all. I want to see my prize.”

  She felt like a bird trapped in the compelling gaze of a cobra. As much as she wanted to shriek and run away, she couldn’t. Her fingers curled into the hair on his chest. Warm water lapped against her wrist and his heartbeat pulsed against her palm.

  Was it her imagination or was he getting closer? Was Kardal leaning toward her, or her toward him? The shivers turned to honest-to-goodness trembling and she knew that if she’d been standing, her legs would have given way.

  Fire filled Kardal’s eyes. She felt the heat down to her bones. It melted her resistance. His gaze settled on her mouth and she knew he was going to kiss her. What would it be like to be kissed by a man such as him? He would expect her to understand the ways between a man and a woman. He would expect her to be an expert, when in fact most sixteen-year-old girls knew far more than her. She’d never really been kissed—not the way she’d read about in books.

  Kardal watched the various emotions flash through Sabrina’s eyes. He read curiosity and fear, confusion and desire. The combination intrigued him…and made him wonder. If he didn’t know better, he would think she was as innocent as she claimed.

  But that wasn’t possible. She’d been raised in Los Angeles. There was her lifestyle, the parties she attended, the men she’d been associated with.

  But the seed of doubt had been planted. Kardal found himself wanting to know the truth. He touched her soft cheek with one hand and with the other, drew her fingers under the water, toward his arousal. He’d been fully erect for some time and welcomed the thought of her touching him.

  But she barely brushed against him before pulling free and jumping back as if she’d come in contact with an open flame. Color flared on her face and her mouth trembled slightly.

  “You’re going to have to finish your bath yourself,” she said, turning away from him. “I can’t do this anymore.”

  Interesting, he thought to himself. Sabrina might not be a virgin, but she wasn’t as experienced as he’d thought. She might be able to play at certain things, but she couldn’t invent a blush, or the haunted expression in her eyes.

  “Hand me my towel,” he said, preparing to rise. When she didn’t move, he sighed. “The towel is by the fire, which is across the room. I will walk there naked, if you would prefer. If not, hand me the towel and avert your gaze.”

  She did as he suggested, keeping her back to him as he stepped out of the water. After covering himself, he collected his clothes and headed for the door.

  “We will have dinner tonight,” he told her. “Both in clothes.”

  She glanced at him, appearing unsure of his purpose. Kardal didn’t understand it, either. It seemed that he wanted to get to know Princess Sabra. Perhaps because she might not be exactly who or what he’d first imagined.

  “A girl’s school?” Kardal asked in disbelief.

  Sabrina leaned her elbows on the low table between them. Humor brightened her brown eyes. “Well, duh. Eastern fathers aren’t the only ones trying to protect their daughters. Rich people do it, too. Also, a lot of studies have been done showing that girls learn more and perform better in school when they aren’t in mixed classrooms.”

  “I don’t dispute that,” he said, dismissing her with a wave. “I had never heard that you attended such an establishment.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Like you would have believed it. You only want to know that I went to wild parties and dated lots of guys. That’s far more interesting than the truth.”

  She had a point. He’d been guilty of assuming the worst about her.

  He studied the woman lounging on pillows across from him. As a concession to her complaints about her costume, he’d had Adiva bring Sabrina a dress of cobalt-blue. The long sleeves and high neckline were so modest, even the sternest father would approve. Yet he found sensual pleasure in watching her. The supple silk covered her curves, but did not hide their existence. He watched the turn of her neck and the way her breasts shifted as she moved.

  Tonight Sabrina wore her long red hair down around her shoulders. The loose curls tempted him. He wanted to let them twist around his fingers to discover if they were as soft as they looked.

  “So you did not live the hedonistic life of a wanton western woman?” he asked as he reached for a strawberry in the bowl between them.

  Sabrina sighed. “All that muck about me and men doesn’t come from me.” She ducked her head but not before he saw color staining her cheeks. “It’s my mother. She’s a bit of a flirt.”

  “That bothers you?”

  She shrugged. “It was weird when I was little. There were different men around all the time. I missed my father, but she didn’t want me to talk about him. Of course when I was with him, I wasn’t allowed to speak of her, either. I always wanted her to find one person and marry him. But she said she’d been married once and she’d hated it.”

  She picked up a slice of pineapple, then put it on her plate. “When I turned fourteen, she told me it was time for me to have a boyfriend.”

  Kardal had heard stories of Sabrina’s mother’s wildness, but he had never thought she would push her own daughter in that direction. “What did you say?”

  “That I thought life should be about more than body parts.”

  Kardal bit into his strawberry. He wasn’t sure he believed Sabrina, but he liked her answer.

  “School was important to me,” she continued. “Especially after I went to college, but Mom never got that. The irony is I maintained an A average in college, which meant I spent a lot of time studying. I couldn’t physically have attended all those parties and still gotten my grades. But no one bothered to figure that out.”

  More and more interesting, Kardal thought. Sabrina was a woman of many surprises. Some of them were turning out to be quite pleasant.

  “Perhaps it was not a mistake to rescue you in the desert,” he told her.

  She rolled her eyes. “I cannot even begin to tell you how your words make me quiver with joy.”

  Chapter Six

  “You have a most disagreeable personality,” Kardal said, rebuking her as he took another strawberry. “A slave should be more docile. I do not approve of sarcasm in a woman.”

  “Hey, I don’t approve of being kidnapped, but no one asked me,” Sabrina told him, somewhat pleased to be holding her own with the P
rince of Thieves. Of course the fact that he was fully dressed helped her situation considerably. Naked, he was the hands-down winner.

  He dismissed her protestation with a flick of his wrist. “You are enjoying your time in my city and most especially in my company. Would you prefer to be meeting your betrothed?”

  She stared in surprise. “How do you know about the troll prince?”

  Kardal nearly choked as he swallowed, then glared at her. “The what?”

  “Troll prince. My father has betrothed me to some horrible man.”

  “How do you know he is horrible?”

  “Because my father has never been concerned about me. This is—as he put it—an alliance, not a marriage.” She shrugged. “I suppose the good news is that you’re slightly better than the troll prince, but not by much. So how did you know about my betrothal?”

  “I hear rumors.” He passed her a strawberry. “Returning to our former subject, you did not attend your mother’s infamous parties?”

  Sabrina wrinkled her nose. “Not if I could avoid it. She and I are so different, I have trouble believing we’re related. However, I do look like her, so there’s no question that she found me under a rock and took me home.”

  “I have seen pictures of your mother,” he told her. “I find you more attractive.”

  The man was holding her captive, she reminded herself. He’d taken her from the desert, forced her—until tonight—to dress like a harem call girl. She still had on her slave bracelets and who knew what other tortures he had in mind for her. So she should absolutely not care that he thought she was prettier than her mother. Yet she did.

  “Yes, well, isn’t that interesting?” she mumbled, not looking at him as she pleated the napkin on her lap.

  They were sitting by the fireplace in her bedroom. Their meal had been set on a low table, with cushions serving as seats. When Adiva had reverently announced that the great Kardal was being gracious enough to dine with her, Sabrina had thought she might show him her appreciation by throwing the dishes at his head. But somehow she’d never found the right moment. Maybe it was because she sort of liked having someone to talk to. It wasn’t as if she had any friends at the palace in Bahania.

  “In addition to your boarding school in Los Angeles, did you also study when you were with your father?” Kardal asked.

  “No. I only stayed with him in the summer. He mostly shuffled me off with nannies or companions.” Sabrina held in a sigh. Thinking about her father always made her sad. “A few of them were from different countries, so that was interesting. I learned about their customs and a bit of their native language.”

  She set her napkin on the table and drew her knees to her chest. “Moving between the two worlds was more complicated than people might think. When I first arrived for my summer stays, I was always startled by the palace and how everything was so different here. My father was busy running the government and training my brothers. I felt out of place and not very welcome.”

  “A household of men,” Kardal said. “I’m sure they did not know what to do with you.”

  “I guess I can see that, although at the time I simply felt unwanted. I would spend a lot of time reading about Bahanian history and talking with the servants. Just as soon as I started to feel like I finally belonged, I had to go back to California. Then I had the same sort of adjustment all over again. My friends would talk about their summer vacations and all the things they did. What was I supposed to say? ‘Gee, I went to stay in my palace by the sea and practiced being a princess’?” She grimaced. “It sounds wonderful to someone on the outside, but it wasn’t. Besides, I really didn’t want anyone to know who or what I was. All they knew was that I visited my father in the Middle East. I never said who he was.”

  Kardal stared at her. His intense gaze made her uncomfortable.

  “Is this boring you?” she asked, wondering why she would have thought he would be the least bit interested in her life.

  “Not at all,” he said slowly. He leaned toward her slightly. “Your story isn’t unfamiliar. I, too, grew up caught between two worlds.”

  He paused as if he wasn’t going to say any more. Sabrina didn’t interrupt. She couldn’t possibly imagine what she and the Prince of Thieves would have in common.

  Kardal stared past her toward the door. She wondered what he was really seeing.

  “I was a child of the desert,” he said at last. “I could ride as soon as I could walk and my days were spent with the other children of the city. We had great adventures, first within the protective walls surrounding us, then out in the desert.”

  A slight smile tugged at his mouth. “I could ride like the wind and hunt with the skill and cunning of a desert fox. Part of each year, I traveled with the tribes and learned their ways.”

  “Sounds wonderful,” she breathed.

  “It was. Until I turned ten and my mother decided it was time for me to become educated. She sent me to a prep school in New England.” The smile faded and his mouth formed a straight line. “I did not fit in with the other boys.”

  She winced. “I can’t even imagine what that was like. You don’t strike me as a coat and tie kind of guy.”

  “I had never worn such garments,” he admitted. “I knew nothing of their ways, I barely spoke their language. My reading skills were minimal. I’d always had a head for mathematics, but no formal training.” He raised one shoulder. “I spent much of that year being punished for fighting.”

  “The other boys teased you and you reacted the only way you knew how.”

  “Exactly. I was nearly expelled.”

  “What happened?”

  “I came home for the summer. My grandfather explained that I could only be the prince of the city with the proper education. That to keep the city a secret, no one at the school could know who I was. They thought I was the son of a wealthy sheik. He told me that it was my responsibility to learn all that I could, so that I would be a wise and honorable ruler to my people. I promised him I would try to fit in and dedicated myself to my studies.”

  She studied the stern lines of his handsome face. “So you returned in the fall and this time instead of kicking actual butt you kicked academic butt.”

  “I would not have phrased it that way, but yes.”

  “Did the situation improve?”

  He grinned. “When I turned fifteen and we had several joint activities with the neighboring girl’s boarding school.”

  Sabrina couldn’t help laughing. “Let me guess. You were wildly popular with the opposite sex.”

  “I did well,” he admitted. “Also, I’d grown taller and stronger. No one wanted to take me on anymore. And I had learned how to fit in. But like you, each summer I returned to the desert. It took several weeks until I felt at home here, and then I had to return. I was pleased when I graduated from college and was able to always live in the city.”

  “Who would have thought we’d have that in common,” she said, feeling suddenly awkward. She pressed the fingers of her right hand against the slave bracelet on her left arm. “Kardal, do you really mean to keep me as your slave?”

  “Of course. Nothing has happened to change my mind.”

  “But you can’t. I’m a princess. We’ve already established that my father doesn’t care about me too much, but he would never let someone hold me against my will.”

  Kardal’s dark gaze turned unreadable. “I have informed him that I’m holding you for ransom.”

  Shock and outrage filled her. She sprang to her feet. “You can’t be serious.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because the king of Bahania will not negotiate with you. He’ll crush you like a bug.”

  Kardal looked unconcerned as he put his napkin on the table and slowly rose. “He cannot. A symbiotic relationship exists between his country and the City of Thieves. He cannot afford to anger me.”

  “What about you angering him? You’re crazy. This will never work.”

  “Of course it will. Occ
asionally it is important for me to remind my larger neighbors that I have power as well. That we each need the other.”

  She planted her hands on her hips. “Are you trying to tell me that you kidnapping me is simply political?”

  She couldn’t believe it. Nor did she understand why the information should upset her.

  “I rescued you from the desert because I did not want to leave you there to die,” he told her. “However, there were many reasons for me keeping you. Yes, one of them is political.”

  “What are the others?”

  His gaze swept over her. “Perhaps I find you attractive.”

  She’d been thrilled when Adiva had shown up that afternoon with a selection of dresses. Anything was better than the uncomfortable costume. But even knowing she was covered from collarbone to ankle, Sabrina still felt exposed. Something about Kardal’s intense stare made her wish she had several more layers of clothing between her and nakedness.

  “I’d rather you let me go,” she said.

  He stepped around the table, toward her. She backed up.

  “I told you, my desert bird. You are my slave. The proof of your status rests around your wrists.”

  “This is crazy. You can’t hold a royal princess captive.”

  He continued to move toward her. She kept stepping away. Unfortunately she soon found herself pressed up against the stone wall.

  Kardal loomed over her. He raised one hand and touched her cheek. Just a light brush of his knuckles against her skin. She should have barely felt it. Instead heat seemed to fill her as a shiver rippled all the way down her spine.

  “I choose to keep you here,” he murmured, lowering his head slightly. “Perhaps, if you are lucky, eventually I’ll choose to let you go.”

  She tried to inch away along the wall, but he placed a hand on her waist, holding her still.

  “Maybe I’ll get a bigger knife and stab you in your sleep,” she said recklessly.

  “You may certainly try. I would welcome you seeking me out in my bedchamber. I am eager to know all that you’ve learned about pleasing men.”