The Desert Rogues Part 1

by Susan Mallery

  “How could you help her?” he demanded of Rafe as he walked past the other man. “You work for me. You should have stopped her from leaving.”

  Rafe shrugged. “So fire me.”

  Kardal didn’t want to lose the other man, so he ignored his impertinence. He turned his anger on his father.

  “Where are they? Tell me this instant.”

  Givon leaned against a corner of the desk. A gleam of humor lit his dark eyes. “You’re not the only one with a secret castle. Both Sabrina and your mother are perfectly safe. When you’ve figured out what the problem is and how to fix it, I’ll take you to them. Until then, you’re on your own.”

  “Problem?” Fury filled him. He understood Sabrina’s need to throw things. Right now he wanted to throw both these men across the room. “There is no problem except Sabrina is gone. I wish her to be returned to me, immediately.”

  He paused in front of his father and glared at him. “We are engaged. You have no right to keep her from me.”

  “The lady does not want to marry you,” Givon said calmly.

  “I can’t blame her,” Rafe offered helpfully. “You’re being an idiot, Kardal.”

  He stared at the two of them. Had the entire world gone crazy? “I am Kardal, the Prince of Thieves. I have made no mistake.”

  “So why did Sabrina leave you?” Givon asked.

  “Because she is a woman and prone to hysterics.”

  “Then one would think you are better off without her.”

  One would think so, Kardal thought grimly. Yet he couldn’t imagine the palace without her. In the past few weeks, she’d become a part of his life. Almost of his very being. He needed to hear her voice and her laughter. She was someone he could talk with. She understood so many things.

  “I will find her,” he announced.

  “Good luck,” Rafe said cheerfully. “I’ve heard rumors about Givon’s secret palace. It’s way the hell and gone out in the Indian Ocean. You ever try finding an island in an ocean before?”

  Before Kardal could respond, there was a knock on his office door.

  “Go away,” he yelled, but instead of doing as he requested, his secretary stepped into the room.

  “I’m sorry to bother you, sir,” Bilal said, obviously uncomfortable. “However, I’ve just been informed that King Hassan of Bahania has arrived. He says he’s here to check on the welfare of his daughter.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chaos exploded upon them. King Hassan burst into Kardal’s office. He was not as tall as Givon or Kardal, but he had about him an air of authority that spoke of many years of being the respected leader of a sovereign nation.

  “I heard she’s not even here,” Hassan announced by way of greeting. He paused to nod at Givon, then turned his steely gaze on Kardal. “I trusted you with my daughter and you have misplaced her.”

  “She is perfectly safe,” Givon said mildly, walking over to Hassan and shaking his hand. “She and Kardal’s mother flew out a few minutes ago on my helicopter.”

  Hassan frowned. “Why? Where are they going?”

  “That’s what I want to know,” Kardal growled, thinking that he didn’t need to be dealing with Sabrina’s father right now.

  Givon shrugged. “She is going to a private island that I own.”

  Hassan folded his arms over his chest. “What is going on here? Givon, why are you in the City of Thieves?”

  “I am visiting my son.”

  Hassan raised dark eyebrows. Kardal tried to find some likeness of Sabrina in her father, but except for her brown eyes, he didn’t see any.

  “I was not aware that you acknowledged your son.”

  “I do now,” Givon said.

  “It is about time,” Hassan announced.

  The three of them were standing in the center of the room. Rafe was the only one who had bothered to claim a seat on the sofa. Kardal thought about playing the polite host, but he found he didn’t care about good manners or what the other men thought of him. He leaned toward Hassan.

  “You have no right to lecture anyone on fatherly responsibilities. What about your own failures with Sabrina?”

  Hassan stiffened. Anger flashed in his eyes. “You forget yourself.”

  “Not for a minute.” Kardal narrowed his gaze. “Your daughter is a beautiful, intelligent woman. You assumed she was like her mother, but that is because you never bothered to get to know her. She could have been the most valuable flower in the garden that is your children, but you ignored her in favor of your sons. You ignored her because it was easier.” He turned to Givon. “Much as you ignored me.”

  Givon nodded. “I cannot deny the truth of your words. However, I would remind you that you grew to be a fine strong leader who has done well for himself.”

  “That doesn’t erase your responsibilities.”

  “Perhaps not, but it explains my choice. You had your mother to raise you and love you. Had I left El Bahar, I would have been required to abandon my children to be raised by ministers. They had no mother.”

  Kardal refused to see any validity in Givon’s argument. “What about Cala? Did you ever think about her?”

  “Every day of my life. I thought about you as many times. I wanted to be with both of you. Meaningless to know now, perhaps, but true.”

  Givon spoke the words with such profound sadness that Kardal almost forgot to be angry.

  Hassan waved his hand. “This is all very nice. Now father and son can reconcile. However, my question remains unanswered. Where is my daughter?”

  “She has run off,” Kardal said flatly. “Givon won’t say where.”

  Givon smiled slightly. “You are leaving out the most interesting parts of the story.”

  Kardal shifted, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. “What parts?”

  “Tell him about her falling in love with you,” Rafe offered helpfully from his place on the sofa. “And about this afternoon. You know, when you…”

  Kardal glowered at Rafe, but his friend simply shrugged.

  “I will deal with you later,” Kardal said, then turned his attention to Hassan.

  The king of Bahania nearly vibrated with rage. He might be wearing a western-style suit, but he had been born in the desert and the blood of vengeance ran in his veins.

  “This afternoon?” he repeated icily.

  “We’re engaged,” Kardal reminded him. “You’re the one who said you couldn’t vouch for her virtue.”

  “And you’re the one who told me she was innocent. Until you had your way with her. I had assumed you were bluffing. Trying my patience to get my attention.”

  Kardal drew in a breath. “It is important that Sabrina and I are married right away.” He squared his shoulders. “This afternoon I made her mine.”

  Hassan lunged at him. Givon grabbed for Sabrina’s father, and Rafe sprang up from the sofa, but Kardal waved them both off. He moved even closer to Hassan.

  “What are you going to do to me?”

  “Behead you,” Hassan spat out. “If you are lucky. Or perhaps I’ll simply make sure you aren’t able to be with another woman again.”

  “Why?” Kardal challenged. “You have never cared about Sabrina before.”

  Hassan opened his mouth, then closed it. “You were wrong to take her,” he said at last.

  “I know. I want to make it right by marrying her.”

  Rafe shoved his hands into his trouser pockets. “I think this is where the argument started, King Hassan. The trick is Sabrina no longer wants to marry him.”

  “What?” Hassan looked surprised. “Why would she refuse you?”

  “Who knows the mind of a woman,” Kardal said, trying to sound casual, but inside he felt uneasy. He knew that he could force Sabrina to marry him. Theirs was an arranged marriage and she did not have to be present for it to take place. Perhaps with someone else, he might have simply seen it done, but not with her. He found himself wanting her to want him.

  “She loves him,” Rafe said, earning anot
her scowl. “But he doesn’t love her back. So she left.”

  “Love.” Hassan threw up his hands. “Women and love. They think it is both the moon and the stars.”

  “They are right,” Givon said. “Thirty-one years ago I chose duty over love. While I cannot regret my decision because I did not feel that I had a better option, I have hated the outcome every day since then.”

  For Kardal it wasn’t a matter of duty. It was practicality. Women loved and men…He frowned. What did men do? They respected their wives, treated them well, supported them and their children. But love?

  He glanced at his father. Givon claimed to have never stopped loving Cala.

  “Why?” he asked his father. “Why did you love my mother?”

  Givon smiled. “To quote your future father-in-law, she was my moon and stars. There was passion between us, but more than that, there was a meeting of the minds. There was no one I wished to speak with more, no one else who understood me and whom I could understand. I would not have minded her seeing me ill or weak. I could trust her with my heart.”

  “Yes, yes, all that is fine,” Kardal said impatiently. “But men do not love.”

  Givon nodded. “Perhaps you are right. Perhaps you will be content to live without Sabrina.”

  “I do not want to live without her,” he said. “I want her here.”

  “Why?” asked Rafe. “She’s just some good-looking princess with a mouth the size of Utah. Frankly, I always thought she was a pain in the butt. I could easily get you a dozen, all of them better in bed.”

  Kardal turned on him and grabbed him by the front of his shirt. “Speak of her that way again and I will kill you with my bare hands.”

  “Powerful words for a man not in love,” his friend told him, not looking the least bit impressed by the threat.

  Kardal released him. “I do not—”

  But he found he couldn’t say that he didn’t love Sabrina. He walked to the window and stared out at the vast emptiness. He tried to imagine a world without his desert bird. In his mind the walls of the castle became a cage. How could he survive without her laughter? Her beauty? Her sharp mind? The way she insisted he return treasures to governments long past caring about them?

  He stalked to the door. “Come,” he said. “We are going to find them. Hassan, you may join us if you promise to treat your daughter with respect. Givon, you must go with me because you are the one who knows the way.”

  Hassan stepped toward him. “Not so quickly, my young prince. You still have to answer for your crime against my daughter.”

  Sabrina sat on her balcony and watched the sun rise over the Indian Ocean. Givon’s island paradise was more lovely than anything she could have imagined. But the stunning profusion of colorful blooms and soft balmy breezes didn’t wipe the tears from her cheeks or ease the pain in her heart.

  “Kardal,” she whispered, then gasped as the sound of his name inflicted new pain.

  She was never going to see him again. She might love him for the rest of her life, but she refused to give her heart to a man who wouldn’t love her back. Worse, Kardal wouldn’t even admit that him loving her was necessary for them to have a successful relationship.

  She’d been so stupid. How could she have let him trick her that way? Why hadn’t she seen what was going on? She’d been so worried and he’d known the entire time.

  “Did you sleep at all?” Cala asked as she walked onto the balcony.

  Sabrina shook her head. She sniffed and brushed the tears from her face. “I would like to tell you that I spent the night planning painful ways for your son to die, but I can’t quite wish him dead. I’m sure that will come in time.”

  “Although I believe my son is behaving very badly,” Cala said, pulling up a chair and sitting next to her, “I don’t wish him dead. Besides, if you truly love him, you won’t want to live without him.”

  “I don’t have a choice.” She looked at Cala. “Would you tell me to go back and simply accept all that happened?”

  “No. Of course not. However, walking away can be difficult.” She stared out toward the ocean. “Forgiveness isn’t easy, Sabrina. But sometimes it’s the only alternative.” She sighed. “Kardal always asked me why I never married. It wasn’t for lack of offers. There were men in my life—good men. I wasn’t holding out for Givon. Instead, after a period of mourning and growing up, I decided I would find someone I loved as much, and then I would get married.”

  “What happened?” Sabrina asked, intrigued despite her pain.

  “I never met him. All I wanted was to love someone as much. Not more, just the same amount. But I couldn’t. I had great affection and respect for many of the men I met. Some I took as lovers and we were together for several years. But I never loved the same way, so I never married. For the past thirty-one years, I’ve been haunted by a ghost.”

  “He’s back now,” Sabrina said.

  “I know.” She smiled. “And his feelings are exactly as they were. He has asked me to marry him.” She turned toward Sabrina. “My choices are simple. I can forgive him and take the happiness he offers, or I can live with the bitter taste of knowing I finally have revenge when I refuse him.”

  “You’re going to marry him,” Sabrina said without doubt. For Cala there was no other choice.

  “I am. I will go with him to El Bahar and we will begin a new chapter together.” She tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear. “Kardal was wrong to keep the truth from you. And if he can’t admit that he loves you, then I believe you are right to walk away. For a man who will not tell the truth about the secrets of his heart will lie about other things. But if he comes to you and confesses his devotion, I would urge you to forgive and begin a new chapter of your own. If you do not, I fear you will regret it the rest of your life. And even if you are offered a second chance later, you may find that it is not as precious as the first.”

  Sabrina didn’t know what to say. She respected Cala and her life’s wisdom, but Kardal had made it clear that he didn’t love her. He’d been playing her for a fool, not wooing a wife.

  “I can’t—”

  A commotion in the hallway made them both turn. Loud voices called out. Sabrina pulled her robe closer around her as she rose to her feet.

  One of the servants came running out to the balcony. “Princess,” she said, looking at both women. “You must come at once.”

  Cala and Sabrina exchanged confused glances, then hurried after the servant. The young woman led them into the hallway, then back toward the entrance. Sabrina heard men yelling and what sounded strangely like the clink of chains. Chains?

  They rounded the corner and stopped instantly. Sabrina’s breath caught in her chest. She had to lean against the white walls of the small villa. Cala gasped out loud, then ran toward her son.

  “Kardal!” she screamed.

  Two armed guards captured her, keeping her away from the people just inside the main door.

  Sabrina shook her head, convinced she was seeing things. But the image in front of her didn’t go away. Kardal knelt on the floor, shackled and held by large, burly guards. Beside him were King Givon and…her father!

  She blinked several times. “I don’t understand.”

  Hassan nodded at the guards holding Cala. They released her instantly, but when she tried to approach her son, Kardal looked at her.

  “Mother, stay back.”

  “But Kardal—”

  Cala turned to Sabrina. “Help him.”

  Sabrina didn’t know what to think. “I will. Of course, I just don’t know what’s going on.”

  She glanced at the two kings, then focused her attention on the Prince of Thieves. “Is this some kind of game? What are you playing at?”

  “He’s not playing,” her father said, stepping toward her. Hassan crossed the tiled floor and took her hands in his. “How are you, my daughter?”

  “Confused,” she admitted. “Why are you here?”

  “Because you are my child and I have
behaved badly toward you.”

  Sabrina stared into her father’s familiar face. They didn’t look very much alike—she’d always taken after her mother—but she knew him. Now she gazed into his eyes and tried to tell what he was thinking.

  “You don’t believe me,” he said sadly. “I suppose that is your right. For all these years I’ve ignored you and treated you as if you were little more than a bother. I’m sorry. I’ve learned that you’re nothing like your mother. I was wrong to judge you as if you were.”

  She pulled her hands free. “That’s a pretty crummy apology. What you should be telling me is that it doesn’t matter if I’m like my mother or not. I’m still your daughter. Parental love shouldn’t come with conditions.”

  Surprisingly Hassan bowed his head. “You are correct. I have been gravely at fault. I hope that with time, we can begin to rebuild our relationship.”

  She wanted to believe him. Perhaps she would…someday.

  Hassan moved to stand next to her. He draped one arm across her shoulders. “On a different matter, Kardal, the Prince of Thieves has confessed to defiling you. Under normal circumstances, he would be put to death, but there are extenuating circumstances. The two of you are betrothed. Also, I have responsibility in the matter as I allowed you to stay with him.”

  Cala began to cry. It was the other woman’s tears that convinced Sabrina this was really happening. She looked at Givon. “This is real, isn’t it?” she asked.

  Kardal’s father nodded. There wasn’t a flicker of humor in his eyes. “Kardal has been a law unto himself for many years. But even the greatest leader must answer to a higher power. Kardal took something that was forbidden. He is fortunate to still be alive.”

  She turned to Kardal. His steady gaze didn’t show any fear. “It’s not so bad,” he told her. “You can either marry me and all will be forgiven, or you can refuse me and I will be banished.”

  Feeling returned to her body, and along with it, pain. “So this is another trick. You’ve got them all on your side. I’m not going to marry you, Kardal. No matter how many games you play.”

  His dark eyes continued to watch her. “Good,” he said. “I do not wish you to marry me.”