by Leslie North
He’d also had more romantic interludes in mind before she looked over the diamond and immediately declared it a fake. He was furious, and his temper was enough to scare her into leaving his house and never contacting him again. It made sense that he was on the trail of Solomon’s Diamond, but it didn’t make sense how he knew.
Masoud had turned back and was moving deeper into the cave. He pulled out his flashlight, and she pulled out her phone again.
How long have you known?
The response was immediate. Bruce must have been sweating her answer.
I’ve known for years that the Khalidizacks had the diamond. I just didn’t know it was missing.
She gritted her teeth and tried to get her breathing under control. It shouldn’t have surprised her in the least that her stepbrother was using her, but it still felt like a huge act of betrayal. The fact that he’d added Anton into the mix was a huge problem. Bruce she could handle. But Anton and his men were a different story entirely. While Anton was brilliant, he was also extremely obsessed and a little insane. She had no doubt that he’d do whatever it took to get his hands on the stone.
Even if that meant spilling blood.
She should tell Masoud, but she didn’t trust him enough not to harm her or leave her to fend for herself in the middle of the desert. Right now, the only person she could trust was herself, and that meant she needed to find the diamond and keep it as quiet as possible.
“It’s not here,” she cried out impatiently. The cave wall was getting narrower and narrower, and soon Masoud wasn’t going to be able to fit through. “If there was sunlight streaming somewhere in the cave, it wouldn’t be so dark. Come on. Let’s check another one.”
She turned to lead them out, and she felt him press himself up against her. As his arm snaked around her waist, he shined his flashlight in front of them.
Fleur stiffened, but it wasn’t in repulsion as much as it was in excitement. His scent was intoxicating, and she had to fight her desire to touch him. All of her nerve endings were screaming for her to get closer. Just being near him was overwhelming, and she found it terrifying. Taking a deep breath, she tried to regain control of her body. “What are you doing?” she asked instead in an even tone.
“I could ask you the same,” he said in an amused voice. “You’re the one who stopped.”
“Right,” she muttered as she broke out of his embrace.
“Is everything all right? You seem tense,” he said easily.
Nervously, she tucked her hair behind her ear. “Everything is fine. I’m just nervous because we’re running out of time.”
“Did you really think we were going to find it the first day that we were out here? I didn’t. We have plenty of camping gear, and I’ll send some of my men to stock up on more water tonight. Don’t worry, Fleur,” he murmured. His breath tickled her ear as he moved up close behind her again.
She didn’t really expect that they would find it so easily, but she certainly needed to find it before Masoud realized what Bruce had done. The last thing she wanted was for the expedition to turn into a blood bath. And she wasn’t about to let Anton get his hands on that diamond.
They checked out a few more caves before Masoud ordered everyone to meet back at the cars. Dejected, she watched as his men pitched a camping area for everyone.
“He doesn’t look like the type of guy to sleep in a tent, does he?” Bruce asked timidly as he sidled up next to her.
“You don’t talk to me,” she hissed. “If you know what’s good for you, you won’t even look at me. You have no idea what you’ve done.”
“Fleur, it’s not a big deal. With this diamond, think of how many expeditions I can fund for you. Anton has deep pockets. “
“Deep pockets and a quick trigger finger. If he just wanted to buy it from you, he wouldn’t be here, Bruce,” she whispered furiously. “You forget that I’ve met him. He’s a dangerous and violent man. He’s here to steal it, and he’s probably going to kill us all in the process. We need to call it off.”
“Absolutely not. The Sheikh could dump our bodies out here and no one would know,” he muttered. “And Anton isn’t like that. He just wants to inspect it before he buys it. That’s all. If you find it, you need to keep it from Masoud so we can smuggle it out. I’m sure you can distract him.”
Fleur felt sick to her stomach as she watched Bruce saunter away. There was a time when Fleur suspected that Bruce had feelings for her. She would have never suspected that he would put her in danger. But now, she was in the crosshairs of a dangerous man, and she’d dragged a royal figure in the mix with her.
She was no Indiana Jones. She should have just stayed behind her desk where she belonged. If she didn’t figure out something quick, she was going to get them all killed.
Chapter Nine
Masoud watched as Fleur stormed into one of the tents. He had an uneasy feeling as he watched the obviously angry exchange between her and her stepbrother. He couldn’t help but wonder again if something was going on between them. Bruce looked at Fleur the way that Masoud wanted to look at her, but she never returned the look.
Of course, she never returned his look either.
As his men built a fire and began cooking dinner, he followed her into the tent. “I wasn’t aware that you wanted to share my chambers,” he said with a smile.
She was curled up in the corner with what looked like a very old book. She jumped when he spoke and got hastily to her feet. “I didn’t know this was your tent. I asked one of your guys where I should stay, and he pointed at this one.”
Chuckling, Masoud bent down to sit next to her. He offered her a bottle of water, and she drank it quickly. “That’s what they were all instructed to say. You are, of course, welcome to stay here. I promise to be on my best behavior if that is what you wish.”
“That’s fine,” she said as she gave him back the water. “Thank you. For all of this. I’m usually the voice of reason and logic, but it didn’t even occur to me that we’d need camping equipment.”
“I’m sorry, did you just agree to stay in the tent with me?” Masoud asked with a frown. He’d expected a huffy reply, not an immediate agreement.
“Is that a problem? You said you’d be on your best behavior. I need to get some more work done to see if I can narrow down the location a little more, and your tent has the most space. I may need to spread out.”
That was hardly an explanation, but he wasn’t going to call her out on it. If she wanted to spend the night with him, he certainly wasn’t going to tell her no. “You seem angry at Bruce. Should I be concerned about that?”
“He’s upset that I didn’t push harder for us to work together,” Fleur said, but she immediately lowered her eyes. She was a horrible liar, and it wasn’t the first time she had lied to him. Masoud suddenly had an unsettling feeling that she knew they were being followed.
She shouldn’t be trusted.
Lucky for him, he was more than willing to keep an eye on her. “So how are you going to narrow the location down more?” he asked, as he stretched out his legs. He was settling in, and she noticed.
“Without interruption,” she said pointedly.
“Indulge me,” Masoud said with a charming smile. “I’m interested in your process. And we have time to kill before dinner.”
“The truth is that I don’t know,” she admitted. “I’m not familiar enough with astronomy to guess about the movement and location of the stars. But I’m hoping that if I track back through the legends, I can get a sense of how much time passed for the people looking for the diamond.”
“They didn’t find the diamond,” he pointed out.
“Exactly. So if I can pinpoint where they’ve explored, hopefully we won’t waste as much time tomorrow. But the translation process isn’t as easy as you might think, so it’s going to take time and concentration. I’ll take my dinner in here, if you don’t mind.”
He got the hint. He was interrupting her process, and she wanted him
to leave. For a moment, he wanted to point out that it was his tent she was staying in, but finding the diamond was important to him as well.
“Very well. I’ll instruct my men to leave the rest of the tent gear outside to avoid disturbing you, and I’ll have them bring dinner to you when it’s ready.”
“Rest of the gear?” she asked absently as she looked up.
“My bed, my dear. You didn’t think we were going to sleep on the floor, did you?”
He watched, fascinated, as the blood drained from her face. She clearly hadn’t thought sleeping arrangements through and didn’t realize that they were going to be sharing a bed. With a small smile of victory, he left her to her work. She’d probably stew on that all evening.
Of course, the woman was obsessed with the diamond. She’d probably stew more on the location than she would on sharing his bed. It was almost embarrassing to be constantly pushed aside for a small diamond that, had it not been for the legend, probably wouldn’t even fetch a hundred thousand dollars.
Bruce didn’t look nearly as upset as Fleur did, but the man did look nervous. Straightening his shoulders, Masoud strode over to him. “Fleur is upset.”
Her stepbrother sneered at him. “And that’s your business because?”
“It is my business because I would like my archaeologist to be happy. Her passion and excitement is addicting. More importantly, I believe that the women around me should be happy. That, clearly, is a sentiment that you don’t share.”
“Fleur is not one of your women,” Bruce said as he crossed his arms and tried to look intimidating. “She may be impressed by your wealth and status, but when this is all said and done, she’ll be coming home with me.”
“I don’t think she’s impressed at all with my wealth and status,” Masoud said with a crooked smile. “But she’s certainly impressed by something.” He wanted to make a jab at him about her sleeping with him tonight, but he didn’t want to use her as a prize between him and Bruce. She was more important than that. “If you can’t make her smile, you need to stay away from her during the duration of this expedition. Do you understand me?”
“And if I don’t? She and I are a package deal, remember?”
“If you don’t, you’ll find yourself without a tent, food, or water,” Masoud threatened coldly. “So if I were you, I’d start being more respectful to the hand that’s feeding you.”
He stalked away, leaving Bruce to seethe in silence. His security was already gathering around for dinner, and he made sure a plate went Fleur’s way. “There is someone following us,” he said quietly to one of his men. He didn’t want Bruce to know that he’d seen the mirror light signals.
“We’ve scoured the area, and we can’t find evidence that anyone is following us. We think the light flashes are just kids playing around.”
Masoud frowned, but he didn’t argue. Maybe it was just kids, but he doubted that very seriously. There was too much at stake to believe that anything was a coincidence at this point.
He stayed out with his men until well into the night. It was peaceful out here. Under the blanket of stars, next to the crackling fire, there was no ring of gossip and political maneuvering. His brothers weren’t driving him crazy. His father wasn’t criticizing him. He wanted to be respectful and give Fleur the space that she needed; thankfully, he enjoyed the natural peace that came with the desert night. He also knew that if he was going to exhibit some control tonight sleeping next to Fleur, he was going to need to be bone tired.
Finally, one by one, his men retired to their tents.
Masoud was exhausted, but the image of Fleur danced through his head all night. His body stirred, and desire raged within him. But when he opened the tent, he couldn’t believe what he found.
She’d set up his bed, but rather than sleeping on it, she’d rolled out some of her clothes and was using her bag as a pillow. His gut tightened as he watched her.
The damn woman would rather sleep on the ground than sleep with him.
Still, his pride and his anger couldn’t get in the way of what he knew was right. Bending down, he picked her up gently from the floor. She barely stirred in his arms as he laid her on the air mattress. Crouching next to her, he brushed a few strands of hair out of her face. She looked so young and untroubled in her sleep. Pure and innocent.
The women Masoud usually shared his bed with certainly did not look like that.
Stretching out on the poor excuse for a bed that she had made, he closed his eyes. Her scent lingered on the clothes beneath him, and dreams of her wrapped around him lulled him into a fitful sleep.
Chapter Ten
As the first rays of the sun filtered through the tent, Fleur opened her eyes and frowned. She’d slept way too good to be sleeping on the ground. Moving her hand to push herself up, she felt the cushiony fabric underneath her and gasped.
God. At some point in the night, had she climbed up into Masoud’s bed? But when she sat up, she realized that she was alone. Snoring gently, Masoud was curled up on the makeshift bed she had made for herself. Her heart skipped a beat when she realized he must have carried her to the bed and taken her spot.
She’d taken him for a complete womanizer. It looked like there were some gentlemanly qualities in him after all.
Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at him. He was covered from the waist down by a thin blanket, and he was shirtless. As her eyes slid over his sculpted body, she wanted desperately to run her hands over him.
Was he naked below the waist as well?
She didn’t need to be thinking about that. Silently admonishing herself, she tried to focus on the task at hand. Moving as quietly as possible, she slid off the bed. She hadn’t actually planned on sleeping last night. There was still plenty of research she could have done, but once she’d narrowed the parameters a little, she’d dropped off like a stone. On the cushiony air mattress, she’d slept like the dead.
“Did you enjoy my bed last night?”
Fleur whirled around and nearly shrieked at the husky voice. Masoud looked at her through heavy lids and stretched.
She wanted to say something snarky, but she just couldn’t. “I did. Thank you.” Tucking her hair behind her ear, she looked for something else to say. “You didn’t have to, though. I hadn’t really planned on sleeping much anyway.”
“Fleur, you need sleep. I know you want to find this diamond, but I’m going to be pissed if you pass out in the middle of the desert and force me to carry you back. Even if you are only a slip of a thing. Did you get anywhere with your maps?” he asked as he looked over at the papers she had left lying on the ground.
“I knocked it down about a mile,” she said with a frown. “I had hoped to do more, but the truth is that I’m nervous even taking that much down. What if the explorers before missed something?”
“That’s fine. We’ll send Bruce and his partner through that portion while we look at more prime real estate. Actually, I think I like that idea. I should let you know that security is ordered to make sure that your stepbrother never touches that diamond. I don’t trust him.”
Something unspoken hung in the air, and she stared at him. Was he telling her that he didn’t trust her, too?
Of course, he shouldn’t trust her.
Clearing her throat, she nodded. “That’s probably a good idea, although I would prefer it if he wasn’t hurt in the process. Do you mind? I need to get dressed.”
He looked over her shorts and tank top and parted his lips slightly. “I don’t know that you do. I like you in that.”
“Within an hour, I would look like a lobster,” she said as she rolled her eyes. “Fair skin and all that. I know this is your tent, but I’m kicking you out. I need to put my sunscreen on. If we do find an oasis, I’m going to bathe in it,” she said as she wrinkled her nose. She had no doubt that she stank.
Masoud crossed his arms, looking her up and down. “And how do you intend to get it on the parts you can’t reach?”
Fleur blushed as she fought to find an answer. He spotted the sunscreen sticking out of the top of her bag and reached for it, dangling the cream in front of her. “Where shall I start?” he asked huskily as Fleur blushed. From the look on his face, she knew he was enjoying watching it creep down her chest.
Giving him a mournful look, she was about to say something when instead, she surprised him by turning her back to him. She lifted her tank top off, held it to her chest with one hand and lifted her hair with the other. Turning her head, she gave him a small smile as she waited.
She knew he was right in that she did need help and from the look on his face, she had made the right decision. He maintained eye contact as he poured some of the sunscreen into his hand. Setting the bottle down, he motioned for her to turn her head back and started with her shoulders.
Closing her eyes, Fleur enjoyed the feel of his powerful hands as he rubbed the sunscreen across her neck and shoulders and worked quickly over her back. She would be lying to herself if she didn’t admit that she would have liked nothing better than to spend the day with him in this tent. She smiled at the irony of being in a tent in the desert with a sheikh and was grateful that he couldn’t see her face.
When he finished with her back, she stepped forward. “Thank you. I think I can manage the rest from here.”
Surprising her by not saying anything, he merely nodded before quietly leaving the tent. Once he was gone, she hurriedly finished putting on sunscreen before dressing in a loose pair of khakis and a blue long-sleeved shirt. It would be hot as hell, but having a sunburn was miserable.
