Hidden In the Sheikh's Harem

by Michelle Conder

  He didn’t move but she felt his eyes on her like a hot brand. ‘Two degrees, actually.’

  ‘Oh, well, excuse me.’ She glanced at Moonbeam so she wouldn’t have to look at him.

  ‘So you’re educated?’

  ‘Self-educated, no thanks to your family’s reign.’ She flicked him a scathing look. ‘But, as much as your father tried to keep us all in the dark, we’re a little more resourceful than you might think. Especially when—’

  She stopped, suddenly realising she was about to tell him that there was someone on his staff who was supplying the outer tribes with contraband medical and educational goods.

  Great going, Farah, she admonished herself. What a way to get a man fired—or, worse, killed.

  His eyes narrowed. ‘When what?’

  She brushed sand off her legs. ‘Never mind. Why did you kick me?’

  ‘I didn’t kick you. I nudged you.’ His deep voice made her insides feel unsteady. ‘And I wouldn’t be Probus in your little fantasy. I’d be Aurelian.’

  Aurelian, who had captured Zenobia and ended her reign as queen. She made a rude noise at his arrogance. ‘You wish,’ she muttered, half under her breath.

  He stopped in front of her and she stared at his dusty boots and the way his jeans—so foreign in her part of the world and yet so sexy in the way they moulded to his legs—hung over the top. ‘I captured you, didn’t I?’

  Instant annoyance hit her at his words and she threw her head back to glare at him—only something black and alive dropped to the ground beside her and she let out a blood-curdling scream. The scorpion took off into a nearby crevice and Farah went from paralysed inertia to violently brushing at her clothing in seconds.

  Suddenly large hands grasped her upper arms and lifted her to her feet. ‘Keep still.’ The prince scoured the ground for the offending visitor and released her. ‘It’s gone.’

  Something crawled across her shoulder and she nearly hit the cave roof. ‘More! There’s more.’

  ‘No, there’s not.’ The prince’s voice seemed to come from far off before he gripped her arms again and shook her gently. ‘It’s your imagination.’

  ‘My hair,’ she gasped. ‘They’re in my hair.’ It was one of those irrational fears she’d struggled to master since her mother’s death all those years ago.

  With an exaggerated sigh, the prince gently knocked her hands away from her head and turned her around.

  * * *

  Zach’s eyes swept over dark chestnut tresses that a bird would think twice about before nesting in. It was long, thick and matted with sand, half of it still in the braid that hung down her back.

  Carefully he scanned it for anything moving. ‘There is nothing.’

  ‘There is. I can feel...’ She shivered and turned towards him. Her eyes were huge in her face and moist from where she held tears at bay. She was afraid he realised; truly petrified. Something inside his chest pulled tight and before he could question the move he dug his fingers into her hair. She stood stock-still but he caught the small tremors of fear racing through her and the need to comfort her overwhelmed everything else.

  Smoothing her hair back from her face, he moved behind her to unwind her plait. The dark waves parted beneath his fingers and he found himself studying the lightly tanned skin of her neck. It looked smooth and supple, not unlike the body he had curved around the night before.

  Reminding himself that she was as bloodthirsty as her father, he ignored the underlying silky texture of her hair as he combed his fingers through it. Again his body responded to the fact that he was touching her, which only elevated his already soaring stress levels. He should be focused on getting home, not on saving a woman he couldn’t care less about from desert insects.

  Roughly he turned her back to face him. ‘You’re clear.’

  She stared up at him with those guileless chocolate-brown eyes and he felt a jolt go right through him. Bedroom eyes, he decided, his gaze automatically dropping to her slightly parted lips. Bedroom eyes and soft, kissable lips...

  Time seemed to stop as he imagined doing all sorts of unholy things to those lips, starting with his mouth and ending with... The hair on his forearms stood on end and it wasn’t the only thing that did.

  Hell.

  He stepped back and took himself in hand—metaphorically speaking.

  * * *

  Farah stiffened as the prince moved away and grabbed hold of Moonbeam’s halter.

  She shook off the lethargy that had invaded her limbs as soon as he had touched her, as soon as he had looked at her mouth—as if it were the ripest peach and he couldn’t wait to sink his teeth into it. For a tense moment she had thought he might kiss her, and she was ashamed to admit that she had wanted him to. But how could she when he was the kind of man she had vowed to avoid? A man who walked all over others in order to further his own interests. Not to mention the reason behind the situation they were in. ‘He needs water,’ she muttered, knowing it must be true because her lips were as dry as the desert itself.

  ‘Water and food,’ he agreed shortly. ‘But unless you can divine it from these rocks he isn’t going to get any here. Nor are we.’ He patted the stallion. ‘He’s an impressive animal. What’s his name?’

  ‘Moonbeam.’

  The laughter that followed her announcement was both warm and strong. ‘You should have just gelded him when you named him. It would have been easier on him.’

  ‘Oh, you’re hateful.’

  ‘When I want your opinion, I’ll ask for it.’ He sobered and threaded his fingers together to form a platform. ‘Give me your foot.’

  ‘I’m not coming with you!’ He had to be mad to suggest it, the hateful, arrogant—

  ‘Fine.’ He straightened and vaulted onto Moonbeam as if the stallion was no bigger than a Shetland.

  Hold on. ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘Leaving.’

  ‘Not on my horse.’ She grabbed onto the halter. He couldn’t just leave her here without any way of getting home. ‘Damn it, why did you have to come into my life?’

  He stared down at her. ‘I’ve been asking myself the same question. Now, get on or I’ll leave you to become buzzard food.’

  Farah thought about telling him to go to hell but knew that she couldn’t. Yet. ‘This time I’m riding on the back.’ No way was she going to be made to feel small and helpless by having his arms wrapped around her again.

  ‘I don’t care if you ride on your head. Just move it.’

  Knowing this was probably a mistake, but aware that she really had little option, Farah stomped to his side. He’d wrapped part of her dark tunic around his head again and, even though he was as dusty and as unkempt as she was, he managed to look regal and magnificent atop her snorting stallion. When their eyes connected she refused to let herself be swayed by his looks and injected as much venom into her gaze as she could.

  Stony-eyed, he reached out his much larger hand for her to take. As soon as she placed hers in it he yanked her up behind him as if she weighed little more than a pillow.

  Unfortunately, riding behind him didn’t make her feel any better than riding in front, because she was forced to hold tightly to his lean hips as he urged Moonbeam to get them to safety.

  Which came in the form of a nearby tribal village some hours later, just when she thought she might expire. The tribe was a fair distance from her own so she knew they had covered a lot of ground the night before, desperation and adrenaline pushing them on. She didn’t know anyone in the village, not having much cause to leave her own, and was surprised when their leader bought the prince’s charming ‘lost in the storm with one of his servants’ scenario.

  Servant!

  Oh, how she wished she could contradict him but the consequences weren’t worth it.

  With a promis
e that Moonbeam would be housed until he could return, the prince ate down a mountain of food before borrowing a battered jeep and driving them through most of the afternoon and night, with only the occasional rest for a power nap. Farah didn’t know how he kept up the pace and after a night of little rest, slept most of the way.

  Awakening just before dawn her eyes were riveted to the changing landscape and the size of the city of Bakaan as they approached the following morning. She’d visited once or twice as a child but she’d forgotten how large it was—and how busy. Even this early the streets were filled with cars, bicycles, oxen and camels with a mass of people dressed in all styles of clothing filling the pavements. Built into a hillside, the Shomas Palace towered over the city in all its golden glory and Farah secretly admired its opulent beauty as Zach identified himself to the guards and drove through the iron gates.

  ‘What do you intend to do with me?’ she asked, proud of the way she managed to keep the tremor out of her voice.

  Ignoring her question, he jerked the old car to a stop in front of a set of massive stone steps; heat shimmered off the pale sandstone walls of the palace, turning them white. The courtyard they were in was already a hive of activity with a procession of servants rushing around. Farah returned her gaze to the prince’s as he rested his hands on the steering wheel, his lion’s eyes scanning her face to the point of discomfort.

  She raised her chin as if his perusal was nothing more than an irritant. She was hoping he was going to tell her that, now that he was back home, he was going to let her go. That he was going to let the whole thing drop and forget it had even happened. She knew she’d like to. ‘Well?’ She stared him down. ‘Are you going to tell me or not?’

  ‘Yes, I’m going to tell you.’ He smiled but it was grim in his hard, beautiful face. ‘I’m going to use you as bait.’

  * * *

  Farah fumed as the prince all but dragged her along opulent hallways and past closed doors, servants and guards bowing one after the other as they proceeded; none of them showing an ounce of shock at seeing their prince pulling a woman along roughly by the arm. If possible the interior of the palace was grander than the exterior and Farah’s mind buzzed at the wondrousness of the wide hallways and soaring ceilings stencilled in blue, green and gold fretwork prevalent in the Moorish period, the ancient artworks that were framed under bright lights, and the solid marble floor that shone to a high gloss from the sunshine streaming in through high arched windows.

  Realising she was letting herself become awestruck, she dug her heels into the polished floor. ‘You can’t do this.’

  Of course he didn’t respond to her outraged cry but stopped before an enormous carved door. Ignoring her, he turned towards two guards who had rushed to follow them. ‘No one comes in here, no one goes out—is that clear?’

  ‘Yes, Your Highness,’ they said in unison.

  ‘I won’t let you use me this way,’ Farah asserted as he shoved her into the room.

  When he gave a short, sharp laugh she stared at him belligerently. ‘You have no grounds to hold me.’

  The prince turned cold, menacing eyes on her and for the first time she noticed the deep brown ring that bordered all that gold. ‘I don’t need a reason.’

  ‘Right. Your word is law, is that it?’ Farah tossed her filthy hair which she’d replaited after the prince had sifted his fingers through it back over her shoulder.

  He stepped into her space and brought his face level with hers. ‘That is it, yes. An eye for an eye. Isn’t that what your father believes in?’

  Her father did unfortunately hold to that cynical view of the world but Farah didn’t.

  Dismissing her, he turned towards a maid she hadn’t noticed slip into the room behind them. Only half listening to what he was saying to the girl, Farah took in the scope of the opulent room for the first time. And what she saw made her gasp out loud.

  ‘Oh, my...is this the harem?’

  ‘What gave it away?’ the prince drawled lazily. ‘The cherub motifs on the wall or the large sunken marble tub in the middle of the room?’ He walked over to it and raised his foot to rest on the curved edge like the insolent sheikh that he was.

  Farah told herself not to react but it was no good. There was something about him that pushed all reason out of her brain and replaced it with...with something she did not want to identify. ‘I’m not staying in here.’

  ‘No?’ He raised a brow. ‘Admittedly the soft furnishings are quite old but it’s about to be renovated. Perhaps the updated version will be more to your liking.’

  ‘I won’t be around long enough to see it,’ she promised.

  ‘Don’t be so sure.’ He straightened and headed back to her. His nose twitched. ‘See that she has a bath,’ he said to the maid, although he didn’t take his eyes from hers.

  See that she... Farah’s gaze narrowed into angry slits. If he thought she would just fall in with his plans he was wrong. There was no way she was going to wait around in this horrible room for her father to show up. If she could somehow escape and get back to him she would.

  Her silence must have spoken volumes because he cast her a condescending smile. ‘I can almost hear your mind ticking over, and if you’re thinking of trying to leave I would advise against it.’

  Farah angled her chin up and suddenly their faces were only inches apart, his gaze fixed on her mouth. It was impossible not to be aware of him, and for one—no, two—erratic heartbeats she thought he was going to kiss her and her breath backed up in her lungs. Then he moved away. Slowly.

  Incensed that she had stood there like a besotted idiot instead of pushing him away, she lashed out in a show of rash pride. ‘Fortunately for me, I don’t have to take your advice.’

  He regarded her with a cool look that said he knew exactly what he did to her. ‘Just try it and see how far you get.’

  Oh, she wanted to. She wanted to do that and more. And the feeling only grew worse when he reached the main door and turned back, his gaze raking her from head to toe and making her tingle with hot, impotent fury.

  ‘And burn those clothes she’s wearing,’ he instructed the maid. ‘There’s no soap in the world that will kill that smell.’

  * * *

  Striding from the room, Zach was wondering what the hell he was going to do with the spitting she-cat who was more trouble than she was worth when Staph rushed towards him.

  ‘Highness, I just heard of your return. We were all so worried about you.’

  Zach grimaced. He needed to bathe, to burn his own clothing and to find his brother in that order. ‘I’m back now.’ He set off in the direction of his private wing. ‘Where’s Nadir?’

  ‘Preparing for his wedding.’

  That stopped him in mid-stride. ‘His what?’

  ‘His wedding, Your Highness. He is marrying mistress Imogen today.’

  Today!

  Well that at least explained the extraordinary amount of activity he’d noticed in and around the palace.

  Hell. Talk about bad timing.

  Forgetting all about a shower for now, he left Staph and trawled the palace for Nadir, eventually finding him holding a small dark-haired infant that could only be Zach’s new niece. Gazing into her wide-spaced gray-blue eyes, Zach felt something uncurl inside his chest. How was it that his brother had what he had always wanted for himself, while all he could do was think about bedding some woman who was wholly unsuitable for him? The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on him. He thought of the email he’d received from Amy, but it wasn’t her face that filled his head—it was Farah Hajjar’s.

  ‘Where the hell have you been?’ his brother barked at him. ‘You have a lot of explaining to do.’

  Nadir’s curt words brought Zach’s attention back to the present. ‘I do?’ He raised a dust-covered eyebrow. ‘Thanks for the conc
ern and the belated rescue team.’

  Nadir frowned. ‘You look like hell. What happened?’

  Knowing now wasn’t the time to go into detail, Zach shrugged. ‘The short version is that I had an unfortunate run-in with one of the less welcoming tribes in the mountains.’

  ‘Hell. For a while I thought you were holed up with a woman.’

  Zach laughed, a ripple of discomfort running through him as he thought about the feel of Farah’s surprisingly strong arms wrapped around his belly as they’d raced across the desert on horseback. It had surprised him how alive he had felt—possibly because he’d been imprisoned for three days—and how connected to the desert he’d felt for a change. He’d been surprisingly connected to those soft little breasts nuzzling against his back, as well. ‘I suppose technically you could say that I was, but it wasn’t by choice, and she’s more like a spitting she-cat than a woman. One who is currently locked in the old harem.’

  He grimaced as Nadir’s eyebrows shot skywards. ‘Not the most convenient situation on your wedding day, but then I didn’t know it was your wedding day until a moment ago.’

  Nadir stared at him as if he had two heads. ‘You have a woman locked in the harem?’

  ‘Farah Hajjar, to be exact,’ Zach growled, his words laced with disgust.

  ‘Mohamed Hajjar’s daughter!’

  ‘One and the same.’

  Nadir swore. ‘Hajjar will have your head for that.’

  Zach’s gaze turned wry. ‘They both very nearly did.’

  ‘For the love of...’ Nadir’s gaze narrowed. ‘You didn’t compromise her, did you?’

  Zach gave a sharp bark of laughter. ‘A wild boar couldn’t compromise that woman, and nor would it want to.’ Which should have been the truth, and would be, now that he was back home and out of danger. ‘I take it this is my niece?’

  ‘You’re changing the subject.’

  ‘I am.’ He smiled at her. ‘She’s beautiful.’

  ‘I know.’ He could see that Nadir wanted to ask him more but then he shook his head. ‘I don’t have time to get the details now, but you’re okay?’