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Years ago, as her lover and friend, he had never let his uncivilized side show. It had been easy to hide his true nature when he was around her during those halcyon days. She was soft and sweet and kind to a fault. Sophisticated and quiet, she’d been the antithesis of the life he had led up to that time.
Even as an inexperienced youth, he’d known their relationship was only a dream. That it could never last. And though he’d been shocked to learn she was a princess, he had not been surprised in the least when she told him goodbye. He’d expected that end to their affair from the beginning.
In a way, he’d even felt grateful to her for the reprieve. He had grown weary of trying to be someone he was not. His life with her had been in a kind of limbo up until then, living with the knowledge that at any moment a small slip in his behaviour would’ve shocked her into running away. He’d known it was only a matter of time.
Yes, he’d wanted her. But he had known from the start that an intelligent woman like Nicole would not stand for living with a man who couldn’t control his baser instincts. At some point his true nature would’ve shown through. He couldn’t have helped himself. It was a big part of who he was. A side of him built into his genetic structure.
For the entire time they’d been together, Shakir had lived on a razor’s edge of self-control.
“It’s cool in here,” Nicole murmured after he found her a sandy spot to sit. She sounded surprised.
He wanted to take her by the shoulders and shake her—yell at her. As long as they were in the desert, she must learn that he knew best.
Instead, he merely nodded and asked, “Do you think you can eat something?”
“Not snake?”
He couldn’t hold back the chuckle. “No, not snake. But you might like snake meat a lot better than you will one of these American-made MREs.”
“MREs?”
“Armed services food. Meal, Ready-to-Eat. This one is meant to give you quick strength and stamina.”
He handed the MRE over and showed her how to open the package. “This isn’t much. But I didn’t imagine we’d be trying to survive in the desert for this long.”
Nikki would’ve liked to strangle Shakir with her bare hands for both teasing her about the snakes and for his wisecracks about surviving in the desert. But since he had knowledge of survival tactics that she didn’t possess, she settled for strangling down the MRE.
“You appear extraordinarily hungry,” he remarked as she concentrated on swallowing past her dry throat. “Most people in the desert lose their hunger to the heat. How long has it been since you’ve eaten anything?”
After struggling with the last bite of the MRE, she said, “I haven’t eaten since I came to Zabbarán. Maybe it’s been a few days. I’m not sure.”
“The Taj didn’t feed you?”
She took a few more sips from the canteen. “The food they gave us was drugged. I did not dare to touch a bite.”
“How’d you learn about the food being drugged?”
Nikki leaned back and closed her eyes, but her voice was rough. “Lalla took pity on me. We struck up a kind of friendship when I first arrived. She warned me not to eat, and she sneaked clean water in for me to drink.”
“Don’t think about it now. Rest.”
With her eyes closed, Nikki’s mind blocked out all the images of the past few days and she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. When she awoke, she couldn’t tell how much time had passed. But Shakir was still sitting in the same place and his eyes were still trained on her. Watching her closely.
“Feeling better? Sleeping should’ve helped.”
She nodded and took a sip from the canteen.
“Nicole … What else did the Taj do to you while you were a captive?”
“Nothing much.” She stretched and wiggled her toes. “They made all the women bathe and forced us to wear special robes. But Lalla told me the elder wanted to keep us pure for the auction. He wouldn’t allow any of the guards to touch us.”
Shakir grimaced and lowered his voice to a near whisper. “The Taj elder planned to auction off the women prisoners.” He sounded angry. “Do you know to whom?”
She shrugged, but then she wasn’t sure he was really seeing her movements in the shade of their cave. He seemed lost in his own world.
“I think it was better that I didn’t know. I’ve been having a hard enough time sleeping as it is.”
Now why had she admitted that? It was a slip of the tongue she should not have made. And she had promised herself to be careful with her words.
Thankfully Shakir did not appear to catch her slip. She wasn’t sure what she would’ve done had he asked her to explain her restlessness. Nikki would never rest again until her son was back in her arms.
Still staring out into dead space, Shakir nodded absently.
Finally he spoke. “How did the Taj capture you? Was it through violence? Were you injured?”
Uh-oh. This explanation could be a minefield if she wasn’t extremely careful.
“No. I came here willingly. I thought I was coming to Zabbarán for a legitimate job. It wasn’t until I arrived at their port city that I realized I was really a prisoner.”
“A job?” Shakir sounded incredulous. “But why would someone like you, a royal princess, need to work?”
Damn it. She wasn’t ready for this explanation yet. How could she be sure that he would not use her story against her somehow?
Who was he—really? He didn’t seem like the same person she remembered loving in her college days. Who had he become over the years?
“Uh … Before I tell you my story, I need to hear yours. What are you doing here? What does your family, your wife, think of this? And tell me how you knew I was in Zabbarán and in need of help. You were looking for me when you came, weren’t you?”
He took a couple of swigs from his water skin and then stared out at a spot over her shoulder. “That’s a lot of questions.” Then he pinned her with a sincere look. “I have no wife. No one who is waiting for my return. And as for why I was looking for you, my older brother, Darin, obtained a listing of foreign women being held prisoner in the Taj elder’s fortress. I spotted your name on the list and knew I had no choice but to come for you.”
“How did your brother get the list? Why would he even have access to such a thing?”
Sudden horrible ideas popped into her head and made Nikki tremble with nerves. Was Shakir’s older brother supposed to have been one of the bidders? Had the Kadirs stolen the women out of the Taj prison so they wouldn’t have to pay for them? Just who was she dealing with here?
She backed up as far into the cave as she could go.
“This may be hard for you to believe,” Shakir began. “But the Taj Zabbar have declared a kind of cold war against the Kadir family.”
“Why would they do that? And if they have, why hasn’t it been on the news?”
His lips spread in a wry smile. “There was a time when you trusted everything I said.” Sighing, he gave his head a slight shake. “I only wish I knew why they hate us today. Our old family legends say the two tribes have been enemies for over five hundred years. And supposedly about fifty years ago, my family took sides against the Taj Zabbar and sided with the country of Kasht, their neighbors.
“The Kasht government offered the Kadirs control of Zabbarán’s only seaport. I guess my grandfather’s generation decided that a deep water port was a good enough prize to trade arms to the Kasht. Unfortunately, those weapons allowed the Kasht to kill and imprison a hell of a lot of the Taj people—women and children included—before they could win their freedom a few years back.”
“I can see why the Taj might hate you. But …” He barked out a sharp laugh. “Yeah, I know. It was a long time ago, and revenge is an odd reason for war. Nevertheless, the Taj have already blown up one of our port facilities in America, killing a dozen people including my uncle. And we’ve tracked the Taj elders’ movements as they’ve made several attempts to kill my brothers and me.”
Shakir’s unusual story rambled around in her head, while she tried to make sense of it. “I can’t say I have any great love for the Taj Zabbar,” she admitted.
But were the Kadirs any better? “I know firsthand that the Taj run their country like a medieval fiefdom. And they apparently have no trouble at all dealing with drug lords and mobsters from around the world. Still, if things are as bad as you say, I don’t see why your family hasn’t gone to the United Nations and the world community seeking help.”
“How do you know we haven’t?”
“I would’ve learned about it from the news.” He opened his hands, palms up, as if trying to find something he could say to make her understand. “The civilized world won’t listen to us without proof. The Taj pretend to be weak and innocent. We’ve been forced to start up a covert defensive army of sorts, designed to gather as much information about the Taj and their activities as possible.”
“So that’s how you learned about the women prisoners being held for auction?” His explanation sounded logical enough.
She had no reason to doubt. She’d already found out just how sneaky and terrifying the Taj Zabbar could be.
“I didn’t think the Kadir family had a home country.” Could the Kadirs fight such a powerful enemy? “I mean, aren’t you Bedouin? How can you possibly manage to protect yourselves without borders to defend?”
“It’s not easy, Nicole. The Kadirs will have to become tougher than the Taj. Fortunately, some of us already are.”
Chapter 4
“I see.” The horrified expression on Nicole’s face was no surprise, and Shakir didn’t blame her in the least.
He’d deliberately neglected to tell her one thing. This Kadir son was already a tough, ruthless youth when they’d been involved in their college fling. He’d hid his true nature from her, from everyone, all along.
Perhaps it was best if she never learned the uncomfortable truth. Too much information could destroy lives as well as memories. And all he had to do to keep his secret was lead her out of Zabbarán to freedom tonight. Then they would never have to see each other again.
But, hell, he’d been trying to lead her out earlier, and they were within seconds of attaining that goal. She’d casually sneaked away from the chopper instead. Now he would have to find another way of taking her to safety. But somehow his brain wasn’t processing those facts in the right way. Why hadn’t she jumped at the chance to leave?
“All right, Nicole,” he began, using his sternest tone. “I told you how I knew you were a prisoner in Zabbarán. It’s your turn. I want to know why you didn’t board the chopper for safety when rescue was offered.”
“I didn’t want to leave the country yet, obviously.” She sniffed, looking down her nose at him. “And stop calling me Nicole. That’s not my name anymore.”
He was positive she had not married and ascended to the throne of her tiny country the way her parents had wanted. If she had, he would’ve heard the news long ago.
Her current snippy attitude put him at a loss. “Shall I address you as Your Majesty?”
She wrinkled up her nose and frowned.
“How about if I call you Princess? Would that suit you better?”
“I answer to the name Nikki now. Or sometimes to Ms. Olivier. The person you knew as Nicole has been gone a long time.”
That reply brought up more questions than it answered. She hadn’t said why and that made him curious. But Shakir decided against asking anything else. There was probably a long story behind both the name change and why she’d been seeking a job when she came here. He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear any of it.
Their very survival meant he needed to extend his full focus toward getting them out of the country. Becoming caught up in her troubles was the last thing he could handle in the meantime.
He stole a glance at the lengthening shadows beyond their cave’s entrance. Daylight hours were growing short.
“Let’s take this conversation outside while we test our leg muscles. Rest period is over.”
Going up on all fours, he crawled out into the dry, fresh air. He wasn’t sure what he would’ve done had she refused to follow. But fortunately, when he rose to his feet and turned around, she was right behind him. He took a sip of water and encouraged her to do the same.
Then he said, “Okay, I will ask once more and this time you’d better give me a straight answer. Why did you sneak away from the chopper? Why didn’t you want to leave Zabbarán?”
Tracing a finger across her dry lips, she silently stared at him as if lost in thought.
“If you don’t tell me, Nikki, I’ll simply drag you across the desert tonight to the Zabbarán port city of Sadutan. You know I can do it, too. The Kadir family has contacts there. If all else fails, I can either sail us out or fly us over the border in a stolen plane.”
She made no reply.
“And I will do that with or without your consent if you don’t start giving me answers.” He narrowed his eyes and silently dared her to go against him.
“You can sail and fly both? I didn’t know you were such a superhero.”
He didn’t crack a smile. “This isn’t a joke. You have two seconds to explain yourself.”
She looked away, while rubbing circles on her stiffened knee and elbow joints. “To start with, I didn’t come to this horrible country for a job. That was only the excuse I used to earn the airfare. I came for …”
Her hesitation irked him. “Don’t stop now. I need the truth.”
She flicked him a glance full of fear. But he had not a clue what she might be afraid to say.
“Um … Look,” she began hesitantly. “The truth is, a child was stolen from his mother in Paris. I came to Zabbarán to find him and take him home.”
“What?” Her words made no sense. Shakir shook his head and put a hand on her shoulder. “I said the truth. Start again.”
Ripping her shoulder from his light grip, she glared at him. “It’s the absolute truth. A little boy …” Her breath hitched and she had to stop and breathe deeply for a moment. “Just a baby—really. Anyway, he was kidnapped and brought to Zabbarán. The Parisian police refused to do anything about it so I volunteered to bring him back.”
“You?” The idea was almost laughable, but no one was smiling. Shakir put a hand to his aching temple.
“What would possess you to believe you have the knowledge or the strength to attempt such a daring feat?”
She fisted her hands onto her hips. “I made it this far, didn’t I?”
Throwing his own hands in the air in frustration, Shakir turned in a wide circle, counting to ten under his breath.
Finally, he said, “This is crazy talk. No one in their right mind would trust you to carry out a rescue mission for their child. Why didn’t the mother hire a professional to help if the police refused?”
“She didn’t have any money and …” When he started to interrupt, Nikki waved him off. “And no friends or family, either. She had only me. I couldn’t very well say no.”
Her whole story was way beyond nuts. Shakir paced around the water well a few times, trying to process what she’d told him.
“All right, where is this supposed child being held?”
“This quite real little boy was brought to Zabbarán by a middle-aged couple who said they wanted the son they could never have. I was told … that is … the mother was told the couple lives in the small town of Kuh Friez.”
“Kuh Friez? But that’s nearly fifty miles away. It’s high on the mountain slopes.”
“Oh, well, I didn’t know about the mountains. But fifty miles isn’t so much.”
Needing another moment, Shakir took a sip from his water skin and then proceeded to refill it at the well. When that chore was complete, he was somewhat calmer.
“Let’s discuss this.” He stretched out his hand to offer her a seat on the one flat-surfaced rock. She refused and folded her arms over her chest, glaring at him.
“All right then, I’ll discuss it. In the first place, fifty miles in the desert while climbing rock-strewn mountain slopes could take you about ten nights’ travel time. Even if you can find enough water during the trip, what do you propose to eat?”
