Sheikh's Temptation

Lana frowned. Mistake? The only mistake she had made with Arash was a long time ago, and she was far from making another.

“I was joking!’ she said now.

“You were not joking. She came to me as one who comes to assess a horse. She wanted to count my teeth!”

“I know she did! Don’t you know irony when you hear it?”

He glanced at her. “And Miss Burke Taylor—did she know irony when she heard it?”

“I can’t help it if she was too stupid to get my point. You’ve dealt with enough stupid, greedy women. You couldn’t have had any trouble with her—she wasn’t up to your weight at all!”

“Thank you.” He bowed ironically over the wheel.

“But Lucinda’s not the point now, is she? Where do you get the jump from Lucinda to me?”

“You?”

She breathed deep, trying to quell the irrational fury that consumed her. “Even if you thought I was serious, you have no grounds for suggesting I would want to put in a bid myself. No grounds at all!”

To her surprise, he braked and pulled over to the side of the road. He slammed the gearshift into Park and turned to her.

“What are you talking about? Why do you make so much fuss about a simple mistake?”

“I’m talking about you saying I engineered this trip so I could make a pass at you!”

He stared at her. “Are you crazy, Lana? I have just told you—”

She overrode him. “It’s been a long time since I threw myself at you, Arash, and if it is not already obvious, let me make it one hundred percent clear—I am not likely to do it again!”

“You did not throw yourself at me,” he said. “You offered yourself to me from compassion, the way a woman does when a man is going to war and may never come back.”

“Is that what you thought?” she asked bitterly.

“Is it not the truth?”

She blinked slowly, her eyes clouding. Was it? Was that what had motivated her? She could hardly remember now, but she supposed she must have had some reason for such crass stupidity.

“Maybe,” she said. It would explain something, anyway—the thing that had always mystified her. Why had she thrown herself at him when now it was so obvious they were incompatible and didn’t like each other? Just out-of-control hormones?

She sighed. “It doesn’t matter now, does it?”

“No, it doesn’t matter now.”

“And just to set your mind at rest, Arash, in case you really are afraid it might happen again, it is just possible I might be reduced to buying a husband for myself—”

“I did not—”

“But never, in a thousand million years, would I ever consider making you an offer, Arash. So if you were thinking that was the reasoning behind my offer to help you rebuild your palace or your valley or anything like that, you can relax.”

“I have—”

“I didn’t want you to come on this trip, I was blackmailed into it, and I would have flown when I discovered you were going to be my escort, only Alinor as good as begged me not to. I have no desire ever to be alone with you, for any reason whatsoever!”

“I understood this before,” he said, not without humour. “You have been at such pains to make it clear that you regretted that night, Lana, that even a stone statue would have the message by now. So I know that you do not believe what you are indignantly pretending to believe, and that you know very well that what was in my mind was no more than that Lucinda Burke Taylor had asked you to open certain negotiations for her.”

Heat rushed up under her skin, and she was filled with angry shame. Oh God! What a fool she was! Of course he would never imagine…what the hell had possessed her to accuse him of thinking such a thing? It was the last thing he would think. They couldn’t stand each other! She must be going crazy. Mountain air did that to some people.

“I am sure that Lucinda Burke Taylor handles her own negotiations. She must be quite polished by now,” Lana muttered, bending her head to conceal her embarrassment from him.

Arash laughed, and from the corner of her eye she watched the smooth movement of his throat and smiled herself. However angry she got with him, it rarely lasted. They did have that.

There was a moment of silence while she abruptly took in the fact that they were not moving.

“Why are we stopped here? Why aren’t you driving?”

He leaned forward, resting his arms over the steering wheel, and gazed out at the weather.

“We have a choice to make,” he observed.

A huge gust of wind hit the side of the truck, seeming to suck the warmth out of the little cabin, and she shivered. Looking out the window, she could see lots of rock, but nothing that offered real protection.

“What choice? Is there someplace nearby where we can get under cover?”

He lifted a hand and pointed out the window beside her. “That way,” he said. “It’s a long trek.”

She turned and stared at the rocky landscape. “What—cross-country? But what about landmines?”

“There’s another mule train route here, leading to a valley. It has been cleared by your teams. It’s a long way down the road to the next such track. It may be best to make for the valley. I think it is going to be a severe storm, Lana. High winds and heavy snow. It will not be safe to remain in the truck. There may be avalanche.”

They both automatically glanced out at the snow-covered slopes, as far up as they could see. The clouds were low, dark and increasingly ominous.

“Do you mean it’s going to be a blizzard? But Arash, what if it starts while we’re walking?”

“That is only more reason to hurry.”

“But we might wander off the route! We could get blown to bits.”

“I know the landmarks. Whatever else happens, we will not stray from the path,” he said briefly, without emphasis. They were both silent as they considered the other fate that might befall them, caught without shelter on a mountain at night during a storm.

“We have a mountain survival kit in the truck.” He seemed to come to a decision. He lifted his hand to the key to shut off the engine. “We must hurry.” He opened his door and got out.

Another gust of wind smacked at them. Arash staggered under the blast.

“Arash…” she began, but he was already at the back of the truck, opening the doors and rooting around amongst their supplies.

“Dress warmly,” he ordered. “Put on everything you can. More than you think you need.”

Well, it might be preferable to stagger through the mountains than sit in the truck with Arash waiting for the storm to hit. But she hated listening to him give orders as if he were an army sergeant and she a recruit.