Possessed by the Sheikh

The Ruler frowned. ‘You aren’t concerned that Nazir may recognise you?’

‘Disguised as a Tuareg?’ Xander shook his head. ‘I doubt it. It is after all their custom to cover their faces.’

The Ruler was still looking concerned.

‘So, Highness, you are pleased then, with the progress of the new hotel complex development? I heard much praise of our country’s existing tourism facilities whilst I was visiting our embassies,’ Xander announced smoothly, looking warningly at his half-brother as he caught the soft sound of someone walking quietly towards them.

The greenery parted to reveal the small but powerfully stocky figure of the man they had just been discussing coming towards them, his fingers covered in heavy jewel-encrusted rings, his venomous glance resting resentfully first on Xander and then on the Ruler himself. Ignoring Xander completely, he bowed stiffly to the Ruler.

‘Nazir.’ The Ruler greeted him coolly. ‘What brings you here? It’s not often you can spare the time from your duties as our Minister of Internal Affairs to visit us socially.’

‘I am extremely busy, it is true!’ Nazir responded self-importantly.

‘I hear there was some trouble earlier in the souk,’ Xander murmured.

Immediately Nazir shot him a suspicious look. ‘It was nothing…A petty thief was causing some disruption, that is all.’

‘A petty thief? But you were there yourself!’

‘I happened to be in the area. Besides, what business is it of yours how I conduct my duties?’

‘None, other than that of a concerned citizen,’ Xander answered him blandly.

His mouth compressing, Nazir turned away from him, deliberately keeping his back to him as he addressed the Sheikh. ‘I understand, Your Highness, that you have ignored my advice and that you are choosing not to have the armed escort of my personal guard to ensure your safety during the National Day celebrations.’

‘I am most grateful to you for your concern, cousin, but we must remember at all times our duty to the people. Our guests from other nations—especially those we hope will support our growing tourist industry—will not be reassured as to the stability of our country if they think that its ruler cannot go amongst his own people on such a joyful occasion without a phalanx of armed guards.’

‘And then, of course,’ Xander drawled sotto voce into the tension-filled silence that followed the Ruler’s gentle words, ‘one must always wonder who guards the guards…?’

A murderous look of hatred crossed Nazir’s face. ‘If you are suggesting—’ he began savagely.

‘I am suggesting nothing.’ Xander stopped him coldly. ‘I am merely stating fact.’

‘Fact?’

‘It is already proven that the presence of heavily armed personnel can lead to relatively small incidents getting completely out of hand.

‘I’m sure that none of us wants to have to explain to the ambassador from another nation that one of their nationals has been shot to death by an overenthusiastic and under-trained guard.’

‘We will talk of this again, cousin, in private,’ Nazir informed the Ruler grimly, pointedly ignoring Xander as he bowed briefly and left.

The Sheikh frowned as he exchanged looks with his younger half-brother.

‘Our cousin forgets what is due to you, Xander,’ he said angrily.

Xander gave a dismissive shrug. ‘He has never hidden the fact that he has no liking for me, or my mother.’

‘And your father? Our father was the greatest ruler this country has ever had! Nazir would do well to remember that! Nazir was unkind to you when you were a small child, I know, Xander, and neither I nor my father knew of his cruelty towards you then.’

‘I learned to deal with it and with him.’

‘Both he and his father hated your mother. They resented the influence she had over my father. And then when he made her his wife…’

‘He might dislike me, but it is you he wishes to overthrow,’ Xander pointed out dryly before adding, ‘I have to return to the desert before my absence causes any comment. I was concerned earlier that Nazir might have become suspicious of me after he had his men turn the souk upside down looking for me, but I have learned since that it was another Tuareg they were looking for!’

‘The official story is that you have only returned to Zuran briefly and are leaving the country again tonight to enjoy a well deserved rest. It is a pity you do not have time, though, to look over our new joint ventures. Your mares have produced a handsome crop of new foals, and the first phase of the marina development is approaching completion.’

Xander smiled a flash of strong white teeth against the golden honey of his skin.

The Ruler was famous throughout the world for his involvement in the world of horse racing.

As they turned to walk back to the palace the Ruler turned towards him. ‘I am not sure that I should be allowing you to do this, you know,’ he told him seriously. ‘You are very dear to me, my little brother. Even dearer than you know. Your mother was the closest I had to a mother myself. She opened my mind to a wealth of knowledge. It was her influence on our father that led to him thinking about the long-term future of our country and when she died I believe he himself lost the will to live. I have lost both of them, little brother. I do not wish to lose you.’

‘Nor I you,’ Xander answered him steadily as they embraced one another.

‘Hello there, beautiful! How about coming out with me tonight? I hear that His Highness is holding a very grand reception to celebrate the start of the racing season, and then afterwards we could go on to a club.’

The light-hearted invitation she was being given by the group’s bachelor photographer made Katrina smile. Tom Hudson was an unashamed and incorrigible flirt, but one could not help but like him.

She started to shake her head, sunlight bouncing off the soft waves of her shoulder-length hair, but before she could say anything Richard broke in sharply.

‘We are all here to work, and not to socialise, and you would do well to remember that, Hudson. Besides, we’ve got an early start in the morning,’ he reminded them.

In the uncomfortable silence that followed the expedition leader’s outburst, Tom pulled a wry face at Richard behind his back.

For all that he was very highly qualified, Richard was not popular with any of them, although it was Katrina who suffered most from his presence.

‘He’s gruesome,’ Beverley Thomas, the only other female member of the group, commented later, giving a small shudder as she sat on the edge of Katrina’s bed.

The luxurious private villa that had been put at the team’s disposal was built on traditional lines, with the women’s quarters apart from those of the men, and additional staff accommodation.

At first it had bemused Katrina to discover that she and Bev were to be locked into their quarters at night, but now in view of unwanted advances from Richard she was heartily glad of the fact that they were expected to adopt the country’s customs.

‘I can’t help feeling sorry for his wife,’ Katrina admitted.

‘Mmm, me too! Not that he likes us mentioning her. You do realise that he’s well on the way to developing an obsession with you, don’t you?’

When she saw the apprehensive look Katrina was giving her she relented a little and added, ‘Well, perhaps calling it an obsession is going a bit too far, but he’s certainly determined to get you into his bed.’

‘He might want to but he’s not going to,’ Katrina assured her determinedly. ‘I could cope with his unwanted advances, Bev, but it’s when he starts using his position as expedition leader to punish me for rejecting him that I start to worry. This is my first job and I’m only on probation.’

‘Try not to let him get to you,’ Beverley advised her, stifling a yawn. ‘I’m off to bed. It’s been a long day and, as dear old Richard reminded us, we’ve got a pre-dawn start in the morning.’

Katrina smiled. Personally she was looking forward to their expedition into the desert to examine one of the area’s desert ridges known as wadis.

She should be sleeping. It was over an hour since she had come to bed but every time she closed her eyes she was confronted with a disturbing mental image of the man with the golden eyes, as she had privately nicknamed him.

And it wasn’t just the colour of his eyes that was imprinted on her memory. Her body quivered as fiercely and delicately as though strong fingers had plucked a single chord on a lyre.