Secret of the Sands

Secret of the Sands
Sara Sheridan

She was a slave. He was her master. Both of them long to be free…1833 – The British Navy are conducting a survey of the Arabian Peninsula where slavery is as rife as ever despite being abolition. Zena, a headstrong and determined young Abyssinian beauty has been torn from her remote village, subjected to a tortuous journey and is now being offered for sale in the market of Muscat.Lieutenant James Wellstead is determined that his time aboard HMS Palinurus will be the conduit to fame and fortune. However, all his plans are thrown into disarray when two of his fellow officers go missing while gathering intelligence in the desert.By an unexpected twist of fate – Zena finds herself the property of Wellstead, now on a daring rescue mission into forbidding territory. Master and slave are drawn ever closer, but as danger faces them at every turn, they must endure heartache and uncertainty – neither of them knowing what fortune awaits them as they make their hazardous way through the shifting sands.A rich and epic novel that will appeal to fans of The Pirate's Daughter and East of the Sun.

SARA SHERIDAN

Secret of the Sands

Copyright (#ulink_56b5508a-8d05-5bda-87f4-d3795325b7fd)

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 77–85 Fulham Palace Road Hammersmith, London W6 8JB

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2011

Copyright © Sara Sheridan 2011

Sara Sheridan asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

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Source ISBN: 9781847561992

Ebook Edition © FEBRUARY 2011 ISBN: 9780007352524

Version: 2014-07-08

Author’s note about language (#ulink_b7d8a1ec-c30d-55a2-92d8-cb29e1c82332)

I do not speak Arabic and in any case spelling Arabic words with English letters spawns a wide variety of possible combinations that were not standardised until well after Wellsted’s day. I copied Arabic words from contemporary manuscripts and hope that the resulting spelling does not prove too confusing for those whose knowledge of the language is greater than mine.

Map (#ulink_bf84dd70-bd3b-59ef-809b-42a21d825b93)

Contents

Cover (#uacfae2dc-5a9d-5c04-aecc-bf5e4cb37de1)

Title Page (#u8d7cd9aa-9f78-5bee-a0ba-8907bad7ed54)

Copyright (#u4892c237-2cd0-5c6d-b0d0-b16579b51ea8)

Author’s note about language (#u8d4f5eb0-d2e4-557d-b0f8-95a9d70ccf5f)

Map (#u074ae61d-3d9a-53fe-85bf-f7a487588424)

Part One (#uc66c212c-899c-5047-87f3-b3c233e3c51e)

Chapter One (#u687e8247-6016-5bf4-ad20-702965594fac)

Chapter Two (#uda02e36a-a7f4-5f75-93fb-8129a899c64e)

Chapter Three (#u1ac7f8cf-037f-5881-b016-d255b3252b56)

Chapter Four (#uaa0c9457-da22-525e-8aa8-5edef90554b1)

Chapter Five (#u4e24a8e1-5de0-553f-bb05-1a19f4882150)

Chapter Six (#u81f008d7-2604-5076-a33b-496ddb90133b)

Chapter Seven (#ub4a0e6ab-6d3f-5c1f-a3cb-1d822ff1b3ab)

Chapter Eight (#u3eaeb0d8-f80b-5add-a3cd-621135e6a1f4)

Chapter Nine (#u9dfac70b-a96d-5f84-a21c-d10edf988aa7)

Chapter Ten (#u06fc20e2-d307-5e2b-bc72-27fb1e12c795)

Chapter Eleven (#ue3136be3-35c3-5345-8734-1448ad227cef)

Chapter Twelve (#u230f09eb-d826-505c-8821-725a26f884c4)

Chapter Thirteen (#u1b11298c-6224-5923-ba33-0593344ba1cf)

Chapter Fourteen (#ubab44137-c938-5626-a8f6-ac2161ee6e15)

Chapter Fifteen (#u9b1052ca-bfa3-5987-bbe8-620495257cde)

Chapter Sixteen (#u4602d6df-7e71-5d73-961f-b058a7582818)

Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)

Part Two (#litres_trial_promo)