A Sulta's Ransom

by White, Loreth Anne

That meant many variations of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies—or prion diseases—could be cured, but only if the antidote was given at the very earliest stages of the disease. Otherwise, the hosts’ brains would be irreparably damaged.

  And that was the case with President Elliot. She set her mug down, dropped her face into her hands.

  Meyer had said her work was genius but she felt like a complete failure. Tears began once again to well in her eyes. This was ridiculous. For the better part of her adult life she’d hardly ever cried. Now she couldn’t stop.

  She wiped the moisture from her eyes in frustration and looked up at the television screen mounted in the far corner of the cafeteria. She wanted to know what was happening in the Middle East, but at the same time she couldn’t bear seeing any more news of Hamn or any more images of the “handsome and mysterious Sultan” who’d returned to bring down Sadiq’s regime, tumbling the entire region into turmoil virtually overnight.

  Rafiq had ridden into Al Qatar on the morning of the sixth with the armies of the Silent Revolution at his flanks. They must have been a frightening sight, racing over the desert toward the walled capital, sand boiling in their wake.

  The instant he’d publicly declared his return to Hamn, the Royal Hamnian military forces had collapsed, with thousands of defectors rushing to join the highly-coordinated Silent Revolution. And in less than twenty-four hours, the capital had fallen.

  Sadiq and a handful of loyalists had barricaded themselves in the palace compound. According to the last news report Paige had seen, the infamous ‘Scarred Sultan’ was now trying to negotiate his life in exchange for handover to an international tribunal.

  The gates to freedom and democracy in Hamn were officially open, but according to reporters, the real battle for the new Sultan Rafiq bin Zafir bin Omar al-Qaadr still lay ahead. Rebuilding his country and opening it to trade with the Western world would take decades. And he was there, serving his people, doing his job.

  And she was here doing hers.

  Paige stared at the pattern on the melamine table. She felt hollow, left out. Cold. Her work had always fulfilled her. She’d never minded being on the outside, an observer.

  But she did now.

  There was a hot, vibrant and passionate world out there. And she was here, once again, by herself. And right now, in her exhausted state, she was sorry she’d ever met Rafiq, because now nothing in her life could ever match up to him.

  Another delinquent tear escaped her eye. It slid down her cheek, dangled from her chin and fell with a plop into her coffee. But Paige didn’t care enough to wipe them away anymore.

  Rafiq stood in the dark hallway, looking in at the brightly lit cafeteria, watching Paige. His heart ached with a pain so deep he could barely breathe. She looked so sad, so tired. So broken.

  He sucked in a deep breath, trying to find courage for what he’d come to do. Almost a week ago he’d been just like this, out in the dark, looking in at her, knowing that somehow Paige Sterling held all the answers.

  He’d come to take her again. But this time he wanted her to come of her own volition. It was the final test. And Rafiq was afraid—that she’d say no.

  He was more afraid of her rejection than anything else he’d ever experienced. When he’d taken her from that lab in Hamn, the global stakes had been high. Now it was his heart on the line.

  He clenched and unclenched his fists at his sides. He didn’t have much time. He shouldn’t even be here. The jet was still fueled, waiting. He had to move. Now.

  He made his way to the cafeteria entrance, stood quietly in the doorway. She was staring up at the blank television screen.

  “Would you like me to turn that on for you?”

  She spun round and froze.

  “Hello, Doctor.” He smiled, but his heart was hammering hard, his palms damp.

  Her mouth dropped open and her eyes went huge. She stood, knocking over her chair. “Rafiq?”

  He held his hands out to his side. “Surprised?”

  Her eyes flicked to the blank screen, then back to him. “You…you’re supposed to be—”

  He cocked a brow, smiled again. “On TV?”

  “No, I mean…you were in Hamn, on the news. You…all the networks are going crazy, there’s coverage all the time.”

  “Can you blame them?” he said, stepping into the room. “It’s the first time the country has ever been open to the media. The place is flooding with journalists.”

  He took another step toward her and she tensed visibly. “What…what are you doing here?” She put her hand to her forehead, as if she was afraid she was hallucinating. “You can’t be here. You…the palace…Al Qatar has just fallen…you have…”

  The nerves in his chest squeezed tighter. His smiled faded. “I’m not staying, Paige.”

  She swallowed sharply, and her hands dropped to her sides.

  He took another step toward her. “Paige, I have a jet waiting—”

  She lifted both hands, stopping him in his tracks. “Look, if you’ve come to say goodbye, I…I’d rather you hadn’t, Rafiq. I’d rather you turned around right now, walked out that door. Because…if…if you touch me…” Her voice cracked and she reached for the back of a chair.

  He didn’t listen. He kept walking, coming right up to her. Paige closed her eyes, unable to bear the emotions overwhelming her. She willed him to turn around and leave, and she willed him to grab her, hold her, kiss her, never let her go.

  He came nearer. She still couldn’t open her eyes. She could smell him, that faint exotic scent of the deserts of Hamn. She could feel his warmth. Her chest twisted so tightly she thought her heart might literally break.

  If she looked at him now…saw the way his hair fell glossy and loose to the shoulders of his crisp white shirt, the way his skin was tanned even darker from days under the sun, the way his eyes gleamed as if they held the answer to life itself, the way his jeans moved like sin over his hips, the way he wore those black leather boots. The way his scimitar rested against his thigh.

  Paige tried to swallow, and tears squeezed out from under her lashes. But she could not look at him.

  “Paige?”

  She felt his fingers touch her jaw bone, and a small sound escaped her chest.

  “Look at me, Paige.”

  “Please, Rafiq, say goodbye. Get it over with. Don’t do this to me.”

  “Paige,” he said firmly, and his lips brushed softly over hers. Her knees went weak and her hands began to shake.

  “I didn’t come to say goodbye,” he whispered over her mouth.

  Her eyes flared open. “Why did you come, then?”

  “Because I made a date. I made a promise. And—” he lifted her chin with his knuckle “—I always keep my promises. I had no intention of making you wait—” he hesitated, a flicker of nerves in his eyes “—for someone you love.”

  She couldn’t speak.

  That glimmer of unease deepened in his oil-black eyes. “You…did mean it, Paige…didn’t you?”

  She didn’t trust herself to make a sound. All she could do was nod her head.

  A small breath of relief escaped him, but the uncertainty lingered in his eyes. “The jet is waiting,” he said softly. “I want you come home with me, Paige. I want you to be at my side.”

  She tried to make her brain work. She smudged the tears from her cheeks. “Rafiq, I…I don’t understand. I can’t go anywhere. I made this pathogen. Authorities will want to speak to me. I—”

  His eyes narrowed with hot intensity. “Your work is done here, Paige.”

  “No, it’s not. Whether those bombs go off or not, the President of the United States is going to die. And it’s my fault—”

  He gripped her by the shoulders, his eyes flashing. “No, it is not!”

  “It is! You said so yourself, I would be indicted for treason. I—”

  He steadied her, forced her look into his eyes. “Paige, you were a pawn, and the FDS will protect you. And I can tell you, no
one is going to come after the Queen of Hamn, not on my watch. You will always be safe with me.”

  She felt her jaw drop. “What…did you say?”

  He hesitated. “I wanted to do this properly, but there is no time.” He paused. “I want you to be my queen, Paige, my only queen. And I want you to help guide our country into a democratic future. I want you at my side.”

  “But—”

  He placed his fingers over her mouth, shook his head. “You don’t have to say anything now. All you have to do is come home with me. And from there we will take it one day at a time. You can leave Hamn whenever you wish, if you wish. But I want you to see if you like it, if you can help me lead my people into a new world.” He paused, his eyes searing hers. “Because, Paige, I know you can handle my country. And I know you love my people. And more than anything, I know I love you.”

  A lump of emotion lodged in her throat. “Rafiq, I’m not of Hamnian blood. I’m not of royal lineage. Your people might not accept me as their queen. Have you thought about that?”

  His black eyes glittered and a broad smile cracked his dark face. “You are considering it, then?”

  “You’re not thinking it through, Rafiq. Choosing me might be sending the wrong signal to your people. It might not be in the interests of peace.”

  He cupped her face firmly. “Always the thinker, aren’t you, Paige? But you are wrong this time. You are my destiny, and you are Hamn’s destiny, should you choose to accept me.”

  He exhaled heavily. “If it wasn’t for this mission, Paige, if it wasn’t you in that lab, working late when you should have been sleeping, I would never have gone back to save my country. You are part of the legend of Hamn. You brought their mythical savior home, made him real. My people will see that.”

  He took her in his arms. “Will you accept me, Paige? Will you come home with me?”

  Paige felt as if she’d swallowed pure sunshine. The tears that rolled down her cheeks now were sheer, sweet emotional release.

  “Is that a yes?”

  She bit her lip, nodded. “Yes,” she said in Arabic. It was all she could manage.

  He kissed her so hard, so suddenly, so possessively, she couldn’t breathe. Her heart thudded against his chest and her limbs melted. His body was so solid. So warm. So alive. Paige felt as if she was tasting life itself. And never had she felt more happy—or excited—about a future.

  He scooped her off her feet, in her scrubs, and he moved toward the door with powerful, playful ease. “Our jet is waiting.”

  Paige closed her eyes as he swept her out the door. This could not be happening. Fairy tales could actually come true. There were warrior kings and knights in shining armor—even for girls who’d been taught not to believe.

  Epilogue

  00:02 Alpha, Over the Atlantic, Tuesday, October 7

  Jacques Sauvage got the news about three hours before touchdown at JFK. December had come out of surgery and was now in ICU in the São Diogo hospital. His condition was stable but critical. He’d lost massive amounts of blood due to internal bleeding and was barely hanging on with life support.

  In the meanwhile, his FDS interrogators were working on the injured sniper they’d captured in Hamn but the strange man wasn’t talking. Yet.

  Sauvage leaned back in his seat, closed his eyes, the drone of the FDS jet steady in his ears. His techs had also found evidence in the Nexus Q3 systems of an offshore antidote stockpile. If the bioattack was launched, they could move on the stockpiles, save some lives.

  Now all he had to do was keep the plague from being spread in the first place. And he had to stop the Cabal from overthrowing the government of the United States. That meant taking the Cabal down at the head before the president made his speech. He had seven days to do it.

  And he was going to have to use Olivia.

  He was going to have to see her again. Touch her.

  Sauvage clenched the armrests, drew in a long, slow, steady breath.

  This had just gotten personal—too personal.

  Dear Reader,

  My SHADOW SOLDIERS have gone to extreme lengths to bury their pasts. But while it’s one thing to try and escape a deed, can one ever really run from oneself?

  This is the conflict faced by Rafiq Zayed, a mercenary who tries to hide the fact that the blood of ancient warrior sheiks pulses in his veins. But, in a bid to stop a global threat of almost incomprehensible proportion, Rafiq is forced to return to the land of his birth. There the man of passionate action clashes with a woman of cool logic, and the past and present and future collide in a mysterious land as old as time. But the clock is ticking, and unless my hero and heroine can confront their own pasts, they will not be able to save their future.

  However, it will take more than passion or logic to do it—it will take love.

  Loreth Anne White

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-5825-3

  A SULTAN’S RANSOM

  Copyright © 2006 by Loreth Beswetherick

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

  This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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  *Shadow Soldiers

  *Shadow Soldiers