by Donna Young
His eyes narrowed as they met hers.
Something shifted inside her. Fear? Relief? “Ramon is dead.”
Jarek glanced over at the pilot, but the king’s features remained stiff, emotionless. Only the slight tightening of his jaw gave away the fury beneath the indifference. Sarah realized she would have missed it if she hadn’t been studying his features so intently.
Then quickly, before she could react, he caught her chin, turned her head and examined her wound. “Any dizziness? Nausea?”
“No,” she lied again, resisting the urge to touch her temple. Telling Jarek about her headache wouldn’t change the situation.
She looked beyond his shoulder and through the door to the empty desert. “Any others coming?”
“No.” He released her. “Just myself. And Rashid.”
“Rashid?” Sarah repeated, surprised. “The prince is here?”
“Yes.” His mouth flattened to a hard, almost bitter line. A mouth, she remembered, that heated with passion or curved wickedly with humor.
“We have very little time. I didn’t see any jeeps with the Al Asheera. Only horses. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have them,” Jarek added. He took Ramon’s gun from her grip, then pulled her from between the seats.
“Behind you is the survival kit. Water, rations, first aid. On the floor…” he pointed under the seats “…flares.”
“Got it,” she answered, but the first thing she snagged was her purse—a brown, leather hobo bag that had seen better days.
“Forget your purse. Take what’s important. Water first.”
“My purse is important. It won’t get in the way.” Quickly, she slipped it over her neck and one shoulder. She grabbed the survival kit and the extra sack of water. It took her a moment to find the flares hidden under a broken passenger seat in the back. She shoved several into her purse, along with a loose flashlight and gloves.
Jarek leaned over and checked the pilot’s pulse. After a moment, he cupped the older man’s cheek. “May Allah keep you always, my friend.”
Sarah turned away, uncomfortable with her intrusion. She stumbled from the plane, nearly landing face-first in the scrub and sand.
“Great,” she muttered. Impatient, she reached down and broke the heels off her shoes, trying not to think about how much the cost of the tan slingbacks had set back her budget a few months earlier.
“Miss Kwong?”
All boy. That was Sarah’s first thought as she looked at Rashid. His eyes were big and wide and black as midnight. Almost too big for the small body, the baby-soft features.
“Your Highness.”
He dressed like his father in the riding pants and boots. His scarf, just a tad off center, revealed sooty black hair spiking in sweaty strands against his cheeks and ears.
“I am glad to see you are unharmed,” the little boy greeted her in a quiet voice. Those big eyes looked past her shoulder to the plane even as he helped her with the supplies.
“Is Ramon safe?”
Sarah knelt down in front of him and laid her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Your Highness,” Sarah explained, gently. “Ramon did not survive.”
“I see,” he whispered. His throat worked spasmodically against tears. “My father?”
“He’s saying goodbye.”
Jarek stepped out to the sand. In one hand, he carried a scarf—Ramon’s head scarf—filled with more supplies. In the other hand, he carried Ramon’s pistol. “Rashid—”
“I know, Papa. Miss Kwong explained.” The words were quiet, but resolute. Sarah saw the tears swell in the young prince’s eyes and how he bit his lip to keep them from falling.
Sarah stood, but left her hand on the boy’s shoulder long enough for a gentle squeeze of encouragement.
“There is nothing we can do for Ramon,” Jarek added, his gaze narrowing over her gesture. “Please let go of my son, Miss Kwong.”
The emotions punched hard, an angry swipe at her solar plexus. Resentment. Humiliation. Rage. She fought them all as she dropped her hand.
Eight years of denial fell away, lying like broken chains at her feet.
She’d come three thousand miles to see. To finally know. And now she did.
Nothing had changed.
“Miss Kwong, have you ridden?” Jarek asked briskly, his gaze now on the horizon.
“Yes. But it’s been a long time.” Too long, she added silently and resisted the urge to rub her temples where the pain was centered.
“You’ll ride Ping.” He nodded toward the gray mare. “Give me the backpack. You can keep your purse.”
He tied the scarf and supplies to Ping’s saddle. “Rashid, come hold the horse steady.”
“It’s okay, girl.” The little boy held the bridle and stroked the horse’s nose.
“Grab the pommel,” Jarek ordered Sarah, then glanced down at her foot. Noticing the broken heels, he raised an eyebrow in question.
“They’re styled to make a great impression, not for an afternoon hike in the sand.”
“I assure you. You’ve always made an impression. Without the shoes,” he murmured, then motioned her to lift her foot.
She placed her heel in his palm, felt the slight dusting of his thumb against her ankle. Her toes curled, but her back stiffened.
“Don’t,” she snapped, low and mean.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t tell me not to touch your son one minute, then stroke me the next.”
“Rashid and Ramon were very close,” Jarek replied, his answer matching the hushed tone of hers. “If you had comforted him for much longer, the tears would’ve taken over and made things more difficult. My priority is his protection. We will have time for grief, but only after we are safe.” Then, almost deliberately, his thumb grazed her ankle again. “Now. Are you ready?”
Before she could reply, he boosted her into the saddle.
Ping bristled against the weight, stomping her front foot for a moment before a few murmured words from Rashid settled her down.
Quickly, Sarah adjusted her purse across her back and out of her way.
“Here you are, Miss Kwong.” Rashid handed her the reins.
When the boy turned away, Ping took a step forward, causing Sarah to lock her thighs on the saddle. “Whoa, girl.”
“Are you going to be all right?” Rashid asked, his small brow knitted with concern.
“I’ll be fine, Your Highness. It’s like falling off a horse, right?” Sarah winked.
The little boy smiled. A big smile that revealed a dimple in each cheek.
A small rubber band of emotion snapped inside her chest. She knew in that moment, if she wasn’t careful, she’d be a sucker for those dimples.
“Ping will follow Taaj, Miss Kwong. So all you have to do is stay in that saddle,” Jarek ordered. “If you hear gunshots, don’t look back. Do you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“And keep up.” Jarek lifted Rashid onto Taaj, then swung up into the saddle behind him.
“Papa, look,” Rashid shouted.
A long line of dust clouds rose over the horizon behind them.
Sarah raised her hand to shield the sun. “What is it? A sandstorm?”
She’d read about the dangers of the desert—scorpions, vipers, raging winds of sand, but didn’t think she would ever experience any firsthand.
Jarek swore and reached for his binoculars.
“The Al Asheera. The same who gunned down the airplane. They’ve spread out and are approaching at a full gallop.”
Suddenly the sand exploded no more than fifty feet in front of them.
Ping reared back and spun herself away. Sarah grabbed the pummel and held her seat. “Whoa!”
“Rockets,” Jarek warned and pointed to the west. “Head toward those cliffs. We can hide in the caves.”
“Away from the city?” Sarah exclaimed, her head still ringing from the explosion.
“They’ve blocked our route back to the palace. Go!”
Another blast hit fifty feet to their side, narrowly missed the king and his son.
In an instant, both horses raced across the dunes. Sarah leaned close to Ping’s neck. The horse was breathing hard but Sarah didn’t dare slow her down.
“They’re deliberately driving us farther into the desert,” Jarek shouted.
Gunshots burst through the air, causing little explosions that nipped at the heels of their horses.
The Al Asheera’s cries shot across the sand. Their red robes brazen in the sunlight, the rifles raised against their shoulders.
“They’re gaining on us, Ping,” Sarah warned the horse, then gripped the saddle tighter to keep her seat.
Suddenly, Jarek pointed toward an outcropping of jagged, black stones jutting up from the sand. “Head for the rocks!”
“Come on, girl!” Sarah urged. The horse raced through the dunes and scrub to the field of rock.
Jarek pulled Taaj to a halt at the edge and checked the wind. “It’s blowing in the right direction. Let’s hope it stays that way.”
Sarah offered a brief prayer of thanks when Ping stopped alongside Taaj. “They’re coming, Jarek.” Without realizing it, Sarah said his name. He stiffened beside her, but otherwise didn’t say anything.
He slid off Taaj and gave the reins to Rashid. “Get as far into the field as you can, then wait for me. Go slow enough so the horses can find footing. The last thing we need is for them to break a leg.”
Bullets strafed the rocks a few yards behind him.
“Did you grab the flares from the cockpit?” Jarek asked.
“Yes.”
“How many?”
“Four.”
“Give them to me.”
She dug into her purse until her fingers touched plastic caps. “Here.”
He tucked the end of the scarf over his face, then snapped the lids off two flares and struck the ends against a nearby rock. “Go!”
Sarah followed Rashid over the broken bits of stone. “What is he doing?”
Sparks shot from the flares. Jarek tossed one, then another toward the edge of the rock bed.
“Look.” Rashid pointed to the edge of shale.
Almost instantly, a fire fluttered over the ground in an orange haze of heat.
“That’s not big enough—”
“Watch,” Rashid responded, cutting her off.
Within moments, smoke rose from the flames, dense with sulphur, black with oil, until it stood twenty feet high—and more than thirty times that in length.
“The smoke is too thick for them to see the ground,” Rashid explained, but the young boy’s eyes never left his father.
“They can’t bring their horses in over the rocks without risking injury.”
“They could walk them through,” Sarah answered, her eyes never wavering from Jarek.
“It would take too long. They would pass out from the fumes.”
The dark cloud gathered strength, rolling over the rocks as it grew in girth. Jarek scraped the last two flares against the stone, turned and was swallowed whole.
Sarah held her breath. The fumes stung her nostrils, coated her lungs.
In the distance they could hear horses scream. Men yelled obscenities. Gunshots bounced behind them, too far to cause damage.
Jarek. Sarah’s mind screamed his name, willing him to reappear.
Suddenly, he broke from the darkness, running after the horses.
Within moments, he swung up behind his son. His scarf was gone from his face. Black streaks smudged his cheek, across his forehead. But otherwise he appeared no worse for the experience.
“That was close.” She exhaled slowly, hoping to settle the pounding in her head, the queasiness that slapped at the back of her throat. He was safe. They were safe.
“You think we’re safe?”
Startled, she realized she’d spoken the words out loud.
“Yes.” She glanced back. The river of fire and smoke had widened the distance between them and the Al Asheera. “Safer than we were a few moments ago.”
Jarek’s gaze flickered over her. “Do you know how to pray, Miss Kwong?”
“Yes.” Hadn’t she just done that very thing for him?
“Then I suggest you start,” Jarek answered grimly. “Because this only delayed them. Next time, they’ll be more prepared.”
Chapter Three
“Are you going to tell me what this is all about?”
Jarek glanced at the woman beside him, fought the irritation that she provoked just with her presence.
“Oil shale.” It wasn’t the answer she was looking for, but the only one he was willing to give at this point.
His gaze swept over her face, in spite of himself. It had been awhile since he’d seen her. A lifetime since he tasted her, felt her give beneath him.
Since then, Sarah Kwong had become a household name—less here than in America—but recognizable nonetheless. At thirty, she was the most recent rising star in the news correspondence business.
Unaware of the adult tension, the little boy grew excited over the topic. “I’ve never seen the shale burn like that before, right, Papa?”
Jarek gave Rashid a reassuring squeeze but didn’t answer him. He wasn’t about to have any kind of personal conversation with his son while a reporter looked on.
“But you’ve seen it burn before?” Sarah asked, with a hint of a smile.
Her lips were full, her mouth just short of wide, but with enough curve to leave one wondering if she understood some hidden secret. A secret that reached the feminine arch of her brows, the deep green of her irises.
Heat curled deep in his gut, stroked the base of his spine.
Jarek recognized the sensation for what it was, cursed it for what it meant.
“Many times—”
“Here in the desert, you can’t always find brush or wood for a fire, so people use the shale for heat and cooking,” Jarek interrupted his son.
Undeterred, Rashid continued, “They also use camel dung. I’ve seen Grandpa Bari’s people use it.”
“Do you mean Sheik Bari Al Asadi?”
“Yes,” his son replied. “He isn’t my real grandpa, but I call him that, anyway. My real grandpa died before I was born.”
“Do you visit him often—”
“Is this an interview, Miss Kwong?” Jarek interrupted.
“No,” she answered slowly, her tone cold enough to blast the heat from his words. “It’s a conversation with a little boy.”
“I didn’t realize with reporters there was a difference,” Jarek responded, his words sharp with warning. Rashid tensed against him, but in confusion, not fear, Jarek was sure.
“There is, Your Majesty. Maybe when we have time, I can explain the difference,” she answered, impressing him with how she controlled the edge of sarcasm in her voice.
“I look forward to it.” Jarek deliberately took the sting from his words for Rashid’s sake. Still, he took some male satisfaction in the momentary confusion that flashed across Sarah’s features and the sudden awareness that widened her eyes.
“Once the palace realizes your plane went down and that I’m missing, they’ll send out a search party.”
“How long will that take?”
Absently, she brushed a thick lock of black hair back over a bare shoulder. Pink flushed the tips of her shoulders, spotted the soft curve of her cheeks.
Around her neck, she wore a simple jade pendant, the same deep green of her eyes. Its shape oval, the chain, a fine gold rope. A gift, she’d told him once, from her grandmother. A kindred spirit.
The white camisole did little to protect her from the elements and only emphasized the slender bones, the delicate, almost fragile, frame.
But it was the blood, a long streak that had crusted from her temple to her earlobe, that had sniped at him since they’d left the plane.
Jarek bit back a curse. Delicate or not, she had hung on, with a fierce determination that hiked her chin, set her spine ramrod
straight. No tears. No hysteria. Plenty of courage.
He pulled a long, white scarf from his saddle bag and handed it to her. “Put this over your head. The scarf will keep you from burning.”
She put the scarf over the top of her head, crisscrossed it at the front of her throat before placing the ends back over her shoulders.
Years of need and longing tightened inside him, threatening to snap his control. He remembered the way she’d softened in his arms. Warm. Pliable. The brazen boldness that always gave way in a shudder of sweet surrender.
“Did Ramon radio a distress call?” Jarek asked, more to divert his thoughts, since he already suspected her answer.
“No. We had no time.”
“Then the rescue will not happen before tomorrow. We’ll need to find shelter for tonight.”
THE SAHARA WAS DRY AND SPITEFUL. The wind slapped at them, its edges sharp with grit and heat.
“We’ll stop here and rest the horses,” Jarek ordered, and dismounted Taaj with Rashid.
Sarah grimaced and swung down from Ping, her movements jerky and stiff. They’d left the shale field hours earlier, heading farther west through scrub and rock.
“If you are sore, stretch out your legs or they’ll cramp,” Jarek suggested, his tone rigid.
“I’ll just do that,” Sarah answered, noting that Jarek had already walked away.
He was tall with the arrogrant stance of a warrior, and with it, the confidence that comes with royal blood.
“I thought camels were the preferred mode of transportation here,” Sarah murmured. The man walked in long, steady strides. His breeding set every muscle, every bone, every motion.
The wind whipped the end of her scarf against her face. Giving into impulse, she rubbed the soft cotton against her cheek and inhaled the scents of spice and saddle leather.
“Camel riding would make you no less sore,” Rashid whispered as he maneuvered under Ping’s neck. “You’re just out of shape.”
Sarah smiled at the boy’s candor. “All that money I spent at the gym has gone to waste.”
“You should buy a horse like Ping.” Rashid stroked the mare’s nose.
“No, thank you, sport. I’ll keep my membership at the gym, even if it isn’t helping.”