Her Sheik Protector

by Linda Conrad

  Tarik had been speaking softly into a hidden mouthpiece, but at his brother’s question, he turned back. “Our intel shows there’s possibly three more guards inside the apartment, along with Hamad and the girl. We don’t have a plan yet.”

  “And you’re sure we can’t just blow up the whole freakin’ building?” Shakir looked gleeful at the idea.

  Darin rolled his eyes and ignored the comment. “We have to go with what we know. We know Rylie is in that back bedroom. A few moments ago, she was alone. I can reach her room from the roof. While I’m doing that…”

  “Hold it.” Tarik held up his palms. “What exactly do you mean by ‘reach her room from the roof’?”

  Both of his brothers were staring at him as if he’d suddenly sprouted angel wings.

  “It’s not that big a distance from the roof to the top of her open window. Maybe one of Tarik’s men can lower me down with some kind of makeshift rope.”

  “You’re crazy, Darin.” Tarik was shaking his head.

  “Lovesick is more like it.” Shakir’s head was rolling side to side, as well.

  “Nonsense,” Darin insisted. “This can work. You two attack through the front door and make a big commotion. Use flash bangs or something. Everyone’s attention will be drawn your way while I climb down and protect Rylie until the attack is over and the Taj Zabbar are finished.”

  “I thought you wanted to be the one to kill Hamad Taj Zabbar?” Tarik was looking at him thoughtfully.

  “Rylie’s safety is more important.”

  Tarik looked to Shakir. The two of them shrugged and then released their breaths as one.

  “Okay, Darin, we’ll go with your plan. But one of my men will cover you from the roof across the street. In case.”

  Darin started to argue with Tarik that it wasn’t necessary, but the determined looks on his brothers’ faces made him shut his mouth. He knew to quit while he was ahead.

  What he didn’t know was how Rylie was holding up. Fighting terror-filled images and dreadful thoughts of what Hamad was doing to her, Darin prepared himself to be her savior. But what kind of shape would she be in when he came to her rescue?

  Rylie forced down another bite of filet mignon, but her stomach was churning with acid already. Light-headed and suddenly too warm, she twisted around to check that the bedroom window was still open. It was, but not a breath of air stirred in the room.

  “The food is good, yes?” Hamad sat across the table from her and had been silently concentrating on his meal for the last ten minutes. “I must apologize again for the unforeseen problems keeping us from discussing our plans over this excellent meal. Though I completely understand. Certainly you would not feel free to contemplate a future while your friend is still breathing.

  “But do not overly concern yourself,” he added flippantly. “That little detail should be rectified shortly.”

  Hamad took another sip of his burgundy wine and stared at her over the two-person table he’d had erected in the bedroom, allowing them to eat in private. “I’m sure it will be only a matter of an hour, more or less. Perhaps the announcement of his end shall arrive while we’re having brandy. And then we can be free to discuss our partnership.”

  Rylie shifted the steak knife into her right hand and pretended to use it to cut her meat like the Europeans. As far as weapons went, the little knife wasn’t much. Certainly no match for Hamad’s antique dagger or his bodyguards’ guns. She would have to get too close to an opponent for it to do any good.

  Still, she didn’t feel nearly as helpless with a knife in her hand as she had without one. The mere sight of it had been one of the reasons she had agreed to sit down at this table with a person who seemed mad.

  Relieved to find out Darin was still alive, she would have agreed to almost anything when Hamad suggested they should eat the meal he’d had prepared while they waited to hear something more from the train station. Since then, her mind had raced with escape plans as she listened to Hamad sounding more and more deranged.

  He talked to her as if they were having a business meeting. As if the two of them were on the same side. And as if Darin’s life was only a stubborn detail to be negotiated between them.

  Hmm. Was that a possibility?

  “Sheik Hamad, may I ask a question?”

  He waved a good-natured hand in her direction. “Of course.”

  “You said before that people who were loyal to you could expect your appreciation. Would that be true of me, as well?”

  Nodding, he stuffed his mouth with creamy pasta.

  “What if I agreed to every one of your ideas, and in addition signed a contract letting you manage all my money from now on? Would you consider me a loyal partner then?”

  He dropped his fork and grinned, ignoring the ring of Alfredo-style sauce around his mouth. “You would make me ecstatically happy, my dear. And could expect me to be most appreciative.”

  She steeled herself for his reaction to her next statement. “I will do all that as fast as it can be arranged. Tonight if possible. But in return, I would need your promise that Darin Kadir will be kept alive.”

  Hamad pushed back from the table and stood. “Whore! You try to trick me?”

  Rylie also stood. But she rose on shaky legs and backed up a few steps.

  “It’s n-not a trick,” she stuttered. “Only a business deal.”

  “The Kadir clan must all die. All. Darin Kadir cannot be an exception. It is preordained.” Hamad took his dagger from an inside pocket and shook it menacingly as he came in her direction. “No more talking. I will ask for your decision once again after the Kadir dog is dead. By then we’ll see what you have to say.”

  Hanging on to her steak knife like a lifeline, Rylie expected to feel the blade of Hamad’s dagger at any moment. But if the cut came, she swore to do her own damage in return.

  All of a sudden Hamad’s eyes grew wide as he stared over her shoulder toward the window at her back. She hesitated to turn around for fear he would stab her from behind.

  “Stop. Or I will cut her.” Hamad raised his dagger over his head.

  A big arm came around her waist then and dragged her sideways into a solid, masculine chest. Without looking, Rylie immediately knew it was Darin. Her heart started up again. It hadn’t really been beating since she’d last seen him. Now she could breathe. He was alive.

  Darin pulled her backward until they hit a solid wall. “Stay away from the window,” he whispered in her ear.

  Something whizzed through the window next to her. A bullet? But it missed the agitated Hamad, who was stepping from side to side.

  At that very moment, a huge commotion began in the next room. Explosions rang out. Men shouted. The door opened and one of Hamad’s men ran into the room brandishing a firearm and shouting curses in his own language. Then the assassin fired a wild shot and screamed like a banshee.

  Darin stepped in front of her and used his body as a shield. But she didn’t want his protection. She wanted to work with him to take out Hamad and get free. They were a team.

  Smoke filled the room, and Rylie lost track of things in the confusion. She slid out from behind Darin and came face-to-face with Hamad’s bodyguard.

  His huge knife gleamed at her through the haze. Darin yelled something Rylie couldn’t understand. She wanted to turn and ask him for a better weapon than her silly steak knife, but she was afraid to lose sight of their attacker.

  The assassin kept coming—closer and closer to both her and Darin. By now all she could see through the smoky haze was their attacker’s yellowed teeth. It was surreal.

  And Rylie knew that meant they didn’t have much time left.

  Chapter 14

  The smoke from his brothers’ flash bangs grew thicker. Darin could see that Tarik’s sniper wouldn’t be able to get off another clear shot while smoke poured from the window. Good thing, because Rylie had disappeared into obscurity somewhere near that same window. He should’ve known Rylie wouldn’t cower behind him in a fi
ght.

  But how was he supposed to protect her when she wouldn’t stand still? He suddenly caught sight of her through the haze. And his heart stopped. On hold—along with his breathing. She had a small knife in her hand and was waving it slowly in front of her as though the puny blade would be a major deterrent to any attacker.

  “Rylie, duck and cover.” He tried to get her attention, but she seemed frozen in the midst of chaos.

  She wasn’t too far away from him. But smoke blew between them again and she disappeared. He took a couple of steps forward, hoping that she would still be in the same spot.

  Darin pulled his weapon but was terrified to use it for fear of hitting Rylie—or maybe of hitting one of his brothers. Where were his brothers? Perhaps they had run into more trouble than they’d expected in the front room.

  The smoke began lifting. But it still flowed out the window, obscuring the sniper’s clear shot from across the street.

  “No!” That was Hamad’s voice, suddenly ringing out loud and clear. “Not her. Do not harm that one.”

  Darin finally saw Rylie, turning to the sound of shouting. With his heart bursting in his chest, Darin turned his head, too, and saw Hamad standing on the opposite side of a dinner table with his back to the door. The Taj elder must’ve closed and locked the door between the bedroom and the front room to let the smoke clear. But Darin knew that wouldn’t slow his Kadir brothers down for long.

  He swung back to find Rylie. She stood not far away with her back to him. She was facing one of Hamad’s assassins. The man appeared to be stalking her with dagger in hand.

  “Rylie!”

  Hamad started screaming orders once again. “That one! Kill the man. Kill the Kadir dog!”

  Things seemed to happen in slow motion from then on. Both the assassin and Rylie lifted their heads to look for Darin. Meanwhile, Darin took a step or two closer to them.

  The assassin reared his arm back and let his dagger fly. Rylie screamed, dropped her knife and threw herself at Darin—stepping right into the flight path of the dagger.

  Darin could visualize what was going to happen before the dagger ever hit her in the back. But he was helpless to do anything. Time stopped. It was like the worst horror show he had ever seen, and he knew it would haunt his nightmares forever.

  Rylie’s eyes opened wide as the knife buried itself deep in her flesh. She took another step forward and hesitated. A look of confusion crossed her face. Darin caught her up with his one free arm.

  “No. You idiot! Kill the Kadir!” Hamad was still shouting but he didn’t move from his spot of safety across the room.

  Darin turned, pointed and fired his gun, hitting Hamad right in the forehead. The look of shock on the Taj Zabbar elder’s face was priceless. He opened his mouth automatically but then puffed out his lips and looked like a fish out of water, gulping for air. The very next instant, Hamad dropped to the floor like a heap of trash.

  Still holding on to Rylie, Darin turned his gun and pointed it at the assassin. The startled man stared at his boss on the floor for a split second. Then the assassin pulled a stiletto from his own shoe. With his pulse beating wildly, Darin once again prepared to fire.

  But the assassin was quicker. Without a second’s hesitation, he used the knife to slit his own throat. A horrific sight. Blood spouted like a fountain from the man’s neck, and it was over before Darin could pull the trigger.

  “Is it finished? Are we safe?” Rylie managed to speak in a weak voice. But when Darin nodded, her legs collapsed from under her.

  “I knew we made a good team.” Rylie’s eyes closed as she grew limp against him. Letting loose of his weapon, he pulled her into his arms and together they sank to the carpet.

  “Hang on, Rylie. Just hang on.” Trembling, Darin rocked her in his arms.

  Hold on, my love. She couldn’t die now. It would kill him to know another woman he loved had died because of him. If she died, he died.

  Tarik and Shakir broke through the door.

  “Hey, bro, no fair. You managed all this without us. Where’s the fun in that?”

  “You’re sure she’s going to live?” Darin had asked that same question of various doctors at least a thousand times over the last three days.

  “Miss Hunt was extremely lucky.” Rylie’s newest specialist spoke in one of those serious doctor’s voices everyone always hated.

  But as the specialist turned to her in the bed, he offered up a bit of genuine cheer. “The knife blade missed most of your vital organs but just nicked your liver. You’re going to be with us for a while, but when you leave the hospital you should be able to resume your regular activities.”

  It was all Darin could do not to kiss the man. The warm flow of relief poured through his body all at once, forcing him to sit down. He leaned his elbows on his knees and put his head in his hands.

  When the doctor said his goodbyes and left them alone, Rylie spoke. “Are you feeling okay, Darin? You don’t look well. You’re sure you don’t have any internal injuries?”

  He raised his head and looked over at her. “I’m sure. The doctors tell me I have a bruised kidney, but that I should heal with no trouble. Other than that, I guess I look worse than I feel.”

  “Purple and green splotches seem to suit you.”

  She was making jokes. He felt as though the end of the world was right around the corner and she was making jokes.

  Standing, he went to her bedside and gazed down on her. “Yeah? Well, you look beautiful, too. All quiet and regal lying in that bed. Like a sleeping beauty.”

  She did look beautiful. Beautiful and fragile and slightly shell-shocked over what they’d been through. He hadn’t seen her looking this vulnerable since the night they’d met when she’d been jet-lagged and scared.

  He’d done that to her. Made her vulnerable again.

  Everything that had happened to her, brushing her with death and this hospital stay was his fault. He felt helpless again.

  Rylie reached out, her hand encumbered by needles and wires, and touched him. He gently took her fingers with his own. Their connection was immediate.

  He experienced her warmth. Her gentleness. The spark of life that still burned strongly within her heart.

  His obsession with her was as vivid as ever. He longed to hold her. To make love to her. To keep her with him always.

  But every time he looked at her, he also remembered the stark terror he’d felt when she came toward him—the hilt of that huge dagger sticking out of her back. He would never forget it.

  Darin couldn’t keep doing this. He couldn’t stay here and potentially be the reason for her coming to more harm. The Taj Zabbar were not finished with their war. They still intended to kill the Kadirs. And the next time, she might not…

  “Have you talked to my mother? And to my friend Marie Claire? Do they know I’m all right?”

  Swallowing down the hard lump in his throat, he said, “Your friend telephoned your mother last night and told her a story about you visiting a spa for a few days. We didn’t want to worry your mother too much. You can call and talk to her yourself as soon as you’re feeling well enough.”

  He tried a smile, but knew immediately that it was a dismal failure. “Marie Claire is taking time off from work to come visit with you while you’re here. She says she wants to see for herself that you’re really okay.”

  “It’ll be nice to assure Marie Claire—and to be able to cheer up my mother again.” A ghost of a smile lingered around Rylie’s mouth.

  Hell. This woman was amazing. She was thinking about everyone but herself.

  All he could think about was how close she’d come to dying. Tears burned the backs of his eyes.

  “What…” Rylie stopped to clear her throat. “What happened with the Milan police? All those…dead bodies.”

  Darin squeezed her fingers to let her know he understood what was going on inside her head. How seeing men die could affect you for the rest of your life.

  “Don’t worr
y. Tarik has friends in high places here in Milan. He’s taking care of it.”

  Rylie tried to shift her body and grimaced with the effort.

  “Want to sit up a little more? Here, let me adjust the bed.” He used the remote to raise the head of the bed and then showed her how it worked.

  “Thanks,” she said when she was settled again. “Actually, thanks for everything. I wouldn’t have made it out alive if not for you.”

  He shook his head. “Don’t say that.” Please don’t even think that. Without me, you wouldn’t have been in the line of fire in the first place.

  “You’re a strong, independent woman,” he said instead of what he was thinking. “Nobody can get you down.”

  Her eyes clouded over with sadness. “Can you do me one more favor?”

  He nodded and held his breath.

  “Can you check on Hunt Drilling while I’m stuck in this hospital? See how the company is doing and how the victims of the explosion are faring. I should be there. I shouldn’t have…I shouldn’t have left them the way I did.”

  This one was easy. “I’ve already talked to my attorneys in Houston. Kadir Shipping will be paying all the bills related to that explosion at the Houston shipping facility. We’re setting up a victims’ fund, as well. I know it doesn’t make up for the suffering.” He shrugged but couldn’t manage a smile. “Anything we can do.”

  “But the explosion wasn’t the fault of Kadir Shipping.”

  If only that were true. “The Taj Zabbar would never have noticed Hunt Drilling if not for Kadir Shipping. It’s our fault and we will make amends.”

  Darin wished he could put her mind more at ease about her father’s firm. “I’ve decided to publicly break our ties with Hunt Drilling. I want you and the company off the Taj Zabbar radar. But if you’d be willing, Kadir Shipping will become your company’s silent partner. We’ll funnel you anything you need to bring Hunt Drilling back to a place of prominence. Money. Expertise. Anything.”

  A light moved into her eyes for the first time since she’d been stabbed. “Thank you—again. Uh, so what you’re saying is that you believe the Taj Zabbar will continue trying to kill your people, even though Hamad is dead?”