Read Girl in the Bedouin Tent for Free Online Page A

fumble-fingered. It hadn’t just been the old lock that had been the problem. His unsteady hands had been as much to blame.
    Her innocent questions about the old wall hanging, no doubt scavenged by Mustafa in some raid on an ancient stronghold, had channelled Amir’s thoughts in directions that were too intimate for comfort.
    He knew the look, scent, sound and feel of her. In one moment of heady madness he’d wondered how she’d taste on his tongue, till he’d pulled himself up short and focused on the lock.
    His celibacy these past months told against him, letting his thoughts easily stray to sexual pleasure. It had been too long since he’d taken a woman into his bed.
    He breathed deep. His advisors were right. The sooner he married the better.
    Mistresses were well and good, but he grew tired of their demands and their grasping eagerness. How long since the pleasure of having beautiful women vie for his attention had begun to pall?
    A wife wouldn’t cling. A wife would be busy with the royal household, with raising their children. But she’d be there for his comfort too.
    He smiled, enjoying the notion.
    Till he realised the woman in his imaginings had eyes of deep violet and hair like tumbled corn silk.
    The bedroom was still, almost dark but for the dimmed light of a single lamp. Yet Cassie paused on the threshold, her heart thumping.
    The bed was massive. Low and wide enough for four. Yet it looked far too full with just one man occupying it.
    No matter that he’d given his word. That he’d assured her she was safe. Cassie couldn’t share his bed.
    A shiver spidered its way down her backbone, drawing her skin taut at the idea. Silently she crept across the carpeted floor to gather up her black cloak. Holding her breath, she reached her other hand to the bed and slid a massive pillow towards her.
    He remained oblivious, his chest rising and falling slightly with each breath.
    A spurt of indignation filled her that he should be so unaffected by her presence, her story of abduction and ill use, that he’d fallen asleep. Yet it made this easier.
    With quick, efficient movements Cassie wrapped the cloak around herself and curled up on a silk carpet beside the bed. She nestled her head on the plump pillow and almost sighed her pleasure. Every bone ached with tiredness.
    ‘You can’t sleep there.’ The crisp voice came out of the darkness. Instantly she stiffened.
    ‘I prefer to sleep alone.’
    ‘We’ve been through this, Cassie.’ Was that a sigh she heard? ‘Still you do not trust me?’
    ‘It’s not …’ Of course it was. A matter of trust.
    But how could she trust this stranger as completely as he expected?
    A stranger whose touch had been gentle yet soothingly impersonal as he’d removed that hated lead chain. A stranger whose deep voice and efficient, unfussy care had eased her frayed nerves and given her support when she needed it.
    Still—
    Her thoughts disintegrated as warmth surrounded her. Strong arms lifted her tight against his solid form.
    Terror engulfed her, obliterating her tentative sense of wellbeing. Cassie fought to escape but could get no purchase on the smooth, hard muscle of his bare torso. Not when his body seemed made of unbreakable steel beneath the warm silk of his skin.
    A whoosh of air was expelled from her lungs as he dropped her onto the bed. Cassie barely touched the mattress before she was scrabbling to escape, but he sat beside her, his hip hard against her own, his hold firm as he captured her flailing hands in one of his.
    ‘Enough!’ The single word broke through her panicked struggles. ‘Enough. You are quite safe.’
    Safe? Cassie stared up at a broad, muscled torso dusted with dark hair, to a dangerously angled jaw accentuated by the shadow of stubble. Her heart gave a single lurch. Of fear or something else?
    ‘You can’t sleep on the floor. You will sleep here, with me, and you will give the impression, when the servants arrive in the morning, that you