Read The Cobra & the Concubine (Khamsin Warriors of the Wind) for Free Online Page A

drive these intruders away.
    He thrust out the soles of his feet at them. "Walk away from me. I know nothing of you," he said brusquely.
    Of course they would not understand how rude the gesture was. They were English. But Jabari tensed with anger.
    "Khepri!" he said sharply. Then he said in a gentler tone, "You forget your manners. A Khamsin always shows courtesy to guests." He turned to the two Englishmen. " Ahlan wa sahlan . You are welcome to my tent."
    The news spread like a sandstorm. While the Englishmen’s Egyptian servants unloaded their trunks, Jabari personally welcomed the visitors with gahwa . The coffee ceremony was an honor the sheikh reserved for the most prestigious guests. Elizabeth, Ramses and his English-born wife, Katherine, joined them as a crowd of onlookers hovered outside, staring at the two Englishmen.
    Khepri bristled with pride at the skillful way his brother roasted the green coffee beans in a pan over a tiny brazier, cooled them in a wood dish and ground them. The two Englishmen sat on the thick red carpet watching and talking quietly. He glanced at them, irritated. Did they not hear the beautiful music the pestle made as it struck the mortar? Jabari’s artistry failed to impress the foreigners. Khepri folded his arms, glaring at them with indignation.
    When the coffee was ready, the sheikh politely served his two guests small, handleless cups. The priceless porcelain had been in the family for generations. The English murmured their thanks and sipped. A barely concealed grimace twisted Victor’s lips. Khepri felt fresh annoyance.
    When the guests were served, he sipped his coffee, enjoying the spicy pinch of cardamom. With secret glee he noticed the English sucking on dates between sips. Dates sweetened the bitter brew. These men could not be his family. They could not even drink coffee.
    Khepri kept staring at the elderly man whose face was stamped with such similar features to his own. No denying the resemblance. The world tilted crazily on its axis as he listened to the man tell Jabari how important it was to have found his grandson.
    When the sheikh slowly nodded, he screamed inside. No! This man was not family. Not his. People gaped with open curiosity at the visitors. On the crowd’s fringes, he saw Rashid. Clad now in indigo, the warrior stared intently at the English visitors. Then Rashid’s gaze met Khepri’s. Rashid whirled and stomped off.
    Confused and uncertain, Khepri’s thoughts whipped to Badra. What if the strangers wanted to take him away to their land of green grass? His whole being had centered on protecting her. Watching over her. Keeping his love and desire embedded deep in his heart, his need of her a deep ache. He would not leave her.
    "Khepri," Jabari said in Arabic. "Your grandfather is asking you a question."
    Not my grandfather, he thought resentfully.
    "I kept hoping you or your brother still lived," the Englishman said. "Kenneth, you are heir to one of England’s greatest titles. You’ll inherit enormous wealth and property. I know how difficult this must be, but I’m asking you to return with me to England."
    Heir? Title? He glanced at Jabari, who rapidly translated. Khepri felt new shock slam into him. Leave Egypt for riches? Who needed wealth? He had the richness of the open desert.
    "Who asked you to come here?" he demanded, furious.
    "I did," Katherine said in her soft voice. The wife of Nazim—now Ramses—looked troubled. "My father, the Earl of Smithfield, was good friends with your family. I wrote my father about the blue-eyed warrior living with the Khamsin, whose family had been killed, and he immediately told your grandfather."
    Jabari’s guardian slid a comforting arm about his wife’s waist. "Katherine meant no harm. She wanted you to find your real family."
    Real family. A family far, far away, forcing him to leave. No. He would not. His land was the arid desert. The rocky canyonlands and the hot sand. Not some foreign land of water and