The stars were still tumbling from the sky when he rose over her.
‘Look at me,’ he said. Joanna opened her eyes and he smiled down at her, a sweet, fierce smile of possession and dominance that made her heart seem to stop—but when he entered her, slowly, so slowly, with his eyes never leaving hers, she knew that her possession of him, her dominance of him, was as complete as his was of her.
She loved him, she adored him, and it stunned her that it had taken her so long to recognise the truth.
She wanted to tell him that, to whisper that he was the captor not of her body but of her heart and of her soul, but he was deep within her now and she was, oh, she was—
‘Beloved,’ he said fiercely, and kissed her deeply. Joanna cried out as she spun into the night sky, where she became a burst of quicksilver among the stars.
* * *
Joanna awoke once, during the night, drawn from sleep by the sweet touch of Khalil’s mouth. Her awakening was slow and dreamlike, and after they’d made love she settled into his arms and fell back into deep sleep.
But when she awoke again, she was alert, uncertain as to what it was that had roused her. She lay very still, tension building in her muscles, and then she heard the faint whicker of a horse and she sighed with relief.
That was what had awakened her, the mare or Najib, offering gentle protests at having spent the night tethered.
Joanna smiled. She, too, had spent the night tethered, held closely in Khalil’s arms—and it had been the most wonderful night of her life. She turned her face against his shoulder, inhaling the clean, masculine smell of his body, touching her lips lightly to his satiny skin, and gazed at his face.
How different he looked in sleep. The little lines that fanned out from his eyes were almost invisible, his mouth was soft, as if, in sleep, he could put aside, at least for a while, the burden of leadership he carried. She sighed and put her head against his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart. And that burden had to be even heavier, knowing that part of his country had been stolen from him, that it was in the grip of an evil despot, for Joanna no longer had any doubts at all about Abu Al Zouad.
Her father had been wrong, whether through accident or design. Khalil was not the bandit. Abu was, and the sooner she was able to tell Sam that she knew the truth now, the better.
There it was, that sound again. Joanna sat up, tossing her hair back from her face. She was sure it was one of the horses, but what if the animal was whinnying a warning instead of protesting against inactivity?
She dropped a gentle kiss on Khalil’s forehead, then rose to her feet, found her clothing, and dressed. It had been hard to see much last night, but she remembered that the cave entrance was on a slight elevation. Quietly, she made her way forward. Perhaps she could see what it was that—
A hand whipped across her mouth. Joanna gasped, kicked out sharply, and other hands caught hold of her and dragged her into the sunlight, where Abu and the rest of his men waited.
‘Good morning, Miss Bennett.’ Joanna glared at the fat man as he slid from his horse. He strolled towards her, smiling unpleasantly. ‘I am His Excellency, Abu Al Zouad.’ His smile became a grin, revealing a shiny, gold tooth. ‘You don’t look very happy to see me.’
Joanna’s mind was spinning. Abu wasn’t bothering to drop his voice. And now that she’d appeared, no one was paying any attention to the cave.
They had no idea Khalil was with her! He could escape through the rear of the cave. All she had to do was be certain he heard this fuss and awakened.
She bit down hard on the hand that covered her mouth. The man cursed, let her go, and lifted his hand to strike her.
‘I wouldn’t do that,’ she said in her best Bennett voice. Whether he understood her English or not, her tone stopped him. He glanced at Abu, who motioned him away.
‘Well, Miss Bennett. It is good to see that captivity has not dulled your spirit.’
Joanna’s chin lifted. ‘How did you find me?’
Abu smiled. ‘My spies alerted me to your rather abrupt departure from the fortress of the bandit Khalil, and then it was simply a matter of following your trail—although I must admit, my scout stumbled upon your little hideaway quite by accident.’ He moved closer to her. ‘And now I have my prize.’ Without warning, he reached out and ran his hand down her body. ‘And what a prize it is, too!’
Joanna’s blood went cold. She thought of Khalil’s hesitation last night, when she’d asked him if Abu were coming to rescue her.
‘It might be better to say that you were all the excuse he needed to ride against me,’ he’d said.
Abu had no intention of taking her back to her father! He would kill her—after first taking his pleasure—and blame her death on Khalil.
Joanna slapped his hand away. ‘I am not your prize!’ The man nearest Abu snarled something and put his hand on the scabbard hanging from his belt. ‘You have forgotten who I am,’ she said, her voice so sharp and chill that only she knew she was really trembling with fear.
‘I forget nothing,’ Abu growled. ‘You are a woman, stolen by a bandit. Whatever happens to you will be his doing, not mine.’
‘And losing the reward for my return will be your doing—or are you so rich you can’t use a million dollars in gold?’
‘A million dollars? Your father did not say—’
Joanna drew herself fully erect. ‘A million dollars, and the contract you want so badly with Bennettco. You will get neither, if I am not returned safely.’
‘You are only a woman! You make no rules for Sam Bennett.’
‘I am his daughter.’
‘That is a guarantee of nothing.’
Joanna smiled tightly. ‘Perhaps—and perhaps not.’ With a last bit of bravado, she looked him straight in the eye. ‘Are you willing to take that chance?’
She could almost see the wheels spinning in his ugly head, but her most desperate thoughts were deep within the cave. Had Khalil got away? Had he heard the noise, made good his escape? Had he—?
Her answer came in a sudden burst of sound, a blood-chilling yell that froze her with terror. It must have had the same effect on Abu’s men, too, for when Khalil came bursting from the cave entrance there was time for him to lunge at Abu and almost curl his hands around the man’s throat before anyone moved.
‘Go on,’ he yelled at Joanna as two men pulled him back and pinned him against the rocks, ‘make a run for it! Dammit, woman, why are you standing there?’
Abu rubbed his dirty fingers over his throat. ‘Well, well,’ he said, very softly, ‘this is indeed a morning of prizes—and of surprises.’ He grinned, then pointed at one of his men. ‘Kill the bandit!’
‘No!’ The word ripped from Joanna’s throat. She stepped forward. ‘No,’ she said again, ‘don’t kill him.’
‘We will spare you,’ Abu said, as if it were an act of humanity that impelled him and not the threat Joanna had made. ‘But I have waited too long for a reason the people will accept to kill the bandit.’ He smiled. ‘And now I have one. Kill him!’
‘Very well.’ Joanna’s voice was cool. ‘Kill him, if you like—but if you do, you are a fool.’
‘Watch your tongue, woman!’
‘He is not only your enemy, Abu, he is also my father’s. He has dishonoured him—and me.’ She took a breath. ‘My father will surely want the pleasure of killing Khalil himself.’
Abu laughed. ‘Westerners do not believe in taking blood for dishonour.’
‘Do you think my father got where he is today by being soft-hearted?’
She looked over at Khalil, expecting to see a dark glint of admiration for her off-the-cuff cleverness in his eyes, needing to see it to give her the courage to go on. Her heart dropped like a stone. Khalil was watching her as if she were something that had just scurried out from under a rock. She turned away quickly, forcing herself to concentrate on Abu.
‘My father will pay for having Khalil delivered into his hands,’ she said coldly,
‘and he will be grateful to you forever.’
‘I think you say this to save the neck of the man who has become your lover.’
Joanna stared at him. ‘No. No, I—’
‘I think I am right, Miss Bennett.’ He looked at one of the men holding Khalil. ‘Go on,’ he said, ‘kill him!’
‘He took me,’ Joanna blurted. ‘He forced me! That’s why I made such a desperate escape.’ She knotted her hands into fists, marched up to Khalil and looked into his eyes, which were almost black with rage. My love, she thought, oh, my love!
Swiftly, before she lost courage, she drew saliva into her mouth and spat full into Khalil’s face.
‘He’s a barbarian,’ she said, swinging away so she didn’t have to look at him, ‘and I’ll have no peace until my father takes my revenge.’
A heavy silence descended on the group, broken only by the laboured sound of Khalil’s breathing, and then Abu nodded.
‘Very well. We take him with us and—’
Cries filled the air. Joanna shrank back as Khalil’s men came riding up the slope. Within minutes, it was over. Abu and his men were defeated.
With a little sob of joy, Joanna ran to Khalil and threw her arms around him, but he shoved her away.
‘Don’t touch me,’ he said in a soft, dangerous whisper.