Read Online Shadow of the Sheikh by Nina Bruhns - Free Book Online

swallow was more convulsive. She glanced sideways at the ragged silhouette of tents that stretched the length of the valley, then westward, to the giant dunes that rolled out from the oasis, stretching halfway across the continent of Africa. The orange sun was nearly gone now, consumed by the deepening darkness of the coming night. Just a sliver remained, hovering like a burning drop of mercury on the horizon.
    She watched it as she said, “You aren’t planning to let me go in the morning, are you.”
    Again, not a question.
    She was still bespelled, but only concerning her attraction to him, not regarding her capture. Apparently, that would be unnecessary, it seemed, even for the short term. He was glad she’d accepted her fate. It would make everything so much easier on her.
    â€œNo,” he affirmed. “I am not.”
    The last remnant of sun blinked out, vanquished. She did not look back at him.
    â€œWhy?” she asked quietly. “Why me?”
    He sensed she did not want to be given platitudes, told he’d taken her because she was the most beautiful woman in the world and he couldn’t liveanother day without having her. She wanted the truth. The strange thing was, that was the truth. Or part of it, at least. If she hadn’t thoroughly captured his masculine interest at the temple yesterday, she would now be a prisoner in Khepesh, awaiting the decision of the high priest as to what would be done with her.
    Being here with him was infinitely better. Here, she would have a chance to learn what it was like to be an immortal in the service of the god, and could decide to join the per netjer of her own free will. For if she didn’t, she would be robbed of that free will and turned into a shabti , a human servant, to spend eternity in the service of the immortals, with no trace of her former self intact. A living purgatory.
    The unhappy fate of his own mother.
    He shook off the unwelcome reminder of his family and tamped down the instinctive fury that always rode him just beneath the surface because of it, consuming him with the need for revenge.
    â€œIt’s complicated,” he said gruffly, and jerked down the remainder of his martini, then poured another and topped up hers.
    â€œIt would appear,” she said drily, “that I have nothing but time on my hands. So go ahead. Give me the unabridged version.”
    He sighed and silently debated what and how much to tell her this early on. But he was not apalace courtier used to prevarication and intrigue.
    He was a warrior, for better or worse, plainspoken and straightforward. So he gave her the no-frills version.
    â€œActually,” he said, “it’s your sister we want. You are just…shall we say, collateral damage.”
    She stared at him. “Excuse me?”
    â€œI’m speaking of the per netjer , the temple, of course. Not me personally. Because you are definitely the sister I want. Only you.” He gave her a smile. But he saw plainly it did not take the bite from his words.
    She opened her mouth, then closed it again. “I don’t understand,” she said at length. “Why does the cult, this per netjer as you call it, want my sister? Which sister?”
    He adjusted his position on the pillows, turning toward her somberly. “At first, it was Gillian. Somehow, she discovered the hidden entrance to Khepesh Palace, the home of the immortals of Set-Sutekh. You must understand, there was no way we could let her leave with that knowledge.”
    Gemma frowned. “Gillian is a historian and she’d been hired to find some long-lost British lord’s grave. She was out searching for it on the day she vanished. But she phoned us. She told us she’d met a man and had decided to stay with him for a while.”She leveled Shahin a gaze. “Are you saying that wasn’t true?”
    He shook his head. “No, that much was indeed true. It was Lord Kilpatrick she met. He