Read Online Taken by Storm (ROMANTIC REALMS COLLECTION) by M.J. Schiller - Free Book Online Page B

will be running out in a few hours. We are nearing the city of Shiraz.” He turned back to Tahj. “We cannot enter as we are, dirty and bloodstained. It will arouse suspicion, and Boltar may already have sent some of his men there. They would have made it easily before us, crossing the desert.”
    “What are your suggestions?” Tahj listened to Radeem attentively. At least him could trust Radeem in this.
    Radeem chewed on their dilemma for a minute before coming up with a solution. “I know. I know just what to do. I have a friend. He won’t ask any questions, and he lives just outside the boundaries of the city. It’s on the far side of Shiraz, so we will have to travel around it to get there, but we will go there, with your permission.”
    Tahj peered up at Bashea. He felt responsible for her safety, and exposing her to strangers, even if Radeem knew them, made him nervous.
    S he nodded her head. “If that is what we must do…”
    Tahj stood. “Take us there.”
     

 
    CHAPTER SEVEN
     
    Bashea sat uncomfortably behind Radeem. Not because of his earlier flirtation—she had put an end to that. It was simply because he was a large man, which left little room for her on the horse. No, Bashea could read Radeem easily. Probably married, with a couple of children, a flirt, but harmless. Though she had cringed earlier when Radeem called her ziba, “beautiful,” she knew he had no idea those other men had used the same word, or that the sound of it now made her skin crawl. Radeem may be a letch, but he wasn’t a threat; she was certain of that.
    It was Tahj she couldn’t figure out. Cool one minute, warm the next, like a desert gecko moving from sun to shade. He had barely spoken to her all morning, or Radeem, for that matter, yet he seemed so pleasant the night before. She mused over his covering her with the only remaining blanket and sleeping in the cold without one. She rubbed her hand down her cheek, remembering the way he touched her when he thought she was sleeping. She had been frightened it was just a precursor to more. That if she did not give him what he wanted, he would just take it, as the others had. But when she woke and saw him sleeping on his side in the cold without a blanket, he looked like a little boy. A cold, lonely little boy. She figured then that she had been wrong about him. Now, she was totally confused.
    As she wondered about her traveling companions, the trees on her right began to thin out. Between the branches she caught sight of a solitary house ahead. Radeem led them until they were behind the small home, a hovel, really, with a thatch roof and a dirty wooden portico, though living this close to the desert, it was probably impossible to keep it clean. They broke from the trees for the first time to approach the house. The owner heard their horses and came out into the shade of an overhang that ran the length of the house, peering through the swirling dust quizzically. When he recognized Radeem, he bent and called joyfully into the house.
    “Ah, Radeem, my friend,” the old man said as the captain dismounted. He took Radeem by the shoulders and kissed him vigorously on both cheeks. “It has been too long. Welcome. Welcome.” With the last he turned to Tahj and Bashea, who bowed slightly. “Friends of Radeem, you are welcome in my house.”
    Before the words were even out of his mouth, three girls swarmed out of the house squealing Radeem’s name and gathering around to kiss him. Radeem blushed. “Girls! Girls! You must be calm. There’s plenty of me for all of you.” The trio’s bright clothing stood out against the bland background of the desert like cactus flowers. Two of the girls took Radeem’s elbows to lead him inside and the third followed behind, obviously fuming because she had been left out.
    Tahj and Bashea looked at each other and smiled. One couldn’t help being amused, it seemed. Appearing a little embarrassed by his girls’ behavior, but equally proud of