Her Royal Protector (a Johari Crown Novel) (Entangled Indulgence) Read Online Free Page A

it.
    It had taken two years to get this far. If the trip didn’t go ahead this year, if she had to go home and start over planning for next year…
    It just wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be allowed to happen.
    You could go alone.
    Aly gasped as the thought unfolded in her mind, unveiling itself like a flower opening in time lapse.
    Why not? She could sail, she could navigate—she’d started sailing almost before she could walk. Trojan Percy might have been ruthless in pointing out her physical deficiencies, and uninterested in her academic abilities, but he’d made sure his children had all the modern accomplishments suitable to the young of their class. Aly was as much at home in and on the water as on land. She’d taken sailing courses every year from the age of eight till it all started coming apart, her father’s financial empire disintegrating round them to reveal the utter sham of their lives. And later, taking comfort in wind and water and solitude, she’d sailed alone every chance she got.
    She could do this.
    “This isn’t the Norfolk Broads,” Ellen objected five minutes later when, her decision made, she rang Richard again. “It’s not even the English Channel. It’s the Gulf of Barakat, Aly.”
    About which she knew a great deal as far as turtles went, but not much when it came to winds and currents and safe harbors.
    “People sail unknown waters every day,” Aly objected in her turn. “I’ve got the charts.”
    One of the things she’d loaded aboard this morning was the pack of charts they had brought, fully plotted with their journey. A circuit taking in every beach, every potential stretch of sand where the majestic Johari sea turtle might nest.
    “What’s this, Aly?” Ellen had given the phone to Richard. She explained again.
    “Aly, this doesn’t sound doable. The Gulf of Barakat is subject to storms that blow up without warning, we know that much. I’ve never been all that happy about the Oneira. It was the best we could do, but I’m even less happy about that boat if you’re running it on your own.”
    “Richard, don’t worry. I’ll be slowed down, of course. I won’t try to do everything we planned, but if I can cover half, even a third of the area, it’s better than nothing.”
    Richard was starting to weaken. “It might well be enough to clarify in what direction the problem lies. But still—”
    “I have got to do this. I have to,” Aly interrupted urgently. “You know what a risk it will be if we have to wait till next year. If it’s deliberate sabotage that’s killing the turtles, Richard, it’s got to be stopped now. ”
    The environmentalist in him won out. “All right, Aly. Against my better judgment I’m going to say, go ahead. Come into the hospital this afternoon with the charts, and we’ll sort out a new schedule for you. And we need to discuss the false marking of the nests before you go.”
    When she had hung up, Aly sat looking out over sea and sky and heaved a huge breath. It felt right. There might be danger involved, but nothing in her life had ever felt righter than this decision. They all knew that immediate action was critical to saving the Johari turtle. This wasn’t perfect, but as she’d told Richard, it was better than nothing.
    And if it happened to show Sheikh Arif al Whatever with the hot-and-cold-running blue eyes that she was not as incompetent as he clearly believed, well…it would be a pleasure one day to serve him the dish of crow, even if, as seemed likely, he would refuse to eat it.

Chapter Three
    The yacht sailed into the harbor, grace and majesty in every elegant line. People were stopping on the dock or coming up on deck to watch and comment, in the usual way of the yachting community. A variety of voices she couldn’t quite hear, and languages she couldn’t understand, but then an English voice said clearly,
    “ Dhikra. The Sultan’s own yacht, Barb.”
    “Beautiful thing, isn’t it? I do love a traditional