Sheik Read Online Free Page A

in such arts. They did very little except indulge themselves with food and sweets and enjoy the luxuries provided by their husbands or masters.
    Of course, his own mother had been an exception to the rule, Jamal reflected. His father had emptied his harem at her request and taken no other concubines or wives after she came to him as a young English captive. They had shared true love, and his father had desired no other woman. After his father’s death at the hands of Berbers, his mother was free to do as she pleased. His fatherhad willed it so. Lady Eloise had chosen to return to her people in England. Jamal had elected to remain in his native Morocco, sailing to England frequently to visit his mother.
    Jamal felt a modicum of pity for the rebellious girl standing before him. But pity was not an emotion he dared to entertain. The sultan would have his head if he allowed Zara to escape. “Do you refuse to lie beside me?” he asked harshly.
    “Aye,” Zara said, tossing her head defiantly.
    “So be it.” Jamal called Hasdai to attend him. The captain appeared almost instantly.
    “What can I do for you, Sheik?”
    “Princess Zara has expressed a desire to sleep on the cold ground, bound hand and foot so she can’t escape. See that her wishes are granted.”
    Grasping her arm none too gently, Hasdai pushed Zara to the ground and called for a rope. It was provided moments later and Hasdai seemed to derive great pleasure in binding Zara’s wrists and ankles, then winding the rope ends around her slim waist and tying the ends securely behind her back. When he finished, he stepped back and looked inquiringly at Jamal.
    “That will be all, Hasdai. Set the guard and see that the rest of the men settle down for the night.
    “Are you comfortable, Princess?” Jamal asked with bland indifference. If she would but admit to her discomfort, Jamal would release her immediately. He wasn’t cruel by nature and he didn’t like to see women suffer.
    Zara bared her teeth at him. “As comfortable as I can be amidst an army of jackals.”
    “Then I wish you pleasant dreams, Princess,”Jamal said, rolling up in the blanket and facing away from her.
    Cursing beneath her breath, Zara tried to squirm into a comfortable position, but the rocky soil beneath her became her enemy. Each hard pebble, every jagged twig, dug into her tender flesh despite the thick robes protecting her. And the cold! Blessed Allah, it seeped into her bones until she ached. She glanced over at Jamal lying a short distance away and wished him to Hades. Eventually, however, she fell into a fitful sleep.
    Jamal awoke during the night feeling as if his back were against a blazing brazier. Rolling over, he found soft womanly curves planted against him, absorbing his heat. He smiled grimly. Prideful as the woman was, she had unknowingly gravitated toward the warmth of his body in her sleep. Surrendering to the dictates of his flesh, he pulled her against him, covered them both with the blanket and closed his arms around her.
    Zara awakened and sighed, lulled by warmth and the pleasing scent that filled her nostrils. She tried to stretch, found she could not move her arms and legs, and frowned, suddenly recalling everything that had happened the previous day. Sayed was dead and she was the prisoner of Sheik Jamal. To make matters worse, she was being held snugly against his large body, the scent of him surrounding her, making her giddy.
    Zara surged upright, dragging the blanket from Jamal. He opened his eyes and stared at her. “Good morning. Have I overslept?”
    A sweeping glance around their campsite assuredhim that the soldiers had not yet begun to stir.
    “How did I get here when I refused to lie beside you?”
    He gave her a smug smile. “You must have changed your mind.”
    “Never! You’re the enemy. I spit in your eye. I spit in the sultan’s eye.”
    He clapped a hand over her mouth. His voice was cold and emotionless. “I wouldn’t try it if I were