Page 3 of At the Sheikh's Command
“One moment, please,” said one guard, looking back at the computer. He entered her name into a database and then consulted the other guard in murmured undertones which she couldn’t decipher. He shot her an inquisitive glance, and then reached for the phone.
Her heart sank. She hadn’t imagined her name would be blacklisted. Okay, she’d been forced to overstay when she’d last been here, but that had been at the request of the king’s son, and so hadn’t been a problem while she’d been under his protection. Apart from that one potential blip, she was a respected academic and had done nothing illegal in her life,ordone anything she’d regretted. Not even when she’d left the man she’d had such an intense affair with eight years earlier. She’d done it for the right reasons. But apparently, Sheikh Darrius, King of Sifra, didn’t think so. Because otherwise, why would her name have triggered an alert?
She sighed, pacing away to the edge of the wire fence and back again as she imagined the scenario. The message would be passed through to the top administration and then there would be a consultation with the king. He’d refuse. Of course he would. No man—particularly a powerful man accustomed to his every whim being indulged—liked it when a woman walked away from him, even if that woman had compelling reasons. And it seemed Darrius was no exception.
In the letter she’d left for him, she’d told him she was leaving because she’d discovered he was to marry another. But that wasn’t the entire story. He wasn’t to know the secret she’d kept from him, nor how her life had shattered into a thousand pieces. She’d kept that secret close—so close few had known.
So she’d left Sifra with her world in pieces, and hoped that time would fade her memories of him. But it hadn’t, and she needed closure. She needed to know she was over him. And she also needed the diamond. Two targets, one stone. By the end of this visit, she’d be able to return to her university, be promoted to professor and resume her relationship with her ex. It was all she wanted.
The minutes ticked by as she paced up and down the narrow space. The clock hanging in the guard’s hut showed half an hour had passed. It didn’t bode well. She continued to pace.
The guards leaned against the hut, smoking, while they waited for a response. She walked away from them and looked around at the mountainous terrain, pulling her scarf further forward to protect her face from the harsh sun, which was growing warmer with every passing minute. She felt as if her life hung in the balance, and squeezed her eyes closed as she whispered a prayer. Without the closure which seeing Darrius could bring, and without the diamond, she couldn’t move forward with either her professional or personal life.
Then suddenly a phone rang, and she whirled around. The guard listened for a few moments, and then put down the phone and looked up at her. Eyes still fixed on her, he exchanged a few words with his colleague. Their words were muffled by the window. He stood up, stretched, and then came around to her, holding out his hand. For a moment, she wondered if he wanted a bribe. Then he barked out the word ‘passport’ and she held it out for him. He passed it to his colleague, who stamped it and returned it to her.
“Have a pleasant holiday, Dr. Cooper,” he said, his eyes bright with curiosity.
“Thank you,” she replied, understanding his interest. No doubt he’d be wondering why she was on the list, and also why she’d then been allowed in. He wasn’t the only one.
She continued on to the waiting taxi she’d arranged. It sat a little apart from the two other vehicles, which, no doubt, belonged to the guards.
She stopped briefly on the ridge and looked down at the ancient city spread out before her. With its ancient, earth-colored buildings, crenellations and windcatcher towers—down which cool air was brought to make the desert city liveable—the city was unique, exotic and made her heart leap. Because, despite everything that was riding on her visit, despite her fears and her hopes, she had the weirdest feeling that she’d come home.
She shook her head. Ridiculous! She was so far from home it wasn’t funny. Everything she’d been working towards her whole life she’d left behind in England. The weeks ahead of her were simply a necessary break in her life in order to put it back on track. Something she had to get over with. That was all.
She walked briskly to the car. The rear window lowered, and she bent down to look in. She couldn’t see into the car’s interior, nor the back of the man’s head, swathed in the customary headdress. He lowered the glass barrier between the front and back seats briefly to exchange greetings.
“As-salamuAlaykum.”
“Wa Alaykum as-salam,”muttered the driver.
“Taxi for Dr. Cooper?”
The man grunted in agreement, and she opened the door and climbed in. She was glad she didn’t have a suitcase, only a carry-on bag which the taxi driver didn’t seem willing to help her with. She slid it across the seat and then followed it, settling into the comfort of the car’s leather interior and air conditioning as the car drove away.
She named a place which had 360-degree views of the city and which was popular with visitors. From there, she’d go to the hotel, but she needed to visit the gardens first. And not for the reasons the driver might imagine.
He gave another disinterested grunt. Despite several attempts on the short drive, the driver gave no response to her tentative questions in Arabic. Either her Arabic had gotten a whole lot worse, or she’d encountered the only taxi driver in the world who was unwilling to talk. At least she could be alone with her thoughts.
It wasn’t until they’d entered the city and police officers held back traffic to allow them to move uninterrupted down the main street that Leonora became uneasy. She sat forward, looking around, and noticed that, not only were they miles from the gardens, but they’d also passed her hotel.
“Hey!” she said, forgetting Arabic. “That was my hotel!”
Still the driver said nothing.
She knocked on the window, leaned forward in her chair for the first time. “Stop! We’re going the wrong way!”
The window between them slowly descended and, for the first time, the driver looked in the rear vision mirror and caught her gaze. She gasped and fell back against the seat. Dark eyes were fixed on her. Dark eyes which used to warm when she touched him. That warmth wasn’t in evidence now.
“Darrius!”
He looked away from her and continued driving. She followed his gaze. They were heading directly for the palace, and her shock turned to fear. What the hell was going on?
CHAPTER2
“Where are you taking me?” Leonora asked, still hopeful that he was simply taking her to a different hotel.
“Where do you think?” Darrius replied, speaking in perfect English for the first time. She’d been so intent on her own thoughts upon re-entering the country that she hadn’t really registered that he hadn’t spoken before. And now he did, his words dripped with scorn, as if she were the most ignorant person on the planet. Maybe she was. She should have foreseen this.
