DRESSED to go riding, in knee-length black leather boots, buff pants, a white shirt and a white guta held to his dark head by a plain black agal, Sheikh Hassan ben Khalifa Al-Qadim stepped into his private office and closed the door behind him. In his hand he held a newly delivered letter from England. On his desk lay three more. Walking across the room, he tossed the new letter onto the top of the other three then went to stand by the grilled window, fixing his eyes on a spot beyond the Al-Qadim Oasis, where reclaimed dry scrubland had been turned into miles of lush green fig groves. Beyond the figs rose the sand-dunes. Majestic and proud, they claimed the horizon with a warning statement. Come any closer with your irrigation and expect retaliation, they said. One serious sandstorm, and years of hard labour could be turned back into arid wasteland. A sigh eased itself from his body. Hassan knew all about the laws of the desert. He respected its power and its driving passion, its right to be master of its own destiny. And what he would really have liked to do at this very moment was to saddle up his horse, Zandor, then take off for those sand-dunes and allow them to dictate his future for him. But he knew the idea was pure fantasy. For behind him lay four letters, all of which demanded he make those decisions for himself. And beyond the relative sanctuary of the four walls surrounding him lay a palace in waiting; his father, his half-brother, plus a thousand and one other people, all of whom believed they owned a piece of his so-called destiny. So Zandor would have to stay in his stable. His beloved sand-dunes would have to wait a while to swallow him up. Making a half-turn, he stared grimly at the letters. Only one had been opened: the first one, which he had tossed aside with the contempt it had deserved. Since then he had left the others sealed on his desk and had tried very hard to ignore them. But the time for burying his head in the sand was over. A knock on the door diverted his attention. It would be his most trusted aide, Faysal. Hassan recognised the lightness of the knock. Sure enough the door opened and a short, fine-boned man wearing the traditional white and pale blue opened and a short, fine-boned man wearing the traditional white and pale blue robes of their Arabian birthright appeared in its arched aperture, where he paused and bowed his head, waiting to be invited in or told to go. 'Come in, Faysal,' Hassan instructed a trifle impatiently. Sometimes Faysal's rigid adherence to so-called protocol set his teeth on edge. With another deferential bow, Faysal moved to his master's bidding. Stepping into the room, he closed the door behind him then used some rarely utilised initiative by walking across the room to come to a halt several feet from the desk on the priceless carpet that covered, in part, the expanse of polished blue marble between the desk and the door. Hassan found himself staring at the carpet. His wife had ordered it to be placed there, claiming the room's spartan appearance invited no one to cross its austere threshold. The fact that this was supposed to be the whole point had made absolutely no difference to Leona. She had simply carried on regardless, bringing many items into the room besides the carpet. Such as the pictures now adorning the walls and the beautiful ceramics and sculptures scattered around, all of which had been produced by gifted artists native to the small Gulf state of Rahman. Hassan had soon found he could no longer lift his eyes without having them settle on an example of local enterprise. Yet it was towards the only western pieces Leona had brought into the room that his eyes now drifted. The low table and two overstuffed easy chairs had been placed by the other window, where she would insist on making him sit with her several times a day to enjoy the view while they drank tea and talked and touched occasionally as lovers do... Dragging the gutrah from his head with almost angry fingers, Hassan tossed it aside then went to sit down in the chair behind his desk. 'Okay,' he said. 'What have you to tell me?' 'It is not good news, sir.' Faysal began with a warning. 'Sheikh Abdul is entertaining certain...factions at his summer palace. Our man on the inside confirms that the tone of their conversation warrants your most urgent attention.' Hassan made no comment, but his expression hardened fractionally. 'And my wife?' he asked next. 'The Sheikha still resides in Spain, sir,' Faysal informed him, 'working with her father at the new resort of San Estéban, overseeing the furnishing of several villas about to be released for sale.' Doing what she did best, Hassan thought grimly-and did not need to glance back at the two stuffed chairs to conjure up a vision of long silken hair the colour of a desert sunset, framing a porcelain smooth face with laughing green eyes and a smile that dared him to complain about her invasion
Chapter 1 I do it to myself
Dressed for the evening in a beaded slip-dress made of gold silk chiffon, Leona
stepped into a pair of matching beaded mules then turned to look at herself in the mirror.
Her smooth russet hair had been caught up in a twist, and diamonds sparkled
at her ears and throat. Overall, she supposed she looked okay, she decided,
giving the thin straps at her shoulders a gentle tug so the dress settled comfortably over her slender frame. But the weight she had lost during the last year was most definitely showing, and she could have chosen a better colour to offset the unnatural paleness of her skin.
Too late to change, though, she thought with a dismissive shrug as she turned away from her reflection. Ethan was already waiting for her outside on the terrace. And, anyway, she wasn't out to impress anyone. She was merely
playing standin for her father who had been delayed in London due to some
urgent business with the family lawyer, which had left her and her father's urgent business with the family lawyer, which had left her and her father's business partner, Ethan, the only ones here to represent Hayes-Frayne at
tonight's promotional dinner.
She grimaced as she caught up a matching black silk shawl and made for her
bedroom door. In truth, she would rather not be going out at all tonight having
only arrived back from San Estéban an hour ago. It had been a long day, and she
had spent most of it melting in a Spanish heatwave because the air-conditioning
system had not been working in the villa she had been attempting to make ready
for viewing. So a long soak in a warm bath and an early night would have been her idea of heaven tonight, she thought wryly, as she went down the stairs to join Ethan.
He was half sitting on the terrace rail with a glass in his hand, watching the
sun go down, but his head turned at her first step, and his mouth broke into an appreciative smile.
'Ravishing,' he murmured, sliding his lean frame upright.
'Thank you,' she replied. 'You don't look so bad yourself.'
His wry nod accepted the compliment and his grey eyes sparkled with lazy
humour. Dressed in a black dinner suit and bow tie, he was a tall, dark, very attractive man with an easy smile and a famous eye for the ladies. Women adored him and he adored them but, thankfully, that mutual adoration had never
raised its ugly head between the two of them.
Leona liked Ethan. She felt comfortable being with him. He was the Hayes
in Hayes-Frayne, architects. Give Ethan a blank piece of paper and he would create a fifty-storey skyscraper or a whole resort complete with sports clubs, shopping malls and, of course, holiday villas to die for, as with this new resort in
San Estéban.
'Drink?' he suggested, already stepping towards the well stocked drinks trolley.
But Leona gave a shake of her head. 'Better not, if you want me to stay
awake beyond ten o'clock,' she refused.
'That late? Next you'll be begging me to take you on to an all-night disco
after the party.' He was mocking the fact that she was usually safely tucked up in bed by nine o'clock.
'Do you disco?' she asked him curiously.
'Not if I can help it,' he replied, discarding his own glass to come and take
the shawl from her hand so he could drape it across her shoulders. 'The best I can offer in the name of dance is a soft shoe shuffle to something very slow, preferably in a darkened room, so that I don't damage my ego by revealing just how bad a shuffler I am.'
'You're such a liar.' Leona smiled. 'I've seen you dance a mean jive, once
'You're such a liar.' Leona smiled. 'I've seen you dance a mean jive, once or twice.'
Ethan pulled a face at the reminder. 'Now you've really made me feel my
age,' he complained. 'Next you'll be asking me what it was like to rock in the sixties.'
'You're not that old.' She was still smiling.
'Born in the mid-sixties,' he announced. 'To a free-loving mother who bopped with the best of them.'
'That makes you about the same age as Hass...'
And that was the point where everything died: the light banter, the laughter, the tail end of Hassan's name. Silence fell. Ethan's teasing grey eyes turned very sombre. He knew, of course, how painful this last year had been for her. No one mentioned Hassan's name in her presence, so to hear herself almost say it out
loud caused tension to erupt between the both of them.
'It isn't too late to stop this craziness, you know,' Ethan murmured gently.
Her response was to drag in a deep breath and step right away from him. 'I don't want to stop it,' she quietly replied.
'Your heart does.'
'My heart is not making the decisions here.'
'Maybe you should let it.'
'Maybe you should mind your own business!'
Spinning on her slender heels Leona walked away from him to go and stand
at the terrace rail, leaving Ethan behind wearing a rueful expression at the severity with which she had just slapped him down.
Out there at sea, the dying sun was throwing up slender fingers of fire into a spectacular vermilion sky. Down the hill below the villa, San Estéban was beginning to twinkle as it came into its own at the exit of the sun. And in
between the town and the sun the ocean spread like satin with its brand-new
purpose-built harbour already packed with smart sailing crafts of all shapes and
sizes.
Up here on the hillside everything was so quiet and still even the cicadas had stopped calling. Leona wished that she could have some of that stillness, put her trembling emotions back where they belonged, under wraps, out of reach from pain and heartache.
Would these vulnerable feelings ever be that far out of reach? she then asked
herself, and wasn't surprised to have a heavy sigh whisper from her. The beaded
chiffon shawl slipped from her shoulders, prompting Ethan to come and gently
lift it back in place again.
'Sorry,' he murmured. 'It wasn't my intention to upset you.'
I do it to myself, Leona thought bleakly. 'I just can't bear to talk about it,' I do it to myself, Leona thought bleakly. 'I just can't bear to talk about it,' she replied in what was a very rare glimpse at how badly she was hurting.
'Maybe you need to talk,' Ethan suggested.
But she just shook her head, as she consistently had done since she had
arrived at her father's London house a year ago, looking emotionally shattered
and announcing that her five-year marriage to Sheikh Hassan ben Khalifa Al-
Qadim was over. Victor Frayne had tried every which way he could think of to
find out what had happened. He'd even travelled out to Rahman to demand
answers from Hassan, only to meet the same solid wall of silence he'd come up
against with his daughter. The one thing Victor could say with any certainty was
that Hassan was faring no better than Leona, though his dauntingly aloof son-in-
law was more adept at hiding his emotions than Leona was. 'She sits here in London, he sits in Rahman. They don't talk to each other, never mind to anyone else! Yet you can feel the vibrations bouncing from one to the other across the thousands of miles separating them as if they are communicating by some
unique telepathy that runs on pure pain! It's dreadful,' Victor had confided to
Ethan. 'Something has to give some time.'
Eventually, it had done. Two months ago Leona had walked unannounced
into the office of her family lawyer and had instructed him to begin divorce proceedings, on the grounds of irreconcilable differences. What had prompted her to pick that particular day in that particular month of a very long year no one
understood, and Leona herself wasn't prepared to enlighten anyone. But there
wasn't a person who knew her who didn't believe it was an action that had
caused a trigger reaction, when a week later she had fallen foul of a virulent flu bug that had kept her housebound and bedridden for weeks afterwards.
But when she had recovered, at least she'd come back ready to face the
world again. She had agreed to come here to San Estéban, for instance, and
utilise her design skills on the completed villas.
She looked better for it too. Still too pale, maybe, but overall she'd begun to live a more normal day to day existence.
Ethan had no wish to send her back into hiding now she had come out of it, so he turned her to face him and pressed a light kiss to her brow. 'Come on,' he said briskly. 'Let's go and party!'
Finding her smile again, Leona nodded her agreement and tried to appear as
though she was looking forward to the evening. As they began to walk back
across the terrace she felt a fine tingling at the back of her neck which
instinctively warned her that someone was observing them.
The suspicion made her pause and turn to cast a frowning glance over their
surroundings. She could see nothing untoward, but wasn't surprised by that.
During the years she had lived in an Arab sheikhdom, married to a powerful and
During the years she had lived in an Arab sheikhdom, married to a powerful and
very wealthy man, she had grown used to being kept under constant, if very discreet, surveillance.
But that surveillance had been put in place for her own protection. This felt different-sinister. She even shivered.
'Something wrong?' Ethan questioned.
Leona shook her head and began walking again, but her frown stayed in place, because it wasn't the first time she'd experienced the sensation today. The same thing had happened as she'd left the resort site this afternoon, only she'd dismissed it then as her just being silly. She had always suspected that Hassan
still kept an eye on her from a distance.
A car and driver had been hired for the evening, and both were waiting in the
courtyard for them as they left the house. Having made sure she was comfortably
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