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Tightening his jaw at the thought of that, he rose fro lover, and paced to the shower

After stripping again, he adjusted the water in the large shower, and then stepped inside

Liquid war him of Marty’s touch, of the sweet velvet rain of her release She truly had burned them alive He could feel the blisters on his soul already

Even Lessa hadn’t burned so sweet, so bright

That thought had hiut Lessa had been filled with laughter, with life She had touched hi dark eyes and heady passion, but she hadn’t been able to touch that inner man, the part of him that Marty seemed to fill

Lessa had loved hi inside her, and that love had gotten her killed

Those years in the desert with his father had turned into a nighted Sweet Lessa She had been Abram’s first wife She had been his first love, and he had shared that love with Khalid

Khalid had known for years of the dark desires that raged inside his brother It was impossible not to know of them when their father berated hiht, away froers himself, and he invited Khalid to share in the warmth

Those desires had nearly destroyed Abrah With their father’s help, the evil of their brothers had struck with terrifying, unexpected force and left the with shock

Khalid had been drugged, kidnapped, beaten, and left for dead in the desert his father so loved, as Abram had been sent to oversee the return of his brothers’ dead bodies Brothers who hadn’t died For three days Khalid had struggled to make his way back to his father’s palace A broken rib, bone-deep bruises, and dehydration had sapped his strength He wouldn’t have lived if it hadn’t been for Shayne searching for him

Khalid returned to his father’s palace certain that justice would be dealt to the est son, only to learn that it had been the brothers who had struck him They had learned of his deception, his betrayal, and they had struck back at Khalid and what they believed was his ungodly affair with his brother Abraainst the shower stall, reliving theinto the palace, he’d heard Abra the servants, Khalid had pushed his way into his father’s suite to hear the da words that had torn from Abram’s lips

"You bastard, you let them kill her!"

Abram’s face was damp The stoic, often cold heir to the ht to your life!" his father screamed back at Abram "She is better off dead, just as you are better off without the blight she brought to your soul She let your brother touch her She allowed another to desecrate the garden you tended"

Khalid stared at the around as Azir Mustafa had realized what he had said at the second Khalid stu at Abra she was safe

"They killed her," Abrae that Khalid backed away from him "That bastard let the he’d kill thee doors sla with a child’s te "They will not return until he has regained his senses It is regrettable, but the girl brought it on herself with her unholy desires" He had glared at Khalid "Such woiven"

To this day, that memory was so vivid, so clear in his head The scent of sandalwood, the breeze that blew through the opened s His father’s bronzed features twisted into a scowl, his black eyes burning in fanatical judg had died inside Khalid that day He re at thethat aze had flickered over hi that Khalid had been harmed A frown had formed between his brows as he reached out for his son Khalid had flinched, turned, and left His broken rib had been no more than an ache The pain in his soul had shattered hied clothes, then stolen a vehicle froe and driven himself the distance to Riyadh, where he’d called his ed his return She’d been waiting for hih to fly, and had tried to heal the wounds his soul had been inflicted with

Khalid had tried to put the past behind him; he’d put his father behind him and disowned the bastard as well as the half brothers who had never known a moment’s punishment for what they had done to Lessa

Abram had taken care of her body He’d had her cleaned, dressed, and buried as his faithful wife He had gone to her funeral, and as he had written Khalid not long after, he had buried his soul with her

It should have been over His ties to the desert and the fas should have been severed They had been, until the suspicious death of Abram’s second wife and unborn child

Ayid and Aman were determined to ensure that Abram and Khalid paid for the deaths of the women they called wives, the desert vipers who had been as merciless, as vicious as their husbands could ever hope to be But even eance for the loss of respect and the ed to track down and destroy one of the terrorist cells his brothers controlled

After finishing his shower, Khalid dried himself, and then padded naked back to the bed Marty was still sleeping peacefully in the same position he had left her in Curled in the ile to be the lover she had been such a short ti the sheet, he eased into bed beside her His heart clenched as she shifted,into his arainst his body perfectly Her head rested at his heart, her slender legs entwined with his She was a warht, one he feared for more than he wanted to admit