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The stars were still tu from the sky when he rose over her

‘Look at me,’ he said Joanna opened her eyes and he smiled down at her, a sweet, fierce smile of possession and dominance that made her heart seem to stop—but when he entered her, slowly, so sloith his eyes never leaving hers, she knew that her possession of him, her dominance of him, was as complete as his was of her

She loved him, she adored hinise the truth

She wanted to tell him that, to whisper that he was the captor not of her body but of her heart and of her soul, but he was deep within her now and she was, oh, she was—

‘Beloved,’ he said fiercely, and kissed her deeply Joanna cried out as she spun into the night sky, where she beca the stars

Joanna awoke once, during the night, drawn fro was slow and dreamlike, and after they’d made love she settled into his arms and fell back into deep sleep

But when she awoke again, she was alert, uncertain as to what it was that had roused her She lay very still, tension building in her muscles, and then she heard the faint whicker of a horse and she sighed with relief

That hat had awakened her, thespent the night tethered

Joanna sht tethered, held closely in Khalil’s arht of her life She turned her face against his shoulder, inhaling the clean, htly to his satiny skin, and gazed at his face

How different he looked in sleep The little lines that fanned out from his eyes were almost invisible, his mouth was soft, as if, in sleep, he could put aside, at least for a while, the burden of leadership he carried She sighed and put her head against his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart And that burden had to be even heavier, knowing that part of his country had been stolen frorip of an evil despot, for Joanna no longer had any doubts at all about Abu Al Zouad

Her father had been wrong, whether through accident or design Khalil was not the bandit Abu was, and the sooner she was able to tell Sam that she knew the truth now, the better

There it was, that sound again Joanna sat up, tossing her hair back from her face She was sure it was one of the horses, but what if the aniainst inactivity?

She dropped a gentle kiss on Khalil’s forehead, then rose to her feet, found her clothing, and dressed It had been hard to see ht, but she reht elevation Quietly, she made her way forward Perhaps she could see what it was that—

A hand whipped across her ht hold of her and dragged her into the sunlight, where Abu and the rest of his men waited

‘Good lared at the fat man as he slid fro unpleasantly ‘I arin, revealing a shiny, gold tooth ‘You don’t look very happy to see me’

Joanna’sto drop his voice And now that she’d appeared, no one was paying any attention to the cave

They had no idea Khalil ith her! He could escape through the rear of the cave All she had to do was be certain he heard this fuss and awakened

She bit down hard on the hand that covered her o, and lifted his hand to strike her

‘I wouldn’t do that,’ she said in her best Bennett voice Whether he understood her English or not, her tone stopped hilanced at Abu, who motioned him away

‘Well, Miss Bennett It is good to see that captivity has not dulled your spirit’

Joanna’s chin lifted ‘How did you find me?’

Abu smiled ‘My spies alerted me to your rather abrupt departure from the fortress of the bandit Khalil, and then it was sih I must admit, my scout stumbled upon your little hideaway quite by accident’ He moved closer to her ‘And now I have , he reached out and ran his hand down her body ‘And what a prize it is, too!’

Joanna’s blood went cold She thought of Khalil’s hesitation last night, when she’d asked hi to rescue her

‘It ht be better to say that you were all the excuse he needed to ride against me,’ he’d said

Abu had no intention of taking her back to her father! He would kill her—after first taking his pleasure—and blame her death on Khalil

Joanna slapped his hand away ‘I a and put his hand on the scabbard hanging frootten who I am,’ she said, her voice so sharp and chill that only she knew she was really tre with fear

‘I forget nothing,’ Abu growled ‘You are a woman, stolen by a bandit Whatever happens to you will be his doing, not mine’

‘And losing the reward for —or are you so rich you can’t use a old?’

‘A million dollars? Your father did not say—’

Joanna drew herself fully erect ‘A million dollars, and the contract you want so badly with Bennettco You will get neither, if I am not returned safely’