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‘A contract will be drawn up that allows us both a probationary period in which to assess the consequences of what ht seem to be a too-hasty decision I have no desire to keep you inworker is of no benefit to Dhurahn As co-rulers of Dhurahn, both my brother and I are well aware of that Neither of us would ever tolerate anything that prejudices the progress or the reputation of our country And, just for the record, I have no desire to keep you in ly, where the saained in a woman who is not there of her own free will and her own desire’

Sadie was struggling to get her head around not just what Drax was saying but also the whole Arabian Nights fantasy of being told by the ruler of a Gulf State that he wanted to whisk her off to his kingdom

However, his purpose in taking her there was not because he wanted her to give hihts of pleasure, as Scheherazade had given her Caliph master with her fabulous stories, but—far more mun danely—so that he could use her expertise to help build a world-class knowledge econoe to rival those of London, New York and Hong Kong If what she was being told was the truth…

Surely rulers travelled in cavalcades of cars, surrounded by courtiers and security men? They did not drive themselves around in ordinary, if up-market, saloon cars The ease hich Monika had deceived her still stung This ht physically possess the kind of arrogance that ith high estate, but that did not mean he actually hat he claimed to be

‘I…it all sounds so far-fetched,’ she told him doubt fully

The green eyes glittered a look over her that was a coant disbelief

‘You dare to persist in trying to accusea liar?’

‘I have a right to protecttricked into another situation in which I end up being out of pocket,’ Sadie defended herself ‘There is a saying—“If a man makes a fool of me once, shame on him If twice, shame on me” You say you are a co-ruler of Dhurahn’

‘I say it because that is what I am,’ he retorted ‘I am not Monika al Sawar I am co-Ruler of Dhurahn, with a moral responsibility towards my brother to act in a way that cannot possibly leave any stain on his honour, just as he has that responsibility to me’

So es in her circumstances had been so seismic, that Sadie suspected she wasn’t in any fit state to make any kind of decision—neverto accept the job she was being offered

And yet what alternative did she really have? She had no money, no faland, should she choose to return, no job to return to there, and no passport to return there with, thanks to the riive her—the fact that he was prepared to use such an under-hand method to force her to do as he wished?

‘What if I choose not to accept your offer?’ she demanded

Drax could hear the uncertainty in her voice As though he could see into her head, he could ihts She had coe her life in some way; that desire would still exist, despite Monika al Sawar’s behaviour towards her

‘Why would you do that?’ he asked her coolly Dhurahn canthat Zuran can offer you and exceed it You would be a fool not to accept And since I have offered you a job, and I do not offer jobs to fools, you cannot be one’

Such arrogance It was breathtaking And exciting? Was she excited by it? By hih her head like grains of sand being whipped up by the desert wind, to create a ed the known to the unknown