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CHAPTER ONE

“Miss Benning”

She wasn’t Miss Benning She was Catherine Marie, captive of the Hawk, a sheikh who still lived by the code of the desert, where only the strongest survived

He was co now She could hear his deep, ue she did not understand to soainst he cords that bound her hands, but it was useless The silk scarves were soft, but strong and she could not get her hands free

If she did, ould she do? Run?

Where?

She was in theup the cavernous interior She wouldn’t last a day in the vast wasteland on her own

Then he was there, standing in the entrance to the room in which she was held His features were cast in shadow All she could see was his big body encased in the white pants and tunic typical of his people A black robe, his abaya, fell from his massive shoulders to h that denoted his position as sheikh The headband holding it in place was made of twisted black leather

He was less than fifteen feet away, but still his face was hidden fro his arrogance was discernable

“Miss Benning!”

Catherine Marie Benning’s head snapped up froainst her fist and her eyes slowly focused on her surroundings Tent walls hung with silks faded, to be replaced by cool gray ce book drive and literacy event They were the walls of the break room in the Whitehaven Public Library, ton than the blistering hot deserts of the Sahara

Fluorescent light cast a harsh glow over the pointed features of the wo in front of her

“Yes, Mrs Camden?”

Straightening her double-knit polyester blazer, almost identical in color to the library’s walls, Catherine’s superior sniffed “Your head was off in the clouds again, Miss Benning”