The Sheikh's Pretend Bride (Qazhar Sheikhs series Book 2) (7 page)

"I thought it was someone laughing," Ella ejaculated.

"The peacock's call sounds like someone's voice," Raz admitted.

Ella popped her shoes back on and stood quickly, fixing her dress into place. "I'd like to go back, please," she announced.

Raz nodded. He looked resigned to the fact that the moment had been lost.
 
Raz stood and glared at the peacock.
 
He gestured for Ella to start the long walk back to the palace. Her heart was still thudding, and the adrenaline caused by his proximity was still rushing through her veins. Ella started to walk back through the garden. This time, the sounds of the hissing branches overhead seemed to be taunting her. How could she have been so stupid? Hadn't she realized what could happen? She had almost submitted to Raz's fiery desire. Without the interruption, she wondered where it all would have ended.

Back on the balcony, the empty dinner plates had been cleared away by servants. Ella turned to Raz as he took the last step up from the garden. He looked utterly deflated.

"I'm sorry," Ella said.

Raz frowned. "For what?"

Ella gestured toward the table and the garden. "For all of this. I shouldn't have come."

Raz shook his head. "Of course you should have," he insisted. "It's been a wonderful evening."

Ella shook her head. "Perhaps for you, Raz. However, I can't let this happen again."

Raz took a step forward. "What do you mean?"

Ella raised her chin and gave Raz a firm look. "From now on, any meeting between us must be purely on business terms."

Raz's mouth opened, and he seemed about to say something, but then he sighed and shook his head. "Fine. I understand," he murmured sharply.
 

Did he really understand? Ella wasn't even sure why those words had leapt out of her mouth. Was she pushing him away, in spite of how he had made her feel only moments ago?

Ella could see the distress in his eyes. She understood that the last thing he would want would be to make a scene in his family home. Maybe something like this had happened before, with other women. Ella didn't want to think about that, right now. All she wanted was to get back to the city and the safety of her hotel.

"Can I be taken back to my hotel?" she asked.

Raz nodded wordlessly.
 
He started to walk back into the palace. As Ella followed behind him, her heels clacking on the marble floor, she asked herself one more thing. Once she had made it back to the safe haven of her hotel, would she ever again be able to trust herself to be alone in the company of Raz Al Kharif.

CHAPTER SIX

How could he have been so stupid, Raz said to himself in the bathroom mirror the next morning. He paused in the middle of shaving himself and held the foam covered blade to one side, narrowing his eyes at himself.
 

Yes, he thought, examining his features. That is what a stupid man looks like. He shook his head and then hurriedly finished shaving.
 

He'd made a fool of himself last night, in the garden. Ella's beauty had driven him crazy, and he had let himself be overcome with burning desire. He had to admit that it had been wonderful to nuzzle behind her ear and feel her react to his touch. Ella had shown him that beneath that feisty surface there lurked an inner core of wanton desire.
 

Raz drew in a deep breath and sighed. Ella's desire had been plain to see. He had loved the way she had responded to his touch. He'd been sure she wanted him as much as he needed her.
 

But, almost inevitably she had pulled away from him. It hadn't just been the sudden interruption. There was more to her withdrawal than that. It was as if she had been frightened by the desire he had unearthed within her. It had almost been as if she had been caught unawares by the fact that he could reach her like that.

Raz had been with many women, but there was one thing he had realized last night. Ella wasn't just another woman. She was unique and different from all the others. She had gotten under his skin like no other. He desperately needed to know more about her.
 

Raz recalled the journey back to Ella's hotel. He'd insisted on accompanying her in the limousine. They hadn't said a word to each other during the entire drive. Ella hadn't even looked at him, and that had cut into his heart. When she had stepped out of the car, she had merely looked at him and politely thanked him for a lovely evening.
 

As if it had only been a pleasant evening and nothing else!
 

Raz had wanted to seize Ella in his arms and kiss her hard and long, try to make things different between them. But, there had been no chance to do that. Ella had closed the door firmly just as he had leaned forward, seeking some kind of reconciliation.

Raz hadn't slept the whole night. He had lain in bed wide awake hour upon hour, images of Ella tormenting him, making him firm with unsatisfied desire all night long. By the time the sun had risen, Raz had wound up exhausted and worn out. He'd dashed out of bed, determined to get some answers to the questions that had tortured him all night.

Raz dressed himself in a casual jacket and pants and got ready to leave.
 

He called for his car and drove himself into the city. Traffic was light at this time. By the time he reached the hotel, he was impatient. He had been running over in his mind what he should say to her. He hoped she would forgive him calling on her so early, but there really was nothing for it. The impatience of desire burned in Raz. It was a fire that could only be quenched by seeing Ella and telling her just what last night had meant to him.

Raz left his car to the valet parking and dashed into the hotel. He halted at reception and caught the attention of the man behind the counter. Raz saw that the man recognized him. Of course, he did. Raz's face was as well known as any famous person.

"Sheikh Al Kharif?" the man said. "What can I do for you?"

"Miss Brant. Ella Brant. Call her. Tell her I am here to see her," he instructed.

The man looked suddenly hesitant. "I cannot do that," the man said.

In spite of himself, Raz felt an impulse to reach across and demand that the man give him what he wanted. Raz was instantly ashamed of the urge. That wasn't how he usually behaved, Raz said to himself. He was better than that. He was a sheikh and had standards to maintain.
 

Raz drew in a deep breath and gave the receptionist a forced, patient smile. "Why is that?" he asked.

"Miss Brant is no longer a guest of this hotel," the receptionist said politely.

"What!" Raz roared. Some nearby guests turned suddenly, startled by the forcefulness of his voice.

"She left earlier this morning," the man explained.

"Left? You mean she checked out permanently?"

The man nodded. "About two hours ago. She seemed most distressed. In fact, she was very much in a hurry to leave."

What had he done? Raz asked himself. Had he driven her away just by showing her the depth of his attraction to her?

"Did she say where she was going?" Raz asked, trying to contain the frantic tone in his voice.

The man shook his head. "She gave us no forwarding address. The only thing I heard her say to the valet who brought her car was a request for directions to the Northern Province Road."

Was she going north? But, of course. Why wouldn't she carry on with what she had come here to do? Why would she forget the real reason she had come to Qazhar? Especially now that she had made it clear there was no place for him in her life.

"Oh. There was one other thing. Sheikh Kamir's bodyguard was most helpful in giving Miss Brant directions to the Northern Province Road. He seemed very interested in the fact that Miss Brant was leaving so early. In fact, he'd been in reception since early in the morning."

"Really? Kamir's bodyguard?"

The receptionist smiled as if he was completely unaware of the seriousness of what he had just said.
 

Raz gazed around reception. "And where is this bodyguard now?" he asked.

"He left soon after Miss Brant," the receptionist said.

Fear jolted through Raz's body like an electric shock. He turned and ran to the hotel's revolving doors and barrelled through them, almost tumbling onto the sidewalk outside. The valet stared open-mouthed at Raz.

"Get my car. Now!" he roared. The valet stiffened and then raced away.

Raz gazed up the street and off into the distance. She was out there somewhere. Ella was driving north, and he knew just where she was headed. Ella had obviously decided that the place she needed to be was where the indigenous tribe lived on the coastal region of the Northern Province. The real reason she was in Qazhar. Not Raz. He knew he'd probably already been forgotten.

The only problem was, Ella wasn't heading there on her own. Raz didn't know exactly what Karim's bodyguard intended to do. He might simply be following Ella, checking on her movements.

However, there was also one other possibility.
 

His car arrived and Raz leapt behind the wheel and roared off, causing traffic to slam to a juddering halt amidst the angry blaring of horns. But, Raz didn't care about any of that.

The only thing that mattered was that Ella might be in danger. And, whether she liked it or not, Raz was the only man who could keep her safe.

****

Ella knew there was a problem when she realized the same dark car had been following her for three hours. She had first noticed it not long after leaving the city behind. At first, she had paid it no heed. But, after a while, she had started to feel concern.
 

The narrow strip of asphalt stretched before her like a dark ribbon across the golden sands on one side and the shimmering sea on her right. There were very few cars this far away from the city. She had headed north, knowing that a four-hour drive would bring her near the border. It was near that border where she would, at last, get a chance to fulfil the mission she had come here to carry out.

Ella would be able to obtain definitive proof of the pollution and see for herself, first hand, the devastating effect it was having on the lives of the people who lived in the shadow of the oil sheikhs.

But, wasn't Raz one of those very same oil sheikhs, she thought. Wasn't he just as bad as the rest of them? After last night at the palace, she wasn't so sure anymore. Ella found it hard to believe that Raz was in any way like Sheikh Karim. The two men couldn't have been more different. And, hadn't Raz promised to investigate her claims? Hadn't he promised that if he was in any way involved in what was happening that he would do whatever it took to fix the problem. That was certainly more than Sheikh Karim had offered to do. He had even denied there was a problem at all. That made Ella even more suspicious.

So, when she had awoken this morning, having had hardly any sleep, her first thought had been to do something constructive to find out the truth. Even if it put her in danger. She didn't care. Her job was to find out what was going on, and neither Raz nor Karim had been any real help.

Packing her bags quickly before breakfast, she had checked out, determined to head north as fast as she could. It hadn't helped that one of Karim's bodyguards had been loitering around reception, and had seemed unusually interested in the fact that Ella had been leaving so early.

She regretted the fact that the bodyguard had found out where she was headed, and at first, she had refused to believe there could be a problem.
 

But then she had seen the car.

And she had started to have misgivings.

The dark car was just staying the same distance behind Ella the whole way up the coastal road. She started to think she had acted unwisely in leaving without telling anyone. There was no cellphone signal out here. That just made Ella feel even more anxious.

The anxiety had replaced the confusion she had felt all morning about the events at Raz's palace. What had happened? How had she been so quickly overcome by a sudden and mysterious attraction to Raz?
 

Of course, the man was handsome as hell. That went without saying. But, it was totally out of character for Ella to fall for someone like that. She couldn't make sense of it. Except, of course, if she realized that Raz embodied a powerful and bold sensuality that virtually no woman could resist. But, why was he so interested in Ella? Surely, she wasn't his type.
 

All of Ella's previous relationships had ended in fumbling awkward encounters that had left her deeply unsatisfied. But, Raz's single touch on the bench by the fountain had utterly overtaken Ella like nothing she had ever felt before. Raz had uncovered a depth of pleasure within her about which she'd had no previous suspicion.

Was that the real reason why she was running? Because that was what she was doing, wasn't it? Running from Raz. Getting as far away as possible from the devastatingly sexy sheikh who threatened to unleash something in Ella that truly frightened her.

Ella glanced in her mirror and saw that the car had moved closer to her. Perhaps the driver had finally had enough with waiting and wanted to overtake. Ella slowed slightly and glanced to her right. There was a wide beach which stretched parallel to the road. If that beach had been anywhere else except here, it would have been full of tourists taking the sun. But, here there was only sand and sea. They were miles from the nearest town.
 

The car was coming closer now, racing at a suddenly unnatural speed. Anxiety tugged at Ella's middle, and she tightened her grip on the steering wheel. Once the driver had passed her, she could relax. It wasn't far to her destination.
 

Ella glanced in the rearview mirror. The sun glinted off the chrome wheels of the vehicle.
 
Now that he was closer, she could see the figure behind the wheel. In some part of Ella's mind there had been the thought that the driver might be Raz. That simple thought had made Ella smile for a moment. Just the thought that he might have come running after her, made her feel good in a way that surprised her.