"It won't be." His eyes narrowed intently on her face. "I have a very special reason for wanting to win this time. Trust me."
"Until hell freezes over?"
"It worked out pretty well the last time, didn't it?" He glanced away. "We'd better put on more speed. There's no place out here in the open to dig in if we don't have as much time as I've been calculating."
"All right." She increased her pace to match his. She did trust him, she realized with a little ripple of shock. She trusted not only his proficiency in his very dangerous profession but the man himself. She was usually on edge when she was around strange men, particularly dynamic, virile men. Yet, oddly, this wasn't the case with Daniel Seifert. In spite of the bewildering physical responses he was inspiring within her, she felt as if there were a bond between them that had been woven by years, not mere minutes.
Well, she had no time now to analyze that unusual rapport. Perhaps it was merely due to the crisis situation they shared. She shook her head. She was getting as bad as all those psychiatrists about dissecting her own reactions and responses. She had to concentrate on keeping up with Daniel's constantly lengthening stride. She cast an anxious glance over
her shoulder. No sign of Hassan. However, that didn't mean he wouldn't appear on the horizon at any minute. Her pace automatically quickened at the thought, and her gaze fixed determinedly on the hills just ahead.
Two
"Here they come," Daniel murmured. He shaded his eyes with his hand to watch the approaching jeep kick up clouds of sand on the desert floor far below he summit of the hill on which they were standing.
They're really gunning it. They must have found our abandoned jeep and think they have us."
"And do they?" Zilah asked with a worried frown. They're so close. They'll be here within ten minutes, won't they?"
"Just about." He turned and took her elbow. She felt that same mysterious tingling surge through her and had to restrain herself from jerking her arm away. What on earth was happening to her? This touch wasn't even like the other time. It was almost totally impersonal. "But we won't be here. We're not following the road. We're heading through the trees and over that next hill. Then we'll circle and rejoin the road at the border."
"You seem to know this area very well."
"Philip and I have done some hunting in these hills."
"Philip?"
"Philip El Kabbar. He's an old friend of mine." He shot her a glance. "You've never heard of him?"
She shook her head. "I've spent the last seven years on a ranch in Texas. Should I be familiar with the name?"
"He's probably the most powerful sheikh in Sedikhan other than Ben Raschid." He was propelling her down from the summit on which they had been standing, hurrying from the path into the dense shrubbery that lined it. "That long? That must have been a trifle inconvenient for Bradford."
"Inconvenient?" she asked, puzzled. "It was David's parents' ranch, but I tried not to be a burden to them. Once I learned to ride I could help around the ranch."
"You've been stashed at David Bradford's disposal since you were fourteen?" Daniel's tone was caustic. "My Lord, you started young."
"I don't know what you mea ..." Her eyes widened. "You think David is my lover?"
He held a branch until she had passed and then let it snap back behind them. "It's none of my affair." Then he shot her a glance that shocked her with its ferocity. "The hell it's not. It is my business. I've been trying to convince myself since I saw a damned photograph of you that you're just like any other woman. No more and no less. But I've never lied to myself and I don't intend to start now. You are my concern." His face was flint hard. "I walked down the aisle of that plane on which you were held just a few hours ago and I knew you were going to belong to me. Get used to the idea. I don't know what the hell has happened to me, but I do know that." He shoved another branch roughly aside and pushed her ahead of him. "You can
David Bradford he'll just have to be satisfied with nis wife. You're no longer available."
"He couldn't be more satisfied with Billie," she said dazedly. "And I'm not going to belong to you. We're complete strangers. This is insane. We've just met. There are four half-crazy terrorists snapping at our heels and you're propositioning me?"
"Propositioning, hell! I'm telling you." He was pushing her steadily forward, the harshness of his voice at strange variance with the exquisite care he was exhibiting in protecting her from the branches
and roughness of the bushes and trees surrounding them. "Do you think I don't know how I sound? I'm fully aware I'm not being rational, that I'm reacting like some kind of thick-headed neanderthal. I can't help myself, dammit." He glared at her accusingly.
"And I don't like not being in control. It annoys the hell out of me."
"You're acting as if it's my fault you're having this temporary aberration," she said incredulously. "I didn't have anything to do with it."
"I know that too." He scowled moodily. "My problem is that I'm not at all sure it is temporary." She laughed shakily. "It has to be." "Does it?" His lips twisted. "We'll just have to see. It's too soon to tell. Temporary or not, you're still mine. And I'll tell Bradford so if you're shy about it." His grin was a savage slash in the blaze of his bearded face. "I'd enjoy telling him."
"I don't belong to anyone. Not to you, and certainly not to David." She was trembling, she realized with amazement. For the first time in her adult life a man had effortlessly pierced the wall she had built around her emotions. He had scarcely touched her in the past hours except with his words. Yet she was acutely aware of his very presence. Her heart was pounding, her mouth was dry, and she felt as if she
had a fever. His fingers on her arm were as impersonal as his words were possessive, but her flesh was so sensitive that she could feel the drumming of his heart through the pads of his fingertips. How could she feel like this when she had to force herself to bear even the most casual touch of any other man? She tried to jerk her arm away, but her resistance was instantly quelled by a tightening of those fingers. "Let
me go."
"No, you need me." He didn't even look at her as he increased his pace. "You need me now and you're going to need me even more later. But not in the same way, I assure you. I'll fill every damn need you have. Bradford is out of your life."
She moistened her lips. "David will never be out of my life. You don't understand. David is my friend. I'm not his mistress." She shook her head. "The idea is almost laughable. He's completely in love with his
wife, Billie."
"I notice you're not mentioning your own feelings in the matter." Daniel's lips twisted. "You're obviously just as mad about him as he is about his wife. All he'd have to do is snap his fingers and you'd jump
into his bed."
Her gaze was steady and perfectly candid. "I'd give the last drop of blood in my veins if David Bradford wanted or needed it." She shrugged. "As for my body, there's no question he could have it. It wouldn't matter at all."
"The hell it wouldn't!" Daniel's voice was so violent that it startled her. "It would matter to me." He drew a deep breath, and when he spoke again it was through clenched teeth. "I think you better shut up. At the moment I'm feeling pretty wild. I might just show you how much it could matter to you as well. That would be slightly unwise, as Hassan would probably appear on the scene and shoot my ass off."
"That would be a little inconvenient.” She tried to smile. "As well as being totally useless. There’s no way you can convince me that the sexual act is more than a simple animalistic coupling."
"No? You're speaking like a frustrated, antiquated virgin. If we weren't in the wrong place at the wrong time to—" He broke off as he saw the strange wounded look in her eyes. "What the hell's
w rong with you? You're looking at me as if I'd stabbed you."
"Am I?" Her voice was shaky in spite of her efforts to steady it. "How stupid of me." She began to walk faster. "I'm not a virgin, you know. I haven't
been for a long time. You were right, I started very young." She was speaking quickly, almost feverishly. "But not with David Bradford. Never with David."
He suddenly halted in the path and swung her around to face him. "Will you shut up and let me look at you, dammit." His gaze raked her tense face, and he began to curse with low and intense sincerity. "I've hurt you. What the hell did I say that hurt you so much?"
"Nothing." She tried to loosen his hold. "I told you I was being stupid. Let's get going. We've got to keep moving, haven't we?"
"Yes," he said. His hands were kneading her shoulders absently as he stared into her face. "But I'm not going on until you tell me why you're hurting." His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Was it that
crack I made about virgins? I've heard Sedikhan society is pretty straightlaced." He gave her a little shake.
"I don't give a damn how young you were when you had your first man." His lips twisted in a rueful grin.
"I'd make a bet that I was probably younger than you when I had my first woman. I don't have any right to ask something of you that I can't give in return." His smile deepened and took on a gentleness that caused her heart to jerk crazily and then melt like the snows of spring. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm a rough man and I've lived a rough life but you don't have to be afraid of me. I'll never hurt you intentionally." His finger touched the outer edge of her lower lip. "And I'll never let anyone else hurt you. Do you believe me?"
His touch was so light; how could it have such powerful sensuality? She felt every brush of his fingertip, not only on her lips but in her wrists, the pit of her stomach, and the soles of her feet. She was
tingling all over and he wasn't even trying to arouse her in a sensual way. She was conscious of the scent of him surrounding her. The clean smell of soap, the musky odor of sweat and man. She suddenly wanted to reach up and touch the dark, flaming softness of his beard and trace the well-defined curve of his lip as he was touching hers. She actually wanted to touch him, she realized with a sense of shock.
She lowered her eyes hurriedly to the center o his chest, but it did little to alleviate the odd languid heat that was flowing through her. Instead, she began to wonder if the hair on his chest was as red and silky as his beard. She shook her head to try to clear it. "I believe you," she said with a laugh that was a bit husky. "But hadn't we better keep going? I don't see how you're going to prevent my being hurt," she said, her eyes twinkling with mischief. "Not with your ass shot off."
He gave her a hug that was like being embraced by an affectionate grizzly bear. Lord, he was a bid man.
"We'll make every effort to keep that from happening. I have a great fondness for that portion of my anatomy." Then he released her and started hustling her through the underbrush at a pace that gave neither of them breath for further conversation.
Zilah's lungs felt as if they were about to burst, and her jeans and shirt were as wet with perspiration as if she'd been dropped into a lake. Oh, dear, she wished she hadn't thought of that simile. Being
immersed in a cool mountain lake was the stuff dreams were made of at this particular moment.
Daniel cast her a glance over his shoulder. His eyes narrowed to pierce the dusk that was falling around them. "All right?"
She nodded, saving her breath. She was going to need it. In the past few hours Daniel had set a grueling pace. She didn't know how many miles they had come, but if sheer exhaustion was any measure, it must have been a hundred. These hills had looked so cool and inviting when she'd first caught sight of them. That misty coolness had truly been the mirage she had thought it. Here in the shade of the trees it was only a few degrees cooler than the desert.
"I'll let you rest soon," Daniel said. "I want to lake it down to the foothills before dark." He didn't wait for an answer but turned and set off again. His long, powerful legs traversed the downhill slope with a speed and surety that was amazing in a man so large. He moved very silently as well, she thought as she forced herself to try to match that torturous pace.
Was his stealth responsible for his managing to plant all those charges around the plane without being detected? Must be, she decided. Now he had to be feeling the heat as she was. His khaki shirt was plastered to his back and arms, and that backpack and rifie he was carrying had to be suffocatingly hot as well as heavy. Yet he wasn't even breathing hard, darn it. She was ready to drop in her tracks and he looked like he was out for a leisurely stroll.
He stopped so short she almost ran into him.
"Come on. I thought I remembered it being here." He took her arm and half pulled her up a sloping knoll that bordered the downhill path. "It's just around this little cliff."
"What is?"
"A small cave, and down the hill a little farther is a tiny stream. We can shelter there for the night."
"We're not going to go on?"
"Hassan and his boys may be combing the hills, and I don't want to blunder into them in the dark. Not with you along. We're close enough to the border that we can reach it in a few hours. We'll start out again before dawn." He pulled her up the last few yards. His arm encircled her waist as he half carried her over the overgrown path around the knoll.
"You don't have to stop on my account," she said, trying to catch her breath. "I'm fine."
He glanced down at her, and for an instant his hand on her waist tightened imperceptibly. "I can see that," he said gruffly. "You look as if you're ready to collapse at any moment, but you're just fine. You can handle it, right?"
She grinned. "Right." She felt a surge of warmth that was different from the hot tingling she had felt before. This was more comforting, as sweetly soothing as her mother's touch, even David's touch. How strange that this stranger could fill her with such a tempestuous mixture of emotions. "I can handle it."
"Well, you're not going to have to handle anything at the moment." They emerged from the shrubbery on the other side of the knoll, and he stopped in front of a small opening in the side of the hill that was no more than five feet in circumference.
"That's your cave?" She shook her head. "I think I prefer to stay out here for the night. I don't like confined places, and that looks awfully small."
"It goes back fifty yards or so. You'll be safe in there once I scrounge up some ground cover to hide the opening." He grimaced. "I don't like the idea any better than you do. I have a thing about closed-in places too."
"Then why not stay out here?"
"Because it's safer for you in the cave," he said curtly. "Stay here. I'm going to take a look inside. I don't like unpleasant surprises."
The mouth of the cave looked dark and menacing in the fast-failing twilight. "Are there any bears in S aid Ababa?" she asked.
"Not that I know of." Daniel leaned his rifle against the wall of the cliff beside the cave opening, unstrapped his backpack, and dropped it to the ground. "I was thinking more on the line of bats and
spiders."
"Bats!" She shivered. "I think I'd rather face a bear."
"Well, with any luck you won't have to face either one." He had drawn a small penlight from his backpack and was on his knees starting to crawl through
the low opening. "Though I do think it would be a good idea to examine your priorities in that area."
He seemed to be gone a terribly long time. Dear heaven, she hated just standing there waiting helplessly while Daniel took the initiative. Why hadn't she insisted on going with him? He had been risking his life for her from the moment he had walked into the cabin of the plane she'd been held hostage on, and she was still letting him run risks. That hole looked so dark and creepy.
Snakes! What if there were snakes in there?
She wasn't even aware that she had dropped to her knees until she had crawled halfway through the opening. Oh, dear heaven, it was dark in here. And she could hear no sound in the darkness ahead.
"Daniel?" It came out as a whispering quaver, she noticed in disgust. What a miserable coward she was being. She lowered her head,
took a deep breath, and began to crawl forward as fast as she could.
Suddenly her head ran into something solid with a force that made her see stars. She lifted her head swiftly in alarm and she rammed into something equally hard. A chin?
"Ouch!" It was a pained grunt from the bulk in front of her, followed by a shockingly explicit curse.
"Daniel?"
"Who else would it be, for heaven's sake? What the devil are you doing in here? Besides trying to knock me unconscious, that is."
"I was worried about you." She found her arms clutching at him desperately. "Snakes." "What?"
"There might be snakes in here." He was so big and warm and safe. She had slithered forward and now his arms were holding her. She could hear his heart beating beneath her ear, filling the darkness with its vitality. "Why isn't your flashlight on?"
"I was saving the batteries. I don't have extra batteries for this one and we may need it later. 1 used it to check out all the nooks and crannies and then turned it off for the crawl back to the opening." His hands were moving over her shoulders and back in a caress that was sexless, she could tell. Yet his touch was causing hot vibrations to spread to her every nerve ending. "Didn't it occur to you that if you were afraid, it would be smarter not to come crawling to my rescue?"
She shook her head. "If you're afraid of something, you have to confront it. I found that out a long time ago. If you hide your head, it festers inside of you until it poisons you. I had to come."
His hands stopped their soothing caress for an instant. "Yes, I think you did." His lips brushed the top of her head with a feather-light kiss. "You'll be glad to know that your attempt to rescue me wasn't necessary. No snakes. No bats. No bears." He pushed her gently away. "Now, suppose you turn around and crawl out of here? I have a craving for fresh air. This place is smaller than I remembered." He turned her around and gave her derriere an encouraging pat. "Move."
The air smelled clean and sweet despite its heavy heat when she crawled out of the cave. She shifted away from the opening and settled herself with a sigh of relief against the hard stone of the cliff wall. Daniel was close behind and rested beside her. He pulled a pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket and lit one before leaning back against the cliff and inhaling deeply. "Oh, sorry." He fumbled for the crumpled pack he had jammed back into his shirt pocket. Would you like one?"