Monarch of the Sands by Sharon Kendrick Read Free Book Online Page A

acknowledged the irony of
him
dishing out advice on relationships. ‘You’d have discovered even further down the line how duplicitous he was being—and found yourself even
more
hurt! Is that what you want from your life, Francesca?’
    What kind of a question was that to ask her at a time like this? Scrambling to her feet, she pushed him away, her thoughts spinning round and round. But some small and stupid hope was still flickering in her heart, stubbornly refusing to be extinguished. Maybe there was some kind of explanation for it, after all. Something which Simon would explain and then she could turn round to Zahid and tell him that for once in his life he’d been
wrong
! ‘I’m going to ask him!’
    He shook his head. ‘Don’t even think about it,’ he warned her grimly. ‘You’ll only regret it.’
    But she turned on him—and part of her terrible pain was that Zahid should have borne witness to her humiliation. The man she had idolised for all her life should have seen her made a complete fool of.
That
she regretted.
    ‘So if it’s true—and we haven’t even established that it is—you think I should just walk away and let him get away with it? Just fade away into the background as if I never really existed and let him get away with making a fool of me?’ she raged as a sense of justice and determination began to replace her hurt and mortification.
    In that moment she realised that there was going to be no mistake. That the photos told the truth and that Simon had lied to her—but one thing she was sure of was that she was not going to be some sad little
victim
. Especially in Zahid’s eyes. ‘Obviously, I no longer havea job—so I might as well tell him exactly what I think of him.’
    ‘The job doesn’t matter, Francesca,’ he grated.
    ‘You don’t think so? Well, it might just interest you to know that I need to earn money because I need to eat! Most people do.’
    He gave an impatient wave of his hand. ‘I can find you a job in the flicker of an eye. I can create some sort of role for you in my organisation and it can be as permanent or as temporary as you like.’
    There was a pin-drop silence as Frankie stared at him. What, and make her detachment from reality complete? She could just imagine the hawklike eye he would keep on her if she got involved with his organisation. Governed and bossed around by a powerful man who seemed to have the misplaced idea that his role was to protect her. Long ago, she had abandoned her foolish romantic dreams about him, but wouldn’t enforced proximity and hurt pride make her vulnerable to him again?
    She would have to watch from the sidelines while he bedded the glamorous women who were his girlfriends—and how would
that
feel? There would be all the disadvantages of being closeted with the devastatingly attractive sheikh—but none of the benefits. She would end up feeling completely invisible because to him she was just Francesca—sexless, safe Francesca who had got herself into a laughable situation with a worthless man and now needed rescuing.
    ‘Thank you, but no, thank you,’ she said tightly, walking over to the table and grabbing her shoulder bag. ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do with my future—but before I make any decisions, I’m going to ask Simon Forrester a few questions!’
    As he watched her pull the bag over one slender shoulder Zahid knew that he could have restrained her in an instant—and not by confiscating her car keys. For wasn’t there an urgent part of him which wanted to subdue her into forgetting about that worthless creep by simply
kissing
her? He felt the heavy throb of desire as arrogance and a justifiable pride in his methods of seduction told him that he would have succeeded within seconds. He could show her what it was like to be with a
real
man.
    But deep down he knew that would be wrong. For all kinds of reasons, Francesca O’Hara was not a woman he was ever going to be able to seduce—and ultimately