The Sheikh's Destiny (Harlequin Romance) by Melissa James Read Free Book Online Page B

yeah,’ he mumbled. Feeling as if he were floating, he opened his eyes to a slit—and if he weren’t so utterly relaxed he’d have started. Hana was looking at his body as she massaged, and it held no revulsion, no clinical detachment. Her eyes in the soft rose light of the sunrise looked deeper, softer…her breathing had quickened…she wet her lips…
    Then she looked at his face, her cheeks flushed and her lips parted in innocent, lush surprise, and in her expression was something he’d never seen from any nurse.
    It was something he’d never seen from any woman . Those lovely, slanted almond eyes held something like innocent languor…beautiful, breathtaking, aching desire . Good, old-fashioned, honest wanting, woman to man.
    Then she saw his eyes open, and the look vanished as if it had never been there. ‘Good. I’m glad it helped,’ she said, her tone aiming for crisp, but it wobbled a touch. ‘Get dressed. IfI remember rightly, there’s a good overhang a few kilometres away, where we can sleep.’
    Was he possibly grinning as widely as he wanted to? ‘Why don’t we sleep here? You look so tired, and it’s been a long, hard day for us both.’
    â€˜It isn’t far enough from the village.’ She was the one now speaking through gritted teeth. ‘When we reach the truck, you call the shots. Right now, this is my territory. If you want to live, you’re doing things my way.’
    Unable to muster up an argument when she’d saved his life again tonight, he shrugged; but he hated that she was right and he couldn’t argue, couldn’t take charge and protect her somehow. ‘Three days,’ he said softly. ‘Then you’d better believe I’m calling the shots. I’ll get you to the refugee camp safely, Hana, that I swear—but you’ll obey me, no questions asked.’ And we’re going to explore that look you gave me just now, the man in him vowed, exultant.
    She nodded; far from pushing back, there was a suspicious twinkle in her eyes. ‘I will obey you joyfully, my lord, for I am a weak woman in need of your strength.’ She mock-genuflected before him, touching her forehead to the ground as she spoke. ‘It must be the reason why I never left the village before. I was waiting for you to guide and direct me.’
    He had to choke down laughter at her unexpected sense of humour. ‘Can it, Hana,’ he said, using a phrase from one of his former pit crew, ‘and let’s get going.’
    She grinned and bowed again; then, with a grin that held more than a touch of the imp—pretty, so damned pretty —she said, ‘We should crawl again for a while. It’s getting light.’
    The prospect made him forget temptation for the present. Alim groaned and dropped to his stomach, but Hana was ahead of him, already wriggling down the hill.
    He’d been too busy trying to breathe before to notice howenticing that wriggle was. No—he’d ignored it, thinking it was useless. But after that look …
    If they’d been anywhere else, had she been another woman…but they were crawling through mud in wild dogs’ territory with a warlord’s men with assault rifles in every other direction; and this was Hana, who’d frozen beneath him. She deserved his respect, not the burden of unwanted fascination from a man who looked like a damned monster—and he had no magical spell she could reverse with her kiss. The way he looked now was how he’d look for life.
    The look had to have been a mistake. He was a nowhere man with no home, no position. He had nothing to offer any woman but ugliness, emotional baggage and a cartload of regrets—and he suspected she had more than enough of her own without taking his on board. Whatever that look had been, she didn’t, couldn’t want him. He could take that. Just keep commando crawling and don’t