The Sheikh's Impetuous Love-Slave by Marguerite Kaye Read Free Book Online Page B

consequences, all of it was designed to lead her to Khalid. She was destined for him.
    Pouring her feelings into her kiss, Juliette nestled into Khalid’s embrace. If he knew how she felt then surely….
    Surely what? Her mouth stilled. In the breathtaking journey of discovery that constituted the past few days, she had not thought beyond the next hour with him and the next. Now, reality came crashing down on her. He was a sheikh, an Arabian prince. She was a French orphan with neither dowry nor expectations.
    Last night, when Khalid had refrained again from making love to her, he had recognized, as she had not, that they could have no future together. He had cared enough for her to keep her virtue intact. He was indeed an honourable man.
    An unfamiliar burning sensation prickled behind her lids. Tears. She was crying. Blinking rapidly, terrified lest he see, Juliette sat up, turning her back to Khalid, struggling to contain the urge to throw herself back into his arms and beg that he keep her with him always. He would not, and her begging would merely embarrass him. Worse, may even hurt him, and she would not for the world have that. She loved him. She loved him far too much to allow that.
    â€˜Juliette, what is wrong?’
    His voice, unbearably tender, caused a tear to trickle down her hot cheek. ‘Nothing,’ she said dismissively.
    He tried to pull her back in his arms. In the night, as she lay sleeping, utterly trusting, in his arms, he had recognized this feeling for what it was. Love. He, Khalid al-Raqam, Prince of Lash’aal, was in love. In love with a female so unsuitable that Farid, and his Council, and probably his entire kingdom would be horrified. The number of senior tribesmen, each with eligible daughters, he would offend, did not bear counting. Gone would be Farid’s grand plan for an alliance with one of their powerful neighbours. Khalid did not care. He was in love. Irrevocably in love. Deeply, truly, unbelievably in love. Only Juliette would ever live in his heart. Only Juliette would fill the void in his life he had not even thought was there. Two halves of one. He and Juliette. What better place than here in the lost city to tell her that he wanted her to be his wife.
    But Juliette resisted his embrace. She struggled, and wriggled, and got to her feet. Her face was set with some emotion he did not recognize. Her beautiful grey eyes failed to meet his. ‘What ails you?’ Khalid asked anxiously.
    â€˜Nothing.’
    She shrugged him away. She could never hope to share his life but she would not have his pity. That would be too much to bear. She must end this false idyll, this unsustainable fantasy, for both their sakes. ‘The sun is up. Soon it will be too hot to explore properly,’ she said, scrabbling into her clothes. ‘If we are to find any other evidence of Shal’aal we should start now. It’s what we came for, after all, isn’t it?’ Picking up her cloak Juliette made her way determinedly towards the rock passageway which took them back into Persimmanion. She knew Khalid was following her, but she daren’t look back. Across the central square, towards the temple she marched, biting her lip, trying desperately to focus on the task at hand.
    The temple, unlike the rest of Persimmanion, was constructed of white marble. A simple building, the roof was long gone though most of the walls were still more or less intact. The huge doorway was supported by two ornately carved pillars representing a garden, in which several images of the goddess Shal’aal could be detected, hidden amongst the foliage. Juliette came to a halt in front of the altar, a long low marble slab. Behind her, Khalid’s footsteps stopped. ‘She belongs here, I’m sure of it,’ she said, forcing herself to turn around, unable to meet his eyes. ‘There must be a niche, a slot or something in which to place her.’
    Only five days ago she had first