The Sheik's Command by Loreth Anne White Read Free Book Online

soft warmth spurted through Zakir’s chest at the sight of her unguarded pleasure. For the first time in his life it wasn’t jewels or a sports car that he’d used to buy a woman’s smile. It was something so simple, so pure—it satisfied him beyond words to make her happy. He realized then that he’d lost touch with some core elements in his life, and her delight was shifting something profound inside him.
    It made him want to know this woman better. It made him wonder why she’d had so little faith that he’d actually keep his word. And it made him wish—just for a moment—that she wasn’t leaving.
    “Come,” he said gently, holding his hand out toward the Humvee convoy. “You can double-check the supplies against your list as they’re being loaded.”
    Nikki quickly hooked back a strand of gold hair that had escaped her scarf, and she got to work checking the Arabic labels on the boxes. Her movements were swift, efficient, focused on her task. As her long skirt swished about her legs and the sun danced off the crystal beads on her veil, Zakir couldn’t help but watch her with increasing fascination. This job of saving orphans seemed to define Nikki—threaten her children and she became fearless. Offer to help them and she glowed.
    Yet he’d glimpsed fear in her eyes.
    As he watched her skirt sway about her legs, he felt a sudden surge of desire. He shook himself. This was absurd, wrong.Yet there was something so seductively mysterious about this intriguing woman covered with veils, the promise inherent in the swirl of her skirt. He was finding it incredibly—and disturbingly—sexy.
    She checked the last of the supplies off her list and glanced up, eyes now alive with turquoise fire, her skin luminous in the steadily climbing temperatures. “It’s all here.”
    A Humvee door opened as she spoke, and the driver’s-side mirror caught a flash of sunlight, bouncing it sharply across his face. Zakir blinked, momentarily blinded by the sudden glare. But while vision quickly returned to his right eye, a dark blurry circle lingered in the middle of his left.
    His heart stalled.
    Nikki came up to him and held out the clipboard. “Can I have my passport and papers back now?”
    He reached for the clipboard, trying to pull focus back into his left eye, but the circle of darkness seemed to be expanding. Perspiration prickled over his skin as he struggled to maintain control. “My men will hold your papers until you reach the port,” he said, turning his head sideways so that she fell at the periphery of his vision where he could see her better. “Why?”
    He heard the uneasiness in her voice. “In case you don’t cooperate.”
    “So I’m still a prisoner?”
    “A guest, under my protection. Be grateful, not angered, by my generosity, Ms. Hunt.” He spun round to leave, desperate to get back into the palace where he could be alone, lie down and close his eyes to see if the vision returned. But the driver closed his door and again the mirror flashed a sharp burst of light into his eyes. Suddenly Zakir couldn’t see a damn thing at all.
    Panic slammed through him.
    He stepped back quickly, reaching out to brace his palmagainst the vehicle, metal searing hot under his skin. Staring fiercely, sightlessly ahead, he groped with his free hand alongside his thigh for Ghorab, but while talking to Nikki he’d moved around the Humvee without calling his tallest hound to his side. Tension squeezed his chest as he realized that Ghorab was not there the first time he really needed him.
    Zakir clicked his fingers softly, and then suddenly he felt the damp nose of his saluki nudging into his palm.
    Relief flooded through him as the connection with his dog steadied him slightly. But a new wave of anxiety overcame him. Could his men see what was happening to him? If they could—if the King’s Council got wind of Zakir’s problem before he was sworn in—his throne would be challenged and his kingdom would fall.