Touch the Horizon by Iris Johansen Read Free Book Online Page B

that. He was in a garden, dressed in faded jeans and a worn blue work shirt. A blue-and-white bandanna was tied around his forehead as a sweatband, and his hair was pulled back into an odd shoulder-length braid, revealing the classic strength of his features. The braid and bandanna gave him a slightly savage aura, but there was nothing savage in the eyes gazing out of the portrait. Sapphire blue, clear and gentle, they were almost radiant with a strange wisdom and understanding. Yes, that was David.
    “Exceptionally good, isn’t it?” Clancy murmured into her ear.
    “What?” she asked absently, then forced herself to look away from the portrait. “Oh, yes, remarkable.” She shook her head as if to clear it and focused her attention on the man who was lolling lazily in the executive chair at the desk beneath that riveting picture.
    A tiger, Donahue had called him, and Karim Ben Raschid looked every bit as ferocious as he rose lithely to his feet. The gesture appeared to be more a positioning for a lethal spring than a courtesy. Dressed in a flowing white burnoose open down the front to reveal an impeccable black tuxedo, Karim had the powerful, vigorous body of a man of forty. There was only a dusting of gray in his dark hair and beard, and his flashing dark eyes were as piercing and dangerous as a hawk who’d sighted prey. Only his strong, gnarled hand toying with a gold pen indicated the years that he carried so lightly.
    “Ah, Miss Callahan, welcome to my home.” His voice was as smooth and mellow as a cello, and his smile wholly charming. “David and Clancy told me how lovely you were, but they weren’t eloquent enough. What a beautiful treasure you are to ornament my Casbah.”
    Oh, Lord, she really wasn’t up to all this flowery bull after her recent confrontation with Clancy. If she was going to be forced to stay here for the next few days, she’d better try to clear the air right away. Her feet sank into the pile of the rich Kirman carpet as she marched across the room to stand before the desk.
    “Sheikh Ben Raschid, I’m grateful for your hospitality, and I know I’m supposed to answer you with a phrase that’s as fancy and phony as yours.” She drew a deep breath and raised her chin belligerently. “I want you to know that I realize what I’m
supposed
to do. I have no intention of doing it.”
    There was a flicker in Ben Raschid’s dark eyes. “Indeed?” he said slowly. “And just what do you intend to do, Miss Callahan? I gather courtesy isn’t high on your list of priorities.”
    “Courtesy rates very high, but hypocrisy comes in below zero,” she said meeting his eyes steadily. “I found out a long time ago that I couldn’t live like that. So what do you say we put our cards on the table? Clancy, here, seems to think I may be involved in some sort of plot to either snag the apple of your eye or massacre him. Will you believe me when I say I have no intention of doing either? That three days from now you’ll have seen the last of me? I’d never even heard of this Ladram fellow before today.”
    “Your candid approach is very convincing, Miss Callahan.” Ben Raschid said coldly. “I, too, have a dislike for hypocrisy, though I find it valuable upon occasion. It occurs to me you could have been coached to appeal to that preference.”
    “Oh, for heaven’s sake, just look at me.” Billie threw her arms out in frustration. “What kind of nutty villain would choose a lure like me? I’m not even sexy. I have my moments, but I’m definitely not the material
kadines
are made of.”
    “Yet you evidently exert a certain fascination for David,” Ben Raschid answered. “He was quite insistent that I welcome you with all cordiality. Perhaps Ladram is more clever than we’d supposed. I didn’t think he had that degree of subtlety, but hatred can bring out the cunning in rats like Ladram.” His eyes narrowed. “He’s on the run, so it wouldn’t be possible for him to pay you