“What? How? Where’s the vet?” Harrison elbowed his way past Nuri and into the hallway, striding for the main staircase.
Nuri immediately turned and kept pace, while Alex fell in behind them.
“The vet is attending the animal,” said Nuri. “But, I am sorry to say…” His pause was coldly ominous. “It is too late.”
“What do you mean, too late?” Harrison demanded, knowing full well what that had to mean. But his heart wasn’t ready to accept that his horse was dead.
“He was found down, with tremors,” said Nuri. “The vet came immediately, but the poor beast’s heart and lungs gave out.” The stable manager took a breath. “There were flecks of blood in his nostrils and his eyes had yellowed.”
“Fannew?”
The tiny cactus grew wild all over the area, but the spines kept horses from eating them. Someone would have to have deliberately—
Julia.
Harrison hit the staircase and broke into a trot, marching through the great room and across the veranda.
A shriek of laughter came up from the pool.
He took the stairs two at a time, closing on poolside, where the two women were wrapped in towels beside one of the umbrella tables.
“Did she touch Millions to Spare?” he demanded of Leila.
Both women turned, and Leila’s jaw dropped open at the sight of Harrison’s expression.
“Did she touch Millions to Spare?” he repeated to another stunned silence from Leila.
“Yes,” Julia cut in. “I was in his stall. Why—”
Without breaking his stride, Harrison grabbed her upper arm, pressing his other hand against her neck, and backed her into the wall of the pool house, his mind fogging red.
Her towel dropped, and she scrambled to keep her footing on the slippery deck.
Leila shrieked, and Alex shouted something unintelligible. But Harrison’s rage was focused on Julia.
How had he been so stupid? Why had he trusted her out of his sight? Out of her locked room? For even one second?
“You killed my horse,” he ground out.
Alex shouted his name again, but Harrison knew nobody would dare lift a finger to stop him.
Julia’s jaw worked, her blue eyes wide in panic.
She couldn’t speak, but she frantically shook her head.
“This is the Middle East,” he told her, moving his face in close to hers, bombarding her with his rage. “Not America. I could kill you here and now.”
“No,” she rasped.
“Yes,” he countered.
“I didn’t—” She struggled to get the words out.
Yes, she did. She’d sneaked onto his land. She’d fixated on that horse from minute one. Then she’d sweet-talked her way into a tour of the barns.
“No!” It was Leila.
Her small hands dug at Harrison’s back before somebody, certainly Nuri, dragged her away. But her actions jolted him back to some semblance of reality.
Leila was Nuri’s daughter, and he’d surely punish her for intervening.
Harrison turned to look at the pair. “Leave her,” he commanded.
Nuri’s eyes narrowed.
“Have to talk to you,” came Julia’s hoarse voice.
Harrison turned back. Huge tears had formed in her eyes, magnifying her terror. She looked young and vulnerable, all but naked in the wet bathing suit.
He could have kicked himself.
What the hell was he doing?
This might be the UAE, but he was British, raised on the principle of justice, not revenge. There was no way in the world he’d kill somebody over a horse.
He loosened his grip.
“I didn’t,” she rasped again, her gaze going frantically around to Alex, Nuri, Leila and the other staff who had assembled.
“Please,” she said to Harrison, those shimmering blue eyes getting to him. “I need to talk to you. Alone.”
Harrison turned to Leila again, jerking his head to motion her forward.
The poor girl was shaking with terror.
“Thank you,” Harrison said, making sure Nuri heard the words. “Now, can you tell me what she did?”
Leila was obviously incapable of speaking, so Harrison looked to her father. “She’s a good girl,” he told Nuri, a wealth of meaning in his tone.
Then he looked back down at Leila. “She went into the stall?”
Leila gave a shaky nod.
“Did she feed anything to Millions to Spare?”
“I don’t… I don’t think so.”
“How long was she in there?”
“Two minutes, maybe.”
Harrison nodded. Then he took in the assembled staff, selecting Darla. “Darla. Have Leila help you in the office for the rest of the day.”
Darla quickly nodded and came forward for the girl. She would understand what Harrison wanted. He wasn’t about to risk Nuri’s wrath on Leila before the man had a chance to calm down.
Harrison turned back to Julia. “I’ll have the whole truth, and I’ll have it right now.”
“Harrison?” came a puzzled, female voice.
All eyes turned to gape at a crisp and proper Brittany Livingston, standing frozen on the pool deck in ivory pumps, a knee-length, pleated, white skirt and a frosted pink, eyelet blouse with three-quarter-length sleeves. She stared at Harrison and Julia in obvious confusion.
Harrison immediately dropped his hand from Julia’s throat, while Alex quickly intervened.
He positioned himself between Brittany and Harrison, blocking the woman’s view.
“You must be Brittany,” Alex put in smoothly, as if nothing out of the ordinary was going on. He offered his arm, deftly turning her back up the veranda stairs. “Please, introduce me to your grandmother. Harrison’s tied up for just a short time.”
Julia rubbed her chafed throat while Harrison watched the woman named Brittany walk away with an American man. Julia was more stunned than hurt, but she was becoming very frightened.
Now that she knew she wasn’t about to die, her mind grappled with the news that Millions to Spare was dead. Who could have done such a terrible thing?
“I need to talk to you,” she began.
Harrison shot her a glare that shut her up. “You can bet your ass we’re going to talk.”
“Alone,” she said. There was no reason not to tell him the whole truth now. But she didn’t know what on earth could be going on, nor did she know who she could trust.
She didn’t like the man named Nuri. He was the one who had had her arrested, and she was sure he would hurt Leila when he dragged her away from Harrison. She didn’t trust him one little bit.
Harrison nodded his consent, steering her none too gently by the arm as he propelled her into a changing hut. He shut the door against the curious staff, then he leaned against it and crossed his arms over his chest in the dim, relatively cool building.
Julia wished she was wearing something