“Then have you gifts to offer me in place of hospitality?” Zafar asked dryly, a reference to common custom out in the desert.
“Hospitality will come,” Jamal said. “And while we don’t have gifts, we do have some items you might take an interest in.”
“The horses in the corral?”
“Most are for sale.”
“Camels?”
“Them, as well.”
“What use have I for camels? I imagine there is an entire menagerie of them waiting for me in Bihar. Cars, as well.” It had been a long time since he’d ridden in a car. Utterly impractical for his lifestyle. They were a near-foreign thought now, as were most other modern conveniences.
The other man smiled, his teeth brilliantly white against his dark beard. “I have something better. An offer we hope might appease you.”
“Not a gift, though.”
“Items this rare and precious cannot be given away, your highness.”
“Perhaps you should allow me to be the judge of that.”
Jamal turned and shouted toward the tent and Zafar watched as two men emerged, holding a small, blonde woman between them. She looked up at him, pale eyes wide, red rimmed. She wasn’t dirty, neither did she look like she’d been handled too roughly. She wasn’t attempting an escape, either, but given their location...there would be no point. She would have nowhere to go.
“You have brought me a woman?”
“A potential bride, perhaps? Or just a plaything.”
“When have I ever given the indication that I’m the sort of man who buys women?”
“You seem like the sort of man who would not leave a woman in the middle of the desert.”
“And you would?” he asked.
“In no uncertain terms, Your Highness.”
“Why should I care about one Western woman? I have a country to consider.”
“You will buy her, I think. And for our asking price.”
Zafar shrugged and turned away. “Ransom her. I’m sure her loved ones will pay much more than I am willing or able to.”
“I would ransom her, but it is not my intention to start a war.”
Zafar stopped and turned, his muscles locked tight, his heart pounding hard. “What?”
“A war, Sheikh. It is not in my best interest to start one. I don’t want those Shakari bastards all over my desert.”
Shakar was the closest neighboring country to Al Sabah and relations between the two nations were at a breaking point, thanks to Zafar’s uncle. “What does Shakar have to do with this woman? She’s Western, clearly.”
“Yes. Clearly. She is also, if we believe her ranting from when we first took her, American heiress Analise Christensen. I imagine you have heard the name. She is betrothed to the Sheikh of Shakar.”
Yes, he had heard the name. He was largely cut off from matters of State but he still heard things. He made sure he did. And clearly, Jamal made certain he heard things, as well. “And how is it I play into this? What is it you want with her?” he spat.
“We can start a war here, or end one, the choice is yours. Also, with the wrong words in the right ear, even if you take her, but threaten us? We can put you in a very bad position. How is it you ended up with her? The future bride of a man rumored to be the enemy of Al Sabah? Your hands are bound, Zafar.”
In truth, he would never have considered leaving the woman here with them, but what they were suggesting was blackmail, and one problem he didn’t need. One problem too many.
So, buy her and drop her off at the nearest airport.
Yes. He could do. He didn’t have very much money on him, but he didn’t think their aim was to get the highest price off the beauty’s head so much as to seek protection. Zafar was, after all, ready to assume the throne, and he knew all of their secrets.
He looked down at the woman who claimed to be an heiress, betrothed to a sheikh. Anger blazed from those eyes, he could see it clearly now. She was not defeated, but she was also smart enough to save her energy. To not waste time fighting here and now.
“You have not harmed her?” he asked, his throat getting tight with disgust at the thought.
“We have not laid a finger on her, beyond binding her to keep her from escaping. Where would her value be, where would our protection be, if she were damaged?”
They were offering him a chance to see her returned as if nothing had happened, he understood. If she were assaulted, it would be clear, and Al Sabah, and by extension the new and much-maligned sheikh, would be blamed.
And war would be imminent.
Either from Shakar or from his own people, were they to learn of what had happened under his “watch.”
He made an offer. Every bit of money he had. “I’m not dealing,” he said. “That is my only offer.”
Jamal looked at him, his expression hard. “Done.” He extended his hand, and Zafar didn’t for one moment mistake it as an offer for a handshake. He reached into his robes and produced a drawstring coin purse, old-fashioned, not used widely in the culture of the day.
But he’d been disconnected from the culture of the day for fifteen years so that was no surprise.
He poured the coins into his hand. “The woman,” he said, extending his arm, fist closed. “The woman first.”
One of the men walked her forward, and Zafar took hold of her arm, drawing her tight into his body. She was still, stiff, her eyes straight ahead, not once resting on him.
He then passed the coins to Jamal. “I think I will not be stopping for the night.”
“Eager to try her out, Sheikh?”
“Hardly,” he said, his lip curling. “As you said, there is no surer way to start a war.”
He tightened his hold on her and walked her to the corral. She was quiet, unnaturally so and he wondered if she was in shock. He looked down at her face, expecting to see her eyes looking glassy or confused. Instead, she was looking around, calculating.
“No point, princess,” he said in English. “There is nowhere to go out here, but unlike those men, I mean you no harm.”
“And I’m supposed to believe you?” she asked.
“For now.” He opened the gate and his horse approached. He led him from the enclosure. “Can you get on the horse? Are you hurt?”
“I don’t want to get on the horse,” she said, her voice monotone.
He let out a long breath and hauled her up into his arms, pulling her, and himself, up onto the horse in one fluid motion, bringing her to rest in front of his body. “Too bad. I paid too much for you to leave you behind.”
He tapped his horse and the animal moved to a trot, taking them away from the camp.
“You...you bought me?”
“All things considered I got a very good deal.”
“A good...a good deal!”
“I didn’t even look at your teeth. For all I know I was taken advantage of.” He wasn’t in the mood to deal with a hysterical woman. Or a woman in general, no matter her mental state. But he was stuck with one now.
He supposed he should be...sympathetic, or something like that. He no longer knew how.
“You were not,” she said, her voice clipped.