Сара Морган – Bella's Disgrace (страница 4)

Irritated by his thoughts, he pressed the cup to her lips again. Her hand closed over his wrist as she drank and the burn of her fingers against his skin induced a reaction so shockingly powerful that Zafiq almost dropped the cup.

‘How could you have done this without help? There must have been someone with you?’

‘No.’ Her voice was faint. ‘On my own.’

As he laid her back against the pillows, Zafiq pondered why a horse thief should be working alone and unsupported. All the intelligence he’d received on the threat to his valuable mare had seemed to point to a group of people. ‘Sleep.’ He rose to his feet swiftly, needing to distance himself. Needing to regain control. ‘I must check on the animals.’

No one would be touching his horses again, he promised himself fiercely as he strode towards the entrance of the tent.

‘Wait—’ Her soft croak stopped him. ‘Who are you?’

Zafiq gave a cynical smile.

Never before had anyone asked him that question. He eyed her blonde hair and fair skin thoughtfully. It was entirely possible that this uninformed, naive woman, who thought she could kidnap a valuable animal without detection, genuinely had no idea who he was.

Which suited him.

His exact location was a secret. And he wanted it to remain a secret, particularly as he now had Amira’s safety to think about.

‘I’m your nemesis,’ he purred, his voice lethally soft as he lifted the flap of the tent. ‘And you are going to live to regret the day you stole my horse.’

Everything had shifted from gold to white.

Had she died and gone to heaven?

Bella blinked several times and realised that she was staring up at canvas. She was inside a tent. And it was hot. Stiflingly hot, like being trapped in an oven on full heat with the door closed. Her head throbbed, her mouth felt parched and she had no idea what she was doing here. Memories flickered through her head—a strong male voice ordering her to drink, firm, decisive hands stripping her of her clothing …

Stripping her of her clothing?

Realising that she was naked apart from her underwear, she was about to find something to cover herself with when the flap of the tent was pushed aside and a man strode inside. Stripped to the waist, his muscular bronzed shoulders glistened with water, as though wet from a dip in the pool. He was naked apart from a towel tied loosely around his lean hips.

For a moment she thought she must be hallucinating because he was indecently, impossibly, handsome.

‘OK, maybe I have died and gone to heaven,’ Bella croaked humorously but there was no answering smile from her rescuer. Eyes as dark as jet scanned her with arrogant appraisal and unconcealed disdain.

‘You have a strange concept of heaven. Or maybe you don’t realise how much trouble you’re in.’

‘You are my kind of trouble—’ Feeling weak and dizzy, Bella eyed his powerful physique and started to laugh. ‘You have to see the funny side—all those hours I’ve spent at parties hoping to meet a spectacular-looking man and he turns up here in the desert—’ The desert.

Oh, God, she was still in the desert.

Catching the flare of shock in his eyes, she sighed as everything rushed back to her. ‘Look, I’ve no idea where I am, but just tell me you’re not going to make me drink herbal tea and search for the meaning of life. Otherwise I’ll have a relapse.’ Conscious of the contrast between his striking good looks and her dishevelled appearance, Bella surreptitiously slid her fingers through her hair, wincing as she encountered a dry, matted mass. ‘Ugh. Sand. There’s sand everywhere.’

‘That’s why it’s called the desert.’

‘Yes, but it’s even in my hair—’ Her trademark silky mane had the texture of sandpaper and Bella shuddered.

No wonder he wasn’t looking at her the way men usually looked at her.

‘A few hours ago you were staring death in the face and now you are worrying about your hair?’ The contempt in his tone added insult to injury.

‘Look, do you have any idea what it’s like to be stranded in this red, gritty wilderness without so much as a bottle of decent conditioner?’ Bella pouted at him and then lifted her fingers to her mouth in horror. ‘My lips are cracked—’

‘That’s what happens when you trek across the desert without appropriate protection.’ He was as harsh and blistering as the desert sun and Bella’s spine stiffened defensively.

‘I hadn’t planned on getting lost!’

‘That tends to happen when you point your horse in the wrong direction.’ His sardonic tone was the final straw and Bella felt her cheeks redden.

‘Your bedside manner needs work.’

‘The quality of my bedside manner,’ he drawled, ‘depends on who is lying in my bed.’

A stranger to masculine indifference, Bella was appalled to feel a lump settle in her throat. She reminded herself frantically that red tear-stained eyes in a sandblasted face would make her look like a gargoyle and swallowed hard, refusing to give in to an emotion that would make her even less physically appealing.

Give me half an hour in that pool he’s just swum in, she thought to herself, and I’ll knock him dead. Even without the aid of a mirror.

‘Are you always this preoccupied with your appearance? One would have thought you had more important issues on your mind. Like humility. You should be dwelling on the lesson the desert has taught you.’ The slow-burning anger in his eyes made her wonder what she’d done to offend him so deeply.

‘The desert has taught me never to leave the city again.’ Feeling sicker by the minute, Bella stretched gingerly and discovered that she ached from head to toe. ‘You don’t seem very pleased that I’m alive.’

‘I was not expecting to spend my first night in the desert with a half-dead female.’

‘You prefer completely dead females? I suppose at least they don’t answer back.’ Sneaking a look at his unsmiling face, Bella decided there was no point in asking if he had a mirror. ‘Look, I’m sorry I’ve messed up your plans, OK? Just give me something for my headache, point me towards the city and I’ll get out of your way.’

He muttered something in a language she didn’t understand and this time his glance was both fierce and contemptuous. ‘Have you learned nothing from your escapade? This is the desert, not the English countryside. You don’t just go for a walk. Or even a ride.’

Bella remembered the dark shadow emerging from the haze of sunlight and realised that it must have been him. ‘You do.’

‘I was born in this country. I understand every movement of the sun and every shift of the sands and yet even I would not set out on a journey as lamentably ill equipped as you. Next time you decide to commit a crime I suggest you spend more time on the planning. You had no map, no spare clothing and no water.’ Incredulity and disgust radiated from his expression and his tone. ‘What were you thinking?’

‘I suppose I wasn’t really thinking,’ Bella admitted, chastened by his harsh words and distracted by the word crime. ‘I just wanted to get to the city. I misunderstood the distance.’

‘And that one small error would have cost two lives if I hadn’t arrived when I did.’

‘Two?’ As she absorbed the meaning behind his statement, Bella struggled to a sitting position, guilt sharpening her anxiety. ‘Wait a minute. The beautiful horse—is she all right? You said—’

‘She will survive, but no thanks to you. That mare is a valuable animal.’ His smile was cynical. ‘But you know that, don’t you? That’s why you took her.’

‘I took her because she was so friendly.’ Bella was tortured by the horror of what might have happened. She’d almost killed a horse. She’d totally and utterly messed up. Again. But no one would be surprised to hear that, would they? Everyone expected her to mess up. ‘She’s full Arab isn’t she? They have such distinctive features.’

‘And I’m sure you were well acquainted with her distinctive features. How else would you be sure of stealing the right animal?’

‘You’re right to be angry with me.’ Bella was genuinely contrite and more than a little puzzled by the venom in his tone. ‘I’m angry with myself. I would never intentionally have put the mare in danger. I love horses—much more than humans actually,’ she said humbly, ‘but I honestly thought it would take me less than an hour to get to the city.’

‘Was that where they were waiting?’

‘Who?’

‘Your accomplices.’

‘I didn’t have any accomplices.’

‘Then how did you plan to sell her?’

‘I wasn’t going to sell her!’ Bella sat up straight, offended by the suggestion. ‘I was going to send her back to the stables.’

Exasperation mingled with incredulity. ‘You expect me to believe that you stole a horse with the intention of returning her?’

‘I didn’t steal a horse!’ Bella’s voice was an outraged squeak. ‘I—I just borrowed her. For a short time … ‘ Her voice trailed off, her pathetic defence squashed by the satanic blaze of his beautiful black eyes. ‘I’m not a thief!’

‘You were in possession of an animal that does not belong to you. Had she escaped from her stable?’

Bella shrank slightly. ‘Er, no.’

‘So you physically took her?’

‘I borrowed her—’ Seriously worried now, Bella wished she had a weapon so that she could defend herself. And then she remembered he was a man. And she had big blue eyes. What better weapon could a girl ask for? She angled her face and looked directly at him. ‘I can explain.’