Bella and the Merciless Sheikh

Reminding herself that she had the element of surprise on her side, she told herself that she had to act quickly. No hesitation.

If someone was going to harm Zafiq’s horse, they were going to have to go through her.

She watched, terrified, as a strong male hand grasped the bolt, shot it back and opened the stable door.

Her heart thundering, Bella grasped the stick with both hands and lifted it, inching to one side so that she could hit the man and not the horse.

In the shadowy light she could see that he was tall and powerfully built and her stomach cramped because her chances of defending Amira against someone as muscular as this man were remote. Swiftly she revised her plan.

As he raised his hand to the horse Bella gave a hiss.

‘Get away from her—slowly. I know exactly who you are and what you’re doing and I have a weapon pointed straight at you. Step away slowly or I will shoot you.’

‘If you know exactly who I am and what I’m doing, then why would you need a weapon? And it’s hard to shoot someone with a stick.’

Recognising Zafiq’s dry, sarcastic drawl, Bella’s knees flooded with relief and she dropped the stick and sagged against the wall. ‘Oh, it’s you!’ She pressed her hand to her chest, feeling her heart banging. ‘You frightened the life out of me!’

‘Is that why you were holding a stick?’ He flashed a torch in her direction and Bella turned her head away, squinting against the light.

‘I thought someone was after Amira.’ She slid back down on the straw, wobbly as a newborn foal. ‘What are you doing here? You wanted to give me a heart attack and finish me off altogether?’ Now that her eyes had adjusted, she could just about make out his features and she wondered why she hadn’t recognised him instantly when every contour of his body was indelibly printed into her brain.

‘I heard a rumour that you were sleeping in the stable.’

‘Why would that bother you?’

‘Party-girl Bella Balfour living in a heap of straw, no hot or cold running water?’

‘I lived in a tent with you for four days,’ she snapped, her body still weak from reaction, ‘and that wasn’t exactly a five-star experience. Where are the guards?’

‘obviously they know better than to arrest the Sheikh.’

‘I thought they might have been paid off, like last time.’

‘The guards in Al-Rafid are fiercely loyal to me. They cannot be bribed. What is this about, Bella?’ His tone was cold and hard. ‘Rising at five every morning and working until your hands bleed? Sleeping with my horse? It seems you’ve gone out of your way to charm everyone, including my brother. What are you playing at?’

Taken aback by his savage tone and the injustice of what he was saying, Bella glared at him. ‘I’m working, not playing. I’m working a fourteen-hour day and then I’m sleeping here. You think I’m having sex with everyone in your stables, is that what you’re saying?’ Still over wrought from thinking someone was going to steal Amira, her voice was shrill. ‘You think that the only way anyone is ever going to have anything nice to say about me is if they’ve slept with me!’

He was across the stable before she could move, his hands lifting her in a single powerful movement, his body pressing hers against the wall. ‘I want to know how far it’s gone with my brother. Rachid is very young and he has no experience of women like you—’

Over tired, shocked to see him again and bitterly hurt by his cynical view of her, Bella exploded. ‘I can’t win, can I? I’ve been working myself to the bone to make sure no one could complain about me! I don’t have a single decent nail left, I haven’t washed my hair for a week and I’m covered in bruises from—’ She was about to say your stallion, but just stopped herself in time. ‘Frankly I wouldn’t have the energy for sex even if the opportunity presented itself so you can take your jealousy else where!’