The Sheikh's Bartered Bride

As she watched her husband and Ahmed vie for first place in the camel race, ulterior motives for her marriage were the furthest thing from her mind. She was too terrified to think of anything else.

"I didn't know camels could move that fast."

Latifah laughed. "They are magnificent, are they not?"

"But what if the camel stumbles? What if Hakim is thrown?"

More laughter met her questions. "Hakim?" Latifah asked with clear disbelief.

"He's a man like any other, made of flesh and blood, bones that can break." Okay, maybe he wasn't like any other man, but he was still breakable.

Latifah became serious. "You care very much for my brother, do you not?"

"Yes," Catherine admitted, without tearing her gaze from the racing camels. "I love him. It's why I married him."

"I am glad. He deserves this love, I think."

Catherine sucked in a terrified breath as Hakim made a move with his camel that looked incredibly risky.

"He is an excellent rider," Latifah tried to reassure her. "He often wins the race, much to my husband's chagrin. It is good for Ahmed not to win every time."

It was Catherine's turn to laugh at Latifah's complacent statement.

Latifah laughed with her. "I am not disloyal, but my husband has been known to be insufferable after winning a race."

"Arrogance runs in the family, does it?" She'd learned that Ahmed and Hakim were cousins.

The other woman's eyes twinkled. "Yes."

"So, you're wishing the insufferable winner syndrome on me instead?"

"I believe my brother already considers himself the winner. He is well pleased with you for his wife."

Two hours later, Catherine and the winner of the camel races boarded another black helicopter. Again, there was little opportunity for communication as the helicopter flew through the sky, but unlike before, Hakim took Catherine's hand firmly in his, keeping it captive for the entire flight.

Her first view of Hakim's palace was an aerial one. Nowhere near as huge as the Palace of Jawhar, it was nevertheless an impressive structure. Domed roofs and tinted sandstone gave the hilltop structure a distinctively Middle Eastern look.

The helicopter landed in a flat valley several hundred feet from the palace. Men wearing the distinct black of King Asad's private guard were there to meet them along with an SUV to drive them and their luggage to the palace.

Hakim insisted on giving her a tour of the palace right off. She was right that it wasn't nearly as big as his uncle's palace, but she was ,still overwhelmed by the time he led her up a winding staircase. It seemed to go on forever before it ended at the entrance to a glass domed room.

It was an observatory, obviously built many years ago. Books on stargazing lined one wall. Some were in English, some French and some Arabic.

However, the books could not hold her attention long, not when in the center of the room sat a table and on that table resided a vintage George Lee and Sons telescope in perfect condition. She walked toward it as if drawn by a force greater than herself, her hand outstretched to touch.

Her fingertips brushed along the barrel. "It's beautiful.”

"I believed you would like it."

She spun around to face him. "I thought, you know, that you faked your interest in ancient stargazing so we'd have something in common."

His mouth twisted in a grimace. "The telescope was my father's as was the passion for this hobby, but I soon found myself interested beyond pursuing it merely as a

means to get to know you."

Why they met was taking on less and less significance the longer she stayed with him. She was sure that had been his plan when he kidnapped her. "Will you continue to attend meetings for the Antique Telescope Society with me?"

"I would enjoy the opportunity to do so."

She smiled.

"I meant to present the telescope to you as a gift before our wedding in the desert. It would have pleased my father for a true devotee of his favorite hobby to have it, particularly his daughter by marriage."

"I don't know what to say."

He took her hands in his, his eyes compelling her agreement. "Say you will accept it."

She sensed that in accepting it, she was tacitly accepting the permanence of that marriage. Was she ready to do that?

No matter what he felt for her, ultimately, it came down to life with Hakim and life without him. The possibility that she might carry his child weighed heavily against life without him. It was much too soon to tell. but she could not shake the feeling she was pregnant.

But even without a baby, the last few days had shown her the richness of life with him. Did she really want to return to the colorless life she had without him in it'

"You've fought very hard to keep this marriage,” she said.