The trouble was that once the idea had surfaced of her being pregnant with his child the possibility had consumed him. He imagined her belly swollen with their baby. He’d developed a covetous streak a mile wide since meeting her, and he knew that bearing his child would bind her to him more securely than even the legal and moral promises that joined them. And he wanted that.
Wanted the certainty of having her forever at his side.
He’d been so caught up in the thrill of the moment he hadn’t spared a thought for the fact that she might not feel ready for motherhood.
That it would have been wiser to bide his time and sound her out on the subject.
Rafiq pulled on his trousers and pushed the hair back from his face. He’d have to be more cautious in future.
He strolled to the tent’s entrance and stood in the cool shadows, staring out at the view he knew and loved so well. It felt absolutely right to be here with Belle. For a moment he allowed himself to wish that his grandfather were still alive, to meet her and see what a wonderful prize his grandson had won for himself.
He stretched, satisfied and pleasantly relaxed. His gaze followed the flight of a falcon, wheeling high over the edge of the desert.
Below it a hill of sand curved steeply down to the oasis, its pristine slope marred by the tracks of several horses.
Immediately Rafiq tensed, his mind racing. He and Belle had ridden in from the north, not the east, and when they’d arrived there had been no other tracks. The security check this morning had been by air, with the helicopter landing in its usual spot, just behind where the tent now stood.
The hairs on his neck stood on end as the implications struck him, and instantly he moved into the shadows, away from the opening.
The armed forces’ security personnel assigned to guard him and Belle were out there, of course. With Selim still at large he wouldn’t have taken her into the desert alone. The soldiers had come by four wheel drive and were stationed at strategic locations around the oasis, so as not to disturb the privacy of their sheikh.
Fleetingly he wondered about the fate of those guards assigned to protection duty. None of them would have willingly admitted intruders.
Whoever had come by horse had somehow passed through that security cordon. His jaw hardened at the sure knowledge of who they must be.
At any other time he’d welcome the opportunity to get his hands on Selim’s fat neck. But not now. Not with Belle here. If anything should happen to her…
CHAPTER TWELVE
`BELLE.’ For an instant his lips met hers, coaxing her out of sleep.
Then his voice came, soft yet urgent in her ear, his hand warm on her cheek. `Quickly and quietly. You must get up. There’s danger.’
Her eyes snapped open at his compelling tone. She blinked dazedly into his eyes, but already he’d drawn back, pulling her into a sitting position.
Before she could open her mouth to question, his palm slid to cover her mouth. `Not a sound,’ he whispered. `We’re in danger, and you must do as I say. Do you understand?’
She read the grim lines bracketing his mouth, the steely determination in his gaze, and knew with an instant plummeting sensation of dread that her worst nightmare had come true. Fear prickled her neck as she thought of the merciless men who’d abducted her and left her to die. Who’d set off a bomb in a crowded city.
Shakily she nodded.
For a moment longer his eyes held hers, the unguarded emotion she saw there stealing her breath, making her pulse race. Then it was gone as his face settled into a mask of formidable purpose.
`Here.’ He pressed something into her hands as he moved away.
`Cover yourself.’
Her legs trembled as she slid off the bed, her hands fumbling nerveless as she struggled with the garment, eventually identifying it as Rafiq’s discarded shirt. Ridiculous to feel such relief as the fine cotton drifted down around her, covering her to her thighs.
Mere cloth was no barrier against the pain those renegades could inflict. But she drew it gratefully round herself, as if the fact that it was Rafiq’s could protect her.
She’d only managed to do up a few buttons when she heard it. A muted sound from just outside.
Her head jerked round and she met Rafiq’s steady gaze. He was whispering into what looked like a walkie-talkie, and as she watched he stooped and hid it under a corner of carpet.
Then he was striding across to her, taking her shoulders in his hands.
`Help is on its way, little one. No matter what happens, remember that. Meanwhile, we must play for time.’
`Rafiq,’ she whispered, suddenly desperate at the knowledge that they might not survive whatever lurked outside the tent. That all she felt for him was still unsaid. Ì-‘