‘For goodness’ sake, you needn’t be “honoured”! This is the millennium. Bowing and scraping went out with the Dark Ages.’
‘Yes, Joanna.’ Rachelle smiled sweetly. ‘If you need me, you have only to ring the bell.’
She started towards the door, and suddenly Joanna’s good intentions deserted her. She couldn’t let the girl leave without at least trying to get through to her.
‘Rachelle!’ Joanna swung her legs to the floor. ‘Rachelle, wait a minute.’ The girl turned towards her. ‘Prince Khalil brought me here against my will,’ she said in a rush. ‘He kidnapped me…’
Rachelle’s eyes grew shuttered. ‘I shall return,’ she said, and the door swung shut after her.
Joanna sat staring at it for a long moment and then she muttered several short, impolite words she’d learned during the years she’d spent with Sam in his field operations and had never found suitable to use—until now. She sat up, threw back the blankets, and looked around the room.
It was handsome, she thought grudgingly. The tiled floor, the inlaid furniture, and the white walls on which hung old and beautiful Persian rugs were all pleasing to the eye.
But it was still a prison.
She rose from the bed, kicked aside her shoes, stubbing her toe in the process, and strode briskly to the adjoining bathroom. By now, she knew better than to expect to find a hole in the ground and a basin of cold water, but the tiled room and glass-enclosed shower still were enough to surprise her. Steam rose from a deep tub, and the scent of roses filled the air.
‘His Almighty Highness likes to live well,’ Joanna muttered as she yanked her slip over her head and tossed it on to the closed bathroom commode.
She glared at the tub, then turned her back on it, pulled open the door to the shower stall, and stepped inside. Khalil had given orders she was not to be disturbed this morning. Had he also given orders she was to be wooed with a scented bath? A shower, quick and modern, was more to her liking.
What insanity this was. First there’d been those silly men last night, riding up to greet Khalil with torches blazing in their hands, looking like nothing so much as a crowd of extras who’d wandered off a movie set, and now there was this silly girl, Rachelle, acting as if she either lived in mortal terror of offending her lord and master—or had been brainwashed to think of him as a tin god. Either way, it was ridiculous.
‘Ridiculous,’ Joanna said sharply, and she shut off the spray and stepped out on to the bath mat.
She dried off briskly, reached for her slip—and stopped. She’d slept in it last night rather than have to ring for Rachelle and ask for a nightgown or pyjamas. Now, the thought of putting on the wrinkled garment was not appealing. The thought of getting into the bit of emerald silk that lay on a chair in the bedroom wasn’t appealing, either, but what choice did she have? Joanna’s nostrils flared. Khalil hadn’t exactly given her time to pack an overnight bag!
Well, she thought, wrapping the towel around herself, she could avoid wearing the slip, at least. The dress didn’t really require more than panties and a bra, both of which…
She cried out as she stepped into the bedroom. A man was standing looking out of the window, his back to the room, but she knew instantly it was Khalil. No one else would have those broad shoulders, that tapered waist, those long, muscular legs. Yes, it was certainly Khalil, making himself at home.
‘What do you think you’re doing?’ she demanded.
Khalil turned slowly and looked at her. Rachelle had said she’d drawn a bath for the woman. Why hadn’t it occurred to him that he might well catch her as she emerged from that bath, looking scrubbed and innocent and beautiful when she was none of those things? No. He was wrong. She was beautiful, more beautiful now, without her make-up and jewellery, than she’d been last night.
He felt a tightening in his groin and it infuriated him. That he should be stirred by a woman like this was impossible. Despite her beauty, she was hardly a prize, not when she was nothing but the baksheesh meant to corrupt him.
‘I asked you a question! What are you doing in my room?’
His dark brows rose a little. ‘Rachelle told me you were awake, and so—’
‘And so you thought you’d barge right in, without permission?’
‘I knocked, several times, but you didn’t answer.’
‘I was in the shower!’
‘Yes.’ He leaned back against the wall and let his gaze drift over her. ‘So I see.’
Joanna flushed. She felt as if he’d stripped away the towel and she was certain that was just the way he wanted her to feel. She ached to race back to the safety of the bathroom or to drag the blanket from the bed and enclose herself in it, but she’d be damned if she’d give him the satisfaction.
‘Perhaps you can also see that I wasn’t exactly expecting to receive visitors,’ she said coldly.
‘Rachelle said you were unhappy with her.’
‘So?’
‘So, she is very young, and very sensitive. And—’
‘Let me get this straight. You came barging into my room because I hurt Rachelle’s feelings?’ Joanna laughed. ‘You’ll forgive me, Your Lordship—’
‘That is not my title.’
‘If you’re waiting for me to apologise for upsetting your little slave, you’re in for a long wait.’
‘She is not my slave.’ Khalil’s eyes turned cool. ‘We have no slaves, here in the northern hills.’
‘Of course,’ Joanna purred. ‘I should have realised. The people here are all happy and content. The only slaves in Jandara are in the south, where the evil Abu Al Zouad rules.’
His eyes narrowed. The woman was impossible! How dared she speak to him with so little respect? How dared she stand before him as she did, flaunting her almost naked body?
‘Don’t you have a robe to put on?’ he demanded.
She smiled sweetly. ‘I’m afraid the hotel didn’t supply one.’
‘Rachelle was told to bring you anything you requested. If you had thought to ask—’
‘The only thing I thought to ask for was my freedom,’ Joanna said, lifting her chin in defiance. ‘It was a request your little harem girl denied.’
‘I shall see to it that you are given some proper clothing,’ Khalil said stiffly.
‘Meaning what? If you think I’m going to put on a robe that drapes me from chin to toe, if you think I’m going to wrap a scarf around my head and look out at the world through a veil—’
‘Is that what you have seen Rachelle wearing?’
It wasn’t, of course. The girl wore a soft, scoop-necked cotton blouse and a pretty skirt that fell to mid-calf; her hair hung loose and uncovered to her shoulders.
‘Or is that description of your own invention, meant to shore up your belief that we are a backward people?’ The flush that rose in her cheeks gave him a certain grim satisfaction. He shrugged his white robe from his shoulders and held it out to her. ‘Here. Wear this until—’
‘I don’t want anything from you, Khalil!’
His mouth thinned. ‘Put it on!’
Her eyes flashed as he stepped forward and draped the robe over her shoulders. His fingers brushed her bare skin; a tingle raced along her nerve endings, one that sent a tremor through her. Khalil frowned and stepped back quickly.
‘I will see to the clothing.’
‘Yes. So you said.’ Joanna drew the robe around herself. ‘But I’m more interested in what my father’s had to say.’
His frown deepened. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Come on, Khalil, don’t treat me like a fool! Surely you’ve contacted him with your ransom demands.’
He looked at her for a long moment, then turned and strolled to the window.
‘I have, yes,’ he said, his back to her.
‘And?’ Joanna took a step forward. ‘What did he say? How soon will he meet them?’
‘I cannot tell you that.’
‘What do you mean, you can’t tell me?’ Joanna moved closer to him. ‘I’ve every right to know how long I’m going to be your prisoner!’
He swung towards her, his face stony. ‘You will be here until your father decides to be reasonable.’
‘You mean, I’ll be here until he can raise the money you’ve asked for my return!’
‘I have not asked for money.’
‘No.’ Joanna’s smile was chill. ‘Of course you haven’t. I keep forgetting—you’re the Hawk of the North. It’s Abu Al Zouad who’s the villain in this piece.’
‘Joke all you wish, Joanna. It will not change the truth.’
Her chin lifted. ‘It certainly won’t. Abu Al Zouad’s supposed to be this—this monster, this evil emperor, but—’
‘He is a man who has enslaved his people.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous! If there were slaves in Jandara, Bennettco wouldn’t have—’
‘There are all kinds of slavery,’ Khalil said sharply. ‘People who live in fear of displeasing their ruler may not be slaves in the classic sense, but they are slaves just the same.’
Joanna smiled coolly. ‘I suppose your people do that ridiculous bowing to you out of love, not fear.’
It pleased her to see a wash of crimson rise across his high cheekbones.