He rose to his full height and stared at her. ‘What the devil are you talking about?’
‘I suppose you’re right.’ Joanna swung her legs to the floor and stood up. ‘It would take a stronger woman than me to watch them hang the man she’d willingly gone to bed with!’
‘That’s nonsense!’
‘Everything my father said about you is true, especially the part about you being a—a barbarian who wants to keep his stranglehold on his pathetic little fiefdom!’
She thought, for an instant, he would strike her. The bones of face showed white through his tan, and his eyes grew dark as stones. She could see him collecting himself, marshalling control of his emotions, and finally he spun on his heels, stalked to the door, and yanked it open. A man standing guard outside snapped to attention. Khalil spat a command at him, and the man nodded.
He looked at Joanna. ‘Come,’ he said, his voice hard as ice.
‘You needn’t throw me out.’ She fought the desire to run and instead strolled casually to where he stood. ‘I’m more than eager to leave.’
‘I’m sure you are.’ He put his hand in the small of her back and shoved her none too gently into the hall. ‘My man will keep you company while you wait.’
‘Charming. But what am I to wait for?’
Khalil smiled coldly. ‘Smile, Joanna,’ he said. ‘Your days as a cloistered prisoner are about to come to an end.’
CHAPTER NINE
JOANNA stood in the corridor outside Khalil’s bedroom and tried to look as if she found nothing unusual in being guarded by a man wearing a head-dress, a long robe, and a ferocious scowl.
Was she really going to be set free? It was dangerous to let herself believe she was—but what else could he have meant when he’d said she’d been a prisoner too long? Or something like that; she’d been so stunned by the suddenness of his declaration that she wasn’t quite sure exactly what it was he’d said except to know that, for the first time since he’d carried her off, she felt a stir of hope.
It would be wonderful to be free, to be away from this awful place and this terrible man. He’d stolen her and now he was feeding her lies, keeping her locked up and under guard—she’d never forgive him for that or for the other indignities he’d heaped on her. Taking her in his arms, kissing her when the last thing she’d ever want were his kisses, sparking a wild passion in her blood that she’d never before known…
‘Are you ready, Joanna?’
She spun around. Khalil stood in the open doorway, seeming to fill it. He wore an open-throated white shirt and black, snug-fitting trousers tucked into riding boots. A white cloak was thrown over his shoulders.
‘Oh, yes,’ she said with a dazzling smile. ‘All I have to do is pack my suitcases and—’
‘I have no time for games,’ he growled.
‘No. I’m sure you don’t. I’m the only one around here with time on my hands.’
He smiled tightly. ‘Perhaps we should discuss the goats and chickens again.’
‘Perhaps we should discuss the fact that I’m not accustomed to sitting on my hands all day.’
‘Had you shown me you could behave yourself, I intended to give you greater freedom.’
‘Had I shown you I could…’ Joanna tossed back her head. ‘I’m not Lilia, Khalil. You can’t make me do your bidding by promising me a reward.’
His eyes narrowed. ‘Would you prefer that I threaten you?’
‘I would prefer,’ she said coldly, ‘that you treat me with dignity.’
‘You mean, you would prefer that I treat you as if we were in your world, that I dance attendance upon you and meet your every whim with a smile?’
‘Is that how you think I live my life? Like some pampered princess in a fairy-tale?’
‘Don’t be silly. I know better.’ Khalil folded his arms over his chest. ‘You go to your office at Bennettco every day and put in long, gruelling hours, working side by side with your father.’ He smiled grimly. ‘That’s what you wanted me to believe, isn’t it?’
Joanna flushed. What was the sense in pretending? ‘I would have gladly put in twenty-four-hour days at the office,’ she said. ‘But my father is as much of a male chauvinist as you are!’
‘Another crime to add to my list.’ Khalil turned as one of his men came hurrying down the hall. ‘Ah,’ he said, taking a silver-trimmed white cloak from his hands, ‘you’ve brought it. Thank you, Ahmed.’ He held it out to Joanna. ‘Put this on.’
She eyed the garment with scorn. ‘I’m not one of your women. You can’t wrap me up like a Christmas package!’
Khalil sighed wearily. ‘I would not dream of making a Christmas package of you. You are far too prickly a gift to give anyone.’
‘Good. Then you can forget about me wearing that thing.’
He stepped forward and draped the cloak about her rigid figure, drawing the hood up and over her bright auburn hair.
‘You will wear it,’ he said.
Joanna glared at him. ‘Why?’
Khalil put his hand in the small of her back and pushed her gently ahead of him along the corridor.
‘For no more devious reason than your comfort. It’s cool in the mountains this time of year.’ He looked at her and shook his head. ‘Why must you always search for hidden meanings?’
‘Dammit!’ She shrugged free of his hand and swung towards him, her mouth trembling with anger. ‘Anyone listening to you would think you’ve treated me with honesty and respect from the moment we met!’
His eyes darkened. ‘I’ve dealt with you as you deserved.’
‘Would you respect me more if I’d spent my life herding goats?’
To her surprise, a grin spread across his face. ‘Are we back to that? It might be a good idea for me to have you spend the day with the goat-herders!’
‘I’d rather spend it with Lilia,’ she snapped. ‘That poor little girl seems almost as miserable as I am.’
Khalil’s smile vanished. ‘I try my best to make her happy,’ he said stiffly.
‘She’s very lonely.’
‘Do you think I don’t know this?’ His mouth tightened. ‘I realise that she could use companionship—but it never occurred to me that you would enjoy spending time with her.’
‘No. Why would it, considering that you’re so certain you know all there is to know about me? You accused me of trying to categorise you, but you’ve done the same thing to me from the instant we met!’
‘I know what I see.’
‘Really. Then I suppose you know that I like children very much, that for a while, when I was at school, I thought of studying to be a teacher.’
‘You?’ He smiled again. ‘A teacher?’
‘That’s right. Me, a teacher. And I’d have been a good one, too.’
‘What stopped you, then?’
Joanna hesitated. ‘My father didn’t approve.’
‘And you changed your course of study, because of that?’ Khalil’s smile was open this time, and genuine. ‘That’s hard to believe.’
‘I changed it because…’ She hesitated again, uncertain of why she was telling him something she’d never told anyone. ‘I thought he disapproved of teaching because he wanted me to come into Bennettco.’
‘But he didn’t,’ Khalil said softly.
Joanna shook her head. ‘No. He—he just wanted me to—to—’
‘He wanted you to be what I have accused you of being: a handsome accessory for a man to wear proudly on his arm.’
‘Yes!’
Her head came up sharply; she was more than ready to tell him what she thought of such an attitude. But he wasn’t looking at her with derision; what she saw in his eyes was nothing she understood.
‘Perhaps we see only what we wish to see,’ he said after a moment.
It was a strange thing for him to have said, Joanna thought. She wanted to ask him what he’d meant, but he put his arm lightly around her shoulders and they stepped out into bright sunshine. Ahead, two horses stood wait
ing in the cobblestoned courtyard. She recognised Najib instantly. The big stallion was pawing impatiently at the ground. But there was another horse standing beside him, a smaller, more delicate one, as white as Najib was black. Her bridle was hung with tiny silver bells, and her saddle was a masterwork of finely tooled leather.
‘This is Sidana,’ Khalil said, gently stroking the mare’s long nose. He smiled. ‘She is gentle, although even she may object if you mount from the wrong side. I promise you that she will take us safely to our destination and then back.’
Joanna looked at him. ‘You’re not setting me free, are you?’ she said, with a sinking heart.
He shook his head. ‘I am not.’
She nodded. ‘I see.’
‘No,’ Khalil said fiercely, ‘you do not see! But you will. After today, you will not believe the lies you have been told by your father.’
‘What lies will I believe, then? Yours?’
The muscle in his jaw knotted with anger. ‘Go on,’ he said tightly, ‘get on the horse.’