Free Sheikh's Blackmailed Love by Sophia Lynn Page B

given your argument, and now I get to give mine.”
    “There is no argument here,” he said, his voice dropping down to a growl.
    “There is,” she said, standing up as tall as she could. “Because otherwise, there is a man who is giving me orders without authority, and that means that man is a bully.”
    For a moment, Dario stared at her, incensed. She narrowed her eyes, ready to counter whatever he said next, but then he turned away.
    “You are a singularly infuriating and foolish woman,” he snarled, and then he stalked into the darkness.
    Bailey stared after him, shocked and hurt. She had expected a fight. She had expected him to rage at her. She hadn’t expected this blunt rejection.
    When it became clear he wasn’t coming back, she made her way down from the cave, moving carefully and slowly so she didn’t have to think about what was going on. When she was back in the safety of her own trailer, she sat for a while in bed, a book open but unread on her lap.
    Is this the real version of us after all? Bailey wondered. Are we simply not fit to be together?
    The next day was a frenzy in camp. The main convoy leaving for Jabal was departing that afternoon, and there was a great deal to get done. Everyone around her was lively about what their plans were. Some were going to see their families; others had no intention of sleeping at all until they were on the jeeps coming back to the encampment on Sunday night. Word had gotten around that the sheikh had rented out a block of rooms at a luxury hotel for those who didn’t have anywhere else to go, and most people were thrilled.
    Bailey tried to be happy for her friends, but she knew that she wouldn’t have any part in it. She might demand and argue, but the truth was that in Jabal, she was Dario’s dependent. When he told her to go somewhere, she went. Dutifully, she packed her bag and went out to the convoy with the others.
    She was unsurprised when Majid, one of Dario’s riders, approached her.
    “Miss Tyler, you are to come with me,” he said, his voice careful and formal.
    “Of course,” she said. She knew that it was not his fault that he had to carry out his sheikh’s orders, but a part of her couldn’t help but be a little resentful.
    To her relief, they got into a jeep, rather than heading to the horse corral. It had sounded as if Dario was planning to strand her in the back of beyond.
    To her surprise, Majid followed the convoy to Jabal. She watched in shock as the tall skyscrapers of Jabal appeared hazily in the distance and then grew sharp and solid.
    “Excuse me, but aren’t you meant to be taking me to an inn or something?”
    Majid shrugged.
    “I go where Sheikh Nejem tells me to go,” he said gruffly.
    “But where is that?”
    “Rising Star.”
    “What’s that?”
    Majid glanced over, shooting her an amused grin. It occurred to her that he must have been at least twenty years her senior, easily old enough to be her father. She must have looked like an impatient teenager to him.
    “You will see.”
    There was something so gentle about his words, so assured, that she realized something in that moment.
    “You… you know about us, don’t you?” she asked softly.
    For a moment, she thought he wasn’t going to answer her at all. Then, with a soft sigh, he nodded.
    “It is not as bad as you fear,” he said. “It is very hard to hide things from the riders. We go everywhere, and generally, we are not seen unless we want to be. The sheikh is a subtle man, but we take our responsibility to him very seriously.”
    For a moment, Bailey was shocked to think that people had known about their trysts, but then she found she was oddly comforted to know that there were men looking after him.
    “I am glad you are so careful with him,” she said, leaning back in her seat. “I imagine that he is not an easy man to keep track of.”
    Majid chuckled with surprise. When he looked at her again, there was a gleam of respect there that she wasn’t