Free Bella and the Merciless Sheikh by Sarah Morgan Page B

laptop, a cell-phone or an iPod.’
    â€˜And without those you cannot occupy yourself? You rely on technology for entertainment?’
    â€˜Yes, I do. It’s how I keep in touch with my friends. I can’t do that, so I thought I’d watch you instead.’
    â€˜I am not your friend.’
    â€˜No, but you’re a living creature, which is a start. Andyou’re pretty good to look at.’ She knew she was playing a dangerous game, but she was desperate for him to take her back to the city and she was pretty sure that he’d crack eventually.
    â€˜You are intentionally provocative.’ Without waiting for her response, he removed the knife from her hand and hauled her to her feet, his furious dark eyes only centimetres from hers as he yanked her against him. ‘What were you planning to do with the knife?’
    â€˜Calm down, will you?’ Bella bit back a gasp as her thigh brushed against his. ‘I was going to use it as a mirror.’
    â€˜A mirror ?’
    â€˜Yes, the blade is shiny…metal—I’ve been trapped without a mirror for two weeks! I just wanted to know whether the damage can ever be repaired.’
    He glanced down at the lethal blade in his hand in astonishment as if its alternative properties had never occurred to him before. ‘A mirror—’
    â€˜Look,’ Bella snapped, ‘the desert may be heaven to you, but to me it’s the opposite, OK? I can’t do any of the things I normally do!’
    â€˜You spend your day looking in the mirror?’
    Feeling shallow, Bella shrank slightly. ‘Try being me before you pass judgement,’ she muttered. ‘If I leave the house without make-up, everyone is suddenly asking whether I’m ill, or on drugs, or about to be admitted to a clinic. Whatever I wear is scrutinised—people are mean .’
    â€˜ Who is mean?’
    Recovering from the shocking fact that she’d actually admitted to someone how much the negative press coverage actually hurt her feelings, Bella back tracked. ‘Friends,’ she said vaguely, ‘and family—’
    â€˜Your friends and family scrutinise everything you wear? They’re mean?’
    â€˜Oh, whatever—’ Realising that she was digging a holefor herself, Bella shrugged. ‘It doesn’t matter. I’m just saying it’s second nature for me to look in a mirror and just check I haven’t woken up with a huge spot on my nose.’
    â€˜And what do you do if you have?’
    â€˜I stay indoors.’
    â€˜Your life is truly bizarre.’
    Bella frowned. She’d lived that life for so long she no longer even questioned it. Was it bizarre?
    He gave an impatient sigh. ‘You need to stop thinking about the way you look and learn humility. And obedience. I told you not to sit there and watch. Don’t challenge me, habibiti , because you will not win.’
    â€˜Oh, dear, am I annoying you?’ She forced the taunt past dry, stiff lips and saw the flare of anger in the depths of his gaze.
    â€˜Yes,’ he gritted, his hand tightening around her wrist, ‘but my response to that will not be to send you away, but to keep you closer. Remember that, before you push me too far, Kate.’
    Kate? Who on earth was Kate? Bella opened her mouth to tell him that he ought to at least get her name right and then remembered that she was the one who had introduced herself as Kate.
    Out here in the burning sands of the desert, Bella Balfour didn’t exist.
    What a confusing mess she’d created, although there was something liberating about being anonymous. It would be even better if she could be anonymous somewhere with decent facilities.
    â€˜Why would you keep me closer if I’m annoying?’
    His smile was lethal. ‘Because I intend to teach you how to behave. You need to learn respect.’
    â€˜What are you going to do? Throw me over your knee?’ Bella’s