Free The Sheikh's Destiny (Harlequin Romance) by Melissa James

tension was so palpable she looked like a string pulled as far as it would go withoutsnapping. ‘All right.’ After a few moments he asked, ‘Did you know who I was from the start? Was that why you saved me?’
    She sighed. ‘Not in the truck, or when I stitched you—but I knew by the time Sh’ellah’s men arrived. Be grateful for that—if I hadn’t known I wouldn’t have hidden your face, and they’d have taken you. As for coming with you now, I had no choice—but I would have saved anyone who needed my help.’
    He could feel the truth in every word. He should be grateful that she’d been honest with him, but it hurt far more than it should have.
    Two days was all that had passed since they’d first met, yet she meant more to him than she should. Possibly because she’d saved him so many times; possibly because she was one of his own, and he hadn’t been aware how deep his hunger ran to be with his own people again—
    And most probably because she was Hana, his dawn star who shone in a dark world: an honest woman who refused to lie even when it could save her.
    â€˜So you’re saying I’m just anyone? One of hundreds you’ve probably saved?’ His voice was rough with the weird mix of anger and gratitude simmering in him.
    She turned her face to him, frowning. Flecks of dirt fell from her cheeks with the movement. ‘Would you rather I saved you because of who you are?’
    â€˜No,’ he muttered. She was right; he wouldn’t want that. So what did he want from her?
    That was the trouble; his emotions felt as confused as his concussed brain. But from the start, Hana had humbled him, amazed him, fascinated him—and the combination was deadly for a man who had as many secrets as he did. But she’d known who he was all along, and said nothing until he’d asked, until he’d prodded her pain and she’d responded without thought.
    She’d treated him like any other man. She’d laughed at him, ordered him around—desired him with honest heat…
    Or had she? Had everything she’d said and done been a lie, centred on fascinating the deformed, lonely sheikh until he was her emotional slave?
    â€˜So what’s your plan when we return to the world?’ he drawled to hide his sudden, blinding fury. ‘There’s probably quite a reward for my safe return to Abbas al-Din. Or are you hoping for an even better reward than money—my mistress, perhaps? Or even my wife, if you think wealth and position can make up for having to tolerate me in your bed?’
    He didn’t know what he expected her to do—slap him, toss half the energy bars and water at him and demand they go their separate ways…cry and protest her innocence…furiously remind him she’d saved his life before she’d known his identity—
    Shame scorched him as he remembered that. He opened his mouth—
    But then she finally responded: wild, almost jackal-like laughter. ‘You have got to be kidding me,’ she gasped, her face alight with hard mirth. She doubled over, her gusts of laughter growing stronger by the moment. ‘I’m seducing you!’
    Alim stared at her, shocked into silence. ‘What’s so funny?’ he asked at last, when she seemed to be sliding into full-on hysteria.
    She straightened, still chuckling, but the eyes that met his were diamond-hard, glittering with an emotion he couldn’t stand to see in her. ‘Until you resume your true identity and position in Abbas al-Din, my lord, you have no right to demand answers of me. Until then, I can safely promise I will not be calling the media to collect any reward, and I certainly won’t be seducing you at any time in the near future. So ironic …’ She shook her head and slid down to the ground,laughing with that cold cynicism he’d never thought to see in his deep-principled, caring