At the Sheikh's Bidding(22)

       
           



       

She braked and selected  reverse gear, but as she turned the steering   wheel she heard a sickening  crunch of metal against something hard, and   when she accelerated  forward the car did not move.


‘Wait there,' she ordered  Kazim, trying to keep the tension from her   voice as she opened the door  and jumped out onto the sand. A hurried   inspection revealed that one of  the back wheels had become tightly   wedged between two rocks; the metal  rim was buckled, and even if she   could free it, it was clear that the  vehicle would be undriveable. She   was trapped in the vast, dark desert  where the temperature had already   plummeted.

She saw Kazim  shiver, and knew in that moment that she had made the   biggest mistake of  her life. What had she been thinking of? The desert   was an alien  environment to her, and she must have been crazy to have   risked driving  across it alone. She had put Kazim's life at risk, and   now she felt sick  with fear and guilt. Zahir had said he thought she   was insane, and  right now she could offer no defence against his   accusation.

‘Erin, I want to go back now.'

Kazim  sounded tired and Erin hastened to reassure him. ‘We will, soon,'   she  said soothingly as she opened the rear door and wrapped her  jacket   around him.

‘Zahir and me are going to play trains when we get home.'

‘That'll  be great.' She smiled at the little boy, anxious to hide her   fear from  him. She certainly couldn't reveal that she had no idea how   they were  ever going to get back to the palace.

Soon Kazim's breathing  slowed and he fell asleep. Erin curled her arm   around him and stared at  the twin beams of light that shone from the   headlights. She knew she  risked flattening the car battery by leaving   them on, but she couldn't  bear sitting in the pitch-black. There was   nothing she could do until  daylight, but as time slipped slowly by she   acknowledged that Zahir must  have discovered by now that she had gone,   and he would be desperately  worried about Kazim.

Something suddenly caught her attention. She  screwed up her eyes and   peered into the night, her heart leaping when  she realised that the   lights in the distance were not a figment of her  imagination. They were   coming closer, and soon it was clear that they  belonged to vehicles   which were speeding across the desert; she could  make out three sets of   headlights and she felt weak with relief. Zahir  must have organised a   search party. But mixed with her joy at being  found was trepidation.  He  was going to be furious with her-and she  deserved every bit of his   anger.

Minutes later the four-by-fours  halted, and Zahir sprang from the lead   vehicle. His expression was  unfathomable as Erin quickly alighted from   her car, but she caught the  blaze of molten fury in his eyes and  shrank  back while he reached inside  and lifted a still-sleeping Kazim  into  his arms. Members of the palace  guard grouped around her, dark  and  unsmiling, and Zahir spoke to them in  Arabic before he placed the   toddler in the back of the second  four-by-four, where the nanny was   waiting.

Erin briefly caught  sight of Bisma's anxious face, but the young Arab   girl looked away from  her. The guards climbed into the rear two cars   and within seconds they  were racing back across the desert with   Kazim-leaving Erin alone with  Zahir.

‘Get in.' He held open the door of his four-by-four and  she quickly   complied. He had every right to lose his temper, even shout  at her, she   reminded herself, but he remained ominously quiet when he  slid into   the driver's seat, and when she dared risk a glance at him her  heart   lurched. Even now, when he looked as though he could happily  commit   murder, he still had a devastating effect on her. Dressed in  black   jeans and matching sweater, he was dark and dangerous but  undeniably   the sexiest man she had ever laid eyes on, and she simply  could not   control her reaction to him.

The silence shredded her  nerves, and she was relieved when he started   the engine. ‘I'm sorry  about damaging the car,' she muttered when it   became clear that he  intended to ignore her for the journey back to the   palace. ‘I realised  I'd taken the wrong road to Al Razir and I was   trying to turn round.'  She paused, and then added in a low voice, ‘I   don't suppose you'll  believe me, but I was going to bring Kazim back to   the palace.'


Zahir  said nothing, and with a heavy sigh she gave up. In the far   distance  she could see the red tail-lights of the other two cars, but   when they  reached the fork in the road Zahir turned away from them and   sped off in  the opposite direction.

Confused, Erin felt a frisson of unease. ‘Where are we going? The palace is behind us, isn't it?'                       
       
           



       

Zahir  finally deigned to acknowledge her presence and speared her with a    brief, hard glance before looking away, as if the sight of her   sickened  him. ‘I'm taking you to Al Razir,' he said, in a cold voice   that froze  Erin's blood. ‘From there you will be escorted to the   airport. You are  booked onto a flight to England.'

Sheer panic churned in Erin's stomach. ‘But what about Kazim?' she whispered.

‘He  is being driven back to the palace,' Zahir told her, still in that   icy  tone. ‘As I have explained, many times, it is his home now.' His   tenuous  hold on his self-control gave way and his anger exploded. ‘I   can't  believe you drove off into the desert with him. Your behaviour   was  stupid and irresponsible. The guards who had been assigned to watch   over  Kazim have been sacked for their incompetence,' he added, his   voice  shaking with fury.

‘It wasn't their fault,' Erin said miserably.  ‘Your personal assistant   is the one to blame. He helped me to get away,  and even told me where I   would find a car.'

‘Don't be  ridiculous-why do you imagine I would listen to your lies?'   Zahir  rounded on her furiously. ‘Omran told me how he had caught you   rifling  through my desk, and he was deeply apologetic that he had not   guessed  you had stolen the car keys.'

‘I did not steal them-he gave them  to me-' Erin broke off, hurt   mingling with anger at the look of scathing  contempt in Zahir's eyes.   It was clear that he had absolute faith in  his personal assistant.   ‘Omran is sneaky and two-faced, and if you want  my advice you should   keep a close eye on him.'

‘Fortunately I do  not have to listen to your advice-indeed, with luck I   will never have to  see you again once you are back in England,' Zahir   snapped.

‘I  won't go without Kazim,' Erin cried wildly. ‘I've told you I will   never  leave him.' In desperation she caught hold of Zahir's arm, so   that the  car swerved, and he swore savagely and braked. Tears poured   down her  face as she fumbled with the door catch. ‘I won't be separated   from him,  do you hear? I'll walk back to the palace if I have to.'

The  sand was a reasonably forgiving surface when she jumped from the   moving  car, but it was hard enough, and she lay where she had landed,   winded  and struggling to breathe. Zahir had stopped the four-by-four a   little  way ahead and was already running back to her, shouting   furiously in a  mixture of English and Arabic. He dropped down next to   her, breathing  hard as he ran his hand over her, checking for any   broken bones.

‘You are the craziest woman I have ever met,' he grated. ‘You could have been hurt.'

‘I don't care.' Erin scrubbed her wet face with her hand and glared at him. ‘Kazim is my son, and I won't leave him.'

Zahir  shook his head impatiently. ‘Why do you want him? You have   Ingledean,  and my brother's fortune. What further use can Kazim be to   you?'

‘I  love him,' Erin yelled. ‘What do I have to do to make you believe   that I  don't care about the house or the money? You can have them. I'll   sign  over my inheritance to you, and then maybe you'll finally   understand  that the only thing I care about is Kazim.'