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.'