Master of the Desert(3)

'Sort of.'

She winced-from fear of discovery that she was doing something she  shouldn't, he guessed-but before he could question her she hit him with,  'What brought you here?'

No one questioned him. He had to forcefully remind himself that here on  this desert island they were anonymous strangers and she couldn't know  who he was. He shrugged. 'The storm.'

That was the simple answer. Sailing grounded him; it reminded him he was  not only a king but a man, and that the man owed it to his country and  his people to go hunting for his humanity from time to time. Whether he  would ever be successful in that quest, only history would judge. 'And  where did you say you were heading?' he prompted.

'I didn't say, but I'm heading for Sinnebar,' she admitted grudgingly when he held her stare.

She was hiding something, he concluded when her gaze flickered away.

'Do we have to talk now?' she muttered, playing the hard-done-by card.

'If you want the pirates to escape … '

'No, of course I don't,' she declared, staring him full in the face.

'Good. So tell me where the attack took place. Did you get a fix-coordinates?' he pressed when she didn't answer right away.

'I know what you mean,' she flared, but for the first time he thought  she seemed disappointed in herself because she couldn't give him the  detail he required.

He gathered from what she went on to tell him that the pirates had taken  advantage of the poor visibility to target an unsophisticated boat that  lacked the latest radar equipment and alarm systems. 'So you weren't  sailing your own boat when the pirates attacked?' he guessed.

'No.'

Burying her head in her knees, she tensed, but with the criminals still  on the loose this was no time to go easy on her. 'Sit up,' he barked.

She snapped upright, and the look in her eyes suggested she was only now  realising she might have jumped from the frying pan into the fire. He  felt some sympathy for her. Dressed in cut-off shorts and faded top with  a shark knife hanging from his belt, he was hardly a reassuring sight.  'Come on,' he pressed impatiently. 'I need this information now, not  sometime next week.'

She bit her lip and then admitted in a voice that was barely audible, 'I hitched a lift on a fishing boat.'

'You hitched?' Words failed him. The girl's naivety appalled him; the  danger she had put herself in defied reason. 'What were you trying to  prove?'

'Nothing.'

He doubted that. There would be someone back home she wanted to impress.  'Couldn't you have caught the ferry? Or was that too easy for you?'

'I thought the fishing boat would give me a more authentic experience.'

'More authentic?' he demanded cuttingly. 'So, you're another tourist who  thinks you can visit a foreign country with nothing more than your  thirst for adventure and a bleeding heart in your survival kit?'

Her face paled. 'It wasn't like that at all.'

'It was exactly like that. And then you wonder why you find yourself in  danger? Keep your arms outstretched,' he reminded her when she flinched.

His pulse was thundering with outrage at the thought of pirates in the  sea off the shores of Sinnebar, though the girl had his attention too.  He looked at her tiny hand and thought her courage all the more  remarkable, given her petite frame. She was barely half his size, her  skin-tone pale against his bronze. Her quick thinking had saved her, he  concluded, and because her boldness was at odds with her fragile  appearance the pirates had underestimated her. He would not make the  same mistake.                       
       
           



       

Now she was speaking more, she went on to talk with passion of  punishment for the pirates and compensation for the fishermen, which  launched another unwelcome surge of arousal which he quickly stamped on.  However soft and yielding she felt beneath his hands, her mind was not  half so compliant, and he had no room in his life for complications.  'What type of boat did they have? Never mind,' he rapped, impatient to  gather as much information as he could before placing a second call to  the commander of his naval forces. 'Just tell me the colour.'

'It was a skiff,' she said with mild affront. 'Powerful engine; peeling  white paint above the water-line; black below. And the interior was  painted a vivid shade of aquamarine.'

'A vivid shade of aquamarine?' he murmured dryly. 'Are you sure?'

'Perfectly sure,' she said, holding his gaze with curiosity, as if  surprised to see the humour there. 'Have I told you enough?' she asked  as he turned to use the radio.

'More than I expected,' he conceded as he prepared to place the call. 'You did well.'

He could feel the heat of her gaze on his back as he fired off orders.  He had become part of her desert fantasy, he guessed. Too bad; he wasn't  interested. There were plenty of women who knew the score, and this  girl wasn't one of them. Breaking radio connection, he turned to face  her again.

'Okay?' she said hopefully.

'Okay,' he confirmed. 'So now it's all about you.' He ran a cool stare  over her. 'Let's start with your name and what you're doing here.'

No name. She could have no name. Signorina Antonia Ruggiero must have no  name. Whoever he was, this man was successful; successful people knew  other people. And people talked. How good would it look for her to be  branded a thief? Or, worse still, a demented creature with a knife?  Before she'd even begun the work she'd set out to do.

'You're European,' the man observed in a voice that strummed something  deep inside her. 'Although, like me, I suspect you were educated in  England. Am I right?'

She took in the fact that his husky, confident baritone was barely  accented even though he had spoken Sinnebalese fluently. 'Yes, that's  right.' Her own voice sounded hoarse.

'Where in England were you educated?' His keen eyes watched her closely,  and the intensity of expression in those eyes warned her not to lie to  him.

'I went to school in Ascot.'

'Ascot?' There was a faint note of mockery in his voice. He'd heard of  the very expensive girls' school there. 'So you're a very proper young  lady?'

Not in her head. One flash of this man's muscular back when he changed  his top confirmed she was anything but proper. 'I try,' she said primly.

'What is such a well-brought-up young lady doing on my yacht, stealing my food and threatening me with a knife?'

His relentless stare sent ribbons of sensation flooding through her,  making it hard to concentrate-but this was her best, maybe her only,  chance to get to the mainland and it was crucial to forge a relationship  with him. She also had to persuade him not to report her to the  authorities to avoid being arrested the moment she landed. 'I was  hungry-thirsty. Your yacht was here; I took my chances.'

She flinched when he laughed. Short and sharp, it held no hint of humour.

'You certainly did,' he agreed. 'Didn't you think to call out when you  came on board? You could have made some attempt to locate the owner  before you stole his food.'

'I did call out, but no one answered.'

His lips curved as he propped his hip against the bench where she was  sitting. 'So you helped yourself to whatever you felt like?'

'I didn't touch anything outside the galley.' Must he move so close and tower over her?

'And that makes it right?'

'I'm sorry.' She sounded childlike-plaintive, even-but was lost for something else to say.

'Next time I'm in Ascot, I'll wander into your house and see what I fancy taking, shall I?'

'I don't live in Ascot.' The angry words shot from her mouth without any  assistance from her brain and her reward was an ironic grin.                       
       
           



       

'So, we've ruled out Ascot,' he said.

Before he could delve any further, she swayed and clutched her throat.

'Feeling faint?' he demanded caustically, refusing to be fooled by her amateur dramatics for a single moment.

'I'm fine,' she assured him, matching him stare for stare. Whatever it  took, she wasn't about to let him see how badly he affected her.

'You're not fine,' he argued, narrowing his eyes. 'You've had a shock and need time to get over it.'

She hoped that meant a reprieve, and shrank instinctively from his intense maleness as he eased away from the bench.

'Relax.' His lips tugged with very masculine amusement. 'You're safe with me.'

Did he mean that to be reassuring, or was he insulting her? And was she  safe? Could he be trusted? For once, she didn't know what to think. The  man's manner was dismissive and abrupt, and his appearance … Well, that  was rather more intimidating than the pirates.

There could be no guarantees, Antonia concluded, even if he had bathed  her wounds. So was the flutter inside her chest a warning to be on her  guard, or awareness of his sexuality?

'Are you travelling alone?'

A shiver of apprehension coursed through her as she stared into his  eyes. Why would he ask that? 'Yes,' she admitted cautiously. 'I'm  travelling alone-but people know where I am.'