The Sheikh’s Bargain Bride(25)

“How far are we going?”

“Not far. It will take only a few hours.”

“And you won’t tell me where?”

“No. It’s a surprise.”

Her grin was as refreshing to his soul as the rain to the land, filling him with hope.

She dipped her head as flirtatiously as a bouncing car over rough terrain would allow. “I love surprises.”

“Good.”

Before long they turned off the main track onto a smaller rutted road that headed toward the mountains. He could feel the change of the air already against his skin and felt himself relax like he hadn’t done in a very long time. He’d spent years camping out in these mountains, hiding, preparing for attack against the people who desired his land and all its riches. Places that had lain hidden to the outside world since biblical times, he and his people knew, and had kept hidden. It was their history, their land, their treasure.

They began winding their way up into the mountains along a wadi that now contained a swift-flowing river. At a point where the river opened up into a small valley Zahir stopped the car and they both jumped out. The usually arid valley was dusted with the fresh green of new growth.

He couldn’t help but smile in response to Isabella’s incredulous expression as she looked around. It was as if the wadi had been touched by a magic wand. The small amount of rain that had fallen in the night had magically brought spring to the desert. The Acacias and succulents were made a vivid green by the rain. The tracks of small mammals making the most of this sudden feast criss-crossed the surrounding sands and insects hovered and dipped around the bushes.

“It’s amazing.” She walked through the squat thorny caper bushes, her fingers gently brushing the fresh, green shoots while her eyes followed a dragonfly that flittered, iridescent, in the sunlight. “Is it always like this?”

“They’ve adapted over thousands of years to survive on morning dew. Usually the wadi is dry and there is no sign of life, but it’s there, waiting for the rains to come. It takes little to bring life back to the desert. The recent rains are enough.”

A lizard scuttled by. “Enough to sustain life for animals and people.”

“It is why my people care for each other with their hospitality and sense of loyalty and duty. For much of the time there is nothing. And when there is this,” he followed her gaze as she scanned the expanse of vibrant green that now clung to the usually dun-colored bushes. “We praise Allah for we are dependent on things outside of ourselves, things we cannot control.”

“It’s beautiful, like a miracle.”

“Come back to the car, just a little further up into the mountains and we will be at our destination.”





The four-wheel drive climbed higher, twisting and turning through seemingly impassable passes until they could go no further. As the sun lowered in the sky it shone its fiery red glow onto the yellow limestone making it look as if the light were emanating from the rock itself.

Zahir pulled up the vehicle beside a wall of rock.

“Hey, it’s great. We’ve come all this way to look at,” she waved her hand in a mock presentation, “a rock face”.

“You like it?”

“Fabulous. It’s a pale yellow, towering, rock. What more could I want?”

“I don’t know. Let’s see, shall we?”

He jumped out of the vehicle but before he could open her door she was already out and striding towards a narrow gap in the rock that was barely visible amongst the shadows.

“Hey! It’s like a passage…”

He watched her as she passed through and stopped abruptly.

He came up behind her, his hands running down her arms, unable to stop himself from touching her now as they both stood looking at one of nature’s miracles.

“Oh my God, it’s wonderful.” Anna’s voice was soft with awe.

Zahir looked upon the complex of hot pools carved out of the stone above which steam rose. Around them were the ruins of old buildings that must have once seen crowds of people enjoying the natural thermal spa. Encircling the natural amphitheater, magnificent palm and tamarisk trees soared, beneath which the vegetation was lush, verdant, heavy with the moist atmosphere. To one side, above the old buildings, and beyond a small orange grove, a Bedu tent had been erected, its richly woven canopies a decadent contrast to the pale yellow stone that alternated with red brick, still neat and intact.

“This is Ain Sukhna.”

“How come I’ve never heard of this before?”

“Because we prefer to keep such treasures to ourselves.”

“I’m not surprised.”

He watched her walk around the edge of the site, as if too awed to move directly to the main bath that sat centrally, raised above the others. It would have been for the elite and the remains of columns lay at each point of a square around its edge that would originally have supported some form of pergola.