Alexa stared at him helplessly. She wanted to refuse, but she had to face facts—there was no way she could handle a four-day journey through the desert without expert help. She hadn’t planned for that. ‘You know the desert well?’
Her reluctantly voiced question drew a faint smile. ‘You could drop me blindfold in the middle of it and I would be able to find my way back to the Citadel.’
Arrogant.
That was the other word she’d apply to him. Powerful and arrogant.
Alexa looked away from his firm, sensual mouth, trying to think clearly. Relying on anyone else for anything was completely alien to her, but what choice did she have?
She hadn’t anticipated a journey of four days.
If she was navigating a complex route, she would never be able to protect herself.
‘All right. You do the navigation.’ She spoke the words reluctantly, comforting herself with the knowledge that she was still responsible for herself. He was merely providing the transport. ‘We travel together.’
But she wasn’t going to go where he went, and she certainly wasn’t going to sleep where he slept.
Two hours later she was beginning to feel relieved that she hadn’t attempted the journey alone. The desert was vast, and although the road was clear enough, it was also exposed. There was no way she would have been able to drive and keep watch. There was nowhere to hide and nowhere to run to.
‘Can we drive any faster?’
‘Not if you wish to reach the Sultan alive with all your limbs still attached to your body.’ Karim drove with relaxed ease, sunglasses shielding his eyes from the vicious glare of the sun. ‘If your uncle is that desperate to prevent this wedding, then I’m surprised you haven’t had doubts yourself.’
‘It’s the right thing for me.’ Uncomfortably aware of his hard, powerful body so close to hers, she kept her eyes forward. It felt bizarre to be discussing her forthcoming wedding while feeling the most intense sexual attraction towards another man. ‘You talk a lot for a bodyguard.’
‘In our country intelligence is as great an attribute as physical strength, and both are equally necessary.’ He gave a faint smile. ‘The hunter cannot hunt if he cannot first find his prey, Your Highness.’
Alexa shivered. For the past sixteen years of her life she’d been someone’s prey. She’d thought she’d finally escaped, but looking at the dangerous gleam in Karim’s dark eyes she suddenly felt the fleeting control she’d had of her life slip through her fingers. She had no doubt that he was now the one in charge, and the thought made her desperately uneasy. Did she want to cross the desert with this man for company? No, she didn’t. She didn’t want or need other people in her life. She was so much safer alone.
Trying to control her fear, Alexa checked the mirror again for signs of another vehicle, and then tried to relax by studying the scenery.
Before they’d landed in Zangrar she’d seen the desert as nothing more than a land feature that they were going to have to cross. But as Karim had accelerated towards the highway that led through the desert she’d been astounded and then captivated.
Now, as she looked, she saw endless dunes stretching into the distance, the colours myriad shades of burnt orange.
‘Like my hair,’ she murmured, and Karim glanced towards her.
‘What is?’
‘The desert. It’s the same colour.’ For a moment she forgot about William as she gazed out of the window. ‘It’s astonishing. Fabulous. I never knew that there would be so many colours. I mean, it’s just sand, but—’ She broke off and shaded her eyes as she squinted towards the top of a steep-sided dune. ‘I never thought they’d be that high.’
‘Clearly you have never been to the desert before.’
‘I’ve never been anywhere before.’ Alexa steadied herself as the vehicle bumped over uneven ground. ‘This is a better road than I expected.’
‘Yes, when you can see it. When the wind blows it lies buried under sand.’
‘So how do you find your way when that happens?’
‘Modern equipment. And if that lets me down then I rely on experience and more traditional forms of navigation.’
‘Such as?’
‘The position of the sun, the direction of the wind, the smell of the air.’ He shrugged. ‘The desert tells you much if you are willing to listen. Why are you asking me, when you apparently intended to travel it yourself with no assistance? Presumably you already possess all these skills?’
‘I would have been fine.’ Something on the horizon caught her eye. ‘There’s something moving. I can see something.’ Her heart-rate doubled, but Karim didn’t slow the vehicle.
‘It’s a camel train. It’s how many people still choose to get around in the desert.’
‘Camels?’ Alexa stared, fascinated now that she knew it wasn’t a threat. ‘Can we go closer?’
‘You wish to take a closer look at a camel?’
‘Is that a problem?’
A look of incredulity crossed his bronzed features. ‘No, but it’s surprising. A close encounter with a camel wouldn’t be high on most women’s list of coveted life-experiences.’
‘Maybe not. But most women haven’t been trapped in one place all their lives. Have you any idea what it’s like to see the real thing after staring at a picture?’
‘You are telling me that you’ve never left Rovina?’
Unsettled by her impulsive admission, Alexa clamped her mouth shut. Why had she told him that? She knew better than to confide details of her life to anyone.
Ignoring her lack of response, Karim frowned. ‘Your uncle is clearly extremely protective of you. You should be grateful that he cares so much. Do you not feel that you have betrayed him by running away in the night?’
Protective? ‘If you always take things at face value then you’re not going to be much use as a bodyguard. Let’s just say that my uncle and I seriously disagree about the direction of my future.’
‘You are to become Queen in a year. I expect he feels that you should be in the palace, learning everything you can about your new role.’
Alexa leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes. She could have told him the truth, of course, but she’d long ago learned the dangers of confiding in anyone, so she stayed silent.
But the reminder of Rovina and William had extinguished her innocent enjoyment of the desert, and suddenly Alexa felt sick. There was still so much that could go wrong in the few days before her birthday and the wedding.
She glanced sideways at Karim. If it came to a fight, would he help her?
He
