The Sheik's Safety
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRHe demanded to know her identity after she felled his attacker with deadly precision. But Dara Alexander feigned amnesia rather than reveal the truth to this blue-eyed Bedouin: she was an American soldier…behind enemy lines. For all she knew, this man was her greatest threat.Sheik Saeed ibn Ahmad was no nomad, she would learn at his desert encampment, but a powerful royal, the target of assassins. Suddenly, his protection became her assignment–an arrangement Saeed refused. Because she was a woman, Dara assumed. And she was right. But Saeed wanted her…to cherish and defend.
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“You should not be here. I shouldn’t have brought you.”
Dara wasn’t in the mood for any chauvinistic garbage. “Because women are weak?” she challenged him.
He looked at her for a long moment. “Women should be cherished.”
She stared back, unsure what to say to that.
Her father used to say women had to be toughened up to be fit for the military. He hadn’t meant it disparagingly. He merely saw the difference between the sexes as a weakness. He was forever frustrated by her mother’s inability to hold up under pressure, suck it up and stick it out.
She glanced at Saeed. Cherished. It fell so far outside the realm of her experience, she couldn’t even picture it. Was he for real?
Dear Harlequin Intrigue Reader,
This July, Intrigue brings you six sizzling summer reads. They’re the perfect beach accessory.
* We have three fantastic miniseries for you. Film at Eleven continues THE LANDRY BROTHERS by Kelsey Roberts. Gayle Wilson is back with the PHOENIX BROTHERHOOD in Take No Prisoners. And B.J. Daniels finishes up her MCCALLS’ MONTANA series with Shotgun Surrender.
* Susan Peterson brings you Hard Evidence, the final installment in our LIPSTICK LTD. promotion featuring stealthy sleuths. And, of course, we have a spine-tingling ECLIPSE title. This month’s is Patricia Rosemoor’s Ghost Horse.
* Don’t miss Dana Marton’s sexy stand-alone title, The Sheik’s Safety. When an American soldier is caught behind enemy lines, she’ll fake amnesia to guard her safety, but there’s no stopping the sheik determined on winning her heart.
Enjoy our stellar lineup this month and every month!
Sincerely,
Denise O’Sullivan
Senior Editor
Harlequin Intrigue
To Gail Neeves, a wonderful writer and treasured friend.
With many thanks to Kim Nadelson and Allison Lyons,
the best editors a writer could wish for, and Jenel Looney for sharing her expertise on Middle Eastern customs and life, and Anita Staley for her friendship, help and tireless support.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dana Marton lives near Wilmington, Delaware. She has been an avid reader since childhood and has a master’s degree in writing popular fiction. When not writing, she can be found either in her large garden or her home library. For more information on the author and her other novels, please visit her Web site at www.danamarton.com.
She would love to hear from her readers via e-mail at [email protected].
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Dara Alexander—Third-generation military, Dara followed her father’s and grandfather’s footsteps to the air force before joining a top secret antiterrorist unit, the SDDU. But the desert operation she ends up in this time is more dangerous, with stakes much higher than ever before.
Sheik Saeed ibn Ahmad—Once he was in line for the throne. Now the past is haunting him as he survives one assassination attempt after the other.
Nasir ibn Ahmad—Saeed’s brother. He is not happy with Saeed’s desire to preserve peace at any cost. Trouble is brewing in the background. Is he the source of it?
King Majid—He came to the throne under suspicious circumstances and would do anything to retain power. But does he want it badly enough to kill his own cousin, Saeed?
Jumaa—The Prime Minister of the country is supposed to hold the real power in a constitutional monarchy. But does he? Is he the king’s puppet, or an insidious schemer with his own agenda?
SDDU—Special Designation Defense Unit. A top secret military team established to fight terrorism. Its existence is known only by a select few. Members are recruited from the best of the best, SEALs, FBI and CIA agents, elite military groups.
Colonel Wilson—He’s the leader of the SDDU, reporting straight to the Homeland Security Secretary.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Epilogue
Chapter One
They flew below radar, although not as invisible as they would have liked to be.
Dara Alexander took in the starry sky from the cockpit of the MC-130. Not a cloud in sight to cover the moon, no such thing as a pitch-black night here. That was one of the drawbacks of desert missions, and an annoying inconvenience for anyone trying to sneak around.
But the full moon was the least of their worries. They needed only a matter of minutes—fly in low, pop up to safe height for jumping, drop the team, then the plane would go back to base to wait for the pickup signal. Once they were on the ground, being invisible was their specialty.
Dara scanned Beharrain’s alien landscape below them, the expanse of rocky plateau broken up by giant boulders every so often, some a couple of hundred feet high. She might as well have been looking at video transmitted back by the Mars Rover. Except that somewhere ahead, a convoy of arms smugglers was heading south, hoping to cross the border to Yemen.
Not today. She rolled her shoulders. Not if her team had anything to do with it.
The pilot looked up from his display—symbology overlaid with sensor video. “Five minutes to drop zone.”
