He Was Caught In His Own Trap. He Had Wanted To Make Her Love Him, And Insteadâ¦
A woman like Noor, vital, beautiful, with a heart now revealed as good and trueâhow had he left his own heart out of his calculations? What arrogance had blinded him to his vulnerability?
Bari loved her. Fire seemed to burn where his heart had once been.
How could he have imagined himself immune to her?
He shook his head. He had had to learn that he, too, had a heart. And that his heart was a better judge of truth than his intellect.
Could she love him now, when he had imposed such unnecessary suffering on her? When he had ranted at her, blamed her and told her the great lieâthat he did not love her?
Such blind foolishness was over now. If only it were not too lateâ¦.
Dear Reader,
As expected, Silhouette Desire has loads of passionate, powerful and provocative love stories for you this month. Our DYNASTIES: THE DANFORTHS continuity is winding to a close with the penultimate title, Terms of Surrender, by Shirley Rogers. A long-lost Danforth heir may just have been foundâand heavens, is this prominent family in for a big surprise! And talk about steamy secrets, Peggy Moreland is back with Sins of a Tanner, a stellar finale to her series THE TANNERS OF TEXAS.
If itâs scandalous behavior youâre looking for, look no farther than For Services Rendered by Anne Marie Winston. This MANTALK bookâthe series that offers stories strictly from the heroâs point of viewâhas a fabulous hero who does the heroine a very special favor. Hmmmm. And Alexandra Sellers is back in Desire with a fresh installment of her SONS OF THE DESERT series. Sheikhâs Castaway will give you plenty of sweet (and naughty) dreams.
Even more shocking situations pop up in Linda Conradâs sensual Between Strangers. Imagine if you were stuck on the side of the road during a blizzard and a sexy cowboy offered you shelter from the stormâ¦. (Hello, are you still with me?) Rounding out the month is Margaret Allisonâs Principles and Pleasures, a daring romp between a workaholic heroine and a man she doesnât know is actually her archenemy.
So settle in for some sensual, scandalous love storiesâ¦and enjoy every moment!
Melissa Jeglinski
Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire
Sheikhâs Castaway
Alexandra Sellers
is the author of over twenty-five novels and a feline language text published in 1997 and still selling.
Born and raised in Canada, Alexandra first came to London, England, as a drama student. Now she lives near Hampstead Heath with her husband, Nick. They share housekeeping with Monsieur, who jumped through the window one day and announced, as cats do, that he was moving in.
I would like to thank the following
for their generously given expert advice and help
Pete Godwin, aviator
Mark Hofton, designer Jennifer Nauss, friend and editor Geoff Tetley, life raft specialist Jo and Dennis Wallace, world sailors
and AVON LIFE RAFTS
I couldnât have done it without you
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Epilogue
Princess Noor pushed the fold of her bridal veil away from her face with an impatient hand and blinked out the cockpit window, her mouth opening on a soundless breath.
Cloud. A thick, grey-white mass blanketing the distant mainland as far as she could see.
But she had no instrument rating. She couldnât fly in cloud.
âIt canât be!â she whispered, aghast. Sunlight still glinted merrily from the rich turquoise of the Gulf of Barakat beneath her, but that offered no solution when she had had zero practice putting the little amphibian plane down on water.
Why hadnât she noticed the cloud building up? She should have taken evasive action long ago. Had the yards of billowing tulle on her head confused her vision? Or had the humiliation gnawing at her stomach distracted her?
As if waking out of a dream now, Noor shook her head and looked around.
What was she doing here?
She hadnât even stopped to remove her veil before taking off into the unknown. Hadnât checked the weather. Didnât have a destination. Her only thought had been to put as much distance as she could between herself and marriage to Sheikh Bari al Khalid.
She gazed out at the cloud again, her heart beating fast. She might have put a very permanent distance between them. If that cloud caught up with her, she wouldnât be marrying anyone. Ever.
It had begunâwhen had it begun? When her parentsâ families fled their beautiful country in the aftermath of Ghasibâs coup thirty-odd years before and both chose Australia? When the two young expatriate Bagestanis who became her parents had fallen in love and married?
Or had it begun only months ago, when the royal familyâs long struggle to regain the throne had at last been successful, culminating in Sultan Ashrafâs now-legendary ride to the gates of the Old Palace through streets crammed with cheering, delirious multitudes?