Alexandra Sellers - Undercover Sultan

Never in her life had Mariel lost her heart so thoroughly to a total stranger—or to anyone! But it would be insanity to think anything could come of it—she was a spy and he was…? She had better find a way to get her heart back.

The dark stranger slipped up silently behind her, not touching her, his hands gripping the railing on either side of her own. She felt his body warm the luscious silk she was wearing till it was a kiss on her skin, and pressed her lips together, praying for the strength to resist.

She knew nothing about him. The sooner she got away from him the better.

She would stay here tonight, but that didn’t mean she was spending the night in his bed. And yet, if he made a real move, if he tried to make love to her—she knew she would find it impossible to resist….

Dear Reader,

Welcome to the world of Silhouette Desire, where you can indulge yourself every month with romances that can only be described as passionate, powerful and provocative!

Silhouette’s beloved author Annette Broadrick returns to Desire with a MAN OF THE MONTH who is Hard To Forget. Love rings true when former high school sweethearts reunite while both are on separate undercover missions to their hometown. Bestselling writer Cait London offers you A Loving Man, when a big-city businessman meets a country girl and learns the true meaning of love.

The Desire theme promotion THE BABY BANK, about sperm-bank client heroines who find love unexpectedly, returns with Amy J. Fetzer’s Having His Child, part of her WIFE, INC. miniseries. The tantalizing Desire miniseries THE FORTUNES OF TEXAS: THE LOST HEIRS continues with Baby of Fortune by Shirley Rogers. In Undercover Sultan, the second book of Alexandra Sellers’s SONS OF THE DESERT: THE SULTANS trilogy, a handsome prince is forced to go on the run with a sexy mystery woman—who may be the enemy. And Ashley Summers writes of a Texas tycoon who comes home to find a beautiful stranger living in his mansion in Beauty in His Bedroom.

This month see inside for details about our exciting new contest “Silhouette Makes You a Star.” You’ll feel like a star when you delve into all six fantasies created in Desire books this August!

Enjoy!

Joan Marlow Golan

Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

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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 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.

What she would miss most on a desert island is shared laughter.

Readers can write to Alexandra at P.O. Box 9449, London NW3 2WH, England.

to

Steve Aylott and Colin Moult

and to

Brian, Mark, Steve, Bob and Craig

who, during the writing of this trilogy,

redecorated the house around me.

Ah, Love! Could thou and I with Fate conspire

To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire

Would not we shatter it to bits—and then

Remould it nearer to the Heart’s Desire?

—Edward FitzGerald

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

Prologue

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

Epilogue

“They have the Rose.”

The line was silent as Ash absorbed it. “How?” he asked.

“They got there before me,” Haroun said. “Two men. One said, ‘We’ve come for the Rose.’ She had no reason to challenge them. As she said, they looked the part.”

“What does that mean?”

“Swarthy, apparently. He walked in and she said she led him to the coffee table, where Rosalind had told her it was. He glanced at the ornaments and picked it out without much hesitation. So he knew what he was after.”

Ash muttered a curse. “Did you get a description? Apart from all-purpose Arab?”

“Not of him. His companion has a scar high on his right cheekbone. Pulls the eyelid down a bit,” Haroun said. “Now, does that sound familiar, Ash?”

“Half the veterans of the Kaljuk war have some kind of facial scar,” Ash said. “Where does that get you?”

“Well, it reminds me of someone, and it’ll come to me.”

“Let me know when it does.”

“What have your hackers found in Verdun’s computers?”

Ash grunted. “What they’ve found is the best firewall in three continents. We can’t get in.”

Haroun paused, thinking it over. “Well, we’ve got to know how he learned about the Rose so fast. I’d better get over to Paris and see what a direct assault will achieve.”

Ash hesitated. “There’s an air traffic strike brewing in France.”

“I’d take the train anyway. Faster.”

“Your predilection for faster is just what worries me. You’re too headstrong for this stuff, Harry. I don’t want you trying to break in to Verdun’s offices. A guy with that kind of firewall on his computers is going to have good protection on the physical plant, too. Go to work on one of his employees.”

Harry was shaking his head before Ash was halfway through this speech, and maybe it was fortunate Ash couldn’t see him. “That will take too long. We’ve got to risk something more direct.”

Ash groaned. “We can’t afford to risk something more direct. Michel Verdun is in it with Ghasib up to his neck. I don’t want him cornered.”

Harry said reasonably, “Ash, you’ve held me off from this for too long. We have to find out how much Verdun knows and how he is getting the information.”

“Not to the point of risking your life.”

“Why not? Your life is going to be at much greater risk in a couple of weeks,” Haroun pointed out.

“All the more reason to keep you safe.”

“Ash, we’re agreed we need to get the Rose back. At the very least we have to prevent Verdun’s agents from delivering it to Ghasib. We can’t afford to trust anyone with this. I’m on the scene. Who better than me?”

Ash hesitated, marshalling his arguments, and Haroun rushed on, “Anyway, it’s my fault we lost the Rose. If I’d been there an hour earlier it would be in my hands, not Verdun’s. So I’ve got a slightly larger interest here. Sorry, but you can’t stop me. It’s a question of pride. You asked me to get the Rose, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

He hung up while Ash was still cursing.