Ryshia Kennie - Desire In The Desert - Sheikh's Rule

“Do you know what direction they went?” Kate stepped in, purposely changing the subject as she sensed that what Emir had just heard and then revealed had been emotionally overwhelming.

“South. I heard one of them mention Ajeddig as a place they were going to. They did not know I was close,” Yuften said.

Saffiya nodded.

“It means nothing to me. I know no one and nothing of that name.” He shrugged. “Flower. What is that?”

A place name again was the first thought that ran through Kate’s mind for the word was the same one that Tara’s guard, Ahmed, had spoken the last time he’d been able to reveal anything. And yet the map in the plane had revealed nothing. She needed to look at it again. There had to have been something she missed.

“We need the map,” she said.

“Come—” Saffiya gestured “—we have books.”

Kate followed her as she moved into a smaller room behind the cooking area. Her slim hands lifted the edge of her traditional robe that flowed elegantly around her but threatened to dust the rough cobbles as she walked. Her yellow flip-flops snapped against the stone floor, seeming to keep time as she led Kate up a number of stairs at the back of the room and into another small room. This room seemed to be apart from the rest of the house and held two shelves, each filled with rows of books.

Kate looked around. She hadn’t been expecting this. Of the few Berber homes she’d visited, none had had a room dedicated to books. But then, none had been as isolated as this. And even though there were only two shelves that were half the length of the wall they were attached to, it was still unique. In one corner was a wooden school desk similar to any that might be seen in a grade-school classroom in early twentieth-century America. On top of the desk was a metal can full of pens and pencils.

“You teach your children?”

Saffiya nodded with a smile and then pointed to the shelf. “Map,” she said as she pulled out an oversize book with no dust jacket and a faded red cover.

“Thank you.” Kate took the atlas but continued to scan the shelf. Like the atlas, the remaining books were mainly dust-jacket free with faded red and brown covers, each with a film of dust, despite the claims of homeschooling.

Saffiya backed up then turned and went out the door.

Kate glanced over the titles and realized that the majority of the books weren’t in English and that the few that were, were history books. As she took a step back, she instinctively felt like she was no longer alone. She turned to see Emir regarding her solemnly from the doorway.

“Old schoolbooks will get us nowhere,” he said.

“I’m not so sure,” she said.

She opened the atlas, hoping she could find something, that the promise of a direction would somehow ease his worry, and knowing that nothing short of finding his sister ever could.

“Nineteen-oh-one,” she murmured. She flipped the pages slowly and then stopped. “Africa.” She walked over to the desk, where she put the open atlas down. She gingerly turned a page, exposing another seemingly frail, yellowed page to the flickering light of the candle Saffiya had left for her.

“Kate, the light is bad, the book is old, there’s nothing.”

Emir’s hands were on her shoulders as he turned her around. She held back a shiver of pleasure as his touch evoked a memory of the earlier kiss and the truth that she wanted so much more.

“And we have nothing but time, at least tonight,” she said, her voice low and husky. “Bear with me.”

“I’ve never seen anyone so resolved,” he said as his thumb skimmed along her cheek, his touch like a caress.

“Haven’t you?” she replied as she met his ebony eyes with all the resolve she was feeling. Time’s short but...” Her gaze went around the room. “We have no time to waste.”

Chapter Twelve

Despite her earlier words, minutes passed.

Kate had taken a seat at the small desk while Emir had taken a position leaning against the wall. Her long legs were stretched out sideways, her body twisted as she bent over the book. The smell of pipe smoke wove into the room from the room below. The low murmur of voices and the high-pitched laugh of a child broke the quiet.

Another minute went by and then two before Kate turned and smiled at him and something caught in his chest. The sight of her dogged persistence made him think that anything was possible, that between the two of them they would find Tara.

Now she looked up with a troubled expression. “I think I’ve found it.” She stood, the atlas in her hands.

He came over to her. His hands covered hers as he reached to take the atlas from her. The heat from her hands reminded him of how she’d felt in his arms, how he wanted her there again.

“No,” she said, pulling the book back. “Let me show you.”

His gaze followed her finger as she pointed to the oasis she was talking about.

She looked at him with the excitement of discovery in her eyes and something else he couldn’t name. And the scent of her, coconut and something unidentifiable but equally enticing, would be his undoing as it seemed to call to him. He needed to focus.

“Emir?”

Her voice brought him back, for it was soft and husky, and oddly commanding.

“I think my hunch was right. Ajeddig is the name of an oasis in 1901. I don’t remember seeing any such place on the current map, but here it’s clear.”

“An extinct oasis?” His gaze clashed with hers. It wasn’t unheard of—water disappeared and, with it, the plants, animals and the people.

“What if there was still water left, not enough for a community but for a few people?” The question she posed hung for a moment between them. Outside the room, they could hear the low voices of their hosts.

“Wouldn’t others know of it?”

“Not necessarily, not if it was obscure, hidden.” She ran a finger over the area she’d been studying as if mapping their route. “Or maybe so small as to be of little interest.”

He thought of the possibility she’d raised, but there were still so many unknowns. “We could drive miles out of our way in order to find out there’s nothing. We could...”

“It used to be a good-size community from the looks of it. A village, anyway—a hundred people, roughly, on a guess.” She spoke quickly, clearly excited by the discovery. “What better place to hide than an oasis that everyone believes no longer exists?”

She looked up at him and he leaned down and met her halfway. His lips roved over hers as he drew her into his arms. Her softness pressed against him, making him want so much more. Her mouth opened, inviting more. She was sweet and hot and... He pulled back. The last thing they needed was to be discovered, an unmarried couple making out in their host’s library.

“I’m sorry,” he said as he moved away from her.

“You’d better not be,” she whispered huskily.

“Come here,” she said, the atlas in her hands, and when he was again beside her she showed him something else that excited them both. “Two hundred miles east of here, but in the same direction as our extinct oasis. It can’t be a coincidence.”

“El Dewar,” he said with a frown, trying not to notice the smell of her or the feel of her shoulder rubbing against his arm. It was as though fear and anger had merged with passion and become an unstoppable comet. He wanted to find his sister, kill her kidnappers and make love to Kate, and not necessarily in that order. He took her hand with his as he met her eyes. “Straight through the Sahara. There are no roads.”

“Emir,” she said in a soft tone, lower than normal, and one that hinted at other things. But what she had to say was all business. “Looking at this map, where the oasis is situated, if you wanted to go there, you’d have to drive through El Dewar or, at the least, near it. It’s a tough drive, but we knew this wasn’t going to be easy. I think we stop at El Dewar tomorrow, ask a few questions.” Her eyes sparkled with excitement. “Maybe someone knows something.”