ALEXANDRA SELLERS - Sheikh's Ransom

“Am I A Hostage?” “Am I A Hostage?” Caroline stared at Karim while a million unnamed dreams shattered into dust. “It is natural that you will feel anger.” “Why do they say you are a prince? Are you?” Her voice seemed to be coming from a distance. “Caroline, come upstairs where we can talk in comfort,” he urged her. “There is much to tell you, much for you to understand.” “If I have a choice, it is to leave this place now. If I have no choice, I await Your Majesty’s order. But I will not pretend that I go anywhere willingly in your company.” “Then I order you upstairs,” he replied calmly. Without a word she turned and preceded him through the arched entry that only a few hours ago had seemed like the doorway to magic to her.... Letter to Reader Dear Reader, April brings showers, and this month Silhouette Desire wants to shower you with six new, passionate love stories! Cait Lordon’s popular Blaylock family returns in our April MAN OF THE MONTH title, Blaylock’s Bride. Honorable Roman Blaylock grapples with a secret that puts him in a conflict between confiding in the woman he loves and fulfilling a last wish. The provocative series FORTUNE’S CHILDREN: THE BRIDES continues with Leanne Banks’s The Secretary and the Millionaire, when a wealthy CEO turns to his assistant for help in caring for his little girl. Beverly Barton’s next tale in her 3 BABIES FOR 3 BROTHERS miniseries, His Woman, His Child, shows a rugged heartbreaker transformed by the heroine’s pregnancy. Powerful sheikhs abound in Sheikh’s Ransom, the Desire debut title of Alexandra Sellers’s dramatic new series, SONS OF THE DESERT. A marine gets a second chance at love in Colonel Daddy, continuing Maureen Child’s popular series BACHELOR BATTALION. And in Christy Lockhart’s Let’s Have a Baby!, our BACHELORS AND BABIES selection, the hero must dissuade the heroine from going to a sperm bank and convince her to let him father her child—the old-fashioned way! Allow Silhouette Desire to give you the ultimate indulgence—all six of these fabulous April romance books! Enjoy! Joan Marlow Golan Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire Please address questions and book requests to: Silhouette Reader Service U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269 Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3 Title Page Sheikh’s Ransom Alexandra Sellers www.millsandboon.co.uk Dedication For Lilia who looks just like a Greek statue, and who understood because her mother is an artist About the Author ALEXANDRA SELLERS was born in Ontario, and raised in Ontario and Saskatchewan. She first came to London to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and fell in love with the city. Later, she returned to make it her permanent home. Now married to an Englishman, she lives near Hampstead Heath. As well as writing romance, she teaches a course called “How To Write a Romance Novel” in London several times a year. Because of a much-regretted allergy, she can have no resident cat, but she receives regular charitable visits from three cats who are neighbors. Readers can write to her at PO. Box 9449, London, NW3 2WH, England. Karim’s Inheritance The Jewel Seal of Shakur 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 Copyright

“Am I A Hostage?”

Caroline stared at Karim while a million unnamed dreams shattered into dust.

“It is natural that you will feel anger.”

“Why do they say you are a prince? Are you?” Her voice seemed to be coming from a distance.

“Caroline, come upstairs where we can talk in comfort,” he urged her. “There is much to tell you, much for you to understand.”

“If I have a choice, it is to leave this place now. If I have no choice, I await Your Majesty’s order. But I will not pretend that I go anywhere willingly in your company.”

“Then I order you upstairs,” he replied calmly.

Without a word she turned and preceded him through the arched entry that only a few hours ago had seemed like the doorway to magic to her....

Dear Reader,

April brings showers, and this month Silhouette Desire wants to shower you with six new, passionate love stories!

Cait Lordon’s popular Blaylock family returns in our April MAN OF THE MONTH title, Blaylock’s Bride. Honorable Roman Blaylock grapples with a secret that puts him in a conflict between confiding in the woman he loves and fulfilling a last wish.

The provocative series FORTUNE’S CHILDREN: THE BRIDES continues with Leanne Banks’s The Secretary and the Millionaire, when a wealthy CEO turns to his assistant for help in caring for his little girl.

Beverly Barton’s next tale in her 3 BABIES FOR 3 BROTHERS miniseries, His Woman, His Child, shows a rugged heartbreaker transformed by the heroine’s pregnancy. Powerful sheikhs abound in Sheikh’s Ransom, the Desire debut title of Alexandra Sellers’s dramatic new series, SONS OF THE DESERT. A marine gets a second chance at love in Colonel Daddy, continuing Maureen Child’s popular series BACHELOR BATTALION. And in Christy Lockhart’s Let’s Have a Baby!, our BACHELORS AND BABIES selection, the hero must dissuade the heroine from going to a sperm bank and convince her to let him father her child—the old-fashioned way!

Allow Silhouette Desire to give you the ultimate indulgence—all six of these fabulous April romance books!

Enjoy!

Joan Marlow Golan

Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

Please address questions and book requests to:

Silhouette Reader Service

U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

Sheikh’s Ransom

Alexandra Sellers

www.millsandboon.co.uk

For Lilia

who looks just like a Greek statue, and

who understood because her mother is an artist

ALEXANDRA SELLERS was born in Ontario, and raised in Ontario and Saskatchewan. She first came to London to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and fell in love with the city. Later, she returned to make it her permanent home. Now married to an Englishman, she lives near Hampstead Heath. As well as writing romance, she teaches a course called “How To Write a Romance Novel” in London several times a year.

Because of a much-regretted allergy, she can have no resident cat, but she receives regular charitable visits from three cats who are neighbors.

Readers can write to her at PO. Box 9449, London, NW3 2WH, England.

THE BARAKAT EMIRATES

SHEIKH’S RANSOM, Prince Karim’s story, April 1999

THE SOLITARY SHEIKH, Prince Omar’s story, May 1999

BELOVED SHEIKH, Prince Rafi’s story. June 1999

Available only from Silhouette Desire.

Karim’s Inheritance The Jewel Seal of Shakur

There was once a king of ancient and noble lineage who ruled over a land that had been blessed by God. This land, Barakat, lying on the route of one of the old Silk Roads, had for centuries received the cultural influences of many different worlds. Its geography, too, was diverse: it bordered the sea; then the desert, sometimes bleak with its ancient ruins, sometimes golden and studded with oases, stretched inland for many miles, before meeting the foothills of snow-capped mountains that captured the rain clouds and forced them to deliver their burden in the rich valleys. It was a land of magic and plenty and a rich and diverse heritage.

But it was also a land of tribal rivalries and not infrequent skirmishes. Because the king had the ancient blood of the Quraishi kings in his veins, no one challenged his right to the throne, but many of the tribal chieftains whom he ruled were in constant jealousy over their lands and rights against the others.