The Barbarian's Bride. Alex Ryder

were due to swoop on the cottage at five a.m.’

      She snorted. ‘Well, if that’s the best you can come up with—’

      ‘Damien dealt in cocaine,’ he informed her quietly. ‘A lot of the stuff is cached somewhere in your cottage.’

      She stared at him in angry silence for a moment, then snapped, ‘I’ve never heard such rubbish in my life. I don’t believe a word of it. You’re making it up.’

      ‘And that’s precisely why I had to sedate you,’ he pointed out. ‘There was no time to argue with you, or to search the cottage and get rid of the stuff before the police arrived.’ He paused, then went on reflectively, ‘I’ve no doubt that you’d have been able to prove your innocence eventually, but you might have had to spend a few uncomfortable weeks in custody. I sincerely regret having had to resort to such tactics, but I had no alternative.’

      ‘Oh, you’re going to regret it all right!’ she promised heatedly. ‘Assault and kidnapping and—and slanderous accusations against an innocent man. As soon as we land I’m going to report you to the authorities. You’ll probably spend the rest of your life in prison.’

      His eyes were unwavering, and his thin lips stretched and twisted into a cynical smile. ‘I’m sorry to dash your hopes for my downfall. When we arrive at our destination, you’ll find that I’m the only authority there is.’ He paused and studied her expression, then added drily, ‘However, if you submit your complaints to me in writing I’ll attend to them in due course.’

      She sat down in defeat and glared up at him. It was a long time since she’d felt as outraged as this. Things like this weren’t supposed to happen in this day and age. At least, not in England. My God, you weren’t even safe in your own house at night! Suddenly she lurched to her feet again and strode towards the lounge door.

      His arm shot out and restrained her. ‘Where do you think you’re going?’

      ‘To see the pilot,’ she snapped, struggling to get past. ‘I’m going to tell him what’s happened and demand that he turn back and take me home immediately.’

      His dark face hovered over hers and he teased softly, ‘How beautiful you look when you’re in a temper. There’s a glow on your skin and a positive sparkle in your eyes.’

      ‘Let me pass!’ she demanded furiously.

      He lowered his arm and shrugged. ‘Go ahead. But you’ll be wasting your time. This is my plane and the pilot only obeys my orders.’

      She drew in her breath. ‘Your plane?’

      He flashed his white teeth at her in a smile of affirmation, then said, ‘Perhaps you’d like to sit down now and I’ll have “my” stewardess fetch you another drink.’

      She slumped down in her seat and looked up at him bleakly. She was beginning to remember, with some embarrassment, the things she’d said to him last night in her dream-state, before the sedative had taken full effect.

      ‘What happened after I passed out last night?’ she asked suspiciously.

      He pressed a bell for the stewardess, ordered another cup of tea, then drawled, ‘After you passed out I carried you outside, put you in a car, drove you to a private airfield and lifted you aboard this plane.’

      ‘And that’s all that happened?’ she asked doubtfully.

      His blue eyes narrowed and became icy. ‘I hope you’re not suggesting that I took advantage of your condition?’

      ‘Why not?’ she retorted. ‘You’ve done everything else. I wouldn’t put it past you.’ She stared back at him resentfully. ‘You say that you studied medicine and that you own this plane. That means you’re a man of intelligence, at least. If that’s the case, can you tell me why you’re doing a stupid thing like this? I’ve got a good idea what you’ve got in mind, but it won’t do you any good.’

      He raised a mocking eyebrow. ‘Don’t be too sure. I recall the conversation we had at the party. You told me that you had nothing against me as a person and that, in fact, you found me quite attractive.’

      Her mouth dropped open in protest, then she reminded him acidly, ‘I also called you egotistical. That was the understatement of the year, now I come to think about it. A dangerous and conceited oaf would have been nearer the mark.’

      ‘My faults are many,’ he conceded with a crooked grin. ‘But in time you will learn to overlook them. After those amorous overtures you made to me last night, I have every confidence in our future relationship. You and I, Janene, are going to give each other exquisite and eternal pleasure.’

      His reference to last night made her inwardly cringe, but she said coldly, ‘So it doesn’t mean anything to you that I’m in love with another man?’

      His deep laugh grated across her raw, exposed nerves. ‘You may have intended to marry Damien, but I doubt if you were ever seriously in love with him.’

      She felt herself flushing, and was on the point of retaliating with some crushing remark when the stewardess returned and handed her a fresh cup.

      Conscious of Kassim’s blue eyes stripping and caressing her in anticipation, she sipped the tea, then laid down the cup and averted her head to stare out of the window. Far below, she saw green rollers and white surf washing along countless miles of deserted golden beach. Inland there was nothing but scrub growing in a barren landscape of red earth and rock.

      ‘Would you mind telling me where we are?’ she asked bitterly.

      He chuckled. ‘The far side of the moon,’ he said, reminding her of the sarcastic statement she’d made at the party. Satisfied that he’d scored a point, he went on, ‘What you see below you is the Atlantic Ocean and the coast of south-west Morocco.’

      She simmered away in silence for a few more minutes as he settled himself in the seat beside her. Dark, suspicious thoughts were tormenting her mind and the more she tried to ignore them the more persistent they became. Undoubtedly she’d get to the truth sooner or later, but her more immediate problem was how to deal with this situation.

      Her nerves tautened and her leg twitched as he placed his hand on her thigh, just above the knee. ‘Don’t be discouraged by the view, Janene,’ he whispered in a voice of silky seduction. ‘I’m offering you much more than rocks and sand. You will shortly find yourself in a private little corner of paradise.’

      His hand began gently stroking her thigh, but, instead of telling him to stop, she said unsteadily, ‘I—I don’t care what it’s like. You—you can’t keep me there against my will.’

      ‘I won’t need to,’ he murmured in her ear. ‘Once you have drunk at my well, no water will ever taste as sweet again. You will stay because you will be a prisoner of your own awakened desires.’

      Her chest was getting tight, and she gulped, ‘Are all Moroccan men as conceited as you are? If they are, then I pity the poor women who have to put up with it.’

      ‘Not conceited, my little English rose. Just confident in the knowledge that we are experts in the art of physical pleasure. In our culture, it’s a man’s duty to recognise and cater for a woman’s needs.’ He gave her thigh a final squeeze, then said, with tongue in cheek, ‘There is nothing I would like better than to give you a demonstration here and now, I myself have a desire that needs urgent consummation, but my appetite shall remain under control for the moment.’ His hand came up and slid sensuously across her stomach, causing her heart to race. He reached for her seatbelt, and gave her a wide and wicked smile. ‘We’ll be landing shortly. Allow me to strap you in.’

       CHAPTER THREE

      THE plane was banking gently to the left, giving her a good view of the scene below. Atop a craggy headland that thrust its way out into