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“If you really believe that, you’re a fool.” Her voice trembled with tightly suppressed anger. “I’d be in the sultan’s bed.”
“I’m glad to hear you admit it.”
“Why would I deny it? That’s what Asaad wanted me for.”
His mouth twisted. “The truth, at last.”
“What would a man like you know about truth?”
Cam stared into her eyes for a long moment, torn between the desire to tell her that she was right, he didn’t know a damned thing about truth—and the desire to pull her into his arms and kiss her. What was she doing to him, this witch? Salome wasn’t a woman to whom you bared your soul.
“Enough talk,” he growled. “You want to climb that rock pile? You need something more on your feet than what you have.” He looked her over and his gaze settled on the thrust of her breasts. “Take off your bra.”
She looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “In your dreams.”
Cam grabbed a fistful of her shirt and dragged her to her toes. “Take it off,” he said softly, “or I will.”
They stared at each other for a long minute. Then Leanna wrenched free.
“Your wish is my command,” she said through her teeth.
Without taking her eyes from his, she did the trick learned by any girl who’d had to undress in a house shared with three brothers. Reach under your shirt, open your bra, tug at the straps, drag one down your arm and out the cuff of the shirt, then do the same with the other.
The look on Cam’s face was priceless. “What the hell did you just do?”
“I took off my bra.” She arched an eyebrow as she handed it to him. “Disappointed?”
Hell, no. Now he could see her nipples, perfectly outlined under the shirt, just waiting for the stroke of his hand.
The swift tightness in his groin infuriated him.
“Sit,” he barked. She didn’t move quickly enough to suit his temper. “Damn it, when I tell you something…”
He squatted, grabbed her ankle and tugged. Leanna landed on her backside.
“You’re a hateful man.”
“Lift your foot. Do it, or you can go up that mountain barefoot.”
“I thought you said you wouldn’t call it a mountain.”
“It’s whatever I say it is. Hold out those ribbons.”
“What ribbons?”
Cam muttered something and grabbed a handful of the slender gold ribbons that hung from the thong. A bunch of small stones lay scattered at their feet. He chose one with a sharp edge and used it to slice the ribbons off. Then he tore the bra apart, wrapped her feet in the cups and tied them on with the ribbons.
“Oh,” she said in a small voice.
He looked up. “Apology accepted.”
“I didn’t—” She swallowed. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
He nodded, then stood up. “Okay. Let’s do it. I want to be on the other side of that thing before the sun goes any higher.”
The improvised shoes held, but the biggest surprise was what they found when they reached the top of the mountain.
Below them stretched a sea of grass and flowers…and beyond that, the gleaming white walls of an alabaster palace rose against a bright blue sky.
