Page 13 of Desert Barbarian

Stonor Grey flung down his napkin and rose. Before Marie had realised what was happening, he had bent and raised her to her feet with one compelling hand, in a grip she instinctively recognised.

'Let's dance,' he said briefly.

She would have protested had she not wished to pre­serve the peace, but tonight she was afraid to do anything which might further upset her father.

So she allowed him to lead her on to the floor and pull her into a close embrace, his hand warm in the small of her back, while they moved to the deep rhythmic beat of the pop tune.

'Better get it out before you explode,' he murmured drily into her ear.

'What?' She turned her head to look at him and then looked away, her body springing wildly alive as she became aware of his closeness and the touch of his hand against her body.

'You've been sitting there seething for the last half hour,' he said. 'You have a very expressive face, you know.'

'What do you expect? You played a dirty trick on me. You made a fool of me…'

'You were bored, so was I,' he said lightly. 'I thought we might have some fun together.'

'I can imagine your idea of fun,' she snapped.

He ran his hand along the full length of her spine, and she stiffened and glared at him. 'Stop that!'

'Don't snarl at me, then,' he said blandly. 'You were lamenting the fact that you hadn't seen any of the wild, romantic side of Arab life, so I supplied it for you, free, gratis and for nothing. You ought to be grateful.'

'Oh, I am, thanks a million,' she said sarcastically. 'You scared me out of my wits, you made me ride for miles across a barren desert, kept me up all night and told me a string of ridiculous lies… and you expect gratitude!'

He laughed softy. 'Come on, admit it. You had the time of your life. Wasn't it romantic? The desert, the moonlight, the campfire?'

'That evil-smelling cloth over my head stifling me, nearly being bitten by a poisonous black snake, riding until my back nearly broke in half… oh, it was certainly romantic! Like taking a bath in sheep dip.'

His black eyes danced with amusement. 'Scorpion,' he murmured softly. 'You've had your revenge, haven't you?'

Marie looked at him blankly.

'You very thoroughly chastised me in front of them all just now and I couldn't do a thing about it,' he said teasingly.

'Don't lie! You didn't give a damn what I said,' she said furiously. He laughed again. 'You looked so incredulous when you saw me! Rather like your expression when you saw that snake out in the desert'

'Snakes always make me look like that,' she said mean­ingfully. 'What were you doing in the hotel garden any­way? Why were you lurking about at that hour of the night?'

'I was on my way to bed,' he confessed.

'You were staying in the hotel?' She was astounded. 'I never saw you.'

'I wasn't exactly a guest,' he admitted. 'I own it'

'I might have known it!' She looked at him with loathing.

'I own a lot of hotels,' he told her. 'I visit them all once or twice. It just happened to be that one on that particu­lar night'

'Why did it have to be while I was staying there?' she lamented to herself. 'Why not some other night of the year?'

'It is the will of Allah,' he said mischievously.

She looked up at him. 'That isn't how I would describe it. Why were you wearing Arab dress?'

'I'm half Arab,' he said flatly. 'Why not? When I'm visiting my mother's country I always wear Arab dress. Don't you like it?' The dark eyes rested on her face.

'It suits you,' she said, suddenly breathless.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com