Her Desert Knight. Jennifer Lewis

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      “Okay.”

      She picked up his phone. “Quasar’s phone. Celia speaking.” Then she frowned. “They hung up.” She lifted a brow. “I hope I didn’t scare off one of your girlfriends.”

      He swung his niece around until she shrieked loud enough to pierce his eardrums. “I don’t have any girlfriends.” Then he froze.

      Dani.

      What if she’d decided to call him, and now a woman answered his phone? “Let’s go dry you off, kid.” He carried his niece to the steps and climbed out, dripping onto the sandstone tiles. He dried his hands on his towel and snatched up his phone.

      Celia leaned toward Sara. “I think he does have a girlfriend or two that he’s worried about.”

      He didn’t recognize the number, but it looked local. He called it, and listened while it rang.

      “Hello?” a shy, thin voice answered.

      “This is Quasar. You just called my phone.” He didn’t want to say her name in case it wasn’t her. He’d made that mistake before.

      “Hi. It’s Dani.” She hesitated, possibly wondering about the woman who’d answered his phone.

      “I’m so glad you called.” He walked along the edge of the pool, away from his sisters-in-law. He could feel their eyes on him. “I was hoping you would. That was my sister-in-law Celia who answered.”

      “Oh.” She sounded relieved. “I’d like to go see the museum pieces with you, if you’re still interested.”

      “Absolutely. Is this afternoon good?” He didn’t want to wait and take a chance that she’d change her mind.

      “Okay.”

      “Excellent. If you give me your address, I’ll come pick you up.”

      She told him that she preferred to meet him outside the vegetable stalls at the end of the street with the café. Apparently she didn’t want him coming to her house. And she had to be home by four, at the latest. It was all starting to sound intriguingly cloak-and-dagger.

      “Sure, I’ll be there at noon.” His blood pumped a little faster at the prospect of seeing her again. He wondered if she’d wear the elegant traditional attire she’d had on yesterday, or something more Western. He was curious about her figure. He could already tell she was slim, but he had no idea about the cut of her hips, the shape of her legs, or the curve of her bosom. There was something to be said for that kind of mystery.

      Still, he promised himself that he wasn’t going to make even the slightest hint of a move on her unless she showed signs of strong interest. He was a guest here in Oman and although he didn’t remember too much about the local customs, he knew that toying with a woman’s affections was a total no-no.

      Unfortunately that didn’t dampen his enthusiasm one bit.

      “Did I hear you say that you’re meeting someone this afternoon?” Sara asked. She was smoothing sunblock on her arm. “I thought we were doing a barbecue on the beach.”

      “Something came up.” He tried not to reveal his excitement.

      His willowy sister-in-law Celia tilted her head. “Is she very beautiful?”

      “How do you know it’s not a dull business meeting?” He rubbed himself with the towel.

      “The look in your eyes.” She smiled, but raised one of her slender brows, too. “Those dangerous blue eyes where a woman is likely to drown in passion.”

      “I suspect most women are better swimmers than you think.” He swatted six-year-old Ben with a towel as he ran by. “And as it happens I’m taking her to see the restored oasis that you created.” Celia had first come to Oman as the landscape designer for the project. “She’s a historian specializing in this region so I think she’ll be interested in the artifacts you found.”

      “I bet she will. Something tells me you don’t want to turn this into a family expedition where we all meet her.”

      He smiled. “Not yet. I only just met her myself. I don’t want to scare her off.”

      “Very sensible. Though maybe she should be a little scared. The press coverage from your latest shenanigans hasn’t even died down yet. Laura was creating a stir on Twitter this morning talking about her broken heart.”

      Ouch. Meeting Dani had shoved his most recent girlfriend out of his mind. Unfortunately she was still in a lot of other people’s minds since she was a well-known actress with a talent for self-promotion. “I promise I didn’t really break her heart. She broke it all by herself. She’s one of those people who are in love with an impossible ideal of love. I don’t think anyone could make her happy.”

      “In love with love?” Celia laughed.

      Sara wandered over and sat down next to Celia on one of the elegant cushioned chaises that surrounded the pool. The shade of a nearby palm tree kept the sun off her face as she settled in. “Who’s in love?”

      “Everyone’s in love with Quasar. It’s very trying for him.”

      Sara shrugged and pulled off her T-shirt to reveal a turquoise bikini. “Not me. I’m still in love with Elan.”

      Quasar draped his towel over the back of a chair and flexed his shoulders until they cracked. “And so you should be. He’s much more reliable than me.” His stolid, workaholic brother had hired Sara as his secretary and was suitably appalled when he fell in love with her.

      “Nor me. I still love Salim.” Celia said it while looking at her husband, his oldest brother, who, incongruously dressed in a dark gray pinstripe suit, had just walked up to her and kissed her on the cheek.

      Quasar watched in mock amazement. “We can tell. I never would have thought I’d see the mighty Salim indulge in public displays of affection.”

      “The right woman can transform any one of us. Most likely when we least expect it.” Salim spoke with the quiet assurance of a prophet, his arms draped around his beautiful wife’s neck. “Even you.”

      Quasar laughed. “Don’t be so sure.”

      “He has a date this afternoon,” Celia said into her husband’s ear.

      Salim straightened up. “Tell me she’s kidding.”

      “It’s nothing to worry about. We both spoke English so we struck up a conversation.”

      “Where?” Salim’s dark, penetrating eyes narrowed. Quasar drew himself taller under their accusing stare.

      “A local bookshop.”

      Salim stared at him while Elan jogged up, looking muscular and athletic as usual. “Quasar is the only man I know who can go out to buy a book and come back with a woman. Even in Oman.”

      “I hardly came back with her in my pocket. She was interesting, that’s all. I have no intention of indulging СКАЧАТЬ