Читать онлайн «Her Desert Prince»
Автор Winters Rebecca
Rashad stood up. “Let’s dance. ”
In a euphoric daze, Lauren moved into his strong arms. She’d been in them before, but this time it was different. He held her so close she could feel his hard-muscled body down to their feet. There was no place to put her arms but around his neck. As she did so, she felt his hands rove over her back and pull her up tight against him.
“Have I frightened you?” he whispered against her lips.
“No. ” Her voice throbbed. She needed him like she needed air to breathe.
“That’s good, because I’m going to kiss you. It’s something I’ve wanted to do since the moment you woke up after the sandstorm. ”
About the Author
REBECCA WINTERS, whose family of four children has now swelled to include three beautiful grandchildren, lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the land of the Rocky Mountains. With canyons and high Alpine meadows full of wild flowers, she never runs out of places to explore. They, plus her favourite vacation spots in Europe, often end up as backgrounds for her novels, because writing is her passion, along with her family and church.
HER DESERT PRINCE
BY REBECCA WINTERS
CHAPTER ONE
“I CAN’T MARRY YOU, Paul. Though I think you’re a wonderful man, I’m not in love with you. ”
“Since your grandmother died, you’re too sad to know your own feelings right now. ”
“But I do know them. A marriage between us wouldn’t work. ”
“So you’re really going on that trip?”
“Yes. I want to walk in her footsteps for a time.
It’s my tribute to her. ”“You shouldn’t go there alone, Lauren. At least let me come with you to protect you. ”
“Protect me? From what? No, Paul. ”
“How long will you be gone?”
“I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter. This has to be good-bye. ”
THEY WANDERED IN THE DESERT
The line from Psalms didn’t leave Lauren Viret’s mind as she drank from her water bag, surveying the indescribable vastness and loneliness of the northern Arabian desert.
Since they had left the major city of El-Joktor, bone-scorching heat had born down on their little group of twenty penetrating deeper into the desert’s heart. Forty actually if you counted the camels. In a movie, the audience would consider them secondary characters. But out here where there were no movie cameras rolling, the humped female dromedary played the star role.
Lauren was less than a granule on this endless burning waste of sand where one could be swallowed alive in an instant. Before she’d set out this morning on her forty-mile journey, her guide, Mustafa, had lectured her that her camel was more valuable than any human.
She’d read enough firsthand accounts of desert survival to believe it. Besides transportation the camels provided shelter, protection, even water and food in dire circumstances.
While she was deep in thought, Mustafa urged his beast forward to ride alongside her. He talked with excitement as he pointed out the huge, awe-inspiring crescent-shaped dunes in this area of the Nafud Desert. It was true she’d never seen anything like them. No wonder her grandmother had never stopped talking about this place.
