Читать книгу: «By The Sheikh's Command»

Chapter One

Brianna Taylor saw him standing in the shadows, and held her breath. She would never have come to the barn if she had known Sheikh Rafe Bahram would be there. In fact, she wouldn’t have come at all.

Afraid to exhale, she stood, frozen, watching him, curious as to what he was doing. Unlike the angry man who’d arrived over a week ago, he seemed calm and at peace now. His dark head bowed forward, he murmured something she was too far away to hear. The tone reached her, though, low, soothing, hypnotic, as if he were whispering words of love to a woman.

The idea startled her. No one else was in the barn. Besides, with Allie gone, Bri was the only woman on the ranch. He spoke again and then ducked out of view. Fascinated, she took an involuntary step forward, and then abruptly realized he was talking to Magic Carpet, the Flying Ace’s newest colt, born only two weeks ago.

Luckily, Rafe hadn’t seen her. It wasn’t too late to back out and run to the house. No one was there. Cord and Rafe’s sister, Allie, had left for their honeymoon. The reminder that her brother now had a wife, someone else to share his life, dealt a fresh blow of grief and her steps faltered.

Not that she wasn’t happy for him. She truly was thrilled that he’d found someone so perfect for him like Allie, but it had been only a year since Bri had found Cord, only a year of having someone genuinely care about her and not consider her existence a burden to the modern world.

Rafe’s head came up again and she stopped, fearing any movement would attract his attention. He started to turn toward her and, without another thought, she dropped to the ground in a crouched position.

Immediately she regretted it.

How foolish. She could have waved and then walked out. It wasn’t as if she’d been spying on him. But it was too late and all she could hope for…

“What are you doing?”

The nearness of Rafe’s husky, accented voice startled her. He stood only a foot away. She looked up into his concerned dark eyes, lost her balance and landed on her fanny on the hard floor.

“Brianna.” He bent over to take her elbow, but she evaded him.

Humiliation stung her cheeks. “I’m looking for my earring. I lost it.” He continued to stare at her with unnerving intensity. Maybe because she never wore earrings. She was too chicken to get her ears pierced. She averted her gaze and focused on the hay-littered floor. “I lost it yesterday.”

“Yesterday?”

She nodded without looking up and sifted through the hay.

“In this exact spot?”

She nodded again, and then the amusement in his voice registered, and she looked up. A ghost of a smile played at the corners of his mouth. She was fairly certain she hadn’t seen him smile before.

“Well, not in this exact spot. If I knew that, then it wouldn’t be lost, would it?” She lowered her gaze again when she realized how prickly she sounded.

He laughed softly and crouched beside her. “I will help you search.”

“No.” She swallowed when his knee brushed her thigh. “I’m fine. Really.”

She’d never been this close to him. Once they’d sat opposite each other across the dinner table, but he’d been in an awful mood, his face darkened by a scowl. He’d come to Bridle to take his sister back to their home in Munir but found out Allie and Cord were getting married. That Allie had tricked him by switching places with her maid and remaining behind in Texas still amazed Brianna. Allie was her new hero. Bri would never have had the nerve.

“Of course you are, but two of us searching would be better, would it not?”

“I’m sure you have more important things to do,” she muttered as she stared down at the clumps of straw she’d formed.

“What could be more important than helping a lady in distress?”

At the amusement in his voice, she looked up and their eyes met in challenge. “Where I come from, losing an earring is hardly a disaster.”

“Where I come from, a lady sometimes loses something to gain a man’s attention. Perhaps with the intent of initiating a…friendship.”

Brianna stared back in disbelief. Her mouth opened, but nothing came out. And then finally she said, “That’s stupid.”

He smiled, taking some of the sting out of her lessthan-profound comment. “I agree.”

“You don’t do that enough.”

“Do what?”

She blinked, stunned that she’d said that out loud. “Never mind.”

“I would like to hear this.”

“It’s no big deal.” She shrugged and looked away. “You don’t smile enough.”

“Ah.” If he was surprised at her observation, he hid it well. “Why do you prefer that I smile?”

“I don’t,” she said quickly. “I just don’t want you to still be angry that Allie tricked you. You have to see how happy she is, how madly in love she and Cord are.” She sighed. “Having someone love you that much is like—” She stopped, mortification stinging her cheeks.

“Go on. What is it like?”

“I was talking about Allie and Cord.” Oh, God, she wanted to stand up and run as fast as she could. To the lake at the foot of the Desert Rose, where no one bothered her, where she could sit and stare at the peaceful water and make believe life was perfect.

“Yes, but you seem to have strong feelings about—”

“Oh, here’s my gold hoop.” She fisted her hand around some hay and pretended to stuff the imaginary earring into her jeans pocket. Her face flamed with the lie, but she couldn’t do much about it but turn away as she got to her feet. “Well, see you later.”

“Wait.” Rising with her, he touched her arm and she froze. “You seem upset. Why?”

She refused to meet his gaze. “I’m not.”

“Then look at me.”

She haltingly obeyed. The way he stared silently at her made her nervous, as if he were studying a painting. More likely he stared because her nose was a little crooked from a childhood fall. “What?”

“You have extraordinary eyes.”

She blinked. “No, I don’t.”

His lips curved again.

She hunched her shoulders, wishing she could be someone else. Just this once. Someone beautiful and sophisticated, who said and did all the right things. “I really have to go.”

“First, tell me.” His gaze narrowed in concern. “Why does it bother you that I will be staying with you in Cord and Aliah’s absence?”

The reminder of her brother’s overprotective stubborn streak made her blood boil. “I don’t need looking after, and he had no business asking you to stick around.”

“That is not why I am staying.”

“Don’t try and cover up for him. I heard him ask you, remember?”

Rafe moved his broad shoulders in a slow shrug. “I believe he was teasing you. He knows the foal I have purchased from the Colemans of the Desert Rose Ranch should be born within a week, and that I wished to be present for the birth.”

Bri forced herself to meet his dark, steady gaze. He looked so darn sincere, yet she knew her brother, and she doubted very much that Cord had been teasing. When Rafe said nothing more, she asked, “How long will you be here?”

“At least until the foal is born.”

“Don’t you have to get back to Munir?”

“You sound as if you wish to get rid of me.”

She blushed again. Darn it. “I thought you were a busy man. Allie said you—” She cut herself off and gritted her teeth.

“What did my sister say?”

“Nothing important.” She dusted her hands together. “I need to go see about supper.”

“Wait, Brianna.”

She’d never liked her name. Taunted as a child by Jenny Thomas and other girls with nice normal names, she’d even hated it for a while. But the husky way Rafe said it erased all those hurtful years in an instant.

He gazed down at her in that intense unnerving way of his, and she had little choice but to hear him out.

“I hope you do not have a problem with us being alone in the house while your brother is away.”

“Of course not.” She was getting to be way too good a liar. Her aunt Elaine would have washed her mouth out with soap.

“If so, I can arrange to stay in Bridle.”

Confused, she studied him for a moment. Was he right about Cord only teasing her? Otherwise, Rafe wouldn’t offer to stay in town. “What about the Desert Rose?”

In response to her bluff, his right eyebrow went up. “I am making you uncomfortable?”

“Don’t be silly. It’s not that I don’t want you here—” Her tongue got tied and she stumbled over her words. “I just thought that since you want to be there for the foal’s birth…” At the telling amusement on his face, she groaned inwardly. “I really need to go see about supper.”

“Aliah did not make arrangements?”

“Why would she? They left early yesterday.” Bri groaned out loud this time. “Unless she ordered pizza.”

“Pizza?” He smiled “Ah, yes. While I was at the university, it was a favorite dish of many of the students.”

“In Munir?”

“No, Harvard.”

“You went to Harvard? Here, in the United States?”

His eyebrows rose. “Why do you find that so difficult to believe?”

“I don’t know. I—” She shrugged. “I knew that Allie had a British tutor. I guess I assumed—I don’t know.”

“It is different for women in our country.”

“I guess that’s why Allie ran away.” Her hand flew to her mouth. Allie had complained about women being nonentities, merely a man’s accessory. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—I’d better go.”

His expression tightened. “I am not ignorant of my country’s archaic attitudes or shortcomings. Now, I’ve detained you long enough. Please excuse me.”

Bri kept her mouth shut as he strolled back toward Magic Carpet’s stall. She hadn’t meant to offend him. Allie had wonderful things to say about her brother. She’d felt badly about tricking him into offering her maid to Cord when he’d rescued the woman from a runaway horse. But secretly trading places with the maid and staying behind in America was the only way Allie could get out from beneath the royal thumb.

Rafe wasn’t like their parents, Allie had confided, or the rest of the royals. He respected a woman’s right to independence and strongly advocated modernizing their country even though it was an unpopular political position.

Bri didn’t understand any of it, but she liked and respected Allie. So if Allie thought her brother was honorable it was enough for Bri. She was glad, too. Men as gorgeous and as powerful as Rafe weren’t always nice, in Bri’s limited experience. Not that she’d ever met a sheikh before.

Or anyone like Rafe. It didn’t matter that she’d hardly spoken to him. Just looking at him made her skin tingle and caused a flutter in her tummy. Watching him wasn’t like watching the ranch hands, not even the new guy Chuck, and he was pretty cute with his sandy-colored hair and twinkling blue eyes.

With his midnight hair, dark seductive eyes and tall lean frame, Rafe was in a category all by himself. Taller than all the other guys on the ranch except Cord, he towered over her. At five-nine, she couldn’t wear high heels around most men. Which suited her fine. She’d worn heels twice at her aunt Elaine’s insistence. It had been awful.

She waited until Rafe was back in Magic Carpet’s stall, his back to her, before she headed out of the barn toward the house, and to Cord’s study. He’d left some notes for her regarding the stock selection for next month’s cattle auction and now seemed like a good time to bury herself in work.

Better that she didn’t think about Rafe or that he would be sleeping only three rooms away from her for the next week. Anyway, the annual auction was important to the Flying Ace, and she wanted to do the best job possible in Cord’s absence.

He’d been so good to her, going to New Hampshire to bring her back to Bridle. Although they had the same father, Bri was the bastard child, the product of a brief affair Gerald Brannigan had had with her mother in Dallas. Bri had never known him, in fact she’d barely known her mother. Aunt Elaine, her mother’s older sister, had raised Bri.

None of that mattered to Cord. He’d made it clear the ranch would always be her home, as much hers as it was his. Ironically, he’d accepted her as a Brannigan much more quickly and completely than she had accepted his generosity. But day by day she’d begun to settle in and experience the wonder of belonging she’d craved her entire childhood.

That’s why it chafed that Cord hadn’t mentioned to her privately about extending the invitation to stay to Rafe. She wouldn’t have dreamed of not consulting Cord before inviting a guest. But then again, Rafe was now Cord’s brother-in-law. Of course he’d be welcome at any time.

Her pulse sped up and it had nothing to do with the fact that she had practically power walked up the slope to the house. The thought that Rafe might become a frequent visitor had sent her heart into overdrive. Not that she expected anything to happen between them. Even though Allie had teased her to watch out because Rafe had a taste for blondes. Or because he thought Bri had extraordinary eyes…

She entered through the kitchen and then detoured down the hall to her room and shut the door. She still wanted to tackle the auction paperwork this afternoon but something more pressing required her attention. The mirror over her dresser was smudged, so she wiped it with her sleeve and stared up close at her reflection.

All that stared back were plain ol’ garden-variety blue eyes. A hint of green was the only thing possibly interesting about them. Which was a stretch. Especially considering that her crooked nose drew attention away from anything that might be pleasant about her face.

She peered closer. Maybe some makeup would help hide the flaw. Mascara was about all she could handle daily. Aunt Elaine didn’t believe in vanity and would have taken a switch to Bri if she ever “painted her face.” But Allie and Bri’s friend, Jessica Coleman Grayson, both wore makeup. That didn’t make them tramps.

Sighing, Bri pulled her ponytail up and piled her hair high on top of her head, and then angled her face to get a look from either side. The style made her look slightly older, anything older than twenty-two was good.

Maybe she’d experiment later, after dinner.

Shoot! She’d forgotten about dinner. Rafe had distracted her. He was pretty darn good at doing that, all right. It would serve him right if Allie had ordered pizza for them…although that was doubtful. Allie wasn’t the type to worry about anything else on the eve of her honeymoon.

Not that Bri blamed her. If she were so lucky as to find a husband who was as crazy about her as Cord was about Allie, Bri wouldn’t think about much else, either. And frankly, Bri was glad Allie wasn’t the domestic type or terribly organized, either. Wouldn’t that create a need for Bri to stick around?

Even when their housekeeper returned, there were still household decisions to be made, the kind that Bri handled.

Sighing, she let go of her hair and the ponytail fell like a heavy rope down her back. She’d thought about cutting it, but a shorter style would require too much care. With working around the ranch, a ponytail was much easier to manage.

Assuming she’d be around much longer.

Angry with herself, she chased the hurtful thought away. Hadn’t she just reasoned that she had a necessary place here? Of course, for the past week her thoughts had been bouncing back and forth like a rubber ball.

One minute she convinced herself that it would be best if she left the ranch and the newlyweds to their privacy, and in the next breath she decided Cord’s marriage didn’t mean she had to leave. She had a viable job at the ranch. Cord didn’t like doing the bookkeeping and she did. She was darn good at it, too. The grain costs had gone down since she’d taken over and found another supplier—someone who wasn’t related to the acting foreman while Manny had been away.

The best thing Aunt Elaine had ever done was encourage, no, demand, that Bri get an education. Her maiden aunt had been vocal about Bri learning to take care of herself, and not end up like her mother, Elaine’s sister, who’d gotten knocked up and then abandoned her daughter to the charity of her family.

At first Bri had silently rebelled, but then she discovered that school not only got her out of the house and away from Aunt Elaine’s harping, but it was fun and empowering. She’d done extremely well, making the honor roll all through high school, and then the dean’s list her second and third year of college. She’d probably have made it her senior year, too, had she finished. But the lure of meeting her brother had eclipsed her need for a degree.

Her stomach growled, reminding her she really did have to think about rustling something up for dinner. Maybe sandwiches. If His Royal Highness didn’t like that option, he could go to the diner in Bridle. Give the townspeople something to gawk at.

Bri smiled at the thought as she strolled into the kitchen and opened the fridge. Nothing leaped out at her. They’d finished the leftovers last night and she hadn’t taken anything out of the freezer. Even the deli meat looked unappealing.

Pizza didn’t sound so bad right about now. Although, since Allie had discovered the spicy pies for the first time last week, they’d had pepperoni, peppers and extra cheese four times for dinner.

She considered taking a drive into Bridle to pick one up, when she saw a folded piece of paper stuck to the side of the refrigerator under a cow magnet. Curious, she unfolded it. Cord usually left notes for her on her desk.

The message was from Allie. She had ordered their dinner to be delivered from the diner at seven. Rafe had been right. Bri frowned. The diner didn’t deliver. Of course, Allie had a way of getting what she wanted. Bri needed to take lessons.

Her gaze fell on the tiny postscript at the bottom from Cord. They had decided to stop in Dallas on the way back and would be home a day later than the planned ten days.

No big deal. What was one day?

She set the note aside, a wave of melancholy overtaking her. This was yet another change in the way she and Cord had settled into life on the ranch together. In the past, he had always kept her informed of his plans, even if it was only a trip to the bank. Now he had Allie.

Bri hated the jealousy that gnawed at her, but it was there, and she would have to make peace with it. Ignoring it would only fuel needless resentment. Cord’s marriage posed no threat to her relationship with him. As he’d assured her so many times, they’d always be family.

As far as Allie having taken charge of dinner tonight, that had been a nice gesture. Really. Bri didn’t have to worry about playing hostess to Rafe right off the bat. Allie had been thoughtful in eliminating that problem.

Bri got a six-pack of cola out of the pantry and put it on the fridge. So why did she feel so glum? Now she had more time to work on the auction paperwork.

She started for her office but her gaze fell on the newspaper left on the kitchen table. Ironically, it was open to the classifieds—the rental section.

Was someone trying to tell her something?