Lord of the Desert Read Free

gorgeous and sexy and look like Rudolph Valentino. Did you ever see that silent movie, ‘The Sheikh’?” she continued dreamily. “Just imagine having a fantasy like that actually come to life, Maggie. Being abducted by a handsome sheikh on a white stallion and having him fall madly in love with you! I get goose bumps just thinking about it.” She frowned. “Maybe I’m not cut out to be a modern woman. Probably I should be dreaming about throwing a handsome sheikh onto my horse and riding away with him as my captive.” A long sigh left her lips. “Oh, well, it’s only a daydream after all. Reality is never that adventurous, not for me. You’re more the type for gorgeous, sexy men.”
    Maggie laughed hollowly. “I don’t have much luck with gorgeous, sexy men,” she said.
    Gretchen knew she was thinking about her foster brother, Cord Romero. “Well, don’t look at me,” she mused, trying to lighten the atmosphere. “I only attract gigolos.”
    â€œDaryl wasn’t a gigolo, he was a garden slug. You should only date men who belong to your own species,” she said haughtily.
    Gretchen burst out laughing. “Oh, you make me feel so independent and brave,” she said, and meant it. “I’m really glad you asked me to come with you on this vacation and paid more than your part so I could afford it,” she added gratefully. “Even if I do have to fly back alone. I’m going to miss you,” she said quietly. “We won’t get to go shopping together or even talk on the phone at holidays.”
    Maggie nodded solemnly. She was flying from here to Qawi. Her role as personal assistant to the ruling sheikh would be to assume responsibility for public relations, court functions, and organization of the household duties. It would be a challenge, and she might be homesick for Texas. But she’d told Gretchen once that anything was better than the hell of being around Cord Romero, who had made it obvious that she was never going to be part of his life.
    Both had been orphans, adopted by a Houston society matron. They weren’t related, but Cord treated Maggie like a relative. He’d married a few years back and his wife, Patricia, had committed suicide after he was almost fatally wounded and he couldn’t, or wouldn’t, give up his career as a government agent. Soon after her death, he left the field of law enforcement and went to work as a professional mercenary soldier, specializing in bomb disposal.
    It was what he did now, and Maggie had managed to keep her distance from him quite comfortably until the sudden death of their adoptive mother. Maggie had married a few weeks later, but her elderly husband had been an invalid and died only six months after their marriage. She and Cord had avoided each other ever since. Gretchen wondered what had happened, but Maggie never spoke of it.
    When Cord unexpectedly returned to Houston and moved in the same circles Maggie did, in between foreign assignments, she applied and got a job in another country. One which, ironically, Cord had casually told her about. He’d come back from a job in Qawi just recently, helping disarm old land mines from a guerilla invasion. When Maggie had looked into the job, she’d found that it paid handsomely—much more handsomely than her own position as a financial advisor. She was determined to make a clean break from Cord this time.
    On the way, she decided to have a vacation. She’d invited her friend Gretchen along, mainly because Gretchen had been so very despondent after the death of her mother and the tragic betrayal of her one serious boyfriend. So far the trip had been wonderful. But soon, Maggie would fly on to Qawi and Gretchen would have to board a plane alone for Amsterdam, from which she’d fly back to Texas.
    It would be lonely for Gretchen, but she’d get a glimpse of the world. She needed that.