Sheikh's Blackmailed Love Read Free Page B

away.
     

CHAPTER TWO
    In the same hospital where he had watched his father die, Dario now sat next to a tiny girl who slept soundly in the white bed. She looked almost doll-like under the white covers, so small and frail.
    At some point, a nurse had come in to clean her up, washing away the grit and blood from the wound on her temple.
    “It could have been much worse,” the doctor had assured him. “She might have a small concussion, and she is definitely malnourished and exhausted, but she should be fine. She’ll likely wake up sometime today.”
    He wasn’t sure whether he was relieved or not that she was still out like a light when he returned in the late afternoon. Dario had a dozen things to do, but right now, all he wanted was to sit by her bedside.
    He could feel the night’s effects on him as well. He slumped down further in the chair next to the bed, his eyelids starting to droop.
    “Well, if you’re going to sleep, I should as well,” he murmured, feeling himself drift off.
    “You can have the bed if you want,” said a soft voice.
    He jerked up to look into that same pair of vivid gray eyes that had stuck in his memory. She sat up in bed, holding her hospital gown around her.
    “Where am I?” she asked. When she spoke, she winced, reaching for the bump at her temple. Before he could think about what he was doing, he reached out to grab her wrist before she could touch it.
    “You’re at the hospital in Jabal,” he said. “You fainted during the raid on Christensen’s camp, and we brought you here.”
    He could see the memories coming back to her, and he could see the moment when she realized who he was.
    “You’re… you’re the man from the village! You picked me up on your horse…”
    “I did,” Dario said with a slight smile. “In the middle of everything, I saw you running into the desert. I went to get you, but then you fainted on me and… well, here we are.”
    “Thank you,” she said. Her words were quiet, but he could feel the depth of her gratitude in those eyes. Could she keep anything a secret with eyes like those, he wondered.
    “You’re welcome. I am merely sorry that you became engaged in such an operation.”
    She winced.
    “I needed the money,” she said, her voice small. “My mom, well, we don’t do so great, and the offer sounded like it was magic, like it was everything that I might have… well. I know better now.”
    He nodded sympathetically.
    “I understand,” he said, standing. “Now that you are up, I can go notify the people at your embassy. We can get things straightened out for you.”
    The smile she gave him, even with the white bandage taped to her head, was tremulous, but as beautiful as the dawn.
    “Thank you again,” she said softly. “My name is Bailey. I would really, really like to know the name of the man who helped me out so much.”
    He grinned at her from the door.
    “Dario,” he said, and for some reason, he didn’t say any more.
    *
    Things were never simple, Bailey realized. For two days she stayed in the hospital, antsy to get out. She was terrified of the bills she was racking up, before one of the nurses kindly told her that they were being covered by the state. That was fine, but then when she tried to check herself out, she found that she was not able to do so.
    It was about then when she had realized that the embassy had never appeared, and the fear from being in Christensen’s camp came back.
    When she had demanded to speak with the embassy, a large and stern military official had come to speak with her. He was nothing like Dario, who had treated her with such kindness; he was perfectly blunt.
    She could either continue her convalescence at the hospital, or she could be taken to a detainment area.
    “Detained?” she had sputtered. “What for?”
    “You are under investigation for the crime of attempting to remove priceless national treasures from the country of Jabal, part of the Christensen case. At the moment, your