Sheikh's Command by Sophia Lynn Page B

clamped his hand down over her mouth. Her eyes flew up to his enraged gaze. Suddenly all semblance of calm was gone, leaving behind it a towering inferno of fury.
    “No,” he snarled. “Do not dare. What I told you last night was the truth, but in front of God and heaven, I refuse to allow my love for you to be used like this, as if it were some token that could be moved back and forth on a board.”
    When he let go of her, she slumped down onto the couch like a rag doll. She stared up at him, feeling as if all of the life had been drained from her. She thought dully that she must look like a bit of trash, something that would be tossed away at the earliest convenience. She could barely recognize Makeen as the man who had held her so tenderly the night before.
    “What happens now?” she asked, her voice terribly calm. “What can possibly be between us now?”
    Makeen was still for a very long time. When he spoke, he kept his face turned away from her, as if it was simply too painful to look at her.
    “Tomorrow, we are going to return to Zahar. What you do tonight determines what happens when we do.”
    “What I do?”
    “Yes. I am going to my study. You should return to your room. If you remain there, we will return to Zahar, and see what shall become of us together. I will help you grieve your brother. I will help you mourn, and together, we can decide if there is something between us.”
    His voice hardened. “If you come to my study, be prepared to do so as a supplicant. You will make your case to me, you will explain yourself in excruciating detail, and you will do whatever it is in your power to win your brother free. Perhaps he will be free at the end of it, and perhaps not. However, what will certainly happen in this case is that I will know who you are and what you think of me.”
    He paused. For a moment, she saw a flicker of softness cross his face, but then it was gone, as elusive as morning mist in a sunlit valley.
    “Choose wisely,” he said. “Beyond that, it is all up to you.”

CHAPTER NINE
    Olivia faced the door to Makeen's study, staring at the intricate carvings that she knew were well over a hundred years old. She could have stared at them all night, looking at the results of a long-dead man's hand, but she knew that she couldn't.
    Instead, with a deep breath, she made herself raise her hand and knock on the door.
    “Come.”
    When she did, Makeen watched her from behind his desk, his long and elegant fingers templed in front of his face. From the grim expression he wore, she knew that he understood why she was there.
    “I want you to let David off,” she said. “Please.”
    There were a number of expressions that fluttered across Makeen's face. She saw pain and grief there, and sadness as well, but finally, it was replaced with a stony wrath.
    “You don't know what you're asking me.”
    “As a matter of fact I do,” she said, lifting her chin slightly. “He is my brother …”
    “And what does that make me?”
    The question startled her, throwing her off her stride. “What do you mean?” Olivia asked, her voice slightly shaky.
    He stood with the slow and languid grace of a panther, coming around the desk towards her. She had to resist the urge to back up. There was something dangerous about him just now, something that made her swallow hard. She knew that he was a big man, but right now, he seemed enormous, taking up all of the air in the room and leaving her with nothing that she could breathe.
    “I said,” he repeated, “what am I to you? Who am I, that you can ask me a question like that?”
    “You're the Sheikh,” Olivia replied. “You are the one with the power to give me what I …”
    “All right then,” he said, and there was something final to his voice that made her very nervous.
    “Since I am the Sheikh, who are you?”
    “Makeen, what are you—”
    “No. At the moment, for you, whoever or whatever you are, you are not allowed to call me by my given name.