Arabian Nights with a Rake Read Online Free PDF

alive.”
    Crispin nodded, content to accept Alex’s analysis. “Assuming you’re right, how are we going to get her out of here?”
    Alex grinned. “There’re only two options, really, Cris. Either we convince Bitar to give her to us as a gift or we steal her and ride like hell.”
    â€œI was afraid you were going to say that. I guess we might as well take the horse while we’re at it. In for a penny, in for a pound. Do you think the Crown will ever forgive us for this one? Stealing women, stealing horses. Our skills grow illustrious, dear friend.”
    Alex chuckled. “Your brother’s an earl, they’ll forgive you anything. It’s me I’m worried about.”
    â€œHa, you’ll be the prince charming in all this, riding out of the desert with the missing diplomat’s daughter riding pillion behind you. It’s the stuff of ballads. I can see it now, ‘The Lay of Alex and Susannah’ sung in all of London’s finest pubs.”
    â€œLeave it, Cris, she’s a diplomat’s daughter.”
    â€œBeing a diplomat’s daughter doesn’t make her a nun.” Crispin countered.
    â€œShe is not a houri. She is Susannah Sutcliffe, Lord Sutcliffe’s daughter, and I’ll thank you to speak about her with respect.” Alex bristled.
    Crispin looked at him sharply and raised an eyebrow. “Hmm. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you so on edge about a woman. It rather sounds like there’s more to you and Miss Susannah than meets the eye.”
    Alex rose, blithely ignoring Crispin’s comment. “I need to take care of some things. I’ll see you shortly at the sheikh’s tent. I think he has some competitions lined up for today.” Crispin and he had worked together for two years. His friend was eminently trustworthy and quite the finest man he’d ever partnered with, but for some reason Alex did not want such crass witticisms slandering his encounter with Susannah.
    Alex wandered the moussem ’s souk, pausing every so often to admire the merchant’s booths and their goods on display at the fair. He stopped at a booth selling creams and purchased a small pot. The rose scent reminded him of Susannah.
    Ah, Susannah. She’d occupied a fair share of his thoughts since last night. Their interlude had been entirely other-worldly, but increasingly it was hard to keep the real-world implications from intruding.
    He was on difficult ground. Alex had lain awake long after Susannah had left. He’d meant to spend the night thinking over diplomatic issues, but his thoughts had continuously drifted back to her. When it had been a game of desire, of bodies speaking to one another in the timeless language of seduction, who she was had not been a consideration. She’d simply been a woman, passionate and bold. He’d been a man, answering the lure of her body. It had been simple and primal in the darkness of the tent.
    Then he’d asked her name and reality had struck. She was an Englishman’s daughter. Not just any Englishman’s daughter. There were Englishmen and then there were Englishmen . Her father had been of the latter category.
    Lord Sutcliffe was no meager player in British affairs. He’d been considered a top-notch diplomat when it came to the Empire in North Africa. Alex’s father had met with him on occasion over Egyptian affairs. Alex had admired him as a hero during his years growing up in Cairo. No other man in the Empire had possessed Sutcliffe’s depth of knowledge concerning the varied peoples of North Africa.
    To be set upon by the mercenaries of Sheikh Bitar was an ignoble death for anyone, particularly one so decorated in life. For Sutcliffe’s daughter to be made a captive and subjugated to who-knew-what atrocities was an intolerable slap in the face to the Empire’s pride, but Alex’s body burned for a personal vengeance against Bitar and