The Desert Bride of Al Zayed by Tessa Radley

Author:Tessa Radley
Format: mobi
Tags: Contemperary Romance, Series Romance
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2007-06-14T04:00:00+00:00

Six

Two kilometres on, Tariq and Jayne were still chasing behind the bustard with Noor hunting a long way above.

“She’ll be exhausted,” Jayne said in disbelief.

“Noor can fly for about an hour making repeated strikes. At the moment she’s taking advantage of stealth,” Tariq explained. “See how she flies above the houbara, with the sun at her back?” Jayne nodded. “The houbara won’t see her coming.”

“Good grief.”

Just then the falcon tucked her wings and went into a dive, closing in on the bustard. Tariq pulled to a stop, and they both leaped out the vehicle. Even from the ground Jayne could hear the wind whistling through the peregrine’s wings.

Tariq moved, hooking his arm around her shoulders.

When Noor struck, Jayne looked away. Tariq pulled her into the crook of his arm. Her face buried in the heavy cotton of his thobe, she breathed in the rich, masculine scent of him.

When she raised her face from his shoulder the houbara was on the ground and Noor stood over her prey, her head bowed, ready to feast.

“She’s waiting for my signal.” Tariq gave a short sharp whistle and the bird started to eat. His hand rubbed up and down Jayne’s arm, steadying her, offering rough comfort.

But the shivers that followed in the wake of his touch, had little do with comfort. Jayne bit her lip, determined not to let the melting sensation that pooled in her stomach undermine her good sense.

“Noor will not eat the prey without my consent,” Tariq explained, the light rubbing of his fingertips torturing her. “If I were a nomad falconer, the bustard would feed more than only the falcon, and Noor would fly to hunt again.”

It was savage. Jayne stared blindly at the bird. The desert was unforgiving. And the man beside her holding her was every bit as ruthless…yet once she had loved him with all her young heart. And he’d loved her with tenderness and reverence. Before his father had interfered and driven them apart.

When the falcon had finished, she fluttered over to them, half hopping, half skipping. She gave a cackle, breaking the silence.

“You’re pleased with yourself, aren’t you?” The falcon tilted her head at the gentle note in Tariq’s voice and allowed him to squirt water from a spray bottle over her head and back. Noor closed her eyes, and Jayne could see her enjoyment.

“She’s hot and tired.” Jayne wished that Tariq spoke to her in that proud, soothing voice.

“See how full her crop is? Now she’s ready to go back to her perch.”

“Like a well-trained, tame female,” Jayne said with a bite.

He looked at her through slitted, unreadable eyes. “Noor may be trained…but she will never be tame. Nor would I want her to be.”

Glancing away, Jayne found herself staring into the dark bottomless gaze of a wild falcon. In that instant she felt a bond with the peregrine and something moved deep within her chest. Jayne was shaken by a strange sense that she balanced on the cusp of a revelation.

About the nature of the desert.

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