The Sheikh's Jewel by Melissa James

didn’t answer straight away, and she said, soft but fast, before she lost her courage, ‘Whatever it is you fear most, just say it. It’s my life, too. I deserve to know.’
    The silence stretched out too long, and she wondered if she’d have to prompt him again, or make him angry enough to blurt it out, when he whispered right in her ear, ‘But if we make love and you get pregnant, Amber, they’ll have no reason to keep my brother alive.’

CHAPTER SEVEN
    W HO was constantly conspiring against them? Even half naked and moving against each other as if they’d fall to the bed at any moment, it wasn’t going to happen.
    Would they ever enjoy a normal marriage, or was it Amber’s pipe dream?
    Then she looked into Harun’s eyes, and saw the depth of his fear. Alim is all I have left.
    An icy finger ran down her spine as she understood the nightmare he was locked in. How could she find it in her to blame him for putting his brother’s life first?
    Slowly, she nodded, trying to force a calm into her voice she was far from feeling—for his sake. ‘Then we won’t make love,’ she said softly.
    The intensity of his gratitude shone in the look he flashed at her. ‘Thank you, Amber. I know how much you want a child. This is a sacrifice for you.’
    ‘If it was one of my family in danger, I’d be saying the exact same thing to you.’ Her voice was a touch shaky despite her best efforts. ‘So tell me what’s next?’
    With a brief glance she didn’t quite understand, he moved back to his side of the table. ‘I checked the room pretty thoroughly while you slept. There’s no window that isn’t watched, no door or way out that isn’t fully guarded, including the roof. And as you saw, there are snipers everywhere.’
    ‘So that’s it?’ she asked in disbelief. ‘We’re stuck in this golden cage until someone pays our ransom?’
    Slowly he nodded. ‘Yes,’ was all he said, and her stomach gave a sick lurch. Then he gave her a knowing look. It clicked into place—of course, the guards were listening in. They had to be careful what they said aloud. ‘We’re stuck here—and if you don’t like it, remember you agreed to marry me.’
    Not knowing what he wanted from her, she made herself give a delicate shrug, as if being abducted were something she was used to. ‘Well, at least they’re treating us better than Alim was treated in Africa.’
    ‘And that’s just as well, since Alim was always the action man in the family.’
    The look in his eyes said he’d almost rather be treated badly. She frowned.
    ‘You feel shamed by this abduction?’
    He didn’t look at her as he said, ‘I can’t get you out of this danger we’re in, Amber. I searched out every possible way, but there’s none that gets us both out, and in safety. I don’t know what they want, but we have no choice but to comply.’
    ‘And that makes you feel incompetent? Harun, you were drugged and brought here against your will—’
    ‘But that didn’t happen to Alim, did it? He sacrificed himself. He was even a hero in being abducted.’ His jaw tightened. ‘What sort of man am I if I can’t even fight, or find a way for us to escape? If Alim couldn’t rescue himself, what hope does someone like me have of getting us both out of here?’
    The unspoken words shimmered in the air. Even when he was taken, Alim had sacrificed himself, risked his life to save the woman he loved. I am less than a man in comparison to my brother.
    His voice rang with conviction—the kind that came from intimate knowledge of truth of feeling. And she wondered how many times he’d felt that way before he’d become a hero in his own right. How hard had it been to be the younger, quieter brother of the nation’s hero, to live in the shadow of a world superstar?
    ‘Someone like you?’ As she repeated the words an unexpected surge of hot anger filled her, at what she wasn’t yet sure, but its very ferocity demanded she find out. ‘How did they take