The Sheik's Mysterious Mistress Page 0,8

they might be reaching the wrong person.

The call went to voice mail again and she pushed the issue aside. No one knew where she was right at the moment so she was being silly to think that someone had tracked her down so far away.

Just in case, she made one call to her instructor, a man she’d engaged to help her learn an essential skill for someone in her situation, and arranged to meet him for a lesson this afternoon.

By evening, she was exhausted, but in a different way. The week had created a mental exhaustion but this was physical. And every muscle in her body ached from overuse, some of which she hadn’t ever used before. In fact, she hadn’t even known some of these muscles existed, she thought as she slid her sore body into the tiny tub of her apartment bathroom, sighing with happiness as the heat seeped into her muscles, relaxing and evaporating some of the pain. Or at least pushing it to the side.

Her instructor had taken her through several new moves which could help in an attack. She’d made him go over the moves again and again until she’d perfected them and could do any of them until she had them exactly on target and would hopefully become instinctive.

Two years ago, she never would have considered learning hand to hand combat or defensive techniques. But now it was an essential part of her life, something she honed each day and she also made sure she was aware of what was going on around her.

She hoped never to have to use any of the moves, but the phone calls were making her wary. Maybe she wasn’t as safe here as she’d thought? Perhaps she should move on?

Was she just being silly? Could her job at the palace keep her out of the hands of the people she was trying avoid or was she just putting herself into a more dangerous situation? She was several thousands of miles away from home, away from the incident that had put her life in danger. She just needed to relax and let herself enjoy life once again.

Three days later, she was walking through the market, feeling excited and free since Hassan had a dinner meeting with a group of diplomats tonight so he’d sent her home early. Early meant she was gone by dinner time and was now strolling through the market, picking up the various fruits and vegetables for sale. She had no idea what she wanted to make for dinner tonight, but she was going to chop and slice and dice and cook and her whole apartment would smell delicious. She loved cooking but since her promotion, she’d been at the palace until way after dinner, sometimes arguing with Hassan about one policy or another and debating her opinion against his own. The first time she’d done that, she’d been horrified that she’d been so forward as to express her opinion to Hassan. But he’d told her to take a seat and expound. So she had. And he’d argued right back and she had lost track of time, enjoying the arguing with him too much.

But tonight, she was alone and she refused to become depressed about that situation. She couldn’t believe that she was actually sad that she wasn’t at work, slaving away for the man. The dichotomy of being excited about cooking but sad that she wasn’t working made no sense. She should be exultant that she had the night off and could do whatever she wanted to do.

She picked up more vegetables, thinking of a rice and chicken dish her mother had taught her so many years ago might be a good idea. The market might not have some of the spices though. She bit her lip in concentration, trying to consider alternatives that would be more available in this part of the world.

She was picking up apples from a fruit vendor, putting some of them into a sack when something to the side of her made her glance right. But when she didn’t see anything, she shrugged and moved to gather pears and persimmons.

Again, there was a strange movement, but when she looked, nothing was there.

Was she being paranoid? She looked around, scanning the crowd and trying to see something that didn’t fit.

Dana knew when her instincts were warning her about something and right now, her gut was telling her to….

She didn’t have time to finish that thought since two men approached her from