and she didn’t want to let him go quite yet. She could go to sleep holding his hand as she’d done for the past three nights. She was nearly healed, but she could be with him for these next hours. She would be strong tomorrow. “No more nightmares, Novak…”
* * *
And the next day Novak had taken her back to Maldara, and she had started to make the plans and do the research that had brought her here to Eve Duncan.
She looked back at the lake cottage as she got in her car. Eve was probably already working on that reconstruction. In a way, Eve reminded her of Novak as far as motivation and steely determination were concerned. But Eve lacked the kill gene that made Novak lethal. She didn’t doubt that Eve would kill to protect family or friend, but that was different.
But she knew others who possessed that kill gene, too.
And she and Novak were sending Eve right into their target zone.
Chapter
3
Jokan, Maldara
Central Africa
Kiyani Presidential Palace
Her hair was just right, Zahra Kiyani thought with satisfaction as she watched her maid, Dalai, straighten the strands at her temple. Her chignon was dark and sleek and shining, with just the right touch of sophistication. It accented her high cheekbones and slightly slanted eyes and made the deep gold of her skin glow. She’d wear it like this when she went to New York next week, she decided. Then everyone would realize that she was truly a woman of style and power.
“Send her away,” Edward Wyatt said roughly from her bed across the room. “You’ve kept me waiting long enough.”
“You’ll spoil my hair.” She met his eyes in the mirror. The Honorable Edward Wyatt might be considered important to his cronies at the U.N., but she knew exactly how to control him. “And then I’ll have to have Dalai do it again. Such a waste.” He was naked and fully aroused, she noticed. She’d kept him watching her and anticipating for the last thirty minutes, and he was ready and eager for the game to begin. But she was not, and she was annoyed that he should speak to her with so little respect. Make him wait. She turned to Dalai. “I think the ruby comb tonight. Did I tell you how much I enjoy wearing it? It has such meaning for me.”
“Yes, madam, you told me.” She met Zahra’s eyes in the mirror as she hurriedly placed the ruby comb in the chignon. Her maid was probably remembering the details of the deadly story of the comb, Zahra thought with amusement. Dalai was so easy to frighten. “It will be beautiful.”
“Yes, it will.” Zahra glanced back at Wyatt. “Do you think I’ll look beautiful when I give my speech at the U.N. General Assembly? Will you be proud of me?”
“Stop teasing and come over here.”
“But you like me to tease you. You like everything I do to you.” And she had found out early in their relationship that the thing he liked most was for her to dominate him. The twisted bastard went wild when he was forced into submission. She’d seen the signs on that first night she’d seduced him and had her agent, Lon Markel, check him out. Wyatt spent a good deal of money at several specialty houses when he was in London. That information was all Zahra needed. His particular addiction suited her very well. Domination could be used in many ways other than sex. She got to her feet and came toward him. “Do you think that your wife will think I’m beautiful? Perhaps we can have a threesome when I’m in New York. Shall I call her in London and tell her to join us?” She slipped off her robe and dropped it on the floor. “But perhaps she thinks a woman’s duty is only to provide pleasure to a man…and whoever else he chooses. Haven’t you taught her?” She slipped naked into bed. “I’ll teach her for you.”
He started to reach for her, and she pushed him away. “No, my rules. Always my rules.”
“Bitch,” he said through his teeth. “I’m going crazy. Let me in you.”
“I told you, you’ll mess my hair.” She ran her fingers down his belly. “But I might allow you to persuade me. But you’ll have to give me something that will please me to make up for it.”
“What a whore you are.”
“No, I’m a queen. I’ve told you that before.”
“You keep saying that. Being president isn’t enough for