Page 12 of The Sheikh's Desert Princess

CHAPTER THREE

Sometime during night, sleeping lightly, Eva awoke suddenly.

It wasn't a noise which had woken her, she realized quickly. It had been the sense, the feeling, that someone was close by.

A presence.

She leaned against the wall behind her back, wrapped inside her sleeping bag, feeling the cold stone. She peered into the darkness of the corner where she had tucked herself in for the night, but couldn't see anything except the bulk of her horse a few feet away. The animal shifted nervously. Perhaps it had been that which had woken her.

She wasn't so sure.

She peered out across the open compound of the fort. Everything had quietened down now. The revelries of earlier had subsided and now, by the dying embers of the fire, she could see the sleeping forms of many men. A full moon shone down onto the quiet space, illuminating it with a silvery light.

It seemed that everyone was sleeping except her. The relative silence of the place was mildly unsettling.

Eva sat up.

Here, against the side of one of the fort walls, the darkness was thick and dense. She peered hard, straining her eyes, trying to confirm her suspicions.

Perhaps Riaz had been right. It had been a foolish decision to sleep outside like this. Eva pushed the sleeping bag down the length of her body, and slid out of it.

She crouched for a moment, ready to act if needed.

Then she saw it.

A shadowy figure was making its way along the dark shadowed wall a few yards away. Eva's nerves tingled with sudden anxiety. She wanted to call out, but restrained the urge, concerned that if she cried out it might make the situation worse.

She stood and leaned against the wall, considering what she should do. She was certain that whoever was in the shadows a few yards away moving steadily towards her had no good intentions in mind.

What had she expected? Hadn't it been inevitable that this kind of thing would happen?

She took a step away from the wall tensing her nerves, perhaps ready to run.

She gazed again into the darkness, seeking the shadow and saw it moving again towards her. Nerves jangled again and she was certain that she had to do something. She took one more step and heard the unseen figure move quickly in response.

Eva thought about confronting the figure, but she wasn't sure how that would turn out.

Another movement, this time with sound of footsteps stumbling slightly.

She was certain now. She was being watched. Worse than that. She was been stalked. Fear gripped her, pulse racing suddenly.

She wondered quickly, where she could go to force the stalker to back down. She needed to defuse the situation as quickly as possible.

Eva peered across the compound towards Riaz's tent. It was a tempting solution, but one she hesitated from seizing.

There would be sanctuary in Riaz's tent, but she wondered if she would even be able to make it there unhindered.

Eva drew in a deep breath tensing every muscle, ready to act.

Then she took a step out. The shadow reacted, but did not reveal itself. Whoever was there wanted to remain completely unseen. Her nerves tingled and her muscles tensed.

Then Eva bolted.

She started to run, feet pounding into the dust, her heart racing furiously. It wasn't that far to Riaz's tent, but right now the distance seemed enormous. The sound of her feet pounding across the sandy floor surprisingly didn't disturb any of the sleeping figures she raced past.

Eva gave into the temptation to look behind her only once, desperate to check and see if she was being followed. But there was no one there. No one following her.

Eva felt breathless as she ran. The thought entered her mind that she should have handled this differently, but she had already been warned, and Riaz had proven to be correct. Even if she had stood her ground, here in the middle of night, there was no guarantee how things would have turned out.

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