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The following day Chrissie took over for her, as Isla had to be at the library. She wasn’t exactly avoiding a certain person, but she wasn’t exactly courting trouble, either. She wasn’t used to handling such a compelling man, and she didn’t want to appear as if she was overly interested in him. She had the best of excuses. As the prize winner, she was expected to be on duty at the library when the Sheikh of Q’Aqabi finally arrived to tour the university facilities. The head librarian welcomed her with particular enthusiasm as Isla knew more than most about successful breeding programmes of endangered species, having majored in that subject on her course.
The Sheikh’s visit had provoked great excitement, and Isla was up earlier than usual getting ready for her duties at the library. She didn’t want to let anyone down.
Having tied her hair back neatly, she viewed her pale face in the mirror. She’d missed sparring with the tough guy from the building site, but today wasn’t a day for daydreams, but a day when she could do something to help repay the university that had been so good to her. Checking the lapels on her plain grey suit, she told herself firmly that her racing pulse had everything to do with finally meeting ‘the invisible Sheikh’, and nothing at all to do with the fact that she might have to cross the building site to get a coffee at some point in the day.
To give herself confidence, she slipped on her red high-heeled shoes. She loved them. They were a sale buy, and so unlike her, but what better day to wear them than today?
She wasn’t the only one who was excited, Isla discovered when she arrived at the library and the air of anticipation was infectious. It had transformed the customary silence of the hallowed halls into a tense and expectant waiting room.
The Sheikh of Q’Aqabi was pouring money into the university, and had donated several ancient manuscripts from his private collection. The head librarian explained that he would want to view them, and that was where Isla would step in.
She glanced at the entrance doors yet again. Whatever he looked like, the Sheikh was obviously a fascinating man. Closing her eyes, she drew a steadying breath. Being in the library usually soothed her, but not today. And then she heard a buzz of conversation, heralding the arrival of the vice chancellor and his party. She prepared herself for the sight of a sheikh dressed in flowing robes, and was quite disappointed when the tweedy academics arrived with a group of men in business suits.
But spearheading that group was—
She lurched to her feet, the scrape of her chair screeching through the silence.
Everyone turned to look at her. The man from the building site stared straight at her as if she were the only thing of interest in the entire, echoing space.
Why hadn’t he said?
Why was she so slow on the uptake?
She realised now that the man who had told her to call him Shaz was, in fact, His Serene Majesty, Sheikh Shazim bin Khalifa al Q’Aqabi, the major benefactor of the university, and her number one sparring partner.
And he was definitely not pot-bellied, or shrivelled, nor could his expression be called grumpy. Commanding, maybe. Faintly amused, definitely. And no wonder when he’d seen her in so many guises.
Maybe he’d known all along. Maybe he’d been playing games with her. His security team had surely supplied His Majesty with a full breakdown of everyone he was likely to meet on campus.
And now he was here in her library—the place she loved and felt safest and most at home in; the world of books, where adventures were safely contained within their pages—
There was nothing safe in His Majesty’s eyes.
She stood stiffly as he approached, glad that he couldn’t hear her heart beating.
‘Your Majesty...’ She couldn’t quite bring herself to curtsey.
‘No need to curtsey.’
Her head shot up, and they exchanged a look—challenge, repaid by challenge. She could see the burn of humour in his dark, luminous eyes. He’d known she wouldn’t curtsey—and not because her manners were lacking in any way, but because she was frozen to the spot with surprise, and every inch of her was tingling with awareness.
‘And here we have our very own Athena,’ the vice chancellor stated with enthusiasm, forcing Isla to break eye contact with the royal visitor.
She was standing to attention like a soldier on parade, she realised, trying to relax. She was never this tense. Forcing herself to look into His Majesty’s mocking eyes, she saw the flare of calculation in them as the vice chancellor continued to sing her praises.
‘Isla is our goddess of good order and wisdom, as well as strength and strategy,’ the vice chancellor continued, warming to his theme.
‘And warfare,’ the Sheikh added in an all too familiar husky tone with the faintest tug of a smile at one corner of his mouth. ‘Athena was also the goddess of warfare,’ he explained with a lift of his brow when Isla shot him a look.
‘You two know each other?’ The vice chancellor glanced with interest between the two of them.
‘We met on the building site,’ Isla explained, holding the Sheikh’s burning stare steadily. ‘I work at the café, Vice Chancellor, and I took out some coffee for His Majesty’s team, though I had no idea who he was at the time.’ Her stare sharpened on His Majesty’s amused eyes.
‘And would your manner have changed, if you had known?’ the ruler of Q’Aqabi enquired mildly.
She thought it better not to answer that.
‘Forgive me, Your Majesty,’ the vice chancellor interrupted, obviously keen to break the awkward silence. ‘Please allow me to formally present Isla Sinclair...’
For a second time, Isla dipped her head politely without sweeping the impressive giant standing in front of her a submissive curtsey.
‘You two may well be working together,’ the vice chancellor said with delight, oblivious to Isla’s sudden intake of breath. ‘Isla is our prize winner, Your Majesty, and, according to the conditions of your very generous gift, Isla will be travelling to Q’Aqabi as part of her prize.’
‘Oh, really,’ Shaz murmured as if this were news to him. ‘My people organised the contest, Vice Chancellor, but be assured that we will welcome you with open arms, Ms Sinclair.’
Isla stared at the hand that Shaz was holding out in formal greeting. She remembered the touch of that hand, and she wasn’t too keen on risking the thrill of it with an audience watching.
Muscle up! She was a serious-minded woman; a scientist, a veterinary surgeon—her hand had been all sorts of places. She certainly didn’t balk at shaking Shaz’s hand, even if she knew now that it had a title attached to it.
‘Your Majesty,’ she said crisply, giving him a firm handshake.
‘Shazim,’ he prompted, still holding onto her hand. ‘If we’re going to be working together we should at least be on first-name terms, Isla.’
‘Shazim,’ she repeated politely as shock waves travelled up and down her arm. She loved the sound of his name on her lips—and knew she had to pull herself together. But not just yet...
They were still hand-locked when the vice chancellor coughed discreetly to distract them. Quickly removing her hand from Shazim’s grasp, she linked her hands safely behind her back.
‘Ms Sinclair thrives on challenge,’ the vice chancellor offered with enthusiasm, which didn’t exactly help the situation.
‘You have some interesting students, Vice Chancellor,’ His Majesty commented. ‘I’m impressed by how hard some of them, like Isla, work to pay their fees. We must talk more about grants and endowments, so that everyone who wants to can enjoy the benefit of an education here.’
‘Whatever you think,’ the vice chancellor agreed, flashing a grateful glance at Isla. ‘I know Ms Sinclair works harder than most. Apart from her day jobs, Isla holds a gym class in the evenings for the children of parents who work or study here.’
‘A gym class?’ Shazim’s eyes were alive with laughter as he stared down at her, though his face remained commendably still. ‘You must need to be supple and fit for that, I imagine, Ms Sinclair?’
‘First names, please,’ she implored sweetly with a warning flash in her glance. She didn’t want to spend the next half an hour trying to reassure the vice chancellor about her pole-dancing exploits at the club.
‘Isla runs from praise like a gazelle from a lion,’ the vice chancellor praised her with a smile.
‘A fitting comparison, Vice Chancellor,’ Shazim agreed, flashing her one final mocking look before moving on.
CHAPTER FOUR
IT HADN’T ESCAPED Isla’s attention that His Serene Majesty was also known as the Lion of the Desert, but she was no gazelle. She was more of a doughty old warhorse, tough and thick-skinned—
A warhorse?
She was more like a mole blundering blindly about on the fringes of a royal world she knew nothing about, Isla reflected with a frown as she sank down with relief at her desk as the vice chancellor and the royal party moved on. Winning the prize of a trip to Q’Aqabi was the opportunity of a lifetime. She still couldn’t quite believe that she’d been chosen. She’d worked so hard, but had always known that it wasn’t a guarantee. The opportunity meant everything to her, and she couldn’t afford to be distracted by her attraction to Shazim. She had to concentrate on preparing to be plunged into the desert, a world that would test her like no other. She knew it bore no relation to her fantasies, and she welcomed the hardship and danger. She had never been under any illusion where her work was concerned. Working with animals wrenched her emotions this way and that, and Shazim’s project would demand every bit of skill she possessed. But if she could do anything to help, she would gladly devote her life to it.
It was hardly likely that they would work together, Isla reassured herself. The Sheikh of Q’Aqabi must have royal duties by the score—
She sprang to her feet as the official party came into view again.
‘Coffee time,’ the vice chancellor carolled with enthusiasm, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.
‘You will excuse me, Vice Chancellor, I hope?’ His Majesty intoned graciously. ‘I have a wish to see my manuscripts.’
Isla’s heart beat like crazy as Shazim stared at her. He must know that she had been detailed to show him the exhibits.
The tiniest adjustment to Shazim’s glance was enough to turn his congenial exchange with the vice chancellor into something very different for her. He could seduce her with a look—if she were a different woman. Though she was surprised that the Lion of the Desert was interested in her at all.
‘Of course Isla must accompany you,’ the vice chancellor enthused. ‘You couldn’t have anyone better to accompany you, Your Majesty. I have it on good authority from the head librarian here that Isla brings order to our questing minds.’
‘Indeed?’ Shazim queried, staring at her with veiled amusement.
‘By which our vice chancellor means that I keep the catalogue here in good order,’ Isla explained primly.
Shazim’s eyes sparkled with humour as he dipped his head with approval. ‘I look forward to learning more about how you maintain such an ordered catalogue.’
As Isla led the way he noticed with interest the sassy heels. Everything about Isla Sinclair intrigued him. More than ever he got the sense of the ice maiden with a molten core. It was that heat that made him want to take her to the furthest reaches of the library, to the shadowy, dusty nooks, where no one ever strayed—
‘Your Majesty?’ she prompted him. ‘The tour?’
‘Of course. Please, lead on...’ He had become distracted watching her walk away. The high heels made her hips sway rhythmically, while her buttocks strained the seam of her skirt. Discovering that Isla was the prize winner was the worst outcome possible. A short affair could be managed discreetly, but she was coming to Q’Aqabi, not just to tour the nature reserve and veterinary facilities as part of her prize, but to offer her expertise and work there for a while. Under those circumstances, there could be no affair, short or otherwise.
‘And here we have the illuminated manuscript of the Canticle of...’
He wasn’t listening. He knew everything there was to know about the manuscript. Isla could have been spinning him any old yarn, and he’d still be enthralled. His good intentions where restraint was concerned were under pressure already. They were alone in this part of the library, the academic party having moved onto the room where refreshments had been set out. Isla was doing everything she was supposed to, with apparently no personal interest in him. She appeared so contained, when he knew that nothing could be further from the truth. She wasn’t docile or tame. Isla was like one of his wild animals, free and spirited. She was ambitious too, and just as driven to succeed as he was. His ambition to be everything he could be to his people to make up for past sins had an obvious cause, but what was driving Isla?
His gaze strayed to her shoes. There was more than a hint of the rebel about her, and he wondered how that would translate in bed.
‘I’ve got a better idea,’ he said when she paused in front of a glass cabinet housing another of his priceless illuminated manuscripts.
‘Oh?” said, turning with a frown.
‘Have dinner with me tonight.’
‘What?’ She looked at him as if dinner were another word for sex. ‘Oh, no, I don’t think—’
His suggestion had thrown her. For the first time she was flustered. Her cheeks were red and her breathing sped up. He guessed she wanted to have dinner with him, wanted to spend time with him, but didn’t want to do anything to threaten the practical opportunities he could offer Isla in terms of her career.
‘I would like to discuss the new veterinary school with you,’ he said, making it hard for her to refuse.
‘With me?’ She touched her chest with surprise, then turned instantly suspicious.
‘I would appreciate hearing a recent student’s forthright point of view. You would be forthright with me, wouldn’t you, Isla?’
‘Of course, but—’ Her intelligent grey gaze sharpened on his.
‘Then, shall we say eight o’clock? I’ll have my driver pick you up—’
‘But you don’t know—’
‘Where you live?’ Angling his chin, he smiled into her eyes.
‘You had me followed?’
He cancelled out her affront with a glance. ‘The vice chancellor supplied your address, along with all other information I might need, so my people could get in touch with the prize winner to arrange transport to Q’Aqabi.’
‘Of course,’ she agreed, biting down on the swell of her lip as she thought about this.
While Isla settled her mind, he wrestled with ideas that had never concerned him before. Discreet arrangements could be made when he wanted a woman in his bed, with mutual agreement the only condition. But when Isla was in Q’Aqabi where he had duties and responsibilities, he could not please himself. He was pledged to his country, and, if he had judged Isla right, she would want more than a brief affair, and that was something he could never give her. Would things change when they reached the desert? Would he make an exception this one time and mix business with pleasure? Would Isla be prepared to pay the price for that pleasure, or would it break her when he sent her away?
And maybe him?
No woman had the power to do that.
His senses sharpened as Isla drew a tense breath and shook her head. ‘I’m afraid dinner tonight isn’t possible.’
‘You have a prior engagement?’
‘Yes,’ she admitted, meeting his gaze with candour, ‘with my studies.’
‘But that’s what I want to talk to you about. I know your career hopes are pinned on specialising in the preservation of endangered species—’
‘Not hopes. I will specialise,’ she corrected him with a verve he could only admire.
‘There is nowhere better than Q’Aqabi for you to pursue your work. We have species on the verge of extinction, and a programme specifically designed to save these animals.’
‘Are you offering me a job before I even arrive in the country?’
Her look was both a challenge and a provocation.
‘I think I’d better try you out first, to see how you shape up.’
She met his amused stare with distinct lack of humour and a lift of her brow, as if to ask if they were still talking about her career prospects.
The project meant the world to him, and he turned serious as he decided that if Isla was as good as they said she was, she would get the job.
‘The team that will be working on my new nature reserve has not been finalised yet, but your up-to-date knowledge and your obvious devotion to your work puts you in a very good position.’
She visibly relaxed, making him wonder again about her past experience with men. When it came to her love of animals, Isla couldn’t be shaken, but when it came to flirting with him, it was always one step forward and two steps back.
‘You want to have dinner with me,’ she confirmed with a frown. ‘And this is so we can discuss your nature reserve and the new veterinary school?’
‘Amongst other topics,’ he agreed. ‘I’m sure we won’t be short of things to talk about.’
‘I hope I don’t let you down...’
Even he couldn’t be sure, as Isla grew thoughtful, if she was talking about her appeal to him as a person, or as a vet. One thing was certain, he had waited long enough for her answer. ‘Do you accept my dinner invitation, or not?’
Her eyes briefly flared, but she had more sense than to take him on. She would not risk antagonising him, when visiting Q’Aqabi was everything she longed for, and had worked so hard to achieve.
‘What’s your answer, Isla?’
Lifting her chin, she met his stare candidly. ‘Thank you, Your Majesty. Yes. I will have dinner with you.’
CHAPTER FIVE
HE WAS JUST relaxing into victory, believing Isla had not only agreed to have dinner with him, but quite a lot more, when she added three crushing words: ‘But not tonight.’
‘When, then?’ he demanded curtly.
‘In Q’Aqabi,’ she said, delivering her final surprise. ‘I’ll have dinner with you in Q’Aqabi, when we have worthwhile things to share. I’d only bore you to death otherwise.’
Nothing could be further from the truth.
‘Your audacity in refusing the invitation of the man who has donated this prize you care so much about is—’
‘Breathtaking?’ she agreed, nodding her head. ‘Yes, I suppose it must seem that way, but, you see, this course means everything to me.’
‘So blackmailing me is your way of showing this?’
‘I’m just asking for a chance,’ she argued passionately. ‘I’m asking for a role in your project—a real role. I’m begging, actually. I can’t afford to be proud when this is all I’ve ever wanted. And I know I can help you. I’ve learned all the latest techniques, and I’m certain I can add value to your plans. I’m already excited—’
‘Aren’t you taking rather a lot for granted?’ he interrupted.
‘Am I?’
Despair showed in her eyes. He had no intention of withdrawing the prize. According to the vice chancellor, Isla had been an outstanding student, and he didn’t doubt she had a lot to offer. Her only downfall was that beneath that cool exterior, she was headstrong and passionate—
Wasn’t that what he liked about her?
Everything in his life was predictable and rigidly controlled—by him. Isla had turned everything on its head. And she had other admirable qualities. His most recent information said she had been forced to suspend her studies in order to nurse her sick mother, and when her mother died Isla had moved heaven and earth to find the money to get back on the course. She was undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with, and in time might prove a real asset to his project. She would certainly be an asset in his bed.
He had never concluded a bargain quite like this before. Women wanted his money, his power and his influence. They wanted to share his bed. They wanted good sex and a trophy lover. Isla wanted his permission to work the hardest shift on earth in the desert alongside his veterinary rangers. For once in his life, he couldn’t be sure if she wanted that more than anything else, but he looked forward to finding out.
‘Perhaps you should listen to my terms before you get too excited,’ he suggested.
‘Your terms?’ She was instantly wary.
‘You will be going to the desert, which is not the place you imagine.’ When her face fell, he added, ‘It is far, far more beautiful. But it can also be a hellhole,’ he warned, his face growing grim as hers grew rapt. ‘Paradise one moment, it can be transformed in a matter of minutes into the most dangerous place on earth, and you, as an expert in your field, must learn the ways of the desert, and how to survive it.’
‘I’m up to it,’ she stated firmly.
‘You will be shown everything you need to know. If you don’t prove your worth, you will leave.’
‘Will you be there?’
He guessed she had spoken without thinking, as her cheeks were now burning red. But would he be in the desert? Would he retrace that reckless youth’s footsteps to the site of the tragedy?
‘Prove to me that you are the most willing and able of all my recruits, and you can stay on in Q’Aqabi and work with my other willing recruits,’ he said, moving past the question.
As she gulped convulsively, he guessed that Isla’s hidden fiery depths encouraged her to picture harems stuffed to the brim with his willing recruits. ‘You are the most promising of all the students here,’ he said, to put a balm on her vivid imagination, ‘or you wouldn’t be getting this chance. If your theoretical studies are matched by your practical application of them—’
‘Oh!’ she said before he even had chance to finish. ‘Thank you—thank you!’
It was as if all her tension had released at once, and as she took a step forward she looked for an instant as if she was going to fling her arms around him and hug him tight. Fortunately for them both, she curbed the impulse, and remained instead vibrating with excitement in front of him. Physical contact that wasn’t initiated by him was alien in the world he inhabited. He had never known affection as a child, having been brought up in a nursery of royal offspring from several wives. His brother had tried to make up for the lack of parental love by being more like a father to him, but his brother had been dead for many years.
He found himself relaxing, even smiling at Isla. Her unselfconscious show of gratitude had touched him more than he’d realised. It had also aroused him.
‘Please forgive me, Your Majesty—’
They both turned as the vice chancellor spoke. Shazim couldn’t be sure how long the party of academics had been back, but he guessed long enough to see Isla move as if to hug him, as his elderly host was staring at him with concern, no doubt wondering if she had breached royal protocol, and possibly damaged the excellent relationship between Q’Aqabi and the university.
‘I hesitate to remind you about our busy schedule,’ the vice chancellor ventured, anxiety ringing in his voice.
He quickly reassured the older man. ‘You’re quite right, Vice Chancellor, and I apologise for taking up so much of Ms Sinclair’s valuable time, but she has been a font of information, and a fascinating companion with a novel take on so many things.’
‘On that we are agreed,’ the vice chancellor told him warmly, his relief clearly visible.
Isla carefully avoided looking at him when the vice chancellor said this.
‘She has the highest marks ever recorded,’ the vice chancellor added in a conspiratorial stage whisper. ‘You couldn’t have anyone better on the team.’
‘I’m sure you’re right,’ he said mildly, raising his brow a fraction as he turned to look at Isla—who clearly wasn’t sure whether she should smile or remain expressionless beneath the barrage of praise, but at least she didn’t simper.
‘I won’t let you or the university down,’ she told them both with feeling.