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‘I know you won’t, my dear. Your Majesty...’ Standing back to allow him to go first, the vice chancellor indicated that it was time for them to join the rest of the official party.
‘I’ll see you in Q’Aqabi, Ms Sinclair,’ he murmured.
His senses stirred as Isla lowered her gaze. When she bit her lip, he wondered if she was reflecting on what exactly she had just talked herself into.
* * *
She was in trouble and sinking fast, Isla reflected later, swirling a sweetener into the coffee on her desk. Not that she had changed her mind about going to Q’Aqabi. She’d worked her socks off to even get a sniff at the prize. Shazim’s offer of a possible job after her visit to his country was like all her best dreams coming true at once. And she would prove herself, whatever it took. Her only question was, could she work with him? Could she see Shazim every day, and not be distracted by thoughts that had no connection with the project that meant so much to both of them?
Look at it this way—you’re a newly qualified vet with grime beneath your fingernails, while Shazim is an all-powerful sheikh with more sex appeal than there are grains of sand in his desert.
They weren’t just incompatible, they were quite literally worlds apart. Shazim hadn’t answered her question about whether he would be in the desert at the same time she was, but she doubted it somehow. He’d have many other things to do. Of course she wished he would be the one to show her the hidden secrets of the desert. She couldn’t ask for anything more than to see the dangerous wilderness through his eyes. But that sensual world of billowing Bedouin tents, and endless passion beneath the stars on the shores of some tranquil oasis with only the sound of the night hawk to disturb them, was just a fantasy, as he had reminded her, and had no bearing on what she was likely to see.
But if she did see anything like that...and if she did spend some time alone in the desert with Shazim...
That wasn’t going to happen, but if it did, and if by some incredible chance she learned to trust again and they had an affair, heartache in exchange for all of that didn’t seem too bad a deal—at least, not from this safe distance.
* * *
Isla’s arrival at Q’Aqabi International Airport on a commercial jet was a disappointment. Not because the airport was short of anything, but because it had too much of everything. It was the slickest, most efficient, most opulent and impressive airport terminal Isla had ever been through, when she had hoped for a little romance, and perhaps some mystery and magic.
And there was no sign of Shazim.
Of course there was no sign of Shazim. His Majesty had left London long before her, on his private jet the size of a super-airliner, according to the brief news feature she’d watched, detailing the Sheikh of Q’Aqabi’s benevolence towards the university. Did she expect the ruler of the country to roll out the red carpet for one newly qualified vet and her mound of unattractive-looking baggage?
No, but maybe she had expected to detect the hint of sandalwood on the air, and perhaps a few grains of sand on the pristine white marble floor—
And camels instead of cabs?
Get real. This was twenty-first-century oil money, polished to the highest sheen. There was a lake of black gold beneath her feet, and a nature reserve somewhere deep in the desert, waiting for her to start work.
‘Welcome to Q’Aqabi, Ms Sinclair—’
She whirled around to see a young woman around her own age with the friendliest dark, almond-shaped eyes.
‘His Majesty has asked me to meet you and show you to the palace...’
The palace?
‘My name is Miriam, but my friends call me Millie,’ the girl explained.
‘Pleased to meet you, Millie.’ The two girls smiled as they shook hands. ‘I thought I would be staying in a hotel?’
‘His Majesty thought that you, as the prize winner, should have the honour of staying at the royal palace.’
Near Shazim? Her heart sank at the reality of being close to him. Dreams were one thing, but this was all too real.
‘That’s very kind of His Majesty,’ she made herself say.
‘He is very kind. Our King is the best of men,’ Millie assured her, stirring Isla’s curiosity as to how Shazim’s countrymen saw him. ‘And you’ll soon be in the desert,’ Miriam added, sensing something of Isla’s disappointment that she wouldn’t be going straight to the reserve. ‘Though I expect you’re looking forward to the award ceremony tonight.’
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