Royal Affairs: Desert Princes & Defiant Virgins: The Sheikh's Virgin Princess / The Sheikh and the Virgin Secretary / Desert Prince, Defiant Virgin

She didn’t want him here.

Like others before him, he didn’t believe that she was in danger, which meant that the danger was suddenly increased, because he would be distracting her when she should be alert.

And he was extremely distracting.

Warmth curled inside her as she acknowledged the other reason that she was reluctant to travel with him. It wasn’t just that she didn’t trust him, was it? It was more than that. She didn’t want Karim with her because he made her feel like a woman for the first time in her life. He confused her, with his macho decisiveness and raw sexuality. There was something about the way he looked at her that she found profoundly disturbing. He’d made her feel things she didn’t want to feel at a time when the only thing on her mind should have been reaching Zangrar safely.

Alexa groaned aloud with frustration.

She didn’t want this now.

Not when she was on her way to her wedding. This was not the time to discover that there was actually an intensely passionate side to her nature that had never previously been exposed.

Telling herself that her feelings for the arrogant bodyguard weren’t relevant, she dressed swiftly. This wasn’t about her; her feelings didn’t matter and they never had.

All that mattered was reaching the Citadel safely and marrying the Sultan.

She was relying on the Sultan’s wealth and influence to help restore Rovina to prosperity.

But if the Sultan refused to help her …

He wouldn’t, she told herself firmly as she stuffed her old clothes back into the case. Ruthless he might be, but he was also said to be scrupulously fair. Their fathers had been friends. Surely the Sultan would want to honour the bonds of that friendship?

And as for Karim—well, he was just going to have to learn to follow orders.

Having calmed herself, she walked back to the front of the plane, wearing sand-coloured combat trousers tucked into sturdy desert-boots, and felt a flicker of satisfaction as she saw the surprise in Karim’s eyes.

‘What’s the matter?’ She put the case down by her seat. ‘You were expecting high heels and a tiara? Don’t believe everything you’ve heard about me, Karim. I knew we had to make at least a short journey through the desert. I’ve dressed accordingly. What I didn’t realise was that it was a four-day journey. I need some time to adjust our travel plans.’

‘I have already made the necessary arrangements.’ His authoritative tone made her pause.

‘I make the plans.’

‘Not when you are travelling with me, Your Highness. I am your bodyguard. You do as I say at all times. You go where I go and you sleep where I sleep.’

He made it sound impossibly intimate, and suddenly a dangerous heat exploded inside her. ‘No way. I’d rather travel on my own.’

‘A fool crosses the desert of Zangrar without a guide.’

‘A bigger fool trusts another with her life.’

He lifted an eyebrow. ‘You doubt my ability to protect you? There is no need. You’ll be quite safe.’

Safe.

It was a word that hadn’t been part of her vocabulary for sixteen years. The whole concept of ‘safe’ was a distant fantasy for her. ‘How can I be safe when you don’t even believe I’m in danger? How can you protect me from a threat you refuse to even acknowledge?’

‘The desert is in my blood. If anyone is following us then I will know.’

Alexa stared at him helplessly. She wanted to refuse, but she had to face facts—there was no way she could handle a four-day journey through the desert without expert help. She hadn’t planned for that. ‘You know the desert well?’

Her reluctantly voiced question drew a faint smile. ‘You could drop me blindfold in the middle of it and I would be able to find my way back to the Citadel.’

Arrogant.

That was the other word she’d apply to him. Powerful and arrogant.

Alexa looked away from his firm, sensual mouth, trying to think clearly. Relying on anyone else for anything was completely alien to her, but what choice did she have?

She hadn’t anticipated a journey of four days.

If she was navigating a complex route, she would never be able to protect herself.

‘All right. You do the navigation.’ She spoke the words reluctantly, comforting herself with the knowledge that she was still responsible for herself. He was merely providing the transport. ‘We travel together.’

But she wasn’t going to go where he went, and she certainly wasn’t going to sleep where he slept.

Two hours later she was beginning to feel relieved that she hadn’t attempted the journey alone. The desert was vast, and although the road was clear enough, it was also exposed. There was no way she would have been able to drive and keep watch. There was nowhere to hide and nowhere to run to.

‘Can we drive any faster?’

‘Not if you wish to reach the Sultan alive with all your limbs still attached to your body.’ Karim drove with relaxed ease, sunglasses shielding his eyes from the vicious glare of the sun. ‘If your uncle is that desperate to prevent this wedding, then I’m surprised you haven’t had doubts yourself.’

‘It’s the right thing for me.’ Uncomfortably aware of his hard, powerful body so close to hers, she kept her eyes forward. It felt bizarre to be discussing her forthcoming wedding while feeling the most intense sexual attraction towards another man. ‘You talk a lot for a bodyguard.’

‘In our country intelligence is as great an attribute as physical strength, and both are equally necessary.’ He gave a faint smile. ‘The hunter cannot hunt if he cannot first find his prey, Your Highness.’

Alexa shivered. For the past sixteen years of her life she’d been someone’s prey. She’d thought she’d finally escaped, but looking at the dangerous gleam in Karim’s dark eyes she suddenly felt the fleeting control she’d had of her life slip through her fingers. She had no doubt that he was now the one in charge, and the thought made her desperately uneasy. Did she want to cross the desert with this man for company? No, she didn’t. She didn’t want or need other people in her life. She was so much safer alone.

Trying to control her fear, Alexa checked the mirror again for signs of another vehicle, and then tried to relax by studying the scenery.

Before they’d landed in Zangrar she’d seen the desert as nothing more than a land feature that they were going to have to cross. But as Karim had accelerated towards the highway that led through the desert she’d been astounded and then captivated.

Now, as she looked, she saw endless dunes stretching into the distance, the colours myriad shades of burnt orange.

‘Like my hair,’ she murmured, and Karim glanced towards her.

‘What is?’

‘The desert. It’s the same colour.’ For a moment she forgot about William as she gazed out of the window. ‘It’s astonishing. Fabulous. I never knew that there would be so many colours. I mean, it’s just sand, but—’ She broke off and shaded her eyes as she squinted towards the top of a steep-sided dune. ‘I never thought they’d be that high.’

‘Clearly you have never been to the desert before.’

‘I’ve never been anywhere before.’ Alexa steadied herself as the vehicle bumped over uneven ground. ‘This is a better road than I expected.’

‘Yes, when you can see it. When the wind blows it lies buried under sand.’

‘So how do you find your way when that happens?’