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

‘Desert survival.’ Still smiling, he released the handbrake and drove back towards the road. ‘You’re a very surprising woman, do you know that?’

‘Because I didn’t scream like a girl? I didn’t have the breath to scream.’

‘Because you’re not afraid of any of the things I would expect you to be afraid of. You shrug off the heat, you stroke a snake and you laugh at dune driving—but you hate locked doors, cry in your sleep and you run from a man who has no reason to chase you.’

Her smile faltered. ‘Well, fear is a funny thing, isn’t it? It’s different things for different people.’ Dark clouds swirled around her brain like a malevolent stalker ready to snuff out her brief flirtation with happiness. ‘Can I have a go behind the wheel?’

‘You have to be joking.’

His reaction made her laugh. ‘So is this your fear, Karim? A woman behind the wheel?’

‘Driving in the desert is very different to driving on tarmac. The sand is constantly shifting. It isn’t as easy as it looks.’

‘It doesn’t look easy at all. But it looks fun. That’s why I want to try it.’ Alexa couldn’t remember a time when she’d laughed like that, and suddenly she was desperate to recapture the moment. ‘Can I?’

‘You forget that I’ve already experienced your driving once. Even without the presence of a sand dune, it was scary.’

‘That’s not fair. I was afraid we were being followed.’

‘You drove like a madwoman,’ Karim muttered, adjusting several controls on the dashboard and steering the vehicle back onto the sandy road that cut between the undulating dunes. ‘If that is how you drive, then it is no wonder that you have had accidents.’

The feeling of happiness left her as abruptly as it had arrived. ‘My accidents had absolutely nothing to do with my driving.’

‘You are saying that the tree jumped out and banged into your car?’

‘No. I—’ Oh what was the point? His job was simply to escort her safely to the Citadel, not provide her with emotional support. She didn’t need emotional support. ‘Accidents happen, Karim.’

He watched her for a moment, his gaze disturbingly acute. ‘Not when I am your bodyguard.’ He sounded so confident that for a moment she wanted to believe him. It would have been so tempting to just relax and let someone else take the pressure for a change.

But she knew she couldn’t do that.

An unexpected moment of lighthearted fun didn’t change the facts. Her life was in danger, and she wouldn’t be safe until they were inside the high stone-walls of the Citadel.

CHAPTER SEVEN

THEY arrived at the oasis as dusk was falling.

Alexa watched as Karim avoided the busy tourist hub and drove the vehicle to an elaborately tented area slightly set apart. ‘They call this the Royal Suite. It has been set aside for our use. It’s more private than the other accommodation.’

‘I wish we didn’t have to stop.’

‘Even I cannot drive for days without rest,’ he said dryly. ‘You need to relax and leave the worrying to me.’

‘But you’re not worrying.’

‘A worry is merely a problem which hasn’t been solved.’ He undid her seat belt, and there was a sardonic gleam in his eyes. ‘If I see a problem, I solve it.’

Her heart banged against her chest. ‘What if you don’t see the problem before it hits you?’

‘Then the reaction must be all the quicker.’ Leaning her head back against the seat of the car, she closed her eyes. Despite the sleep she’d managed to snatch, she felt mentally and physically exhausted, the strain of the past few weeks building to a crescendo. ‘I’m so tired.’

‘Hopefully you will sleep better tonight.’

‘Yes.’ Alexa turned to look at him. ‘Thank you. I know I said I didn’t want a bodyguard, but I never would have managed this journey without you. I can see that now.’ She sensed his immediate withdrawal.

‘You are my responsibility.’

In other words he was just doing the job he was being paid to do, and he didn’t want her to forget that. Unreasonably disappointed by his reaction, she climbed down from the vehicle and followed him into the tent.

‘Well, I envy your stamina. I don’t think I have the energy to eat. I’ll just go straight to bed, and—’ She broke off with a gasp of shock as she walked into the tent and saw the bed. ‘Oh my goodness! It’s like something out of an Arabian fantasy.’

‘Indeed.’ Karim opened a bottle of water and handed her a drink. ‘The tourists like it. It is the honeymoon suite, I believe.’

Alexa stared at the huge bed draped in jewel-coloured silk and velvet cushions, and felt the colour heat her cheeks. Arabian antiques and elaborate rugs gave the tent a warm, intimate feel. It was clearly a place for lovers. ‘Won’t we be conspicuous staying here?’

‘No one will be looking for you in the honeymoon suite. You’re not married yet.’

The yet hung between them, and she gazed at him for a moment, noting the sudden tension in his broad shoulders.

It was ridiculous, she thought frantically, to be so sexually aware of a man when she was about to marry another. She had to stop thinking about Karim in that way. Just because he’d been kind, didn’t mean that he was thinking …

‘We should eat.’ His voice sounded unnaturally harsh, and the fact that he turned away from her made her wonder if he’d somehow sensed the way she was feeling.

Was he shocked? Embarrassed? Probably, because she certainly was.

‘I’m not really hungry.’

‘Sit down, Alexa.’ He sounded tired, and he rubbed the tips of his bronzed fingers over his forehead as if to relieve the tension. ‘You must eat. We have almost two days of travel ahead of us, and you ate virtually nothing today.’

‘All right. Just something small.’

She wasn’t aware that he’d communicated with anyone, and yet moments later several staff entered the tent, bearing a selection of dishes which they placed on the rug. Once they were alone again, Alexa knelt down. ‘So this place is actually a hotel?’

‘Zangrar is proving a surprisingly popular tourist destination.’ Karim picked up a dish and transferred several delicacies to her plate. ‘These desert encampments appeal to the romantic nature of tourists. They have a chance to swim, go dune driving, ride a camel and spend a night in the desert under the stars.’

‘Tourism was the Sultan’s idea?’

‘He has driven much of the commercial development, yes. It is important to look forward to the time when our natural resources run out.’

‘It’s wonderful that he cares so much about the future of Zangrar.’ Alexa stared at the food on her plate without touching it. ‘My father was the same. He was passionate about Rovina—’ She stopped suddenly, horrified with herself. Why was she talking about her father?

‘His death must have been a great loss to the country.’

‘I miss him every day.’ Her hand shook, and Karim reached out and gently removed the plate that she was holding.

‘Much of the security of childhood comes from parental love. You were deprived of that.’ His astute observation surprised her.

‘Yes, it was hard.’