Midnight in Arabia: Heart of a Desert Warrior / The Sheikh's Last Gamble / The Sheikh's Jewel

But that was all he was getting from her. No matter how heated his dark gaze had gotten since their arrival in the private room. She didn’t miss the fact that there was a low divan that could easily be used for sleeping when he did not return home at night.

“You’re just as much of a workaholic here as you were at university, aren’t you?” She’d bet even more so.

Asad shrugged. “I have the welfare of many people on my shoulders. It does not make for long nights of sleep.”

“If I remember right, you weren’t fond of sleeping as a student, either.”

“But for entirely different reasons.” The look he gave her could have melted iron.

But she wasn’t going to let it melt her heart. “Get that look off your face. I’m here to do a geological survey for Sheik Hakim, nothing more. And we were enjoying this tour. Don’t ruin it.”

“I assure you, that is not my intention.” He moved closer and being smarter than she had been six years ago, she backed up.

Only, when her thighs hit his desk, she knew she was trapped. She put her hands up. “Stop. What happened to having enough emotional drama for one day?”

“I have no intention of indulging in drama. I have something else entirely in mind.”

She shook her head, doing her best to look firm while her body yearned for his touch with a reawakened and near-terrifying passion. “We aren’t doing this.”

“Are you certain?” he asked, his muscular legs coming to a stop only a breath of air away from hers.

“I am. I mean it, Asad. I’m not here for a dalliance. I’m here to work.”

“A dalliance.” He reached up and caressed the outer shell of her ear exposed by her hair pulled back in a ponytail. “An interesting and strangely old-fashioned word for a modern-day geologist.”

“Maybe I’m a little old-fashioned.”

“The woman who allowed me entrance to her body on our first date? One who had others before me? I think not.”

She shoved at him, hard, his words a better deterrent to her giving in than anything she could have come up with. “You don’t know anything about me.”

He actually stumbled back a step; maybe in surprise at the strength of her attack. He might be playing, but she wasn’t. She slid away from him quickly, stopping only when she was near the door and could make an instant escape if necessary.

The arrogant assurance in his stance and demeanor did not change at all. “I think I know some things about you very well.”

“You knew me six years ago. Things change. People change.” Please God, let her have changed enough.

“If that were so, you would not be afraid of what you would reveal with my nearness.”

Oh, he had more nerve than a snake oil salesman and was just as trustworthy to her heart. She had to remember that. “Maybe I simply don’t enjoy being sexually harassed on the job.”

“You do not work for me.”

“I work for your cousin.”

“But not for me. You and I both know your job with Hakim in no way relies on what happens between us.”

“Or doesn’t happen?” she taunted.

But he nodded decisively. “Or doesn’t happen. You want me, Iris. I can see it in the flutter of your pulse here,” he pointed to his own neck. “And the way you lose your breath when I am near.”

She slapped her hand over her neck, as if she could hide the evidence, but knew he was right. “I am not controlled by the urges of my body.”

“So, you admit you desire me? I will take that as a start.”

“You’re a fantastic lover, Asad, but you’re lousy odds for a relationship and I’m not interested in a brief sexual encounter.”

His nostrils flared, like they used to when he was particularly turned on. “When we make love, it will be anything but brief.”

“And anything but love.” Regardless of the corresponding heat pooling in her womb. “It’s not going to happen.”

“You are lying to yourself.”

“You go right on believing that and while you are at it, leave me alone.” She fled from the office and then the tent, heading back into the encampment toward the one Asad had pointed out earlier that housed both Russell and their equipment.

Asad had refused to stop and let her explore then, saying there would be plenty of time for her to spend in that particular dwelling. She intended to make that true.

She didn’t care if her hasty exit and walk through the city of tents was considered dignified. She didn’t have to be a general to know when all-out retreat was called for.

She was only surprised when Asad did not pursue her, but then perhaps he was more aware of his own dignity than she was of hers.

Russell evinced no surprise at Iris’s arrival and commenced a steady stream of chatter regarding his own observations of the encampment while they set up their equipment and portable lab. All he required from Iris was a noise of agreement every now and again.

While most of the analysis of the samples and measurements they took would happen back in the real lab, some things were best handled in the field. And she was lucky enough to work for a firm that could afford the latest in portable geological lab equipment.

She reminded herself of that pertinent fact as her fight-or-flight instincts prompted her toward booking the next plane seat back to the States.

“So, what’s the deal between you and the sheikh?” Russell asked when he’d exhausted the topic of the city of tents.

“Sheikh Hakim?” she asked, trying for ignorance.

“Get a grip, Iris. It doesn’t take a scientist to interpret the facts. You and Sheikh Asad have some kind of history.”

“We went to the same university.”

“Right. My freshman year, a CEO of one of the newer dot.coms attended my school. We even met, but that doesn’t mean we’re friends.”

“Asad and I were friends.” At one time, she’d considered him her very best friend.

And then he’d betrayed her love and her belief in their closeness.

“A whole lot more than that, I’m guessing, or the guy wouldn’t have such an effect on you.”

“It doesn’t matter. The past is exactly that and we’re here to—”

“Work. Yeah, yeah, I know.” Russell fiddled with a microscope. “You can’t blame me for my curiosity. Everyone at CC&B thinks you’re more interested in rocks than people, especially men.”

He gave her a probing look.

She tried to ignore the pang in her heart that his words gave her. It was true that she hadn’t gone out of her way to make friends, and well … rocks couldn’t hurt you. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t interested in people at all.

“I date.”

“Really?” he asked with clear disbelief.

Bringing up the one dinner she’d shared with a fellow rock hound in the past year probably wasn’t going to count, particularly since all they’d talked about was, well … rocks. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It does when you’re acting like a woman, not a scientist.”

“That’s ridiculous. I’m always a scientist first.”

“Sure, until we got here. You offered to let Sheikh Hakim bring in a male geologist if it would make him more comfortable.” Russell’s tone gave that fact the inexplicability it deserved. “This Sheikh Asad had you on the run and he’d only spoken a few words to you.”

“I’m not on the run.”

“Could have fooled me.”

“You’re being annoying.”

“I’m good at that. You don’t usually mind.” Russell stopped looking at his microscope and gave his attention solely to her. “I’m being a nosy friend. So, spill.”

It went against the deep sense of privacy she’d always lived with, but then that privacy had left her lonely. Perhaps it was time to make more friends, true friends … not just work acquaintances.

She’d clicked with Russell on both a working and friendship level when he’d first begun his summer internship with CC&B three months ago. She’d been pleased when the college student had been assigned the role of her assistant on this survey.

“Asad and I were together for a few months in my sophomore year,” she admitted.

“Together together?”

“Yes.”

“Wow.”

“You didn’t suspect?”

“Hell, no. You’re not exactly the kind of woman who ends up in a sheikh’s bed.” The other redhead had the grace to blush at that observation. “I don’t mean you’re a troll or anything.”

“He wasn’t a sheikh then.”

“I bet he was the same in every other way, though.”

“No. He used to smile a lot more.”

“Oh-ho.”

“Now what?”

“Nothing.”

“Stop being cryptic. What is oh-ho?”

“You’re sad he’s not as happy as he used to be. I can tell.”

“Don’t be an idiot. I didn’t say he wasn’t happy.” But that’s what she’d meant and hadn’t realized it until Russell brought it up.

“But he’s not, is he?”

“His wife died two years ago.” And the pampered princess Badra had been nothing like what he’d expected her to be. “He’s probably still mourning her.”

“Not the way he looks at you, he’s not.”

She didn’t ask what way that was because she already knew and wasn’t up to false protestations.

Russell told her anyway. “Like he wants to devour you. If a woman looked at me like that, I’d have a heck of a time staying out of her bed.”

“Right.” That at least, deserved some proper skepticism. From what she’d seen over the summer, Russell didn’t have any more of a social life than she did. “You’re as wrapped up in your work as I am.”

“But I’d take time away from my precious rocks for something that intense.”

“That’s why you go clubbing every Saturday night, because you’re looking.”

“I never go clubbing … oh, you were making a point. I still say if I walked into it like you have here, I’d go for it.”

“You wouldn’t. You’re every bit as gun-shy as I am. You’re just being an idiot,” she said fondly.

Russell should know just how damaging such a course of action would be to her. He’d had his own broken heart, as he’d confided to her over a bottle of potent wine on their first assignment in the field together.

“You’ve said that before. Good thing I’ve got such a high IQ, my confidence in my own intelligence is bulletproof.”

She snorted. “IQ measures your ability to learn, not your common sense.”

“You saying I lack common sense?”

“If the fossilized fragment fits …”

“Aren’t you the clever one?”

“How far from here to our first sampling site?” she asked.

“According to my satellite GPS, about an hour in a Jeep, provided we can travel pretty directly.”

She nodded.

“We should ask Sheikh Asad. After all, he is our guide while we’re in country.”

“He’s a sheikh. I’m sure he’s got someone else we can go to.”

“And you call me an idiot.”

“What does that mean?”

“The sheikh’s not leaving our guiding up to anyone else and you know it. He wants to handle you … um, I mean this little geological expedition personally.”

CHAPTER SIX

IRIS rolled her eyes, but didn’t reply to Russell’s obvious innuendo.

At any rate, she couldn’t exactly deny it. Her field assistant was right. Not only had Asad insisted on being their go-to guy, she was pretty sure he’d want to accompany them on their first foray out of the encampment. She could only hope he would limit himself to the one time.

Her instincts told her to hope all she wanted, but the man was going to become her shadow, big-time busy sheikh or not.

Asad proved her first supposition right later that evening when they were all sharing dinner in his tent.

For the sake of her own sanity, she tried to talk him out of it. “That’s not necessary. I’ve been doing this for almost four years, Asad. I know what I’m doing and Russell can read his pocket transit with the best of them.”

“Nawar is looking forward to an excursion. Would you deny her?”

The little girl in question was looking up at Iris with pleading brown eyes.

Oh, not fair. Iris shook her head. “Of course not.”

“But can this wait until the day after tomorrow? Grandmother has planned a welcome feast for your arrival.”

“What? Why?”

“You are our guest,” Genevieve said, as if that explained everything. “It would be bad manners not to do so.”

“But surely Russell and I can start our work tomorrow and return in time for dinner?” she asked, feeling desperate.

She had to get away from Asad’s home and remind herself why she was in Kadar.

“It will be much more than a simple meal,” Asad said.

Genevieve smiled in a way that was catching. “I thought perhaps you would enjoy witnessing the preparations and this aspect of our way of life.”

It would be churlish to refuse, but how Iris wished she could do so. “I would love to. Thank you for the offer.”

“I could go on my own and start the measurements,” Russell offered.

Surprisingly, it was Asad who shook his head before Iris had a chance to veto the idea. “While traditionally, men do little to prepare the food, we will have our own things to attend to for the feast. You must not miss the opportunity to experience this part of our world.”

“Thank you, Sheikh Asad.” Russell smiled, his youthful eyes glowing with excitement at the thought. The traitor.

Asad inclined his head.

“Grandmother has said we will have mansaf. It’s my favorite, but we don’t have it very often,” Nawar piped up.

“Is it?” Iris asked with a smile for the tiny girl so unlike her father in looks, but so similar in every other way. “If I remember correctly, that used to be your father’s favorite, too.”

She’d even tried to make it for him once, looking up a recipe online for the traditional stewed lamb and yogurt sauce served over rice. An indifferent cook, Iris had been disappointed but not surprised when the dish had turned out only so-so, even to her palate. Asad had thanked her for the effort, but informed her that traditional Bedouin food had to be prepared in the traditional way—over a campfire—to carry the full flavor.

It was a criticism and excuse for the dinner’s mediocrity all-in-one and she hadn’t been exactly sure how to take it. Any hurt feelings she might have had were dispelled by the passionate lovemaking that followed dinner, however. He’d made it clear that no matter the outcome, her efforts had been very much appreciated.

She didn’t repeat the mistake of attempting to cook food from his homeland for him again.

“It still is,” Nawar said with a giggle. “Grandmother says we are just alike.”

“I’m sure your grandmother is right.” Iris ruffled Nawar’s hair.

“Tomorrow I will show you the baths in the caves,” Genevieve said. “I’m sure my grandson showed proper decorum and skipped that part of his tour with you.”

Iris didn’t know about proper decorum, but the older woman was right. “Asad didn’t mention any baths.”

She had to admit to a feeling of relief at the thought that the next few weeks would not be spent without a proper soak.

“There are natural hot springs in the caves to the south of the encampment,” Asad said now.

“The women use the upper caves and the men the lower ones. I suppose they think they can handle the hotter water better,” Genevieve said with a loving smile for her husband of several decades. “Hanif discovered them when he was a boy and gifted the caves to the tribe upon our wedding.”

It was a romantic story and Iris found herself smiling, as well.

“It just goes to show that for the thousands of years our people have wandered these lands, they remain a mystery to us,” Hanif said. He turned to Russell. “Mr. Green, you will join me for coffee in the morning with the other men, yes?”

“Russell, please,” her field assistant said with a grin. “And I would be honored. I’ve been eager to try the real thing ever since I learned we were coming to Kadar.”

“Ah, so you understand that what comes out of an automatic drip maker is nothing like it?” Asad asked sardonically with a look at Iris that said he wasn’t talking only of coffee.

“I’m willing to be convinced of it,” Russell said unsurprisingly. The man was a caffeine addict with a particular fondness for coffee.

If Asad had researched Russell, he couldn’t have made a better ploy to get him otherwise occupied in the mornings.

Somehow, regardless of her best efforts, Asad managed to accompany Iris on her trek to her room when it came time to find her bed later that evening.

Which said something about his efforts versus hers, she supposed. Or, perhaps it was the level of determination she should be looking at. The possibility that Asad’s might be stronger than hers in this regard was disturbing on more than one level.

She liked the idea that she might not be wholly dedicated to minimizing their contact no better than the thought that he was far more determined to spend time with her than he should be.

“So, what do you think of my city of tents?” he asked just as she reached her doorway and thought to slip inside without incident.

Her hand on the edge of the curtain that covered the entrance to her apartment, Iris stopped. “It’s amazing.”

“You do not find the remoteness too disconcerting?” he asked with a certain level of disbelief.

A wry smile curved her lips and she met his dark brown gaze squarely. “Asad, last month I spent two weeks in the middle of the East Texas desert doing an updated geological assessment for an oil company. The truth is, your nomadic home is more sophisticated and busy than ninety percent of my assignments.”

“Do you enjoy being away from home for such long periods?”

Prepared to give the answer she always offered when asked that question, she was surprised when honesty spilled forth instead. “At least when I’m on assignment, there’s a reason for me spending so much time alone.”

“Your work.”

“Yes.”

“It’s very important to you.”

“It’s all I have.” She looked around them, noticing his grandparents had already made it into their chamber down the long corridor that ran the width of the tent.

Nawar and Fadwa had gone to bed hours earlier. But still, the sense of family permeated the impressive dwelling.

“We’re not all like you, with relations who miss us when we’re gone,” she added in an even tone.

“Your parents are still living.”

“The last time I saw them was Christmas two years ago. We took a winter cruise together.” She’d bought it for them as a gift with hopes of building something more of their relationship now that she was an adult.

It hadn’t worked. They’d been no more interested in getting to know the grown-up Iris than they had the child. And as much as it hurt to admit, looking at them through adult eyes, she realized her parents were not people she would particularly care to know well, either.

She’d finally given up hope of having anything resembling a real family and hadn’t bothered them with so much as an email since. Though now she realized that she’d begun to give up that particular dream when Asad had left.

She simply hadn’t been aware of it until her parents’ continued indifference pounded the final nail into the coffin that had been her hope.

“Two years ago? But that is criminal. Why would you neglect your parents so shamefully?”

His absolute inability to understand charmed her when she thought probably she should have been offended. But to discover the worldly sheikh so naive in even one area was rather captivating.

“When was the last time you saw your parents?” she asked curiously.

“Last month.” He cocked his head to the side, studying her like a specimen under glass. “I travel to Geneva three times a year.”

So the decision to allow his grandparents to raise Asad, and groom him to take over as sheikh, had not destroyed their relationship completely. He might resent it somewhat, but he still cared for his parents and she was certain they cared for him, as well.

“Your family is happy to see you when you do, I imagine.”

“But naturally.”

She nodded. Lucky him. Even after the barbaric bargain, he had parents and siblings who loved him and wanted to see him. And probably a lot more often than the three times a year he went to see them. “For your family, yes. We aren’t all so lucky, Asad.”

His expression turned thoughtful. “In the ten months of our liaison, you never mentioned a visit from or to your parents. I assumed it was because you saw no reason to introduce me to your family.”

It was a reasonable hypothesis, considering the fact Asad himself had not been thinking in terms of a future together. He’d no doubt assumed that while he’d returned home on winter and spring break to see his family, she’d been doing the same. Instead, she’d spent those weeks by herself on campus missing him more than she ever had her parents.

He’d never made any move toward introducing her to anyone in his family and because of her past, she hadn’t found that odd. Only later had she realized that a man did not introduce his relatives to a casual lover. Particularly not a man slated to one day become sheikh.

Silly her. Iris had thought he was waiting for the right time when the truth was, there was never going to be any such thing for them.

“Once again, I guess we were both guilty of making assumptions.” She shook her head, tired and in no mood to prevaricate. “I don’t have a family, Asad. I had an egg and sperm donor who were kind enough to financially support me until I graduated from university.”

He jerked back as if she’d slapped him. “That is a very cynical thing to say about the people responsible for giving you life.”

“I don’t expect you to understand. Your parents allowed your grandparents to raise you in the ways of the Bedouin and while I’m sure you felt abandoned by them, no matter how much you might deny it, the truth is, they never gave you up. Not really. My parents kept legal rights to me, but for all intents and purposes, I was their unwanted ward, not their daughter.”

“And you called my grandparents’ deal with my parents barbaric,” he said in a tone laced with a heavy dose of shocked disapproval.

She just shook her head. He was right. She was in no position to judge and certainly Asad had far more of a family than she did. Though she noticed he didn’t deny feeling abandoned by his parents.

He frowned, looking like he wanted to say something more.

She put her hand up in a silent bid for him to leave it. “Like I said, I don’t expect you to get it. Why should you? I never did, and they were supposed to be my family. I’m tired and I want to go to bed. All right?”

Though why she was asking him, instead of just going into her room, she didn’t really know.

“I don’t suppose I could persuade you to share mine,” he said in the same teasing tone he used to employ to lighten things when they got too serious when they’d been together.

She’d avoided telling him the truth about her parents because it shamed her to admit she was unloved, but she remembered now the other reason that she’d kept the truth buried. Asad had been so very good at keeping her smiling and happy, she’d been loath to bring the pain of her left-behind childhood into the present.

And, back then, there had still been that tendril of hope that one day her parents were going to realize Iris was someone they could enjoy having in their lives.

She gave him a smile now, not nearly as forced as it should have been. “You’re an idiot.”

She’d said the same words, or something like them, to Russell earlier, and knew it was because, even after everything, part of her still considered Asad to be a friend.

Perhaps, for a woman like her—who trusted with such difficulty—once trust was given, it could never be withdrawn entirely. The ramifications of that possibility were not good for her heart, not at all.

Unaware of her inner turmoil, Asad gave her a lazy smile she hadn’t seen in a very long time. “No, an idiot would let the opportunity slip by.”

For a terrible uncertain moment, Iris was tempted to take him up on the offer. She’d never felt like she belonged anywhere like she did in his bed. It had all been a fantasy, but it had felt real. In his arms, she’d felt like she had a family.