Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 59308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Their eyes met...just as the door to the observatory swung open.
“Anyone inside here – OH!”
Instinct made her try to twist around to see who it was, but the sheikh’s arms suddenly wrapped tightly around Anisah, preventing her from moving.
A moment later, she heard the unseen stranger say in a rush, “My sincere apologies, Your Highness.” The door shut closed with a loud thud following his words, and recovering her senses at the jarring sound, Anisah wrenched herself free from the sheikh’s hold with a cry.
Scrambling off his lap, she backed away from the sheikh with an anxious shake of her head. “This is a m-mistake. This is wrong.” And there was no greater wrong than how her body still trembled at the aftermath of his touch—-
Anisah wrapped her arms around herself in helpless despair. She couldn’t possibly be attracted to Tarif Al-Atassi. She just couldn’t. She didn’t want to be attracted to him, never wanted to be, and she should know better—-
She watched the sheikh rise to his full height with lithe grace and swallowed hard.
“This is a mistake,” Anisah repeated doggedly, and this time, she no longer cared about pride, with her eyes begging the sheikh to agree with her.
But the sheikh did not.
“This, my sweet, was inevitable.”
Chapter Four
The Noble House of the Sheikhs of Ramil, like the palace, was an architectural marvel of gold and white marble set against a stunning desert backdrop. It was also located, as with all lawmaking bodies of the kingdom, within a thirty-minute radius of the king’s royal residence. The first reason for this was security: traveling was considered a security risk for the Emir Sheikh, and so the less time spent on the road, the better. The second reason was pure strategy: with the legislative office so close to the palace, the king had the ability to readily make his royal presence – and power – felt if any of his enemies dared to undermine his command in the guise of subversive speeches presented in court.
Proposals concerning one or several specific sheikhdoms were tackled in any of the smaller halls of The Noble House while bills of national interest were presented in the Grand Chamber, a majestic hall in which crystal chandeliers hung from a steeply vaulted stone ceiling. Even the thousands of seats making up the public gallery were richly adorned with velvet cushions and mahogany frames.
The court held three sessions a week in the Grand Chamber, and there was not one such session that the king or members of his cabinet did not attend. Today wasn’t any different, and the entrance of the two Al-Atassi sheikhs, presented last as accorded by their rank in court, was greeted with enthusiastic applause coming from the gallery.
“You seem to have acquired a new fan, brother.” Rayyan Al-Atassi made his observation sotto voce following the closing of the first half of the first session and an announcement of a fifty-minute break.
Tarif subjected his silver-haired cousin to a puzzled look. “A new fan?”
When the other sheikh cocked his head slightly to the side, indicating the private gallery reserved for those employed by the palace, Tarif caught sight of a familiar figure, her poise undiminished even with her slender form shrouded in a hideously serviceable-looking abaya.
Anisah.
Even with her back to him, Tarif had not a single doubt about it. That was his luscious harpy indeed, and his lips curved. A week had passed since the night of the ball. He had not made a single move on her since then, and he knew it was driving her crazy – the way he meant it to.
Her present obsession for him was clear as the light of day, something so painstakingly obvious the whole palace couldn’t help but notice it – and she didn’t even know it, just like how he had also been the only one in the palace unaware of her dislike for him.
Now, Anisah wasn’t able to stop searching for him, unable to resist following him with her eyes, unable to help drawing her breath every time they passed each other by in the palace. Now, with her drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she was forced to see things she had probably never thought or cared to search for in the past.
Now, she would want him more and more, enough to have her body shiver at the mere sight of him, enough to make her cry at night, wishing for a man she had started out hating and now desired beyond reason.
Anisah might not know it yet, but everything between them now was but a game as old as time, and it was a game he had years of experiencing playing, a game she had absolutely no hopes of winning. Their every encounter was meant to seduce her, enthrall, and draw her in like a master would with a puppet that wasn’t even aware of its strings.