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

He inhaled sharply. ‘Women are not usually overly fond of reptiles.’

‘Maybe I’ve just mixed with more reptiles than most,’ Alexa said lightly, glancing towards the rock to see if the snake had reappeared. ‘Sorry. Bad joke. If you really want me to have hysterics, then it could probably be arranged.’

‘You are unlike any woman I have ever met.’

Unsure whether his observation was a compliment or not, she sighed. ‘I’m just not afraid of snakes. Different things frighten different people, I suppose. Do you want a hysterical female on your hands? Because if not then I think I’ll just get dressed. I feel a bit vulnerable standing here half-naked.’

His burning gaze slid from her face to her breasts, and immediately she wished she hadn’t drawn attention to her state of undress. His eyes lingered before moving down over her waist to her skimpy pants. Aware that her flimsy wet underwear provided her with no cover whatsoever, Alexa turned quickly and pulled on her cargo trousers, ignoring the fact that the material clung to her still-damp body.

A shout from the camp disturbed them.

‘People are coming.’ Karim thrust her shirt towards her. ‘Get dressed.’

‘I’m doing my best, believe me.’ Fumbling with the buttons, her cheeks blazing, Alexa finally secured her shirt. The dip in the water had cooled her, but now she felt uncomfortably hot again and knew that it was nothing to do with the desert heat and everything to do with Karim. He was standing so close that they were almost touching, and she knew that even if they’d been traversing the Arctic Circle she would still have felt hot. All she could think about was her body—his body.

What was it about him?

Or was it her? Helpless to understand what was going on, she almost groaned in despair. Had she been locked up in one place for too long? Had her loneliness made her desperate? Had she developed some sort of fixation on her bodyguard because he was offering her protection? Some women did that, she knew. They were attracted to strong, powerful men. But she wasn’t that sort of woman. Since the death of her father, she hadn’t had a man’s protection, and she no longer expected or needed it. And she wasn’t interested in any other sort of relationship, either.

Yes, she was marrying the Sultan, but only because that was what she had to do.

She owed it to the people of Rovina, many of whom she knew had abandoned hope when her uncle had become the Regent.

Suddenly Alexa felt a flicker of disquiet as the reality of her situation slammed home. Duty or not, she was going to be marrying a man she’d never met, and that had suddenly taken on a new significance.

And she knew why.

Her gaze flickered to Karim. Sex suddenly seemed significant because for the first time in her life she was aware of herself as a woman. Karim had awakened her sexuality, feelings that she hadn’t known existed.

Her fingers shook as they fumbled with the last of her buttons. This was not the time to discover that she had a whole side to herself that she’d never imagined was there. She needed to focus on getting safely to the Citadel and marrying the Sultan, and it didn’t matter if he had four heads and no personality—she would still be marrying him.

She had to.

Her life depended on it.

The future of Rovina depended on it.

‘I will escort you back to the tent. There will be time to rest before we eat.’ His tone icy-cold and discouraging, Karim led her back along the sandy path that led from the oasis through the trees. ‘You should rest now. I’ll call you when it’s time to eat.’

‘I don’t need to sleep.’ How could she sleep when she was her own bodyguard? She needed to keep watch.

‘Then rest, at least.’ Karim frowned, as if her response had annoyed him. ‘I’ll be just outside the tent.’

She made no sense whatsoever.

And his reaction to her made even less sense. At one point he’d been on the verge of stripping off and joining her in the pool, and as if that hadn’t been surprising enough he’d then found himself regretting the fact that he was no longer able to follow such impulses.

Karim frowned. These days his mind rarely strayed from duty and responsibility, and yet there had been moments on the journey when …

He cut the thought off before it could develop and fixed his eyes on the road that stretched into the distance, reminding himself that his objective was to show the princess the horrors of the desert.

But so far he wasn’t doing very well, was he?

The unexpected appearance of the snake had been particularly timely, but her reaction had been especially astonishing. Once she’d ascertained that it wasn’t poisonous, she’d shown interest rather than either the fear or revulsion that he’d anticipated and hoped for.

Off hand, he couldn’t think of a single woman of his acquaintance who would have welcomed the opportunity to take a closer look at a snake, and certainly none who would have chosen to examine it at close quarters.

She’d touched it. She’d bent and stroked it as if it had been a domestic pet, and there had been something about that gentle, almost seductive touch that had sent his pulse-rate soaring into the stratosphere.

Wondering what it was going to take to unnerve her, Karim ran a hand over his face, reflecting on the irony of the situation. For the first time in his life he’d met a woman who seemed perfectly at home in these harsh surroundings. How many times in the past had he dreamed about finding a woman who shared his love of Zangrar?

Staring into the desert, he found himself wondering what it would have been like to meet her under different circumstances, and then he closed his eyes briefly, frustrated by his inability to control his own libido around a woman who possessed virtually no admirable qualities.

Yes, her fascination with the desert was surprising, and might actually have been gratifying in different circumstances—but not these circumstances.

The fact that she seemed comfortable with the heat, the dust and the wildlife was not enough to make ‘the rebel princess’ a suitable wife.

Glancing over his shoulder towards the sealed tent, he wondered what she doing now.

Was she asleep yet again?

Or was she lying on the bed dreaming of the riches that awaited her in Zangrar?

Refreshed after her swim and dressed in a pale blue linen dress that fell to her ankles, Alexa wandered out of the tent and bumped straight into Karim.

Disturbed by how good it felt to know he was there, she just stood there, and eventually he broke the tense silence.

‘Food will be served by the fire. It keeps the wildlife at bay.’ His harsh tone suggested that he wasn’t similarly pleased to see her, and she was appalled by how much that knowledge disappointed her.

‘I quite like the wildlife. It’s very interesting. What sort are we talking about this time?’

His gaze flickered to her clothes and down to her strappy sandals. ‘The sort that would grow excited when faced by a pair of bare feet.’

‘Are you trying to frighten me, Karim? All you seem to do is tell me about the dangers of the desert.’

‘Clearly you’re not frightened.’

‘I love it.’ She looked around her. ‘I love everything about it. The colours, the solitude, the sheer enormity of the place, reminding you how small and insignificant you are—’ She broke off and gave a tiny shrug, embarrassed by her outburst. ‘I have never left Rovina before. I haven’t been in possession of my passport since I was eight years old.’

‘That was when your parents were killed?’

It was a conversation topic that had never come up, and for a horrifying moment her brain was filled with images that paralyzed her.

‘Alexa?’

Hearing Karim’s voice, she pushed through the dark, terrifying clouds. ‘Yes.’ Somehow she persuaded her voice to work. ‘My uncle didn’t want me going anywhere.’

‘As your guardian, he clearly takes his responsibilities very seriously.’