Bella and the Merciless Sheikh

‘I have no trouble believing that.’

She looked at the pot on the fire. ‘So if you’ve gone back to nature, how did you light the fire? Did you rub two sticks together? Use a magnifying glass to concentrate the sun’s rays?’

‘I used a match,’ he said drily and Bella giggled and wagged her finger at him.

‘That’s a disgraceful shortcut. I’m really disappointed in you. You should have been setting fire to camel dung at the very least.’ She was painfully conscious of him—of his strength and competence. ‘But you enjoy being away from everything, honestly?’

‘Desert life is hard, but simple. The problems are basic ones that man has faced for centuries. Where to find food and water. How to provide for a family. I enjoy the silence and I enjoy being with the horses.’

‘How come the stallion is happy along side the mare?’

‘They know each other well.’

‘So the mare I took, you know her?’

‘Amira—she belongs to me.’

Bella remembered the guards. ‘You own those stables?’

‘You ask too many questions.’ He poured more tea into her mug and spooned food into a bowl. ‘Eat. You haven’t eaten all day.’

She stared at the bowl he handed her. ‘You cook for yourself?’

‘Is that so surprising?’

Bella put her mug on the ground and lifted the bowl, realising that she was expected to eat with her fingers. ‘Well, you don’t exactly come across as “new man,” if that’s what you’re asking me. I suppose I expected you to have chefs and people running round after you.’ Examining the contents, she tried to imagine her father or any of the men she knew cooking anywhere, let alone the desert. ‘I’m impressed. I think.’ She sniffed suspiciously. ‘What is it? Camel stew? Loin of lizard?’

‘It’s rice and vegetables.’

Stung by his tone, Bella tightened her grip on the bowl. ‘You think I’m a complete waste of space, don’t you?’

‘I am trying not to think about you.’ He kept his eyes on the fire as he ate his meal, the fire illuminating his handsome face. ‘This is not how I envisaged my few days in the desert. It is supposed to be time for contemplation. And relaxation. Clearly you know nothing of either pastime.’

‘That’s not fair! I’m not stopping you relaxing.’

A sardonic smile touched his beautiful mouth. ‘You think not, habibiti?’

Her insides decidedly unsettled, Bella sampled the stew gingerly. ‘This tastes good. I’m not going to get in your way, I promise. Just do what you would normally do if I weren’t here.’

‘I am.’ He ladled more stew into his own bowl. ‘Unfortunately you are doing it with me.’

‘Ignore me.’

‘How do you propose I do that? You are not an easy woman to ignore.’

His words sent a thrill of excitement through her body. ‘No?’

‘A woman as beautiful as you cannot fail to know precisely what effect she has on men.’

‘You don’t seem to be having too much trouble resisting me.’

‘I have a severe aversion to being manipulated. Every look you give me and every word you speak is a carefully constructed plan to get your own way.’

Bella was starting to feel truly dreadful. The shivering intensified by the moment and her head throb bed too badly to allow her to construct a smart response. She wished she hadn’t eaten. ‘All right. I’ll stop talking.’

‘Is that truly a possibility?’ The irony in his tone was matched by the gleam in his eyes. ‘You strike me as a woman who has never learned the meaning of the word silence.’