Bella and the Merciless Sheikh

‘Your friends and family scrutinise everything you wear? They’re mean?’

‘Oh, whatever—’ Realising that she was digging a hole for herself, Bella shrugged. ‘It doesn’t matter. I’m just saying it’s second nature for me to look in a mirror and just check I haven’t woken up with a huge spot on my nose.’

‘And what do you do if you have?’

‘I stay indoors.’

‘Your life is truly bizarre.’

Bella frowned. She’d lived that life for so long she no longer even questioned it. Was it bizarre?

He gave an impatient sigh. ‘You need to stop thinking about the way you look and learn humility. And obedience. I told you not to sit there and watch. Don’t challenge me, habibiti, because you will not win.’

‘Oh, dear, am I annoying you?’ She forced the taunt past dry, stiff lips and saw the flare of anger in the depths of his gaze.

‘Yes,’ he gritted, his hand tightening around her wrist, ‘but my response to that will not be to send you away, but to keep you closer. Remember that, before you push me too far, Kate.’

Kate? Who on earth was Kate? Bella opened her mouth to tell him that he ought to at least get her name right and then remembered that she was the one who had introduced herself as Kate.

Out here in the burning sands of the desert, Bella Balfour didn’t exist.

What a confusing mess she’d created, although there was something liberating about being anonymous. It would be even better if she could be anonymous somewhere with decent facilities.

‘Why would you keep me closer if I’m annoying?’

His smile was lethal. ‘Because I intend to teach you how to behave. You need to learn respect.’

‘What are you going to do? Throw me over your knee?’ Bella’s tone was sassy but her heart was thudding. ‘This is the twenty-first century.’

‘You are in the desert. Here, time has stood still. And since you are so determined to watch me in the water, you can join me.’ Without warning, he swept her off her feet and dropped her into the water.

Unprepared, Bella sank under the surface, the water closing over her head. For a moment everything was muted and she kicked frantically, swallowed several mouthfuls before she surfaced, coughing, only to find him in the pool next to her. Sweeping her sodden hair away from her face, she took a gulp of air.

‘Are you trying to drown me?’ She coughed again and thumped her chest with her hand, trying to clear the water from her lungs. ‘Why did you do that?’

‘I thought you needed cooling down.’ A sardonic smile on his face, he swam away from her, leaving Bella staring after him.

Filling her lungs with air, she ducked under the water and followed him across the pool, making sure she was deep enough not to create a ripple on the surface.

Where was he?

She peered through the murky grey-green water, wishing she had swimming goggles, and then saw a pair of strong male legs directly in front of her.

Smiling, Bella silently ducked to the bottom of the pool, intending to grab his foot and unbalance him, but a large hand caught her shoulder and hauled her to the surface.

‘You can swim.’

‘Were you hoping I’d drown?’ Grumpy that he’d seen her, Bella fought to catch her breath. ‘How did you know I was there?’

‘Because your behaviour is extremely predictable. It’s designed to cause maximum irritation.’

‘You think I’m predictable?’

‘Kate, you do whatever you can to be as annoying as possible. Are you afraid of wildlife? Because there is plenty in this pool.’

‘Is that what women do around you? Squeal and come over all girly? I hate to remove the opportunity for you to play macho man, but I can lift spiders from the bath without help.’ Bella twisted her hair into a rope, wringing out the water. ‘If you want a screaming maiden, you’re looking at the wrong woman. I tell you what—I’ll race you across the pool. If I win, you take me back to the city.’