Bella and the Merciless Sheikh

And then there was the fact that he was so serious.

Bella gave a little frown.

Not her type.

So why was she sitting here watching him?

What she should really be doing was making the best of herself, but it was hard to make the best of yourself without a mirror.

She stared at his discarded robe and suddenly she had an idea.

Glancing across the water to check he still had his back to her, she leant across and picked up the robe, retrieving the knife gingerly.

The deadly blade glinted in the harsh overhead sun and Bella smiled as she tilted it to find the right angle.

‘What are you doing there?’

Caught out, Bella glanced up guiltily and saw the anger flash across his face. Ignoring her thundering pulse rate, she smiled sweetly, raising her voice so that he could hear. ‘Er, fiddling with your dagger and watching you?’

Instead of replying he swam back towards her, each stroke a study in controlled, masculine power.

Remembering that kiss, her heart started to thud and she felt an almost ridiculous urge to make a run for it. But her limbs wouldn’t move so she stayed as she was, sitting in the dust, her eyes on the man, the dagger clutched in her hand.

He emerged from the pool like some glorious vision of athletic perfection, water pouring off his muscular frame, his abdomen flat and strong, his chest and legs shaded by dark hairs.

Bella tried to say something flippant but discovered she wasn’t capable of saying anything at all when confronted by such raw masculinity.

Raking his dripping hair away from his face, he stared at her angrily. ‘You were not supposed to be watching me.’

‘There’s nothing else to do. I don’t have a laptop, a cell-phone or an iPod.’

‘And without those you cannot occupy yourself? You rely on technology for entertainment?’

‘Yes, I do. It’s how I keep in touch with my friends. I can’t do that, so I thought I’d watch you instead.’

‘I am not your friend.’

‘No, but you’re a living creature, which is a start. And you’re pretty good to look at.’ She knew she was playing a dangerous game, but she was desperate for him to take her back to the city and she was pretty sure that he’d crack eventually.

‘You are intentionally provocative.’ Without waiting for her response, he removed the knife from her hand and hauled her to her feet, his furious dark eyes only centimetres from hers as he yanked her against him. ‘What were you planning to do with the knife?’

‘Calm down, will you?’ Bella bit back a gasp as her thigh brushed against his. ‘I was going to use it as a mirror.’

‘A mirror?’

‘Yes, the blade is shiny…metal—I’ve been trapped without a mirror for two weeks! I just wanted to know whether the damage can ever be repaired.’

He glanced down at the lethal blade in his hand in astonishment as if its alternative properties had never occurred to him before. ‘A mirror—’

‘Look,’ Bella snapped, ‘the desert may be heaven to you, but to me it’s the opposite, OK? I can’t do any of the things I normally do!’

‘You spend your day looking in the mirror?’

Feeling shallow, Bella shrank slightly. ‘Try being me before you pass judgement,’ she muttered. ‘If I leave the house without make-up, everyone is suddenly asking whether I’m ill, or on drugs, or about to be admitted to a clinic. Whatever I wear is scrutinised—people are mean.’

‘Who is mean?’

Recovering from the shocking fact that she’d actually admitted to someone how much the negative press coverage actually hurt her feelings, Bella back tracked. ‘Friends,’ she said vaguely, ‘and family—’