The Sheikh's Captive Woman (The Sheikh's American Love 3)

in their footsteps, and somehow, somewhere along the way, Aurora had been swept up in her parents’ quest for her security and happiness without even questioning whether the direction she was going in was something that she wanted.

If she had known that she was going to come back to a massive debt owed to a man with a reputation for being less than squeamish about violence, Aurora would have just stayed in Asia. She might have gotten around to getting a student or a work visa there, and found something to do with herself; but Brandon had been so sweet and appealing in his emails, and she’d felt so indebted to him, that it had been easy for her to just finish up her trip. After three months of traveling, she had been happy to be returning to a country with mostly reliable transportation, ready access to drinkable tap water, and food that was always familiar.

As the minutes and then hours flowed by, Aurora tried to think of the best way to handle the situation with Jon. Assuming Khaleel didn’t have her arrested as soon as they reached port—whenever that would be—she could just sneak aboard another ship. Aurora wasn't about to pick another yacht, but she thought she had heard of people sneaking onto cruise ships and managing to make it to another country. But she quickly discarded that idea, too; it would be testing fate to try the same tactic again, and she didn’t think that a cruise ship captain would be willing to see the humor in it, the way that Khaleel had. Instead of owing money to a loan shark, she could find herself in prison. “Not that he would be able to get to me there,” she muttered to herself. She slowly resigned herself to the truth that, no matter how bad the situation was with Jon, going to prison for trespassing would be worse.

“So now I guess the only thing to do is actually face him,” Aurora said to herself in the quiet of her cabin. She couldn’t run away—she didn’t have enough money to get out of the country on her own, and she couldn’t keep evading the man forever. She would have to talk to him, figure something out.

She didn’t know just how legal it was for Brandon to have “sold” the debt to Jon for Aurora to pay it—but she didn’t think it was the kind of thing she could call the cops about in any case. She would just have to take her chances and see what she could do for herself. There was no other way, even if she had the wherewithal to run away from her demons. “The sooner, the better,” Aurora murmured.

TEN

By noon, Aurora was tired of reflection, and decided to see what was going on in other parts of the ship. She left her quarters and followed the winding corridors up towards the main deck.

Emerging from the interior of the yacht, her eyes landed on Khaleel, and she nearly stopped in her tracks. The Sheikh was standing on the deck, between the pool and the railing, laughing at something that one of the other crew members was saying. He was shirtless, wearing nothing but a pair of swimming trunks that covered only about as much as his towel had the first time she had met him.

For a moment, before he spotted her, Aurora took in the sight of Khaleel’s muscular back, his lean legs, and his strong body. She felt a jolt of heat work through her spine, and remembered the dream she’d had of him the night before—and how close they had gotten in her mind before her sensual thoughts had been interrupted by panic.

Whether it’s genetics or money or both, it’s not fair that the rich guys tend to be hot so often, Aurora thought, glancing down at her slightly plain outfit. She knew she should be grateful for the fact that she had clothes at all, and that they were dry and clean—unlike her skirt and blouse from the day before, which were still buried somewhere in the ship’s laundry. She hadn’t even thought to pin her flower—set aside before she’d jumped into the ocean to follow Khaleel the night before—to her new ensemble.

“Aurora! You’ve finally decided to come out of your ‘prison cell’ I see,” Khaleel called out, and Aurora rolled her eyes, smiling.

“I had a lot to think about,” she told him, crossing her arms over her chest and walking the rest of the way to where he stood.

“Well, there’s food on the buffet, plenty to drink, and a beautiful day to enjoy.”

Aurora looked around and saw that the crew members were more relaxed than she had seen them the day before; the maid who’d originally sent her to get the Sheikh’s breakfast was even taking a moment to smoke a cigarette, talking with another member of the staff. Aurora saw the buffet under the awning: just as before, it was covered with delicacies, and she wondered at the fact that Khaleel was in such good shape when he constantly had a bounty of food around him.

Aurora stepped up to the railing, admiring the view of the ocean and the private island that she and Khaleel had visited the night before. “It must be nice to just be able to run away whenever you want,” she said, glancing at Khaleel with a smile on her face.

“There are downsides,” Khaleel said with a shrug. “You look good in that outfit, though. I’m glad I had it lying around.”

“I’m not sure I want to know why you have spare women’s clothing on your yacht,” Aurora said, shaking her head.

“Because you never know who's going to turn up,” Khaleel said, his expression mock-serious. “You swam pretty well yesterday.”

“It was dark,” Aurora said, making a face. “How would you know about how well I swam?”

“You didn’t drown, at any rate.” Khaleel’s face started to twitch with the start of a smile, and Aurora wondered what the gleam of mischief in his eyes portended for her. “Although I have to say I’m disappointed that you didn’t come out in appropriate clothing.”

“What?” Aurora frowned in confusion.

A moment later, Khaleel’s hands closed on her waist, and she felt her feet leaving the deck. She shrieked in surprise as he stepped closer to the railing, holding her body close to his. She felt the muscles rippling in his arms and chest, and no matter how she squirmed, she knew she wasn’t going to get free of Khaleel’s hold. He kicked the gate open and she felt him shove her from behind, sending her flying out through the gap in the railing, hurtling towards the ocean.

The blue-green waters rose up in her vision and Aurora shrieked again as her body plunged downward. She instinctively straightened her body and dove, instead of hitting the water face-first, squeezing her eyes shut as she entered the water. As the ocean came up to surround her, Aurora changed her trajectory, kicking and paddling until she came back up to the surface.

Spitting the salty water out of her mouth, Aurora looked up in the direction of Khaleel’s cheerful laughter and scowled at him. “You jerk!”

“You’re on the water, my dear,” Khaleel called down. “You should expect at any time that you could end up in the ocean.”

“That wasn’t me 'ending up' in the ocean,” Aurora protested, cutting through the water towards the ladder on the side of the yacht. “That was you throwing me in!”

“Always be prepared,” Khaleel countered.

Aurora began to climb up the side of the boat, shaking her head; in spite of her initial irritation, she couldn’t help but see the humor in it. The last of her annoyance began to ebb away as she thought of getting revenge on the Sheikh, and Aurora came to the top of the ladder smiling.

“I hope you take that advice to heart,” she told him, raising an eyebrow significantly.

Khaleel chuckled and handed her a towel. “I had clothes fit for a woman I didn’t even know was on my ship,” he pointed out. “I think that makes me fairly prepared.”

“We’ll see about that,” Aurora said. She dried her hair and wrapped the thick, soft towel around herself firmly, shivering slightly in the breeze.

“Well let’s get you a drink and something to wear,” Khaleel said, gesturing for Aurora to go with him across the deck to the shaded area near the buffet. “Katy—have we got anything for Miss Evans to wear that’s more weather appropriate?”

“There’s a drawer full of clothes in my quarters,” Aurora pointed out.

“But you’ll want to sunbathe,” Khaleel said.

“How do you know?” Aurora fough

t back the urge to smile, trying to maintain her slightly peevish demeanor.

“Why wouldn’t you? You’re on a beautiful yacht, parked next to a tropical island. The sun is shining, there’s a light breeze—and there’s not much else really to do.”

In that moment, one of the crew members, a woman around Aurora’s age, appeared carrying an armful of bathing suits, all of them with the tags still on.