Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 59308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Trepidation skittered down her spine. Was that how all this started?” Was that why he had chosen to suddenly pay attention to her and why – in his own words – he had ended up “observing” her for two months?
“Naturally, it had me thinking. How was it that the whole royal family knew of this woman save for me?”
Glittering eyes bored through her, and it took everything of Anisah not to look away.
“I asked my brothers, too, of course—-”
Oh, curse her life, she was so doomed.
“And that’s when I had the pleasure of listening to all of them explain – in detail, mind you – exactly how you thought of me.”
And she was right.
“Now, let me see if I can recall the things they shared with me—-”
The words had her panicking, and she said in a rush, “That would be a waste of time, Your Highness. It is better for us to concentrate on the present—-”
But the sheikh didn’t even seem to hear her, drawling, “I believe the king mentioned you dislike me.”
Anisah winced. King Khalil, really? She had expected more from their sovereign, curse it. Clearing her throat, she found herself in an unusual and far unenviable position of having to lie through her teeth as she muttered, “The Emir Sheikh may have misunderstood—-”
“Just like Rayyan misunderstood you perhaps? He believes you used the word ‘immature’ once when describing me.”
Curse those sheikhs with their infernally big mouths!
“And there was that thing Malik told me,” the sheikh said in a dangerously silky voice that made Anisah tense anew. “A disgrace to the palace. That was how you described me to him. Was that a misunderstanding as well?”
“Umm...possibly?” Honor was as honor went, but this was her hide at stake, and she didn’t see any point in adding fuel to the fire by agreeing that he was, indeed, right.
“Altair, too, had shared something with me,” Tarif drawled. “A man,” he then quoted lazily, “who spends too much time hopping from one bedroom to another has no business in the courtroom.”
By the time the sheikh finished speaking, Anisah had both hands on the door handle as she seriously contemplated jumping out of the car. It was a risk, but her chances of surviving a bad fall might be better than her chances of surviving Tarif Al-Atassi’s entirely justifiable quest for vengeance.
“Now, my sweet...”
If only she were a coward, she thought wistfully, then she could so easily pretend she didn’t hear a thing and feign sleep until they reached their destination and she could make her escape.
But since she was not—-
Anisah forced herself to meet the sheikh’s gaze. “I’m sorry, Your Highness.”
“Are you saying you did not mean any of those things?”
“What? No.” Anisah was perplexed. “At that time I had meant every word.”
Tarif coughed to keep himself from grinning. Did she not realize that by affirming all those things she had said, he could now have her arrested? Clearing his throat, he asked, “What are you apologizing for then?”
“Instead of expressing my opinion behind your back—-” Anisah’s voice was one of grim sincerity. “I should have told them to your face, Your Highness.”
“I...see.”
And he really did see.
Throughout his life, he had come to know only two types of women.
The first type was the type he fucked, and those women had never interested him outside the bedroom.
The second type was the type who made him laugh and whose company he enjoyed outside the bedroom – but never in it. Most of those women were part of his family, like Kyria and Harper.
And then there was Anisah.
The third type – the only one of her kind, making Anisah a class all on her own. She was the only woman who could make him laugh and turn him on, the only one who could fascinate and annoy him at the same time.
Only Anisah Kahveci could do that, and it was this fact that doomed her. It was her ruin, her point of no return, and whether she wanted it or not, it effectively sealed her fate with him.
Anisah watched the sheikh press another one of the buttons on the door handle. A moment later, a customized window rolled up to provide a privacy barrier for the 4x4’s passenger section.
It took exactly three seconds before the horrifying implication behind the sheikh’s action dawned on her, and her gaze flew to him in shock. He would not – surely, he could not –
But he did.
A swift, strong yank had her tumbling against him, and then he was lifting her up—-
“Let me go!”
Another moment, and she found herself straddling the sheikh’s lap, her arms imprisoned behind her back.
NO!
Knowing it would be futile to struggle against someone who could so easily overpower her, Anisah forced herself to stay calm even as her heart beat madly against her chest, and her body was already becoming all too sensitive to the thick, hard erection now pulsing against her belly.