Chapter 1
The storm approaching was extraordinary with one half of the morning sky lit up with the rising sun and the other half blazing with fierce lightening as an early morning storm quickly approached. It was a rare, meteorological event that should have captured Rashid’s attention, but his eyes were captured on something much more fascinating.
The woman standing on the side of the road, bent over the hood of her car had possibly the cutest derriere he’d ever seen in his entire life. A sweet bottom like that should be on a woman much more rotund, but instead, that amazing, adorable bottom was paired with a slender waist and long, lean legs that were slightly tanned and looked to be well toned underneath the well worn denim shorts. Her lustrous, dark brown hair cascaded over one shoulder and, although he couldn’t see the face at the moment, he was hoping that her facial features would match the figure he’d been surveying for possibly the last five minutes.
While Rashid Samara Bousaid, Sheik of Tasain continued his fascinated perusal, his eyes glanced up at the storm once again, then at the black smoke rising out of the obviously broken engine of the ancient car. Thinking to do the heroic act and save his damsel in distress, he nudged his stallion forward with his heels. As ruler of Tasain, he rarely had time to ride anymore so when he’d woken with a precious free hour this morning, he’d immediately thrown on a pair of old riding pants and a well worn pair of riding boots and left the house before anyone could use up this unanticipated free time. Seeing this lovely wood nymph that needed his assistance had only improved his mood.
“Need some help?” Rashid asked as he stopped his horse, Zafir, at the edge of the gravel road.
Sidra pulled her hand off of the filthy radiator where she’d just located the mechanical problem when she heard the deep voice. She pulled her head out from under the metal hood of the useless vehicle and looked around to identify the voice. What she saw was definitely not human, and didn’t appear to be friendly at all! She stumbled backwards once before regaining her footing and realizing that the giant, brown muzzle was part of a horse. An extremely large horse!
The enormous horse was staring at her with what looked to be furious black eyes and bared teeth. When she took a step back, she realized that the horse was just standing there on the side of the road waiting and she took a deep breath, putting a hand over her rapidly beating heart. “Goodness, you startled me,” she said and peered around the horse’s head to see the man sitting in the saddle. And then her heart truly did increase in pace, feeling as though it might just fly out of her chest.
As she stared at the tall, black haired man with crystal blue eyes, she just about stumbled over her feet all over again. His skin was tanned and his shoulders were almost as wide as the horse’s. Or maybe they just looked that way in the white polo shirt he was wearing.
As he climbed down from the horse, her eyes were magnetized by the strong muscles flexing in his legs that she could see even through the material of his riding pants. As her eyes traveled upwards, she was even more impressed. Her mind told her to look away, but her eyes had a different opinion and she couldn’t seem to stop herself from surveying the rest of the man. Broad, muscular shoulders, very tall, and those eyes! She’d never seen that color blue before and she’d seen lots of blue eyed people in her life. Maybe it was just the tanned skin and almost black hair that made those eyes appear so incredible, but whatever the reason, the man was really quite magnificent.
“I apologize for startling you,” he replied softly as he approached. “I saw you from the tree line and noticed the smoke coming from your vehicle. Do you need some help?”
Sidra finally pulled her eyes away from the man, embarrassed that she’d been staring like that. Could she be more obvious, she berated herself.
She looked back at the tiny vehicle she’d rented at the airport this morning upon her arrival and wanted to kick the obnoxious machine. “The alternator belt has snapped and I suspect there’s a hole in the radiator. So unless you have an extra motor belt and some soldering materials in that saddle bag, I don’t think there’s much you can do, but I appreciate your offer.” She tried to be brave and hold the man’s gaze, but he was just too tall, too intimidating and just too darn handsome. She glanced down at her clothes, wishing she was wearing something more sophisticated than jeans shorts and this plain tee-shirt. Even her hair was probably flat after having traveled most of the night on a cramped plane. Her only excuse was that it was going to be a hot day and she’d been traveling all night.
Rashid had no idea what an alternator belt was and he suspected that the soldering materials would do something to fix the radiator, but wasn’t sure how. “I’m afraid I don’t have either of those, but if you tell me where you’re going, I can help you find that location.”
She smiled at his formal words which were softened by the melodic accent but, coming from the United States, she suspected that perhaps most of the people in this country were pretty formal. His accent didn’t sound British, though. It was foreign, but she couldn’t place it easily and her mind wasn’t functioning in top form right at the moment. Her heart sped up crazily when he smiled that incredible smile at her and she had to glance away again, although she peeked back up at him when she found a spare bit of courage.
When his eyebrows went up, she realized that he’d asked her a question and she jumped slightly. “Oh, um…yes…location.” She slammed the hood of the car closed and pulled the map off of the roof of the car. She’d spread it out earlier in an effort to try and find out where she was and how she could reach her destination. She looked back down at the map she’d been trying to figure out and pointed to her desired location. “I’m visiting a friend and I know she’s here,” Sidra said, pointing to a place on the map she’d identified at the airport, “and I think I’m here. But nothing seems to be making any sense.”
Rashid looked at the map spread out on the car’s hood and, without cracking a smile, turned the map so that it was oriented properly, which meant that it was no longer upside down. With a long finger, he pointed to where she was. “If you follow this road back around,” he explained, smothering his amusement at her groan of frustration, “then you’ll be to your destination in about five minutes.”
Sidra smacked her forehead and shook her head in embarrassment. “I’ve been driving around in this ridiculous rental car for the past hour! And now you’re telling me I’m only five minutes away?”