Raheem was up before dawn the next morning, making sure the Range Rover was packed with all the supplies they’d need for their day trip to the ancient caves near the western border of Djeva. A kinetic, nervous energy burned through him as he went over the itinerary with their driver. Maybe it was the anticipation of getting outdoors, away from the palace, back to nature that had him so pumped up. Or maybe it was the thought of spending the entire day with Laura and getting to know her better.

No. It was definitely the caves. Had to be. Anything else was pure folly.

He’d just finished loading their trip details into the GPS tracking app on his phone when Laura appeared in the foyer, dressed once more in the same khaki cargo shorts and white T-shirt she’d been wearing the first time he’d seen her. They were much cleaner now and freshly pressed, and she still looked as lovely as ever. He swallowed hard and forced a smile, waving her over.

“Good morning,” he said, focusing on his phone and not the alluring sway of her hips when she walked. She’d brought a wide-brimmed hat as well, which she had in her hand for now. Wise choice. No sense damaging all that glorious pale skin with a sunburn. At the thought of her creamy curves, Raheem cleared his throat and frowned. Not going there. Not today. Not ever.

Think about the trip. Think about the charity. Think about anything but this beautiful woman who’ll be working by your side all day.

“Where exactly are we headed?” Laura asked as he led her into the small, informal dining room. They used this one strictly for family as it only held about twenty comfortably. The staff had laid out a lovely hot breakfast buffet for them at Raheem’s request. The smell of spiced eggs in tomato sauce and freshly baked rolls filled the air and Raheem’s stomach growled. He’d been so busy the night before with preparations for today, he’d not eaten dinner.

“Today I’m taking you to a very special place that I remember visiting as a child. An ancient cave system that rivals Al Hoota in Oman.” He guided her toward the buffet and handed her a plate, then grabbed one for himself. “Do you know of this Al Hoota?”

“Of course. I’ve never been there myself, but I have visited Qumran, where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls, and also Marneef Cave in Salalah. Both were quite breathtaking.”

“I’ll bet.” Raheem smiled as he piled his plate up with food, pleased that she was familiar with the region, though a bit surprised. “I hadn’t expected you to be such a world traveler.”

“Part of the job.” Laura shrugged before dishing out a healthy portion of fresh fruit on her plate. “Though I will say, having my GPS go out the other day kind of threw me for a loop. I hope you know where you’re going today.”

“I’m a prince of Djeva. I know every inch of this country like my own skin. Besides, we have one of our most experienced drivers accompanying us today and if we do happen to have any troubles, our palace security have protocols in place to send a search party for us if we miss a check-in point.”

“How comforting,” she said, her brow raised. But her smile was genuine as they took a seat at the dining room table and dug into their meal. “So, you used to hang out at this place as a kid, huh? I can’t imagine what it must have been like to grow up with all this wealth and privilege.”

“And responsibility,” Raheem added, around a bite of egg. “Don’t forget that part. We are the ruling family of Djeva and are expected to act with decorum, even as children.”

“Whoa. That doesn’t sound like much fun.”

Raheem grinned, watching her over the rim of his juice glass. “I didn’t say there weren’t ways around it.”

“I see.” She swallowed a bite of mango then grinned. “You were a handful then, weren’t you? I can just see you raising hell all over the desert, getting into all kinds of mischief.”

He shrugged. “I did my share of rabble-rousing, it’s true. But I was never a bad child. Only inquisitive.”

“So that’s what they’re calling it nowadays?”

The hint of teasing in her tone reminded him of the banter he shared with his sisters and it brought a smile to his face. If they could continue their playful tone on their trip, it would be a joyful day indeed.

“Tell me what made you become interested in conservation,” Laura said, stirring cream and sugar into her coffee. “Help me understand the sheikh you are today.”

“Sheikh is only my title,” he said, some of his energy draining away. “Beneath that, I am just a man, same as anyone else.” He finished the last few bites of his breakfast then sat back, his mind wandering back to the day that had changed everything for him. “Nature has always been a love of mine, ever since I turned eight and travelled with my family in a royal envoy across Djeva. From our coastline in the east to the rocky hills and sandy dunes in the west, I love every inch of my homeland.”

“It seems like a special place,” Laura said, watching him intently.

“It really is.” Raheem smiled sadly. “On the last day of our journey, however, our tour stopped at one of the many oil fields scattered across our deserts. Of course, being eight, I was fascinated with how everything worked, all those machines and drills. At the end of our day, we were to watch the sunset over the oil fields. I was standing between my mother and my sisters as the sun sank beneath the horizon. Such brilliant shades of amber and fuchsia and plum and gold. It was truly magnificent.”

“Sounds like it.”

He inhaled and closed his eyes, savoring the memory of those last few moments before his youthful innocence had been shattered and the harsh cruel realities of the world had come crashing down around him. “We stood there watching nature in all its glory. But then I heard this awful, plaintive cawing from somewhere nearby. I looked around and just to our right was a family of white-headed ducks. Except they weren’t white anymore because they’d gotten caught in an oil spill. A mother and her young chicks. All their downy, pristine feathers were coated in black muck and they were flailing and crying trying to escape. When I pointed them out to our tour guide, he explained that while it was unfortunate there was nothing that could be done. There simply weren’t the resources to care for all the wildlife that was being impacted by Djeva’s march toward progress. It was a sacrifice one had to make.” He opened his eyes and rolled his tense shoulders. “I still remember that day vividly, the outrage I felt—toward my country, toward my father, toward the attitude that nature wasn’t every bit as important as industrialization. That was the day that I vowed to take up the cause of conservation and ensure that the wildlife of my country would survive and thrive for many generations to come.”

“Wow.” Laura blinked at him. “And what happened to those poor little ducks? Did they die?”

“No.” Raheem straightened. “I was only eight, but even then I couldn’t allow it. I took off before my mother could catch me and next thing she knew, I was wallowing in the oil trying to catch the ducks and save them. My sisters joined me too. We got them all out and safely back to our headquarters where they were cleaned and released back into the wild.”

“Nice.” Laura pushed her empty plate away and they headed outside to where the Range Rover was parked near the curb. “I’m looking forward to this trip.”

“As am I.” He helped her up into the back seat then followed behind her, his enthusiasm returning after telling her about his past. Their driver got behind the wheel and soon they were off. Raheem sorted through a few last-minute emails before shutting off his phone and shoving it into his pocket. There would be plenty of time for him to work later. For today, he was more interested in the woman beside him and how she might help him reach his goals for his country. “How did your boss take the news of your departure?”

She gave him a quick side glance then muttered something under her breath he didn’t quite hear.

“I’m sorry?” Raheem said. “I didn’t catch that.”

“I said I haven’t exactly told him yet.”

He blinked at her a moment, not sure how he felt about that. Most people, when offered a deal by him or his family, either fell at his feet in gratitude or shouted their joyous news from the rooftops. Miss Bliss had done neither. “You are still working for your production company then?”

“Afraid so.” She exhaled and stared out the window, her expression thoughtful. “I just don’t want to deal with the bitching and complaining that will surely go along with my resignation. Also, there’s that little part of me that still thinks this whole thing with you is too good to be true. If you change your mind and cancel our deal, that leaves me high and dry.”

“And you expect me to leave you high and dry?” Irritation swelled inside him. He’d shown her nothing but hospitality and kindness since her unexpected arrival in his camp, and this was how she repaid him? With mistrust and wariness? He straightened and crossed his arms. “I have never broken a promise and I do not intend to start now.”

“I’m just saying that my track record with men and loyalty isn’t the greatest, that’s all.” She stared resolutely out the window, seemingly ignoring Raheem, for the rest of their drive out to the caves.

By the time they arrived, he was feeling restless and ornery, wanting nothing more than to go for a good long run on the sand to relieve some of his unbearable tension. He’d wanted to ask her more about this history of misplaced male loyalty, but of course she’d not wanted to talk. That left him on edge and frustrated.

He got out of the SUV and stretched his stiff muscles before turning to help Laura from the vehicle. She stared around the impressive landscape and looked sufficiently dumbstruck. Raheem felt some of his stress slip away.

The entrance to the ancient cave system rose up out of the surrounding golden sands like a huge gaping mouth. Surrounded by red rock cliffs, it stood about thirty feet high. Over the years, steel railings had been installed for safety reasons and there were guards posted at the entrance to prevent vandals and others from causing damage to the natural wonders.

“Wow!” Laura stared at the cave in awe. “This is truly spectacular. I never imagined something like this existed in Djeva.”

Pride swelled inside his chest, warming him. “Thank you. Now you see why I want to preserve these natural treasures?”

“I see.” She smiled and his blood heated even more, but for different reasons entirely.

He led her toward the cave while the driver and the guards began unloading their gear from the Range Rover. “Some history on the site. My scientists have dated this cave to one-point-five million years old. So far, the excavation teams have mapped seven miles of caves and tunnels beneath the ground here. Once we get the first mile or so ready to open to the public, it will be only the second show cave on the Arabian Peninsula, with the other being Al Hoota in Oman.”

They walked inside and immediately the temperature dropped by about ten degrees. Laura shivered and rubbed her arms. Raheem battled the urge to pull her close and warm her with his own body. Eco-friendly lights he’d had installed when the excavations had first begun clicked on, bathing the cavern in brightness. “I’ve tried to keep everything as natural as possible to avoid disturbing the native species that dwell here. My brother, Feraz, balked at the initial outlay of cash, of course, but I remained firm. We even have our very own rare blind fish which lives in the lakes of the caves.”

“There’s lakes too?” Laura wandered around the space, staring up at the massive stalactites hanging down from the ceiling and the stalagmites rising from the floor of the caves. Her tone was drenched in awe and Raheem couldn’t help but smile. It was the same sense of majesty he felt each time he walked alone in these grottos. Nice to have someone to share them with this day. She stopped and peered over the protective railing into the darkness below. “How many?”

“How many what?” he asked, having lost their thread of conversation the minutes he’d noticed how lovely and golden her hair looked in this light.

“Lakes.” She grinned.

“Oh. There are four underground lakes here.” He leaned on the railing beside her. “These caves are also home to many other creatures as well, including bats, arthropods, mollusks, snails and water beetles.”

“Cool.” She turned then pointed at something on the wall behind him. “And spiders. Don’t forget them. Jeez, they grow them big in the desert, huh?”

Raheem whirled around to find his worst nightmare on the cave wall. His mouth dried and his pulse raced. Without thinking, he fumbled for Laura’s arm and hauled her back against him as he rushed for the door, his survival instincts on overdrive. “We need to get out of here now!”

“What? Why? Raheem? What the hell is going on?” She pulled free and scowled at him, hand on her hips. “It was one camel spider. They look horrifying, but seriously, they’re not even venomous. I’m sure it was way more scared of us than—”

Her words trailed off as she took in his wide eyes and white-knuckled grip on the railing. He wanted to make himself stop, knew it was irrational, but couldn’t. Ever since his brothers had forced him to watch Arachnophobia when he’d been four, he’d been terrified of spiders. He didn’t kill them if he didn’t have to, but he didn’t go out of his way to encounter them either.

“Oh, wow. You really are terrified, aren’t you?” Her tone took on a soothing quality, the same one might use on a quivering colt. “Yeah, let’s go outside then. We can get with the driver and check the equipment before we start shooting for the day.”

Laura took his hand and helped him up the stairs, staying by his side even after they’d emerged back into the sunlight. He swallowed hard against the bile rising in his throat and stumbled over to a boulder to rest and catch his breath. If his brothers could see him now, they’d never let him hear the end of it. Acting like a coward in front of a woman.

“If you’re so scared of them, why don’t you have them removed from the caves?” she asked, leaning back on the rock beside him. She’d gotten her camera and was checking it out as she spoke. “I’m sure there’s something they could put down.”

“No.” He took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. “When I said that I wanted to keep things as natural as possible, I meant it. They are an integral part of the ecosystem here, whether I like it or not, so they stay.”

“What about all these tourists you hope to bring in though?” She narrowed her gaze. “I’m guessing their reaction might be similar to yours if one of those things came skittering toward them. Not to cause another panic attack or anything, but I’ve read they can run up to ten miles per hour.”

Raheem shuddered and stared into the crystal blue skies above. “That may be, but I believe we just startled that one. Probably when the lights came on so suddenly. I’ve not seen one in there before.” He cleared his throat, embarrassed heat prickling up from beneath the collar of his shirt. “And I usually do not react so badly when I see them.”

“It’s a phobia. They’re not rational.” She shrugged. “So, where should we start filming?”

Relief washed over him. Not only was she taking pity on him and his reaction to the spider, but the day wouldn’t be a total loss after all. He exhaled slowly then pulled out his phone and brought up his GPS maps. “I thought we’d begin here, in the main grotto, then move on to this lake where the blind fish live, then perhaps if there’s time we can view the desert from atop the entrance. It’s quite breathtaking at sunset.”

She looked up at him and smiled and his whole world brightened, the fear banished. “Sounds perfect. We can start whenever you’re ready.”