Chapter One
The first time that Anna had seen the library at the palace in Jebel Hafeet, she thought that this must be what heaven looked like. Forget the fluffy clouds and angels with harps, and instead give her a room that was a full two stories tall, with a broad balcony all the way around the sides that gave access to the books on the higher shelves. There was a sweeping staircase at either end that would allow her to run up and down all day, and an enormous bank of windows that let in the cool mountain light.
“I am certainly glad that you like the place,” said the solicitor drily. “This is now your mess to deal with.”
Anna could have said that this was a job she might have done for free, let alone the generous salary that the sheikh was paying for her services. Fresh out of her library and archival services program, she had been desperate to find employment when the solicitor had arrived with his job offer. It had seemed like a dream come true, and standing in one of the most beautiful private libraries she had ever seen, it felt like a real-life fairy tale.
Of course, the job stranded her at the royal palace, a distant holding of the sheikh of Abu Dhabi. There was a small town on the slope of the mountain, where a bus stopped once a day, but in the mountains, the lights of the busy capital were remote and distant. She lived in a small community of people who cooked, cleaned and maintained the palace, and she supposed that that would have bothered her if she had ever cared much for the company of others.
All that she needed was the library, and for two weeks, it was all she cared about. She settled in to her little apartment tucked next to the library, spent her days cataloging and organizing, and spent her nights reading.
There was a kind of stillness to her work at the library and a sense that she could do it forever, but of course that was an illusion. It was lovely but fragile, and one morning, some two weeks after she had laid eyes on the library for the first time, it was utterly shattered.
It was midmorning, and Anna was busy on the second floor, sorting through manuscripts that she thought dated back to the twelfth century, when the door opened and a man walked in. She jumped a little, because no one ever came into the library, but as she stood to greet the person, she scowled.
The man had strode into the library as if he owned it, and now, he was gazing around the room, his hands on his narrow hips. He was a startlingly good-looking man, with a muscular frame and thick dark hair, but his clothes were shabby, stained with dirt and grease. No matter how handsome he was, Anna couldn't tolerate the idea of that dirt and grease transferring over to books that were well over two hundred years old, and she scowled more as she walked down the staircase.
“Excuse me?” she called. “Excuse me, but can I help you?”
He didn't seem to hear her, but glanced at one of the piles of books she had placed carefully on one of the long side tables.
Anna repeated the words in her rudimentary Arabic, but when she saw him reach for the books with unwashed hands, she practically flew across the library.
“No!” she cried, and she pulled the book away from him. Anna looked it over for damage, achingly aware that she might have damaged it when taking it away from the man, but to her relief, found none. With a soft sigh, she set it down again before turning to the man, who was gazing at her with speculative eyes.
His eyes, she was startled to discover, were a bright sky blue, a bold contrast against his bronzed skin. Up close, she saw that he was even handsomer than she had originally thought, with sensual features that might have been called beautiful if it weren't for their relentless masculinity.
Something about his looks took her breath away, but she found it soon enough when she thought of her books.
“This is not a public library...” she started, but he didn't even flinch at her sharp tone.
“I know that,” he said casually. “You must be the new librarian.”
She bristled a little at his tone. From the way he was dressed, Anna assumed that he must be one of the groundskeepers who worked on the estate. She had met a few of them, and to a man, they were polite and reserved, eager to do their work and completely uninterested in hers. This man apparently thought he was some kind of exception.
“I am. And I will say that I do not take kindly to—”
“Hm. Skinny little thing, aren't you?”
Anna's mouth gaped open at his casual words. Was this some kind of joke? Who came up to people he had never met before and said things like that?
He seemed to take her silence as some kind of permission to keep going, and she was simply so stunned that she allowed him to do so.
“The blond hair is pretty enough, and the green eyes are actually quite lovely, but you could do with some feeding up. I generally like women more curvy, and perhaps able to reach the upper shelves.”
Anna's mouth snapped shut, and she glared at the man.
“Well, I'm sorry I'm not to your liking,” she snapped, “but as a matter of fact, I was hired to take care of books, not to decorate the library.”
“Ah, I had heard that there was someone new in the library. Well, you are an improvement over the old wreck who used to own this place, and even if you are a bit of an elf, you are more attractive than he was.”
Anna was so infuriated by the man's words that she was practically sputtering. Who the hell did he think he was? What right did some groundskeeper have to wander into her realm, the place that she was being paid to take care of, and make fun of her like this?
“But I will say that when you have some color in your cheeks, you do become quite striking,” the man said with a wide grin. To Anna's irritation, it only seemed to make him more handsome, even if she wanted to smack that smugness right off his face.
“Thank you,” she said acidly. “I can tell you right now that that means less than nothing to me.”
Instead of responding to her set-down, the infuriating man only looked intrigued.
“I think that I could make you care about it,” he said, his voice soft.
Anna snorted.
“Right now, what I care about is getting you out of the library and—”
She was cut off when his hand shot out, quick as the snap of a whip, and wrapped around her wrist. A slight tug was all it took to pull her close to him, and then her body was pressed up against his, her wide eyes flying up to meet his.
My god, he's so warm, she had time to think, and then his mouth was slanting down over hers. From the moment that his mouth touched hers, it felt as if a shoal of sparks had shot through her body, leaving her electrified from head to foot. She could feel how soft his lips were, and she could taste something warm and rich and indefinably male as well.
For a moment, Anna almost forgot how insane the situation was and leaned into the kiss, as fascinated and stunned as a small bird entranced by a snake. Despite what her mind knew to be smart, her heart, it seemed, cried for something else. She wanted to fully experience this moment, the one that was so unlike anything that she had ever experienced before.
Anna was finally shocked out of the haze of pleasure when she felt the hot brush of his tongue sliding over her lower lip. It made something deep inside her melt and open, but it was so foreign that it jerked her out of the sweetness.
Finding a strength that she didn't know she possessed, Anna put her hands up flat against his chest and pushed hard. Even then, he was so strong that she ended up pushing herself away from him rather than pushing him away from her. Instead, he only looked at her mildly, barely rocking at all.
"No!" she cried out, her voice echoing in the library. "You...you can't do that!"
"No?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "It looked like you were interested enough for quite a few moments there..."
She felt the heat rush to her pale cheeks, and she bit her lip hard. Anna knew that he was right, and something about that made it even worse. She shook her head.
"I'm telling you no now," she said with all the dignity that she could muster. "I...I don't care about that. You have to stop this, and you have to go."
Something about her words made him scowl, and she shivered. This man may have been a groundskeeper, but there was something about him, some indefinable air of authority, that said that he was not a man who was used to being crossed.
"Are...are you kicking me out of the library?" he asked.
Anna lifted her chin. She didn't have much in the UAE, but she did have charge over these ancient books, these precious tomes. No matter what, she had to protect them, and that gave her all of the presence and authority that she had.
"I have work to do, and I am not sure that you are...are properly respectful of the books that I have here," she said, her voice trembling just a little. "I am going to have to ask you to leave, yes."
He narrowed his eyes at her, and she saw the slight white glint of his teeth. She knew with a sinking certainty that this was not really a man she could order around, and she tried one last gambit.
"I...I am sure that the sheikh would not like to know that you have been so disrespectful to these volumes," she said, and her words finally had their desired effect, because he drew himself up short and looked at her.
"You are so sure of this?" he asked. "I take it you have met the sheikh personally?"
"Yes, of course I have," she lied. It was really only a white lie after all. The solicitor had told her that she would be meeting the sheikh when he came to tour his properties in the spring.
"And the sheikh, he is so concerned with the state of his dusty old books?" asked the man who had kissed her. He looked disbelieving, and Anna bristled, feeling the urge to defend her employer.
"Of course he does," Anna said hotly. "He is a man who is very well educated, and he pays a great deal of attention to the arts. He understands very well how important old archives are and how they should be protected and preserved for future generations."
"I see," the man mused, and she wondered for a moment if she had gotten through to him.
"You see, I have heard nothing of the sort about the sheikh," he said smoothly. "All I have heard about him is that he has a taste for little blondes."
Anna made an outraged sound that drew a laugh from the man even as he stepped back.
She started to make some kind of heated retort, but like a cat who has suddenly gotten bored with the mouse that it was playing with, the man turned and headed for the door. He was gone before she could come up with a suitable rejoinder, and the door closed behind him with a final soft thump.
In the wake of the man’s departure, everything felt oddly silent and lifeless. It felt as if he had taken something vital out of the room when he left, and his departure left her feeling chilly.
"God, I hope that doesn't happen again," she said out loud, but there was a lingering heat in her that disagreed. It suggested that she would not mind seeing him again at all, at least provided he didn't touch her precious books.
***
Sheikh Rakim Al Zahar had started out the day in a foul mood. The day before, he had been living the high life in Dubai, going to some of the most luxurious nightspots and events in the entire world and having beautiful women hanging off of his arm.
Then his minister of private affairs had come to him and said very seriously that it was time to take a break.
"You can't be serious," Rakim had said. They were in his office at the top of the Millennium Tower. Behind him, the city spread out like a cloth stitched with diamonds, fitting for one of the richest cities in the Middle East.
"I can and am," said Mustafa grimly. "There is a great deal of public talk about you and the princess of Niall, and none of it is flattering, Your Majesty."
Rakim snorted.
"They can talk all they like. At the end of the day, I am still the sheikh, and I rule here."
"Yes, you certainly do," retorted Mustafa, "but the fact remains that you still need the people's good will to pass the reforms that you have been working for for so very long. Unless you no longer care about them?"
Rakim bared his teeth at Mustafa. No one else could speak to him like this, but Mustafa was one of his oldest friends, and as such, would tell him the truth. If Mustafa said that there was a problem, there was a problem.
"So because a few prudes are, what, upset that I have a private life, I need to go into exile? Is that what you are telling me?"
"Cavorting in public with a foreign princess and engaging in an unexpected whirlwind tour of the emirates is a little more than having a private life," Mustafa pointed out drily, "but yes. I'm not saying that you need to be gone for long...just away from here. Some place quiet where you won't get into trouble. Long enough for things to calm down."
Rakim had pushed all ten fingers through his thick hair. Despite his irritation at being pushed out, a part of him did find it appealing. Perhaps going somewhere quiet for a bit wouldn't be so bad.
Sensing he had won, Mustafa offered some suggestions.
"We could send you to the estate in South Africa, or perhaps you would be interested in rusticating a bit in the northern part of England."
"No, I want the palace in the mountains," he said. The moment the thought occurred, it appealed to him. The palace was beautiful and luxurious while being surrounded by the desolate mountain slopes. If Mustafa wanted him to rusticate, he could at least do it in luxury.
"Fine," Mustafa said with relief. "The palace in Jebel Hafeet it is."
And now here he was, exploring a palace that was still luxurious, if a little smaller than he remembered from the days his parents had brought him here. To his delight, there was a small stable with some beautifully rugged animals available, and he had contented himself for the morning with riding some of the trails nearby.
On his way back, however, he had gotten curious about a set of doors he hadn't quite remembered and found himself confronted by a pale-haired little elf off a woman.
It felt a little like shooting fish in a barrel, but after exchanging just a few words with her, he had found her abnormally easy to bait and tease.
The kiss had been a surprise, or at least the reaction to the kiss had been. She had had a look about her that said she went a long time between kisses, and he was always ready to remedy that for pretty young women. She might have been short and skinnier than he generally liked, but there was something engaging about her.
Then he had kissed her, and it felt as if fireworks were going off throughout his body. He had intended the kiss to be a short thing, something teasing and enjoyable, but in that moment, it had changed. An image of laying her down on the plush carpet, taking her in the damn library, flashed through his mind. That was precisely what might have happened if she hadn't pushed him away the way she had.
Back in his own apartment, Rakim went to his laptop and looked up the staff appointments he had been asked approval of. It only took him a few moments to find her.
"Anna Mills," he murmured, looking at the picture next to her accomplishments and recommendations. The picture didn't do her any favors. Her green eyes were far too wide, making her look startled, and she looked more like her teeth were bared than she was smiling.
Looking at the sad image, he couldn't help but remember her looking up at him as he pulled her close, her pink lips slightly parted, her eyes smoky.
"Well, perhaps this won't be such a dull exile," Rakim mused. A slow smile spread over his face.