“Do you know if Sheikha Ulyaa loved her husband?” Nicole asked as they reentered the city, pulling into a parking garage beneath a towering skyscraper.

Kadeen shook his head. “I don’t think so. Not much is documented about their relationship, but they were immensely popular rulers, and they remained together until his death.”

Nicole nodded, though she was hardly satisfied with that answer. She wanted to hear that the Sheikha found love anyway, even though she had to go against her heart in favor of her country.

Kadeen parked the car close to the elevator and turned off the engine. Together, they gingerly lifted the painting from its spot in the back and carried it to the elevator. Kadeen pressed the button for the tenth floor before they rose up, holding the painting like a lifeline until the doors opened on their floor.

There, Nicole could see a glass-walled room containing all the equipment she would need to evaluate the painting.

“You pay rent on this all the time, even though you almost never use it?”

Kadeen shrugged. “We’re using it now, aren’t we? Come on. Let’s see the damage.”

When they entered the studio, Nicole took over. She had Kadeen place the portrait on a table before bringing over an X-ray machine to take detailed images. Kadeen watched quietly as she worked, Nicole silently wishing she had brought her glasses with her.

Time slipped away as Nicole focused on taking her X-ray images, then infrared ones, before loading the data onto a computer. As she evaluated the information on the screen, she realized that it was, in fact, the original.

“You’ve found her,” she breathed.

Kadeen smiled broadly, his fingertips caressing the rough frame of the portrait, and Nicole did her best not to be jealous of ancient wood. She took another close look at the painting and hesitated, pulling back a little as though unsure if her eyes were deceiving her.

“What is it?” Kadeen asked, his brow furrowing in concern.

Nicole walked over to the X-ray image on the screen, shifting the light balance until, all of a sudden, a message was flashing at them in Arabic.

“My God,” she breathed. “He left a message beneath the paint. That’s amazing!”

Kadeen was reading the text on the screen, his expression flabbergasted. He was leaning in close enough for Nicole to get a whiff of his cologne, and she almost stepped away, the better to hold onto her sanity. Instead, she leaned a little closer.

“What’s it say?” she asked, breathless.

The Sheikh continued to stare at the writing for a moment before he answered her.

“It’s…it’s a declaration of love from the artist to the Sheikha. He’s talking about how they will never get their chance at happiness, but that it doesn’t matter, because he will love her until the end of time, and his love will be preserved in the oils of this painting.”

Nicole’s skin tingled as he said the words. She tried to imagine a love so deep, so real, that the artist was willing to risk getting caught just so he could find some way to express his emotions.

Kadeen glanced down at Nicole then, their faces mere inches apart. All she had to do was lean up a tiny bit, and she could capture his perfect lips with hers. It was something she’d wanted to do for so long, but never dared.

Kadeen’s eyes darted to her lips, and Nicole was wondering if he would be the one to make the first move when the Sheikh’s phone rang, making both of them jump.

He took a step back, the spell broken as he answered his phone.

“Yes, Imogen?”

He sounded as annoyed as Nicole felt, and she wondered again if there could really be anything between her and her wayward boss. She pinched herself subtly, trying to come back to reality—the reality where he was her womanizing boss.

The room was quiet enough, and Imogen’s voice piercing enough, that Nicole could actually hear both sides of the conversation.

“You both need to get back here immediately. I’ve just landed a piece that needs urgent restoration, or the client will drop us and take their business elsewhere. You need to send her back now.”

Kadeen looked at Nicole, his expression returning to its usual poker face as he considered what the best option was. Nicole imagined she’d be on a plane later that evening, headed back to New York, her little adventure over. She wondered if Imogen was making the whole thing up just to get her away from Kadeen. It wasn’t too farfetched an idea, unfortunately.

Imogen was still talking when Kadeen interrupted her.

“Imogen, no one needs art that quickly. Tell them if they want a decent restoration, they’ll have to wait. Besides, we’re already working on another project, and there is such a thing as waiting in line.”

While Imogen was in the middle of protesting, Kadeen pulled the phone away from his ear and ended the call, smiling at Nicole as he put it back in his pocket.

“Hey, would you like to take a walk with me? I think we’ve accomplished enough for one day, and the painting will be perfectly safe here, locked up in a temperature-controlled room. You’ve done more than enough.”

“I’d like that,” Nicole said, the corner of her lip tugging slightly as she accepted the invitation.

She had started feeling a little hungry as they arrived at the studio, and was pleased when Kadeen guided her towards a food stand and ordered a couple of meat pies for them to munch on as they walked.

Nicole sank her teeth into the hot flaky pastry and grinned. “This is amazing!” she said, and Kadeen smiled down at her as he swallowed his first bite.

“I know, right? These are an Al Qazar delicacy. I grew up eating these things.”

Kadeen led the way towards the ocean, and they strolled slowly along the boardwalk as waves lapped gently along the shore. To Nicole’s surprise, the sun had set while they were in the studio, and they found themselves bathed in muted city lights and moonlight.

“Do you think it’s sad that your ancestor never got to be with the man she loved?” Nicole asked.

Kadeen chewed the last of his pie, ruminating for a moment before he answered. “I suppose so, though, that’s just life, isn’t it?”

“Is it? Maybe a couple hundred years ago, but people can be with the one they love now.”

“I suppose that depends on your definition of love. Some people find it easier to be matched than others.”

Kadeen held out a hand for Nicole’s empty pastry wrapper and she placed it lightly in his palm, not sure if she wanted her fingers to touch his or not. With the moonlight above and her belly full, her guard was beginning to crumble as she strolled alongside this handsome man. He looked even more striking in the moonlight, and Nicole was finding the urge to kiss him growing with each step they took. The way things were going, she wouldn’t be able to resist much longer.

“You don’t believe love can grow? That it must be there from the beginning?” he asked.

Nicole thought about that a moment. “I suppose it can, given the right circumstances. The people involved have to be open to the idea that it might flourish over time. Still, when I think of my wedding day, I can’t imagine not being in love with the man at the end of the aisle.”

“How very American of you,” Kadeen observed.

“I suppose it is. Do you think that’s foolish?”

“I do not. That is what you were brought up to believe, and I truly feel that love is something that everyone deserves to experience. It just might come in a myriad of ways, that’s all.”

It took a moment for Nicole to realize that they had walked all the way back to their hotel. She’d been so engrossed in their conversation she hadn’t even noticed how far they’d come.

“We’re back,” she observed, trying not to sound disappointed.

Kadeen looked down at her, then. They had been walking close enough to occasionally bump arms, and he was still close enough to her that she could take a chance and kiss him if she dared. She thought about how different he was when he was off his guard—how easygoing, how affable, and kind. She thought about how awful it would be if she never told him how she truly felt.

Swept up in the romance of the Sheikha’s story, Nicole threw caution to the wind. Not breaking eye contact, she stepped closer, tilting her chin to look up at him. Slowly, achingly slowly, she lifted onto her toes and placed her lips against his.

Kadeen’s reaction was instant. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in close, kissing her passionately as though he were a man stranded in the desert and she his only drink of water. He drank her in, until she was dizzy with her own passion.

Finally, the Sheikh broke off their kiss, and they both stood breathing hard as he placed his forehead against hers to try to quell their passions. It didn’t work.

“Will you come up with me?” he asked between breaths.

Unable to speak, Nicole nodded, and he took her hand before guiding her inside. When the elevator doors closed, leaving them alone, Kadeen took her in his arms again, his hands roaming her body as their lips met yet again.

The doors dinged open on the twelfth floor and they rushed to his room, Kadeen fumbling slightly with the key before he granted them entrance.

There, under the light of a full moon, in one of the most luxurious hotels Nicole had ever set foot in, she finally made love to the most desirable man she had ever met.