Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 30190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 151(@200wpm)___ 121(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 151(@200wpm)___ 121(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
He was just so impossibly attractive, and I had to make a show of yawning just to buy myself time while I fought to steady my reeling senses.
“Good morning, akh.” My voice shook only the smallest bit. It wasn’t always like this before, and I wasn’t sure when it started. It just felt like one day I simply woke up to the knowledge that I wanted him...and the sheikh wanted me back.
Mik’hail frowned down at me. “Did you stay up again?”
“Umm...no?” It was a lie, of course. Last night, I overheard the palace maids gossiping about how the sheikh had been out visiting Lady Rissah, a widow who supposedly had an eye on becoming the sheikh’s wife.
And technically, there wasn’t anything wrong with that. Over a year had already passed since the accident. Although Aretha’s body still hadn’t been found, there was little evidence to go by that would let us hope she was still alive.
As far as even the royal laws were concerned, Sheikh Mik’hail, the King of Layla, was free to marry anyone...and it was this that had kept me up the whole night.
I just wanted to know...
“Are you even listening, brat?”
Oops.
The sheikh’s exasperated tone cut into my thoughts, and I quickly glanced up, intending to apologize—
But then I noticed it.
For so many days now, I had caught signs of how the sheikh’s body responded whenever I was around. The way his robes would shift. The tension in his stance. The way he’d angle himself away from me, as if trying to hide something.
While I had a very sheltered upbringing and remained a virgin to this day, I was no clueless fool when it came to such matters. Even without the aid of racy novels, the stories that the other girls in school shared were more than enough to educate me.
I knew how it felt to want a man. And I knew the signs that told me when a man wanted me back.
And the King of Layla?
He definitely wanted me, and oh, just the thought of what could happen if he ever unleashed his desire...
The thought was enough to have my pulse quicken.
“Aurora.”
My cheeks flamed when I realized the sheikh had caught me daydreaming again. “I’m sorry, akh. What was that again?”
His frown deepened. “What is it with you today?”
“I just have a lot of things on my mind,” I hedged.
“Such as?”
“School stuff.” Since I could see Mik’hail having a hard time believing me, I changed the subject right away, saying, “I promise I’ll listen this time. So please...” I clasped my hands in a pleading gesture, and just as it had always been in the past, this was enough to have the sheikh shake his head in resignation.
“I was asking about tonight,” Mik’hail said a bit dryly. “Do you want to go out for dinner?”
“If you’re free to spend time with me,” I said cajolingly, “could we just watch a movie here?”
“If that’s what you want.” The sheikh was looking at me oddly.
I frowned up at him. “What?”
“I’m worried that you don’t act your age anymore,” he said slowly. “Young girls like you are supposed to enjoy going out, but you have never asked my permission to spend time with your friends. It’s not right that you’ve locked yourself here in the palace—”
“Akh.” I shook my head, exasperated that he was still thinking this way. “Here we go again. You keep harping about how it’s not right I’m stuck with an ‘old man’ like you,” I grumbled, “when I’ve never thought of you that way.”
“I see.”
Since he still didn’t sound convinced, I said insistently, “I’m just really happy being with you—”
“Alright, alright.” He made a vague gesture with his hand to silence me. “As long as you know I only want what’s best for you—”
“Of course I do!” Rising to my knees on the bed, I surprised the sheikh by wrapping my arms around his neck and pressing myself against him in a tight embrace. “I’ll always be thankful that you took me in even when you didn’t have to...”
My voice trailed off as I became belatedly aware of how rigid his body had become in my arms.
So very still...so very tense...
A moment later, the sheikh abruptly pulled away as if only realizing the same thing, and both of us couldn’t quite meet each other’s eyes as the sheikh gruffly told me to get moving and I quickly mumbled out my assent.
In the corner of my eye, I saw the sheikh about to turn away when he noticed my nightgown hike up as I climbed off the bed.
His powerful body went completely still at the sight, and my heart slammed against my chest even as I took my time rising to my feet, the reckless part of me wanting him to keep looking.
“See you at breakfast in ten, Your Majesty.”