Page 7 of Her Arabian King

Even now, the way the sheikh had so easily turned her life upside down for his amusement annoyed Harper to no end, and she found herself spearing the cuts of meat more quickly than usual. Before she knew it, she had finished the entire plate, and the other women on her table were whispering and making a not-so-subtle fuss about how quickly she was done eating.

Yeah, well, sorry for that, Harper apologized sarcastically in her mind, but it’s what you get when you have Howard Griffiths for a dad. Instead of letting her play with dolls, she and Howard had played cops and robbers, and later on instead of letting her have ballet lessons, he had taught her Army Survival 101, and one of the first lessons was to eat well and eat quickly – because one never knew when the next battle would start and how long it would last.

A server appeared by her side to whisk the dinner plate away while another asked if she would like to have coffee.

She shook her head. “No, thanks.” An unusually cool breeze played with her hair as she spoke, and Harper absently pushed the loose strands away. For today’s lunch, an outdoor barbecue party had been set up outside the palace, affording the guests a sweeping view of Ramil’s breathtaking desertscape. Great setting, really, but it did cause her hair to nearly poke her eye once too often. If tomorrow’s luncheon was still al fresco, she’d just cut a strip out of Howard’s tie and use it as a hair ribbon—-

A shadow fell over her, and when Harper caught a glimpse of a man in a dark suit in the corner of her eye, she didn’t bother looking up, hoping that whoever it was would take the hint. Did she really have to send a damn memo just to have everyone understand that she and the sheikh were not close and so there was no point trying to get on her good side? It was such a bother, and it was the damn sheikh’s—-

“Ms. Griffiths? We have been instructed by the Emir Sheikh to take you into custody.”

“Thanks, but no—-” Wait a minute, had she heard him right? Harper jumped to her feet, gaping. “Excuse me?”

The three men in front of her remained expressionless.

Harper’s teeth started to gnash. The damn sheikh was at it again.

KHALIL COULDN’T HELP grinning as Harper stalked into his office and angrily slammed the doors behind her. “You damn bully!” Her green eyes shot sparks at him while a lovely flush stained her cheeks. She was panting, too, like she had run all the way here just so she could start yelling at him as soon as possible.

And knowing Harper as he did, the sheikh was certain this was the case.

Rising to his feet, he said smoothly, “Thank you for coming, Harper.”

“Like you gave me a choice! You do realize that your goons only lacked a pair of handcuffs and everyone would think you had me arrested, don’t you?”

“Is that so?”

“Ha! Don’t you dare pretend that wasn’t exactly what you planned to happen! Everyone was looking at me like I had stolen the silver or something!”

“Only an idiot would think you’d commit such a crime.”

“That’s true,” Harper snapped. “Because if I had to commit a crime, it would be to choke the life out of you!” She threw her hands up in a fit of frustration. “Why do you get such a kick out of bullying me?”

“I’m not quite sure myself,” the sheikh answered truthfully. “All I know is that I like seeing you angry. Watching your face then is like reading a book. It’s quite expressive, and highly amusing—-” He had to break off after that, with Harper letting out an ear-splitting screech of anger.

“I am not here to be your amusement!”

And yet you have always been that to me, the sheikh thought.

And the realization almost gave him pause.

Harper Griffiths had been quite a refreshing source of entertainment to him for the past eight years, and she had held his attention without trying to, and far longer than any woman had ever done. The fact that it was so bothered the sheikh for some reason, and it almost made him think twice about what he was about to propose. But then he remembered that time was not in his favor, and the sheikh’s momentary hesitation dissolved in a flash.

He started walking towards her again, this time crossing the room with purposeful strides. Meanwhile, Harper was still ranting, enumerating his bullying pranks over the years and riling herself up in the process.

Don’t think I’ve forgotten that time when you said you only wanted to dance with me because you didn’t want just any guy to get his hands on your honorary little sister? Do you know how many hate letters were sent to my house after that? Thousands! And some of them told me to go fucking kill myself!

“Stop toying with me!” The shrillness of her voice made Harper mentally cringe, but she could no longer help it. Whirling around, she drew a deep breath, intending to tell the sheikh once and for all that he was never to mess with her life again—-

Whoa!

Harper jumped back, startled by his sudden proximity. “D-don’t sneak up on me like that!” And don’t look so handsome when you’re near me. The sheikh was now dressed in casual Western clothing, dispensing with the robe in favor of a gray V-necked shirt and a loose pair of trousers. It made him look very different—-

But it also still made him look sexy like usual, enough to make her heart sway like crazy.

Damn sheikh.

“I wasn’t sneaking up on you,” the sheikh said in his usual soft tone. “I just don’t make a habit of marching noisily like you do.”

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