Page 17 of The Sheik's Embrace

“Thank you, Your Highness. That was…,” she didn’t have words to describe it.

“I’m serious, Tara. Marry me, then Elijah can’t get to you. He wouldn’t dare. I’ve already assigned a team of bodyguards to protect you. But as my wife, he wouldn’t be allowed to get anywhere near you.”

Zayed watched, fascinated, as she processed what he’d just said.

“You assigned guards to me?”

Zayed chuckled and moved forward, dropping his hands as he resumed his seat beside her on the sofa. “Out of all that, all you heard was that I assigned people to protect you?”

She licked her lips and Zayed was momentarily distracted. “No. I…uh…heard more than that. The guards thing was just the easiest to address.”

“Why not marry me?”

She cleared her throat and looked down at her hands. “Because I won’t ruin your life just because I’m facing a dangerous situation.”

“Is that all I would be to you?” he asked gently, taking her hand.

Her skin was so damn soft! He ran his thumb over the back of her fingers, enjoying the softness and the sweet scent of whatever shampoo she’d used this morning. He’d heard that she’d showered in the employee locker room. Mentally, he approved of the hair products that were supplied to the staff.

“No,” she gasped and shifted so that she faced him at a better angle. “You’re…you are a…very kind man.”

“I think we should focus for a moment on the ‘man’ aspect of your observation,” he lifted her hand and kissed her fingertips. “Does that scare you? When I kiss you like that?”

“Yes!” she whispered, but he noticed that she didn’t reclaim her hand. In fact, when she looked up at him, he saw the wistful expression in those emerald depths.

He smiled slightly. “In a good way?”

She glanced down at his mouth, then back up into his eyes. “What’s a good way?”

He kissed her fingers again, then turned her hand over and pressed a kiss to the pulse beating at her wrist. “Does this make your heart beat faster?” He kissed her wrist again. “Does this make you want to kiss me?”

“Yes!” she whispered, staring at his mouth. Then she blinked and pulled away.

Zayed let her because this was all new. For both of them. He’d fantasized about making love to Tara in so many ways. But he’d take this slowly. Knowing more about her background gave him a better understanding of the way she might think.

She turned, hiding her hands behind her back. “Your Highness, I’m already–”

“You’renotmarried, Tara,” he interjected, leaning back against the leather sofa. “You might have gone through some petty ceremony, but the tech team has combed through the court documents. There was never a marriage license submitted for you. Nor would there be. If a license was submitted, then someone would have been arrested. Nor would a county clerk issue a license.” He tilted his head slightly. “Did you sign a marriage license after whatever ceremony you went through?”

He watched as her eyes slid out of focus as she thought back. Then she slowly shook her head. “No. I’m positive that I didn’t sign anything after the ceremony. I was just told to head over to Elijah’s house and wait for him. I remember clutching the bouquet of daisies to my stomach during the ceremony. I never let them go until I walked into Elijah’s house. And I only put them down then because Kaia was urging me to climb out the bedroom window.”

Zayed shrugged. “Then you were never legally married.” He leaned forward again. “I suspect that you feel as if you were married though. So, how about if we take things slowly?”

Tara considered, then shook her head. “Your Highness, you need someone like Princess Ciara to rule by your side. I’m just a nobody. I didn’t even attend high school!”

“You are one of the most intelligent assistants I’ve ever had. Plus, every time I bring an issue to you, I notice your incredibly thoughtful comments in the margins. You speak four languages not including English.” He paused in that moment, tilting his head. “How in the world did you manage that, by the way?”

Tara was now clutching her hands together. “Well, Kaia said that we couldn’t count on anything. So, part of our efforts to prepare for our next hiding place was to learn Spanish. That waseasy enough to learn, especially since, where we were hiding at the time, there were several Spanish speaking people. They are incredibly hard workers and love to share their language.”

“And French?”

She blushed and he loved the pink tinge to her pale cheeks. “Oh, French was simple after learning Spanish. Some of the words are even spelled the same.”

“I can’t imagine that there are many French speakers in the United States.”

She shrugged. “One summer, we snuck into Canada. In Montreal, almost everyone speaks English and French.”

“How did you learn Arabic then?”

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