Page 23 of The Sheik's Embrace

Shuffling the cards, he watched her.

“First Timothy in the Bible specifically states that women should ‘adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works’,” she quoted from memory. “What are we playing?”

Zayed stared at Tara for a long moment. “The Bible says that women aren’t allowed to adorn themselves with pearls or gold?”

“Yep!” She took the cards he’d dealt her and fanned them out, sorting them by suit and number. “No braided hair, no gold, no pearls, no nuthin’ other than good deeds.” She lifted those lashes, her green eyes flashing at him. “That’s one of the reasons Kaia always wears jewelry. Sometimes it’s just gold earrings. Other times, she’ll deck herself out with gold hoops, a gold necklace, rings, and even a gold chain around her waist.” She moved a five of clubs in her hand so that it was nestled next to the eight of clubs.

“We’re playing ‘gin’ and I’m going to beat you,” he announced. “Eventually, I will teach you chess.” He looked at her over his fanned out cards. “Unless you already know how to play?”

“I’ve played chess before,” she replied, still moving her cards around now that she knew what game they were playing. “But only a few times.” It was the truth, but she didn’t mentionthat she’d read several books about chess strategy and had played the game in her head multiple times.

“We’ll start that tomorrow night,” he promised, shuffling his cards in his hands like a veteran from Vegas. “Tonight, we’ll play gin and you’ll tell me more about your childhood.”

She glanced at him over the cards, then focused on shifting her hand so that her cards were ready for her strategy. “What do I get if I win?”

He laid the remaining cards down on the table between them, then flipped the top card over before taking his own cards and sorting them. “What do you want?”

Before she could think better of it, she blurted out, “How about a kiss!” she blurted, referencing the movie from that crazy director.

Zayed’s eyes lifted from his cards and he watched her, a startled expression on his face.

Tara suddenly realized what she’d just blurted out and shook her head. “I didn’t mean that! I meant to say that I wanted…!”

“Deal!” he agreed without another moment’s hesitation.

Tara instantly started shaking her head. “No, really, Your Highness. That was just a stupid joke.”

He grinned, leaning back in his chair. “You don’t want to kiss me?” he teased back. “I think I’m insulted.”

Tara’s mouth fell open and she tried to find an appropriate response. “Your Highness, I just…I was…It was just…!”

He shook his head, still smiling. “You offered the terms,” he interrupted her sputtering. “I’ve wanted to kiss you eversince the moment I met you.” He shifted two more cards in his hands. “And it’s all your fault.”

“My fault?”

He nodded slowly, moving another card to the end of his hand. “Yes. I remember the way you sat in the chair during our initial interview.” More shuffling and Tara shifted in the chair. “You did that.”

Tara froze, looking around in confusion. “What did I do?”

He jerked his chin towards her. “You looked so prim and proper, while shifting uncomfortably in the chair. Then you told me how I should run my education department.”

Tara remembered that moment and bit her lip. “That was…outrageous of me. I apologize.”

“Don’t apologize. I can’t remember what you said, but I remember staring at your lips during the entire interview, wondering what it would be like to kiss you.”

Tara stared at him, then her eyes dropped to his lips. There was a long, tense moment while they both absorbed that bit of information.

Thankfully, he broke the silence. “And if I win, I get to ask a question and you have to tell me the truth.”

He watched with increasing pain to his groin as her lips pressed together. “A kiss is just….”

“Necessary,” he replied, appreciating the blush that stole over her features. Finally, he picked up the face card on the table, then discarded one from his hand.

There was a long stretch of silence as they played out the game.

Sooner than he expected, Tara looked up at him. He knew in that moment that she’d won, but didn’t want to say it. “Tara?” he prompted, enjoying the confusion in those beautiful, green eyes.

“Your turn,” she replied in a choked voice, even jerking that cute chin towards the pile of cards between them.

---