Page 29 of The Sheikh's Secret Family

“That’s great,” Tariq said, sounding appropriately impressed. With one athletic movement, he braced his hands against the edge of the pool and pulled himself up to sit next to her, water cascading off his bare chest in a way that was beyond distracting. “Speaking of Owen’s classes, Hamid asked if he could start going to them too.”

“Your bodyguard?” Emelia asked, confused. “Why?” She paused. “Is Owen okay?”

“Yes, yes, of course. Owen’s fine.” Tariq put his hand over Emelia’s, squeezing gently. “I have no idea why Hamid asked, honestly. I can tell him no.”

“It’s okay.” Emelia relaxed a little. “He can go if he wants. But doesn’t he need to, you know,bodyguardyou?”

“Not when I’m in the palace,” Tariq said. “When I go for appearances outside, he always comes, but I think he gets a little bored when I’m in the palace and he doesn’t have much to protect me from.”

“Have you gone for many appearances lately?” Emelia wanted to know. “I’ve been reading the Al Salyan news and haven’t seen many.”

A shadow crossed Tariq’s face, but it passed as quickly as it had come. “Not as many this week, no, but I have a few appearances scheduled for next week. Now, why are you just sitting here on the edge of the pool?” He pressed a hand to Emelia’s back, lightly nudging her into the water. Emelia willingly flopped in, sending a splash of water over Tariq’s legs.

“Okay, that was fun, but help me out now.” She reached a hand up and, when Tariq took it, gave a sharp pull that sent him splashing in beside her. Owen was with them in moments, trying to explain a complicated pool game that he’d invented. Half an hour went by as Emelia and Tariq tried to figure out the rules while Owen darted around like a fish, awarding himself hundreds of points.

After the pool, they all headed back to Emelia and Owen’s rooms, where Owen talked them into playing a few rounds of Candyland before dinner. After that, they enjoyed a delicious meal (American grilled cheese and tomato soup today, at Owen’s request). As the dinner came to an end, Emelia felt her heart start to speed up. The tradition had been for Tariq to invite her to do something every evening after Owen’s bedtime.

Tariq didn’t disappoint. While they were cleaning up the table and Owen was brushing his teeth, Tariq leaned over.

“Library today?” he asked. “Nine o’clock?”

“Yes, please,” Emelia agreed. Then she nudged his shoulder. “Why the library? Are we going to have lessons?”

Tariq waggled his eyebrows. “Maybe we’re going to study together like old times. I remember how strict you used to be about keeping us both focused.”

Emelia shrugged. “It worked, didn’t it? We got good grades.”

“What about your senior year?” Tariq asked. “Did you still get good grades?”

Emelia could see a hint of hesitation behind his eyes. He seemed worried to know the answer, so she decided to keep it light.

“I got just as good grades as I always have, but with a lighter course schedule. I’m too much of a genius for anything else.” She winked to show that she was joking and Tariq looked relieved.

“Of course, you are quite a genius. So, you must be excited about the library.”

Emelia was, although not as much about the books as about the man she’d be there with. A few hours later, when Emelia stepped through the doors and saw what Tariq had done, she started to think that the books were pretty exciting, too.

Tariq had left her favorite book from college, a collection of fairy tales and myths from around the world, on a small table near the door. Emelia picked it up, smiling down at the familiar cover, and looked around for Tariq. He was nowhere to be found, so she assumed he must be running late. With a shrug, Emelia crossed to sit in a large armchair, flipping the book open to the first page. As soon as she did, a note fell out.

Find me where the spies are.

A grin broke across Emelia’s face. Back in college, Tariq had made a treasure hunt like this in their old library. He’d wanted to cheer her up because she was sad about something, a bad grade on a quiz, maybe. It had been a lot of fun, especially when Tariq had popped out of the stacks at the end and handed her a bar of chocolate.

Emelia started strolling between the shelves, finding the section on spies fairly quickly. There was no Tariq, though. After a few minutes of looking at random books for notes, Emelia realized what she was missing. With a laugh, she headed for the section on turtles and found Tariq there, sitting on an armchair and flipping through a magazine.

“You found me,” he said with a slow smile that made Emelia’s knees weak.

“It was easy,” she said, sitting across from him. “There was only one clue to follow.”

Tariq shrugged. “I’m getting old now. I’m not as creative about scavenger hunts.”

“That’s okay, neither am I,” Emelia said, settling back and crossing one leg over the other. “I made Owen a scavenger hunt for his last birthday and I struggled so hard to come up with the clues.”

“We should make one for him now,” Tariq suggested. “I bet he’d like it. Maybe he could follow the clues tomorrow.”

“He would love a scavenger hunt,” Emelia agreed. Plus, an Owen-related activity was a good idea. It would keep her focused on her son and not on the attractive man who was currently helping her to her feet, an excited gleam in his eyes.

They spent the next hour or so strolling between the shelves, leaving clues in books and stopping to point out their personal favorites. Tariq still seemed to like the same spy novels and thriller that he had in college, while Emelia’s taste had shifted away from romance and into children’s books that Owen liked. Since coming to Al Salyah, she had started to make time for a few romance novels again.

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