Page 15 of The Sheikh's Desert Princess

"What exactly is going to happen?" she asked. "You still haven't explained it all to me."

"There will be plenty of time for all of that tomorrow morning. After you've had some sleep," he said. "I'll tell you about it over breakfast," he added.

Why did that sound strange, she asked herself. She couldn't have imagined sharing breakfast with a handsome sheikh so soon after arriving, she admitted to herself. But she was hardly in a position to refuse the offer.

"Okay," she said moving toward the alcove.

She guessed he must be watching her as she moved across the carpet and into the alcove. When she turned and took hold of the heavy drape which would close off the space she saw that she'd been right. His gaze was fixed intently on her, watching her, as if he was fascinated by her mere presence here in the tent.

Maybe she should have told him what had happened outside. She wondered how he would have reacted. In a moment she dismissed that thought realizing suddenly that she was feeling very tired. The exertions of the last couple of days were obviously catching up with her, she realized.

Eva smiled gently at Riaz. "Good night," she said quietly.

Riaz bowed his head slightly. "Sleep well, Eva," he said, his voice deep.

And then she pulled the drape across and let it settle heavily into place. She turned and inspected the small sleeping area. There was a bed, of sorts, which seemed to have been constructed out of large sections of cushion. She guessed that this would be broken up into pieces and transported whenever it was time to move everything. She pressed down on it with her hand, and realized that it was firm but undoubtedly comfortable.

She let the blanket around her shoulders slip to the floor and laid down on the bed stretching out. It felt good. No. Better than that. It felt great to be lying on something soft.

She slipped off her top and slid out of her jeans, throwing them on the floor. Wearing only her panties and bra, she eased herself under the covers of the bed. She tugged the cover around her, feeling warm and suddenly so much safer.

Safer now that she knew she was in this tent and not out there in the cold and dark. That sense of safety was made even more intense by the knowledge that it was only the drape that separated her and Riaz. He was lying out there on the sofa.

She wondered if Riaz would even sleep at all. Maybe he would stay awake all night just to make sure she was safe and comfortable.

That seemed like such a silly thought at first, but it was also strangely reassuring.

Eva sighed softly feeling a contentment she hadn't felt for days. She hadn't realized just how intense and busy the last forty-eight hours had been for her. The journey to this place had been challenging in more ways than one. Not just the distance involved but also coming to this strange place.

It was a place that many people had warned her not to come to. But, Eva had never let anyone stop her before. She was used to getting what she wanted when I came to her professional life.

But when it came to her personal life, the situation was quite the reverse. She'd had to make so many sacrifices to get where she was. And that had included relationships which had been put on the back-burner definitively these past couple of years.

She turned on the bed and lay on her side, closing her eyes, feeling the softness of her muscles, the warmth and comfort of the bed. She didn't dare think that things were about to change in that regard.

Eva wasn't blind. She'd seen the way Riaz had looked at her tonight when he had seen her standing in the tent, obviously concerned about something. He hadn't pressed her for more details, and she hoped that he wouldn't find out.

Maybe she was overreacting, anyway.

She started to feel sleep tugging at her. She heard a noise from beyond the drape of the entrance to the sleeping alcove. Probably Riaz trying to get settled, she told herself

Eva thought about the coming day. Riaz had told her there would be one huge meeting amongst the tribal elders throughout the morning and then by midday it would all be over. But he'd told her nothing more than that. Nothing about what the various tribes would spend their time hammering out.

It would be her last chance to get the information that she needed, to get more photographs, to find out as much as she could before heading back to civilization.

Because one thing she knew was that out here was a completely different kind of civilization. Here she'd found a wildness, a raw, primitive kind of life, she'd never seen before in her travels.

She'd tried to get Riaz to talk. She'd try one last time tomorrow.

As sleep began to claim her, Eva told herself she would do as much as she could in the coming morning and then, if he was still determined to refuse to tell her what she wanted to know, she would bid Riaz Al Shirah a firm goodbye.

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