Page 16 of The Sheikh's Desert Princess

CHAPTER FOUR

Eva awoke to hear the sounds from beyond the tent walls. The sounds of men busy with early morning preparations. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and sat up. She wondered what time it was, how late she had slept.

Faint hints of the early morning light seeped in beneath the tent walls. She felt sudden panic that maybe she had overslept, that perhaps she'd already missed everything.

Eva got out of bed, pulled on her jeans, slipped into her shirt and pulled on her boots. She knew she probably looked untidy, but there was no time to mess with her hair or try and make herself look acceptable. Riaz and the others would just have to take her as they found her.

She pulled back the drape and stepped out of the sleeping alcove expecting to see no sign of Riaz. She assumed he would be out there mixing with the men, attending to the tribal business.

Eva froze on the spot and gazed over at the table and sofa. Riaz was sitting there and on the table in front of him there were dishes of food.

Breakfast.

He glanced over at her and smiled. "Good morning," he said brightly. "Did you sleep well?" he asked with a casual lift of one brow.

She hesitated, her hand rising self-consciously to her mussed up hair. The aroma of the food filled the whole tent making her instantly hungry again. She had to hand it to him. He certainly knew how to feed a woman, she thought to herself, finding that thought instantly amusing.

She paced slowly across the floor towards him. "I assumed you would be out there," she said tentatively nodding in the direction of the entrance.

Riaz stood and gestured to the table. "I thought it would be a good idea to start the day with something decent to eat," he said.

Eva glanced down at the plates on the table and had to agree. The food did look enticing. She nodded and sat down on the sofa. They both started to eat.

Eva squinted at him. "What time is it?" she asked.

Riaz shrugged. "Early," he said simply.

Eva squinted at him. "How early?" she pressed.

"We don't pay much attention to clocks out here," Riaz explained, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "All we care about is when the sun comes up and whether or not we have all eaten. After that, we get down to business," he said.

"Business?" she asked.

Riaz didn't say anything in reply. He simply nodded and continued eating. After a moment he added: "You'll see all you need this morning."

Riaz glanced at her and she was still conscious of the fact that she probably looked less than her best. Normally she wouldn't care about that, but for some reason, right now, it seemed to matter to her. Still feeling slightly self-conscious, she pushed the thought firmly away as she matched his glance.

"How did you sleep?" he asked.

Eva chomped down on a fig and chewed for a few moments. "I slept okay," she replied eventually.

She tried to sound as casual as possible. Did he think she sleeping in tents like this was something she'd done plenty of times before? If he did, then he was wrong. Okay, she'd spent time in desert encampments before. But, she'd never spent a night quite like this. Nor with a man quite like Riaz.

Riaz nodded as if accepting her brief explanation.

Eva glanced at him. There was so much she wanted to ask him about the coming day. But she could sense a slight reticence in his manner. A hesitancy which was leftover from the previous night.

The barrier he'd constructed around himself was still firmly in place, she told herself as she continued to eat.

They both ate for a while, saying little, and Eva became aware that, as had been the case when she had been sleeping in the bed hours before, she felt strangely comfortable next to the sheikh.

Riaz was obviously a man who was adept at putting people at their ease. She guessed that was a necessary skillout here where tempers could flare in an instant. She could imagine situations where it was vital to calm people with a gentle word or carefully chosen gesture.

Riaz exuded a quiet authority that she was becoming more and more aware of. Every one of his gestures while he ate was made with care and precision.

He was a calm, assured man. She found that surprising because some of the media reports about Riaz had described him as someone prone to impulsive acts, someone with a dominant personality and even explosive temper.

She'd seen little of that side of him. Yet. Maybe she would see it on display this morning when he dealt with the other tribal leaders. It promised to be a fascinating thing to witness, she told herself.

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