Chosen by the Sheikh by Kim Lawrence

Author:Kim Lawrence
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2010-10-04T23:33:00.125000+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

IT WAS the early hours when her flight touched down in London. The ten-hour stop-over had stretched into twelve in Paris, and it was an effort for Beatrice just to put one foot in front of the other. She felt numb with exhaustion. It wasn’t the sort of exhaustion that a good night’s sleep was going to put right either.

She was so lost in her own dark thoughts that she didn’t at first register the person at her elbow. When he invited her for a second time to leave the Customs line and accompany him to his office she was bewildered, but not initially alarmed.

‘I think you’ve got the wrong person. I’m Beatrice Devlin.’ She held out her passport to prove the point.

The man barely glanced at it. ‘Yes, Miss Devlin, it is you we want.’

‘But why?’ she protested, aware of the speculative stares of her fellow passengers following her progress.

‘Routine. Nothing to worry about.’

Easy for him to say, she thought as she walked past him into what she thought was an office. It turned out to be some sort of plush-looking lounge.

‘If you could wait here?’

Before she could ask anything else he was gone.

Beatrice sat down heavily on one of the leather sofas and looked around the bland but pleasant surroundings.

Why do I feel guilty? she asked herself as she struggled to keep her imagination on a leash. She was really annoyed with herself for being so passive and meekly following, no questions asked. When the man came back she would not be so sub missive.

There would be a perfectly simple explanation for this. She was, after all, innocent of everything but falling in love with the wrong man. And as far as she knew there was no law against that yet…or half the female population would be locked up.

She got up and walked over to the mirrored panel that lined one wall, grimacing at the sight of her dishevelled appearance. She passed a hand across her pale face and had begun to raise it to smooth her tousled hair when she found herself wondering if this was one of those two-way mirrors she’d seen in films.

She knew the idea was fantastical, but it stuck, and the thought of unseen eyes watching her sent a shudder down her spine.

She laughed and thought, Pull yourself together—you’re losing it.

‘Now, that is paranoid, Bea,’ she said out loud.

She was about to retake her seat when the door opened. She turned, determined to find out what this was all about. ‘Hello, Beatrice.’

The blood drained from Beatrice’s face as the world tilted a little—actually, a lot—on its axis. ‘You’re here…? How…? Why…?’

Tariq, dressed in black jeans and shirt, stood framed in the doorway, looking tall, rampantly male and devastatingly handsome.

‘I flew—though rather more directly than you.’ His dark stare seemed to pierce her soul. ‘As to the why…’ His slow smile had an explosive quality that made her heart beat faster.

He covered the space between them in a couple of strides, and before

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