Surrender To The Playboy Sheikh by Kate Hardy

Author:Kate Hardy [Hardy, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ePub Bud (www.epubbud.com)
Published: 2009-02-20T16:00:00+00:00

Karim thought about it, not sure how to answer. Although it was something he didn’t usually talk about, he felt compelled to be honest with Lily. To tell her the truth. He released her hair and lay back against the pillows. ‘By training, I’m a vulcanologist.’

‘A vulcanologist?’ She blinked. ‘You’re telling me you have volcanoes in your country? But…’ She shook her head. ‘You’re from Arabia. I thought…’

‘Lawrence of Arabia, endless dunes and camels? No. We have deserts, but they’re not all sand. That’s why my country’s called Harrat—that’s the Arabic name for the lava fields around a volcano,’ he explained.

‘And they’re active?’

He smiled. ‘In Harrat Salma, not for thousands of years—though there were eruptions in Yemen, one in 2007 and others in the last century, and in the Red Sea in the century before that.’

‘You’ve studied them?’

‘In situ,’ he said. ‘My degree was in geology.’ And half a doctorate in vulcanology. But she didn’t need to know about that bit. About the fact he’d had to walk away from the studies he’d loved, without a backward glance. ‘I loved every second of it. Especially the field trips, back in my country. I remember one incredible field trip when we spent the night sleeping in a volcano crater. We could see the minerals sparkle round us in the moonlight; it was like sleeping among the stars.’ An experience he thought adventure travellers would enjoy, too. Those holiday expeditions were the one thing he’d promised himself that he would lead.

Not that he could, now that he was the heir instead of the spare.

‘A vulcanologist,’ she said in wonder. ‘That’s the last thing I would’ve guessed. I mean…there aren’t even any volcanoes in Britain.’

‘Actually, there are,’ he corrected. ‘Not active ones, but Edinburgh’s built on an extinct volcano—Arthur’s Seat.’

‘So where’s the nearest active volcano to here?’

‘Italy or Iceland.’ He shifted so that her head was on his shoulder and her arm was round his waist, while he cradled her against his body and curled the ends of her hair round his fingers again. It had been so, so long since he’d talked about this. But he had a feeling that Lily would understand. She had a passion for what she did, too. ‘I loved Iceland. Seeing the midnight sun and the ice fields—so very different from home, and yet the land is the same in places. The lava fields.’

‘Hot springs and ice hotels,’ she said.

‘They’re pretty spectacular. And the Northern Lights. Even when you know how they’re formed, they’re still magical. Unearthly.’ He dropped a kiss on the top of her head.

She cuddled into him. ‘You’re the same about volcanoes as I am about cooking.’

Yes. Once. But he couldn’t afford to follow his heart now. His duty was more important. ‘Was,’ he corrected. ‘I don’t have time for it any more.’

She pulled back slightly to look him in the eye. ‘And you miss it.’

Yeah, he missed it. Missed it so much that he blocked it out with work and constant partying, so he didn’t have time to think about his previous life.

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