The Sheik's Reluctant Lover Page 0,43

suspected that the same man from Tuesday was following her out to the farm for the final inspection. She’d visited with her father that evening, but left out the back exit of the farm to get home, just trying to be cautious. It was six o’clock when she got back on the road this morning and she was proud that she hadn’t been followed.

She hadn’t mentioned her suspicions to anyone. She hadn’t wanted to worry her father and she was afraid Rais would take her off of the event if he knew someone might be following her. So she kept the issue to herself. By Thursday evening, she was feeling a little silly for being so paranoid, but couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being followed.

When she drove into the parking garage at her apartment, she actually took the stairs to her floor. She’d seen a dark car parked on the opposite side of her parking space with a man in a dark coat sitting inside reading a newspaper. It looked odd because Rachel didn’t think there was enough light in the dim garage to read the newspaper.

She was out of breath when she slipped into her apartment and peered through the peep hole, wondering if she could see anyone who might be trying to spy on her.

Was she being crazy? She glanced through the glass one more time, then sighed with relief when no one walked by. She sagged with relief, dropping her purse on the counter. She felt weird because normally she would have stopped by the lobby to get her mail but she’d avoided that area today, preferring to just hibernate in her apartment, wanting that odd feeling to go away.

“What’s out there that is so interesting?” a deep voice asked.

Rachel screamed and jumped about a foot in the hair, her hands reaching out to steady herself as she looked for the voice. It was familiar, but Rais wasn’t supposed to be back until tomorrow afternoon so it couldn’t be him here tonight!

“Rachel?” Rais asked, coming out of the darkness towards her, turning on lights as he walked. “What’s wrong?” he demanded, his dark eyes looking down at her with both anger and concern.

Rachel’s hand went up to her chest as if to slow her racing heart. “Goodness! You scared me!” she grumbled, her body still in fight or flight mode and her head almost lightheaded. Adrenaline and no food were not a good combination she thought as she took a deep breath to try and calm herself.

“What are you doing here? And how did you get into my apartment?” she asked. She was excited to see him, but still jumpy because of the people she’d seen around the city.

He ignored her question and pulled her into his arms. She didn’t fight it because he was strong and secure and he held her tightly, decreasing the shivering until it was only a mild irritation.

“What’s going on? Why are you so scared?” he demanded, his arms tightening around her. His cell phone rang once and he answered it quickly, speaking into the phone in Arabic, just a few words before he ended the call and slid the phone back into his pocket.

“Oh, I’m just being silly,” she said and leaned against him. Now that the scare was passing, she was overjoyed that he was here with her. “But what are you doing here? You weren’t supposed to fly in until tomorrow.”

He grinned down at her. “I canceled my meetings tomorrow, telling my advisors that I had priorities here. They all understood,” he explained, leaving out that he’d told them that he was trying to convince this woman to marry him. They were all eager for him to be married, telling him it should have happened years ago.

He bent down and kissed her neck, feeling her shivers increase and smiled to himself because this was for a different reason. Not that he wasn’t going to get down to the other reason, but she smelled too good right now, too distracting.

“I want to hear all about your week, but first, I need you naked and in my arms,” he said as he lifted her up, tossing her legs in the air and carried her into her bedroom. He laid her down in the middle of her bed, then joined her, slipping her shoes off at the same time. “I missed you,” he growled into her ear before biting it softly.

Rachel smiled and lifted her arms, wrapping them around his