The Sheikh’s Tempted Prisoner by Holly Rayner Page 0,1

Lily! You’d love it here.”

Lily smiled.

“Funny you should say that. I just came across an ad to teach English there, and—”

“Tell me you’re going to take it! You can stay with me until you get settled, even if you don’t have a job right away. Just come on out! There’s nothing for you in Wyoming, Lily. Come have some adventures with me. I have a great place here, and I know all the best tea houses!”

Lily laughed.

“Marissa, you’re the best! I can’t thank you enough.”

“Don’t be silly. Anything for my number one beer pong teammate. We can introduce a whole new level of fun to the people of Al Yibri. They won’t know what hit ’em!”

“Do you really mean that, Marissa?” Lily asked, feeling a pang of doubt. Was her friend just being nice? Could she really be so spontaneous?

“Lily, I’m dead serious. Buy yourself a ticket and get over here. I will be waiting for you on the other side, and we’ll get you gainfully employed, no problem. Don’t sit there doing nothing. Come!”

“All right, all right! You’ve managed to talk me off the ledge. I’ll send you my flight information when I get it, okay?”

“Yay!”

“I’m excited to see you again, Marissa!”

“I can’t wait. Gotta jet. Let’s talk soon. Bye!”

The call ended abruptly, and Lily dropped her phone to her side, staring out into space. A strand of blond hair fell across her face, and she brushed it aside as she broke from her reverie and began to move. Exiting the school, she drove back to her tiny apartment, where she opened a small suitcase and began packing for her trip before she’d even purchased a ticket.

In the middle of packing, she pulled her phone out again to check for a response email about the teaching position. Nothing. Absently, she wondered if she needed any kind of paperwork. She searched for the government website of Al Yibri and looked into visas.

Her stomach clenched when she saw what she would need to work there. Just the work visa was $3,000, and there was no guarantee she even had a job yet! Steeling her nerves, she told herself she would find something in time, even if it wasn’t the teaching job. She was lucky to even have a valid passport, as she had never before left the country.

Her suitcase packed, Lily grabbed her laptop and began looking at flights. Her heart sank at the prices as she opened another tab and checked her bank account, which wasn’t going to cover the cost.

Reaching into her purse, she pulled out her emergency credit card. Somehow, through her financially hard times, she hadn’t had to use it. She had sacrificed and scrimped in order to avoid going into debt, but if she wanted to take this chance, she was going to have to take a risk. She used the credit card to purchase the flight, which was due out the next day, before closing the laptop and taking a deep breath.

She was going to do it! She was going to live her life, for once. Thinking about any loose ends, she wrote some emails to the school, letting them know she would be going on leave, effective immediately.

She felt a pang of guilt at leaving her students behind. Joseph was really coming along, and she had been grateful for the opportunity to work with some of the kids from the reservation, helping them obtain the skills they needed to flourish and grow.

He would simply have to find his own way, and Lily was certain they all would, eventually. Now, she had to think about her own adventures.

With her bag packed and dusk kissing the mountains along the horizon, Lily poured herself the last of the wine from her fridge and sat by the window, watching the cascade of oranges and blues as the sun made its glorious exit from the day. When stars began to pinprick the darkened sky, she left the window and snuggled into her bed, where she watched a movie until she fell asleep. Not knowing enough about Al Yibri, she was unable to manifest it in her dreams.

The next morning, Lily stashed her suitcase in the overhead bin, squeezed into a small airplane seat, and pulled out a book. The journey was long, and her legs were cramped and aching by the end of the second flight, but eventually a long stretch of forest appeared beneath them, and she leaned over slightly to see the landscape below.

Lily had always thought