The Sheikh’s Tempted Prisoner by Holly Rayner Page 0,4

shock as she tried to pretend that she hadn’t just ruined her friend’s car with no way to pay her back.

As she stared ahead, a man in regional garb stepped out of the sports car and turned to look back at her. His robes were flowing, his eyes masked by expensive sunglasses. But even through all of his coverings, she could tell he was handsome.

Great.

He approached the driver’s side, and Lily realized it was her turn to exit and see if he was unharmed. Opening the door, she stood and faced the man whose car she had wrecked.

“I’m so sorry,” she said.

He was tall, towering over her as he perused her, his eyes unreadable behind the reflection of his sunglasses. Still, his shoulders were tense, his body language clearly showing his annoyance.

“Are you all right, miss?” he asked, his tone less than charitable. He was trying to be polite even in the face of the damage.

Lily’s blood roiled with anxiety as she looked from Marissa’s car to the man’s and back again.

“I’m fine. Are you?”

He held his arms out, indicating that he was, in fact, perfectly unscathed.

“I am. I cannot say the same for my vehicle, however.”

They both glanced at the damage. His car had nothing but a dent on the back bumper, while Marissa’s looked beyond fixing. Lily swallowed, her throat terribly dry. The sound of police sirens echoed across the trees in the distance, and when Lily looked back up at the man, she caught an expression of pure panic on his face, only matched by the sheer terror rising up in her own gut.

In that moment, she realized she was living illegally in Al Yibri with an expired travel visa and no auto insurance for a car that didn’t belong to her in the first place. A run-in with the cops could get her deported, or worse.

Panicking, she turned away from the rich man, unable to think about the damage to his car as she plopped back into the driver’s seat and attempted to turn the ignition.

The car barely sputtered. It was totaled. Lily was trapped.

Tears finally won out, and Lily pressed her face into her hands as she began to weep in despair. The man with the sports car walked a little closer, leaning in.

“I don’t have a visa to live here, and I don’t have any insurance to help pay for this damage. If the police find me, who knows what they’ll do? I can’t believe I’ve gotten myself into this mess!”

Lily continued to cry, the sirens getting closer even as traffic managed to stay in a gridlock. When she looked up, the man was still watching her, his expression exposing some level of pity. Lily wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or annoyed. The last thing she needed was pity. She needed help!

“Get in the car,” he said.

She stared up at him, sniffling as she tried to register what he meant by that.

“Quickly. We don’t have time to waste,” he said, opening the door.

People around them were starting to take notice, staring and whispering. The wealthy, handsome man ignored them as he held out a hand to Lily for her to take. She stared at it.

“If you want to avoid arrest and deportation, I suggest you move with a bit more haste. We haven’t got a moment to lose!”

There was an edge to his voice that implied he would be much better off avoiding the police, as well. Lily hesitatingly placed her hand in his, and he lifted her up, leading the way to his sports car.

“Quick, get in.”

Lily’s eyes were wide as she watched him slide into the driver’s seat, and she opted to jump in before he raced off without her. Glancing back, he turned the wheel of his car and unwrapped it from Marissa’s front bumper, taking off down the breakdown lane and making a quick turn just as flashing police lights came into sight behind them.

Lily held on to the door handle, her knuckles white as he wound his way through a series of twisting roads, turning in a myriad of ways until Lily’s head was spinning and she was completely at a loss as to their whereabouts. They both held their breath, glancing in the mirrors to see whether they were being followed. After some time, the man pulled into a parking lot.

“We should swap vehicles. This one is too noticeable, now.”

Lily opened her mouth as though to speak, but she could find no words. Instead, in full self-preservation