Sheik Protector by Dana Marton Page B

measurements. They were smaller than the ones up in the attic, small enough to be carried by a man, and looked like they might have been made of something different than stone. Their shapes were shaded to indicate color and shine.
    Still, they weren’t exactly the sort of thing that took your breath away. To her, the larger stone statues of the attic were far more impressive. “What are they?”
    Karim shrugged and folded the paper carefully. “I have no idea.”
    “Can we leave now?” she asked, full of hope. She was exhausted after a tumultuous day. It was about three in the morning. She longed for some more sleep.
    Karim watched her for a moment. “You go get some rest. I’ll check the crates. I’d rather not involve even my security in this for now. Things like this—” he motioned around “—are controversial in our country’s religion. I want to know if Aziz had what our intruder was looking for.”
    He wasn’t the type to quit before he got what he wanted. She’d be smart to keep that in mind.
    She drew a deep breath. If he thought she was going back down to his mean-looking guards all by herself, he was nuts. “I guess I’ll stay.”
    He gave her a faint smile, which brought her attention to his masculine lips. And made her wonder what the chances were of repeating that kiss before she somehow broke away from him and made her way home. Probably not very high.
    But he didn’t walk away from her. “You were scared.”
    She didn’t respond. Of course she was scared. She didn’t normally have criminals breaking into places where she was sleeping. And thank God for that.
    “I wouldn’t have let him get to you.” The words were firmly spoken.
    She believed him. He was a tougher, harder man than she had ever met before.
    And she relaxed fully, finally, realizing only now that the panic of huddling in the downstairs bathroom not knowing where Karim was or what he was doing, not knowing if some assassin was going to kick the door in and shoot her between the eyes the next second, was still there, and that it had settled into her muscles. And when she finally let the fear go, her limbs began to tremble.
    She was such a wuss. He was a strong man, probably as disgusted by displays of weakness as her ex-boyfriend, Steve, had been. She tried to still her tremors as she waited for him to walk away.
    Instead, he stepped closer and drew her into his arms. “It’s okay.”
    The comfort he gave felt incredibly good. She pressed closer, against the hard muscles of his wide chest, knowing that she should be moving in the opposite direction. Her goal was to get as far away from him as possible. At the moment, she found that goal exceedingly hard to remember.
    His hands came to her back to comfort her. Odd that she would feel so incredibly safe in his arms. It had no logic to it. He was not her ally by any means. He meant to keep her prisoner.
    She tilted her head to look at him, brought her hands to his chest like she had earlier to push him away. Her hands stayed where they were, like earlier. She couldn’t move them all of a sudden. She couldn’t move anything. Not when he was dipping his head and she knew that he was going to kiss her again.
    This time she braced herself for the effect and it didn’t make a damn difference. He still blew her away. The soft brush of his lips against hers aroused her more than anything any other man had ever done to her.
    Insane.
    Impassioned.
    Impossibly good.
    A lot of I s. There was another one, one that she wasn’t going near with a ten-foot pole. In love . If there ever was a man who could drag her down that perilous road again, it was the one who could kiss like that. But she did stupid things when she was in love. Handed over her heart and let it get stomped on. If she did another round of that, she was afraid she might not be able to piece it back together again.
    No matter how Karim Abdullah made her feel, she could not fall for him. A simple matter of