The Inherited Bride by Maisey Yates

water. It was surrounded by rock, a solid stone basin, with plants and palms growing thick and green all around the perimeter. And beyond that, set into the unexpected jungle, was a large tent, barely visible behind the thick fronds of the trees.
    “This is certainly a good refuge,” Isabella said, openingthe car door and stepping out into the warm air. It was dry, and still very hot, but the rocks, water and plant life absorbed some of the heat, making it warm, but not scorching as it was out on the sands.
    Adham got out of the vehicle and surveyed their surroundings. He looked as though he was a part of the landscape, as if he belonged. As though he alone could tame this wild beauty.
    She was suddenly very aware of how alone they were. They had no servants with them, no chaperons. Because Adham was her chaperon. The High Sheikh’s most trusted man.
    But he had violated that trust in Paris. He had kissed her. Had wanted her. And she couldn’t forget that. Her body wouldn’t let her. She wondered if he was as plagued by it as she was, or if she was just one woman he’d desired in a long line of many.
    “The tent is designed to house staff and all the members of the royal family in total comfort. There is plenty of privacy available,” he said, answering some of the questions that had been rattling around in her head.
    He hoisted her bag from the back seat of the Jeep and slung it over his broad shoulder with ease, the muscles in his back shifting beneath his button-up safari-style shirt. She followed him as he moved toward the tent, her footsteps awkward and heavy in the work boots she wore, which came halfway up her shins and made walking stiff.
    “Why are we wearing boots?”
    “Snakes,” he said carelessly.
    She sped up then, walking alongside him. “Snakes?”
    “It’s the desert,
amira.”
    “I know that. And I know that there are several species of snake native to the area. I just didn’t think you wouldtake me anywhere there might be serious danger from them.”
    “There isn’t serious danger from them, but there is a possibility of running into them. They like to keep cool, and they need water. This is a very attractive place for wildlife.”
    “Well, it is beautiful.” She jumped to the side slightly, after hearing a rattle in the dry brush, but managed not to shriek or do anything horribly embarrassing. “Are there a lot of oases in Umarah?”
    “A few. Several along the most common trade routes. But this one has been a well-guarded secret for many generations. So you might run into snakes, but not other people.”
    “I love that there’s a way for even the hottest desert to be habitable. It doesn’t seem possible for all this life to be hiding in the middle of the sand … but it is.”
    He turned and offered a smile. Her heart stuttered, and she wished she had her camera at hand. “I told you that there is beauty for those who are willing to look.”
    It was there in Adham as well. She knew it. He tried to keep people out—at least he tried to keep
her
out—but she could see there, underneath all the layers of rock, what a good man he was. Strong, but also compassionate—firm, but understanding. He would make a wonderful leader. It was a shame
he
wasn’t the ruler of Umarah. A shame he couldn’t be the man she was meant to marry.
    He doesn’t even want to get married.
    Still, she was thinking that being Adham’s unwanted bride would be better than belonging to a man she didn’t love while she longed for another. And how had that happened? She had been determined to be faithful to her fiancé, to be true to their arrangement. She doubted if this raging attraction, combined with the increasinglytender feelings she had for Adham, landed beneath that heading.
    The tent was more like a permanent dwelling than the sort of thing she’d been imagining. There were hand-woven rugs on the floor, providing a plush surface for tired feet if the inhabitants had been traveling. Lanterns hung low