The Sheikh's Hesitant Bride (Qazhar Sheikhs series Book 7) by Cara Albany Page A

 
    Rachel leaned forward and peered through the front window. All she could see was an expanse of white marble, the palace filling her entire field of vision. Surrounding the stunning building was acre upon acre of perfectly manicured lawn, green foliage, tall trees and brightly colored floral arrangements. The bright Qazhar sun made the palace seem to shimmer. "Is this where you live?" she asked her voice filled with incredulity.
    He nodded casually. "It's my main residence," he said.
    Rachel looked wide-eyed at him. "You mean you have others?"
    Zarif shrugged. "A few scattered around Qazhar. But this is where I live when I'm in the country."
    Rachel squinted at the sight before her. They had just arrived by Zarif's plane at Qazhar airport and been driven through the city, across the desert and now they were arriving at Zarif's principal residence. The last few days had flown by in a frantic haze as Rachel had hurriedly tidied up her affairs back in London. She could hardly believe she was here, in his world. London seemed like a distant dream as the car began to ease to a halt alongside the large fountain in front of the palace steps.
    The limo halted, and they got out. Rachel shaded her eyes from the bright Qazhar sun. Even wearing her thinnest, lightest dress she still felt the heat on her skin. It was going to take some getting used to, she told herself. She'd never really spent much time abroad, certainly not in a place like Qazhar. From the plane, looking down on the city, planted like a vast jewel in the expanse of the desert, she had realized that she was about to enter an entirely strange, unfamiliar, even magical world.
    Zarif's world.  
    Rachel watched as Zarif removed her bags from the trunk of the limo and handed then to a male servant who had dashed the steps, greeting Zarif and Rachel hastily. Zarif wore only a white shirt, dark pants, and black casual shoes. She wondered what he would look like dressed in his traditional white robes.  
    On the plane, he'd told her he often preferred to dress as custom required, and she had found herself idly wondering just what he would look like. Probably like something out of a dream, she had concluded. His dark, austere features, his tall, muscular figure would look right at home seated on the back of a white stallion racing across the broad expanse of the shimmering desert sands she had seen from the plane. He would look like something out of a tale for children, a dominant prince in search of his beloved.
    Rachel waved her hand in front of her face, needing to cool her rapidly warming skin. Maybe the heat could warp someone's thinking, she concluded as she started to follow Zarif up the stairs. She walked through the front door and instantly felt a rush of relief as the cool air surrounded her body.  
    Rachel halted and gazed at the sight in front of her. Zarif looked at Rachel and smiled, noting her appreciation of the beautiful, even staggering, entrance hallway with its wide, mosaic tiled stairway curving up to the ornately decorated balcony high above. On either side, through the high, open doors she could see the interiors of glorious rooms that would have looked right at home in some kind of Hollywood movie set in an exotic desert kingdom.  
    Rachel smiled at Zarif. "Really?" she said, once again unable to control her incredulity. "You're joking, right?"
    Zarif smiled back at her, looking satisfied with the impression his home had made on Rachel. "I told you it was large, didn't I?"
    "But not like this," Rachel said gazing around the cavernous space in amazement.
    "I'm glad you approve," he said. He took a step toward her. Why did he have to move like that? So gracefully, so elegantly, so temptingly? She couldn't help thinking that he looked somehow different here. He'd lost the hint of melancholy which she had noticed in London. It had been replaced by a brightness in his demeanor, a calmness which had been missing when she had first gotten to know him.
    "I