The Sheik's Unexpected Bride by Elizabeth Lennox (ebook reader for manga txt) 📕

be a hundred colors of eye shadow and lipstick in the drawers, but Tasim would never disrespect her by snooping through them.

He also noticed that scent.  Flowers.  Lilly of the valley again.  And the strawberries that he’d smelled when he’d held her in his arms.  The flowery scent must be her perfume while the berries could be her shampoo.

With a groan, he turned on his heel and hurried out of her bedroom.  His guards stood sentry outside and his temper fired at the thought that his sister, and Luna, had been in danger.  Damn, how the hell had a snake gotten into the palace?  It seemed a bit far-fetched.

Although, they did live in the desert.  It wasn’t unheard of for a snake to enter buildings where they might find food and shelter away from the intense heat of the afternoon sunshine.

Walking down the hallway, he made a mental note to talk to Elon about that.  If snakes had gotten into the palace before, the man was going to have problems, because Ella truly hated snakes.

It occurred to him that Luna’s first instinct had been to protect his sister.  And that softened his attitude towards her even further.  She’d protected his sister, which meant that he owed her.

Chapter 4

Dinner that night was a larger gathering since additional guests had arrived for the wedding festivities.  Foreign dignitaries were mingling with international and local celebrities.

But it was the décor that caught Tasim’s attention more than the people present.  He acknowledged that Luna most likely had an event manager on staff.  Even so, he approved of the ambiance tonight, which was elegant and refined, but intimate.  The food and music were the perfect blend of moods that allowed everyone to revel in the power of these two countries coming together, but not formal enough that anyone felt intimidated.  It allowed the guests to mingle more freely, which was perfect.

It was a buffet dinner tonight, instead of a sit down meal.  He chuckled softly, thinking it was a pity that he wouldn’t be able to give Luna more broccoli.  He’d enjoyed her disgust last night, remembering how Luna had nibbled carefully on each floret.  But he also knew that she hadn’t eaten all of the pile he’d dumped onto her plate.

“You’re in too good a mood,” a feminine voice commented.  Luna moved to stand beside him, smiling politely.  “That’s dangerous, so stop it.”

He looked down at her, surprised and…oddly flattered.  She’d obviously been waiting for him to arrive.

“Why is my good humor a dangerous thing?” he asked, turning slightly so that his body partially shielded her from the rest of the room.

Her brown eyes sparkled up mischievously.  “Because you’re always a grouch.  Or at least, you’ve been a grouch since you got here.  Which means that you’re plotting something.”  Her head tilted impishly.  “Revenge, perhaps?”  She lifted a dark eyebrow in question.  “Revenge for my brother taking your sister away?”

“Perhaps I should take his sister away as my revenge. An eye for an eye,” he offered.  There was a pretty, pink tinge to her cheeks for a brief moment, but she rallied quickly, reverting back to her normal sophisticated demeanor.

Luna shifted, turning to survey the crowded dining room.  “Well, that’s not going to happen, since we hate each other.”

Twenty-four hours ago, he might have agreed with her.  Well, not hate so much as…lack of respect.  His eyes sharpened.  “I don’t hate you, Luna,” he murmured.  “Not anymore.”

The startled look in her eyes told him that he’d caught her off guard.  “Why not?”

He moved slightly.  “Because you protected my sister.”  He moved even closer, his eyes sharpening as he looked down at her.  “But don’t you ever put yourself in danger like that again!”

She was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing.  “Right!  So I should have just let her get eaten by that snake?”

Tasim looked away, feeling…off.  Embarrassed?  No, that wasn’t right.  He liked her laugh.  And she smelled so damn good!

Still, he looked around, scrabbling for an adequate response.  “No. Of course not.”  Now that he thought about it, Tasim acknowledged that he didn’t like the idea of Luna being in danger either.  “But next time, call your guards,” he ordered.  Putting a hand on her back, he led her over to the buffet table, putting a plate in her hand.  Getting food meant that he could concentrate on something other than this odd, uncomfortable feeling in his gut.  “Yes, call your guards next time,” he repeated gruffly.  “That’s what they are paid to do.  And they have more training than you.”

She smiled, holding the plate.  “I handled the situation back there,” she pointed out.

He looked at her, his eyes conveying the seriousness of his words.  “Don’t do it again, Luna.”

She tilted her head slightly.  “I know that you’re not ruining our detente by giving me an order.  Because you know me well enough by now to know I don’t take orders.”

He chuckled and pulled her plate away from her chest with a finger.  “Right.  You’re a feminist liberal,” he teased, and put something cheesy on her plate.  “You’re also an expert knife thrower.  What are your other hobbies?”

She laughed.  “I wouldn’t say that throwing knives is a hobby.  More of a necessity.”

He continued to load up her plate with the buffet’s delicacies, but this time, when she didn’t want something he was about to serve her, she’d shake her head or pull her plate away.  When he passed by something that she was particularly excited to try, she lifted the spoon and put some onto his plate as well as hers.  Both of them were completely unaware of the other guests watching their interaction with fascination and smiling their approval.

“I don’t have many hobbies.  There isn’t a great deal of time for hobbies in our world.”

“’Not many’ implies that you do have a