Read Online The Fierce and Tender Sheikh by Alexandra Sellers - Free Book Online Page A

understood about herself. And being understood, the thing lost its power.
    Shakira yawned as fatigue hit her. Without a word she sank down onto the mat and slipped her feet under the sheet as he drew it up over her.
    â€œThis is not so soft,” she said, smiling at him. “It is better, isn’t it?”
    He only smiled, and she yawned again.
    â€œWhere will you sleep?” she asked drowsily, tucking her arms around the pillow and giving herself to its soft comfort. “I can sleep on the floor, you know.”
    â€œSo can I, little one. Don’t worry.”
    â€œMy room is very big,” Shakira said, by way of explanation. “I’ve never been alone in such a big room. This is better, with you here.”
    â€œI won’t leave you,” he promised.
    Her hand left the pillow and reached out to him, and he sank down and took it in his. Again he felt the assault of that painful thinness, and his heart clenched.
    â€œI’m sleepy now,” she said.
    He reached and put out the light, and in the same instant the little hand went trustingly slack in his, and the urchin slept.
    Â 
    â€œIt’s a shock, but it’s a pretty wonderful one when you get used to it,” Noor said, with a warm smile. “Isn’t it funny that you were in that camp in Oz all that time, and I was in Sydney, and we didn’t know anything about each other’s existence? And all the time we were cousins.”
    Shakira could only smile at this glowing creature who called her cousin. On her other side, Princess Jalia gently took her hand. “It’s very satisfying to find another cousin, when that monster was trying to kill us all,” she murmured.
    Shakira sighed as tendrils of happiness branched in her. The three princess cousins were sitting together by the fountain in the courtyard, in the shade of a large tree, relaxing after Shakira’s first Friday evening dinner with all her family.
    â€œYou have to be a bridesmaid at our wedding, Shakira! Isn’t it lucky—I would have been married already, but it was cancelled at the last minute! You’ll be hearing all about that, but not now.” Noor laughed and flicked a roguish glance at Jalia, who only shook her head. “Jalia and I are planning a double wedding, and now I think it was fate, because now you can be one of our bridesmaids! We’re going to have a wonderful time getting you kitted out for it, aren’t we, Jay?”
    Shakira’s panic must have shown in her eyes.
    â€œDon’t worry, we’ve got months!” Jalia hastily reassured her. “Noor and Bari’s wedding had to be postponed when Bari’s grandfather died suddenly, and we decided to do it together.”
    â€œSo—first things first! What you need right now is some serious pampering,” Noor declared. “Haircut, massage, manicure—you name it, I’ve got the perfect person to do it.”
    Shakira was feeling overwhelmed. She licked her lips. “I’ve never had anything like that,” she said nervously.
    Noor’s smile was warm in her eyes. “That’s no problem,” she said gently. “There’s a first time for everything.”
    â€œYou’ll soon find out that Noor’s used to the pampered life,” Jalia said. “She slipped into the princess thing like a made-to-measure glove. For you and me, it’s more of a shock.”
    â€œWhen I was a…young, my—my stepmother always cut my hair. Then it was the camp barber, or I did it myself. And…I don’t know what those other things are,” Shakira told them. She glanced uncertainly from Noor to Jalia. She was so much more used to being with men than women. Women were somehow like her memory of her mother—warm, soft, sweet-smelling and a little mysterious. It was hard to believe she could ever be like that.
    â€œI don’t really know anything about being a girl,” she