The Sheik's Beautiful Intruder Page 0,3

“His Highness”?” she asked, blinking as if the man were slightly insane.

The look Nikki received in return was almost humorous. The stranger’s eyes widened and his mouth just about fell open. He gestured oddly behind him in the general direction of the platform. “His Highness,” he repeated as if the words themselves should explain everything.

Nikki glanced back to where he was gesturing, trying to connect the dots in the odd, if short, conversation. “You mean….” She gestured, not exactly sure how to address the sheik. She didn’t think “jerk” or “arrogant man” would go over very well with someone who looked like little more than a servant.

The man in front of her nodded weakly and Nikki suppressed a shiver. “Why does he want to talk to me?” she asked nervously, feeling her stomach quake at the possibility. And more importantly, she mentally chided herself, why was she standing here chatting about the issue? This was her opportunity to confront him, see if he would reveal anything else. But the aide simply stood there, staring at her blankly as if to indicate that no one questioned “His Highness’” motives.

“I’m guessing questions are not allowed,” she responded. With a sigh, and more than a small dose of trepidation, she waved her hand. “Lead on. If His Majesty,” she replied sarcastically, “wants a private chat, I’m all for it.” Maybe she could follow up on her question about the markets, throw him off his game and then go in for the big question – where Brianna was!

The man led her through another ballroom that contained only very serious looking men in dark suits and sunglasses – each with a wire coming out of the back of his collar and connecting to his ear. One of them murmured something into what was probably a hidden microphone because the doors opened as she approached.

When the doors closed behind her, she realized she was alone in the room. Well, not quite alone. The man of the hour was at the other end of what appeared to be a very elegant conference room.

She stood at one end of the too-quiet room, staring at the man with growing trepidation. But she refused to let him see how terrified she was of him.

Nazar looked at the vivacious brunette with the rich, brown hair and vibrant blue eyes, startled by the impact her slight frame had on him. He’d never experienced such a powerful gut reaction to a mere woman before. He was irritated by how distracting she’d been during the press conference. “You’re quite beautiful,” he said finally, realizing that he’d just been staring at her, although he wasn’t sure how long that had been going on.

Nikki squirmed under his gaze. “And you’re very arrogant.” As soon as she said those words, she wished she could have pulled them back. Taunting the man was no way to get information, she reprimanded herself. She thought about Brianna and how her friend would be sweet-talking this man already. Bri could wrap anyone around her little finger with just a word or a smile. Rachel was just as good, but she used logic and perseverance, whittling down someone’s argument into logical, small parts and showing them how her ideas were superior.

Looking down, she shook her head and gave herself a strong, mental shake. When she looked up again, he was standing right in front of her and she gasped at how tall he was, and how…overwhelmingly male!

“What are you doing?” she stammered, taking an involuntary step backwards, needing more space between their bodies. His closeness caused….weird sensations to flutter all around inside of her.

“I wanted to go over your question.” His hand moved, touching her cheek, grazing her skin and sending shivers everywhere. “The expression on your lovely face told me that you weren’t completely satisfied with my response.”

She grabbed his wrist, trying to pull his hand away, but her grip didn’t have any strength to it. “You sidestepped my question completely.”

He smiled slightly, obviously enjoying the challenge. “Why don’t you ask it again?”

“Why did you try to avoid answering it while we were in a group of people?” she challenged and felt stronger with the look of approval in his dark gaze. She just wished she wasn’t getting a crick in her neck from looking up at that approval.

“Because anything I say about markets is analyzed to death. I have to be very careful about what I say. And even about the things I don’t say. Anything could be taken to