by Holly Rayner
“Typical,” she huffed, resting her forehead against her hand as she watched for any movement.
She could try for another teaching job abroad, maybe in a country that didn’t charge so much for a work visa. There had to be somewhere else she could go and make a living for herself without being stuck in Cheyenne for the rest of her life. There simply had to be.
Yet, after spending two weeks in Al Yibri, she had grown to love the culture and people of the tiny country. She had so badly wanted to find a way to stay, but it looked like that wasn’t meant to be.
Crash!
Lily bumped her nose on the steering wheel. She hadn’t been paying attention. She’d been lost in thought as traffic had begun moving, and before her, the bumper of a very expensive-looking car was now smashed against the crushed front end of Marissa’s vehicle.
“Oh no, no no!” Lily cried, sitting in shock as she tried to pretend that she hadn’t just ruined her friend’s car with no way to pay her back.
As she stared ahead, a man in regional garb stepped out of the sports car and turned to look back at her. His robes were flowing, his eyes masked by expensive sunglasses. But even through all of his coverings, she could tell he was handsome.
Great.
He approached the driver’s side, and Lily realized it was her turn to exit and see if he was unharmed. Opening the door, she stood and faced the man whose car she had wrecked.
“I’m so sorry,” she said.
He was tall, towering over her as he perused her, his eyes unreadable behind the reflection of his sunglasses. Still, his shoulders were tense, his body language clearly showing his annoyance.
“Are you all right, miss?” he asked, his tone less than charitable. He was trying to be polite even in the face of the damage.
Lily’s blood roiled with anxiety as she looked from Marissa’s car to the man’s and back again.
“I’m fine. Are you?”
He held his arms out, indicating that he was, in fact, perfectly unscathed.
“I am. I cannot say the same for my vehicle, however.”
They both glanced at the damage. His car had nothing but a dent on the back bumper, while Marissa’s looked beyond fixing. Lily swallowed, her throat terribly dry. The sound of police sirens echoed across the trees in the distance, and when Lily looked back up at the man, she caught an expression of pure panic on his face, only matched by the sheer terror rising up in her own gut.
In that moment, she realized she was living illegally in Al Yibri with an expired travel visa and no auto insurance for a car that didn’t belong to her in the first place. A run-in with the cops could get her deported, or worse.
Panicking, she turned away from the rich man, unable to think about the damage to his car as she plopped back into the driver’s seat and attempted to turn the ignition.
The car barely sputtered. It was totaled. Lily was trapped.
Tears finally won out, and Lily pressed her face into her hands as she began to weep in despair. The man with the sports car walked a little closer, leaning in.
“I don’t have a visa to live here, and I don’t have any insurance to help pay for this damage. If the police find me, who knows what they’ll do? I can’t believe I’ve gotten myself into this mess!”
Lily continued to cry, the sirens getting closer even as traffic managed to stay in a gridlock. When she looked up, the man was still watching her, his expression exposing some level of pity. Lily wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or annoyed. The last thing she needed was pity. She needed help!
“Get in the car,” he said.
She stared up at him, sniffling as she tried to register what he meant by that.
“Quickly. We don’t have time to waste,” he said, opening the door.
People around them were starting to take notice, staring and whispering. The wealthy, handsome man ignored them as he held out a hand to Lily for her to take. She stared at it.
“If you want to avoid arrest and deportation, I suggest you move with a bit more haste. We haven’t got a moment to lose!”
There was an edge to his voice that implied he would be much better off avoiding the police, as well. Lily hesitatingly placed her hand in his, and he lifted her up, leading the way to his sports car.
“Quick, get in.”
Lily’s eyes were wide as she watched him slide into the driver’s seat, and she opted to jump in before he raced off without her. Glancing back, he turned the wheel of his car and unwrapped it from Marissa’s front bumper, taking off down the breakdown lane and making a quick turn just as flashing police lights came into sight behind them.
Lily held on to the door handle, her knuckles white as he wound his way through a series of twisting roads, turning in a myriad of ways until Lily’s head was spinning and she was completely at a loss as to their whereabouts. They both held their breath, glancing in the mirrors to see whether they were being followed. After some time, the man pulled into a parking lot.
“We should swap vehicles. This one is too noticeable, now.”
Lily opened her mouth as though to speak, but she could find no words. Instead, in full self-preservation mode, she exited the sports car. The man pulled another key from his ring and unlocked a little blue car that was far less flashy. Lily stepped inside as he turned on the engine, leaving the damaged sports car behind.
They drove in silence for a while as he pulled the new car out onto the highway, forest transforming into desert as the trees thinned out all around them.
“You seem to have done this before,” Lily commented.
While she was grateful to be out of the hands of the police, she was deeply aware that she was now traveling to an unknown destination with a stranger. While his chiseled jaw and thick dark hair were stunning, that in no way meant she was safe.
He shrugged his muscular, broad shoulders.
“It’s important to be able to get to where one needs to go. In the old days, they would swap horses. Now, we simply keep cars in strategic places in case the need arises.”
He spoke so matter-of-factly, like that was the easiest thing to understand in the world. Who didn’t have several cars planted all around the city just in case they needed to get away from the cops?
“Are you a criminal?” she blurted out.
The man laughed, deeply amused by her question.
“I am not. Well, at least I don’t think I am. In any case, you can rest assured that I won’t be the one handing you off to the authorities. I happen to like keeping a good distance from them, myself.”
“So, you are a criminal?”
The man sighed, and his shoulders slumped ever so slightly. Lily had touched some kind of nerve, but it was one that had been so frayed over time that it only resulted in exhaustion rather than anger.
“I am not,” he insisted. “And I will once again assure you that you are safe with me.”
“In that case, may I ask who my knight in shining armor is?”
He hesitated on his answer, as if debating whether to tell her the truth.
“Sheikh Atnan Shadid, at your service.”
Lily knew what it meant to be a sheikh, but that name in particular stuck out to her. She remembered the pictures at the airport of the local royalty.
“You’re the future ruler of Al Yibri!” she gasped.
Atnan didn’t answer that, and Lily realized that his royal status might be a sensitive subject and let it drop.
They drove on in silence, Lily’s mind whirling with what had happened, and what would become of her. She glanced sideways at Atnan.
“Why did you do that? Why did you let me escape with you?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” he mumbled. “Perhaps I can never resist a damsel in distress.”
“I am no damsel in distress,” Lily insisted.
He glanced over at her, his lip twitching.
“You’re not? My apologies. If you’d like, I can take you back to the scene of the crime so you can hash it out with our ferv
ent and disciplinary police force. I’m sure you can take them on single-handedly.”
Lily frowned.
“All right, fine. I did need help, and I’m grateful for it, but where are we going now? Are we on the run?”
Atnan chuckled again like he was sharing an inside joke with himself.
“I wouldn’t say that. Still, it can’t hurt to be out of sight for a little while. I’m taking you somewhere safe. Do you trust me?”
“No,” Lily answered, and Atnan laughed. “How can you be so jovial after what just happened? We’re on the run from the police! How do I know you’re not some psychopath?”
He glanced over at her, shaking his head.
“I suppose I consider myself an eternal optimist. Instead of being locked in a cell for our perspective ‘crimes,’ we are free to go, driving along this lovely stretch of highway. Don’t you think that is something to be grateful for?”
“For how long? At some point, we will have to find a solution. Without a visa, my situation is even more perilous.”
“Why don’t you just go home? They won’t force you to stay here against your will, especially without a visa.”
Lily gazed at her hands in her lap. The truth was, her credit card was maxed out. She had no money for a flight back home. There was a chance that deportation would be the only way to even get her back to Wyoming, and what then? Hitchhike a ride back to her apartment, if they hadn’t already thrown her stuff out and rented it to someone else?
“I see,” Atnan said.
Lily looked up at him.
“You see what?”
“You’re stranded, much like myself. Fortunately, now that we’re together, you at least have a place to stay for a while.”
“Who said I’m staying with you?”
“You did, when you ran from the police with me. Besides, where else are you going to go?”
Lily considered that as the desert stretched on. Atnan pulled the car off the highway, and Lily watched as a beautiful, deserted palace appeared along the horizon, growing larger as they drove closer. The Sheikh pulled the car into the circular drive that led to the front doors and turned off the engine, gesturing toward the palace.
“We’ve arrived,” he announced.
Lily stared up at the wondrous building. It was clearly ancient, and there was a distinct sense of disuse about it. Chunks of stone were missing from various places, and the window coverings were torn and tattered. Lily looked back at Atnan, who was watching her with a closed expression.
“What is the son of the ruling Sheikh doing living in an abandoned palace in the middle of nowhere?”
“What, you don’t like my decorating?”
He was deflecting, and she knew it.
“I saw the look of panic on your face when you heard the police sirens. You wanted to escape just as much as I did, yet you are one of the most powerful men in the country. What do you have to run away from?”
He removed his sunglasses, then, revealing a pair of milk chocolate eyes that made Lily want to melt. She steeled her emotions, determined not to let them get in the way of her already difficult situation.
“How about this?” he began. “I don’t ask why you’re in my country illegally, and I won’t report you to the authorities unless you really get on my nerves.”
“Some savior you are,” she muttered, feeling the weight of the threat.
“Oh, come now, I’m just teasing,” he said, though his expression indicated he might not be. “Come inside and see what we have to offer.”
Chapter Three
Lily followed behind Atnan as he walked up to the double doors that served as the palace entrance. He pressed one open, revealing that it was unlocked.
“For a man clearly hiding from the law, you sure take few precautions,” Lily commented.
Atnan glanced over his shoulder.
“No one comes out this way anymore. I assure you, our distance alone provides all the safety we require.”
“Sure,” she replied, doubtful.
What safety? She had gone from potentially being a prisoner of the law to being trapped in a dilapidated palace. Was this really much better?
Gazing around, she had to admit that the palace, while a little worse for wear, was much nicer than a prison cell. The carpet beneath her feet was frayed, but beneath the layer of dust was a beautiful design that must have shone brightly in former days. The walls were lined with peeling wallpaper that appeared to have been a deep shade of burgundy with an intricate gold pattern.
There was now an element of gray around both of those colors that dimmed the effect considerably.
Pieces of furniture were strewn about the place, as though someone had prepared to move and then simply left everything in the front entryway, forgotten. The house was echoing with a story, though Lily could hardly imagine what it was. There was something missing, and a sadness surrounded her as she took in her new surroundings. She felt a sense of deep loss and melancholy.
Then she remembered Marissa.
Her friend’s car! Totaled! And she had been such a bad friend to leave it in the middle of the street. Her friend was away and had no idea she would be coming home to no way of getting around. A tidal wave of guilt coursed through Lily at the thought, and she realized in that moment that running away might not have been the best course of action.
“I need to go back,” she said, and her voice echoed in the silence of the hall.
Atnan had been looking at some papers on a side table. He glanced up at her words.
“I beg your pardon?”
Lily approached him, her body instantly reacting to the sight of his eyes on her. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to run away or wrap her arms around him, and that discord was enough to have her foot out the door already. Atnan may have been the future Sheikh of Al Yibri, but he was also a stranger who was clearly hiding some pretty big secrets. She didn’t need to get caught up in anything worse than she had already gotten herself into.
He turned to fully face her, his steps slow as he approached. Her skin tingled as he drew near. His eyes were so focused, so intense. Why did he have to look at her like that?
“You want to go back to the scene of the crime?” he asked, his voice hushed.
Lily looked up at him. She had to crane her neck to keep eye contact as he came near enough for her to smell the musky cologne on his skin. She planted her feet, refusing to be cowed.
“Yes. I should pay for what I did. I destroyed my friend’s car and left it in the street! When she gets back, she’ll have no idea where the car is, not to mention where I am. She’ll be worried sick, and I have no way to replace her car as it is. I’ll have to find a way to make it up to her. I have to find a way to fix this.”
Her voice carried around the vast chamber, muted slightly against the sconces high up on the walls. Atnan continued to stare, his face unreadable but strikingly handsome. If she wasn’t so attracted to him, she would certainly think him the most annoyingly aggravating man on earth. Why wasn’t he saying anything?
After a pause, he stepped back to pace around her.
“So you would like to place yourself into police custody when at least a dozen or more people saw you crash a car in the middle of rush hour traffic and then proceed to get into mine before speeding away?”
His questions were making her uneasy, but Lily stood her ground, grasping at straws to come up with a solution.
“I don’t have to go into police custody. For heaven’s sake, it was a simple car accident, and no report was even filed because, if you remember, you decided to drive off and not press charges. They have no case against me and no reason to hold me against my will. I assume this country allows some freedoms in that sense?”
Atnan’s face twisted momentarily before he fixed his features back to neutral. He must have assumed Lily hadn’t noticed, but she certainly had. What was he hiding?
“The police in this country are ruthless and omnipresent. There will now be a warrant ou
t for your arrest since you ran from the scene of a crime—regardless of what my actions might have been. You think they wouldn’t be able to spot you in a millisecond? Do you know how many blond-haired, blue-eyed women there are in this country?”
That was the second time Lily’s looks had been pointed out to her, and she didn’t exactly appreciate being singled out for them. Still, the Sheikh wasn’t wrong. If the police really did press charges for leaving the scene, she would be in big trouble if she stepped foot back in the capital. It was clear she would be arrested on sight, wherever she was.
The palace was the only place she knew she could stay safe.
Beyond that, it was clear that Atnan had no interest in returning to the city anytime soon, having been spotted himself. Lily wondered if he was trying to convince her not to go because of her own safety or his. He was still pacing around her, then finally he returned to face her head-on.
“Ah, I see you’ve welcomed reason into your life. That is good news. You see now that your only course of action is to stay here.”
“You certainly have deduced much from my silence,” she shot back, annoyed.
He assumed so much for a man who hadn’t even bothered to ask for her name.
“I have been raised since infancy to read people. I know how to interpret emotions that are unspoken. It is an excellent skill to have when working in politics.”
“If that’s true, what am I thinking right now?” Lily asked, crossing her arms.
His eyes sparkled with a glint of humor, and she had a sudden urge to slap him in the face. There was nothing about her situation that warranted laughter. She was trapped in a foreign country with a future monarch who appeared, for all intents and purposes, to be running from the law himself. Had she mistaken who he was in the first place? Perhaps he was an imposter posing as the Sheikh and had been forced into hiding by the royal family!