To Touch a Sheikh Read Online Free PDF

mean?”
    â€œThat would be farther than I hoped because with muscles like those—” her gaze melted gold-hot appreciation down his arms and chest, stopping short of where he was resigned he’d be perpetually distorted in her presence, traveled lazily back up to his eyes “—I bet you could throw me quite far.”
    He drank a mouthful of coffee, hoping to scald himself out of his idiocy. His eyebrows rose as the taste hit his tongue. Theexact strength he preferred. Which he got only when he brewed his own.
    â€œYou like?”
    The hesitancy in her soft question baffled him more.
    Since he’d stopped being a bleeding heart, no one had come close to fooling him. But even knowing all about her, and setting his renowned duplicity-detection powers to maximum, he couldn’t detect any falseness. How was she doing it?
    Not that it mattered. He had to get his plan under way. If he was going to go ahead with it.
    Which he had to.
    He raised his mug to her. While he hated with a passion having no choice but to proceed with his plan, he did like her offering. “Don’t tell me Aliyah gave you the exact titration of what constitutes perfect coffee for me.”
    A flush spread across her sculpted cheekbones. Of pleasure over doing something that had pleased him?
    No way. That woman must have the ability to blush on command among her arsenal of seduction weapons.
    For good measure, breathlessness entered her voice. “It’s how I like it. I hoped we’d have this in common, too.”
    And she’d said he was good? She was superlative. “You mean, before this momentous discovery of our identical taste in coffee strength, we had something else in common? Beside being bipeds?”
    She spluttered in laughter. “Ah, I knew it!”
    He cocked his head at her. “It’s comforting to know you agree on the bipedal commonality. The world insists I’m octopoid.”
    â€œWould that be four more legs, or two more of each set of limbs?” She started to choke, put her plate down, turned back with mischievousness lighting up her beauty. “I knew if I could just get you talking, you’d be a delight to spar with.”
    â€œ Aih, I’m a laugh a second.”
    â€œYou certainly are.”
    â€œGod forbid I be the source of such entertainment to you. I’ll stop.”
    Her crestfallen pout made her a disappointed little girl and an irresistible siren. “Don’t! We were just getting warmed up!”
    â€œJust step outside to get as warm as you can handle.”
    â€œInside here with you is just fine with me. You can’t beat the combo of cool surroundings and red-hot debate.”
    â€œSince you’re so fond of said combo, I’ll leave you to cool your heels and send one of my men to debate with. You can red-hot his ears off while I go scout the location for the spectator and banquet tents.”
    He turned, counting down…three, two, one…
    Right on cue, she grabbed his arm. “You wait right here.” She hurriedly unzipped her bag, produced an SPF 50 sunscreen and applied it liberally to her face, neck and hands then smiled up at him triumphantly. “My dermally deficient self can now go ten rounds with Your Hereditarily Impervious Highness.”
    He sighed. “On one condition.”
    She didn’t hesitate. “Anything!”
    At the look of absolute trust in her eyes, a heavy sensation spread through his gut.
    What, now he believed what he was seeing in her? Trust didn’t factor into this situation, in her reaction. She must think going with him was a perfectly safe opportunity to work on him some more. But…there had been that incident when she’d risked her life to help him, to be there for others. An instance that contradicted all his understanding of her, that proved she was no self-preserving coward, was capable of stunning courage.
    That didn’t mean she wasn’t also a