Never Seduce a Sheikh (International Bad Boys Book 2) by Jackie Ashenden Page A

it.”
    “I don’t see why. It doesn’t change anything.”
    Isma’il stared at her for a long moment. “When I was fifteen my father beat me so hard I was nearly hospitalized.” He said it in a flat, detached way. “So I know what it is to be hurt by someone you should trust. And I know what it is to have no one to protect you.” In the light from the lanterns set outside the tents, his eyes glittered. “I still have those scars, Ms. Harkness. And they still ache, no matter how many years have passed.”
    Her anger abruptly drained away, leaving shock in its wake. She’d wondered what kind of mark his father had left on him. She hadn’t realized it would be physical. He’d been hurt, as she had been hurt.
    Sympathy lodged inside her, getting under her guard. She tried to ignore it because she didn’t want to feel sympathy for him. Didn’t want to feel anything for him.
    “You don’t have to tell me this,” she said stiffly. “I didn’t tell you about Dan so we could trade secrets with each other.”
    “I did not tell you because I wanted to trade.” A pause, the light flickering over his strong, handsome face. “I told you so you will know that you are not alone.”
    Her throat closed. Because the look in his eyes was full of understanding. The unspoken acknowledgement of the fear she was the only person on earth who’d experienced this terrible thing. That no one else had suffered it. That no one else would ever understand it.
    Yet she was wrong. Someone else did understand. And it was the very last person on earth she thought would ever do so. A man who seemed so strong and powerful. A man who looked like he’d never had a moment’s vulnerability in his life.
    Lily swallowed past the lump in her throat, a strange emotion uncurling in a dark, forgotten part of her. An emotion she didn’t understand. Almost like a sense of . . . kinship.
    No. She couldn’t afford to feel that way. Not about him. He got to her too much as it was and allowing him under her guard still further would only weaken her position.
    Ignoring the feeling, Lily turned away from him, towards the entrance of her tent. “Yes, well, thank you for that, your Highness,” she said formally. “I believe I can manage the five steps to my tent alone. Goodnight.”
    Isma’il said nothing and as she walked away, she knew that he’d stopped following her. But she could still sense his gaze on her. Watching her.
    And it made her shiver. Though not from fear.

Chapter Six

    T he fierce midday heat was starting wane into early afternoon by the time the meeting broke up. As the chiefs began to rise from the table, Isma’il met Lily’s level gaze across the table. A fierce glow of triumph lit briefly in her dark eyes and he smiled in return, sharing in it.
    The meeting had gone very well indeed. Lily Harkness knew how to deal and she knew how to deal superbly. There had been no vague talk of income streams or trickle down effects. Or how the oil would benefit to the nation as a whole. The tribesmen didn’t care about the nation as a whole. They only cared about their people and how it would affect them specifically. And Lily had zeroed in on that with unerring instinct. Schooling. Health. Environmental concerns. Tribal land rights. She’d answered every question with specific examples of how Harkness would handle each particular issue.
    He’d known she would be impressive. He hadn’t counted on just how impressive she actually was. Or how sincere. Money had been the bottom line for the other oil CEOs, but he got the feeling that Lily genuinely cared about the people who would be affected by the oil sale.
    The chiefs had responded to that sincerity. Despite their suspicion and reservations, she’d got them to the point of giving Harkness decent and serious consideration.
    Lily’s attention became diverted by the approach of the headman, an old and greatly respected chief, and he watched as she answered him, her voice level and