Chapter One
Loula
Arabia 1877
There he was, looking as handsome as ever. He stared right at me, clearly distressed, with his big, beautiful, blue eyes. He was leaning against the stone wall, looking lazy. It seemed to everyone in the ballroom that he was listening to a few gentlemen argue about politics, but I knew him better than anyone in this room did. He nodded to the two gentlemen, as if he heard every word they said, but his eyes never wavered from me, as if I were the prize, as if I were the only woman on earth. Some people say I have cast a spell on him. They do not understand his feelings for me.
Even though a distance was between us, I could still feel his eyes on me, burning my skin, electrifying my body, and stirring strong feelings of lust deep within my soul. Sometimes I wonder who this man is and why he loves me so. I do not have royal blood running in my veins; nor am I an aristocrat. I am but a poor commoner from America with no family or wealth to speak of.
Every breath Nidal takes, it is for me. I see it, I feel it, and I know it without any doubt whatsoever. Sometimes his love scares me. No one has ever loved me this way before. My prince loves with all his heart and soul. When I touch him, every fiber in his body comes alive. I have this unexplainable power over him.
His piercing eyes were still looking hungrily at me, and I looked back at him. I stared right into his soul, the same way he looked at me. Frustrated, he sighed and ran his hands through his hair, never once taking his glance away from me.
I know what he is thinking at all times, even before he thinks it. I know it is hard to understand what I am saying, but it is the truth. His feelings for me consume him. These feelings run in his blood, in his veins, like a drug that takes over his body and controls his every thought.
And if he does come to me now, I will have no way to control myself. I will tell him that I love him too. I have withheld from telling him this because I fear the way he will react. There's no telling what he might do in the name of love.
Nidal had been ridiculed for loving me this way. His people did not understand the hold I had on him. The king, Nidal's father, said he would lose the respect of his people. They were already questioning his obsessive behavior.
This country cried for him to find a wife from their country-not a woman from another world, a commoner who did not speak their language well and did not know their traditions. They wanted him to choose a wife with Arabian blood in her veins, a woman who could give him a son, an Arabian son. The people wanted him to marry royalty. They wanted him to marry the beautiful Princess Shaeena, someone who had been trained from birth to marry my prince one day. Nidal did not love her. He never had. He saw her as the sister he never had. Nidal, his cousin Billal, and Princess Shaeena grew up together.
He does not listen to anything anyone tells him, and he betrays everyone by loving me. He has loved me ever since he laid eyes on me many years ago. He has never loved or been with another woman. He is true to me and only me. The king has been patient with him all these years because he thought his son would eventually change his mind, but that did not happen. So the king stood back and allowed his son to follow his dreams. He had no other choice.
I could not take my eyes off him either. I watched him watch me. I knew he was losing his patience. Any minute now, he would come charging over here to stake his claim. He was very possesive of me and did not like it when men were around me, especially his cousin, Prince Billal, a handsome prince who showed admiration for me. I knew that my prince suffered deep inside his heart whenever I so much as glanced at Prince Billal. He told me so. Nidal felt threatened whenever his cousin was around. I had no idea why. I knew I had not given him any reason to feel threatened, and neither had Prince Billal so far.
Prince Billal walked over to me, and I did not know what to do. He flashed me a smile to die for, showing off even, white teeth and luscious lips that I was sure could seduce any woman he wanted to. He had dreamy eyes and long eyelashes. He had tied his lengthy black hair in a ponytail, and I knew without a doubt that every woman in Arabia would love to run her fingers through his thick mane. Billal's powerful warrior body stopped a few feet away from me.
I looked around the room and noticed every woman in the ballroom staring breathlessly at him. He reached out and pulled me close to him, near enough where I could feel his heart beat against my breast. He kissed me tenderly on the cheek, and then he whisphered hoarsely for my ears alone, "Loula you take my breath away." and at that moment I looked over his shoulder and saw Nidal lose all color in his face and charge right at us.
