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It struck her that there were many men in the world ould have left her to her own devices after she’d stood the her from the desert, Zayed could simply have taken her to a hospital and left her there to sort out her ier of dying Instead, he had rescued her, seen to her care, and shown her such kindness that she was alht to run in the first place

The Sheikh settled himself in his chair, and Zelda wondered if he’d been in that station ever since he’d brought her back to the house

Zelda looked at Zayed, trying to discern so of the truth about him “You’re not really the cool, calm, collected businessman you pretend to be, are you?”

“There’s so the question “Why are you always running away?”

“Like last night, you mean?”

He shrugged “Last night, certainly, but also when you stoay on e and when you ran away from culinary school I’m curious why that is”

Zelda found herself surprised at the question; she’d never thought about dropping out of university or culinary school as being a forht

“I guess I just feeltrapped, a lot,” she admitted “I’m not really sure why”

“If you didn’t want to go through with it, you could have just told ainst you, and certainly I wouldn’t have held your status over your head” He reached out and took her hand in his gently “When I realized that you had tried to leave on your own—on foot, no less—I was terrified for you Even people who live in this area avoid walking the desert on their own at night”

“I didn’t think it would be right; I was confused,” Zelda confessed “I couldn’t think of any other way to get away, and I felt guilty about abandoning you”

Z

ayed shook his head and reached with his free hand into his pocket He withdrew a thin, paper folder splashed with an airline logo “If you really don’t want to go through with it,” he told her, “then please, please accept this Don’t go out into the desert again I can even have Yasin drive you to the airport”

The Sheikh handed the ticket to Zelda, and she opened up the protective folder to reveal that it was a direct flight, first class, fro at it more closely, Zelda realized that it wasn’t a ticket for a particular flight, but a prepaid voucher, good for whenever she ht want to fly out

“I don’t want you to feel like you have to take your life in your hands in order to do what you think is right,” Zayed added

Zelda considered: with her passport, the ticket, and the preli engaged to Zayed, she should—hopefully—be able to leave the country with no probleo back to the States the same day, and be home to tell her parents what a crazy feeeks she’d had But the kindness of the gesture, and Zayed’s insistence that he would rather her be safe and happy than fulfill her side of the bargain with him, rebuked her She didn’t want to be tied to Murindhi indefinitely, but she knew that she’d made a deal with the Sheikh He had fulfilled his side of things, clearing up her ih that she could leave the country without risking being ially She owed it to him to hold up her end of the deal

“How about this,” she began, looking fro—it seehtly “That e’ve both held up our end of the deal Then, once the wedding is over, and everything is finalized with your deal, we part ways I go back to the US, and you go back to your life here”