A royal baby, tragically orphaned, brings together two people who swore they'd never speak again... The proud, powerful Sheikh Malakhi al-Sitar has no intention of letting his young nephew -also his heir- leave the Kingdom of Ishala, especially not with the boy's impetuous, beautiful, and rather alluring Australian aunt. The single kiss they'd shared years earlier has burned his memory banks ever since, and now he has a way to keep both her and the child in his life. Evie is floored when Malakhi proposes to her in exchange for allowing her to stay in the country and be involved in her nephew's upbringing. Faced with losing her beloved nephew forever and marrying a man she's desired body and soul for as long as she's known him, Evie can make only one decision. A dark marriage based on desire, grief and the bonds of family is forged, but can it withstand the ravages of the truth? Will Evie be able to stay married to the Sheikh when she discovers that he's manipulated her completely? And will Malakhi ever forgive himself? From Amazon bestseller Clare Connelly comes this gripping Sheikh romance that will set your soul on fire from the first page to the last line. _____ “Stay in Ishala as my lover.” The words rang through the room like a tiny, horrible challenge. Evie turned to face him, her eyes shimmering with tears, her lips parted. “You can’t be serious.” “I’m deadly serious. I wanted to sleep with you that night, and I am surprised to discover that desire has not abated.” “What about your other women?” She snapped. “Are they not doing it for you?” “This isn’t about them,” he said with an insouciant shrug. “Wanting you does not preclude a desire for them too.” She drew in a deep breath as pain quickly chased desire. “So you’re saying you want me to sleep with you … but you’ll still be … seeing them?” His lips twisted in a wry grimace. “You need only think about your place in my bed. No one else’s.” “I thought you were worried about gossip and rumours?” “You are a divorced woman. There is no shame in making you my mistress now.” “No shame for you,” she drawled, shivering at the clinical way in which they were discussing her body. Not just her body, but her pride. And though he didn’t know it, her virginity. “The decision is yours,” he said with a careless shrug. What could she do? She was torn. A love for her nephew and a desire for this man stood on one side of her equilibrium. On the other? The rational voices of all those she loved and who had loved her. Her parents, her sister in law, her brother: all gone from this earthly sphere, but still very much alive in her mind. They shouted their objections at her now and she was disgraced to realise that, despite their number, her own desires held greater sway. “So, Evelyn? What do you decide?” “You give me little choice,” she said stiffly. Though she’d had a choice. To walk away from him and this life. It just wasn’t particularly palatable.