Outskirts Press, INC.

One professes his love… one imprisons her… one rescues her.

Aileah Parker is the result of a union between an American diplomat and a beautiful Bahrain native. She is the perfect mixture of both cultures. She agrees to accompany her boss on a diplomatic mission to negotiate a trade agreement with the new King of Bahrain. Aileah and her boss find themselves in the hands of a desert Sheik. Aileah finds her loyalties tested as she realizes that she has feelings for her captor, the outcast Sheik Zafir D’Kadar Hamzah. Meanwhile, Bahrain is being shaken by civil unrest and the Sheik has revenge on his mind as his kingdom and sister were stolen out from under him. Aileah soon realizes that she is a pawn between two political rivals who both desire her and the throne of Bahrain and would fight to the death for it! Will the Sheik choose his country or the chance for a love that comes only once in a lifetime. Only one will command her desert heart.

“Lady Parkson!  Lady Parkson where are you?”
            “I'm here!  What is happening?”  Aileah said as she came out of her sleeping area with her suitcase in hand and her heart pounding at the loud sound of the chaos going on outside.
            “Lady Parkson, you are in great danger!  Our camp security has been breached.  Leave your suitcase here.  We need to get you out of here to a safer location.  Follow close behind me, do not stop for anything and do not say a word.” 
            Aileah raised the hood of the abaya she was wearing and fastened the veil to cover her face.  Bashir nodded his approval and motioned for her to follow him to the tent's back entrance.  He raised the the tent flap and Aileah heard the sound of a gunshot very close.  She screamed as she saw Bashir fall forward in front of her. 
            “No!  Bashir!”  Aileah screamed. She looked down at him lying there as the blood from his fatal wound began to pool underneath him and she realized he was not moving at all. 
             She looked up in time to see armed men running towards her, their faces covered with dark cloths with their rifles pointed at her.  She froze staring at them in shock. One of them came forward and roughly jerked her back into the tent. He ripped her veil loose and pulled the hood off her head. He smiled as he saw that she had green eyes and and dark hair. He grabbed her arm roughly dragging her outside with him. 
              Aileah stumbled as the armed men closed rank around her and moved with her towards the helicopter.  The men around continued to shoot at the Sheik's men to hold them back while they moved her towards the helicopter a small distance away. 
              She felt so cold even though she could feel the residual heat from the day on her feet.  She was terrified because she didn't understand who these men were and what they would want with her. Two of the men bodily lifted her up into the waiting helicopter and then lifted themselves up to sit beside her.  The helicopter began to lift up in the air and she looked down out a side window to see the Sheik's camp getting smaller and smaller.   She prayed that Tamara was safe.