In The Sheikh's Marriage Bed

by Sarah Morgan

She'll pay the sheikh's price...in the marriage bed!

Crown Prince Zakour-Al-Farisi is ruler of all he surveys, and the moment Emily Kingston steps into his Golden Palace, she too must do exactly as he commands!

Zakour believes Emily has been sent to seduce him and decides to turn the tables. His terms? Emily will repay her brother's debt in full--as his wife. But what will he do when he discovers that his beautiful bride-to-be is a virgin?

Genres: Harlequin, Romance, Harlequin Presents, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Royalty, Mills and Boon

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 15, 2010

About the author

About Sarah

USA Today and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author Sarah Morgan writes romance and contemporary women's fiction and her trademark humour and warmth have gained her fans across the globe. Sarah lives near London, England, and when she isn't reading or writing she loves being outdoors.

Look out for Sarah's next novel coming in May - Brave New Summer (UK title)/ Five Star Summer (US/Canadian title)

Join Sarah on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSarahM...
Follow Sarah on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SarahMorgan_
Follow Sarah on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahmorgan...
Website: www.sarahmorgan.com





Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[StMargarets · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mary Sue Goes to the Desert

See Mary Sue plead to the hero for more time for her brother to pay back his money
See Mary Sue bravely raise her chin when hero tells her she is his prisoner guest until the money is repaid
See Mary Sue abseil out of her room using the cords from the curtains
See Mary Sue surrounded by bandits
See Mary Sue rescued by the hero
See Mary Sue calm the hero’s nephew after he has a nightmare
See Mary Sue rescue the nephew from under the hero’s stallion’s rampaging hooves
See Mary Sue calm the stallion
See Mary Sue accept the hero’s marriage proposal so that her brother’s debts will be cleared
See Mary Sue try to explain she is a virgin to the skeptical hero
See Mary Sue become a sexual triathlete in one night
See Mary Sue jealous of the hero’s sister in law
See Mary Sue drag the hero out of a meeting to ask for a divorce because she isn’t getting any
See Mary Sue loving all things desert
See Mary Sue telling her brother she won’t leave the hero
See Mary Sue riding the stallion to rescue the nephew from the caves.
See Mary Sue changing the hero’s cold, hard heart with declarations of I love yous.

Desert hero checklist:
Hero is despot ruler, with a Cambridge undergrad degree and an MBA from Harvard
Hero has a dead brother/sick father
Hero has a femme fatale sister-in-law hanging around the palace
Hero has a neglected nephew
Hero has a stallion no one can control
Hero cares deeply for his people
Hero has useless servants who are afraid of everything
Hero pilots his own helicopter
Hero drinks wine

Desert Setting Checklist
Ornate Palace
Scary town
Empty sand-filled landscape
Oasis
Dangerous caves
Sandstorm

Oh, you want a review? The hero didn’t believe anything until the bitter end, the heroine was ridiculously perfect. An angst-free, no-brainer diversion.

[Danielle The Book Huntress · Rating 4 out of 5]

How funny that I read "Cinderella" and "Beauty and the Beast" in a couple of days of each other. I consider this a "Beauty and the Beast" style romance because the sweet, innocent heroine (Beauty) takes the place of her relative and beards the beast in his den. In this case, the beast is a gorgeous, but cold-hearted Prince Zakour (goes by Zak) who wants to make her brother pay for embezzling millions of dollars. He refuses to let Emily go and is determined to believe she's mercenary and scheming, that her act of innocence is feigned. He can't believe anyone can be that sweet and honest. When she bonds with his lonely nephew, abandoned by his mother, he is skeptical, but is more than willing to utilize her skills at managing a five-year-old to his advantage. And before he knows it, he's demanding marriage.

I liked this book. I felt that Emily was a sweet-heart. I did do a bit of eye rolling at how she constantly seemed to swoon over Zak's good looks. Now I feel like a hypocrite. If I was in the presence of Benedict Cumberbatch for days on end, I'd probably be doing the same. But anyway, it seems a bit over the top how it was described.

Overall, the chemistry between Emily and Zak was well done. I think that the tension of not knowing each other's feelings was believable. When Emily's brother shows up, I liked how that was handled. He acquits his sister with an impassioned plea, and makes Zak feel like the heel he was. And I liked Zak's love declaration. He says that he will keep her imprisoned for ever and give her the many babies she always wanted. Yeah, this isn't a romance for cynics. I'm not one, so it worked for me.

A good escapist Harlequin Presents is just what the doctor ordered when a reader needs a boost. Take this book and get a good night's rest, and you'll be good as new.

[MelissaB · Rating 5 out of 5]

*** 4 1/2 stars ***

For some reason, this Harlequin Presents hit all the right spots for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There were plenty of the typical Harlequin-esqe plot devices but instead of thinking "not again" I was thinking "heck yeah bring them on".

Zak (plus more names) is the cynical ruler of some fictional Middle Eastern country. Some of his people were swindled out of money by an English crook. The sister of the Englishman comes to his country to ask for a few extra months for her brother to pay him back.

Emily is a kindergarden teacher who volunteered to go to this foreign country to help out her brother and maybe see a bit of the world. She is shocked when Zak accuses her brother of stealing money and informs her that he is keeping her as collateral until her brother shows up himself. Zak is very cynical about women so he thinks Emily is there to barter herself for her brother despite the way she tries to act innocent.

Of course Emily really is innocent and a virgin because she was waiting to find the right man to marry and have children. Zak thinks it's all an act because he has been fooled by too many women. Will Emily be able to thaw his heart after he demands they marry? Will Emily be able to resist the unrelenting sexual attraction of the dashing Zak? How come Zak never heard of a personal investigator to check up on Emily and see if she was telling the truth?

I enjoyed this book despite the "cynical man believes innocent virgin is really a liar and a bad person despite evidence otherwise" storyline. It was a fun book to read and Zak wasn't too bad despite what he said sometimes because his actions showed otherwise. He treated Emily very well despite his disbelief in love and his attempts to convince himself that she couldn't be a nice person. I like how Emily stuck to her guns and stayed true to herself, she fought for what she wanted from Zak, which was his love and affection - and her happily ever after ending.

This was a good Harlequin that had a sweet ending. It pulled me into the story and made me care about the characters.

[Aayesha · Rating 5 out of 5]

*bursting from happiness and emotion* I JUST LOVE SARAH MORGAN SO MU-UUU-UCH

Now this is the Sarah Morgan we all adore and love.

This book's heroine was the epitome of adorable-spitfire-perfection. She was so innocent, sweet, fiery and JUST SO PERFECT. One of my most favourite heroines OF ALL TIME.
And the way the h was attracted to the H, and the very bold move when she she licks his hand was a shocker. I don't usually like forward heroines, but as I said, this h was so perfect.

The H was such a dumbo. I just realised last night that this 'cynical' ideology of alpha heroes is the most stupid thing ever. How can you generalise the actions and motives of an entire race based on the actions of one woman. *rolls eyes*

But bring me an alpha-hole dumb, cynical hero any. Time. They're my weakness.

This H was a really good one tho.

And another thing that just goes to show how amazing this book was for me - I started this book last night intending to read couple of chapters, because I had to wake up early in the morning, had to be somewhere early in the morning. I stayed up till 4 reading 70% - and then when I heard my parents waking up, I went to sleep. Dad woke me up for our morning prayers (Fajr) at 5, and I was super sleepy, but after praying, I opened my cell phone and finished the entire book. That has never happened before. As in, me being this desperate to read a book that I read it after Fajr. After Fajr I just collapse on my bed and pass out.

[Fanniny Moreno Zavaleta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes I don't care about the hero's assholeness levels and I just read for the heroine. This is an example. I was in need of a Mary Sue story and I got it. StMargarets detailed the whole book except for one tiny detail, she forgot to add the sandstorm , you can't have a desert story without one.

[*CJ* · Rating 3 out of 5]

"In The Sheikh's Marriage Bed" is the story of Emily and Zakour.

A sweet desert romance, in which our h travels to the to the H's kingdom to help her brother out, but gets kidnapped by the H instead! The reason- her dear brother apparently embezzled millions from the throne..and the H will now have his revenge.
While the h shows valor and kindness, especially with the H's nephew, he remains cynical..until he decides to marry her to get her in bed, while forgiving her brother. However, as circumstances and feelings intervene, the H will soon find himself in unknown waters flooding with love..

Well written Sheikh romance with a cynical H, likable h, adorable nephew, family drama, bitchy OW and HEA. I'd have rated this higher if the grovel was longer and if we had gotten a detailed epilogue. Never the less, enjoyed it.

Safe
3/5

[KC · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. This was Sarah Morgan's first sheik romance and it showed. All aspects of the story seemed underdeveloped: the subplot, setting, characterization, and romance. Zakour was cynical to the extreme (because one woman he cared for betrayed him), and Emily was naive and stupid (she traveled to a foreign country to represent her brother and to negotiate on his behalf without gathering all the facts before she arrived). Consequently, it took me a long time to warm up to them.

But heating up the sheets was not a problem for Zakour amd Emily. Much of the story focused on their hot attraction to each other. They either kissed or were in bed with each other constantly, and not much else happened until the embezzlement subplot concluded. I could believe they were in lust, but I apparently missed the part where they fell in "love".

Sounds like I hated the book but I didn't. There were good points like Sarah Morgan's writing style, the sexual chemistry, and it had a sheik hero(!).

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ruthless Sheikh meets sweet innocent teacher who visits his desert kingdom to repay her brother's debts to him. He is cynical, she is warm, romantic and very forgiving and melts his cold black heart!

[AvidReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enchanting love story.
Recommended.

[Neus Gutiérrez · Rating 1 out of 5]

No me voy a extender.
Este tipo de literatura tendría que desaparecer.
Ya está bien de romantizar el machismo, el valor de la mujer como moneda de cambio por su "sumisión sexual" y cómo no, la pj virginal que termina enamorando al protagonista por su inocencia y por haberse 'entregado'.
Es que no salvo ni una coma.
Este tipo de libros son los que dan "mala imagen' a la romántica.

[Mou: Fae of Heartfelt ARC · Rating 1 out of 5]

The hero is mean, arrogant and dominant in every possible way a person can be. In the opposite site, the heroine is too naive to fight and every time she forgives the hero without a blink of an eye.

[lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved it but I wanted an epilogue with babies .
I found my bookshelves empty! !!!! why! ?! wtf $#*&€£€%=/ !

[Katherine 黄爱芬 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emily terperangkap di kerajaan milik Pangeran Zak, nun di Arabia sana. Gara² kakaknya menggelapkan uang milik si pangeran, Emily mjd sandera yg tidak ditebus oleh kakaknya.

Emily berusaha kabur, tapi emang Emily agak bloon dan gak menguasai area lokasi dia kabur, malah jatuh ke tangan Zak lagi. Di istana Zak, Emily menemukan passion nya sbg guru TK ala Lady Diana. Emily lah yg berhasil membujuk balita Jamal, keponakan Zak yg sedang tantrum.

Novel ini bikin saya kesel tapi sekaligus ketawa geli. Gimana gak ngakak Emily yg tadinya sehat² saja mendadak pingsan di hadapan Zak, yg membuat Zak kebingungan sekaligus geram knp stp wanita memainkan siasat pingsan jika kondisinya kepepet 😂 I feel you, Zak.

Zak adalah tipe hero tiran posesif, yg "dicomblangi" oleh author dgn Emily, tipe heroine yg langsung klepek² melihat ketampanan dan vulgaritas sang pangeran 😂😂😂 Emily yg naif dan rada bloon ini memang "cocok" dipadankan dgn tipe otoriter yg tidak pernah bisa menerima kata TIDAK. Dialog² mrk walau gak cerdas, tapi lumayan menghibur krn perbedaan mindset mrk. Emily yg mementingkan "heart" versus Zak yg mengedepankan "logika"nya alias logika nenek moyangnya Zak 😂😂😂😂

Mau kasih rating jelek ya gak tega, yasudahlah yg sedang² aja.

[MaryD · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crown Prince Zakour-Al-Farisi is furious that Peter Kingston has stolen a fortune from his people, then has the gall to send his sister Emily in his place to meet Zak. Emily asks Prince Zakour for an extension for her brother, but Zak insists that Emily pay the price instead- by marrying him. Cynical from experience, Zak does not believe Emily is innocent of colluding with her brother, and despite evidence on their wedding night, believes her to be conniving and mercenary.

I had mixed feelings about Peter's reason for taking the money. Sometimes I thought it was too pat a solution, but then I liked the idea that the brother Emily adored wasn't such a bad guy. However, he *still* sent his innocent sister into the situation and then was surprised the Crown Prince kept her?!

[Roub · Rating 4 out of 5]

absolutely good one !! it came close 2 a 5 star. what disturbed me was zac's disgusting thoughts about em. he did not have a single good thought abt her. he did not believe her abt her virginity. n after discovering she was indeed a virgin, he still had the most degrading impression of her. em shud have left him wid her brother at the end n let him do some grovelling the big ass !! neway he was not a total bastard. he was just some1 who had been badly betrayed in the past

[Riz · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

[Maura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Truly I couldn't stop rolling my eyes at the ridiculous cliches. The story was easy enough to read, engaging and kind of amusing in it's tropiness. Also I was quite satisfied with the grovel And the fact that the hero admitted his love first . That's why 2 stars.

Zak is the prince of some middle-eastern province or whatever and Peter Kingston has been swindling his people and owes him money. When Emily Kingston, his sister shows up, Zak is too cynical to believe in her innocence and holds her prisoner until her brother shows up. But her innocent act is all too arousing and he can't seem to keep his distance.

Zak is an ass. And he's blind. Zak is the man who would stand there and argue that the grass is any other color than green because he's sooooo cynical that he cannot trust his own senses. He certainly cannot trust a woman - despite the fact that her act never slips, she maintains her innocence and honestly acts a bit like a child in her innocence, he simply cannot believe that she is not a lying, scheming seductress. It's a lot over the top and not easy to believe his reasoning.

Emily is a Mary Sue. She charms children and horses (literally). She is 24 and has never experienced passion, certainly never sex and honestly cannot fathom that there are dishonest people in the world. She is saccharine sweet and even in anger she exudes syrupy sweetness. She's not a complete doormat, but her hormones have transforming qualities which make her one whenever Zak touches her. And how she can fall in love with him is beyond me. He holds her prisoner, treats her like crap, believes she is a whore and a liar (and is not shy about letting her know he thinks it) and then, after one night of passion and a week of being ignored she realizes that she loves him. Why?

Then there's the neglected nephew, the evil other woman and her history with Zak and Peter and his disappearing act. So, yeah...this is full of cliches. I think I could have forgiven all of them except the sweet heroine - she made me want to slit my wrists with her naivety.

[Rodica · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was sooo trope-y and silly, that I had to read it just for the eye rolls :) The hero is so very super alpha and the heroine is so very innocent and cloyingly sweet and perfect, that you can’t read it without suspending one disbelief or the other. It’s fun in its outrageousness and over the top cliches. You get the cardboard other woman, the sacrifice to save the family, the stallion tamed by the heroine, the Arabian nights oasis - the whole package is there.

[Jen - Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

As usual, I really enjoyed this Sarah Morgan story.
The heroine, Emily, is very innocent and kind. The hero, has become so cynical and jaded that he doesn't recognise innocence when he sees it.
Emily's brother owes a lot of money. In order for the debt to be wiped, Emily, agrees to become the Sheikh's wife.
A great sheikh story.

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Obviously, this crap never happens, but the unbelievable part is this the heroine. She's like a drooling moron crossed with Mary Poppins.

[Paola Garcia · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sarah Morgan is probably one of my favourite M&B writers that still write.

I find her books are often full of love and passion and that is what I look for in a M&B book.

This book is a good read, it starts off with the Prince being very arrogant and very dismissive of Emily, assuming she is just a pretty face. There are flaws with this book, its a 192 pages so don't expect it to be perfect. Emily is a teacher except she doesn't seem to have to quit work to stay? Shes also the little sister of someone who looked after her from a young age and thus feels a lot of loyalty to him so when he says go give a feeble excuse to a royal of a foreign country she does it. How realistic?

I do like Emily, shes a good mother figure if a bit too sweet as sugar, she could have done with a bit more sass. Aside from that they're a good couple. They inspired me to write a bit more for an M&B book so that should say something?

[Kellcifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 Stars.

Meh. The story is just sort of silly. The characters "love" one another when they have barely met one another? Mm-hm.

[Salla]

Interesting...
This read was more about the nostalgia than actually wanting to read this book purely for its content. I read it for the first time over six years ago, mother got rid of the book and ever since then I have been thinking and wondering what this book was. Found it in BookBeat and couldn't resist the pull.
The translation was awkward and clumsy, but read the whole thing, yay! The characters were one-sided stereotypes who annoyed me endlessly, and they didn't even have proper conversations before suddenly being in love with each other. Boring...

Where is my tall, dark, and handsome who against every realistic expectation just throws his money and country out of the window to get sum'? /s

Also what was role of anything? Everything was so underdeveloped I want compensation for the time I spent on this...

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I probably would have loved this is if I wasn't coming from reading the author's other book: The Brazilian Boss' Innocent Mistress. The characters are eerily similar and almost superimposable. I also hate the author's habit of cultivating unnecessary angst. The hero is always jaded and always choosing to believe the woman is manipulative, a schemer and self serving despite the fact that a simple conversation could have cleared the confusion. The supposed trauma and cause of both heroes' cynicism is some gold digging female.

[Ayu Wirdha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Logikanya ya, Emily mesti bertanya berapa besar hutang kakaknya sampai - sampai Zak harus menahan Emily di Kazban sampai kakak Emily mengembalikan uang tersebut. Ini Emily hanya melongo takjub dengan ketampanan Zak. Seperti biasa banyak salah paham dan salah tafsir dari Zak dan Emily yang bikin cerita membosankan. Saya meminjam novel ini di Ipusnas yang daftar tunggunya sangat panjang dan berasumsi novelnya sangat bagus sampai banyak yang meminjamnya, ternyata saya salah. Masih banyak novel Sarah Morgan yang lebih bagus daripada ini.
2,5⭐

[Nicole P · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not good.

This story did not go well for me. His distrust went way too far. One big spoiler for me was his staff. Besides being overly subservient, they were stupid and cowardly. How on earth could you allow a five-year, heading for sure danger, give commands because he is a prince. I don't get it. The book was stupid.

[Ritsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the heroine. A bit too naive, but I like that she's feisty without being TSTL and I like how she talked back to the hero. I mean, being "innocent" (read: virgin) is not the same as being meek.

However, the hero is too stereotypical that he was sooo close to being a jerk. Correction, he WAS a jerk.

[Sandra Kirkby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely story

It was a absolute pleasure to read and I loved the characters and the spin about her brother and jamal sounded like a normal precocious child with a thirst for adventure, am so glad they had a happy ending.

[Wenda Dohmen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tja… beetje onwerkelijk boek , echt harlequin.
vrouw gaat naar Sahara en word direct verliefd op de sjeik in een totaal andere cultuur.
Beetje over de top. Beetje heel erg ongeloofwaardig hahaha. Maargoed toch best ok boekje om te lezen maar LANG niet zo leuk als haar andere boeken!!