Read this a long time ago, somewhere in 2011 and I remember loving the story!
Re-reading this brought back good old memories!
Molly James is a botany teacher of an all-girls school in England, and has come to a strange land to get to know her half brothers: Khalid and Tariq.
These two brothers are the sons of her mother's first marriage to the sheikh of Zarhat, King Hakim.
Her mother has since passed but her marriage to the King whom she divorced, left behind her two sons.
Now Molly is a guest of the king's party but she and her brothers have decided not to mention the fact that they are related - not wanting to hurt their father, because of his wife's second marraige, she comes in as Beatrice's best friend!
Sheikh Tair Al Sharif, heir to the throne of Zabrania, is Tariq's and Khalid's first cousin,
Unlike his father, his uncle, King Hakim is a ruler of his own kingdom who put the welfare of his people before his own while his father King Malik who cared less of the people and lived a lifestyle he was comfy in.
During the banquet, Tair notices the closeness between Tariq and the Englishwoman whom he refers to as Miss Mouse.
Thinking that this woman is trying to seduce Tariq, he gets furious and disgusted and more so because he seems to be the only one who notices the blatant closeness of the the two.
Because he cares deeply for Tariq and his wife Beatrice, he is determined not to let the little mouse who wears spectacles and dresses in potato sack, undermine their marriage so he kidnaps Molly and takes her to the desert.
He fights his attraction for Molly, but in the end he has no control and he makes love to her, he realises that he is her first and that she was really innocent but it's too late now, all this sets off a chain of reactions from her brothers and the king.
Molly considers herself plain in comparison to her step sisters and her friend Beatrice.
She has always lived in the shadows and now she is faced with the challenge of surviving in the desert with an incredibly handsome man.
What she doesn't realize is how attracted Tair is to her, and that he doesn't find her a "little mouse".
He desires her, and her vulnerability touches him in a way that no other woman has touched him.
She attracted to Tair from the moment he laid his eyes on her.
When he kidnaps her, she tries telling him that she is the half sister to Tariq and Khalid, of course he has no idea as to who she really is, and though she kept warning him about the danger (not directly, but in a sense, because her brothers become her protectors), Tair did not believe her and accused her of lying.
When his grandfather arrived at the camp, followed by Tariq and Khalid, the cousins had a row and Tariq demanded Tair to marry his sister but... Molly refuses.
As all HP sheikhs, Tair feels honour-bound because he has taken Molly's virginity and is duty-bound to marry her.
She wants true love and she found the arrangement barbaric and insane.
Well, she returns back to England and continues her life, but it is not normal any more, she is pregnant and love-sick!
Tair's love for Molly is amazing, he drops everything to see her again in Bea's birthday party held in London.
At the party, Tair confesses that he missed her and that he loves her very much indeed.
The end of the story was amazing:
King Hakim's announces Molly's true identity to all the people in the party while her brothers, Tariq and Khalid escort her to the front.
The King welcomes her warmly and wholeheartedly - this is then followed by Tair's public marriage proposal.
Loved both the characters here:
Molly is witty and funny, while Tair is alpha-sheikh, proud and determined!
Since I've read this one before, I had no problem with getting confused with the characters or places - it tends to be, if you are reading it for the first time.
Chantal: Thanks for the recommendation, I remember searching for the digital format of the books I had in paperback, and I just could not get this one because I forgot the storyline!