To have and to hold, as long as they both shall hide …
Her Royal Highness Jalilah Mazroui is a dutiful princess and sister to the ruling Sheikh of Delani, Kiral Mazroui. All her life she's done as her brother has asked, including agreeing to partake, against her own wishes, in an interview with celebrated war correspondent Will Wright. Of course, she can have no idea that the interview is only the beginning of a fateful twist of events that will forever alter her life and heart.
Beautiful. Haughty. Intelligent. Reserved. Artifice and Grace. The adjectives Will employs to describe Jalilah are as varied as they are disapproving. Her rarefied existence is anathema to him, and he doesn't bother to conceal that fact from the regal sister of his good friend. But when a dangerous threat surfaces, Will's instincts, honed from war-zone after war-zone, take over. He has to put aside his personal dislike of Her Royal Highness in the name of honour and duty: he's the only one who can save Jalilah from a dark, political plot and he's not going to let her be kidnapped: or worse!
On the run from a conspiracy to bring down the powerful ruling family of Delani, Will takes Jalilah to the only place he knows he can protect her: a rustic cabin in middle of the woods, surrounded by snow, birds, trees and silence.
But in the seclusion of the forest, the dangers that hunt Will and Jalilah now come from within: Desire, fascination, and the kind of personality differences that no amount of attraction could ever overcome. To succumb to temptation would be foolhardy in the extreme – for what good could come from a slow, sensual exploration that must, by virtue of her position in palace life, end as soon as her safety is assured?
Can an affair truly be defined by such a brief window of time? Can desire and attraction be put aside when reality and royal life recall Jalilah? And can Will accept the restrictions Jalilah insists on putting on their relationship, even when he wants so much more?