Page 1 of The Sheikh's Secret Family

CHAPTER1

EMELIA

Emelia pushed a stray lock of hair out of her eyes and stared down at the page in front of her, trying to concentrate. It was January in Boston, a time of year that was always cold and dark. The library was warm and welcoming, though, as always, and Emelia had been here for over five hours already. She just needed to finish this reading, which was taking longer than she’d expected. As long as no one disturbed her, she could finish up in a few minutes, then go for dinner…

“Excuse me.”

Emelia glanced up to see a man standing beside her table. He was tall, with chocolate brown eyes and a head of messy hair. A Stonebridge hoodie and a pair of faded jeans somehow managed to perfectly accentuate his athletic build. Emelia’s first thought was that he couldn’t possibly be talking to her. He was a handsome, confident guy and she was a shy bookworm who practically lived in the library. Still, a glance around showed that she was the only one in earshot.

“Sorry,” she said, trying to scoop her pile of books and papers into a neater pile. It was a Sunday afternoon, so there weren’t many people around, and she’d started to spread out. “Did you want to sit here?”

“Actually, yes, if you don’t mind.” The guy grinned, showing off a great smile completed with laugh lines along those rich brown eyes. “But originally I came over to ask a question. You are in my French 203 seminar, yes?”

“Yes,” Emelia agreed, wondering how she hadn’t noticed such an attractive man in her class before. The semester had only started a couple weeks ago, but still. She’d probably just been intensely focused on her notes as usual. After all, Emelia was here to study hard and get her degree, not to flirt with guys. No matter how handsome they were.

The guy stuck out his hand, which Emelia took. The gesture was a little formal, but Emelia couldn’t help appreciating how well her hand fit into his. “I’m TJ.”

“Emelia,” she said, shaking the hand. She couldn’t help wondering how this tall, handsome, slightly-accented man could possibly be called TJ. She’d known a few TJs back in Greenfield, Massachusetts, the tiny town where she’d grown up, but they’d all been annoying football players who called everyone ‘dude.’ This TJ didn’t seem like he’d ever said ‘dude’ in his life.

“Nice to meet you.” Letting go of her hand, TJ slid gracefully into the empty seat next to Emelia. “I was wondering if you could give me a little advice on our homework. I’ve seen how fluent you are in class and I’m honestly very confused by this new tense.”

“Future perfect?” Emelia asked. She felt immediately more comfortable now that she knew that this interaction was about homework. Emelia was a junior at Stonebridge, and she was pretty sure that ninety percent of her conversations over the last three years had been about homework or tests or essays.

“Yes,” TJ agreed, adopting a playfully mournful expression as though the verbs were out to get him specifically. “I keep getting the conjugation wrong.”

“I know a trick.” Emelia grabbed a pencil and dragged her French notebook towards her. Tapping one of the verbs with a pencil, she explained the rhyme she’d made up to remember how to conjugate it. Then she glanced up at TJ, blushing a little, hoping that he wouldn’t think she was a complete nerd. Even though she was.

“That is genius,” TJ said. He opened the zipper on his backpack and pulled out his own notebook, a black-and-white one that was much more sophisticated than Emelia’s own purple notebook with white paw prints on the cover. He copied down the rhyme, then sat back, smiling. “Thank you, Emelia.”

Her name sounded different in his mouth. Special. Maybe it was that light accent. Or maybe it was the long hours she had spent in the windowless library that made her hypersensitive to any human contact.

“Anytime,” she said. Now that she’d helped him, Emelia was pretty sure that TJ would head off again, back to playing frisbee in the quad or whatever guys like him did all day.

“Maybe I could return the favor,” TJ continued, much to her surprise. He sent a glance at her stack of study materials. “You’re taking Arabic, right?”

“I am, although it’s only my first semester and it’s not going well.” Emelia grinned sheepishly as she dug out the worksheet that TJ had spotted. “I keep getting the letters mixed up. And I can’t seem to pronounce anything right.”

“Well, I happen to speak Arabic,” TJ said. “I can give you some tips, if you want.” He grinned that goofy grin again and Emelia found herself agreeing before she could think better of it.

TJ leaned forward, their shoulders brushing as he explained the difference between the letter for ‘SH’ and the letter for ‘S.’ As he did, Emelia glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. Maybe he was from somewhere in the Middle East, given the Arabic, his chocolate-y eyes, and his caramel skin? Stonebridge usually had a lot of students from abroad, some exchange students and some doing their full four years here. TJ might be one of them. If Emelia were a little braver, she would have asked.

“Thanks,” she said as TJ straightened back up, satisfied that she had mastered those two letters.

“No problem,” he repeated, flashing that grin again. “So, you like languages?”

Emelia’s heart fluttered a little at the question. They seemed to be moving on from homework to personal conversation, which was both exciting and concerning. Although Emelia had friends here, she wasn’t interested in anything romantic. She couldn’t afford any distractions from studying. Coming to Stonebridge had meant years of hard work. Graduating with honors that would set her up for a good job meant years more. Emelia wasn’t going to risk it all for anyone.

Still, TJ wasn’t really flirting. They were just talking. And Emelia had already gotten a lot done today. Surely, she could take a few minutes to talk to TJ without ruining her GPA.

“I love languages, and I’m actually a language major,” she explained. “I’ve been taking Spanish since I got here, and I started French last year and Arabic this year. How about you?”

“I’m an exchange student,” TJ admitted, confirming Emelia’s earlier guess. “So, I’m not really majoring in anything. But I’m mostly taking business and language classes.”

“Where are you from?” Emelia asked, mentally congratulating herself for getting the question out.

“A little country in the Middle East.” TJ shifted, looking just a little bit uncomfortable. “You probably don’t know it.”

Emelia raised her eyebrows. “Try me.” She didn’t like anyone assuming that she didn’t know something.

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