The Sheikh's Defiant Bride. Sandra Marton

look at the time, I didn’t realize it was so late…”

      On top of that—not that he was a prude—most of them were far too sexual. Well, not exactly sexual. Obvious. That was the word. A man wanted a wife who enjoyed sex but he also wanted her to have a certain amount of reserve.

      And, yes, he knew that was sexist and chauvinistic but—

      But, by Ishtar, he’d dug himself into one hell of a deep hole.

      Maybe that was why, a couple of weeks ago, over drinks and dinner with his two oldest friends, he’d ended up telling them about his quest.

      Khalil and Salim had listened, their faces expressionless. Then they’d looked at each other.

      “He’s trying to find a wife,” Salim had said solemnly.

      “But he can’t,” Khalil had said, just as solemnly.

      Salim’s mouth had twitched. Khalil’s, too. Then they’d snorted and burst into laughter.

      “The Sahara Stud,” Khalil had choked out. “Remember when that girl called him that at Harvard?”

      “And he can’t find a wife,” Salim said, and they’d dissolved into laughter again.

      Tariq had jumped to his feet. “You think this is amusing?” he’d said in fury. “You just wait until you have to get married!”

      Shudders had replaced laughter.

      “Not for years and years,” Khalil had answered, “but when the time comes, I’ll do it the old-fashioned way. I’ll let my father make the arrangements. A prince’s marriage has nothing to do with romance. It’s all about duty.”

      Tariq sighed and stared vacantly out the window. True. Absolutely true. Then, what was taking him so long?

      His brother was gone. His father was no longer a young man. What if something happened? To his father? To him? Anything was possible. Without an heir to the throne, Dubaac could be plunged into turmoil. And that must not happen. He could not let it happen….

      A knock sounded at the door. Tariq swung around as his P.A. popped her head into the room.

      “The Five O’Clock Financial News is on CNN, sir. You wanted to watch…?”

      He gave her a blank look.

      “To see if MicroTech would announce their new acquisi tion…?”

      No wife. No functional brain, either, Tariq thought bleakly, and nodded his thanks.

      “Right. Thank you, Eleanor. Have a good evening. I’ll see you in the morning.”

      The door swung shut. Tariq sat down at his desk, picked up the remote control and pointed it at the flat screen TV on the wall. A couple of clicks and he was looking at some set director’s idea of an office. Pale walls, dark floor, windows, a long table at which a middle-aged man in a dark blue suit sat facing three other middle-aged men in dark blue suits…

      And a woman.

      She wore a dark blue suit, too, but that was where the resemblance ended.

      Tariq’s eyes narrowed.

      It was difficult to tell her age, thanks to bulky, tortoise-framed glasses with darkly smoked lenses. The glasses lent her a look of severity. So did the way she wore her pale gold hair, drawn back from her oval face in a low chignon.

      She sat straight in her chair, hands neatly folded in her lap, legs demurely crossed.

      They were excellent legs. Long. Lean. Nicely toned…

      His belly knotted with hunger.

      He could see himself lifting the woman from her chair. Letting her hair down. Taking off her glasses so he could see if she was merely attractive or heart-breakingly beautiful…

      Damn it.

      He was not given to fantasies about women, especially ones he had never met. Was this what his search for a wife had reduced him to? Lust for a woman on television? A woman whose name he didn’t even know?

      Tariq scowled.

      This was what came of celibacy.

      He had not been with a woman in two months. He’d thought it wise not to let a woman’s talent in bed influence him in his choice of a wife.

      It had seemed a clever idea.

      It still was.

      He just had to stop fantasizing like a schoolboy.

      Tariq tore his eyes from the woman. The program’s moderator, the Suit seated across from her, was speaking.

      “…true, then, that MicroTech has acquired controlling interest in FutureBorn?”

      The paunchiest of the Suits nodded.

      “That’s correct. We believe FutureBorn represents the future. No pun intended,” he added with a thin smile. The two men seated with him laughed in hearty appreciation; the woman showed no reaction at all. “You see, Jay, as men and women delay childbirth, FutureBorn’s new techniques will become even more important.”

      “But FutureBorn is in an already crowded field, isn’t it?”

      Another thin smile. “So it would seem. Artificial insemination has been around for a long time, but FutureBorn’s new techniques… Perhaps our vice president for Marketing can explain it best.”

      All heads turned toward the woman. Vice president for Marketing, Tariq thought, raising one dark eyebrow. An impressive title. Had she earned it? Or had she slept her way into it? He’d been in business long enough to know those things happened.

      She looked at the camera. At him, his gut said, though he knew that was ridiculous.

      “I’ll certainly try.”

      Her voice was low-pitched, almost husky. He tried to concentrate on what she was saying but he was too busy just looking at her…

      “…in other words, absolutely perfect for storing sperm.”

      Tariq blinked. What had she just said?

      “Can you explain that, please, Miss Whitney?”

      Tariq sent a silent “thank you” to the moderator for asking the question. Surely the woman could not have said—

      “I’ll be happy to,” the woman said calmly. “It’s true, as you pointed out, artificial insemination is not new, but the method FutureBorn’s developed to freeze sperm is not only new, it’s revolutionary.”

      Tariq stared at the screen. What sort of talk was this from a woman?

      “And the benefits are?”

      “Well…” The woman ran the tip of her tongue over her lips. It had to have been an unconscious gesture but it turned his own mouth dry. “Well, one obvious benefit is that a man who has no wish to sire children at the present time can leave a specimen with us. A donation for the future, as it were, secure in the knowledge it will be available for his use years later.”

      A donation, Tariq thought. An interesting choice of words.

      “Or, if not for his use, then for use on his behalf.”

      “In what way?” the moderator said.

      “Well, for example, a man might wish to leave instructions as to how his sperm should be used after his death.” She smiled politely. “Frozen sperm, along with proper legal documentation regarding its use, could be a twenty-first century method of ensuring a wealthy man had an heir…

      Or a crown prince had a successor.

      Tariq frowned.

      What if he left a—a—What had she called it? A donation. What if a test tube of his semen was set aside in case the unthinkable happened and fate intervened before he’d found a suitable wife?