2008-08-05 Passion and pain and healing.

From the moment they collide in a hotel hallway, share a kiss they are both affected so strongly......was it fate?

The man, a sheikh and a proud and honorable ruler. Prince Vere has vowed he will never love again as to love only brings pain. As a young man he lost both of his parents and that pain has long stayed with him. Just one brief encounter with Samantha McLennan has reminded him he must never give in. However, desire and that one encounter never leave him. He sees Sam in his dreams and then on a trip to the desert he encounters her again.

Sam is shaken by the man and the kiss. She too cannot erase the memories out of her mind. It's painful, keeps her awake and when she takes an assignment to map the boundaries of a few Arab countries she believes she can shake those memories until she meets him again face to face.

Vere immediately puts up a wall and then one of her "jealous" co-workers puts it into his mind that Sam cannot be trusted. Vere seeks his brother's counsel and they decide to investigate her. He proposes a trip to the desert and then everything goes down hill from there. They act on their feelings and everything spirals out of control.

A wonderful love story with so much passion and pain and in the end Vere learns the lessons of love, trust and healing. A great sheik book, excellently penned by Penny Jordan!